“I have learned medicine is a team sport, and it is very collaborative,” said Dr. William Pierce, a general surgeon who has worked since 2003 at Lompoc Valley Medical Center.
Dr. William Pierce, a general surgeon at Lompoc Valley Medical Center, was recently named the hospital’s 2022 Physician of the Year.
The award was presented by hospital CEO Steve Popkin during the annual medical staff holiday gathering Dec. 13 at the Mission Club restaurant in Lompoc.
“It feels great. It is a real unexpected honor,” Dr. Pierce told the News-Press.
He has worked at the Lompoc hospital since 2003.
Employees cast votes for the physician whom they believe exemplifies the hospital district’s values and maintains the trust of the community, patients and residents. The votes are also directed toward a physician who strives continuously to improve services, and who works as a team member with hospital staff.
“I deeply appreciate the vote that I received from the staff, and I feel there are physicians who were more worthy of this than I, so I appreciate that they voted for me,” Dr. Pierce said. “I want to be remembered fondly by my patients, and I want to keep doing what I am doing as long as I can and do it well. My career started late. I graduated from med school at 37 but have had a long and fruitful career and have loved doing it.”
Dr. Pierce told the News-Press what he’s learned from working at LVMC, “I have learned that medicine is a team sport, and it is very collaborative,” Dr. Pierce said. “I think about it like an inverted pyramid with the patient at the tip and everyone pitching in from their areas of expertise to care for the patient.
“Medicine is unpredictable, and sometimes despite our best efforts, patients continue to have problems,” he said. “You can never stop trying to improve yourself. We have recently gotten a robot, and I am learning to do operations with a robot, which is significantly superior to laparoscopic surgery where it can be applied.”
Dr. Pierce served as the hospital’s chief of the medical staff from 2019-2021, during the emergence and peak of the pandemic.
“It was a challenge,” he said. “The general surgery was tasked with caring for COVID-19 patients in the ICU. It was very difficult because during the first round people were very ill and not everyone survived.
“It was difficult to navigate sick people, staff issues and equipment shortages,” he said. “Just the day-to-day exposure to sick patients and keeping staff healthy and uninfected was a real challenge. We kept staff infections to a minimum, which was immensely helpful. We were operating relatively blindly in terms of treatment and trying things that sometimes didn’t work.
“We were faced with something brand new and finding our way as the virus evolved. It was a very difficult part of managing patients.”
The News-Press asked Dr. Pierce what was learned during the pandemic.
“I think that there is a core bunch of individuals who rise to the top, and it was the same people who were striving together day after day. It included almost everyone on the staff, but still there were those who rose above even the general staff,” he said. “During a crisis like this, everyone has to be willing to step up and sacrifice. People in medicine lean toward trying to help people, but the creme dela creme rises to the top during a crisis. People put things on the back burner for the good of the sick patients.
“It became twice as hard for nurses to care for COVID-19 patients, keeping track of people and spirits high. The strain was starting to show,” he said. “I think we did a good job of managing the strain on people. The nursing director did a phenomenal job watching out for employees experiencing that strain.”
Dr. Pierce said he doesn’t know when he will retire. “I feel like I am able to do a really good job, and I am operating at a high level.
“I would like to finish my career on a high note,” Dr. Pierce said. “I want to continue to care for people and have my outcomes be as good as they possibly can. My goal is to take one patient at a time, get them through what they are working through and have the least number of bumps in the road.”
email: kzehnder@newspress.com
