Blog

A photo of a wildfire

Fire season

Michele Birkner

“'Quick! Look out the window, do you see the sun and the sky?'” I hear my sister say. I put down my book, run to my window, and am instantly awed by the red sun and dark, smoky sky. I realize that 'fire season' has begun."

Photo of Sword Lake in Hanoi, Vietnam

The international problem of mental healthcare

Kieu Anh Phan

"Growing up in Vietnam, I had never heard of the concept of mental health. But after a traumatic experience traveling home during COVID and being placed in a quarantine camp, my mind fell into a very dark place. There were very limited, if any, therapists or psychiatrists in my home country."

Maeve Jones, my sister, feeding my Grandpa. He suffered a stroke in September of 2019 and was in a skilled nursing facility from then until he passed in December of 2021. He declined more rapidly during COVID, and this picture was taken 6 months before his passing. Photo courtesy of Melissa Jones

The reality of COVID-19 in assisted living facilities

Morgan Jones

“In my year and a half working at a nursing home, I bonded with many residents while also watching many of them pass. The relationships I formed were very personally impactful, but I realized that we could be doing more to address the systemic issues affecting nursing homes.”

Four Hands: Mother, Baby, Father, Doctor.

Shifting perspectives: A personal story of maternal health and outcomes

Jessie Nelson

“I stepped into the all-familiar Michigan Medicine hospital. This time, however, my perspective was more than a little bit different. I had wandered these halls just weeks prior—not as a patient, but as a medical student. Now, I entered as an expectant mother.”

Childhood photo of the author sitting at table eating a sandwich.

The smallest in the class

Hailey Jurgens

“Growing up, I was always the smallest child in the class. Not only was I short, but I was also thin, sometimes surprisingly so. Doctors were always scaring my parents by telling them that I was falling behind the “normal” growth chart and encouraging them to make me eat more.”

An infant in a high-chair opens his mouth wide as he eats food.

To feed or not to feed? Food allergy prevention in infants

By Kaitlyn Palao

Food allergies are common, and can be life-threatening. When introducing new foods to infants, many believed that delaying the exposure of certain foods may protect infants from allergic reactions, but more recent research points to the opposite.