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Last Call: Reflecting on 64 Years in Medicine
On April 16, 2024, I took night call for the last time, 64 years after I first took night call. For the last few months, I have been thinking about... -
Leadership Doesn’t Have to be Lonely
Kirsten Meisinger, MD, MHCDS It can be lonely at the top, but it doesn’t have to be. Health care professionals who excel at patient care often go on... -
“Good Insurance”
It all started innocuously enough in the week leading up to Christmas in 2019 with a runny nose, a cough, and some fussiness. All pretty standard for...
Archive
Perspectives in Primary Care features writing from practitioners, activists, and community members representing organizations, practices, and institutions across the United States and around the world.
Impacts of COVID-19 on Relief-Seeking Immigrant Children
In times of crisis, the most vulnerable populations are often the ones most affected. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, immigrant children arriving to the United States already faced difficulties navigating a complex and intimidating system to seek refuge. However, in the six months since the COVID pandemic fundamentally altered our way of life, the
My Moral Responsibility as a Physician: Addressing the Political Determinants of Health
A while back I was invited to attend a panel discussion on primary care at an area medical school. For 45 minutes the other two primary care doctors and I shared a lighthearted conversation about why we love primary care, interspersing various plugs for why the students should consider the field for themselves. After several stories about the satisfaction we derive from our jobs and the joys in the relationships we form with our patients, a student raised their hand to ask a question about how the current political climate was affecting our practice. “I’ll take this ...
COVID-19 Exacerbates Food Insecurity in Latino Children & Families
COVID-19 has exacerbated long-standing health disparities that continue to affect Latino families, and further, the pandemic has revealed that many Latino families are struggling to put food on the table. Food insecurity affects 37 million Americans, including 11.2 million children—and this is especially urgent within the Latino community. Prior to COVID-19,
Immigrant Health, COVID-19, and the Duty to Care
Three months ago, the novel coronavirus arrived in the Boston area. It struck first in wealthy communities of international business travelers and exchange students, then spread quickly to the low-income and immigrant neighborhoods of their housekeepers and personal care attendants. Fear in communities of privilege led to early characterizations of COVID-19 as a disease that doesn’t discriminate. But the disease’s case rate in Chelsea, MA (majority Latinx, poor and working-class) is now
Take Action for Immigrant Health
By Lara Jirmanus, MD, MPH On September 22, 2018, the Trump Administration proposed federal changes to the “public charge” regulation, which would significantly impact immigrants’ access to vital services, such as health care, nutrition and housing assistance. According to leading experts and published
