jjablkowski's blog

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” This is from legendary baseball player and advisor, Yogi Berra. Unlike him, I have never played baseball and never felt quite comfortable giving advice to my patients. Rather, I tried to be an assistant to them in their problem solving. I learned this perspective in my role as a family practitioner during the 1956–1966 era from my mentor, Dr Clarence McNeill, pioneer North Shore doctor and soft spoken, kind, and wise man of few words. 

Who is Dr Naismith and what has he in common with Kobe Bryant, Sue Bird, Magic Johnson, Diana Taurasi, Steve Nash, and Maya Moore? These men and women are some of the best basketball players in the sport’s history, and Dr Naismith was the inventor of the game of “basket ball” 130 years ago, in 1891.

The following 10 medical innovations are anticipated to make a significant difference in medical care in 2021. They were recently announced at the Cleveland Clinic’s 2020 Medical Innovation Summit. In its 18th year, the summit is organized by Cleveland Clinical Innovations, the clinic’s development and commercialization arm. 

The Lancet is one of my favorite medical journals. I read it every week, like I read the Economist. The journal was started as a weekly general medical magazine in 1823 by Thomas Wakely (1795–1862) who became a surgeon by age 22, and in his colorful lifetime was also well known as a member of parliament and an active social reformer. Over the years, Wakely’s journal became known for its correspondence and editorial pages, bringing controversial subjects to the fore. 

With or without our pandemic-related social isolation, individual attitudes about intimate self- or partner-stimulation vary wildly. Some people privately accept masturbation but ridicule it publicly, or attach some degree of shame or guilt to the activity. It is in this context that I appreciated the straightforward clarity and frankness of the BC Centre for Disease Control’s message for us: “You are your safest sex partner.