Medicine is a hard taskmaster and can be all-consuming if
we let it – sometimes at the expense of
our health and our relationships, but also at the expense of our talents.
Medical students and graduates are often people who had to choose medicine over
other possibilities for which they were equally well-equipped - music, art, sport, the humanities
generally.
In 2010 a small group
of Sydney doctors were disturbed by the imminent demise of Dr Tony Chu’s
Creative Doctors Network. Tony, an actor and filmmaker, had run the
Network with great enthusiasm and success for several years, providing support
and encouragement for doctors who needed or wanted to rediscover their creative
selves. Circumstances prevented him from continuing to do so.
Several of us decided that we couldn’t do without the
network, providing as it had the impetus for us to reignite or expand our creativity.
Marg Gottlieb, Howard Gwynne and I got together with Judith
Babich of Active Locums, who had also sponsored the CDN and was prepared to
continue sponsoring our activities, to come up with something to keep the
creativity bubbling.
For the last 3 years we have organised three functions a
year, one each for visual artists, writers and performers, to help them network
with likeminded doctors, provide them with a venue to display their works and to encourage others to renew their interest in
creativity for their health’s sake. (There is actually an evidence base for
this idea and, if you insist, I will talk about it another time)
This blog is a natural extension of what we’ve
already been doing. We’re hoping everyone will enjoy it and contribute
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One of Our Performing Doctors at the Camelot Lounge in Marrickville, Sydney
(not what you expected is it?)
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