LIHU‘E — Representatives from several medical organizations, including Wilcox Medical Center, Hawai‘i Pacific Health, Hawai‘i Health Systems Corporation Kaua‘i Region, Hawai‘i Emergency Physicians Associated, and Kaiser Permanente joined Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami in celebrating National Doctors’ Day.
The organizations celebrated with a proclamation and thank you’s for the hard work and devotion to health care by their doctors.
Hundreds of thousands of doctors lead the fight against disease and illness, and we continue to celebrate the medical advances doctors have achieved. Doctors continue to seek advanced treatments and cures for debilitating conditions, and on National Doctors’ Day, we thank all doctors everywhere for their hard work and devotion to health care, and to saving lives, the proclamation states.
National Doctors’ Day is celebrated each year on March 30 and observed for the work doctors do for their patients, communities, and society as a whole.
The date was settled on because it marks the first time ether anesthesia for surgery was administered by a doctor, Dr. Crawford W. Long, was on March 30, 1842.
Doctors’ Day was first observed in Winder, Georgia, on March 30, 1933 when the wife of a prominent Georgian doctor wanted to recognize and honor doctors for their service. To honor them, she mailed greeting cards to all the doctors she knew, and placed red carnations on the graves of those who were deceased.
Red carnations are still used today to celebrate National Doctors’ Day to thank doctors for their work in medicine.
The holiday was unofficially celebrated for many years before it became a legal holiday on March 30, 1958, when the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a resolution that commemorates Doctors’ Day.
It was not until 1991 that Congress passed Proclamation 6253, and President George H.W. Bush proclaimed National Doctors’ Day to honor the nation’s physicians for their dedication and leadership.
While other countries celebrate their doctors on a different day, the common bond of showing appreciation for health care providers continues.
Mayor Kawakami, representing all of the residents and communities on Kaua‘i, extended his sincere gratitude to doctors and physicians for their dedication to the health of others.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
