There's A Doctor In The House
So, when I was at the Vert Anglais last night my doctor came up to me. This is not unusual - he hangs out in the bars and cafes in town and is known to just have a drink and chat with his patients.
Anyway, what was unusual was that he told me that he's retiring Sept. 1 and wanted to introduce me to the man who is taking over his practice. It seems he'd been doing this all day - dragging the new doctor from cafe to cafe and store to store and introducing him to the people he's been treating for the last 50 years or so.
The new doctor seems nice - but he looks to be in his late 20s/maybe early 30s and resembles Trey Anestasio. This will be the first time I've ever had a doctor who is younger than me and who has a long ponytail.
The doctor introduced himself as "Benjamin" and didn't provide a last name. As several of my doctor's patients were at the Vert Anglais he sat down and had a beer and lit up a Camel with all of us. He wanted to assure us that just like our current doctor he intended to hang around the bars and cafes in the afternoon and evenings just to keep an eye on us and make sure the people in his little neck of the woods are doing OK.
Sharing a beer and smoking a cigarette with my soon to be new doctor really made me appreciate living where I live. It also reminded me that while Montpellier is a huge city, Centre Ville, where I live, is really a small village. And being the doctor in Centre Ville is essentially like being the town doctor in a small town in America.
And I think that's a good thing. Taking care of patients shouldn't just be about looking them over when they walk in the door. It should be about being a part of your community and making sure everyone is OK.
Lately everyone has been talking about different health care plans and what's good and what's bad and should the government be involved and what about freedom and will health care decline and all sorts of shit.
In that argument we seem to forget that it all comes down to people. No matter what system you have if your doctor isn't part of your community your standard of care will suffer. If he or she does want to be a part of your community your standard of care will soar.
Instead of arguing the pros and cons of different economic models I'd rather have an argument about how to get doctors out of their offices and really know their patients as people.
Anyway, what was unusual was that he told me that he's retiring Sept. 1 and wanted to introduce me to the man who is taking over his practice. It seems he'd been doing this all day - dragging the new doctor from cafe to cafe and store to store and introducing him to the people he's been treating for the last 50 years or so.
The new doctor seems nice - but he looks to be in his late 20s/maybe early 30s and resembles Trey Anestasio. This will be the first time I've ever had a doctor who is younger than me and who has a long ponytail.
The doctor introduced himself as "Benjamin" and didn't provide a last name. As several of my doctor's patients were at the Vert Anglais he sat down and had a beer and lit up a Camel with all of us. He wanted to assure us that just like our current doctor he intended to hang around the bars and cafes in the afternoon and evenings just to keep an eye on us and make sure the people in his little neck of the woods are doing OK.
Sharing a beer and smoking a cigarette with my soon to be new doctor really made me appreciate living where I live. It also reminded me that while Montpellier is a huge city, Centre Ville, where I live, is really a small village. And being the doctor in Centre Ville is essentially like being the town doctor in a small town in America.
And I think that's a good thing. Taking care of patients shouldn't just be about looking them over when they walk in the door. It should be about being a part of your community and making sure everyone is OK.
Lately everyone has been talking about different health care plans and what's good and what's bad and should the government be involved and what about freedom and will health care decline and all sorts of shit.
In that argument we seem to forget that it all comes down to people. No matter what system you have if your doctor isn't part of your community your standard of care will suffer. If he or she does want to be a part of your community your standard of care will soar.
Instead of arguing the pros and cons of different economic models I'd rather have an argument about how to get doctors out of their offices and really know their patients as people.