From the President's Desk

Life Long Learning

Back to school notices remind us at this time of the year that learning is lifelong. After reading a letter in a recent issue of Womans Day that suggested that a diary be used to record one new thing you learn each day, I began to think about the concept of daily learning. Learning something new each day keeps us fresh and involved in what we are doing. It challenges us to question our assumptions. It stimulates us to think about how we can apply our new knowledge to what we are doing. New ideas open up doors and cause us to question our basic assumptions about how we work and view the world. Is there a way to do our work faster, better or more efficiently? At Med League, we often ask: how can software change our approach to analysis of records or our business? How can we use our database more effectively? How can we use medical images to convey details of the medical issues? How can we improve the quality of the reports we prepare?

Learning takes energy, concentration, and focus. Advanced age is not a reason to stop learning. I am reminded of this when I think of my mother and her brothers. I have come to realize that the obstacles that we see are often only in our minds. Last year, my 83-year-old blind uncle, wheelchair-bound from a stroke and dependent on oxygen, could not see any reason why he could not fly from Colorado to Ocean City, Maryland on Thanksgiving to get together with his siblings. He runs his own business providing services for the blind. His 80-year-old brother, an ex-marine, was not discouraged by the need to drive from North Carolina to Maryland. His job is consulting with the food industry. My mother, age 76, was not deterred by the chemotherapy she was undergoing for recurrent colon cancer from making the trip. She had retired earlier that year from a job as a nursing instructor. (She has just completed a course on how to teach illiterate adults and plans to be a volunteer instructor as soon as she comes back from her cruise across the Atlantic.) All three siblings arrived for the gathering and plan to do it again this year. Are these siblings unusual? They don’t think so.

Do you ever accept limitations and believe you cannot learn something? Why?