Central Texas Veterans Health Care System

VA to recognize physicians in celebration of Doctors’ Day
March 28, 2011

     In celebration of  Doctors Day, physicians at the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System in Temple will be recognized Wedneday, March 30 starting at 7 a.m. in Room 5G31 located in the Teague Hospital (Building 204).  Physicians at the Waco VA Medical Center will be recognized Friday, April 1 starting at 7 a.m. in the Executive Board Room on the first floor of  Building 2.

     The first Doctors’ Day was observed March 30, 1933, in Winder, Georgia. The idea came from Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Dr. Cha Almond, who decided to set a day to honor physicians and celebrate their contributions and caring for the citizens of the United States.  The March 30 date was selected in honor of the anniversary of the first use of general anesthetic in surgery in 1842 when Dr. Crawford Long of Barrow County, Georgia, used ether to remove a tumor from a patient’s neck. The first “Doctors’ Day” was celebrated by mailing cards to physicians and their wives, and placing flowers on the graves of deceased doctors, including Dr. Long.

     On March 30, 1958, the United States House of Representatives adopted a resolution commemorating Doctors’ Day. In 1990, legislation was introduced into the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate to establish a National Doctors Day. Following overwhelming approval by the House and Senate, then-President George Bush signed a resolution designating March 30 as National Doctors’ Day. The first National Doctors’ Day was celebrated in 1991.  Today, the red carnation is commonly used as the symbolic flower for National Doctors Day.

Media wishing to attend either event should contact Deborah Meyer at (254) 534-0304.