by Daniel Taylor, Updated: October 21, 2019
AKIRA SUWA / INQUIRER
I ask all the families of my young patients if they are working, staying at home, or in school.
I have learned that this inclusive, nonjudgmental question helps me understand family dynamics and gives me insight into family income. To make ends meet, many of the parents I meet work overnight shifts, in low-income jobs, and sleep during the day, only when their infant does. Others face long commutes to poorly paid retail work.
The most life-saving accomplishments in medicine over the last century include advances in sanitation, vaccines, and the discovery that a simple mold can be made into an antibiotic to cure once-fatal infections. Until the discovery of penicillin in 1928, the average life expectancy in the United States was 47 years. Because of penicillin, the leading cause of death is no longer infection, it is chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
A friend asked me the other day what would do the most to improve the health of the children I see in my pediatric clinic.
“Raising the minimum wage,” I said without hesitation.
Read more at https://www.inquirer.com/health/life-expectancy-child-health-minimum-wage-20191014.html.
Leave a Reply