Whether it was a gift from the universe or a simple seemingly random yet synchronous choice by electrons in a Pandora program, the first song I heard the other morning was “For What It’s Worth” written by Stephen Stills and performed originally by Buffalo Springfield.
“It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?”
It started me thinking. Who are the voices that I hear? Am I going to listen to politicians and pundits with their perverse world views or to young adults who in their angst or ignorance are making what appear to be careless, indeed hazardous choices? Or do I Stop, Breathe, Reflect and Choose to look elsewhere for voices of light?
We're living in unprecedented times that have already shown the resilience of our community and commitment to each other. I am impressed by the work carried on by many of my colleagues. Bethany Hayes, MD has written a daily blog keeping us in the Functional Medicine community up to date on COVID-19. I am thankful for my family, friends, patients and fellow practitioners. I have chosen to acknowledge those who are indeed carrying on and contributing to others. I am making several choices to be a person of action.
At the Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Center by Metagenics, we have been doing virtual visits for several weeks now. Angie Jaeger, CNS and I are doing virtual visits by Zoom on Ring Central. We are finding these to work quite well while waiting to see if we can get activated in our EMR. Not only are we continuing to work with established patients, I have been doing virtual visits with new patients.
We are on a Shelter-In here in Washington State so beginning next week, we will be offering a series of webinars both on coping with our current situation as well as topics of general health interest. These are generally going to be informal 30-minute webinars - some as standalone discussions and some as longer series.
Bolstering Immune Health in Trying Times (Lamb) 3/30/20 at 4 PM PDT
Menu Planning and Helpful Hints for Trying Times (Jaeger) 4/2/20 at 4 PM PDT
Basic Strategies for Selecting a Healthy Diet (Jaeger) 4/7/20 & 4/9/20 at 10 AM PDT
Women's Health Concerns (5 weeks) (Lamb/Jaeger) Beginning 4/6/20 at 12 N PDT
Gut Health Concerns (5 weeks) (Lamb/Jaeger) Beginning 4/8/20 at 2 PM PDT
Cardiovascular and Blood Sugar Health (5 weeks) (Lamb/Jaeger) Beginning 4/9/20 at 12 N PDT
We will be repeating these webinars frequently over the next few months - details can be found at the Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Center by Metagenics FaceBook Page. Anyone may participate in the first two webinars by simply registering with a call to the PLMC at 253-853-7233. To participate in the ongoing series, you will need to be a current patient; new patient appointments can be scheduled by calling the PLMC at 253-853-7233.
I volunteered at the Neighborhood Clinic at St. Leo’s in Tacoma last Monday night. And I plan to be back on 6 April. The clinic is a free clinic for homeless and uninsured persons with acute and subacute conditions. The patients lack access to standard healthcare options that many of us take for granted. They need our continued attention for their may health conditions. You can find out more about volunteer opportunities at https://neighborhoodclinictacoma.org/.
And finally, the new project I have been working on with Deanna Minich and Michael Stone is “A Functional Medicine Journey: 4 Days to Optimal Wellness”. During our scheduled June retreat at Feathered Pipe, we had planned to explore how lifestyle choices interact with our genetics, our histories, our physiologies and indeed our spirits to modify our experience of health. I am reluctant to cancel this experience, but understand completely the uncertainty around any sort of retreat or vacation planning and I expect that we will need to postpone. To provide an increased degree of comfort, we have changed our refund policy. Full refunds will be available until the 5/15/20.
We are working with the great people at Feathered Pipe and expect to give a few Webinars beginning in mid-April to cover some of the content we will hopefully be covering in June. Keep looking for details on my Facebook page and Instagram, Feathered Pipe Ranch’s Facebook Page and on my website, www.JosephlambMD.com.
It is more important than ever that we stay connected and utilize the tools of social networking to support our community. I have recently launched my online social media presence and would love for you to join me there by following along with us.
I hope you will find my social media presence a place to garner inspiration, knowledge and resources supporting you on your/our journey of life as an online (and offline) community. Real and authentic community supports health; indeed, our experience and science shows we're better together.
I've also coined a few hashtags; if any of my writings, words or upcoming webinars have helped or served you, please tag and use #joelambMD and #serveothersFM to bring awareness to finding opportunity to serve each other through functional medicine.
I appreciate your friendship and support! Look forward to seeing you.