TSMD June Newsletter - Coming Together Again
June Greetings
The spring of this year has not been an easy one. We are collectively grieving so many different kinds of losses. Most significantly, 100,000 of our neighbors are gone.
Late last month, Meghan O’Rourke wrote a piece in The Atlantic about the trauma we are experiencing together. She writes about coming to terms with the staggering death toll and asks how we can help each other heal when necessary distancing has robbed us of our traditional burial rites and the gatherings we once held to eat and drink and tell stories about those we have loved and lost. She writes, “As we build new practices for this moment, we must name the void: To mourn in a moment of collective grief is to experience not one but multiple layers of loss.”
As we begin coming together again—with all necessary precautions—we must look for the ways we can mourn together and come to terms with what has taken place over these past few months, what the New York Times called an incalculable loss. We must mourn. We must remember. And we must begin to look to the future, restoring our communities and our connections thoughtfully and carefully, and celebrating life when we’re able.
I have two glorious things to celebrate this month: my daughters Connor and Kiernan have a birthday in just a few days. In the fall, Kiernan will be starting law school at Florida State University and Connor will begin pursuing her MBA from Northwestern University. My daughter Clare also just completed her junior year at Endicott College in Massachusetts. I am so proud of all three of them and am inspired by their ability to move forward with courage in these uncertain times.
Spotlight on Dr. Marilyn Heine
I’m so happy to highlight the work of Dr. Marilyn Heine this month.
Dr. Heine specializes in emergency medicine, internal medicine, and hematology-oncology. She practices medicine in southeast Pennsylvania. In addition to her clinical work and serving as a mentor, Dr. Heine is passionate about advocating for patients—both in the care that she directly provides and in policies she promotes with lawmakers.
“The importance of the patient-physician relationship drives my advocacy,” says Dr. Heine. “As lawmakers increasingly impact physicians’ medical practice, it is imperative that we advocate for our patients not only at the bedside, but also in the halls of our legislatures.”
Her advocacy in emergency medicine is tenacious and longstanding. It began decades ago when she saw patients who waited to seek emergency care due to fear that, even if insured, their ED visit would not be covered. Her work has helped to successfully advance the prudent layperson protection for patients. However, insurers continually seek to undermine this safeguard and its intent.
“There have been many times when I galvanized colleagues in grassroots initiatives,” she says. “I enthusiastically teach others how to effectively advocate. A recent opportunity was for an American Medical Association Medical Student Section national conference where I shared how physicians can have an impact through the 3 Rs: build Relationships with legislators, keep the issue on the lawmaker’s Radar, and make the issue Real by telling a story to ‘put a face on it.’” In addition to her clinical work, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic she addresses related urgent patient and physician advocacy issues, promotes key messages, and shares resources on social media.
A selection of her career highlights includes her roles as Vice-Chair of the American Medical Association (AMA) Council on Legislation, Delegate to the AMA House of Delegates, and Chair of a Congressional Physicians Advisory Board.
Her past roles include serving as the president of both the Pennsylvania Medical Society and Pennsylvania College of Emergency Physicians (PACEP). She has also previously served as Chair of the Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine and the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Federal Government Affairs Committee.
She is the recipient of the AMA PAC Award for Political Participation, the AMA Inspirational Physician Award, the ACEP Colin C. Rorrie, Jr, Ph.D. Award for Excellence in Health Policy, the ACEP Council Meritorious Service Award, and the PACEP Meritorious Service Award among others. Recently, she received the David Blunk Outstanding Contribution to Emergency Medicine Award, the highest award from PACEP.
Currently, Dr. Heine serves as a Board member on the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange, where she represents the AMA; and the Executive Committee of the Forum for Medical Affairs. She was recently elected to serve as Chair of the American Medical Association Council on Legislation.
Around the Web
What Is Physician Support Line?
Physician Support Line is a national, free, and confidential support line service made up of 600+ volunteer psychiatrists, joined together in the determined hope to provide peer support for our physician colleagues as we all navigate the COVID-19 epidemic.
No appointment necessary. Call our national support line at
1-888-409-0141.
6 feet away isn’t enough. Covid-19 risk involves other dimensions, too.
Perhaps helpful: Imagine everyone is smoking, as Ed Yong reported in the Atlantic, and you’d like to avoid inhaling as much smoke as possible. In a cramped indoor space, that smoke is going to get dense and heavy fast. If the windows are open, some of that smoke will blow away. If fewer people are in the space, less smoke will accumulate, and it might not waft over to you if you’re standing far enough away. But spend a lot of time in an enclosed space with those people, and the smoke grows denser.
COVID-19’s Racial Death Gap Was Predictable
Data from the few U.S. states that track race in their infection and death tallies — Michigan, Illinois, North Carolina — have demonstrated that the virus is having a disproportionate impact on black people. The reality in Wisconsin is mirrored elsewhere: Black Americans, in most instances, are statistically more likely than their non-black counterparts to face the kind of chronic health problems and lack of access to adequate health care that can transform COVID-19 from manageable to fatal.
All my best,
Tracy
My birthday girls, Connor & Kiernan