Therese Zink, MD, MPH
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Latest articles
Conditions and diseases
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…
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
Physician voices
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,…
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
Physician voices
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…
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
Conditions and diseases
As a podiatrist, Dr. M usually focuses on feet. But years of military service and expertise in program implementation and measurement qualified him for another clinical job, setting up a COVID test site. Testing stations were available in the suburbs,…
As a podiatrist, Dr. M usually focuses on feet. But years of military service and expertise in program implementation and measurement qualified him for another clinical job, setting up a COVID test site. Testing stations were available in the suburbs, but the heart of the epidemic, the urban center, needed a walk-up and drive-up option. The medical director tasked him with the job. “We can’t spare a nurse to assist …
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Under the COVID testing tent
Conditions and diseases
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…
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
Conditions and diseases
Here in the U.S., we slip and slide around the reality of rationing. We like to believe we can have it all, do it all, that there are no bounds. And if you have money in the U.S., that is…
Here in the U.S., we slip and slide around the reality of rationing. We like to believe we can have it all, do it all, that there are no bounds. And if you have money in the U.S., that is more or less true. Until now.
Personal protective equipment and test kits for COVID-19 are in short supply. I won’t explore the myriad of reasons of why
…
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It’s the R-word again: rationing
Physician voices
One of the great nuisances in medicine is diagnosis coding. According to Medicare and insurance companies across the U.S., each and every disease must have a unique number. Everything must be quantified and recorded. Why? To facilitate analysis, number-crunching, regulations,…
One of the great nuisances in medicine is diagnosis coding. According to Medicare and insurance companies across the U.S., each and every disease must have a unique number. Everything must be quantified and recorded. Why? To facilitate analysis, number-crunching, regulations, reimbursements and, of course, we sometimes joke, to perpetuate the jobs of the coders. They usually know the nuances better than the doctors.
Is it truly possible to describe Mrs. Brown’s …
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How coding is like Scrabble
Drugs and prescribing
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…
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
Physician voices
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…
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
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