WesElyMD Profile picture
Feb 21 6 tweets 4 min read
1/🧵 Paul Farmer has died.

It is so heartbreaking 💔. Let us collectively mourn his passing - one of the greatest #PublicHealth figures in the history of Medicine.

His @PIH is a tribute to a kinder gentler way to love each other.

More…
2/ Dr. Farmer started his vocation of #SocialJustice by serving the beautiful people of Haiti, the world’s 1st Black republic. He looked in their eyes & saw their needs…HIV, malaria, Tb, hunger, poverty, neglect.

In response he took action…

(paintings below by my daughter)
3/ Paul Farmer is the central figure in Kidder’s 📚 “Mountains Beyond Mountains.” If you haven’t read it, order now.

Through his drive and insights we learned to say “Yes” to bringing modern medicine to the most remote settings of human life on Earth 🌍
4/ “Farmer doesn't care if no one else follows his example. He's still going to make these hikes. If 7 hours is too long to walk for two families, you're saying their lives matter less than some others', and that idea is what’s wrong with the world.”
#MountainsBeyondMountains
5/ In my life, he became a beacon of hope & direction. Over the last 2 decades, when I fall down in studying ways to expand & improve on standards of care in ICU medicine for the world’s sickest patients, Paul & @PIH are always my inspiration to get back up. I’m forever thankful.
6/fin
#PaulFarmer’s legacy lives on not just because of the above book & #NGO.

More importantly, he lives on in the minds & hearts of the people whose lives he made better….as he told Ophelia Dahl…“one person at a time.” RIP

Kenbe fem (“Stand firm,” Haitian Creole)

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with WesElyMD

WesElyMD Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @WesElyMD

Feb 21
1/🧵 Why is COVID hospitalization like 2X sticks of dynamite 🧨?
 
A thread on the ICU portion… #PICS + #LongCOVID.
 
Prevent this w 3 steps:
📌Avoid #COVID by Vax & Mask
📌Avoid severe COVID by Paxlovid & Monoclonal Ab
📌👇 read here about PICS & how to reduce injury in the ICU
2/ Here’s what you must know if you get too sick & land in an ICU.

History Lesson 📝
In the past, too many decisions in #CriticalCare were guided by fear. We oversedated patients for too long out of worry they might self-extubate & pull off restraints.

That’s happening again 🤮
3/ We kept patients immobilized due to an overly conservative approach to fall prevention that precluded us from attempting to walk them early. We kept families away from patients, treating loved ones as visitors rather than members of the healing plan.

That’s happening again.
Read 10 tweets
Feb 15
1/🧵 Seeing Differently in #COVID ICU Care 👁

The world tells me “stuff” & “freedom ” bring happiness, yet neither suffice or satisfy.

If I reject chances to serve my suffering patients, I am left bereft.

Merciful care brings healing & provides joy all around.

What is #Mercy?
2/ My working definition of mercy is my willingness to dive into the chaos of another person’s life & provide lifting & healing.

Often as an ICU physician I do the former but not the latter.

That is, I dive into their #chaos without admitting I don’t know what’s right for them.
3/…but without performing actions that lead to lifting and healing of my patient’s spirit & mind, what I’m doing is dispensing false mercy.

eg, If in #COVID, I make the lungs 🫁 my whole goal, sedate & depersonalize someone for too long, I beget new diseases.

#PICS #LongCovid
Read 5 tweets
Feb 14
1/🧵 #WISDOM of Wine, Coffee & Chocolate. 🍷 🍫 ☕️
 
Millions love morning coffee or curling up w DARK chocolate & wine
 
What’s the #SCIENCE?

All 3 in moderation are safe…
 
This thread will focus on WINE! Let’s explore actual SCIENCE…
2/ This infographic shows the putative benefits – weight & BP control, diabetes & stroke prevention. But what do actual data say about this?
 
bit.ly/3LqvKug
3/ Wine has antioxidants and flavonoids that might reduce cardiac disease.
bit.ly/3LtmGEG
 
Resveratrol from grapes inhibits initiation, promotion, and progression of cancer.
bit.ly/34RZpeK
Read 14 tweets
Feb 10
1/🧵🎥 Politicians & Media are sending messages to take down #COVID protections.

In US it’s premature. Why?

📍>50% adults are NOT protected w #Booster
📍>75% of kids 5-11 are NOT fully #Vaccinated
📍Feb 8th >3,000 died
📍>17,000 dead in past week
📍>60,000 💀 January

Thoughts?
2/ Last week I had moments where I thought, “It really is sad that society has to keep masking up & those poor kids in school haven’t seen people smile in so long.”

THEN…I thought about how dangerous it is for #CovidKids who get #longCovid to have to live that way.

And…
3/ People continue to contract #Covid from children who skate through #Omicron initially while adults spend 3 weeks in ICU & die.

Denmark 🇩🇰 Israel 🇮🇱 South Africa 🇿🇦 will be safer faster.

US 🇺🇸 will lag behind by YEARS.

Messaging about an end to the pandemic is premature!
Read 6 tweets
Feb 8
1/🧵ICU Burn-Out Prevention in #COVID: a few thoughts
 
Early on as an ICU Doc, I carried a lot of shame because I realized that even though I sufficed as a technician and possessed the right knowledge, I was NOT doing a good job as a “person” with “people.”
 
#burnout #nurse Image
2/ Which is to say, I was only “good” doctor on paper. NOT in real life.

I kept myself at too much of a distance, and I thought my job was to do procedures well and provide the right medicines.

Now I know that was not enough, not by a LONG SHOT.
3/ 📚 I wrote: “That shot of adrenaline from saving a life dissipated once the ventilator was in place…as if we handed over care of our patients to machines while we went off & intubated, sedated & paralyzed the next person...

P.58 #EveryDeepDrawnBreath Image
Read 5 tweets
Feb 7
1/🧵 #COVID Brain Changes Show Parallels w Alzheimer's Disease
 
Findings may point to potential mechanism for #brainfog in people with #longCOVID

bit.ly/3J8gArA
2/ Brains of COVID-19 patients had some of the same pathological changes seen in Alzheimer's disease, which may explain the memory problems people with long COVID experience....

bit.ly/3sr1S8p
3/ The study...linked the inflammatory response found in SARS-CoV-2 infection with pathways causing tau hyperphosphorylation typically associated with #Alzheimers. The data also indicated a role for leaky ryanodine receptor 2 (RyR2) in the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(