DR. DARK: What‘s your pitch to younger members as to why they should join ACEP or even some of those members that are on the fence as to why they should remain members of ACEP?

DR. TERRY: I can tell you that when I was in medical school, that is when I realized that I wanted to impact change on a large scale. That I really wanted to impact the masses through policy and not just at the bedside clinically. And what I understood was that to do that, health policy and public health would be my vehicle. When I was elected president of EMRA, I realized that organized medicine is the vehicle we need to create change on large scale. Perhaps, to your point, younger generations aren’t joiners, but I believe there is a sense of wanting to belong. There is an absolute sense of wanting to create change in a meaningful way.

Our newer and younger generations absolutely want to fight for rights and they want to fight for equity and they want to fight for better and improved outcomes. Organized medicine is the perfect vehicle by which to do that. Because the change that we need is hard. And it takes years and years of relationship building and resources and expertise. Organized medicine allows you to have all of those things in a nutshell. ACEP has been working hard in terms of advocacy for emergency physicians and our patients for many years. Through those years of expertise and experience that we find ourselves supporting things like the due process bill, we find ourselves in circles where influence matters. I can tell you that about a month ago I was in a room on Capitol Hill filled with congressmen and women who are in health care, who are physicians. Later that day, I had dinner with the Surgeon General, and those opportunities were only afforded to me due to my connection through ACEP, not because I’m special. So again, I really just want younger generations to realize that the change they want to see, that equity that they want implemented can oftentimes come through vehicles that are tried and true, such as EMRA and ACEP. Your membership dollars matter tremendously. Because it’s only through those membership dollars that we’re able to continue to have these advocacy efforts and for them to be impactful and influential.