Letters
Spotlight on Social Determinants was Right On
Kudos for dedicating the February 2009 issue of Minnesota Medicine to creating healthier communities by tackling the social determinants of health. As a health foundation that shares this focus, we have distributed copies of this excellent issue within our state and across the country.
Leading health authorities such as the Institute of Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and the Prevention Institute point to evidence that the everyday conditions in which we are born, grow, learn, work, play, and age have a deep impact on health status and life expectancy. As we work downstream to ensure access to quality care and affordable coverage for all Americans, we also need to pay attention to the critical upstream factors that influence our choices and chances to be healthy. Minnesota is often recognized as one of the nation’s healthiest states. However, good health is not shared by all of our residents. Ethnic and racial health disparities are costly, preventable, and fundamentally unjust. There are effective strategies to address health inequities, as outlined by the physician leaders and others who contributed to this issue.
Thank you for raising awareness of the impact of social, economic, and environmental conditions on health along with ideas and actions that can make a difference. I hope that you will continue to report on research, practice, policies, and progress in this area.
Joan Cleary
Vice President
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation
Rewards of Acupuncture
I want to congratulate you on your May issue, which was devoted to complementary therapies. Having practiced internal medicine for 30 years, I’ve watched medicine change. The last few years saw growing demands on primary care physicians to practice algorithmic medicine—to see a large number of patients in a short amount of time in order to increase revenues. Being caring and comforting gave way to telling patients to come back another day for different ailments because of the lack of time.
Frustrated with this, I elected to study acupuncture. Like most physicians, I was initially skeptical. My interest was piqued, however, because most of my patients who went for acupuncture treatments came back healed. After only a few weeks of study, I became a convert about the usefulness of this method of healing.
I have been practicing acupuncture for the last four years, and they have been the most rewarding of my 35-year career in medicine. I have seen patients disabled with illnesses get better under my care and go back to living healthful, productive lives. I also spend a significant amount of time with patients, which gives me an opportunity to discuss lifestyle modification, exercise, weight reduction, and diet with them.
In this era of dissatisfaction with medical practice and disenchantment with conventional therapies, it shows foresight and open-mindedness to educate physicians about complementary therapies.
Parin A. Winter, M.D.,
FACP Plymouth
Great Article
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I have been a protective services social worker for 20-plus years. Dr. Therese Zink’s account of domestic abuse (“On the Navajo Reservation,” p. 29, July 2009) is one of the best I have ever read on the topic.
Mandi Smith
Sonoma, CA