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Wellness for Everybody—in Every Body
In recent years, several qualitative studies have given us field notes of patients describing their experiences having larger bodies and interacting... -
Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists: A Pharmacy Perspective on Insurance Coverage and Medication Access
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, more commonly referred to as GLP-1s, have undoubtedly garnered much fanfare the past five years. This... -
My Journey with GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs: Managing PCOS, Celiac Disease, and Metabolic Health
In my thirties, my body began to “betray” me. After years of running marathons, working out, and eating well, I found myself struggling with...
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.
Primary Care
Health Equity
Health Policy
Social Determinants of Health
COVID-19
Public Health
Activism
Advocacy
Beating Hunger: Addressing Food Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Closed. Out of Business. We are temporarily closed due to COVID. These signs have become a common sight in the windows of grocery stores scattered throughout the United States. Throughout the pandemic, the number of communities that have become food deserts, as well as the number of households that have become food insecure, has increased substantially. While volunteering at a local food pantry during the pandemic, I talked to a regular named Carmen, and she described her ...
Primary Care
Community Health
Health Equity
Health Policy
Public Health
Activism
Environment / Climate
BIPOC
Advocacy
Inspire: Helping Families with Asthma Catch Their Breath
“I did whatever I needed to for my child to get the proper services… you are the professionals, but I’m the mom.” She’s the mom. It’s these humbling moments that Mary, a panelist at the
Primary Care
Health Equity
COVID-19
Trauma
Global Health
Behavioral Health / Mental Health
Narrative Medicine / Storytelling
Stories
The Salutary Impact of Listening to the Trauma Story
I entered the Brighton Marine Public Health Center in Massachusetts in December 1981, where hundreds of Indochinese refugees were being medically screened after the fall of Saigon. I’ll never forget my first patient—a middle-aged Cambodian woman with major hearing loss. During the exam, she told me that her hearing loss began after being beaten unconscious by the Khmer Rouge soldiers and left for dead on a pile of the bodies of her relatives. At the time, I knew nothing about the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. I had no training on the impact of extreme violence on ...
Advocacy
Language Barriers to Optimal Health Care: Caring for Migrant Workers in the Middle East
What good is art when the viewer is blind to the colors you draw in? Communication is an art that health care professionals are taught early in their medical education. We’re not only taught what to ask, but how to ask it. Beyond avoiding errors and misunderstandings, good communication builds the trusting relationships that are at the core of health care. It can be said that while medical knowledge constitutes the “health” aspect, it is communication that contributes to the ...
Advocacy
Wi! Si! Yes! We Can Provide More Equitable Care When Interpretation is Required
Imagine you’re a primary care provider at our clinic in Malden, Massachusetts. A patient quickly rattles off a list of concerns during your latest telehealth visit with her. Before you can ask any clarifying questions, you wait for the Brazilian Portuguese medical interpreter to interpret her concerns into English. You ask some questions, then wait again for the ...
Primary Care
Health Equity
Health Policy
Social Determinants of Health
Public Health
Environment / Climate
Advocacy
Air Quality in Southwest Detroit: A Public Health Crisis
Southwest Detroit is currently battling some of the worst air pollution in the country. In this area, where senior centers and elementary schools sit on the borders of oil refineries, residents suffer from high rates of asthma, cancer, and respiratory illness. Asthma hospitalization rates are
Advocacy
The Conflict of Culture and Sexuality Among Arab American Women
As Arab American women studying public health at National Arab American Medical Association Next Generation (NAAMA NextGen), we’re passionate about the sexual health of our fellow Arab American women. Though the Arab region extends throughout a vast geographic area in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), resulting in diverse societal norms and cultural values,
Education
Primary Care
Health Equity
Social Determinants of Health
Public Health
Trauma
BIPOC
Sexual and Reproductive Health
LGBTQIA+
Advocacy
Black Birthing Persons Matter—All of Them
A Black trans dad, Kayden Coleman shares his clinical experience during his two pregnancies. He recounts horrible encounters with gestational care providers, such as being offered an abortion a “ridiculous” number of times, misgendered by physicians, virtually forgotten during his postpartum period, and even turned away from care.
Primary Care
Health Equity
Health Policy
Public Health
Activism
BIPOC
Sexual and Reproductive Health
Behavioral Health / Mental Health
Advocacy
Centering the Woman in Maternity Care
Few human experiences match the intensity of stress, pain, exertion, and emotional turmoil as labor. The mortality risk in pregnancy is present for all, though Black women in the United States are