Panagis Galiatsatos, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
My mother’s small town in western Greece, Paliambella, population 1,000.
The closest hospital is over four hours away. The community is very closely knit, with everyone sharing food and services. There is a strong emphasis on making sure everyone is well and cared for.
For me, it reminds me of the power of community, the power of a social cohesiveness that creates and cements behaviors and customs that reinforce health and wellness.
Michael Crocetti, MD, Johns Hopkins Community Physicians
In residency I spent a month caring for kids on the Hopi reservation in Tuba City, Arizona.
While there I witnessed first-hand how you can deliver high quality care to patients in extreme isolation and poverty.
The clinicians there have dedicated their lives to caring for this vulnerable population in a way that respects cultural differences and cultivates a trusting relationship with the community. I think about their care delivery model often when caring for children living in poor areas of Baltimore City and Baltimore County.
I’m reminded that high quality medical care can be delivered to these children as long as there’s commitment to care and a symbiotic trusting relationship with the parents and community.
What do you think?
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William Greenough, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Living in Bangladesh off and on for 12 years taking care of cholera and patients with other common volume depleting diarrheas was a life changing experience and continues to influence all of my patient care.
We can successfully hydrate patients and prevent hospitalization and ER visits with oral rehydration therapy – it is time we in ” advanced” countries had it in our medicine cabinets at home and used it early before volume depletion forces us to the ED!
Scott Wright, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
When I was in Mumbai recently, I learned from Developmental Pediatricians who travel through the poorest communities to identify children needing their help. Watching these clinicians have tremendous impact on their patients (and the caregiving families) with so few resources to call upon was truly inspiring. Whenever I feel overwhelmed with the limited resources available to my team to help some of our patients, I think of my colleagues in India and try to emulate them.
Mike Fingerhood, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
I did my med school neurology rotation at St. Barts in London. My mentors there taught me to present using the patient’s occupation in the first sentence.
