Choosing Not To Look Away

Helping The Homeless

Homeless people in our communities are a fact of life, especially in big cities. Many of us don't know how to interpret this situation or what we can do to help. We may vacillate between feeling guilty, as if we are personally responsible, and feeling angry, as if being homeless is entirely on their shoulders. The situation is, of course, far more complex than either scenario. Still, not knowing how to respond, we may fall into the habit of not responding at all. We may look over their heads and not make eye contact, or look down at the ground as we pass, falling into a habit of ignoring them. Each time we do this, we disconnect ourselves from a large portion of the human family, and it doesn't feel right.

Most of us know in our hearts that the homeless and the poor are not so very different from us. They may be the victims of poor planning or an unavoidable crisis. Some of them are mentally ill, some are addicted to drugs or alcohol, and some are choosing to be homeless for reasons we may never understand. We can imagine that, given their lives, we would likely have ended up in the same place. This does not mean that we are meant to rescue them as they are on their own learning path, but it does remind us that we can treat them as equals, because that is what they are. Even if we aren't able to offer food, shelter, or money, we can offer a blessing as we pass. We can look them in the eye and acknowledge our shared humanness, even if we don't know how to help them. This simple act of kindness and silent or spoken blessings can be helpful to those living on the street.

If you want to help with information, you can learn about the services in your area and share the locations of food banks, shelters, and other resources. As parents, perhaps you would like to plan ahead, talking with your children about how as a family you would like to handle these situations. Whatever you decide to do, you will feel much better when you make a conscious choice not to simply look away.

LAST DAY OF EXAM! --I'M OFF TOM!!! YEA! :-)

no more pencils, no more books...
no more teacher's dirty looks...

heheheeeee.... ;-)

should update that with: no more powerpoints or lectures (something of that effect!)

Do you know what this means?

مُلْتَزِم بِ

A Moment of Truth for Every New Doctor

Aaron Singh -- There comes a moment in every medical student’s life, when he realizes that all he’s learning is not just for exams, that one day he will be out there on his own, with real live patients and no medical professor leaning over his shoulder to guide him.

I knew it would happen.

And this week it did.

I have blogged here before about being a first-aider, and here about my University having a highly theoretical premedical course without much clinical skill development. Back before my encounter with an epileptic woman aboard a plane, I wouldn’t have hesitated to rush forward during a medical emergency and volunteer whatever help I could. Then I read the comments under the first-aid post, advising me not to rush into situations. I also heard horror stories from other medical students about medics and doctors getting sued by people who didn’t want to be saved. And I hesitated. All that I had believed about medicine was challenged. You couldn’t just rush in and save someone if they didn’t want to be saved. And if you didn’t know EXACTLY how to help and what to do in that situation, it was better perhaps not to step forward at all.

It was a normal Monday afternoon. I spend my afternoons in Pharmacology lab sessions with about half the medics in my year. This particular afternoon’s practical was a laid-back, slow one, and I was at my table, mixing drugs up, when behind me I heard a loud crash.

I turned around and saw that the whole lab was still. Whatever had happened was hidden from my view by another table, along with the medics sitting at it. Other medics were craning their necks to get a good view, but no one seemed to be moving. Nothing seemed urgent. I assumed someone had dropped another test-tube or beaker, or some apparatus had fallen to the floor, and everyone was taking advantage of the interruption to take their minds off their work for a while.

But people kept staring. I got that feeling you get in your stomach when you know something isn’t right. No one was moving, not even the demonstrators. I asked around, “What’s happened? Did someone drop something?” but no one answered. They just kept staring at the floor.

So I crossed the lab and came around the table. And lying on the ground before me, in the middle of a slowly growing crowd of onlookers, was a student. Passed out on the floor.

No one moved. A lab full of some of the brightest medical students in the world, and none of them had any idea what to do when someone fainted in front of them.

Then it kicked in. I was a first-aider. I was a MEDIC. I could DO something here. Go forward, you fool. She could be hurt. I started to step forward…

…and stopped.

And through my mind flashed a single question, a question I am ashamed to admit ever crossed me now, especially at such a critical juncture:

Will I get sued?

Seems ridiculous in retrospect. She was just a medical student who had passed out in the lab. Not a patient going into cardiac arrest or requiring complex surgery. But that’s what flashed through my mind.

I was afraid to practise my art. Afraid to accept responsibility.

Everyone kept staring, myself included now. Finally a grad student raised his voice, “Is anyone here a first-aider?”

I started to reply, “Ye—“

Then a long white coat flashed by me. A tall handsome demonstrator, exactly the kind you’d expect to come zooming out of the sky to save you in a crisis, rushed past and bent over the girl, carrying a first aid kit. I blinked. A senior first-aider! Now maybe I could help.

So I joined him and introduced myself. The girl was already recovering consciousness; she had just fainted momentarily, probably due to tiredness. In a few minutes she could stand, and we sent her home. The tall demonstrator clapped me on the back and went back to work. No harm done.

But the incident is still ringing in my mind. I’ve got a long way to go before I’m out there on my own, but it scares me. Both that I hesitated, and that I was afraid to perform my duty. The first duty of a doctor. I’m safely ensconced in preclinical medicine now, with supervisors looking over my shoulder to clean up any messes I make, but it’s only a matter of years before I find myself in a white coat and having to tend to real patients. And when that time comes, I pray I do not hesitate.

February 23, 2007 in Aaron Singh | Permalink

This has started quite a discussion: Read On!

I AM FREE THIS WEEKEND! :-)

Yes! SO GREAT TO SAY THAT! :-) 4 More Days to Go! :-) I'll soon be done! Next week will be the only week where I don't have an exam; every week, following that I have exams and will continue to be studying until I take "THE BOARDS" in June! YUCK!!

I can't wait for this dreadful week of exams to be OVER! :-) I need to feel ALIVE again!

Don't Stop Dreaming...

Elizabeth Edwards-- A True Heroine!

My Message to the Edwards:

As a second year medical student at UMDNJ-SOM, I hope that every patient I encounter is as strong and determined as you are, Elizabeth. You are a great role model for women battling Breast Cancer everywhere and I thank you for your courageous efforts. I truly admire the persistance and love that you and your husband share and wish you all the best in fighting this terrible disease. We're here rooting for you and your family, Elizabeth! All The Best!

Video Worth Watching!

How does it Feel to Kiss a Dolphin?

This is My Personal Encounter with Cupid at Six Flags, Marine World in San Francisco. I got to train him, feed him, and kiss him! ;-) He feels very smooth and rubbery! He's just a BABY but he's SUPER SMART! He splashed a lot of water on me! One day, hopefully; I'll be able to swim with him... :-)

Sanjaya Makes The Girls Cry

Why do people keep voting Sanjaya Malakar back to "American Idol"?

1) The Stern Effect
2) The Web Effect
3) The Indian Effect***
4) The Stick-It-To Simon Effect
5) Sympathy Vote???

Is it UberDesi or is it Talent?

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING! :-)

Happy Spring Equinox! --YEA!!!
Nowruz Pirooz!!! --Happy Persian New Year!
Today, March 21st is Flower Day! --Make sure you send a flower to someone you think is SPECIAL!!! ;-)

@----------}-----------------------

On Spring Equinox, the Sun rises exactly in the East travels through the sky for 12 hours and sets exactly in the West. On Equinox, every place on earth experiences a 12 hour day and 12 hour night! (Equinox=equal night)

After the Spring Equinox, the Sun still continues to follow a higher and higher path through the sky, with the days growing longer and longer, until it reaches it highest point in the sky on the Summer Solstice!

Mother Nature is so COOL! =c)~

My Dress for the Medicine Ball?

A model walks the runway at the Joey Tierney Fall 2007 fashion show, during the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City, Calif., on Tuesday, March 20, 2007. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

Sunset at San Francisco Bay

Pic I took from a cruise ship in San Francisco.
(I'm a good photographer, no?) ;-)~

Quick Way to Get Ice off Your Car When You Have to Run to an Exam!

One fine day... a lot of Ice fell from the sky...




...it would take forever to scrape ice off each window; so what did I do? -I rolled down the glass of my car window and observed the shielded pane of ice that covered it...




...and then I punched the ice and made a hole and said, "What a good girl am I!" :-)

The Namesake

Pics I took of Mira Nair and Jhumpa Lahiri at the book signing and movie promotion of "The Namesake" at the Barnes and Nobles on Union Square. (yet to see, though... -Ufffie yeh,...EXAMS bhi Nah!)

Ting-A-Ling-Ting-Ting-Ting-A-Ling...

i miss my jack in the box from when i was lil --it used to always surprise me! :-) did u ever have one?

Fashion Show for Charity