Category Archives: Wellness

Health & Wellness

Authors A-H, Storytelling, Wellness

Your final job interview is with yourself – by Martin Kimeldorf

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Writing your Final Resume

“It’s hard to know when to respond to the seductiveness of the world and when to respond to its’ challenge.  If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy.  If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem.  But, I arise in the morning torn between the desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world.  This makes it hard to plan the day”.
 ~  E. B. White

Somewhere around 1970 I came across the notion of  self-help support groups for the unemployed. They reported remarkable results so I set the task of translating this into a workbook for young adults: Job Search Education. The success of that title brought me some 20+ book contracts of various topics from leisure wellness, to intergenerational programing, to mixology. It’s been a grand trip…and now as I take step back in the last quarter of my life I have found the value in writing one last “resume”. It is directed not at future employers; it is simply a summation for myself. It may inspire you to do the same.

I plotted out an outline that contained the following categories:

  • Student & Early Accomplishments
  • Adult Work Experiences
  • Fun or Humorous (magic, theater, paintings)
  • Volunteer Work
  • My Favorite Saying

Without further ado about nothing (See Shakespeare’s play with that title), I’ll proceed with samples and words.

Continue reading Your final job interview is with yourself – by Martin Kimeldorf →

Levine articles, Wellness

Ultra-Processed from Halloween to Thanksgiving – by Deborah Levine

Every year, we struggle to resist the temptation minute to minute to over-sugar ourselves.  It begins with Halloween candy and proceeds to Thanksgiving dinner, exploding with holiday eating extravaganzas with the year’s tastiest foods. By the New Year, the scale shows our over-indulgence. It’s no coincidence that 12% of gym members join in January. And it’s discouraging that 80% of New Year’s resolutions disappear in February.

Advisors, Wellness

Renewing Diversity #2: Teaching Health Equity – by Carlos Cortés, Adwoa Osei

In July, 2020, the two of us became the inaugural co-directors of the University of California, Riverside, School of Medicine’s new Health Equity, Social Justice, and Anti-Racism (HESJAR) curricular initiative.   Since then the teaching of health equity to medical students has been a journey of continuous renewal.   

Publications about health equity emerge nearly every day.  Each year’s student cohort provides new pedagogical challenges.  Every module we teach raises new issues regarding learning and assessment.  We can’t stand still. 

Continue reading Renewing Diversity #2: Teaching Health Equity – by Carlos Cortés, Adwoa Osei →

Levine articles, Race & Ethnicity, Social Issues, Wellness

Multicultural Healthcare and Disparities – by Deborah Levine

When Dr. Joseph Betancourt spoke on “Solutions for Disparities: Delivering Quality Care to Diverse Populations” in Chattanooga several years ago, he delivered both unusual expertise and a personal model for future healthcare. Dr. Betancourt’s family came from Puerto Rico to NYC and he talked about his childhood as interpreter for his grandparents to their doctors. Today, Joseph Betancourt, MD, MPH, is the Senior Vice President of Equity and Community Health at Massachusetts General Hospital, the founder, senior advisor and faculty of the Disparities Solutions Center (DSC) at Mass General, Faculty at the Mongan Institute, an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a practicing Internal Medicine physician.

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Authors A-H, Wellness

Diversity and Speech Part 39: Creating Health Equity – by Carlos Cortés and Adwoa Osei

The two of us first met in July, 2020, when we were asked to serve as inaugural co-directors of the University of California, Riverside, School of Medicine’s new Health Equity, Social Justice, and Anti-Racism (HESJAR) curricular initiative.   Health equity, social justice, and anti-racism are important concepts, but they can easily degenerate into little more than buzz words.  Our challenge was to transform those six words into a focused, integrated, and transformative learning experience for our students.  

Continue reading Diversity and Speech Part 39: Creating Health Equity – by Carlos Cortés and Adwoa Osei →

Advisors, Authors A-H, Wellness

Diversity and Speech Part 31: Health Equity – by Carlos Cortés and Adwoa Osei

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In July, 2020, the two of us met for the first time as inaugural co-directors of the University of California, Riverside, School of Medicine’s new Health Equity, Social Justice, and Anti-Racism (HESJAR) curricular initiative.   Beginning with our initial conversations it became clear that addressing speech — physician speech, patient speech, medical school speech — would be central to our journey.   

For an entire year (2020-2021) we planned.  This involved reading, particularly about efforts at other medical schools.  It also involved listening: to students; to other faculty and staff; and particularly through a series of community conversations in which medical students interviewed local residents about their experiences with the health care system.  Those conversations deeply informed our curriculum development.   

Continue reading Diversity and Speech Part 31: Health Equity – by Carlos Cortés and Adwoa Osei →

Authors A-H, Social Issues, Wellness

The lifelong regret – by Terry Howard

regretThis picture is a replica of the one from a remote spot in a parking lot across from a local Walmart. Until recently, that spot was occupied by a blue pickup truck with watermelons for sale on the back. I’ll get to the story behind that photo momentarily. 

But first, let’s go to Marriam-Webster for a definition of the word “regret,” the crux of this narrative and for my fair-minded readers, something to think long and hard about when reexamining your life.

“Regret is a feeling of sadness or disappointment about something said or wrong about a mistake you made and wish you could have done differently or better.”

Aha, “done differently!” 

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Authors A-H, Social Issues, Wellness

The Lifelong Regret: Part 2 – Terry Howard

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Apparently my recent, “The Lifelong Regret,” touched (and torched?) a few raw nerves. Proof positives are the many lengthy phone conversations on the topic of “regret” that made me cringe at the thought of the size of my next phone bill.  

You see, some conversations were longer than I anticipated since I’m not skillful at effectively hinting, “hey, gotta go.” And others were of the brief “sorry but I don’t want to talk about that stuff,” category. 

Now the common thread in all those recollections were the immediacy of the responses to my query and the length of time transpired that caused those regrets; a few more than five decades ago.
 Continue reading The Lifelong Regret: Part 2 – Terry Howard →

The Arts, Wellness

Integrating the Arts in Health – by Patricia Lambert

NOAH Seeks to Professionalize Arts Programs in Healthcare Settings

No person looks forward to a visit to the hospital or other similar healthcare settings. Oftentimes, being in the hospital is a process that is scary, uncertain, and full of anticipation for answers and recovery. Research has shown that healing is made better by the arts, which bring humanity to institutions such as hospitals, elder and hospice care, as well as those living at home with chronic diseases like cancer or Parkinson’s. 

Despite research that supports arts in health, many health institutions do not have programs incorporating the arts. This is why the National Organization for Arts in Health (NOAH) has remained committed to expanding awareness and acceptance of the arts as a vital component for healing, public health, and wellbeing. 

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Authors R-Z, Social Issues, UTC Interns, Wellness

Afflictions of American Health Care – by Eliana Teel

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When I was seven years old, I had my first MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Imaging – a medical imaging machine that generates internal images of the body. The tubular machine was quite large in comparison to my petite body. I can still remember how scared I was as they placed headphones twice the size of my head over my ears and pushed me back into the small cylinder. Or how the nurse called the IV that shot cold, contrast dye throughout my bloodstream a “butterfly clip” to ease the nerves. The MRI was ordered to examine my neck and upper spine because I was experiencing a lot of unusual pain there for a child that young. What my family and I didn’t expect was to be in that room for two more hours as they caught a glimpse of something concerning in my lower back.

Continue reading Afflictions of American Health Care – by Eliana Teel →