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

Community-Driven Solutions for Health: Lessons from the Matahari Women Workers’ Center Healing Justice Initiative

“I just know I need to leave the job,” Bruna (whose name has been changed to protect privacy) said through the Zoom screen as she finished telling our group about the increased demands, stagnant wages, and disrespect she was experiencing from her employer. “I was just diagnosed with high blood pressure—I never had this before! If I stay, this job will just keep harming my health,” she concluded. One by one, we went around our circle, providing her with similar experiences and words of encouragement and appreciation for sharing her story. One group member agreed to help her compose a ...
Advocacy

Advancing Health Equity and Value-Based Care: A Mobile Approach

A major task of the U.S. health system is how to provide high-value care that is equitably accessible for the general populace. Health care is more costly in the U.S. than in any other country. As a result, nearly half of all Americans ...
Advocacy

“Is the Lawyer in?”: Accessing Health Care in America

Jamal was a young, promising athlete whose coordination suddenly deteriorated, at only 12-years-old, with the onset of terrible headaches. Scans revealed a large brain mass, and he was referred to a regional academic medical center for what would be a complicated surgery. Moments before he was to be wheeled into the operating room, a nurse pulled Jamal’s mother, Lisa, aside to tell her apologetically that the procedure was cancelled. The medical center had learned that Jamal’s Tennessee Medicaid plan, TennCare, had been terminated, and he was uninsured. “I’m afraid you’ll need to take him ...
Stories

The Various Faces of Trauma

Trigger warning: Parts of this piece may be triggering. Please take the time and space to look after yourself and seek help. A few years ago, while I was packing for an upcoming move, I came across my old Pakistani passport. As I opened it, my 16-year-old self looked back at me, with the words “married” and “housewife.” I was a child bride. I am now in my 30s. I broke free from that child marriage a decade ago and built a wonderful new life of freedom for myself and my daughters. ...
Stories

A Poem: No Name

I called a third time. her voice sounds like a whisper hanging from a wire or a storyline lost in space. Worry not of death itself but her fragile husband and three kids Despite everything she is eager to talk and between the cough and fatigue Shared details, dates, places she speaks about her experience at the hospital and is ...
Advocacy

Housing Vouchers as the New Golden Ticket

Meet Sandra. Sandra is a former resident of Columbia Heights, a neighborhood in Washington, D.C. that used to be an affordable area to live. She’s now one of the thousands that are left struggling to make ends meet as the cost of living in Columbia Heights continues to skyrocket well above the national average. Like many others, Sandra now finds that the neighborhood she once called home has significantly surpassed her budget. ...
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
Stories

Refugee Agency and Mobile Health Solutions: The Story of Fatima Connect

Refugee, asylum-seeking, and migrant women often experience adverse reproductive health outcomes, and
Advocacy

Food Rx: A Prescription for Health Systems and Medical Education

It’s an overcast Tuesday morning in Scranton, Pennsylvania, as Mary walks into the outpatient clinic for her groceries. The warm air in the lobby feels like a pleasant welcome from the blistery snow outside, but it’s the words spaghetti squash and salmon—two of her favorite items the pharmacy provides—written on the whiteboard that make her smile. The dietician at the ...
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