The Allergy Buster, New York Times
I, like many of you read, this article called The Allergy Buster in this Sunday’s New York Times with great interest. I have mixed feelings about the article that I’m still sorting through. What I don’t have mixed feelings about is the relationship this doctor has with her young patients. She is definitely part of their Team You and I love how clear she is about that:
“If you feel sad or discouraged, you call me — you,” she tells the children, leaning in, entwining her pinkie in theirs and asking them to make her “a pinkie promise” that they will take their dose. She tells patients to call her by her first name, and her light, musical voice and lack of a white coat in the clinic all contribute to the magical different-from-other-doctors place she occupies in her young patients’ minds. She gives them presents on every possible occasion or lets them pick out books or puzzles or Play-Doh from a bucket in the office.”
Here’s more from the author (and food allergy mom) about the article:
Behind the article from the New York Times, 6th Floor Blog: Behind the Cover Story: Melanie Thernstrom on Untangling the Mystery of Food Allergies
“If you feel sad or discouraged, you call me — you,” she tells the children, leaning in, entwining her pinkie in theirs and asking them to make her “a pinkie promise” that they will take their dose. She tells patients to call her by her first name, and her light, musical voice and lack of a white coat in the clinic all contribute to the magical different-from-other-doctors place she occupies in her young patients’ minds. She gives them presents on every possible occasion or lets them pick out books or puzzles or Play-Doh from a bucket in the office.”
Here’s more from the author (and food allergy mom) about the article:
Behind the article from the New York Times, 6th Floor Blog: Behind the Cover Story: Melanie Thernstrom on Untangling the Mystery of Food Allergies
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