Mr. Thabani Zuma is a professional nurse who works in the Ethembeni HIV Treatment Clinic in a small hospital, tucked away deep in the heart of Zululand, the epicenter of the HIV epidemic in South Africa. The remote location, harsh living conditions, and bad roads make it difficult to recruit doctors here, so nurses-the backbone [...]

When I told our hospital vice president I was making home visits with the residents, he gave me a polite smile that said “how quaint.” He then told us how the hospital was developing important new things like a joint replacement program, with concierge service and wood paneled patient rooms. They’re recruiting orthopedists. Like most [...]

Interview with Dr. Marsha Fretwell By Eva Sage Gordon Sisyphus: Thanks for joining us Dr. Fretwell. I’ll begin with the most basic question: What is PACE? Dr. Fretwell: It stands for Program for All-inclusive Care of the Elderly. The PACE programs began 30 years ago. They offer an alternative model to nursing home placement for [...]

There is hunger in Florence, Alabama. You wouldn’t think so to drive through this pretty little town with its thriving downtown and well-kept historic neighborhoods. At night when the restaurants are buzzing, it’s hard to find a homeless person on the street. Florence does not have the kind of grocery store where union labor stocks [...]

The contentious maelstrom around abortions routinely neglects an important aspect, the well-being of those who are pregnant. I was trained at Los Angeles County Hospital in the mid-1960s. In those days, if you decided to terminate your pregnancy and were well-off, your family flew you to Japan or Sweden. If you were poor, you sought [...]