It probably would have helped me to blog or, more generally, to write when I was feeling down last week (lonely post-Valentine’s Day), but I decided instead to lay in bed all day. I decided after that mess that I was going to start lifting again–if only for the free endorphins I’d get out of it. I’m not expecting any transformation like this guy , but I’d be happy with weighing more than 143 pounds. 145 is my goal. (Baby steps to success. That’s the key.)

I’ve also been active with a number of activities that’re keeping me relatively busy. First, obviously, finals are coming up. I’m taking one early in hopes of making it to the AMSA convention a little earlier. It’s in my hometown, and should be fun. I’m also TAing the Queer Health and Medicine lecture series, so I’ve been tracking down and confirming speakers for class, starting next quarter. Add to that my search for a car (anyone selling cheap?), and you have a full load.

I’m starting a Community Health Partnership with the Ravenswood Family Health Clinic in East Palo Alto–I’m going to be developing a program to reduce their pharmacy costs by trying to easily implement the usage of Patient Assistant Programs. I’ve been reading about best practices from the good folks at MedPiN up in Oakland, but if anyone has specific strategies they’ve used, I’d love to hear them. Almost all the drug companies offer these programs to “help” low-income patients receive medications, but the paperwork changes every couple of months, and it’s generally a big hassle for doctors’ offices and small clinics to maintain administratively. Not only are each company’s forms different, but they all have different means-testing criteria–some only accept 100% of federal poverty income, others are 150%, others are only for citizens, etc.

I’ve recently been selected as the Database and Technology Chair for our two student-run free clinics at Stanford– Arbor Free Clinic and Pacific Free Clinic . I’ll start the job next quarter, and I’m looking forward to it. Gives me an excuse to play on my computer.

I feel like my Spanish, although still slow, broken, and poorly conjugated, it starting to come together. The medical Spanish class once a week for two hours clearly isn’t enough, but I practice with a couple fluent friends in my class, and on Friday I interviewed a patient in Spanish. She was a very kind, very *patient* woman. Spoke very clearly and slowly for my and my classmate (who also speaks some Spanish). She had had a knee replacement and they removed all the cartilage because of her osteoarthritis (that’s the bone type, not the immune response type, called rheumatoid arthritis), so we spoke about that, and eventually her daughter and granddaughter came to visit, and we spoke a bit with them, too. It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes to patient repore to just *try* to speak their native language. Even if it’s broken and awful. I think it implies a sense that you have some greater stake in the patient’s care, and that increases patient trust. That you’ve taken the time to learn *their* language speaks more volumes to them than any number of words you could say, no matter how fluent you are.

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