Blog

By Breanna Lathrop Today I was seeing a patient I’ve been working with for a couple years now. We talked about his medication, his health, where he is living now, and his future plans. After his blood work, I brought in his bag of medications. He stopped before leaving and told me, “I just want … Continue reading Racism and Inequity

By Veronica Squires The Good Samaritan by Rembrandt The other day I was thumbing through the Bible looking for a passage to meditate on and I landed on the famous story of the Good Samaritan. I have always loved this story, but since I started working for The Good Samaritan Health Center five years ago … Continue reading Spare No Expense

Georgia’s Medicaid waiver plan arrived this week. It’s pretty much exactly what many health advocates expected: a plan that will at best cover 50,000 of the over 400,000 who could qualify for Medicaid under a full expansion. As I read the coverage surrounding the release of the waiver plan I was discouraged not because of … Continue reading Medicaid: We Are Missing the Problem

By Breanna Lathrop Our oldest son is 7 and attends a large public school we love. Part of sending your kid to school is acknowledging that you lose more control over what they learn and when. Our son learned the F-word a few months into Kindergarten. He went from not knowing such a word existed … Continue reading On Telling My Son the N-word

I (Veronica) was recently up at 1 am the morning before my oldest daughter, Aubrey, started kindergarten. I had a hard time falling asleep so when I awoke to the loud banging sound, I had only been asleep for a couple of hours. Now I was wide awake from the noise and walked downstairs to … Continue reading Bad Dog

Recently I (Veronica) traveled to Memphis to visit Church Health, an incredible faith-based charitable clinic providing a holistic “model for healthy living” for their community. I was inspired and encouraged. Despite the bickering and pettiness we see in the news media, real people on the ground are working tirelessly for those who are marginalized. Quality … Continue reading Idolatry: what God actually hates about it

By Breanna Lathrop On the radio this morning they were discussing the shootings and people were calling up and sharing their thoughts on whether this is a gun problem or a mental health problem. Any discussion is at least discussion versus simply moving on and accepting mass shootings as an unavoidable reality in our country. … Continue reading Reflections on Gun Violence

By Breanna Lathrop At the clinic, we are regularly asked by patients to complete paperwork to assist with social supports. Paperwork for handicap stickers, half-fare public transportation cards, rent relief, affordable housing eligibility, and the list goes on. Sometimes we know the patient well and other times we are just meeting. However, it always feels … Continue reading The Missing Box

My (Veronica) lived experience over the last twelve years confirms what studies repeatedly show: trauma disproportionately impacts low-income, minority communities. When my family lived in southwest Atlanta, we were struck early on by the frequency of heartache, and the way it seemed to happen at a higher, more intense frequency for our neighbors than the … Continue reading Concentrated Trauma

A wall of memories from our years in southwest Atlanta In many homes people like to hang photos of their loved ones. It's a way to honor and celebrate the people who matter to us. One of my (Veronica) favorite things about our home is that no matter where I turn, I can see a … Continue reading The Wall in our House