2021 TMCMS Annual Meeting Keynote by Dr. Pamela Wible
Please click here to view the keynote presentation entitled Healing Our Healers: Preventing Suicide Among Health Professionals.
Dr. Pamela Wible
Pamela Wible is an American physician and activist who promotes community-designed medical clinics; she also maintains a suicide prevention hotline for medical doctors and medical students. The following are articles written by her on the subject.
Doctor revived after suicide. Here's what he says.
Why happy doctors die by suicide.
Breaking through a 'cloud of silence': One physician's suicide offers lessons for prevention.
For a personal conversation with Dr. Wible, click here for strategy session & she’ll call you today.
Dr. Wible speaks to ALL suicidal med students & doctors for free. Email her & she’ll respond ASAP.
Suicide Prevention
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 800-273-8255
- The Crisis Clinic of Thurston & Mason Counties 360-586-2800
- WA Suicide Prevention Hotline – Suicide prevention, awareness and support 800-784-2433
- Youth Suicide Prevention (Thurston County Public Health)
Crisis Intervention and Prevention
Vital Signs
To help raise greater awareness about the physician suicide epidemic and to provide physicians the tools to attend to their own well-being, the Physicians Foundation has launched Vital Signs, a new educational campaign. Vital Signs features a webpage to help understand the warning signs to look for in someone who may be suicidal and provides a guide to help start a conversation with a physician about whom a colleague may be concerned. Learn more.
In Remembrance of Dr. John Hautala
On August 21, 2020, we lost a beloved member of our own medical community, Dr. John Hautala. He was just 54-years old when he died from suicide.
Dr. John Hautala graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1993 and completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at Michigan State University in 1996. John joined the emergency medicine group at Mason General Hospital in 1998. At that time, the group consisted of five fulltime board-certified emergency medicine doctors. He was happy when the group finally hired their sixth member and he was no longer the junior partner.
Dr. Hautala was an incredibly gifted, caring and highly skilled physician with extraordinary diagnostic acumen. He was highly regarded by his peers and the community. A shining example of how deeply he cared for his patients and families was when he lent his car to a family so they could get home from the emergency room in the middle of the night.
He loved children and was particularly fond of working with pediatric patients, often seeing them for his partners. John was incredibly generous and often spread cheer through the hospital and the department with anonymous gifts to staff, giving out chocolates, and donations for those in need. He loved the Apple iPhone and was the first to obtain the latest version every year. He was proud of his Finnish heritage. He was funny, bright, friendly, and a joy to have as a colleague and a friend. His closest colleagues thought of him as the most generous person anyone had ever met.
His life was a gift to us and a benefit to all our patients, staff and community for over 22 years of service. We would like to honor and remember his legacy by sharing our own love and compassion for each other, our patients, our colleagues, and our families.
Kevin Roscoe, MD
Chief of Staff, Mason General Hospital
TMCMS Trustee