Cell 2 Soul: The Humane Health Care Blog

Cell 2 Soul 2011 Retreat

Annual Cell 2 Soul Fall Retreat
Walk, Work, Eat, Play, Speak
(Weekend) October 1 - 2, 2011

Please consider joining us at Sheep Hill, Williamstown, MA for our annual C2S retreat.  We have held these gatherings for the past five years and they are an opportunity for some of us to meet face to face and “talk-story” as we say in Hawaii. 

The format will be:

Friday Eve, 9/30 - Informal Reception
Saturday Morn, 10/1 - Talks and Discssion
Saturday PM, 10/1 - Picnic, Clark or Walk
Sunday Morn, 10/2   -  Talks, light lunch

To register, contact Dave Elpern

The syllabus will develop based on who attends.  It will deal with themes that those who register are passionate and knowledgeable about.  Talks will be limited to 20 minutes to allow maximum time for discussion.
 
The reasonable registration fee will cover food and beverage, equipment rental, facility use.  Scholarships are available for students.

All participants will contribute equally. No "Taling Heads."

If we build it, they will come.

*******

“We will walk on our own feet;
we will work with our own hands;
we will speak our own minds.”
Emerson, The American Scholar

This Floating World

Marginal Notes: What's in a name?

 
Romeo and Juliet

  What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
      Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
      Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
      What's in a name? that which we call a rose
      By any other name would smell as sweet.

While perusing articles on health care in the medical literature as well as in the lay press, I frequently run across the misnomer “physician's assistant.” (Reader, take note of that terminal “apostrophe s.”) What the editor really means, of course, is “physician assistant,” the designated title for the PA profession.  more»

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

Music is Medicine, Music is Sanity

This amazing TED performancy by R Gupta of the L.A. Symphony Orchestra compliments the post about Tim Lee and Jorge Camara's work.

Melodies of Healing and Caring

Recently, I was visiting Kauai, that magical Pacific island, and some friends took me to their favorite Indian restaurant in Kapaa town.  There, I chanced to meet my old friend, Tim Lee, an ophthalmologist and an accomplished pianist.  During our brief conversation, he told me about work he’s been doing with other physician-musicians in Hawaii, particularly, his partner on Kauai, Dr. Jean Shein, and Honolulu ophthalmic surgeon Dr. Jorge Camara. 

If you want to read more about music and medicine please:  Download The Music of Healing. Your comments will be appreciated.

  Drs. Jorge Camara, Jean Shein and Tim Lee

Dog Therapy for Stress

 Yale Law School is embarking on a pilot program next week in which students can check out a “therapy dog” named Monty along with the library’s collection of more than one million books. Click HERE to read the article.

Moonlight of Clear Mind

Mark White: Poipu, Moonrise, March 18, 2011

Marginal Notes: Mesofacts and Megatrends

 
AP Photo/European South Observatory

Mesofacts have always been part and parcel of medicine.  Yet I can’t help but ponder the difference between mesofacts and megatrends in medical practice, for not all of our latest technological and pharmacological armamentaria are brought to bear on mesofacts.  Megatrends can masquerade as solutions to medical dilemmas as well.  more»

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

Na Wahine o Kaua'i

Kauai, Hawaii:  far from the madding (and maddening) crowd, on this rock in the vast Pacific, amazing people spend their days.  The backdrop is (mostly) blue sky with fluffy clouds, whispering trade winds, all-encircling blue ocean, and the constant crowing of the feral jungle fowl.  The larger world is far-removed.

In this paradise, for many decades, a woman lived who was held dear by many.  She passed away, a month shy of 60, recently and her friends held a memorial service to celebrate her life.  One wrote the poem which follows.  Please spend a moment to honor the life of Jessei Jardin:

What is a Life?

What is a life?

Who is to say how it should be spent?

God gives us the spark

And we are the keepers of the flame.

 

We can smile and light up a room

Or we can quietly teach by example.

 

We can walk or sway to the beat

Of our own drum.

 

We can sew glorious costumes

Or sow seeds of friendship wherever we go.

 

We can force others to bend to our will

Or let them learn at their own speed.

 

We can allow others their illogical way

Or walk away without judgment.

It is up to us.

Jessi you have always had all your “ors” in the water.

You are a wonderful example of God’s Spark.

I am glad to have called you friend.

You were a wonderful example of God’s love

And a special blessing in my life.

 

Written June 7, 2010 for Jessi Jardin by Stormy Cozad 

 

 

 

Marginal Notes: Recommended Reading

 
"Icelines" ©2011 Thomas A. Doty

Whenever my friend checks in with the receptionist for his scheduled appointment, he always inquires just how far behind the doctor is running.  The usual answer falls somewhere between one to two hours.  Undaunted, my friend takes a seat and opens whatever reading material he has brought along to pass the time until the nurse calls his name.  more»

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."