I realized with my crazy new schedule I have not posted in a long time. In the wake of a few awful days of work, I am taking to my blog to vent so please don't mind. As we are on the eve of the inauguration I am having conflicting feelings about what is going to happen. On Saturday I am planning on marching with my fellow women in Kansas City. I am not much of a political person but there are some serious issues that give me pause. As a pediatrician I feel that I need to help give a voice to all the children who can not vote and do not have a voice.
As a pediatric ED physician I see things that are hard to process. There is one case from the last few years that has stuck with me and is very relevant to life. I had a young patient who was shot and killed by gun violence. This innocent little angle did not take his first steps before he was killed. This case is not an isolated incident but something occurring in every pediatric ED around the country. While I agree with the second amendment and the right to bear arms, I can not stand by as our innocent children are killed for no reason. It is for these innocent children that I march.
In my time doing global health work I have seen many children who have suffered from vaccine preventable diseases due to lack of access to health care. Some countries do not have enough health care access for families to seek care, some do not have money for vaccines. No matter what the reason, these children have become the victims of something they are not responsible for. I fear that a person who does not believe in vaccines will be part of vaccine safety committee and this could have devastating consequences. We no longer see the ravages of polio, of iron lungs, of children having trouble walking, of children using braces. This is because we have a vaccine that prevents this. I have never seen a case of epiglottis because we have a vaccine that has caused a drastic decrease in the incidence. For this I am so thankful! I walk to make sure vaccines and health care are still available for children.
I have been lucky enough in my life to have friends of different races, religions and sexual orientations. Each of these people have helped to shape me into the person I am today. While some things may look different or feel different, we are genetically almost identical and share the same feeling and emotions. I am thankful I live in a country where you can praise what ever you believe in, in many states you can marry the person you love and you can be friends with anyone. I march for those that are different from me.
I could easily continue about the reasons that I march but in the end I march for children, I march for friends, I march for family, I march for women, I march for humanity.
