all right so here’s a brutal truth the
long journey to becoming a doctor is not
fun I’ve never looked back when those
years I thought to myself yeah do that
again no but I did it and my colleagues
did it and there’s medical students
right now putting themselves through it
if you’re wondering why even if you’re
not I’ll tell you the answer is it’s for
the patients you see patients give us
doctors our purpose our identity the
fulfillment the fulfillment we get for
caring for another human being during
their most fragile and vulnerable
moments of their lives brought on by
disease that fulfillment makes a long
journey worth it and what keeps us
doctors going but let me tell you about
miss our Mazar was a patient of mine
early in my career who had COPD chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease now we in
the medical field we know COPD we have
medications we have cutting-edge
research and we have guidelines we know
COPD management but none of that
knowledge prevented miss are from five
hospitalizations in under 12 months
imagine spending half a year just going
in and out of hospitals that’s not
fulfilment that’s frustration during one
in miss ARS hospitalizations actually
learned a few things about her community
challenges that impacted her care access
mister told me she had to take up to
three buses to get to the closest
pharmacy just to pick up these COPD
medications affordability miss are live
paycheck to paycheck and these inhalers
were not cheap in fact the way she put
it was that she felt like she had to
choose between eating and breathing and
housing you see Miss R lived in a
building with shared air vents meaning
when her neighbors would smoke their
cigarettes
that secondhand smoke will go up through
those air vents into her apartment
complex she would breathe it in and her
lung disease would worsen this far
wasn’t just suffering from COPD but she
was suffering from ineffective medical
strategies ineffective medical
strategies because I did not take into
account her community or her environment
in fact my long journey of training
never included addressing patients
community issues for such a purpose so
there’s a gap there’s a gap in our
knowledge there’s a gap in our training
so I began to seek out community
engagement community engagement
specifically to see if I can help
overcome one of those issues mists are
brought up access I and several other
colleagues we had this great idea of
providing a medical service directly
into a community and we were excited but
here’s where we learned our next
valuable lesson about community you see
this great idea was a cancer screening
initiative what we wanted to do was
enroll as many woman as possible for
free mammograms
now we partnered with a local
congregation located in an underserved
area of Baltimore City they invited us
to their summer event this church was
home to over 500 parish members that
afternoon there was tons of foot traffic
coming and going and we were excited but
at the end of the day we only signed up
two women two women for a valuable and
free medical service we were hurt we
were disappointed
so what doctors do when they’re hurt and
disappointed we ask for feedback and the
church says sure gladly will tell you
just come to our monthly community
meeting and we did and we showed up and
we’ll never forget how this conversation
began one of the parish members she
stood up and said doc no one wants to be
a patient you see being a patient is a
burden it’s a burden to oneself it’s a
burden to one’s family it requires time
money and resources things that many of
these community members did not have but
more importantly the way they saw us
that afternoon in their church was
trying to convert people into patients
without an ounce of trust that we would
help them with that burden
clearly picking up a medical service and
just dropping it into the community
without taking into account their
priorities or their struggles are having
their trust it’s not a formula for
fulfillment that’s a formula for failure
you see if we doctors treat our patients
without fully understanding their
community we’re setting ourselves up for
a disconnect a disconnect like the one I
experienced with Miss R and a disconnect
like we experienced with a failed cancer
screening initiative so what’s the
solution
well fueled by those experiences of
disconnect my colleagues and I we were
determined to create a medical community
engagement that would emphasize knowing
the science knowing the patient and
knowing the community in 2013 at Johns
Hopkins we launched medicine for the
greater good mgg now one of MDGs purpose
was to teach physicians in training
about the socio-economic determinants of
health where they are had an impact our
patients and how can we combat them but
at the same time mgg secured dozens of
community partnerships partnerships with
churches synagogues mosques partnerships
with public schools public housing units
partnerships with union halls and City
Hall and these partnerships began at the
grassroots meaning we from ng mgg we
would show up and we’d sit down at the
same table we have our binders
everything is laminated and highlight it
because we’re doctors and we said
they’re going over the data from the
Baltimore City Health Department but at
the same time the community members
would sit down and they will tell us
about the daily struggles of each local
person and here’s where we recognized
that disconnect that disconnect into
what health means see somewhere during
our long journey of training we doctors
begin to view health as synonymous with
medicine prescriptions research
guidelines but for the community health
is more than just feeling well health is
health is jobs health is providing for
your family health is going to church
health is going to the park health is a
sense of purpose
so if we are going to create effective
medical strategies at the patient level
and at the community level we need to
make sure everyone’s voices are heard
and here’s an example at another local
congregation this one located in
Southeast Baltimore City mgg haven’t
have been called getting to know your
heart that afternoon we’re going to talk
about kidneys no obviously I’m joking
the title gets through the way we’re
going to be talking about the heart and
heart disease and while this event was
many hours long we really have three key
recommendations first we emphasized the
Sunday brunch after worship service you
see we said social interaction was a
great way to combat stress and stress is
a known risk factor for heart disease
next we talked about how to make the
Sunday brunch meals nutritious but still
in accordance with our cultural
preferences now one of our meetings the
way the Reverend put it was if we can
get these congregation members to think
about nutrition when a Sunday maybe
it’ll happen on a Monday and a Tuesday
till every day of the week they’re
thinking about nutrition our final
recommendation was walking to church we
found out that dozens of these community
members left no more than a few city
blocks so we said great knock on your
neighbor’s door and walk in pairs now
again we were thinking I think I know
what you’re thinking maybe I know what
you’re thinking
but did that guy on stage just say
reduce your stress nutrition and
exercise I did and I fully recognized
that these three recommendations are
made every day to every patient by every
doctor but think about what made them
unique that afternoon well made them
unique was that these recommendations
were the product of several meetings
between mgg in the church these
recommendations were actionable because
we took it into account the community’s
resources surroundings and its culture
and these recommendations were
reinforced long after that afternoon not
by doctors not by MDG but by the trusted
community members of that church and
come to find out months later several
parish members lost weight and one woman
gave a testimony on a Sunday morning of
how she got off
her blood pressure medications those
outcomes
that’s fulfillment and for those of us
at MDG those outcomes remind us of why
we became doctors to date medicine for
the greater good has worked with over
5,000 Baltimore City persons and over
200 medical trainees and we’re making a
difference at the patient level remember
miss our miss our hasn’t seen the inside
of a hospital in over a year
why well we helped create effective
medical strategies for her one of her
neighbors he has a car he drives once a
month to pick up her prescriptions miss
are helped identify two woman from her
parish who are more than happy to cook
her meals when she can’t afford to and
miss are introduced us to the building’s
leadership and we launched a smoking
cessation campaign there at the
community level burning trust remember
our failed cancer screening initiative
well we stayed persistent we showed up
to their monthly meetings and eventually
he said yes come back implement some
health initiatives but on themes were
gonna select reset sure and just last
spring we talked about breast cancer and
finally to the trainees to the trainees
out there I want to leave you with this
yes the joy of medicine lies in the
ability to care for a person but the
fulfillment of medicine lies in the
ability to effectively care for that
person and to effectively care for them
you must know their community active
community engagement I promise you will
create a powerful transformation you’ll
stop seeing yourselves as doctors
treating the community and you’ll begin
to see yourselves as community members
who happen to be doctors and that notion
helps reaffirm mg G’s formula know the
science know the patient and know the
community the fulfillment of medicine
through the complete understanding of
our patients that’s medicine for the greater good thank you
long journey to becoming a doctor is not
fun I’ve never looked back when those
years I thought to myself yeah do that
again no but I did it and my colleagues
did it and there’s medical students
right now putting themselves through it
if you’re wondering why even if you’re
not I’ll tell you the answer is it’s for
the patients you see patients give us
doctors our purpose our identity the
fulfillment the fulfillment we get for
caring for another human being during
their most fragile and vulnerable
moments of their lives brought on by
disease that fulfillment makes a long
journey worth it and what keeps us
doctors going but let me tell you about
miss our Mazar was a patient of mine
early in my career who had COPD chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease now we in
the medical field we know COPD we have
medications we have cutting-edge
research and we have guidelines we know
COPD management but none of that
knowledge prevented miss are from five
hospitalizations in under 12 months
imagine spending half a year just going
in and out of hospitals that’s not
fulfilment that’s frustration during one
in miss ARS hospitalizations actually
learned a few things about her community
challenges that impacted her care access
mister told me she had to take up to
three buses to get to the closest
pharmacy just to pick up these COPD
medications affordability miss are live
paycheck to paycheck and these inhalers
were not cheap in fact the way she put
it was that she felt like she had to
choose between eating and breathing and
housing you see Miss R lived in a
building with shared air vents meaning
when her neighbors would smoke their
cigarettes
that secondhand smoke will go up through
those air vents into her apartment
complex she would breathe it in and her
lung disease would worsen this far
wasn’t just suffering from COPD but she
was suffering from ineffective medical
strategies ineffective medical
strategies because I did not take into
account her community or her environment
in fact my long journey of training
never included addressing patients
community issues for such a purpose so
there’s a gap there’s a gap in our
knowledge there’s a gap in our training
so I began to seek out community
engagement community engagement
specifically to see if I can help
overcome one of those issues mists are
brought up access I and several other
colleagues we had this great idea of
providing a medical service directly
into a community and we were excited but
here’s where we learned our next
valuable lesson about community you see
this great idea was a cancer screening
initiative what we wanted to do was
enroll as many woman as possible for
free mammograms
now we partnered with a local
congregation located in an underserved
area of Baltimore City they invited us
to their summer event this church was
home to over 500 parish members that
afternoon there was tons of foot traffic
coming and going and we were excited but
at the end of the day we only signed up
two women two women for a valuable and
free medical service we were hurt we
were disappointed
so what doctors do when they’re hurt and
disappointed we ask for feedback and the
church says sure gladly will tell you
just come to our monthly community
meeting and we did and we showed up and
we’ll never forget how this conversation
began one of the parish members she
stood up and said doc no one wants to be
a patient you see being a patient is a
burden it’s a burden to oneself it’s a
burden to one’s family it requires time
money and resources things that many of
these community members did not have but
more importantly the way they saw us
that afternoon in their church was
trying to convert people into patients
without an ounce of trust that we would
help them with that burden
clearly picking up a medical service and
just dropping it into the community
without taking into account their
priorities or their struggles are having
their trust it’s not a formula for
fulfillment that’s a formula for failure
you see if we doctors treat our patients
without fully understanding their
community we’re setting ourselves up for
a disconnect a disconnect like the one I
experienced with Miss R and a disconnect
like we experienced with a failed cancer
screening initiative so what’s the
solution
well fueled by those experiences of
disconnect my colleagues and I we were
determined to create a medical community
engagement that would emphasize knowing
the science knowing the patient and
knowing the community in 2013 at Johns
Hopkins we launched medicine for the
greater good mgg now one of MDGs purpose
was to teach physicians in training
about the socio-economic determinants of
health where they are had an impact our
patients and how can we combat them but
at the same time mgg secured dozens of
community partnerships partnerships with
churches synagogues mosques partnerships
with public schools public housing units
partnerships with union halls and City
Hall and these partnerships began at the
grassroots meaning we from ng mgg we
would show up and we’d sit down at the
same table we have our binders
everything is laminated and highlight it
because we’re doctors and we said
they’re going over the data from the
Baltimore City Health Department but at
the same time the community members
would sit down and they will tell us
about the daily struggles of each local
person and here’s where we recognized
that disconnect that disconnect into
what health means see somewhere during
our long journey of training we doctors
begin to view health as synonymous with
medicine prescriptions research
guidelines but for the community health
is more than just feeling well health is
health is jobs health is providing for
your family health is going to church
health is going to the park health is a
sense of purpose
so if we are going to create effective
medical strategies at the patient level
and at the community level we need to
make sure everyone’s voices are heard
and here’s an example at another local
congregation this one located in
Southeast Baltimore City mgg haven’t
have been called getting to know your
heart that afternoon we’re going to talk
about kidneys no obviously I’m joking
the title gets through the way we’re
going to be talking about the heart and
heart disease and while this event was
many hours long we really have three key
recommendations first we emphasized the
Sunday brunch after worship service you
see we said social interaction was a
great way to combat stress and stress is
a known risk factor for heart disease
next we talked about how to make the
Sunday brunch meals nutritious but still
in accordance with our cultural
preferences now one of our meetings the
way the Reverend put it was if we can
get these congregation members to think
about nutrition when a Sunday maybe
it’ll happen on a Monday and a Tuesday
till every day of the week they’re
thinking about nutrition our final
recommendation was walking to church we
found out that dozens of these community
members left no more than a few city
blocks so we said great knock on your
neighbor’s door and walk in pairs now
again we were thinking I think I know
what you’re thinking maybe I know what
you’re thinking
but did that guy on stage just say
reduce your stress nutrition and
exercise I did and I fully recognized
that these three recommendations are
made every day to every patient by every
doctor but think about what made them
unique that afternoon well made them
unique was that these recommendations
were the product of several meetings
between mgg in the church these
recommendations were actionable because
we took it into account the community’s
resources surroundings and its culture
and these recommendations were
reinforced long after that afternoon not
by doctors not by MDG but by the trusted
community members of that church and
come to find out months later several
parish members lost weight and one woman
gave a testimony on a Sunday morning of
how she got off
her blood pressure medications those
outcomes
that’s fulfillment and for those of us
at MDG those outcomes remind us of why
we became doctors to date medicine for
the greater good has worked with over
5,000 Baltimore City persons and over
200 medical trainees and we’re making a
difference at the patient level remember
miss our miss our hasn’t seen the inside
of a hospital in over a year
why well we helped create effective
medical strategies for her one of her
neighbors he has a car he drives once a
month to pick up her prescriptions miss
are helped identify two woman from her
parish who are more than happy to cook
her meals when she can’t afford to and
miss are introduced us to the building’s
leadership and we launched a smoking
cessation campaign there at the
community level burning trust remember
our failed cancer screening initiative
well we stayed persistent we showed up
to their monthly meetings and eventually
he said yes come back implement some
health initiatives but on themes were
gonna select reset sure and just last
spring we talked about breast cancer and
finally to the trainees to the trainees
out there I want to leave you with this
yes the joy of medicine lies in the
ability to care for a person but the
fulfillment of medicine lies in the
ability to effectively care for that
person and to effectively care for them
you must know their community active
community engagement I promise you will
create a powerful transformation you’ll
stop seeing yourselves as doctors
treating the community and you’ll begin
to see yourselves as community members
who happen to be doctors and that notion
helps reaffirm mg G’s formula know the
science know the patient and know the
community the fulfillment of medicine
through the complete understanding of
our patients that’s medicine for the greater good thank you
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