Family Medicine Moments
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/51178
2024-03-28T14:15:58ZCelebrating and Congratulations!
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/53216
Celebrating and Congratulations!
Silk, Hugh
Introduction: This week I am celebrating, along with my colleagues, our very successful match into family medicine (and to our residencies)! With 14.02% of UMass Chan students matching into Family Medicine, we exceeded the national average of 12.7% (per AAFP). Family Medicine Proud!
This quote from Dr. Victor Johnson, known as the founding father of the College of General Practitioners now the College of Family Physicians in Canada, summarizes their future impact.
"I became convinced that the medical profession would be saved not by its organization but by the sum total of the common sense and humanity of its individual practicing members. General practitioners... are the doctors closest to [the] people. They heal more of the broken hearted, repair more of the injured and deprived, and live with the poor and dying who are without influence and hope. As Family Physicians, you are ideally positioned in the health care system to understand patients and their family and community context, and to provide for them a deep connection, compassion, and care."
The picture below says it best. These individuals are way more than a statistic. They will make us proud in the way Victor Johnson wanted family doctors to be.
Congratulations to these future family physicians and to all who taught, challenged, mentored, coached, consoled, and encouraged them. Take a moment and congratulate yourselves too! Be well.
2024-03-21T00:00:00ZOver Fartsgrensen
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/53190
Over Fartsgrensen
Gracey, Kristina
Introduction: This week I am grateful to Kristina Gracey, faculty at Barre Family Health Center, for her essay that is both personal and informative. She is an avid and successful runner. Which can be dangerous. She has been thinking about this element of risk and adds a public health perspective to her reflection that I personally admire. Food for thought for possible collective advocacy by us all on this topic.
2024-03-14T00:00:00ZPhotos of Meaningful Things and Places
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/53189
Photos of Meaningful Things and Places
Penumetcha, Venkata "Sai Sri"; Isaac, Tamika; Coderre, Danielle; Silk, Hugh
Introduction: This week I have a visual treat. Last week Sara Shields and I had a session with the PGY1s on the topic of medical humanities and one of the prompts was to go into the hospital and return with a photo of something that is meaningful to you - can be a piece, a thing, a person. The discussion that ensued from these photos was wonderful! I am sharing some of the photos here for you with their title. Enjoy.
2024-03-07T00:00:00ZThe Greatest Health Care System in the World
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/53188
The Greatest Health Care System in the World
Adelstein, Pamela
Introduction: This week I am sharing with you another piece from Pam Adelstein, a former resident of the Family Health Center of Worcester, and now the Medical Director at Fenway Health. Her piece was written as a reflection on the prompt “cold”. As you can see, she writes about way too many people being left out in the cold in our healthcare system.
2024-02-22T00:00:00Z2024 Gold Humanism Summit Art Gallery
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/53187
2024 Gold Humanism Summit Art Gallery
Silk, Hugh
Introduction: This week I do not have a local piece to share, per se. However, I am sending you all to explore the 2024 Gold Humanism Summit Art Gallery, which showcases artwork that reflects experiences, creativity and insights from clinicians, trainees, patients, caregivers, and members of the healthcare community. I hope you enjoy this collection of visual art, video, performance, song, poetry, narrative writing, pottery, and more. The entries are from across the country.
Represented from UMass are Jennifer Sohn and myself. Jennifer, (who worked with me during her LPP,) did a lovely drawing entitled, "the same on the inside". She wrote - I drew this during my second year of medical school after working for several months with local community members experiencing homelessness. I was struck by the way people tend to see unhoused individuals as intrinsically different from themselves. I wanted to emphasize that we are all human and feel joy and sadness in the same ways, no matter what our lived experiences may include.
Mine is a poem entitled, Brief Advice to a Young Doctor. You can find them and many more incredible offerings here:
https://www.gold-foundation.org/programs/2024-gold-humanism-summit/2024-gold-humanism-summit-art-gallery/
2024-02-15T00:00:00ZWhat Still I Rise Means to Me
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/53181
What Still I Rise Means to Me
Street, Ashley; Mbusa, Daniel
Introduction: As we reflect on Black History Month, honoring the contributions, triumphs, and struggles of African Americans throughout our history, this is a timely submission.
Ashley Street and Daniel Mbusa, who are both starting medical school in the fall (congratulations!), are participating in the Scribe Fellowship/PRISM’s academic enrichment sessions coordinated by Linda Cragin and Dr. Mariann Manno. During a recent session on Reflective Medicine with Dr. Bronwyn Cooper, they all discussed Maya Angelo’s poem, Still I Rise
(https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46446/still-i-rise). Daniel and Ashley share what this poem means to them.
On a personal note, my wife and I saw Maya Angelou speak when we were in our informative years and were so moved, we gave our youngest daughter her name as a middle name. Her words are a powerful reminder of what many endure and overcome. The words below are inspiring as the next generation learns from Maya's message and prepares for their own path forward. Our future is bright with physicians like them – we wish them well.
2024-02-08T00:00:00ZNo wrong of their own
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/53180
No wrong of their own
Yalakkishettar, Pratiksha
Introduction: This week I share with you a poem from Pratiksha Yalakkishettar, a former family medicine resident at Hahnemann Family Health Center and current Preventive Medicine resident. She says this is "a piece I wrote recently reflecting on an incident on L&D from a few years ago during FM residency where a mother was going to be separated from her child after discharge." There is nothing as overwhelming in life as being separated from a loved one and even worse when it is a child. Pratiksha captures the moment from the clinician's perspective.
2024-02-01T00:00:00ZDementia
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/53179
Dementia
Gussak, Lisa S.
Introduction: This week I am delighted to include a visual reflection. It's not often that we do that with FMM. Thank you to Lisa Gussak who is a faculty member in our department, the director of the center for clinical communication and professionalism, and an avid photographer. She often finds things in nature that reminds her of medical conditions or findings. For this image, she writes the following:
It’s called Dementia, and this is what I’ve written about it:
I have a dear friend who is just one day older than me. For many years we toasted to our growing maturity with a night out in late December. Roughly three years ago, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I no longer want to celebrate our aging, a potent reminder of the changes in her thinking, in our conversation, what we laugh about. I want to freeze her mind, just as it is, while she knows me and smiles at our shared memories.
2024-01-25T00:00:00ZTelehealth from the Driveway
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/53007
Telehealth from the Driveway
Adelstein, Pamela
Introduction: This week I am sharing with you another piece from the very talented Pam Adelstein, a former resident of the Family Health Center of Worcester, and now the Medical Director at Fenway Health. She reflects in her piece (previously published in Pulse) on doing the work to help people who are often neglected in the health system and berated in some states in the US. She writes her own satisfaction with her work and the bravery of her patient. She wrote in her email to me: "The theme [for the call from Pulse for writing was] A Ray of Light. In this essay I describe a work experience which hopefully will inspire you to find and abide by your inner truth, even if profound bravery is required. This essay illustrates one reason why I do what I do."
2024-01-18T00:00:00ZPor la madrugada (A Tribute to Jeff Satnick)
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/53005
Por la madrugada (A Tribute to Jeff Satnick)
Kostecki, Anita
Welcome back to FMM and welcome to 2024. Hoping this will be a very reflective year for you. I want to start the year with an important piece from Anita Kostecki, who is a graduate of the Family Medicine Residency (FHCW) and a long-time faculty member who provides part time care at EMK. She has been thinking more about the passing of our colleague Jeff Satnick. She has captured her thoughts here on what he meant to her and her family, and also what he meant to our department, community and his patients. I am so glad she has done this. A void has occurred with his passing. I simply loved seeing him at medical gatherings for all that he stood for and the joy he brought to conversations I would have with him. However, this is Anita's reflection, and I won't distract. She included these thoughts in her email to me: [I wrote this reflection] both on my personal and family's responses to Jeff's passing as well as an attempt to highlight and honor the many unique and wonderful aspects of his life. I was hoping by sharing my own experience of grief, that others may connect it to losses they have experienced and find it helpful in some way as they go forward in their lives as best they can after the death of a beloved friend or family member.
2024-01-11T00:00:00Z