Volume 8, No. 2: Section 12

MESSAGE FROM SARALYN MARK

On March 27, 2006, Saralyn Mark, MD shared a memo that she sent to the Federal Coordinating Committee on Women's Health. Mark is Senior Medical Advisor to the Office on Women’s Health (OWH) within the US Department of Health and Human Services, and Office of Health Affairs, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). As the Senior Medical Advisor on Women’s Health, Mark is responsible for the development and analysis of initiatives and programs on women's health on Earth and in Space. Additionally, she fosters collaborations between health care organizations and scientific agencies to increase their focus on women's health issues. (Taken from her biosketch, March 2005).

Mark intended her memo to provide hope and optimism during challenging times:

It was a privilege to be the keynote speaker on Wednesday for the National Women's History Month celebration, sponsored by the DHHS, DHS, SBA, DoE, NASA and the IBB. I was delighted to present many of the accomplishments of the OWH and our sister agencies. I would like to briefly share with you some of my comments.

Sir Isaac Newton apparently said that he could see further because he stood on the shoulders of giants. In the history of women's health, we have had many giants, including Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, Clara Barton and Bylle Avery to name but a few. For most women, we have stood on the padded shoulders of our mothers. They have provided us with courage, strength and determination to pursue our dreams.

I dedicated my presentation to my mother who has shown incredible bravery and grace during her medical journey over the past 7 months. After enduring months of painful rehabilitation to walk again after a hip fracture, she fell and fractured her other hip and shoulder as she was leaving the medical center. She developed pneumonia and was not able to undergo surgery. She was then placed in a hospice for comfort care. After a week of semi-consciousness, she opened her eyes and told her family that she could not have her funeral on the Sunday that the Denver Broncos were playing because no one would come to her funeral. At that point, we fought to get her back to the hospital. Amazingly, her labs were almost normal even after a week of near starvation and dehydration. I will never forget the look on the doctors' faces when they saw her again. She was blessed to be treated by a wonderful team of doctors and nurses who have helped to get her through surgery and various post-op complications.

In healthcare, there are those who only can focus on data and statistics. They are experts in the science of medicine, but cannot comprehend the art of medicine. It is the inner spirit, the faith and love that surround a patient that can also impact the health and well being of an individual. I believe that we are all related to each other on this plane;, we are all made from the same celestial dust from the beginning of time. I hope that we can use the energy that is in all of us, to light a brilliant today and a more stellar tomorrow. We owe that to ourselves, to our loved ones and to the public that we serve.

I wish good health to all of you.

Sara

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