71: Hope

If you’ve been reading my words for a bit of time, you know I have a fairly bleak view of, not only the medical industry in all sectors, but of humanity in general. We, as a species, are at our worst these days. No matter your particular ideology, I’m sure you agree. We’re being conditioned to care only for ourselves, and perhaps our close family and maybe friends. We do not care for those outside our circles, and we often treat them terribly. There are many days that I am not proud of our species. But today, I have hope.

Here’s why. I’m beginning this writing while on an airplane on my way back home from a whirlwind visit to the University of Southern Indiana. I went there at the request of a young lady I met when I spoke to the gerontological society a few months back. Reagan contacted me shortly thereafter and asked if I might be willing to come out to speak to the students at her school. I said yes, and we’ve been bashing around dates and itineraries and so forth for the past few months.

While I was at the school I came face to face with the next generation of doctors. These are all pre-med students, mostly Juniors, still deciding what track they want to focus on. But to a number, they were all bright, excited and most importantly compassionate and empathetic. They had not been trodden down by the medical-industrial-complex. And you know what? I have faith that they won’t be.

My generation has greatly screwed the pooch on this one. We’ve allowed big money to take the word care out of healthcare and replace it with a for profit assembly line of unimpassioned doctoring. However, USI’s pre-med program seems loaded for bear with young people who have the soul and desire to take back our lives.

The Bronstein Center for Healthy Aging and Wellness, under the tutelage of Dr. Kevin Valadares, Dr. Suzanne Leahy, and the amazing Gracie Money is fostering progressive and empathetic hands-on educational opportunities for young people.USI is the only university with a Minka Smart Home, which is an AI driven smart home designed to create an environment for aging people to maintain independence longer. I want to thank those three for the invite out there to speak, the thoughtful conversations and most importantly, for the work they are doing to make the world a better place by teaching young people to maintain their empathetic nature as they learn and grow.

And let’s talk about these young people. Reagan, Alayna, Amanda and Gavin, who are all members of Students and Elders Linking Around Relationships (STELLAR) did an amazing job of showing Wendy and me all of the construction projects in Evansville, the beautiful USI campus, and generally shuttling us around for two days. Props to Reagan for the side trip to the astounding USI softball field. It truly was an honor to see that! They also set the whole event up. Booked rooms, arranged for me and Wendy to come, did invites and marketing and generally devoted a lot of time outside their studies to making this work. All because Reagan heard me talk at the GSA conference last year.

Folks, these kids, besides being full time students, work in the field, participate in numerous activities, maintain friendships and generally are seizing life by the proverbial. I was honored to be a small part of their circle for a few days, and gratified that anything I had to say was deemed by them to be beneficial.

It was a great few days. I did three separate talks, including my grand unveiling (really the second read, but this one was not as part of any other talk. The folks that came for this were only interested in the book.)

Here it is (on my brand new YouTube Channel, where all my stuff will be - subscribe and enjoy):

I followed that (after a nice dinner at the Minka) with a guest lecture at the Deaconess Family Residency Clinic, where I spoke on the need for primary care practitioners to be on top of the whole of their patients care, even if they were (sadly) part of the current conveyor belt school of medical care that we’ve allowed our system to devolve into.

And finally, the main event was held that evening in a small auditorium, attended by nearly 100 students, family members and professors. It was a Q&A between Reagan and me, and Wendy joined in at the end. (For what it’s worth, I think Wendy should join me all the time. She has so much of value to add, and is such a powerful force. I’m grateful to her every day.)

I want to get personal here for one quick moment. I met a young woman at the event, a college student, who was recently diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease. I have so much to think about here. Huntington’s is the dementia that gets the young folks. It’s not curable, and must be a devastating thing to live with. Yet she was in school, coming to hear me speak, and is becoming an advocate and working with others with the disease. And I want to say this to her: Mariana (for that’s her name), you might not be aware of this, but you have a champion now. I am on your team. I have your back. Whatever you need, you reach out to me and I’ll do what I can to support you. Your presence is going to be felt in everything I do - and I will learn more about your disease and try to do better advocacy on your behalf. Thank you for taking the time to come hear me, and to come talk after. I wish we had had more time to chat.

I promised some other updates would be forthcoming, but I want this post to stand on its own, as it deserves. In rural Evansville, Indiana great things are happening. Great people are working to better our world, and for a far too brief moment, I was allowed to be a part of it. I will be forever grateful. Today, I have hope. Hope for the future of medicine, for our country and definitely for our younger generation to get out there and show us how to do it! Finally.

Thanks for reading

Sean