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COVID-19 and older Americans

OK, I am a senior, and I am a physician. We seniors have and continue to make up the substantial majority of those who become seriously ill. We seniors overwhelm the healthcare system; we suffer greatly, and we die, leaving our lives incomplete and our families grieving our loss. What is best for folks my age regarding COVID now? What has changed? What is understood and what remains, well, muddled and confusing? Seniors have access to vaccines and boosters. Should they take them? I have spent many hours discussing this with patients. Some patients are unwilling to take even the initial ...

Will this campaign strategy work or will it backfire?

The Democrats have chosen what seems like a brilliant strategy, looking at it afar while traveling in Israel. They are running against Donald Trump. He is the candidate. In fact, he is every candidate at every level. The Democrats have done their polling and they believe that being as outrageous about Trump as he was about every Democrat is what the American people want! Let us be honest about all of this. The pollsters, the psychologists and the advisors understand that the voter and Americans in general want red meat. And they are getting it! Trump rose to national prominence by ...

Remember his words on Election Day

The visit by Joe Biden to Wilkes-Barre on Aug. 30 was telling on many levels. The fact that Biden met in a gymnasium with 300 handpicked “supporters“ in advance of Donald Trump‘s Save America Rally the following Saturday in the same city in a stadium that held thousands is telling. Also, the fact that while the purpose of Biden’s visit was to support Pennsylvania’s far-left candidates Josh Shapiro and John Fetterman, Biden publicly asked listeners to elect Shapiro to the Senate and “the big old boy” — forgetting John Fetterman’s name — as our next Governor. If he ...

When considering how to minimize COVID-19 risks, use your better judgment

Intuition. Gut feeling. Instinct. What keeps you safe from harm? What makes you “think twice” before moving ahead on something? Is it past knowledge of a particular situation? Is it evaluating a dangerous situation someone else has encountered? Or, is it just “a feeling” that helps you decide? This list could go on and on; however, we all have been in a situation where we know we changed our course of action because something just didn’t seem right. With a large percentage of people in our community saying they are “over COVID,” although COVID is still here, how does ...

Name-calling will not unite Americans — or win over future voters

“My whole soul is in bringing America together, uniting our people.” - President Biden, in his inauguration address, Jan. 20, 2020. “MAGA Republicans are destroying American democracy.” - President Biden, in a speech Sept. 1 in Philadelphia. Those contrasting statements reflect a politician who has spent the past half century hustling for votes. Beyond them, President Biden’s use of terms like hate and fascism in recent speeches and associating “MAGA Republicans” with those terms represent an attempt at false labeling with an assumption it is accurate and will be ...

We are in this together

You are not alone. Help is available. September marks Suicide Prevention Month. A national poll conducted in 2020 found that while 95% of Americans surveyed would do something if someone close to them was thinking about suicide, almost 70% of respondents identified barriers that keep them from discussing suicide with others. These barriers included not knowing what to say, not knowing where to turn for help, feeling they don’t have enough knowledge, or not feeling comfortable with the topic. As a result of the pandemic, however, the majority of those surveyed say that it is more ...