09.05.09
Posted in Advocacy & Social Justice at 4:37 pm by revolution.is.medicine
Wednesdays, nothing real special about the day when you work 80 hours a week as an intern. There is no real beginning nor end to our work, so the notion of a hump day defining a midpoint between weekends seems quaint. After last week, I now look forward to Wednesday for a whole new reason: The Burrito Project.
Los Angeles Burrito Project started when a few friends in the bike community decided to do something to change the world: hand out free burritos to homeless folks in downtown. After toasting tortillas on gas stove, I toss warmed flour shells to my friends. They scoop rice, beans, and salsa to form delicious burritos. These beauties would sell for $5 a pop, neatly wrapped in aluminum foil rolls. We layer them into our bike messenger bags by the dozens alongside water bottles.
Four teams of riders head out to distribute water and burritos. “Buurrrrritos! Aaaaguaa! Waaateer!” our calls echo in the glowing night vacant roads. From tents, plastic lined cardboard boxes, lifting baseball hats off eyes, hundreds emerge hungry, thirsty. “Oh its Wednesday again?” people ask unwrapping dinner. The Burrito Project hasn’t missed a Wednesday night distribution since January 2006.
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03.01.09
Posted in Advocacy & Social Justice, Education/Curriculum, Professionalism at 11:57 pm by Casey KirkHart
If you’ve been to Primary Care Lecture recently, you may have noticed a tall, dapper gentleman standing in front of the spread of Charro Chicken – that’s the Spiriva guy, a frequent guest by the medicine department to provide food during Primary Care Lecture. They organize Primary Care Lecture Series during the 2nd half of the year and do NOT have a PharmFree policy like we do.
As you all know, in 2006 our department (residents and faculty alike) voted to become PharmFree, and as our policy states our Department cannot prohibit you from partaking in Pharm food, only caution you to the dangerous influence that interactions with drug company reps can have our your clinical judgement and patient care (statements all supported by evidence).
In fact, in January 2009, we saw a new policy (entirely voluntary, mind you) put out by the pharmaceutical industry itself that limits its interactions with physicians. You will see much less Pharm swag; Pens, pads, squishy stress balls will be a thing of the past. Also, the policy states that FOOD MAY BE provided but as part of an educational or informational event by the rep. Technically, since the Spiriva guy has no relation to the topic of PCLS (unless it is of course about COPD), his provision of food violates the pharm companies’ own policy. Just something to think about. Here is the policy: http://www.phrma.org/files/PhRMA%20Marketing%20Code%202008.pdf
And in case you were wondering, PharmFree policies such as ours are mainstream. AMSA has put together a very nice Scorecard that describes the policies of nearly all medical schools. The culture of medicine is, in fact, changing, and you lack of exposure to drug reps is becoming the norm. Visit http://www.pharmfree.org/ for more info.
As you also know, I am just about to purchase a subscription to the Medical Letter, on behalf of EVERYONE in the department, with the money we have “earned” though the CoMed study with Marcy. You will see how the Medical Letter will be integrated into your education in the near future.
I hope this adds some clarity to our policy and spurs some conversation, something we havent had regarding this topic in a while.
Thanks for reading.
~Casey
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04.09.07
Posted in Advocacy & Social Justice, Los Angeles at 7:19 pm by los anjalis
From “Young Gangsters’ Special Weapon: Poetry“, LA Times, March 2007:
Use this time to tear up the old contracts, Henrikson told his young writers, who listened to him as if he were a guru. “People die never getting to know who they are,” he went on. He read them a Rumi poem, written in the 13th century, called “Ali, the Fighter,” in which Ali prepares to vanquish a foe who, in a last fit of anger, spits in his face. Ali pauses, sees a younger version of himself in his foe, and helps him up.
Of all the kids in the room, only Mario seemed old enough to be world-weary and wise. He’d already revisited his past — It’s not a life-style, It is a death-style — and wanted to move on. He called his poem “Better Days,” and read it as if he were ready to graduate.
Now I’m looking forward to
The better days
Where I don’t have to steal
For me to buy a meal
Or run around like a menace
Looking for an enemy to kill
“You’re a man now,” Henrikson told him when he was done. “You’re 18, and you’re an old soul.”
And that’s not unusual. “I see a difference in the kids who go through the program,” said Craig Levy, director of Camp Kilpatrick, which is next door to Miller. “It exposes them to things they don’t know well, like reading, writing and expressing themselves in public. They come out of it with a little less slang, and speaking more like young men.”
More of Henrikson and others’ work is detailed on their organization’s website, Street Poets, Inc. They do a lot of violence-prevention themed poetry, sessions with youth in juvenile centers, and performances in public, and they’re based in Los Angeles. There’s a beautiful poem written on the left side of the website, written by a 21 year old boy man.
This is somewhat similar to what two of the faculty members in our Department of Family Medicine (Dr. Puvvula and Dr Granados) do many sunday mornings — talk with kids in LA Juvenile Hall, support them, encourage creative outlets. And Father Greg Boyle created Homeboy Industries in 1992 to help transform the lives of ex-gang members through a variety of personal development and community building programs (that’s also where we — family medicine residents! — are trained to remove tattoos with a yag laser for ex-gang members who are making changes in their lives). All of this is so beautiful, and these methods are much more humane and long-lasting in their ability to make positive change than the negative ways of prison and negative reinforcement.
And thanks to Andy Hilbert for the tip, who blogs about education, the LA Unified School District, teachers, and other related issues.
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