Category: Conditions

A psychiatrist crashes into telemedicine during the pandemic

As far as psychiatrists go, I admit I’m odd, even in a field known for its quirks. I’m fast-talking, irreverent, and most patients tell me I’m not what they expected, but they come back. I’m not for everyone, and that’s OK…

Everyone agrees nurses are heroes. Why aren’t we treating them that way?

It’s been said that history doesn’t repeat, but it does often rhyme. And as we’re learning during COVID-19, lessons from the past can be a guide to help us navigate a modern pandemic — if we listen to the rhythm of history. For a little more than two y…

How social distancing affects vulnerable nursing home residents

On a cold evening in early March, my grandpa and I queued outside a nursing home in rural California. He pulled an insulated lunchbox, filled with hot chai and pureed rotis, to his chest and sighed. There are at least eight families in front of us, and…

Should we stress about stress? Protecting ourselves during the pandemic.

COVID-19 has exposed us to a wide variety of different stressors. In the short term, our stress response is useful as it helps us respond quickly and effectively. But when the stress lasts longer, we have to identify and acknowledge the “downside” risk…

My living will during COVID-19

I am not afraid of being dead. Our four grown children are thriving, each in their own way making the world better. If I am wrong in my faith that Jesus is preparing a wonderful place for me, I will never know it. I do dread the process of dying, and C…

A reasoned response to the PPE debacle

The lack of adequate supplies of PPE is deplorable, inconceivable.  This has been made abundantly clear through both social media and traditional media.  Post after post on various social media outlets have exposed the appalling shortages and, at times…

Addressing medical school needs for our frontline responders and health care providers

Coronavirus. Doctors. Nurses. PPE. Social distancing. Sound familiar? Our entire conversation about the COVID-19 pandemic surrounds those words and phrases. We see celebrities, companies, coworkers, family members, and friends donating PPE and money to…

Learning to cope with the pandemic from palliative care patients 

I’m a palliative care chaplain who provides spiritual support to patients with serious, life-changing, and for some, life-threatening, illnesses. A common story they tell is an illness, like a storm, blew them off their life’s map.  They fi…

A journey through time with a very modern foe

Come with me on this journey, this very ancient journey. To experience the age-old story of a very modern foe. This foe is invisible; it is neither living nor dead. You cannot smell it, and you cannot taste it. While it is not alive, it can become aliv…

COVID-19 blurs the line between physician and patient

The unspoken culture in medicine has been that to maintain objective professionalism – some measure of distance is encouraged between the clinician and the patient. From anatomy lab, students are encouraged to forget patients as fellow human bein…