August 18, 2020

by drplasticpicker

It’s Saturday morning and it’s just starting to get light. I worked a full Friday clinic and it was busy. Twenty-six families, twenty-six developing story-lines. Supposedly the appointments are segmented into 15 minute blocks, but life does not work like that. Anyone who has ever been to the MD office knows that the entire process takes much longer from preconception to the actual visit. I know the time with me is the end of a long process for the family. So I try to take my time and sit, listen and do something that progresses my little and big patients onto better physical, mental and moral health. One can’t rush life nor rush the practice of medicine. The actual schedule I am presented each mornings is only a suggestion of how the day will go. In the end, when they come in I see them. We get something done.

I did a good job yesterday. I connected with one of my teenage patients that I’ve had since his toddler years in a way that was unexpected. He was chatty, and I convinced him to watch a video on sleep and put cabbage in his ramen. This was a big accomplishment. More importantly, I listened to him and he listenend to me.

I am trying to listen to the children who have applied to our AAP CA3 Climate Change and Health Children’s Art Council. We have ten applicants and they are a remarkable group. We will take all ten and close those applications now. It was interesting to see which categories the kids picked. I worked with one of my premed interns, and have sorted them into their categories (Poetry, Photography, 2D art and 3D art). One of the interns is composing an acceptance email to send to the children, and another is creating a certificate for them. I am trying to guide to help our interns create this experience of the Children’s Arts Council. They are emailing me their thoughts and we’ll move on from there.

One of those same interns wanted to form a community service group with her premed friends. I was able to direct them to MS4SF (Medical Students for a Sustainable Future) https://ms4sf.org/ I worked with one of their members at AB345, and saw the power of their group. Those five students are on their way. I just send one more email to our two other premed interns (our group is three now and CLOSED) about MS4SF.

And that is it. The Children’s Art Council is already more than I ever imagined it could be. Ten children who want to create the Youth Art Exhibition, two bright-eyed and young premed interns who will attend the HOPE Conference with us and help guide the children and create a sustainable manageable project. Pediatrician friends from the AAP who will find joy in logging into the Zoom meetings and supervising. I’m dreaming of the final party after COVID-19 is over with all their selections are up, and we are eating vegan treats and Nurse L is playing cool music with his band. And it is going to be me getting to groove with my patients, my kids and my friends. Looking at their art and imaging and actualizing how we are going to save the earth.