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.

Advocacy

Vaccine Rollout and the Great Divide: Communities of Color Deserve More from Our Health Care System

I remember getting this phone call from a friend and feeling helpless: I want my grandmother who lives in Boston to get vaccinated, but I don't have transportation to get her to one of the mass vaccination sites, and also I don't feel comfortable taking her out of her home. She is 90 years old with underlying conditions which places her in the high-risk category. ...
Stories

Trauma-Informed, Holistic Health Care: A Journey from Patient to Advocate

PurpLE Health Foundation is a non-profit organization in New York City, which invests in the physical, mental, and financial health of survivors of gender-based violence. PurpLE Health Foundation’s signature program is its collaboration with
Advocacy

Menstrual Justice Is a Matter of Health Equity: How to Fight Period Poverty and Stigma

While assisting patients in the Emergency Department (ED) one morning, I met a patient I’ll refer to as Mary. When I walked in, she was hunched over the edge of the bed, gripping her abdomen in distress. As I approached her, asking how I could make her more comfortable, she sat up slightly. She sounded ashamed as she opened up to me about not having access to menstrual products and unexpectedly starting her period while waiting in ...
Advocacy

Whose Trauma? De-Colonizing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Refugee Mental Health Frameworks

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma needs in the Arab region The unprecedented political violence that swept the Arab region in the last century, from the Nakba of the Palestinain people to the wars in Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Syria, and Yemen, have ...
Insights

Arab American Research Gaps and a Survey of its Solutions

A little thought exercise Think of the simplest pieces of health information that we know, rely upon, and understand in society. Smoking causes lung cancer, insulin resistance precedes type-2 diabetes, lead bears a detrimental impact on child health. Because of applied public health, surveillance programs, population health metrics, and increased data ...
Advocacy

Lessons in Health Equity Learned During the Pandemic

In the spring of 2020, as the pandemic bore down on our country, I was appointed to the COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group to help guide the executive branch on communication, distribution, and equity issues relating to the distribution of vaccines. My role as the President and CEO of the state’s ...
Advocacy

Healing Across the Divides: Peace Building Through Health, Part 2

Healing Across the Divides is based on the simple idea that all humans desire good health. And it was created because all Americans are engaged in the Middle East conflict, as Israel is the greatest ...
Reference

ACE Scores: The New Fifth Vital Sign?

Every day in the hospital, and during every visit to the clinic or emergency room, we pay scrupulous attention to your vital signs: heart rate, temperature, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. These numbers are the bedrock of understanding what is happening with a patient’s health. We should add another number to this group: the Adverse Childhood Event (ACE) score. The significance of Adverse Childhood Event (ACE) scores The ACE score was developed in California ...
Stories

Mindfulness and the Societally Marginalized Person

Mindfulness, in its simplest construct, is generally defined as deliberate present moment awareness, without judgment, coupled with curiosity about what arises. Yet, this seemingly reasonable and scientifically studied approach to living fully, being authentic, and “embracing what is” translates into a minefield when the starkness of such ...
1 ... 2 3 4 5 6 ... 13