Monthly Archives: September 2020

A Fitting Replacement for Notorious RBG

As a woman, the loss of Ruth Bader Ginsburg feels overwhelmingly profound.  Living in the Pacific Northwest, I often find myself searching for a ray of sun breaking through the clouds.  As sunlight hits the waters of the Puget Sound, it brings a sense of anticipation for the future.  A ray of hope can be found in Federal Judge Diane Humetewa, the first Native American woman and enrolled tribal member to serve as a federal judge in history.  And she was one of RBG’s picks for the next nominee of the U.S. Supreme Court. 

A Tale of Two Pandemics: Obesity and COVID-19

The United States has one of the highest rates of obesity in the world. More than 40% of American adults are obese, which means they have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher.  Almost 10% of American adults qualify as severely obese, defined as having a BMI of 40 or more. Of those with extreme obesity — defined as a BMI of 40 or more —the risk of death from COVID-19 is 17 times higher.

2020-09-30T04:59:09+00:00September 30, 2020|Categories: Patient, Policy|Tags: , , , , |

The Legacy of the Nineteenth Amendment for Women

As I reflected on these momentous achievements, my thoughts settled on the many women who have been elected from the 23rd district over the last 100 years.  Without a doubt, their hard work helped shape the political landscape for those serving in office today, including Senator Christine Rolfes, Senator Emily Randall, Representative Sherry Appleton, and Representative Michelle Caldier.   In fact, excluding appointees, over the last 100 years, the people of the 23rd district have elected a male candidate to the Senate for 13 terms and a female candidate to the Senate for 12 terms.   

Making Sense of COVID-19 Clusters

A great deal of medicine can be boiled down to basic pattern recognition.  Advance knowledge enables one to be better prepared—forewarned is forearmed.   Supportive interventions instituted at home, the hospital or even the intensive care unit, could improve patient survival.  After learning more about this research, the fact I had “flu-like” symptoms without a fever, was oddly reassuring. Hopefully, readers will find this information as comforting as I did.  Thankfully, my test came back negative.  And I will never take smelling my gardenias for granted again.

2020-09-05T22:50:09+00:00September 5, 2020|Categories: Patient, Practice|Tags: , |
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