National Doctors’ Day is celebrated on March 30 in the United States. It’s a holiday that honors physicians for the work they do for their patients, the communities they work in and for society as a whole. It is their hard work and devotion that keeps all of us healthy – and we use this day to thank them for caring for us and our loved ones.
Doctors’ Day can be traced back to March 30, 1933, when it was first observed in Winder, Georgia. Originally started by Eudora Brown Almond, the wife of a prominent Georgian doctor who wanted to create a day just for recognizing and honoring doctors, she decided the best way to do that was to mail greeting cards to all of the doctors she knew and to place flowers on the graves of deceased physicians. The flowers she placed on the graves of these doctors were red carnations – a flower that is still used to this day for National Doctors’ Day celebrations.
Why did Eudora Brown Almond choose March 30 as the date for Doctors’ Day? That is the day when Dr. Crawford W. Long used an ether anesthetic for the first time during surgery in 1842. Although Doctors’ Day would remain an unofficial holiday for the next 58 years, it wouldn’t become a national holiday until Congress passed Proclamation 6253 in 1991.
In celebration of #DoctorsDay, TeamHealth wants to let you know how much we appreciate your commitment to providing quality care to your patients every day.
We want to celebrate by hearing your personal story of why you became a physician! Visit our submission site to share your story today! And check out this video to hear some TeamHealth physicians share in their own words why they became a doctor.
Share your story today! Visit our Doctors’ Day submission site to share your story or photo that tells us why you became a doctor and how you hope to make a difference through your work. We’ll select several of the top stories to win an Amazon gift-card! Submissions are due by 5:00 p.m. EST, April 5, 2019.
Happy National Doctors’ Day – and THANK YOU for all you do!