As a family physician on Chicago’s South Side, every day brings painful and beautiful stories, many variations on a theme–gun violence, senseless loss, deep heartbreak for loved ones, deep love for family, faith in God. Patients share how they cope with life constraints and limited opportunities with warmth, humor, anger, sadness and love. I am going to…
Her son was a war hero, survived his tours of duty unscathed. An upstanding boy, an upstanding serviceman. At age 33, father to two sons, he was killed on his doorstep in Chicago. “That 17 year old punk,” his mother says, “killed him for his wallet.” “My son didn’t know not to fight.” The killer was found. The killer…
“Blessed. I’m so blessed.” She kept repeating this, from her seat on the examining table. “I’m so blessed.” I unwrapped the bandage holding on the splint that had covered her arm for the three weeks since the bullet went in above her elbow and came out through her forearm, hitting no bone, touching no major…
The snow is falling in Chicago. Potentially 11 inches in the next few days, which means only one thing–cross country skiing! I’m warm, wrapped under a blanket on the couch curled up next to a napping husband. My stomach is full, after two pieces of my mom’s delicious holiday cranberry-orange nut bread (thank you, Mom).…
Today a group of community physicians were discussing ACEs (accountable care entities), and exploring their payment structures. Healthcare plans being paid a set amount for taking care of a person within a set population, with incentives to keep them healthy. Fee-for-value vs fee-for-service. Value vs volume. What do we mean by value and volume, when…
Rishi Manchanda is a healthcare not sickcare visionary. He founded HealthBegins, a group to train doctors to become proverbial upstreamists–a term he describes in his TED talk and book, The Upstream Doctors. The upstream proverb: Imagine a river, heading towards rapids, towards a deadly waterfall. In the water are children. At risk of death. Three friends leap to…
This past year has been an exciting adventure in establishing YogaCare, a non-profit with a mission to spread the healing benefits of yoga to all communities. As we enter the holiday season, I would like to share YogaCare’s newsletter and holiday wish list with you. Dear YogaCare Friends, In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we would…
Sometimes weeks accidentally have themes. Last week’s theme was connectedness. On Saturday, I attended a talk on physician resilience at the American Association of Medical Colleges annual meeting. On Monday, I attended a talk on diversity, inclusion and excellence at the University of Chicago Medicine. On Thursday, I participated in a conversation within the family…
I’ve had a dream. In our messed up, dysfunctional macro-healthcare system, I’ve dreamed of empowering providers to play a part in designing and implementing clinical processes that make our micro-systems work in each unique clinical environment. Everyone involved in providing clinical care–from patient service representatives, to medical assistants, to physicians, to our medical records peers,…
What would you do if you could no longer comfortably touch the people around you? No shaking hands. No hugging. No placing a loving hand on a fevered (sweaty) brow—or caring for a loved one as they die. This is true in West Africa where the Ebola epidemic is exploding, and without outside intervention, an…
Prevention Not Prescription 