Geisinger Graduate Medical Education Committee observes National Physician Suicide Awareness Day with ceremony, tree planting

According to the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD), up to 400 physicians per year die by suicide - a devastating loss affecting doctors’ family, friends, colleagues and up to 1 million patients per year. To draw awareness to both the problem and Geisinger resources that can help, the Wellness Subcommittee of GMEC held an observance outside the Henry Hood Center attended by approximately 40 physicians, residents and staff. During the ceremony, Kelly Baldwin, MD, chair of the Wellness Subcommittee and neurology program director, delivered remarks and called for a moment of silence. Then she and Michelle Thompson, MD, associate chief academic officer, graduate medical education, unveiled the tree and invited any attendee touched by physician suicide to step forward to help plant it. The evergreen tree is meant not only to honor the lives lost, but to offer a symbol of hope to survivors. House staff who could not attend the event wore purple and teal ribbons – the colors chosen to represent physician suicide – to commemorate the day.

National Physician Suicide Awareness Day is an initiative of the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD), in collaboration with American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM), American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians (ACOEP), Emergency Medicine Residents' Association (EMRA), AAEM’s Resident and Student Association (RSA), ACOEP’s Resident-Student Organization (RSO) and the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), groups that have come together to annually dedicate the third Monday in September as National Physician Suicide Awareness (NPSA) Day.

About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation’s leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the non-profit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 134 care sites - including 10 hospital campuses, and Geisinger Health Plan, with 600,000 members in commercial and government plans. The Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,600 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $14 billion to the state’s economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country.  Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.