In a recent perspective article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Figueroa and his co-author, @davidvelasquez.bsky.social, propose three potential strategies to help deliver health care to older undocumented people.

Learn more at @nejm.org:

In the hospital, we assess patients' mental status with simple questions—one classic: "Who is the President?"

Some recent gems: "I wish it were Obama," "Oh God. Unfortunately, Donald Trump," "The Orange Guy," and "My wife."

Docs/nurses, what's the funniest response you've heard?!

A patient admitted to us was described as altered & underwent a head CT.

Turned out that she wasn’t altered—she just couldn’t speak English well. Her primary language was Spanish 🤦🏽‍♂️

This wasn’t her failure to communicate, it was our failure to understand. We must do better at using interpreters.

They are your neighbors—your nanny, the worker who harvested the strawberries on your table, the roofer who repaired your home, the cleaner who ensured your streets were clean after the snowstorm.

They’ve paid taxes. They’re over 65. And there will be about 1 million of them by 2030.

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While seeing my patients in the hospital this morning, the nursing secretary called me over.

She had prepared a New Year’s breakfast for the nurses and invited me to join.

Ladies & gentlemen—this feels like I’ve made it 😁

Happy New Year!

Some of the saddest moments in the hospital aren’t from a lack of medical solutions but realizing an older, frail patient has no one to care for them or help with appointments and medications.

Sometimes, loneliness is the diagnosis.

We must do better for our seniors.

Alarming: Homelessness is up 18% in the past year, hitting children and families the hardest.

As someone who’s experienced homelessness, I know one thing for sure: escaping poverty starts with one essential foundation—a home.

Let's house these folks.

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/27/u...

At 18, I nervously walked into my college’s pre-med office and said I wanted to be a doctor.

They suggested I consider other careers.

I didn’t listen.

Now, for the first time, I’m wearing the long white coat of a doctor—my white coat.

Sometimes, all it takes is believing in yourself.

He can’t do this and it’s clearly unconstitutional. We need to call it out, organize, and support the orgs on the ground who will be on the frontline. We will NOT stand by and allow this to happen.

For far too long, the medical profession has been accessible primarily to the wealthy.

Despite nearly 38 million people in the U.S. living in poverty, only about 5% of doctors come from the lowest income bracket.

This disparity calls for urgent action.

journals.lww.com/academicmedi...

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After 3 weeks in the ICU, I experienced many moments filled with sorrow, some with relief, and almost none with joy. But then this happened:

"Tell him the words you know," my patient's brother said.

I smiled and spoke the only Telugu words I knew: "Nuvvu na annabi." ("You are my big brother")

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Meet Kiwi.

She was once a stray on the streets of Philly, but now she’s pampered with love every single day #catdad

I fear for the health of our nation.

First RFK Jr., and now Dr. Oz—who’s next? Dr. Hannibal Lecter?

It’s wild to me that nonprofit hospitals are still charging patients for parking.

How is this OK?!

“There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.” - RFK Jr.

The job of doctors who talk to patients about the risks/benefits of vaccines just became 1000x harder.

Not only because of the vaccine hesitancy that will come from this decision, but because patients will suffer the consequences.