Message from the President

Meeting the Moment

John M. Ferretti, DO - President/CEO

There are moments during the course of our shared humanity that eclipse others, emblazoned upon our minds; moments of supreme challenge, of intense and daunting trials. It is those moments that we are transformed. It is by our deeds, during those moments, that we are defined. For the Augean task put to us, calls us to find courage, to summon strength, to seek our better angels, and to call upon our God.

We have before us, in this moment, an ordeal of the most dreadful kind. Before us lay many arduous months - months of suffering and of loss.

Our lives, forever changed by a virus that emanated stealthily from Wuhan, China, are now the battlefront of a global war.

In moments such as these, we harken to the wisdom of the ages, for as a nation, we have been at war before.

Then, our soldiers fought tyranny and oppression, seeking and ensuring freedom and liberty. Their courage was found on the front lines of battle in places named Passchendaele, Verdun, and Gallipoli. They summoned strength over Berlin, Midway, and Okinawa. In the whirlwind, their better angels found them on Bloody Ridge and in Inchon; and they called upon their God in La Drang and Saigon. Medics were with them then, physician warriors who risked all to save many.

Now, as a nation we face a new enemy. Our President has aptly named it, “The Invisible Enemy,” for though we know its origin, we know not its campaign of battle.

What may be our action then? As healers, we are called by name to fight this battle, to answer this call, to vanquish this virus. The sick make their entreaty to us, much like the hope of freedom called to our warriors of decades past.

It is then our mission, our healing oath, our pledge before God to wage war against this enemy.

Our outrage at its origin and its encompassing devastation is met in this moment by our medical might, our scientific knowledge, our superlative training, our courage to face the enemy, and our strength as a people guided by Providence to defeat it.

Our goal is victory; triumph in spite of all travail. The path ahead will be fraught with fear, but victory over vicissitude is the hallmark of Americans.

Our medical community is answering the call. Our healers are serving, at this moment, in hospitals that in years hence, will be remembered as offensives against the virus in much the same way as were the bloodied battlefields of the world wars and armed conflicts.

As President and CEO of Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, I am proud of our institution, of our peerless ability to educate and to train the healthcare professions, to imbue knowledge and to hone the character of many of the warriors who are now engaged in this fierce COVID combat.

As many LECOM alumni, residents, faculty and staff face the months to come, they take with them our prayers, our pride, our profound gratitude. Theirs is the calling that will meet the moment, for our people are unabashed, unbowed, and unyielding.

The conflict in which we are now engaged has inflicted profound hardships upon our nation and upon our families.

Yet, in our soaring spirit, proud patriotism, and strength of character, we endure as one family, bound together by love and loyalty, timeless traits entirely exemplified by the unfathomable circumstances in which we now find ourselves.

Through the courage of our physicians, nurses, and healthcare professionals; through the knowledge possessed by our scientists, pioneers, and innovators; through the assiduous resolve of the American people, and through the grace of God, we shall win this battle.

And, in a moment, not too distant from this one, when we achieve our victory, our nation will emerge triumphant, more united than ever before for having met this moment.