Sunday, 27 February 2022

Paul Farmer, Pioneer of Global Health, Dies at 62

As a medical student, Dr. Farmer decided to build a clinic in Haiti. It grew into a vast network serving some of the world’s poorest communities. 


Dr. Paul Farmer speaking with an H.I.V. patient, Altagrace Cenatus, at a Partners in Health hospital in Haiti in 2003. He worked to provide quality health care to some of the poorest people in the world.

Paul Farmer, a physician, anthropologist and humanitarian who gained global acclaim for his work delivering high-quality health care to some of the world’s poorest people, died on Monday on the grounds of a hospital and university he had helped establish in Butaro, Rwanda. He was 62.

Dr. Farmer attracted public renown with “Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World,” a 2003 book by Tracy Kidder that described the extraordinary efforts he would make to care for patients, sometimes walking hours to their homes to ensure they were taking their medication.

He was a practitioner of “social medicine,” arguing there was no point in treating patients for diseases only to send them back into the desperate circumstances that contributed to them in the first place. Illness, he said, has social roots and must be addressed through social structures.

His work with Partners in Health significantly influenced public health strategies for responding to tuberculosis, H.I.V. and Ebola. During the AIDS crisis in Haiti, he went door to door to deliver antiviral medication, confounding many in the medical field who believed it would be impossible for poor rural people to survive the disease.

 he often lived among the people he was treating, moving his family to Rwanda and Haiti for extended periods.

“There are so many people that are alive because of that man,” 

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s top medical adviser, broke down in tears during an interview, in which he said he and Dr. Farmer had been like “soul brothers.”

“When you talk about iconic giants in the field of public health, he stands pretty much among a very, very short list of people,” said Dr. Fauci, who first met Dr. Farmer decades ago, when Dr. Farmer was a medical student. He added, “He called me his mentor, but in reality, he was more of a mentor to me.”

Remembering Paul Farmer (1959-2022)

The pioneer of global heath died on Feb. 21, 2022. He was 62.



Dr. Farmer, who never settled into the easy life of an elder statesman, was vigorously involved in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, prodding the Biden administration to drop intellectual property barriers that prevented pharmaceutical companies from sharing their technology.

Paul Edward Farmer Jr. was born on Oct. 26, 1959, in North Adams, Mass. Paul’s mother, Ginny (Rice) Farmer, worked as a supermarket cashier, and his father, Paul Sr., was a salesman and high school math teacher.

When Paul was around 12, his father bought an old bus and fitted it with bunks, converting it into a mobile home. Paul, his parents and his five siblings spent the next few years traveling, mostly in Florida, living for a time on a boat moored on a bayou. He credited this period with giving him  a knack for sleeping anywhere and an inability to be shy or embarrassed.

One summer, he and his family worked alongside Haitian migrant workers picking oranges, listening curiously as they chatted to one another in Creole from atop ladders. That was Paul’s first encounter with Haiti, the country that would captivate him in his 20s and then propel him toward a career in public health.

After graduating from Duke University, he moved to Haiti, volunteering in Cange, a settlement in the central Artibonite plateau of the country. He arrived toward the end of the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier, when Haiti’s hospital system was so threadbare that patients had to pay for basic supplies, like medical gloves or a blood transfusion, if they wanted treatment.

In a letter to a friend, he wrote that his stint at the hospital wasn’t turning out as he had expected. “It’s not that I’m unhappy working here,” said the letter, excerpted in Mr. Kidder’s book. “The biggest problem is that the hospital is not for the poor. I’m taken aback. I really am. Everything has to be paid for in advance.”

Dr. Farmer decided to open a different kind of clinic. He returned to the United States to attend Harvard Medical School and earn a degree in anthropology, but he continued to spend much of his time in Cange, returning to Harvard for exams and laboratory work.

Over the years, Dr. Farmer raised millions of dollars for an ever-expanding network of community health facilities. He had a contagious enthusiasm and considerable nerve. When Thomas J. White, who owned a large construction company in Boston, asked to meet him, he insisted that the meeting take place in Haiti.

Mr. White eventually contributed $1 million in seed money to Partners in Health, which Dr. Farmer founded in 1987 along with Ophelia Dahl, whom he had met volunteering in Haiti; a Duke classmate, Todd McCormack; and a Harvard classmate, Dr. Jim Yong Kim.

In 1996 he married Didi Bertrand, the daughter of a pastor and a school principal in Cange; she was described in Mr. Kidder’s book as “the most beautiful woman in Cange.” She became a researcher for Partners in Health and survives Dr. Farmer, along with their three children, Catherine, Elizabeth and Sebastian; his mother; his brothers, James and Jeffrey; and his sisters, Katy, Jennifer and Peggy.

The clinic in Haiti, at first a single room, grew over the years to a network of 16 medical centers in the country, with a local staff of almost 7,000.

Among them was a teaching hospital in Mirebalais, about 40 miles north of Port-au-Prince, that opened in 2013 and offered chemotherapy drugs, a gleaming new $700,000 CT scanner and three operating rooms with full-time trauma surgeons. There, poor patients with difficult diseases paid a basic fee of around $1.50 a day for treatment, including medication.

Partners in Health also expanded into Rwanda, where Dr. Farmer helped the government restructure the country’s health system, improving health outcomes in areas like infant mortality and the H.I.V. infection rate.

Dr. Farmer died in Butaro, a mountain town on the border of Uganda where he and Partners in Health collaborated with the Rwandan government to build a complex devoted to health and health education

Dr. Farmer also helped develop new public health approaches in Peru, Russia and Lesotho, among other places.

He was particularly proud of the fact that the clinics he helped build were staffed by local doctors and nurses whom he had trained.

“I’m not cynical at all,” he once said. “Cynicism is a dead end.”

Over the years, he kept in touch with many of his patients, as well as their children and grandchildren. He was godfather to more than 100 children, most of them in Haiti, said Laurie Nuell, a close friend and board director at Partners in Health.

Over the weekend, Dr. Farmer sent her a photo of a colourful bouquet of flowers he had put together for one of his terminally ill patients in Rwanda. “Not my best work,” the accompanying text said.

“He had a very tender heart,” she said. “Seeing pain and suffering was very hard for him. It just hurt him. I’m a social worker by training. One thing I learned is about detachment. He wasn’t detached from anyone. That’s the beauty of it.”

Check out this interview with Paul Farmer. 

 

Tuesday, 22 February 2022

22022022 - " Attitude, after all, is everything "

 







Attitude, after all, is everything.

·        John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!” 

 

·        He was a natural motivator. 

 

·        If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. 

 

·        Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it! 

 

·        You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?” 

 

·        He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood

 

·        I choose to be in a good mood.” 

 

·        Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.

 

·        Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

 

·        "Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. 

 

·        "Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. 

 

·        You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life.” 

 

·        I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. 

 

·        Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

 

·        After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

 

·        I saw him about six months after the accident. 

 

·        When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?” 

 

·        I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

 

·        "The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live.” 

 

·        "Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked 

 

·        He continued, "..the paramedics were great. 

 

·        They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action.” 

 

·        "What did you do?" I asked. 

 

·        "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'.” 

 

·        Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.” 

 

·        He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. 

 

·        Attitude, after all, is everything.

 

·        Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” 

 

·        After all today is the tomorrow, you worried about yesterday. 




 


Sunday, 13 February 2022

200th. "Nutrition for the Soul"


 

Hope -  Fearless Soul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFatp1mi1hM&ab_channel=FearlessSoul

I was down I was out
I was feeling so low
I’m trying to stay on top of things
I was all on my own with nowhere to go
it’s so hard to find my way

but no matter what
I’ll pick myself up
I have to dig deep
get back on my feet
I will reach my dreams
I know it’s not easy
there’s so much more in me
impossible is nothing

I have hope
I have hope
I still have hope
I still have hope
I can lose it all
but they can’t take this from me

I try and I try but I keep on losing
sometimes it hurts so bad
I cry and I cry but I keep on moving
I know there’s light at the end of the tunnel

but no matter what
I’ll pick myself up
I have to dig deep
get back on my feet
I will reach my dreams
I know it’s not easy
there’s so much more in me
impossible is nothing!

I have hope
I have hope
I still have hope
I still have hope
I can lose it all
but they can’t take this from me

if I have hope I’ve got it all
if I have hope I’m not alone
if I have hope I’ll get unstuck
if I have hope I’ll never give up

I have hope
I have hope
I still have hope
I still have hope
I can lose it all
but they can’t take this from me

and now a story with a message. 



Think before you act

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She
hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for
her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I will marry you.'
One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came
off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.
He asked her,' Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The
girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his
closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of
looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.
Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying:
'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they
were mine.'
This is how the human brain often works when our status changes. Only a
very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their
side in the most painful situations.

Followed by something to reflect on : 

“If I had my child to raise over again:


I’d build self-esteem first and the house later
I’d finger paint more and point the finger less
I would do less correcting and more connecting
I’d take my eyes off my watch and watch with my eyes
I would care to know less and know to care more
I’d take more hikes and fly more kites
I’d stop playing serious and seriously play
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars
I’d do more hugging and less tugging
I’d see the oak tree in the acorn more often
I would be firm less often and affirm much more
I’d model less about the love of power
And more about the power of love.”
Diane Loomans

Check out an extract from the Movie ; " Mr Holland's Opus" 

click on the link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjY-YuWVkus&ab_channel=CindyorkHongKong

Cole's Song 

I feel that the love around me
Has come from another world
I have lost love
I have found love
From the moment you were born
I could see a new beginning
Come to me, let me tell you how
How I've lost love
And now I've found love
In a world of broken dreams
I was wrong
To deny your feelings
And I'm sorry
If I've caused you pain
I was lost then
So confused then
And I believe that
You would change that
There are broken hearts we can mend
Through the music we've learned to love again
Through the sad notes
Through the years
There were times when I just couldn't tell you
And now we've come
To an understanding
And I'm sorry
That it took so long
I have lost love
I have found love
From the moment you were born
I have lost you
And now I've found you
Let me feel your heart
Let me hear your song



Saturday, 5 February 2022

" A Taxi Journey "

 






A Taxi Journey

 I arrived at the address and honked the horn. After waiting a few minutes I honked again. Since this was going to be my last ride of my shift I thought about just driving away, but instead I put the car in park and walked up to the door and knocked.. 'Just a minute', answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940's movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.

There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard

box filled with photos and glassware.

'Would you carry my bag out to the car?' she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman.

She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I told her.. 'I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated.'

'Oh, you're such a good boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and then asked, 'Could you drive

through downtown?'

'It's not the shortest way,' I answered quickly..

'Oh, I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice.

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have any family left,' she continued in a soft voice. 'The doctor says I don't have very long.' I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

'What route would you like me to take?' I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.

We drove through the neighbourhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm tired. Let’s go now'.

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move.

They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

'How much do I owe you?' She asked, reaching into her purse.

'Nothing,' I said

'You have to make a living,' she answered.

'There are other passengers,' I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.

'You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,' she said. 'Thank you.'

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light.. Behind me, a door shut.             It was the sound of the closing of a life..

I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.

But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY

WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID ~BUT~THEY WILL

ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM

FEEL.

 

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.

 




Forgiveness

  Forgiveness  My father once said, “If they hurt you, forgive them, but never forget what they’ve done.” This has always been a reminder ...