John T. Hughes  |  Senior Marketing Consultant
(877) 456-2867 x4233  |  jhughes@deltalocums.com

I was watching television last night when I heard, or rather saw a famous proverb that I hadn’t thought about since my high school latin days.  The verse reads: "Omnia mea mecum porto." This translates into: I carry with me all my things.  As soon as I thought about it, it reminded me, at least on the surface, of the locum business.

Of course the story from which the proverb comes has nothing to do with traveling physicians.  It is the story of Simonides, a Greek wise man that was shipwrecked and lost all his possessions.  In the light of this tragedy, instead of losing his nerve,  he claimed “Omnia mea mecum porto,” or, “ I carry with me all my things”.  Although he was suddenly without money or clothes, he still had means: He had his knowledge, experience, desire.  Naturally in the end he is able to use these assets to gain back his wealth.

I guess the parallel that I draw is more the ideal of the proverb.  The physicians that work for Delta Locum Tenens are the physical embodiment of the verse.  They literally travel with their knowledge, experience and desire to help people in places, many times, they have never been.  Modern day drifters, but with a purpose.  No hospital is too busy or location too remote for these intrepid neo-explorers.

Phaedrus’ tale of Simonides’ wisdom, although written long ago, is still viable to modern situations.  That’s why it stuck out to me I guess - something ancient applicable to the job I do every day.  And I love it because the stories of our doctor’s in the ERs, surgery suites, and ORs of hospitals everyday all across the United States are being written still, and I am a part of that story.