jjablkowski's blog

When I was a teenager an elderly uncle filled my ear with examples of how easy my life was compared to his. He recalled walking to school in the middle of winter, in knee-deep snow, uphill for a couple of miles, and in poor shoes. I might now sound like my uncle, bemoaning the lost virtues of the past as I write about the currently fashionable absence of family physicians from the hospital.

Twenty years ago I had an indirect inguinal hernia repaired under general anesthesia in a surgical outpatient setting. Two hours after I woke up in the recovery room the surgeon came to my bedside and explained that I could go home, but that I should be prepared for some discomfort moving around and should expect 10% improvement as each day went by. The surgeon’s prediction proved to be true—I got better and better—but a couple of weeks later I still had quite an indurated inguinal area, which worried me a bit.

There is a common thread that brings together doctors, nurses, dietitians, health informatics experts, and other health care team members in our health care system. At the heart of the great work that health care professionals do is the need to have an interconnected, high quality health care system to serve the needs of patients, families, and caregivers.

In 1897, 8-year-old Virginia turned to her father when her friends claimed that there is no Santa Claus. The girl’s father said if New York’s Sun newspaper said there was a Santa, then it was so.

The girl wrote to the Sun, “tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?” and her letter prompted a frequently reprinted editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church, which stated, “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exists, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.” 

Who should be setting priorities for medical research? Historically, individual researchers or industry has done this, without considering the perspectives of patients and clinicians. EpLink, The Epilepsy Research Program of the Ontario Brain Institute, wants to bring these groups together to understand how research can better serve the needs of the epilepsy community.