jjablkowski's blog

1977 seems like a lifetime ago, and as I attended my 45th University of Alberta medical class reunion I was struck by the profound changes in medicine my classmates and I had witnessed over the decades. Many chose to pursue specialties, but a substantial number of us decided that a family practice residency was the way to go. For us at that time, a full-service cradle-to-grave family doctor was the norm, encompassing community care via an office, obstetrics, emergency department shifts, in-hospital care, and nursing home visits. Both solo and group practices of varying sizes were common.

The last decade has seen increased framing of the climate crisis as a health emergency, accompanied by more effort from health systems and health care workers to address this emergency as we see firsthand the health impacts of environmental issues on patients. 

Recently I had lunch with two retired physician friends and during our chit chat about past and present medical practices, we touched on the rise of telephone consultations. Calling a doctor on the phone is nothing new. In my time in general medical practice in the 1950s to the late 1960s, patients usually called me directly at my home after office hours or left messages with my dedicated telephone answering service. Most of those calls were short, reporting some acute symptomology, or even an emergency, like a fall.

Well before my wife died from a 9-year-long progressive deep dementia, she signed up to have her lifeless body donated to the Department of Anatomy at UBC. I believe her body was used for teaching and research. After 1½ years, in accordance with the donation agreement, her remains were cremated and returned to me. I must admit to the pang in my heart when I opened the simple urn containing her cremated ashes. We were married for close to 70 years. Now her body was reduced to a bag of ashes. Once I got over my difficult feelings, I became glad on her behalf that her wish had been fulfilled.

During ongoing nationwide protests in Iran, many Iranians wounded by security forces are facing a heart-wrenching situation: avoiding treatment in increasingly unsafe hospitals for fear of being detained, tortured, prosecuted, or even killed. In this perilous environment, brave medics like Dr Ayda Rostami stepped forward to provide care to the injured, despite the grave risks they face.