[Music]
hello everybody my name is dr. Paul
Thomas I’m a family medicine doctor that
means I take care of people of all ages
and stages I went to medical school at
Wayne State University School of
Medicine yes I did my residency at
Oakwood which is now called Beaumont and
I currently practice in southwest
Detroit my clinic is called Plum health
thank you I’m here today because I
believe that health care should be
affordable and accessible
when I was invited to talk at TEDx
Detroit I was so freaking excited man
this is awesome who’s not having a great
time today I love sharing my story I
love talking about healthcare and
Detroit and family medicine but then I
found out I’d have eight minutes eight
minutes what can I possibly say in eight
minutes you see I’m a family medicine
doctor I like to get to know my patients
I get to talk with them for an hour
my initial appointments with them are an
hour and we get to know each other we
share stories we develop a trusting
relationship and so this time seemed a
little bit inadequate the joy in my
practice in medicine is the joy of those
human relationships and those human
connections and I love my job because I
really get to know the people I care for
and that’s what makes it special being a
doctor is an awesome thing but that’s
not how it is
in the United States that’s not how
healthcare is in general across the
United States let me tell you a little
bit of a story of them by grandpa Jim
Jim is a World War two veteran and he’s
a retired Detroit police officer he’s
also one of my best friends I love Jim
okay but he’s got some toenail problems
okay like you wouldn’t believe and so he
went to see his primary care physician
to get his toenails trimmed and he got
referred to a podiatrist
now the doctor made the referral because
she only has eight minutes for her
patients right it’s just not enough time
to trim toenails or take care of complex
medical problems and I think we’ve all
been there in this room waited too long
to see the doctor only to be rushed out
and then Jim’s on a fixed income so a
month later he gets the bill for 350
bucks you see his medicare covers
primary care but it doesn’t cover
specialty care right and that and I’m
frustrated now because man I know my my
grandpa Jim he’s stubborn right next
time he has a problem he’s gonna be
reluctant to talk about it because he
knows he might get a bill for it so he
told me about six months later about his
toenails I’m like why didn’t you tell me
sooner I spent about thirty minutes I
trimmed his toenails and got him back to
walking which is his favorite thing to
do and took away some of the pain that
he was having because of those toenails
and that’s us walking out on our street
together
okay so I’ve always wanted to be a
family doctor that’s a lie I actually
wanted to be a ninja turtle
and and this is me on my fourth birthday
blowing out candles in a ninja turtle
jumper and wishing to become a ninja
turtle okay but as I grew up I realized
that I was not an amphibian and I needed
to reevaluate my career choices so I
started volunteering in high school at a
free clinic about six blocks from where
were city sitting today and I was
working with Wayne State Medical
Students and I was working
shoulder-to-shoulder with them taking
care of the most vulnerable patients in
our community the homeless the uninsured
some elderly folks who lived across the
street who this was the only clinic they
could get to because they didn’t have
transportation and I was so impressed by
the family medicine doctor who was
supervising there he was excellent and
he could handle anything that came his
way and I wanted to do I wanted to be
like that where I grew up so I I went to
Wayne State and I became acutely aware
of the health disparities in Detroit all
these pink areas in the city of Detroit
are medically underserved there’s about
100 primary care doctors for six hundred
and eighty thousand people
that’s one doctor for every six thousand
people okay so we wanted to address this
we are idealistic medical students so we
built this outdoor medical clinic at the
Heidelberg project
and we’re like we’re gonna solve all the
problems in healthcare and it’s still
standing there today
it’s still there today and it
representative for us the clinic that we
wanted to build when we graduated from a
medical school and residency but the
deeper and deeper I got into my training
the more and more this dream just seemed
like a dream like there’s no way I can
make it a reality because the further
along I got at my training I was
spending less and less time with my
patients you see being a family medicine
doctor is like catching sand you know
you’ve got so many people and each grain
of sand is a concern that you’re trying
to take care of and it’s it’s your
daughter’s throat pain it’s your
brother’s chest pain it’s your
grandfather’s overgrown toenails right
and the more patients you see the more
things kind of slip through your fingers
and and and that’s why it’s so hard to
be a family doc and I felt like the
deeper I got in my training I wasn’t the
doctor that I was trained to be I just
was too pressed for time and that’s
where I heard about a courageous group
of doctors who were living their truth
who believed what I believed that
healthcare should be affordable and
accessible for everyone
they call themselves direct primary care
doctors because they work directly with
their patients it’s a membership model
for healthcare there’s no insurance
there’s no middlemen these doctors have
enough time now to be advocates for
their patients they reduce their panel
from five from two five hundred members
so they see about five visits each day
so you get a full hour with some left
over time to make phone calls and follow
up on things that’s compared to the
typical family medicine doctor there’s
2,400 patients and has to see about 24
patients a day that’s when those grains
of sand starts slipping through our
fingers when we’re seeing too many
people each day currently there are
about 717 of these primary care doctors
direct primary care doctors across the
country and they advocate for their
patients they get wholesale medications
at cost labs at cost
Imaging they save their patients
thousands of dollars each year on those
ancillary services and let me introduce
you to a few of them this is dr. Lynn in
Pittsburgh
this is dr. Haynes in Florida this is
dr. Flanagan in Colorado
this is dr. Pinkney in Texas and this is
dr. Diane Cara Bible these doctors are
living their truth they are excellent
physicians who go out of the way to take
care of the patients the way they should
be taken care of I am proud to count
myself among them and I’m proud to be
their colleague not only are they saving
their patients and doing the right thing
for their patients but they may be
saving the soul of medicine itself thank
you so much for your time
you
hello everybody my name is dr. Paul
Thomas I’m a family medicine doctor that
means I take care of people of all ages
and stages I went to medical school at
Wayne State University School of
Medicine yes I did my residency at
Oakwood which is now called Beaumont and
I currently practice in southwest
Detroit my clinic is called Plum health
thank you I’m here today because I
believe that health care should be
affordable and accessible
when I was invited to talk at TEDx
Detroit I was so freaking excited man
this is awesome who’s not having a great
time today I love sharing my story I
love talking about healthcare and
Detroit and family medicine but then I
found out I’d have eight minutes eight
minutes what can I possibly say in eight
minutes you see I’m a family medicine
doctor I like to get to know my patients
I get to talk with them for an hour
my initial appointments with them are an
hour and we get to know each other we
share stories we develop a trusting
relationship and so this time seemed a
little bit inadequate the joy in my
practice in medicine is the joy of those
human relationships and those human
connections and I love my job because I
really get to know the people I care for
and that’s what makes it special being a
doctor is an awesome thing but that’s
not how it is
in the United States that’s not how
healthcare is in general across the
United States let me tell you a little
bit of a story of them by grandpa Jim
Jim is a World War two veteran and he’s
a retired Detroit police officer he’s
also one of my best friends I love Jim
okay but he’s got some toenail problems
okay like you wouldn’t believe and so he
went to see his primary care physician
to get his toenails trimmed and he got
referred to a podiatrist
now the doctor made the referral because
she only has eight minutes for her
patients right it’s just not enough time
to trim toenails or take care of complex
medical problems and I think we’ve all
been there in this room waited too long
to see the doctor only to be rushed out
and then Jim’s on a fixed income so a
month later he gets the bill for 350
bucks you see his medicare covers
primary care but it doesn’t cover
specialty care right and that and I’m
frustrated now because man I know my my
grandpa Jim he’s stubborn right next
time he has a problem he’s gonna be
reluctant to talk about it because he
knows he might get a bill for it so he
told me about six months later about his
toenails I’m like why didn’t you tell me
sooner I spent about thirty minutes I
trimmed his toenails and got him back to
walking which is his favorite thing to
do and took away some of the pain that
he was having because of those toenails
and that’s us walking out on our street
together
okay so I’ve always wanted to be a
family doctor that’s a lie I actually
wanted to be a ninja turtle
and and this is me on my fourth birthday
blowing out candles in a ninja turtle
jumper and wishing to become a ninja
turtle okay but as I grew up I realized
that I was not an amphibian and I needed
to reevaluate my career choices so I
started volunteering in high school at a
free clinic about six blocks from where
were city sitting today and I was
working with Wayne State Medical
Students and I was working
shoulder-to-shoulder with them taking
care of the most vulnerable patients in
our community the homeless the uninsured
some elderly folks who lived across the
street who this was the only clinic they
could get to because they didn’t have
transportation and I was so impressed by
the family medicine doctor who was
supervising there he was excellent and
he could handle anything that came his
way and I wanted to do I wanted to be
like that where I grew up so I I went to
Wayne State and I became acutely aware
of the health disparities in Detroit all
these pink areas in the city of Detroit
are medically underserved there’s about
100 primary care doctors for six hundred
and eighty thousand people
that’s one doctor for every six thousand
people okay so we wanted to address this
we are idealistic medical students so we
built this outdoor medical clinic at the
Heidelberg project
and we’re like we’re gonna solve all the
problems in healthcare and it’s still
standing there today
it’s still there today and it
representative for us the clinic that we
wanted to build when we graduated from a
medical school and residency but the
deeper and deeper I got into my training
the more and more this dream just seemed
like a dream like there’s no way I can
make it a reality because the further
along I got at my training I was
spending less and less time with my
patients you see being a family medicine
doctor is like catching sand you know
you’ve got so many people and each grain
of sand is a concern that you’re trying
to take care of and it’s it’s your
daughter’s throat pain it’s your
brother’s chest pain it’s your
grandfather’s overgrown toenails right
and the more patients you see the more
things kind of slip through your fingers
and and and that’s why it’s so hard to
be a family doc and I felt like the
deeper I got in my training I wasn’t the
doctor that I was trained to be I just
was too pressed for time and that’s
where I heard about a courageous group
of doctors who were living their truth
who believed what I believed that
healthcare should be affordable and
accessible for everyone
they call themselves direct primary care
doctors because they work directly with
their patients it’s a membership model
for healthcare there’s no insurance
there’s no middlemen these doctors have
enough time now to be advocates for
their patients they reduce their panel
from five from two five hundred members
so they see about five visits each day
so you get a full hour with some left
over time to make phone calls and follow
up on things that’s compared to the
typical family medicine doctor there’s
2,400 patients and has to see about 24
patients a day that’s when those grains
of sand starts slipping through our
fingers when we’re seeing too many
people each day currently there are
about 717 of these primary care doctors
direct primary care doctors across the
country and they advocate for their
patients they get wholesale medications
at cost labs at cost
Imaging they save their patients
thousands of dollars each year on those
ancillary services and let me introduce
you to a few of them this is dr. Lynn in
Pittsburgh
this is dr. Haynes in Florida this is
dr. Flanagan in Colorado
this is dr. Pinkney in Texas and this is
dr. Diane Cara Bible these doctors are
living their truth they are excellent
physicians who go out of the way to take
care of the patients the way they should
be taken care of I am proud to count
myself among them and I’m proud to be
their colleague not only are they saving
their patients and doing the right thing
for their patients but they may be
saving the soul of medicine itself thank
you so much for your time
you
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