I was honored to speak at the 2026 graduation of the Mercy One Genesis Quad Cities Family Practice Residency program. I’m fortunate to work as adjunct part-time faculty and to help guide young physicians as they grow into compassionate and caring doctors.
There’s a lot of pressure when writing a keynote address! In my mind, I didn’t need to stress because everyone would mentally check out, scrape their dessert plate, and watch the clock until it’s over—but I couldn’t disappoint the graduating class. It needed to be funny… but what if nobody appreciated my humor? I couldn’t let them see how much I hated public speaking. (In high school, I once ran out of the classroom mid-speech and cried in the bathroom.) I needed to direct the speech to the residents…without regard to what anyone else thought. Right?
A bad habit that has grown through the years is that I swear too much. I never used bad words when my children were young, but now my mouth ignores the repercussions and often spouts off without my permission. I tell myself that occasional swearing at work helps me to “keep it real.” The residents will realize I’m human, just like them. But could I cuss in a keynote? Isn’t that tacky and unprofessional? I worried about the possibiltiy of children in the audience, so I decided to keep it to a “G” rating…
Until minutes before the speech. Two of the graduating residents approached me and asked, “Are you ready for your speech?” In typical fashion, I responded “F*%K no!” They both laughed and said, “That’s the Dr. McCaw we want!” And that’s all I needed to hear…
Here it is:
It was honor to speak to the graduates, and I wish them all well!
Keeping it real. Thanks for visiting Pat’s Chat.