CLIMATE CHANGE
I arrive in Dhaka, Bangladesh, greeted by a blazing sun and a 100F+ degree heat index; and as a dermatologist from Wisconsin, I immediately reach for my hat and sunglasses. I could not be more excited. I have been chosen as a summer intern at the start-up healthcare company, Praava Health, which is Bangladesh’s fastest-growing healthcare brand. As a candidate for a Master’s in Public Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School, I pursued the internship opportunity at Praava in particular to apply the didactics I’ve been learning in the classroom: economics, policy, environmental science, climate change; epigenetics, pandemics, non-communicable diseases; information technology, digital health, disruptive innovation. But I quickly learn that Praava Health is not *about* these buzz word concepts, it *is* these concepts. “Disruptive innovation,” defined and studied in the classroom as a label, topic, or thought category is a way of life at Praava Health. My internship was more than another lesson — it breathes life, depth, insight, and context into the year’s lecture material, complementing my thirty years of experience in academic dermatology, and, to my surprise, I ultimately take away so much more than I contribute.
Praava Health is not a steely healthcare delivery machine with a caked-on façade of coached engagement, warmth, and empathy. It is very much an organic coalescence of like-minded people with compassion and dedication, who relish scouring the world for the best of the best technology, evidence-based practices and protocols, and healthcare innovations. I see, firsthand, that the modern, welcoming clinic offers state-of-the-art laboratory diagnostics, pharmacy services of the highest caliber, the first complete electronic health record system in this country of 170 million people, and compassionate and comprehensive medical care by talented physicians with sterling credentials. Praava’s people (“employees” would be an unjust label) are innately loving, creative, open-minded, industrious, and responsible. Interacting with as many people as I could during my time with the company, I barely heard a cross word. I never heard “I can’t” or “I won’t.” Goals are achieved by highly ambitious, professional, warm, and considerate staff. They are deeply devoted to taking the best care possible of each other. The “natural order” here is to weave together traditional with uber-modern, forging a truly inclusive pathway forward, leaving nobody and nothing behind. Efficient but unrushed, Praava looks to the future with intensity, hard work, and pensive consideration of the possible outcomes.
I *am* in a foreign country. Even “homesick” takes on new meaning. The sickness at home: why are we in the U.S. plagued with rampant burnout and the dangerous accompanying repercussions? How can we nurture a culture of community and warmth in healthcare organizations? How can we learn to adapt more easily than we judge? How can we do our very best and always carry the hope that (the healthcare) climate will change, that we can always find better ways to deliver healthcare? I ask multiple people at Praava: “Are you ever unable or unwilling to provide a patient service?” They are aghast: “No. Never. We stay late. We never turn away a patient. Never.” Sometimes, Praava physicians field nearly 100 telemedicine encounters daily. I ask if the patient volume is too dense. I am flabbergasted by the cheerful responses: “High patient volume is a blessing and a privilege.”
A one-way ticket from New York to Dhaka runs a bit over $500.00. Take your sunhat and sunglasses, and prepare to be inspired.
Linda Lee obtained her M.D., Ph. D. at Duke University and has spent nearly twenty years on faculty at Duke, UW Madison, and the Medical College of Wisconsin. As an academic dermatologist, she has focused on inflammatory dermatoses and skin cancer, education, and community-academic relations and partnerships. In 2018, Dr. Lee began to devote more attention to public health and in 2021 she matriculated at Columbia University Mailman School, fully committed to intense study of public health. Her gratitude for the many opportunities she has been given and her mission to help make the world the best it can be have been incalculably reinvigorated by her experiences at Mailman and at Praava Health in the beautiful nation of Bangladesh.
