As a family physician, I explore the HEART of HEALTH in my work, recreation, community, and through writing. My blog, Watercress Words, informs and inspires us to live in health. I believe we can turn our health challenges into healthy opportunities. When we do, we can share the HEART of health with our families, communities, and the world. Come explore and share with me.
Excellence is not a myth, reflections from #Proverbs#VickiCourtney in The Virtuous Woman, shattering the superwoman myth
Who can find an excellent woman? She is worth far more than rubies.
She gets ready to work hard. Her arms are strong.
She sees that her trading earns a lot of money. Her lamp doesn’t go out at night. With one hand she holds the wool. With the other she spins the thread.
She opens her arms to those who are poor. She reaches out her hands to those who are needy. When it snows, she’s not afraid for her family. All of them are dressed in the finest clothes.
Proverbs 31New International Reader’s Version (NIRV)
“Deep in the heart of every person is a desperate need to feel worth and value. Most people will end up defining their worth according to the world rather than by God’s standard of measure.
Defining our worth correctly is critical not only in our pursuit to be a virtuous (excellent) woman but for our overall mental health. One can wonder how many addictions, mental anxieties, and health problems could be avoided if the worth of the individual had been properly defined in the first place.
The virtuous (excellent) woman of Proverbs 31 had defined her worth according to God’s standards. “
This week a team organized by VWAM, Vets With a Mission, is working in VietNam. Led by our friends Chuck and Joette Ward, the team is treating patients in a clinic built by another humanitarian organization, now supported by VWAM. My husband and I were unable to join the team this year, but I am…
Even though the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States happened long ago, there are still lessons to remember and to learn. This post highlights some of the literature that preserves that knowledge.
The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 prompted a profuse body of literature, including one by a woman physician forensic pathologist trainee.
The author, Judy Melinek, M.D., wrote this account of her training as a forensic pathologist, a physician specialist who investigates sudden, unexpected or violent deaths. Her husband, T.J. Mitchell co-authored.
When she applied for a position in New York City at the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), Dr. Judy Melinek never imagined that decision would plunge her into the nightmare of September 11, 2001. She was at the ME office that day when the Twin Towers were attacked and fell, killing thousands of people.
The main job of a medical examiner is to investigate death by examining a corpse- an autopsy. They look for evidence of the cause of death, whether due to disease or trauma, and time of death, recent or remote. They hunt for signs that the death was self or other inflicted. Sometimes they need to establish the identity of the corpse. Such was the case after September 11.
She and the other staff collaborated with the team of investigators who worked night and day identifying the remains of victims, a task she vividly describes in the book. This was basically their only job since the cause of death was for the most part irrelevant, and impossible to determine.
Sometimes they had only a small body part, as little as a finger, to extract DNA to identity a victim. Such identification was critical to bring closure to the families who lost loved ones, people who left for work that day, and never came home.
DNA fingerprinting is a chemical test that shows the genetic makeup of a person or other living things. It’s used as evidence in courts, to identify bodies, track down blood relatives, and to look for cures for disease.
WebMD.com
The structure of DNA and genetic information. from U.S. Government Works
Dr. Melinek describes not only the science of what she was doing, but also the emotion behind it; how she and the other medical examiners and staff felt about their work. She describes how it affected her relationship with her husband and young son, the problem of explaining to him what she was seeing and experiencing on a daily basis. She didn’t have the heart to tell him how many trailers full of partial bodies there were, after he saw just one and was shocked.
She also discusses other cases she worked on. As a forensic pathologist, Dr. Melinek understands why and how people die, and therefore also knows how people can avoid dying unexpectedly. Pathologists tend to be blunt, straightforward and to the point, as when she writes,
“So don’t jaywalk.
Wear your seat belt when you drive.
Better yet, stay out of your car and get some exercise.
Watch your weight.
If you’re a smoker, stop right now. If your aren’t, don’t start.
Guns put holes in people. Drugs are bad.
You know that yellow line on the subway platform? It’s there for a reason.
Staying alive, as it turns out, is mostly common sense.”
Working Stiffmoves at a quick pace, in a conversational style. When she uses medical jargon, she explains it in simple terms. She describes the cases she investigated in detail so those with weak stomachs (no pun) may want to skip this read.
Having experienced her father’s unexpected death when she was 13 years old, she was no stranger to it, and she learned more from the 262 autopsies she did during her training. As she says in this engaging memoir,
“To confront death every day, to see it for yourself, you have to love the living.”
“In City of Dust, Anthony DePalma offers the first full accounting of one of the gravest environmental catastrophes in United States history.
The destruction on 9/11 of two of the world’s largest buildings unleashed a vortex of dust and ash that blotted out the sun and has distorted science, medicine and public policy ever since. The likely dangers of 9/11’s massive dust cloud were evident from the beginning, yet thousands chose not to see. Why? As the sickening results of exposure became evident, many still refused to recognize them. Why? The consequences are still being tallied in the wasted bodies and disrupted lives of thousands who gave their all when the need was greatest, but whose demands for justice have been consumed by years of politics and courtroom maneuvers.
Separating reality from myth – and doing so with exceptional literary style and grace, DePalma covered Ground Zero for The New York Times for four years. DePalma introduces heroic firefighters, dedicated doctors and scientists, obsessive city officials, partisan politicians, aggressive lawyers, and compassionate judges and reveals the individual decisions that destroyed public trust, and the desperate attempts made to rebuild it.
The dust that was the World Trade Center has changed everything it touched. This is the story of that dust, the 9/11 disaster after the disaster, and what it tells us about ourselves and our future.”
(Amazon review)
a New York City police officer and his horse represent the city proudly
“Written in conjunction with the documentary Rebirth, a full decade in the making, an uplifting look at the lives of nine individuals whose lives were forever changed by the largest tragedy our nation has ever faced.
In Project Rebirth, a psychologist and a journalist examine the lives of nine people who were directly affected by the events of September 11, 2001. Written concurrently with the filming of the documentary, it is uniquely positioned to tackle the questions raised about how people react in the face of crippling grief, how you maintain hope for a future when your life as you knew it is destroyed, and the amazing ability of humans to focus on the positive aspects of day-to-day living in the face of tragedy.”
(Amazon review)
honoring the brave FDNY firefighters who rescued survivors and those who lost their lives doing so
former National Coordinator of Disaster Volunteers for the American Red Cross
“You never know when your life is going to change.
My red business suit was almost buttoned, and I was rehearsing my presentation for the Milford, Connecticut Red Cross board of directors, even though my mind kept wandering to my wedding just nine days earlier in Walt Disney World. An urgent call from my new husband to come to the television interrupted my wedding day dreams.
As soon as I saw the images of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, I knew that my plans for the day – maybe even my life – had changed.” (excerpt from article)
“What do Ossler’s insights reveal about finding meaning and purpose in the thick of chaos and personal tragedy?
Chaplain Ossler chronicles the best of humanity—acts of courage and goodness in the midst of unimaginable devastation. As terrorist attacks continue to assault humanity, Triumph Over Terror reveals how your spirit can triumph over terror’s reign, and how you can help others suffering from trauma and loss.”(Amazon review)
(This blog post contains several affiliate links, a commission is paid if used to make a purchase. Thank you.)
One World Trade Center, photo taken 8/16/2013 by Dr. Aletha
exploring the HEART of health in history
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