Let's change things. Now.
Dr Gary Payinda's substack begins.
I am an emergency doctor. I consider getting to work with patients in the emergnecy department to be the privilege of a lifetime. I can’t think of much that’s better than being able to help someone during what may be the worst day of their life.
For the past 17 years I’ve worked in a hospital in an underserved part of Northland New Zealand, spent some time working as a rescue helicopter doctor in Auckland, done a few stints in the Northern Territories in Australia’s Outback, and volunteered in the Pacific Islands. Long ago I trained in one of California’s busiest public trauma centres, worked in a hyperbaric chamber, and served as a union leader.
And before all of that, I got a graduate degree in science writing, which I have used over the years in fulfilling a lifelong passion: telling stories about science and medicine, bringing to attention important public health issues, and explaining medical concepts in ways that patients and readers can understand. Back when newspapers were a thing, I wrote a newspaper column answering people’s medical questions. I enjoyed it, and I still get emails today from readers saying that they enjoyed it too.
Substack will hopefully allow me to continue to do that deeply gratifying work: writing for people who want to share my journey through a life in medicine.
But be forewarned: I am unapologetically interested in issues of poverty, wealth inequality, and healthcare. That place where the “social determinants of health” intersect with the practice of medicine.
I support the simple idea that people should have security, food, jobs, education, and healthcare. And that the way to get to a better society will never be through empowering the extremely wealthy to amass ever-increasing amounts of money and power.
I believe that government should not be about making the rich richer, but about making life better for the bottom 99% of society.
Why the bottom 99%? Because it has become obvious to me that the top 1% don’t need any extra help — they’ve already got much of the law, media, business, and government dedicated to ensuring they rise high, held aloft by the millions who increasingly find themselves sinking.
I believe that today, right now we enough money, resources, and intelligence to make life good for everybody in our country. Whether we have the wisdom or collective action to ensure this is another story.
