In Case You Don't Read Substack Notes...

Here are some of mine...I find a lot of wonderful writing on Notes, so I encourage you to check it out!

Substack has a feature called Notes. They’re like X, but not.

X is like a frontier town with gunfights outside the saloon.

Notes are more like the same town once all of the crazies get shot or die of cirrhosis and everybody settles down to getting along.

There are arguments, but it isn’t nearly a toxic.

If you subscribe, Notes from those you follow will appear in either the app or on the web.

I like Notes, and I think it’s a much better way to scroll than many others. I learn things, I find links to great writers, to funny memes, to news stories and all sortso f things.

Below are a series of Notes I’ve put up over the last month or more, put here for those who don’t typically follow, well, Notes.

I hope you enjoy!

ER Doc rant:

Our system acts like the old are as capable as the young.

Some are; most aren’t.

A simple injury or illness, coupled with years of inactivity, means they can’t clean themselves, feed themselves or get onto or off of a toilet.

And before long, disastrous events ensue.

We need to make hospitalization easier for them.

Especially since many have no family or community connections.

That is all…

End of shift reflection. My friend Mike, an excellent PA, once said this. “Some patients come to the ER because it’s the only place where they have any control.”And I’d add, where it’s peaceful, clean and safe compared to their homes.

That’s worth considering.

Poor guy got blown up on transformer, leading to hospital power outage. Probably trying to steal copper for his meth habit. RIP Rocky…

I often think about the verse that says ‘God will give you back the years the locusts have eaten.’ (Joel 2:25)

The reference is obviously to agriculture devastated by the insects.

But if the metaphor follows, then it would appear that as surely as he will do that, I still need to sow the fields again.

ER Dad Rant:

I love my job as an emergency physician.

But when many of us started, it was about making quick, life-saving decisions on episodic events.

Now, it’s largely management of chronic, recurrent disease, trying to keep people alive on the razor’s edge of their deranged metabolisms.

And worse, it’s the place that struggles every day to manage the consequences of terrible policy decisions by government and perverse financial incentives of various industries.

There was a time when disordered, fragmented families were sometimes rescued by devout, long-suffering grandmothers and grandfathers. If mom and died died, or were incarcerated or addicted, mama and papa stepped up. I still see it.

But as interest in faith seems to fade (and that viewed with applause by all the right people), and as drug addiction and mental illness grow, then even the grandparents will be unable to ‘stand in the gap.’ They’ll be too afflicted themselves to engage and save their line.

And do we really think government will solve this?

A PSA from a grumpy old dad.

Dear Older Men:

Don’t be creeps. Don’t make suggestive comments to young women. Stop thinking you’re some kind of thick-middled, cargo-shorts wearing Casanova and realize that you’re in a new phase of life.

Dress like an adult. Talk like an adult. Get in shape. Learn things.

Protect the people around you. Teach your skills. Share your wisdom (gently).

Be a ‘knight errant,’ going about doing good for the years you have left.

Be kind, strong and virtuous in the latter part of your journey.

Time passes quickly. Don’t waste it by acting like a chronologically old teenager.

Prove to the world that even the old can be chivalrous…