Big A posted this publicly, and I'm sharing a part of what he wrote here. The whole thing is basically a valediction for the medical progress he's seen over the course of his career and the reverses that are already beginning to happen.
This is just one of the many, many, many stories from people like him who have devoted their lives to making a difference and are now seeing everything they've worked for being dismantled in a matter of days.
"As a premed at the NIH in the mid-90s, I volunteered at D.C.'s largest HIV clinic during the ongoing AIDS epidemic, and got a tour of Tony Fauci's lab from one of my co-volunteers who also worked in Bethesda. One of the most astonishing changes in the 30 years since is that we rarely see complications of advanced HIV infection in the ER.
As med students in Cleveland, we were regularly awestruck running into Fred Robbins, who received a Nobel prize for their contributions to the development of the polio vaccine, in the hallways,. I have never seen an acute case of poliomyelitis, but it's suddenly plausible I may. (Until 2024 I had never even diagnosed whooping cough; I've already been exposed twice in the past two months during a recent pertussis outbreak triggered in no small part by the number of unvaccinated children.)
I'm eternally grateful for having trained at Bellevue Hospital during the era of Lewis Goldfrank, who always put the needs of the marginalized and afflicted above those of corporate medicine and the capitalist healthcare system. And I'm lucky to have had support from the NIH as a postdoc, which has allowed me to devote some of my hours outside the ER to helping prevent fatal opioid overdose among my fellow Michiganders.
But the grants that pay for free naloxone come from the HHS, now led by an infamous anti-vaxxer and conspiracist (while, simultaneously, an unelected far right-wing industrialist is rapidly dismantling pieces of the global public health safety net)."
And so it goes. Sad and scary times. And it's happening all over, in the National Park Services, the Kennedy Center, and all across the federal workforce.
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Pic: Huck and Max aren't ready for me to take this picture. Max is like: Mom! Do you mind? I just want to pee! We had a massive snowstorm--Huck is wading in snow.
14 comments:
Yep- scary times. I know this isn't the real point of this post, but I can't get over the advances in HIV treatment. I guess it's the one thing (of the things mentioned here) that I personally witnessed, as I was a teenager in the 80s. To go from being a death sentence, to something that a person can manage and live with for the rest of their lives, truly is astonishing.
Huck and Max must be ecstatic with all that snow!
Correct.
It's unbelievable.
But what Jenny said about AIDS! It's amazing now to think about it. My aunt was a nurse on the AIDS ward back in the 80s and it was a heartbreaking job, so many young men (they were all men at that time for her) dying alone because they were shunned by society in general and their families in particular. What a dark time. I can't imagine ever turning my back on my sons for any reason, and so the thought is absolutely incomprehensible for me.
It's awful. It's all so awful... North had applied for a summer internship at the Kennedy Center and asked us recently if they get it, whether they should take it.
I remember talking with a coworker years and years ago who, I was astounded to discover, was an antivaxxer. I confronted her about it, and her response was, "My kids will be protected by everyone else's kids who get vaccinated." I really let her have it.
We had a principal once who was very stringent about vaccinations. He had the secretaries pull the cards of all students whose health info was not complete and sent all of them home en masse until they had proof of vaccination. It was hundreds of kids! Naturally, the parents went crazy, but he held the line and did it a few years in a row. Some of those kids never came back, and the parents cited vaccines as the reason.
Now, those people are more mainstream and measles and pertussis are back! I share his concerns (and yours) that this nation's health (and more) is at risk.
Ugh this is so very depressing. All that work to eradicate preventable diseases may be undone because of a conspiracy theorist who has the hear of a masochist. I can't believe only one republican voted against him! Well, actually I can because they are afraid deep pockets Musk and his threat of primary battles. So I guess they don't have values or care about standing up for what is right. Like lose your gd seat and say I am willing to risk a primary battle to stand up for what is best for this country. Gah.
Well stated, powerful and tragic. When I was six, my next door neighbor died of polio. Another dear friend died of AIDS in the early 80s, and he's not the only one I've known who passed from this disease. As one with a chronic progressive disease, I value every bit of research that can be done and to see this threatened is distressing. I am so very angry at those who vote without considering the impact of such things on their constituents and the world in general. How we can do this is beyond me.
Jenny--I remember those times too... Sometimes I marvel at how Magic Johnson is still here, for instance!
Max loves the snow, Huck disdains it :D
So many heartbreaking stories from that time, Nicole... I'd like to think some of them changed some hearts and minds...
And how wonderful of your aunt! I remember many people would not work with AIDS patients.
It would be such an amazing internship for North, StephLove, and practically in your backyard too! I hope they do get it and things are more normal by the time you have to make a decision.
So much respect for your past principal... Can you imagine anyone being able to take such a hard stance these days?
Anti-intellectual entitlement is off the charts.
The lack of values and courage is really depressing... That's why I appreciate folks like Liz Cheney and Danielle Sassoon--I don't agree with their ideology, but at least they are being true to the principles they claim to espouse!
Jeanie, my dad had polio as a kid, and I, too, am grateful for all the ways science has made it possible for people to enjoy longer, more fulfilling lives. At my most generous, I have to think people did not foresee the extent of the fallout when they voted.
Yup!
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