Alison Buttenheim is an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. She specializes in how people make health-related decisions. 

Malia Jones is an Assistant Scientist at the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She looks at spatial differences in health outcomes. 

Amy Hsin is an Associate Professor of Sociology here at Queens College in the City University of New York. She is an expert on education and immigration, and has worked on New York schools’ closure.

If you or a loved one are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255) any time of day.

Michael Westerhaus MD is a primary care physician for refugees at the Center for International Health in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is also an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and an active social medicine educator with SocMed and the Social Medicine Consortium.

 

Prof. Hogan is assistant professor in the Department of History at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. His research examines evolving clinical perspectives and narratives of disability

Amy Purdy chose to be here. After losing both her legs below the knee at 19 to a form of bacterial meningitis, doctors gave her a 2% chance of survival. A year later she finished third in a snowboarding competition on Mammoth mountain. Amy went on to become one of the top Paralympic snowboarders in the world, competing on Dancing with the Stars, touring with Oprah Winfrey, starting a foundation, and writing a New York Times best-selling book. But after another life-threatening setback, Amy once again found herself knocking down doors to get the help she needed and in doing so, has inspired people everywhere to push through obstacles and make dreams happen.

Also, check out our website (www.thesocialbreakdown) to look at the many sources we cited in today’s episode, along with some other relevant materials you may find interesting!

As the “What the Health?” panelists point out in this episode, that’s a milestone that many considered unlikely. The past decade for the health law has been filled with controversy and several near-death experiences. But the law also brought health coverage to millions of Americans and laid the groundwork for a shift to a health system that pays for quality rather than quantity.

From the physical exams we conduct to diagnose disease, to the reassuring handshakes before a surgical procedure, human touch is absolutely fundamental to the work we do in healthcare.

This series is brought to you by the California Medical Association and the California Health Care Foundation.

You will hear the voices of a trauma nurse in San Francisco, a pediatric emergency medicine doctor in New York City, a Durable Medical Equipment (DME) truck driver in the Southern US, a neonatologist in Pennsylvania, a neurosurgery resident in Los Angeles, an emergency medicine physician in Arizona, and an internal medicine resident in New York City

This week, we continue with audio diaries from healthcare workers around the country discussing ventilator hacks, breathing tubes, search and rescue, and ministries of presence. You will hear from diarists in New York, Colorado, Maryland, Indiana, Atlanta, and California, who include a family physician, a nurse practitioner, a veterinarian, a medical student, a couple of interns, and a hospital chaplain. Featuring a heartfelt rendition of Bill Withers’ Lean on Me.

Family medicine physician Catherine Forest listens to her one of her classical music idols serenade a dying loved one in the hospital.

Michele DiTomas, a hospice physician who cares for incarcerated men, races against the clock and slashes through bureaucratic tape to help a dying man go home.

Learn more about the U.S. criminal justice system on the ACLU's website.

In this township is a clinic, a building a couple of stories tall with physicians’ offices, X-ray facilities, and a small office for dental care. 

Dr. Huei-wen Tien works there. She’s a short woman in her late 50s. Her hair has gone white so she’s dyed it bright pink, and she wears an all-black outfit with black ankle boots. Hermotorcycle helmet has the word “Punk” written on the side, and she rides her moped to visit her patients. 

Today, her trips take her just a few minutes into the township, but some days, she drives hours up into the mountains to treat patients living in very remote areas.

Ruth Evans speaks to the country's health minister, Agnes Binagwaho, and Paul Farmer, professor of global health at Harvard University in the US. She also visits Kigali, the Rwandan capital, where she interviews staff and healthcare recipients.

Staff writer Olga Khazan joins James Hamblin and Katherine Wells on Social Distance to explain.