First-year medical students at Mercer get their white coats

Brian Wright took an unusual path to become a first-year student in the Mercer University School of Medicine this year.

Wright, 38, wasn’t sure if he was the oldest of the 65 students to accept their white coats in a ceremony Saturday. Students get the coats in their first year to symbolize their entry into the medical profession.

Although their education is just beginning, they will work with practicing physicians in their first year.

Wright’s story is more than a little different. He studied theology at Mercer and worked as a Baptist pastor in a poor area of Atlanta for 11 years.

He saw from that experience how much medical issues dominated the lives of people the church served.

“I started volunteering at an inner-city clinic and fell in love with medicine,” he said. “When I was a clergy, everything people talked about at church was usually related to someone being sick, so I feel like I’ve just changed tunes from spiritual healing to physical healing.”

In the ceremony the students walked onto the stage one-by-one, with their coat draped on their arm. Most of them had their coat put on by Dr. Tim Stapleton, a Mercer medical school alumni. A few with a parent who was a physician were allowed to have the parent put the coat on them.

One of those was Dr. Ramon Ramos, of Savannah, who put the coat on his daughter, Christina. She is his youngest of three and the first to go to medical school.

“It’s like a dream come true,” he said after the ceremony.

Dr. Allison Scheetz, the medical director at Pine Pointe Hospice, Navicent Health, in Macon, gave the keynote address.

She said the medical profession is tough, but rewarding. She encouraged the students to lean on each other as they go through the stresses of their education and career.

“Medicine is a very demanding profession, as you are about to find out,” she said. “Just remember, no one can understand what you are going through like your colleagues.”

She also addressed the potential for litigation that comes with the job, and told students to be honest.

“If you make a mistake, own up to it,” she said. “Don’t try to hide it. Deal with the consequences.”

After getting their coats, the students took the Oath of Geneva, which includes a promise to not let “considerations of religion, nationality, race, party politics or social standing” impact how a patient is treated.

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.

This story was originally published August 29, 2015 at 9:32 PM with the headline "First-year medical students at Mercer get their white coats ."