CAROLINE’S WHITE COAT CEREMONY
I had no idea what a White Coat Ceremony was except that it is when medical students were given the doctor’s white coat as a sign that they were about to be doctors. I somehow thought it would be in a Tufts auditorium with somebody handing out white coats.
But it was in one of Boston’s old style theaters where plays are regularly presented. A huge crowd of parents and well wishers were already lined up when we arrived. We walked up very steep steps, at least four stories, to the second steeply sloping balcony where we found seats. Seeing other people holding large bouquets, Liam, Carloline’s boyfriend, and my son Tom, went to a nearby flower shop and bought a huge bouquet.
The ceremony turned out to be a huge deal, with a stage full of doctor teacher mentors and the Indian born president of Tufts giving a short speech. The keynote speaker was a young, maybe 35, former graduate of Tufts Medical School whose advice to the future doctors was so moving and so well delivered that we in the audience were really moved. He told stories from his medical experience which illustrate the ability as doctor’s to admit when you were baffled by symptoms and had no knowledge of what was the matter, to realize that sometimes a patient needs understanding more than medicine and that patience and caring for your patients was as necessary as medical advice. It was a wonderful, very personal, speech.
And then all 150 new students walked singly across the stage where their doctor mentor put on their white coats and their families cheered and whooped. It was a very moving ceremony.
After the ceremony many of the families walked across the street to Boston Commons, a large park in the center of Boston and took photographs with family and friends. Caroline had made friends with a half dozen new women students and they gathered by the lake at the center of the park and took photographs.
We then went out to a brewery for lunch. It was a wonderful day.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 