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Surgeon gives back to his community through education and awareness
Partnered with a local high school group and volunteers from the medical profession, Andrew K. Palmer, MD, answers a community’s health questions.
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After 25 years of living and working in the Syracuse, N.Y., area, Andrew K. Palmer, MD, decided to give back to his community.
Palmer, an orthopedic hand surgeon and professor of orthopedic surgery at Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, N.Y., said he was impressed by patients who came to his office with questions regarding general health care. But he was never able answer all of their questions or give them as much time as he would have liked. He decided to hold a monthly symposium on various medical subjects.
Images: Palmer AK. |
Around the same time, Palmer’s good friend opened a coffee shop outside Syracuse to give high school students a drug- and alcohol-free place to hang out. This proved to be the perfect place for the symposia. “I suggested that we have a once a month symposium where health care professionals could come and speak to the public for about a half hour followed by questions. The intent was for it to provide information over many topics for all ranges of ages, including teenagers,” Palmer told Orthopedics Today.
Palmer chose to hold general medical symposia because many of his patients approached him with questions outside the realm of hand surgery that he knew he could not answer. “Because of my involvement with the medical school here, I know people in every discipline. I just thought it would be a good idea. My philosophy has always been that the better educated the patient is, the better they’re able to take care of themselves and prevent health care issues from arising.”
Since April 2002, every month a health care professional gives a formal presentation with PowerPoint slides followed by up to an hour of questions and answers. Many presenters have spoken on traditional medical topics, but 40% of talks have focused on nontraditional medicine, including yoga, meditation, message therapy and acupuncture. In fact, those who attend the symposia are as interested, if not more interested, in learning about nontraditional medicine as in traditional medicine, according to Palmer.
Some attendees have even said that it changed their lives. For example, after a presentation on colon cancer, someone decided to have a colonoscopy and learned they had a malignancy. They then approached Palmer, told him their story and told him how the talk affected them personally.
Community program
The symposia are run in conjunction with Project Café, a nonprofit community program run by students from the local high school. “Many teens seemed to be very interested in helping with the monthly symposia and, as it turns out, every year there are two to four teenagers who are interested in going into medicine. They introduce the speakers each month and they’re there to facilitate and help set up,” Palmer said.
The monthly symposia are publicized in the local newspaper, on television and on posters throughout the community, which Palmer and the involved students produce each month. There is also a monthly e-mail that goes out informing the roughly 400 past attendees of that month’s topic.
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The café holds 120 people. However, based on the subject matter being presented, anywhere from 18 to 300 people show up. Regardless, no one would be turned away. There is no charge and the speakers are never paid.
Rather than present for personal publicity, Palmer asks speakers to talk about their specific specialties in relation to how it would and could affect those in attendance. Most speakers also agree to stay after the question and answer period to privately answer any additional questions.
The response from the community as a whole has been quite positive although Palmer had hoped more teenagers would attend. The symposia are geared toward the entire community, but Palmer and the organizing committee of adults and students have discussed holding symposia in upcoming months specifically for teenagers to educate them on important issues and make them feel more comfortable.
“Our poorest response has been from teenagers; they just don’t seem to be interested in their health care issues,” he said. “[The students] don’t think those problems affect them at all and the students feel somewhat invincible; nothing is going to happen to them, so why should they hear this.”
Importance of volunteerism
Palmer believes volunteerism is extremely important and he commends those physicians who travel the world sharing their time and expertise. But he also feels that there are things physicians could do at home to help people in this country as well.
His project is a venture that could be started by any health care professional in any community, he said, adding that another orthopedic surgeon in the Midwest is considering starting a similar program.
“It’s very rewarding to hear patients talk about how this has been helpful to them,” he said.