It’s been two years since I’ve been working as a family doctor independently. I reflected on some lessons from my first year of practice last year, and much of it remains true today. Read here: https://yipeng.ca/2024/09/08/some-lessons-from-my-first-year-in-practice/
Reflecting on this past year of working in primary care clinics, I find myself thinking about a few additional lessons I want to share with you.
1. Being humans first – People who come into the clinic to be treated as a patient, first and foremost are humans, not simply a clinical problem to be solved or grappled with. Everyone in this world deserves to be seen and heard, and much of the medicine I practice is affirming this for people. Some patients have been repeatedly dehumanized by the healthcare system and don’t see themselves as able to receive safe and effective care because of this. Additionally, as a person practicing medicine, I am not solely defined by the role of a doctor, and I have never solely identified myself this way. With the attacks on my training as a public health doctor or ongoing attacks by people going after my medical license because I stand in solidarity with Palestine, they don’t realize that they can try to take away certain things, but they will never take away my knowledge and experience, who I am, and what I stand for. I went into medicine because I care about humans first and foremost, and that is what I will keep doing, no matter what happens.
2. Racism is a distraction – I think a lot about Toni Morrison’s words on racism. “The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work.” The racism that patients experience in the healthcare system, specifically Indigenous Peoples and communities, was what opened my eyes to the impacts of colonialism on health and how the healthcare system can do more harm at times. It led me to study anti-racism and how efforts within the healthcare system can effectively move towards dismantling structural racism. I have seen how anti-Palestinian racism has been left completely unaddressed by medical institutions and medical schools, to appease the psychological comfort of Zionists. I have seen how Indigenous patients who have experienced an actual lack of safety in the clinical environment and suffered medical trauma and harm because of structural racism within the healthcare system, voice their support and solidarity with Palestine, and have also shared with me their grief and outrage on Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Racism is a distraction from the real issues. Remember to be focused on the real issues. End genocide from Turtle Island to Palestine. Free the people, free the land, from Turtle Island to Palestine.
3. Joy as resistance – Spending time with peoples and communities who have been subjected to colonial violence and erasure has taught me time and time again that existence is resistance. To exist means practicing and maintaining culture, language, music, dance, art, and so much more. Including practicing the laughter and joy that comes with all the good parts of existing in this unfortunate world that insists on the erasure and dehumanization of Indigenous Peoples all over the world. The radical joy, the radical imagination, the radical optimism is the wisdom that our ancestors have passed down to us to weather any storm. Hold onto this wisdom and let it guide you. May our hearts and souls remain open, soft, and tender to help hold the weight of the suffering of all beings subjected to structural oppression in this world. May our minds remain sharp, focused, and strategic on the path forward towards collective liberation.
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