I lift you up

Today has been a long day. We said goodbye to Mike’s uncle this afternoon. A beautiful heartfelt community came together to celebrate a life ended short. Today it was amazing to see this small community come together and take care of their own.

This is what family and small towns are about.

“Death is inventible, maybe the living should remember this.” Live like you don’t think you know what tomorrow holds.

One thing I have never thought much about in my life: why are people buried facing the east? “it is said when Jesus comes back, he will come from the east. There all will be to see him as he comes over the horizon.”

God, watch over our family as they mourn the loss of a dear loved one and as the travel home.

Amen.

National Rural Health

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Something I already new but interesting facts:
21% greater risk of anxiety disorder
39% greater risk of mood disorder
Greater risk of schizophrenia
Have all been found to correlate to being born, raised, and living in the city. More reason to go rural? Our speaker said Tulsa might not fall under this. I strongly disagree with that. We might not be up to par with cities like LA or New York, but I can personally say living in Tulsa is more stressful than living in Ponca City or any rural town.
Well, what is rural? Geography, population density: 1000 per square mile is urban and 6 per square mile is frontier. Distance from urban city, culture, disparities, shortages. All of these things define what rural is.
Rural health disparities: 19.5% report poor health, 27.4% found to be in the obese BMI category, less likely to engage in vigorous physical activity, and higher incidence of cardiovascular disease. These people need healthcare and need it now.
As a rural doctor you get a wider base if a practice, have more community interactions, can have greater impact on your patients health. You actually know your patients too. What better reasons to be a doctor in rural Oklahoma or rural anywhere.
Did I mention that you can get your student loans paid back? There is lots of money out there just waiting to BR spent to pay back your loans. I would much rather have someone else pay my loans back, plus pay me to do what I love and for people that I will know and care about.
Nobody has to convince me, but if you haven’t ever looked into it, rural is quite a bit bigger than you thought it was.
Do a rural rotation!