I heard the commotion from my “captain’s chair,” the seat for the lead clinician at our respiratory clinic. The medical assistants, gloved and masked, hurriedly pushed the wheelchair past my door and into the “emergency” exam room, and I glimpsed a tiny hunched figure in the chair, all dressed in black, with her face grayish brown. “Oxygen saturation 84, we’re calling EMS,” the medical assistant called out, as a nurse walked swiftly into the room to apply oxygen. A clinician jogged over to the personal protective equipment (PPE) room to don her full armor before heading to the patient’s ...

Human trafficking is a global pandemic and gross violation of human rights. Healthcare providers are often the first group of professionals to interact with victims of human trafficking with over 88% of victims ...

If there is any silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that we now have the opportunity to address ongoing societal failures that have been thrown into stark relief by this crisis. Perhaps chief among them is our complacency toward deeply entrenched racial and socioeconomic health disparities, which have become even more deadly in the face of COVID-19. There is ample evidence in states across the country, including Michigan, Louisiana, and North Carolina, that disproportionately high rates of chronic diseases like hypertension, asthma, and diabetes among people of ...

COVID-19 has affected people worldwide and sickened millions. It is no coincidence that people are looking for unconventional ways to stay or become healthy. As Family Medicine physicians who also practice integrative medicine, we are accustomed to being asked questions about wellness. Lately, the most common questions are: How can I deal with the stress of staying home/ possible illness/ concern for family and friends/ childcare? How do I improve my immune system and stay healthy? How can I get well faster if I do get COVID-19? ...

It’s #SexEdForAll month, yet most people still believe sex education is just about sex. But it’s so much more than that. As a young woman from rural Appalachia, I’m well aware that until people learn what sex education truly is, it won’t be widely accepted in our society. That’s why I created the Sexuality ...

Today, I am saving lives slowly. This is less satisfying than the days I am in full personal protective equipment (PPE) for hours in our new urgent care respiratory isolation unit. The unit was converted over the course of a weekend in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic from what used to be our billing department, now with new linoleum and exam beds where carpet and desks used to be. In the isolation unit, it is easy to feel I am doing something vital, instead of this strange new disconnect of seeing my patients on the 3x5 inch screen of my cellphone, struggling to connect both ...

The 1973 Roe v. Wade United States (US) Supreme Court case resulted in the historic decision that the US Constitution protects a person’s liberty to choose to have an abortion in private consultation with one’s clinician. Since that time patients and medical providers have had to continue to fight for access to abortion throughout this country. In the years since Roe v. Wade, over 1,000 abortion ...

We know that many barriers to accessing safe, equitable, and effective contraception exist at individual, institutional, and societal levels. These include things such as lack of insurance, inability to get a timely appointment, difficulty taking time off from work or childcare, and required (but not evidence-based) pelvic exams or other pre-requisites. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic is heightening many of these existing ...

We are living in an unprecedented time in which an unimaginable global pandemic has upended our way of life. Our current public health crisis is the kind of dramatic disruption that worries many climate advocates as our planet continues to warm. Climate change has and will continue to increase the frequency of natural disasters, the spread of infectious diseases and displacement for people around the world. The United Nations has made clear in their Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2018