Name: 【TED】Rishi Manchanda: What makes us get sick? Look upstream (What makes us get sick? Look upstream | Rishi Manchanda)
Uploaded: 2014-12-05T06:56:06.000Z
Duration: 18 min 18 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

I've cared for people who 
live and work in conditions

that we need a fundamentally different way

that moves beyond just looking at the symptoms

is not in the four walls of a doctor's office,

where we spend the majority of our lives.

So what does this different 
approach to healthcare look like,

an approach that can improve health where it begins?

To illustrate this, I'll tell you about Veronica.

at that clinic in South Central Los Angeles.

She came into our clinic with a chronic headache.

for a number of years, and this particular episode

In fact, three weeks before she came to visit us

for the first time, she went to an 
emergency room in Los Angeles.

The results are normal, so
here's some pain medication,

and follow up with a primary care doctor,

but if the pain persists or if it worsens,

Veronica followed those standard instructions

She went back not just once, but twice more.

In the three weeks before Veronica met us,

she went to the emergency room three times.

trying to seek relief but still coming up short.

and despite all these encounters
with healthcare professionals,

When she came to our clinic, though, 
we tried a different approach.

Our approach started with our medical assistant,

Our medical assistant asked some routine questions.

She asked, "What's your chief complaint?"

measure your blood pressure and your heart rate,

but let's also ask something equally as vital

to Veronica and a lot of patients like her

"Veronica, can you tell me about where you live?

Specifically, about your housing conditions?

Do you have mold? Do you have water leaks?

Turns out, Veronica said yes
to three of those things:

I received that chart in hand, reviewed it,

like a lot of patients that I have
the privilege of caring for,

is a dignified person, a formidable presence,

doubled over in pain sitting on my exam table.

Her head, clearly throbbing, was resting in her hands.

In medicine, we call that crease the allergic salute.

It's usually seen among children
who have chronic allergies.

It comes from chronically rubbing
one's nose up and down,

trying to get rid of those allergy symptoms,

and yet, here was Veronica, a grown woman,

with the same telltale sign of allergies.

A few minutes later, in asking
Veronica some questions,

I said, "Veronica, I think I know what you have.

and I think you have migraine
headaches and some sinus congestion,

and I think all of those are 
related to where you live."

because for the first time, she had a diagnosis,

but I said, "Veronica, now let's
talk about your treatment.

We're going to order some
medications for your symptoms,

but I also want to refer you to
a specialist, if that's okay."

Now, specialists are a little hard to find