One of our most important relationships – other than family and friends – is with our doctor.

Doctors are the gatekeepers to our health: in addition to providing preventive care and disease management, they serve as educators, researchers and advocates for good habits and healthy lifestyles.

This National Doctors’ Day, Tennova Healthcare – Clarksville would like to recognize all of our medical staff’s role in healing, patient safety, medical advances, and respect for human life and individual dignity.

We recognize that physicians play a key role in their patients’ lifelong health and well-being. They have extensive knowledge of their patients’ individual health histories, experiences, and areas of concern or health goals. They work collaboratively with each patient to help achieve and maintain good health, through all stages of life.

National Doctors’ Day was first observed on March 30, 1933, spearheaded by Eudora Brown Almond, a physician’s wife who wished to set aside a day to honor her husband and other physicians. March 30th is also significant among the medical community because it marks the anniversary of the first surgery using anesthesia, performed by Crawford Long, M.D., a Jefferson, Georgia physician.

Later, in 1958, Congress adopted a resolution commemorating National Doctors’ Day, and in 1990, official legislation establishing March 30 as National Doctors’ Day was passed and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. He declared, “There is no greater reward than being entrusted with the care of others. The day-to-day work of healing conducted by physicians throughout the United States has been shaped, in large part, by great pioneers in medical research. However, in addition to the doctors whose names we easily recognize, there are countless others who carry on the quiet work of healing each day in communities throughout the United States – indeed, throughout the world. Common to the experience of each of them, from the specialist in research to the general practitioner, are hard work, stress, and sacrifice.”

So on this National Doctors’ Day, we celebrate our physicians commitment to the medical field, their patients and our community.