Therese Zink is a family physician and can be reached at her self-titled site, ThereseZink.com.

The heartbreaking truth about advocating for aging parents in today’s health care system

Conditions
January 13, 2025

My parents were born on the same day, six years apart, Depression-era babies. My dad died on Christmas Eve, 2016. Nearly every Christmas season after that, for the next seven years, I hoped Mom would follow him.

Was I wrong to wish that?

Dad played Santa Claus for three decades, donning a suit that had belonged to his mother, along with her bearskin gloves and a set of sleigh bells. Eventually, he …

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The heartbreaking truth about advocating for aging parents in today’s health care system

Advocating for health and humanity: a physician’s call to action amidst conflict

Physician
November 19, 2023

The unfolding events in Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank present a complex and deeply concerning situation. The entire area is smaller than the state of Vermont. My experiences in the West Bank, supported by a U.S. Scholar Fulbright award, have given me firsthand insight into the disruptions faced by individuals in these regions. The war may be focused in Gaza, but routine life is also disrupted in the West …

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Advocating for health and humanity: a physician’s call to action amidst conflict

Dog poop, the social contract, and pandemic behaviors

Physician
February 13, 2022

Dogs have been part of my extended family for most of my sixty-plus years. With a dog comes poop.

It doesn’t really matter on a farm, but in the city, there is an expectation, a social contract of sorts. In the public parks and boulevards, the dog owner is expected to scoop the poop.

While some dog walkers dutifully pick up their dog’s poop, others don’t bother, and before I know it, …

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Dog poop, the social contract, and pandemic behaviors

The long journey of COVID

Conditions
November 5, 2020

I really shouldn’t complain. I haven’t lost my housing or job. I have plenty of food and toilet paper, and so far, no close friend or family have died from COVID. That said, this pandemic is hard. In fact, it is exhausting.

During the spring and summer, I gave positive COVID results to a number of patients from my home’s safety, thanks to telehealth. But the reality of telling patients how …

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The long journey of COVID

The obscene price of insulin: This is what happens when health care is for profit

Meds
April 25, 2019

I recently had a patient whose blood sugar was well controlled until he lost his health insurance. He purchased his diabetes pills because they’re cheap, but he couldn’t afford the insulin. His diabetes had been well controlled. Now, almost a year later, his hemoglobin A1C was 14, or double what it should be. The HbA1C measures sugar control over the last three months.

The bee sting kit or EpiPen cost hike …

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The obscene price of insulin: This is what happens when health care is for profit

Getting old ain’t for sissies

Physician
January 22, 2019

These days we are talking more about advanced directives and living wills in health care. This is progress, but as a member of the sandwich generation, I am focused on the aging process. I don’t have kids, but I have parents and have the honor of watching patients struggle with aging and helping loved ones grow old — walking the long, winding and thorny road.

Patients have asked me, “Where are …

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Getting old ain’t for sissies