Awarded to a long-standing physician leader who has made impactful contributions to the profession of medicine and the NMA.
By Bill Lydiatt, MD
Building Community
It is a tremendous honor to receive the Distinguished Service to Medicine Award from the Nebraska Medical Association.
One of the founders of sociology, Émile Durkheim, described human functioning in two ways. “The profane” are those activities—having coffee, taking the kids to school, grocery shopping–and other things that occupy our day-to-day lives. He contrasted this with “the sacred”—experiences punctuated by a feeling of transcendence when we feel larger than ourselves, part of something more expansive. The sacred is when we lose our sense of self and feel more generous, more open to experience, connected with others. This is a fundamental component needed to create and strengthen communities. Medicine offers frequent encounters with the sacred. Physicians, as respected members of our society, can use this gift to build a sense of common community.
Jonathan Sacks, a rabbi who wrote a wonderful book called Morality, makes the case that morality is based in relationships. It is self-behaving for the betterment of the larger group; it is the basis of values. Human connection, at a very basic level, helps us to reduce misunderstanding and to reduce fear. Morality requires responsibility and accountability, to do your duty for something larger than yourself, such as your family, your friends, your neighbors, your community, or your soul. Morality facilitates trust and aids in the sharing of ideas and experiences. Moral behavior leads to civility. It is a buffer against loneliness, depression, and anxiety—for community engenders morality. Viktor Frankl, in Man’s Search for Meaning, describes “selfcare” as self-transcendence to achieve meaning, the Durkheimian sense of sacredness. “Self” is where it
begins. Too much focus on the self is selfishness and narcissism. “Self-care” should be thought of as “we care”—a healthy way to help others.
Civility is necessary for community. It is easy to feel we have lost civility, never to see it return; the news is full of pain, suffering, conflict, and incivility. However, physicians are key to countering this trend. In Hope for Cynics, Jamil Zaki reported a study where he asked students on one college campus, “Would you help your peers if they were feeling down?” and “Would you want to connect with others that you don’t know?” The students responded 95 and 85%, respectively, in the affirmative. Strikingly, at the same time, more than half reported that the average student
would not help their peers and do not want to connect with others they don’t know. Zaki points out that this describes two realities. One: The actual reality of “Yes, we want to help”; and the perceived reality of: “I do, but they don’t.” The truth is: “We do, and they do.”
As humans, we tend toward cynicism. Anecdotes of bad experiences are seared in our memory. There is a negativity bias that distorts our perception of human nature, which requires many positive experiences—research suggests up to five—to counter one negative. Yet, cynics tend to have more depression, less financial success, higher divorce rates, and more problematic drinking. The myth that the cynic is the smart one—more capable of uncovering truths or navigating a deceptive world—is counterfactual. There is also an opportunity cost to cynicism. Not trusting others means we miss opportunities for growth and new experiences. Cynicism not only harms the individual; it also destroys opportunities for civility and diminishes our sense of community.
Our group, the Nebraska Medical Association, represents an important community. We gather to share among peers, to be together, to build community; hearing, seeing, and experiencing things
together is more impactful than when alone. It is an opportunity for us to give back to others. That’s why we volunteer. And it’s what helps us to create and strengthen our values. It affords us a chance to view and reflect on the sacred. It strengthens our own morality. It creates a path to civility, a key ingredient to a strong community.
As I reflect upon the many leaders featured in this magazine and those who have been honored with the Distinguished Service to Medicine Award in the past, I am humbled. The awardees have contributed mightily to our shared community. They have built civility throughout their lives, both in work and as active members of their communities. They have exhibited morality in caring for others. I believe, this practice of morality—we care—sustained and nourished them. As exemplars, they remind us that we can experience the sacred that is found in community. I urge you to reject
cynicism, as together we can continue to make our patients and our state a stronger community. Thank you, again, for this great honor. And thank you for contributing to our shared community.
Bio: Dr. Bill Lydiatt is CEO of Clarkson Regional Health Services, a nonprofit with a rich history and deep dedication to improving healthcare in Nebraska. Dr. Lydiatt is immediate past president of the American Head and Neck Society, Chair of the AJCC 9th Edition Head and Neck Staging Core, and professor of surgery at Creighton University. He is former Chief Medical Officer at Nebraska Methodist Hospital.
Under Dr. Lydiatt’s leadership, CRHS has crystallized its mission to focus on improving access to behavioral and maternal health care, ensuring these focus areas are prioritized in its directed initiatives and programs, philanthropic support, and data analysis. One of the first initiatives to develop from his vision is Bridges to Mental Health, a statewide initiative that seeks to mitigate the gap in access to behavioral health care by uptraining existing providers. Believed to be the first of its kind nationally, this program has uptrained more than 400 providers across Nebraska and Western Iowa to date.
Dr. Lydiatt’s roles in governance and policy have included serving on the Nebraska Health Network’s board and Nebraska Medical Association’s House of Delegates. He has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, books, and book chapters.
Dr. Lydiatt received his Bachelor of Science degree from Stanford University and his medical degree from University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he also completed his residency in otolaryngology, and completed a post-residency fellowship in head and neck oncologic surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He holds an EMBA in healthcare administration from the University of Colorado–which he received after being selected as one of the first recipients of the Canedy Scholarship, awarded to a Nebraska physician with a demonstrated track record of leadership, a spirit of working across silos, and a long-term vision to improve the Omaha community.
