A Plate Full of Gratitude

Hi everyone,

I may or may not make it to dinner tonight. If the MICU gods allow, pressures will rise and pressors will fall. Bleeding will stop, cultures will clear, and tubes will come out.

But who knows what the gods have planned? We intensivists are optimists, but we know there’s just one guarantee: whatever the day brings, we’ll work hard to cure, to heal, and to ease suffering.

On this Thanksgiving morning, I’m grateful for the care each of you shows your patients, peers, friends, and the whole residency community. It is a blessing to share my days with you and to be inspired by your kindness. May the world follow your lead.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I’m off to join Abby, Mohammed, Johnny, and Amy on MICU Blue, and if all goes well, I’ll make it to West Hartford before the turkey’s gone.

Yours,

Mark

P.S. Program Director’s Notes will return on December 8.

P.P.S. A plate full of gratitude:

• I’m thankful for my amazing co-interns who have taught me so much and I can’t wait to spend the next 2.5 years with! Also, thankful for my partner, family, friends, and pets who help me get through difficult times. (Mahesh Krishna, PGY1)
• I just wanted to say how thankful I am for your Program Director’s notes. There have been weeks when they felt like a specific gift, especially around the nationwide vitriol related to campus protests and the election (which continues to wreak disbelief with each new appointment). You always find the humanity above the fray and return us to the reasons we all chose this tough career. I also wanted to thank you for the specific shout-out for Care Signature. We so appreciate the residents embracing this work and please know that we are available anytime for a noon conference or – even better – a discussion with the residents about how we can make the platform better and more responsive to their needs. Happy Thanksgiving…..with Heide 😊 I feel like I know her and wish I did!! (Deborah Rhodes, General Internal Medicine)
• I’m thankful to work at a school of medicine that values holistic care of all people. (Tara Sanft, Medical Oncology)
• I am thankful for my wonderful mentors, colleagues, friends, and family here at Yale and beyond, and to be a part of this superorganism that is medical and scientific training and inquiry in the 21^st century. During one of my nights off a few months ago on Peters, I ended up watching J.J. Abrams’ documentary on the Blue Angels on Amazon. I really recommend it – not just for the crazy aerial videography, but also for how the daily teamwork and professionalism of the Blue Angels are emphasized. This is captured in the phrase “glad to be here” – which is used as both a greeting and a values statement throughout the film. With respect to training in medicine and science at Yale, I am very glad to be here, and I look forward to continuing to learn and grow as a physician and scientist. (Harlan Pietz, PGY1)
• This year, I am grateful for the privilege of taking care of patients during some of their most difficult moments. I am also grateful for the fun moments I have shared with my new friends during residency. And as always, I am grateful for the love and support of my family. We are so lucky to have you! (Maryam Mooghali, PGY1)
• I am grateful for so many things: for being part of the Yale family; for the opportunity to grow; for my great support system and loved ones; for clean air to breathe; for the sense of belonging I feel; and for good health. (Bahar Ardestani, PGY1)
• I'm thankful for the benevolence, resilience, and optimism of our community, our commitment to our patients and to each other. (Isabel Bazan, PCCSM, APD)
• I'm thankful for my family, my friends, and Panera Mondays 🙂 (Justin Dower, PGY3)
• I am thankful for this learning community, the health and safety of family and for the love of my husband. (Jackie Savage, General Internal Medicine, APD)
• I’m thankful for good company and camaraderie with plenty of snacks and pie to celebrate Thanksgiving with my co-residents while working nights! (Tiffany Hu, PGY3)
• Thank you for this exercise—it’s a great reminder to pause amidst the chaos. On nights like tonight, when we're the admitting team and leaving late due to 525 admits to the floor, I’m deeply, deeply grateful for my wife. She’s holding down the fort with our two beautiful boys, making it possible for me to do this work with minimal guilt. Because of her, I’m able to stay focused on giving my patients the care they deserve, even as the night stretches longer than expected. And despite the late hour, I know I’ll come home to a warm, beautiful home. It may not be laughter that greets me tonight, but even snores are a reminder of the love and support waiting for me. (Mendel Jacobs, PGY1)
• For Thanksgiving, I would like to share my response to one of the questions in my pre-interview questionnaire at Yale for the fellowship: During the past six years since immigrating to the US, I have experienced many ups and downs. There were moments of joy, grief, pain, relief, love, heartbreak, failure, and success. I learned that the most precious thing in life is having people who accept you as who you are and give you a sense of belonging. Most of these people, for me, are now at Yale, and I am grateful for their presence in my life. (Elmira Esmaeilzadeh, PGY3)
• Thank you for putting this together! I am thankful to be able to have time with loved ones near and far, to have a safe and comfortable home, to welcome a very sweet new canine family member, and to get to spend my days doing things I love! (Ramya Sampath, PGY2)
• My wife Esraa, without whom my residency -and everything I've achieved- would not have been possible. From day one, you've stood by my side, sharing in both the challenges and the triumphs. Everything I am and have accomplished, I owe to you. (Abdel Abushouk, PGY2)
• What I’m thankful for: my family and friends and my cat, the trad IM community, clean air and water and peace in CT, access to delicious food (including the snacks brought to our weekly leadership meetings!), all the beautiful music made across the world, good health for my family, & the first Anchorman movie. (Matt Grant, Infectious Diseases, APD)
• I am thankful for all of the smart, passionate and compassionate colleges I get to work with. (Joe Canterino, Infectious Diseases, Firm Chief)
• I am grateful for Kira, my wife, my partner, and best friend of over 20 years who is the wellspring of everything in my life that I am grateful for both personally and professionally! (Aaron Eisman, PGY1)
• Things that I'm grateful for: Being able to strengthen family relationships despite being away from home. Experiencing an ACTUAL fall season for the first time! The list could go on but I'm sure you're getting flooded with responses! (Ale Meza Contreras, PGY1)
• I am thankful for being surrounded by amazing people. Happy Thanksgiving! (Aram Bidikian, PGY2)
• I’m grateful to work with so many bright, passionate, hard-working and kind trainees, rotation after rotation on the medical oncology firm. It is such an honor to support and witness each and every one of you grow over the years. You make all the difference for our patients and their caregivers. Today, I am proud to work alongside many of you as attendings! Extra thanks to those of you on night float (this diurnal creature respects that commitment more than most!) (Elizabeth Prsic, Medical Oncology, Firm Chief)
• This year more than ever I am thankful for our mentors throughout life — everyone along the way who took us under their wing and showed us our own potential. We wouldn't be here without them. P.S. As an aside, I have a daily practice of planting "gratefulness seeds" — every day before I head out the door I think of 3 things that I'm grateful for (often family, friends, health related). I try to do the same before I head to bed. I find it helps cultivate a healthy perspective, especially during tough times. (Sud Perera, PGY1)
• I feel so fortunate to train here at Yale and have enjoyed sharing all that I love about the program at the pre-interview socials. Something I’m particularly thankful for: I'm incredibly thankful for the senior residents at Yale, who manage to balance their demanding tasks while always finding time to teach, mentor, and create learning opportunities for us Interns—whether it's guiding us through procedures or sending us home a little early when we've wrapped up for the day. I'm also thankful for all my new friends here, who make this experience even more rewarding. (Rachel Aber, PGY1)
• I'm grateful to find purpose in my work. Some days I feel powerless (in the context of world events), often I feel tired and overwhelmed. Recently my greatest coping strategy is to take advantage of my better, higher-energy days to spend extra time with my patients, help out my colleagues, and spend time with friends. It helps a lot to be part of a program that is conducive to that effort; valuing collaboration, learning, and well-being. Most of all, I'm grateful for my family, nearby and far away, my partner, and my sweet orange cat. (Tamar Kaminski, PGY1)
• I’m not the best at these things, but I think this is a great time to stop and reflect on all the good things and be grateful. I didn’t want to miss my chance to give it a try! I’m thankful to be at Yale. I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn every day from my patients, my attendings, and my fellow residents. I’m thankful to be surrounded by people I admire, for my outstanding co-interns in every way, and for such incredible individuals on this journey. I’m thankful that I can chat, laugh, agree, disagree, study, and learn every day with my co-interns and seniors. I’m thankful for every great moment in residency and the countless opportunities we have each day. I’m even grateful for the small details that make a big difference — like the urgent schedule adjustments we sometimes need, which our chiefs and leadership handle so quickly to keep things running smoothly. I’m thankful for my mentors who guide me daily. I’m deeply grateful to be surrounded by people who always care about each other. To put it simply, I’m thankful to be at Yale. (Santiago Callegari, PGY1)
• I am thankful for colleagues who inspire me to do better. (Beth Marhoffer, General Internal Medicine, Core Faculty)
• This year, I am very thankful for the new addition to our family, our goldendoodle, Franklin. He has brought so much joy into our lives! I am very thankful for my amazing husband, Ben, and his top-notch cooking and dog dad skills. I am so thankful for the chief group and leadership team as they are the best work partners and friends, and of course, our residency would be nothing without our kind, hardworking, smart, incredible residents. (Mary White, Chief Resident)
• I am thankful for my wonderful wife, Mary; the entire chief group; our amazing residents who work so hard every day to care for patients, often without recognition; and our program leadership for prioritizing our well-being and humanity. Beyond that, I am thankful to live in a relatively safe place in this tumultuous world and thinking of those who are living under violence, oppression, and/or fear. (Ben Chipkin, Chief Resident)