Professionals have to care for the whole person

In response to Jon Huer’s “As I see it” column of June 3: Thank you to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy for following the guidelines of the medical profession and being concerned about the whole human being. Not only physical, but emotional, social, etc.

As a medical professional (previously home health nurse and now school nurse) I tend to look at the total person. As a home health nurse visiting with a patient in their home, maybe recently discharged from the hospital with a wound that needs daily care, I look at the whole situation. Are there scatter rugs that the patient can trip on; is there additional help in or coming into the home daily to check on the patient?

If they are alone, I check to see if they have adequate food and are able to prepare it themselves. I would feel really bad if I failed to see the total person during my visit, not just concentrate on their wound dressing.

Another social problem that our surgeon general could address would be use of social media by teens. Dr. Murthy is the nation’s doctor, looking out for the total human being.

Marilyn Erickson, R.N.

Greenfield

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