Archive

As of June 30, 2025, Perspectives in Primary Care is no longer active. 
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.

How to Heal Brittle

Broken can often be healed. A fall, a thunderous crash, the screech of fragments flying in many directions. Find the pieces, line them back up again, stick them together somehow, and voila. Sometimes it doesn’t hold, sometimes it takes a long time for the adhesive to fully set, but at some point the pieces come back together. Not quite the same as before, but not so far off either. What is to be done, however, with brittleness? Shattering with a puff of a breeze, breaking in two, leaking salt water with no more force than a gaze. Moving further and ...

Primary Care Saved My Dad's Life

Author: Caroline Barnaby, MLA “Your dad was feeling dizzy today after a dip in the ocean. He thinks he might be experiencing vertigo from swimmer’s ear,” remarked my mum during our weekly phone conversation. “I’m going to schedule an appointment with his doctor, just in case.” It was the summer of 2018, and my dad had just retired after a 42-year career as an elementary school physical education teacher for ...

Through the Lens of Our Patients

My patient sat back in her chair, shoulders curled forward over her substantial belly, two canes leaning against the counter next to her. “No, doctor, I need you to say that you WILL make this happen, not that you will ‘try’. Can you say that?” It was an uncomfortable moment. As a physician I am not used to having my words dictated to me, and I did not take to it very well. She was about to be released from rehabilitation, recovering from surgery. She usually lives in her own home, by herself, but with a support team due to her serious mental and ...
1 2