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Your physician can request a wellness exam in an effort to prevent illness. The evaluation primarily consists of questions about procedures that have been recommended for you and risk factors for certain diseases based on your lifestyle. Questions will be...
This health tip may not be welcome news for many people. Eating processed or unprocessed red meat, daily, has been a part of the American diet for years. New research suggests that the consumption of red meat over a four year period increases the risk of...
The infractions that the black male is currently experiencing with law enforcement reflect symptoms of a long standing, social phenomenon that has been characteristic in our culture over a hundred years. The annihilation of these males is the new health...
A very common problem in the health community is unconscious bias. Unfortunately, it has not been addressed and continues to wreak havoc in the clinical setting. An Asian man, who was unshaven, and appeared to be homeless, was found in full cardiac arrest in...
You would not believe the issues that I experience with patients. One was being treated for hypertension and became quite upset, at the follow up visit to assess blood pressure control, because he needed an additional prescription. His position was he should...
I often wonder why people do not show appreciation for their physician as they do for their pastor. Our work is similar when you think about it. A physician who goes beyond what he or she is taught in medical school is difficult to find nowadays. I recently...
Do you remember when Trump declared that he knew more about war than known by the military generals collectively? Believe it or not, there are some patients with this mindset and I refer to it as the Trump Syndrome. It does not occur frequently, but they will...
One of the main reasons I have continued Closing the Gap in Health Care is to decrease the myths and untruths in the African American and underserved communities. One myth that I do not often hear is placing moss in your shoes to control hypertension. The...
The bucket list is a collection of things that you would like to accomplish within your lifetime. Frankly, I never thought of a bucket list until the death of my youngest daughter, Tonisha Bell Alston. She decided to take matters into her own hands and...
The manner in which medicine is practiced today can result in a patient taking too many medications. This problem is often seen in patients who are sixty years or older, have chronic medical conditions, and have been seen by multiple physicians in the past. Patients...
I have been a student of science and health care professional for the majority of my life. One phenomenon that perplexes me and continues to be obvious among African Americans is the unwillingness, and maybe, the inability to change...
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, in one of his speeches in 1968, that the greatest civil rights issue of the 21st century would be major disparities in health care for African Americans and the underserved. His prophecy is alive...