Open letter to former patients at LLU clinic in Highland, California

Dear Former Patients of Loma Linda University:

It's hard to believe that it's now been 2 years since my departure from the office in my hometown of Highland.  I think of you often & have been wanting to write for quite awhile.  I'm grateful to remain in close contact with the Highland clinic staff.  My prayers are that you too are doing well in all regards, along with your loved ones.  I imagine many of you little ones have sprouted up or perhaps have matured in such a way that I would no longer recognize you even if I walked right by you on the street.  For you adults, I imagine you are trucking along in life, providing for your families, & learning a lot of life's lessons along the way.  For those of you with more complicated medical frailties, I pray that you have been well established with your new providers & are receiving the care you need.

I want you to know that I continue to count it a great blessing to have been able not just to serve you, but also to be served by you as well during my eleven and a half years in Highland.  Being able to serve you helped me immensely in so many ways, ways that I continue to cherish now:
- you patiently helped me grow in "real-world" clinical experience immediately after I finished formal residency training. I often see you in my mind’s eye when I come across similar clinical situations nowadays.
- you cheered me on and made it fun to come to work,
- you opened your lives to me & helped me to understand health and life to be the deep and multi-faceted whole that it is, especially as you came from such varied backgrounds (students, construction workers, health professionals, heroic homemakers, retail salespeople, heating/air conditioning repairmen, athletes, clergy), were of various ages ranging in age from premature infants to nonagenarians, & were of varied cultures and backgrounds. In a very real way I felt like I could understand more about life because you shared the stories of your lives with me.
- you helped me with my foundations of learning to speak in Spanish (Muchos de ustedes me ayudaron con mi fundación de aprendizaje para hablar español.  Sorprendentemente, ahora en mi nuevo trabajo, más o menos dos tercios de mis pacientes solamente hablan español.  Ustedes estarán muy felices para saber que estoy aprendiendo más cada día.  ¡Muchisimas gracias!)

It has often been a wonderful surprise to bump into some of you either on the street in the Inland Empire, online, or even in Orange County.  I was quite dismayed to hear from quite a few of you that you never received the letter we sent out a few months before I left (you can find it attached).  I am so very sorry for having missed you somehow, especially as I felt I inadvertently left many of you in the lurch of having to find another medical home.  While I knew I could leave you pediatric patients in the very capable hands of my colleagues Dr. Hensley & Dr. Antonio, I thought LLU had some new internists who could soon replace me in Highland to take over care of you adult patients.  (I am pleased to inform you that I am told that a very kind and capable Internal Medicine/Pediatrics attending physician by the name of Dr. Lorraine Reverson has been serving at Highland for the last several months, same phone number 909-425-3939.)

I actually seriously considered continuing to work in Highland & commuting from Orange County, but finally decided against it in order to be closer to the family in case of emergency/disaster.  The transition to AltaMed was difficult even though I was graciously received by colleagues and staff, as I felt it took over a year before I finally felt I “got into the groove” of daily workflows.  I’m treating a lot medically indigent people, many of whom deal with such urban conditions as drug addiction, anxiety/depression, and homelessness, & many who do not speak English at all.  Workdays are busy of course, but the 30-45 minute commute each way was tough getting used to!  All in all, I’m grateful to get to know & serve my new patients & have been delighted to note that as with many of you, I’m able to care for multiple generations within families (grandparents to babies).

Family life also has been a challenge as our move was “as fast as molasses” since it took over 4 months after finding a home to make the necessary repairs to live in it, & we have yet to finish unpacking all of our boxes!  The kids are doing fine in their new schools and are quite active in sports, church, and music. Grateful as we are, we still miss quite a few things about life in the IE: friendships, community activities, less traffic, & an overall more sane pace of life.

Anyway, I do hope somehow that this letter will get to the eyes of as many old patients as possible, as I do want you to know that I miss you and pray that you & your families are well & whole in all regards – body, soul, & spirit! I’d love to hear how you are doing!

Blessings,
Dr. Sidney Wu
(December 1, 2017)