Health on Earth

I have to thank my husband for using our awesome telemedicine option for a weekend appointment, so we didn’t have to go track down an urgent care center… actually we had to track one down anyways but thanks for the first attempt. Also have to thank him for testing something I’ve been SO excited to see implemented across the nation- unfortunately our experience with telemedicine this time was less than ideal and has made me a bit skeptical. But that’s a story for another post. So my husband caught the dreaded stomach bug that has been shutting down daycares, schools, offices, etc. It came on suddenly and hit him like a freight train, following a large wedding we attended and a training day where facemasks and gloves that have likely never experienced Lysol spray were used. Not surprisingly he was knocked on his bottom and suffering as many Americans have over this winter. To get a little background, stomach bugs like Norovirus have absolutely been on fire this year. We hear all...

Obviously I feel that Public Health is one of the most important fields of work, I have two degrees in it, but yet I feel that it is often forgotten when we think about health in general. We attribute the heath field solely with healthcare, the clinical side of the field. But the public health side of the health field affects everything we do- from washing our hands to legislating indoor air pollutant policies, to community health programs improving youth nutrition and media messaging. There is public health all around you, often times in fields you didn’t even realize were relevant to health. Why is Public Health a forgotten field? Probably multiple reasons. In my opinion, one of the major issues is that the field is so multidisciplinary that when we are talking about a public health mission, we run into issues of “That’s an engineering thing” or “That’s a doctor’s problem”. We lose the cohesiveness of the field when we look at the individual components rather than the problem stat...

Last week my husband was browsing target with our kid after his class at The Little Gym. This kid is never out of energy, so it was a last ditch effort to run an errand and get him a little worn out so that maybe he would nap on the way home. They were checking out the electronics section which is always a dangerous idea, when they saw something actually really cool. It’s called the KidPower band by UNICEF, and is a mini activity tracker for kids. “What toddler needs an activity tracker?” You ask. “What a dumb idea.” Actually, it’s awesome. The band adjusts from a perfect fit on my 18 month old’s teeny wrist to fit a larger child, possibly a teenager’s wrist. But why is it fitting, awesome? Toddlers are full of energy. They never stop moving. What if we could harness their energy and use it for a positive cause? That’s exactly the innovative thinking that got UNICEF here. As you probably know, UNICEF provides aid specifically to children in many developing countries. They reach a ...

Recently a friend of mine took her toddler son to a dentist appointment with a pediatric dental specialist. He was having some strange issues with his teeth chipping away with seemingly no cause. This happened with multiple teeth in a relatively short time period and my friend was very concerned. During the exam my friend mentioned to the dentist that she still nurses once or twice per day and he immediately told her that the results of her still nursing at 20 months was clearly bottle rot (despite her never using a bottle with her son), and the dentist refused to discuss it any further. He stated that the child’s teeth were breaking because she breastfeeds her child in the evening before bed. I am not a pediatric dentist- I have zero expertise regarding children’s teeth. But I remember reading an article from a pretty reliable and peer-reviewed source regarding breastfeeding and teeth, specifically whether or not it caused tooth decay. Troubled by her experience with the dentis...

Often times when I tell people that I am a public health professional I am met with “So you are a doctor?” Or when I was in college, my family repeatedly asked, “Are you going to open your own practice?” No… not quite. While the clinical aspect of public health remains a vital component to the success of many programs, we cannot neglect the non-clinical aspect of public health. One thing that I have always loved about this field is how broadly interdisciplinary it is. A person’s health is impacted by everything- Our water, our socioeconomic status, our education, exposures and food habits.. As a first year at James Madison University I didn’t know what I wanted to major in. I liked helping people, I enjoyed health, but I hated bodily fluids and was scared of hospitals. In fact, as a child I told my first grade teacher that I wasn’t allowed to watch TV because we were going to watch “Curious George Goes to the Hospital”. As I searched for answers to the “What do you want to do” que...