Category Archives: Healthcare

Health & Wellness

Your final job interview is with yourself – by Martin Kimeldorf

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

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.

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

2024 Trends: Healthcare at Risk – by David Grinberg

Despite its overwhelming success, Obamacare remains the target of relentless partisan attacks. Donald Trump is again vowing to end the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, during a potential second term as president.

“Obamacare is a catastrophe,” Trump recently said at a campaign event in Iowa. The twice impeached former president also wrote on his social media platform: “The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare.”

But terminating Obamacare, assuming Trump wins the presidency again, would decimate healthcare for about 40 million Americans for no good reason. These citizens in need of affordable healthcare had been locked out of the private insurance system for decades based on discriminatory reasons — including socioeconomic status and preexisting conditions, which disproportionately hurt minority groups the most.

Continue reading 2024 Trends: Healthcare at Risk – by David Grinberg

Economic and Social Justice Implications of Substance Abuse – by Lee Webster

The Power of Employment

The pervasive use and abuse of both prescription and illicit drugs are becoming increasingly concerning, and when coupled with the burden of societal trauma and untreated mental illness, the nation’s economy bears a significant negative impact.  Addressing these complex issues demands a multifaceted approach, yet one approach that has proven notably effective but has faded from the forefront in recent years is the connection between successful treatment and the restoration of self-worth through meaningful employment.  

Continue reading Economic and Social Justice Implications of Substance Abuse – by Lee Webster

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.

Continue reading Multicultural Healthcare and Disparities – by Deborah Levine

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

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

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

The lifelong regret – by Terry Howard

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!” 

Continue reading The lifelong regret – by Terry Howard

The Lifelong Regret: Part 2 – Terry Howard

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