Fields Delmar
NONFICTION
As a family physician and obstetrician, I tend to people and their families. My clinic day usually includes more than twenty patients, each with their own stories, questions, and worries. While attending to the needs of the people sitting in front of me, messages flood my inboxes, each requiring attention. I struggle to find relief from the tasks required to care for a panel of more than one thousand patients, and with my powerlessness to change the course of the broader social and economic forces determining their access to health and wellness. Meanwhile, regulatory letters arrive in the mail demanding my already taxed attention by threatening legal and financial consequences. Reading them, I am struck by how disconnected this language is from the tenderness of my work. I wonder what these letters could ask instead.
Fields Delmar (they/she) is a physician, community organizer, amateur cook, novice 35mm photographer and blossoming writer. They were once told they would need to cut back on their hobbies and though they continue to reject this advice, they did recently stop baking bread. They have spent the last five years working in primary care and a hospital-based birth center and in 2023 launched a new clinic serving the LGBTQIA+ community. When not working, creating, or caring for their growing brood, they can be found wandering on trails and dreaming big.
To read more of Brink Issue No. 7, RELIEF, subscribe or purchase a single issue in our shop.
Comments