Our outgoing Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has offered final thoughts and a “prescription” for health for our country and for each of us.
He titled it Parting Prescription for America.
In a previous post, I reviewed his career and the health issues he addressed as the 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States. Here is a summary of the news release from HHS and a link to his article.
As He Concludes His Second Tenure, 21st U.S. Surgeon General Issues Parting Prescription for America
A week before leaving office, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released his Parting Prescription for America – PDF. In it he reflects on his personal and professional experiences as our nation’s Surgeon General.
Throughout his service, Dr. Murthy tried to understand the root causes of pain and unhappiness across our country. As a physician, he believes that health involves more than tests and medications. It includes time to listen and focus on the whole person. As America’s Doctor, he took a similar approach to the nation.
After years of hearing stories from thousands of Americans, reviewing scientific data, and meeting researchers, Dr. Murthy found the sense of community among many Americans had eroded.
In the Surgeon General’s Parting Prescription Dr. Murthy shares his conclusions.
Americans can cultivate health, happiness, and fulfillment by rebuilding community, centered around relationships, service, and purpose.
“Today, we are faced with a profound choice: do we continue with the status quo, marked by pain, disconnection, and division?
Or do we choose a different path—one of joy, health, and fulfillment, where we turn toward each other instead of away from each other; where we choose love over fear; where we recognize community as the irreplaceable foundation for our well-being?
As I finish my tenure as Surgeon General, this is my parting prescription, my final wish for all of us: choose community.”
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy
relationships, service, and purpose create an “ecosystem of meaning and belonging”
Dr. Murthy
that are essential for the “triad of fulfillment”.
In contrast, modern culture has become increasingly centered on the triad of success defined by fame, money, and power. We need a cultural shift that moves us toward fulfillment.
In his Prescription, the Surgeon General details each element and how they impact our health:
A Prescription for Relationships
Relationships are the connections we build with friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and others. Healthy relationships where we feel seen and can be ourselves create joy and lessen stress.
When we lack meaningful relationships, we experience loneliness. A third of adults and half of young people experience loneliness.
Being socially disconnected increases our risk of heart disease, dementia, depression, anxiety, and premature death.
A Prescription for Service
Service includes actions we take that benefit others. But service can have profound benefits to the person serving.
Studies show that service reduces our risk of hypertension, stroke, early death, depression, and cognitive decline. In service, we feel more connected to others.
A Prescription for Purpose
Purpose is an overarching life aim guiding our decisions and actions. It’s not “what” we do, rather “why” we do it.
Purpose supports our physical and mental health. A high sense of individual purpose may reduce the risk of early death, stroke, lung disease, and dementia.
People with a powerful sense of purpose experience lower levels of depression and anxiety and greater resilience in the face of stress.
Dr. Murthy urged Americans to recenter their lives around relationships, service, and purpose – the triad of fulfillment. He calls for a shift in culture, policy, and programs to strengthen community as the critical path to health, happiness, and fulfillment.
Read the complete Parting Prescription for America here.
The illustrations in this post were created by the AI feature of WordPress. They are not associated with Dr. Murthy’s article.
Coincidentally, Dr. Murthy shares a first name with Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy, an American entrepreneur and politician. He founded Roivant Sciences pharmaceutical company. Ramaswamy was a Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential election. He withdrew his candidacy and supported Donald Trump. Wikipedia
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Dr. Vivek H. Murthy-Our “Family” Doctor
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, serving since March 2021, addresses public health crises, including mental health, addiction, and social isolation, while advocating for healthier connections.The Surgeon General’s recent report highlights alcohol as the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S.
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I’m glad you shared this. I had read a summary of Dr. Murthy’s parting prescription in a news article and found it incredibly insightful and important! Loneliness, service, connection–I really am glad that he phrased all this in such a way that it is labeled as an ailment with an attached prescription. Thanks for sharing this with us at the Will Blog for Comments #54 linkup. We hope to see you again at #55 next week!
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Thanks Jennifer, I’m glad it touched you. And it’s an ailment with an easy fix-each other. Kind of like a giant linkup.
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There seems to be a big problem with loneliness around the globe. Good post
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Thanks for responding Lydia. Perhaps loneliness is what makes social media so popular but yet it doesn’t seem to have solved the problem.
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I just read Ed’s comment, and it really hit a nerve! Our last two houses had huge front porches. We would sit on them at night and talk to neighbors as they’d go by. When we built our condo, the cost for a front porch was so prohibitive, we opted not to do so. I imagine the same was true for many of our neighbors as there are very few large front porches. What a true Maple Grovian (our neighborhood is called Maple Grove) does is open the garage door, pull out the folding chairs and sit, waiting for someone to walk by. Then, we gab for a bit. As we are quite new to the neighborhood, we haven’t met many of the people who live at the other end. It is ironic social media shows people to be at their finest but is probably, again as Ed said, one of the biggest problems in creating community. As I read through this, I realized, while I am certainly not a church lady, my biggest community (other than my blogging community) is the circle of women I can count as friends at my church. Thank you for another stellar post about our country!
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Thanks for sharing this. Comunity was a natural before we had a zillion tv channels, smart phones and video games. Builders dropped front porches and instead of gathering at the neighborhood pool many put in their own pool. Many people send their kids to private schools and abandon the neighborhood school. I fear we have fallen down a slippery slope and regaining community will take a lot of effort.
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I could not agree more Ed. None of these are bad in themselves so it shows how easily it can happen without us noticing. We now have to be intentional about connecting with others since it doesn’t happen quite so naturally. We introverts have to try harder to get and stay connected.
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