Sulphur Springs Doctor is the TAFT President

DALLAS – Dr. I. L. Balkcom IV has been sworn in as president of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. It came during the group’s Annual Session and Scientific Assembly in Dallas. Dr. Balkcom is a physician with the Medical-Surgical Clinic in Sulphur Springs.

In Balkcom’s presidential address, he listed some of the terms used for family physicians and described his frustrations with being called “just a general practitioner.” Instead of being called a GP or a gatekeeper, he told the audience he wants to be a “shepherd” of the people. “I want to lead them, I want to love them, and I want to take care of them from the time they’re born, and even before they’re born, to the time they leave us. That’s what we should strive for, to be a good shepherd.”

He spoke directly to TAFP members when he asked for their help to reinvigorate the specialty, to achieve the recognition and appreciation deserved for family physicians’ full breadth of practice. “I cannot do it alone, nor do I intend to. I’m going to ask you if you can donate five minutes for family medicine. That’s going to be my battle cry: Give five minutes for family medicine. Take the message to your colleagues and friends. It’s time for us to do that.”