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From: Frank Bures, M.D.
This is a letter to say thank you to the people of Winona and surrounding areas for the opportunity to be a dermatologist here for 34 and a half years. As someone who came with no pre-conceptions except that I wanted to actually help people, it has been a very rich and rewarding time. There have been immense changes in medicine and the business of medicine, especially in the last 10-15 years, and not always in the best interests of the patients and doctors. “Nuff” said.
I have reflected on what I was asked to do, allowed to do, and tried to do for “my” patients. I realized long ago it was both a privilege and responsibility to be permitted to do all of the above. Within the limits of medicine and this old Bohemie’s skills, I hope it turned out as well as it could. No one gets it right all the time, and I recall there have been a few of those instances. But, I hope and trust those folks understood I did try as hard as I could to fix things. I have always hated not being able to fix a problem. Yet, the tools and knowledge don’t always exist. Our medicine is not even close to Mr. Spock’s on Star Trek.
Having “retired,” whatever that is, on January 1, I might think about what to be when and if I grow up. I did try it once, and it was the worst experience of my life. I also hope that most folks had a bit of fun in their derm visits.
I always told my resident doctors that you make fun with the patients, but not of them. If the person feels that something is a problem, no matter what you think, it is a problem. Growing up, I witnessed what I thought was a lot of bad doctoring of my mother when she was beleaguered by her many illnesses. I pray that I did it the better way.
Again, thanks for the chance to contribute some bits and pieces to the betterment of the community’s communal skin. I can’t close without doing “one”: The wife accompanies her husband to his physical exam. While he was dressing, the doctor came out to talk to her. “You know, I really don’t like the way your husband looks.” Wife, “I never have either, but he’s really handy around the house.”
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