Therese Zink 10/26/24 Therese Zink 10/26/24

Helping my 94-year-old mother die

Death is inevitable. Several years ago, when I talked with a patient about her cancer diagnosis, she reminded me that we all have expiration dates. And yet, we live in a culture that prizes youth.

Therese Zink 9/29/24 Therese Zink 9/29/24

Mind metronome

Finding one’s inner rhythm is essential in turbulent times. That rhythm is being in the zone, that place where mind, body and spirit are in flow. I suspect, you’ve been there. You know what I mean. I hope you go there routinely. How do you reach that place, that state, that metronome of the mind?

Therese Zink 9/4/24 Therese Zink 9/4/24

The Moon, tides, awe, and support

This week we visited the Bay of Fundy, where the Atlantic Ocean punches in between Eastern Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The tides vary by nearly forty feet at full or new moon.

Therese Zink 8/3/24 Therese Zink 8/3/24

Muddling along . . .

is the best I can do these days as I count my blessings. The dictionary definition for muddling is to proceed in a disorganized way. That doesn’t have the greatest ring to it.

Therese Zink 6/27/24 Therese Zink 6/27/24

Celebrating Life’s Events

Living near the shore, I am especially tuned into the ebbs and flows of the tide. Recently, I attended several life celebrations, the ebbs and flows of life: two deaths and a wedding, all for friends in the third chapter of their lives. . .

Therese Zink 5/27/24 Therese Zink 5/27/24

Horse shoe crab season

Each May between the full and new moons, these ancient appearing creatures crawl out of the bay to mate in the sand at the water’s edge. The crabs carve circuitous trails in the sand . . .

Therese Zink 4/29/24 Therese Zink 4/29/24

Navajo world view and more

I won’t pretend to be fluent in the Diné world, but I’ve dipped into the perspective in a book group offered through the Undergraduate STEM Development division at Brown. The book is Native Presence and Sovereignty in College by Amanda Tachine.

Therese Zink 4/1/24 Therese Zink 4/1/24

April is the cruelest month

The first line of T.S. Eliot’s poem the Waste Land which explores brokenness and loss in the U.S., England, and Europe at the end of the first world war.

Therese Zink 2/29/24 Therese Zink 2/29/24

Leaping into. . .

Grief and sorrow are my topics for this leap year day. I have much to be sad about these days. I doubt that I am alone.

Therese Zink 1/31/24 Therese Zink 1/31/24

Meditation on the Middle East

I acknowledge the suffering in other regions in the world, such as the Ukraine and Sudan. Caring about friends, colleagues, and students I know in Palestine forces me to focus there.
Faced with the tragedy, now well over 100 days in length, which may rapidly be expanding to a much larger conflict, I ask myself what more I can do?

Therese Zink 12/19/23 Therese Zink 12/19/23

Putting a face on what is happening in PALESTINE — Gaza and the West Bank

When I was glum or sad, and feeling forgotten because I wasn’t in some clique at school, my parents reminded me to count my blessings. Doing gratitude sometimes necessitates understanding the challenges others face. A childhood (and often adult) exercise to recognize how good I have it.

Therese Zink 11/15/23 Therese Zink 11/15/23

Mutually Assisted Destruction

It is painful and nerve-wracking to watch what is happening in Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank. I feel a moral obligation to do more than sign petitions for a ceasefire, write my representatives and senators in Congress and keep up with my colleagues in Palestine. My colleagues on the West Bank, where I worked just a year ago, are living under tight constraints. Their cities shut down for days at a time after local attacks. Unable to leave their homes, they cannot go to work and their children are not in school. Going outside to play is impossible.

Therese Zink 10/29/23 Therese Zink 10/29/23

Hearing about the Horror

The Middle East is horrific these days. The PBS News hour seems to give the most unbiased reporting. . . suffering and loss for all sides. I want to do more than write my representatives . . .

Therese Zink 10/12/23 Therese Zink 10/12/23

Yet Another electronic health record

I have lost count of the number of different electronic health records I have used in my career. When I started it was only the paper record, the SOAP note, the numbered diagnoses and their associated plans written out in blue or black ink on lined white paper.

Therese Zink 8/23/23 Therese Zink 8/23/23

The US a war zone?

The Palestinian physician, who I mentored as a medical student, while I worked in Nablus during my Fulbright thinks so.

Therese Zink 7/30/23 Therese Zink 7/30/23

Celebrating summer

Summer is in full bloom here on Narragansett Bay. It is a lovely time to celebrate nature, the utter beauty and awe

Therese Zink 6/28/23 Therese Zink 6/28/23

Reminders

There is a lot to be sad about in the world, the US, and my personal sphere. . . I am guessing you may have similar tales these days.

Therese Zink 5/27/23 Therese Zink 5/27/23

Perspective

It is refreshing to see my world through the eyes of others. I know I have a privileged life here in the US. I am educated, the right skin color, have enough money to live in a “good” neighborhood, and have the freedom to go where I wish. Or another way to say it is WEIRD . . .

Therese Zink 4/27/23 Therese Zink 4/27/23

Culture of Respect vs. Culture of Burden

It is final presentation time in the Communications in Health Care class I teach. Throughout the 14 weeks, students complete parts of the project: Interview two people in their sphere about their experiences in health care.