Smiling Toothless

Maria Sami Ramia

doi:10.1370/afm.1778

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Steps
Maria S Ramia

Published on: 30 June 2015
Comment on "Smiling Toothless"
Basem Roberto Saab

Published on: 30 June 2015
Re:Response to "Smiling Toothless"
Peter A. de Schweinitz

Published on: 17 May 2015
A Love Touch
Noura E. Kaadi

Published on: 17 May 2015
Response to "Smiling Toothless"
Jerome F Koleski

Published on: 14 May 2015

Published on: (30 June 2015)
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Steps
Maria S Ramia, Physician
I could not agree more with Dr Saab that the services provided there are highly appreciated and very much needed. Although the steps are small, they leave deep footprints in our lives, and theirs.
Competing interests: None declared

Competing Interests: None declared.
Published on: (30 June 2015)
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Comment on "Smiling Toothless"
Basem Roberto Saab, Professor of Family Medicine
"Smiling Toothless" is a piece that does not only touch the heart but also convinces a care giver about the importance of providing care to a poor community. The hopelessness that Dr Ramia felt was taken into consideration when our residents started to man this clinic three years ago. It was realized then that the main issue was to contain poverty; I was and still am skeptical whether this is possible.[1] However, the ser...
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"Smiling Toothless" is a piece that does not only touch the heart but also convinces a care giver about the importance of providing care to a poor community. The hopelessness that Dr Ramia felt was taken into consideration when our residents started to man this clinic three years ago. It was realized then that the main issue was to contain poverty; I was and still am skeptical whether this is possible.[1] However, the services provided by our team are highly appreciated by the community. This by itself is an achievement.
Even residents who were requesting not to attend this setup for security and social issues are now advocates for training in this place. Residents are now aware that diagnosis may be done on clinical grounds with minimal lab tests when needed. They also get trained how to treat with cheap alternatives like generic drugs and carry minor surgery at no charge. We most probably will not be able to change the social situation, but definitely we are putting a smile on the faces of the wretched of Hay Algharbi in Sabra area, and more importantly our physicians feel more humane.
Reference Saab B. Medical Care: Elitism or Social Commitment. British Journal of General Practice 2012; 62:40-41.
Competing interests: None declared
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Competing Interests: None declared.
Published on: (17 May 2015)
Page navigation anchor for Re:Response to "Smiling Toothless"
Re:Response to "Smiling Toothless"
Peter A. de Schweinitz, Family Physician
What a beautiful description of what is so satisfying in medicine-- the reciprocal joy of being with each other. Some might suggest that money is the currency of medicine, but I reject that, though it creeps into our consciousness, sometimes overwhelming our calling. Money is a part. Love is the true currency.
Competing interests: None

Competing Interests: None declared.
Published on: (17 May 2015)
Page navigation anchor for A Love Touch
A Love Touch
Noura E. Kaadi, Family Medicine Resident
Being Dr Ramia's colleague at the Family Medicine Department of the American university of Beirut , I regularly experience quite comparable hopeless emotions and aching feelings while trying to practice my job in the deprived satellite clinic mentioned above.
The place could not have been better described and the dilemma between practicing acute medical management and the emotional/psychological support we coul...
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Being Dr Ramia's colleague at the Family Medicine Department of the American university of Beirut , I regularly experience quite comparable hopeless emotions and aching feelings while trying to practice my job in the deprived satellite clinic mentioned above.
The place could not have been better described and the dilemma between practicing acute medical management and the emotional/psychological support we could provide to the population there is a challenge we have to work on overcoming on daily basis.
This touching story so beautifully told by Dr Ramia gives us proof that our efforts to make some change, any change, as small as a toothless smile , are worth the try and that every lost soul could be brought back to life in just one touch of love.
Competing interests: None declared
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Competing Interests: None declared.
Published on: (14 May 2015)
Page navigation anchor for Response to "Smiling Toothless"
Response to "Smiling Toothless"
Jerome F Koleski, Co-Director Global Health Track
Dear Editors, Dr. Ramia wrote a beautiful article of a doctor overwhelmed by events bigger than herself, bigger than an entire refugee camp.
I, too, have been overwhelmed by suffering beyond understanding. It feels like you have been running up a credit card beyond its limit.
Writing was one of the ways I coped with feeling overwhelmed by suffering. It was quite therapeutic. Another thing that helped me wa...
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Dear Editors, Dr. Ramia wrote a beautiful article of a doctor overwhelmed by events bigger than herself, bigger than an entire refugee camp.
I, too, have been overwhelmed by suffering beyond understanding. It feels like you have been running up a credit card beyond its limit.
Writing was one of the ways I coped with feeling overwhelmed by suffering. It was quite therapeutic. Another thing that helped me was becoming an ultrasound doctor. I didn't realize that for me the length of the ultrasound probe gave me enough emotional distance from the suffering I was powerless to treat.
It is lifting a hair from a one ton weight to treat impetigo for a child who has seen his house and toys blown up, but it is something. Actually, it is everything that you can do, and that counts.
Thank you for caring for the Mohammads of eastern Lebanon.
Jerry Koleski, MD
Competing interests: None declared
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Competing Interests: None declared.