Voting Rights and the ED

Vot-ER, an initiative to help people register to vote in health care settings, is his most notable. The intersection of medicine and politics became abundantly more obvious to Dr. Martin the more he saw patients in the ED. “I understood the connection between physical health and civic health. I had taken two years out of my medical school training. I went to the Kennedy School of Government. I also worked in politics for a year working for the Governor of Vermont, which was a fascinating experience,” he recalled.

Dr. Martin refers to the DMV experience where residents are asked to register to vote and draws a comparison to health care. “What the hell does voting have to do with driving? Aren’t voting and health more related than voting and driving? And so, we want to create that same kind of connection between health and voting,” said Dr. Martin. To date, Vot-ER has partnered with the American Medical Association to recognize voting as a social determinant of health as well as with 700 hospitals, community health centers, medical schools, and registered—either with voter registration or through vote by mail—over 80,000 people in health care facilities across the country.

Q&A with Dr. Martin

How do you like to spend your free time?

I like to play Super Smash Bros on Nintendo Switch. Come find me on Nintendo Switch Online.

Favorite musician or band?

Drake. The guy does not miss.

Where would you would like to visit?

Mykonos, Greece.

What book are you reading at the moment?

I just finished The Overstory.

Favorite early career memory?

Being so well looked after by mentors in the field of emergency medicine. I am only successful because I have a village of elders in emergency medicine behind me, guiding me, and pushing me forward. I am standing on the shoulders of giants and I think it’s my responsibility to push the work they started forward and to carry the baton until my time is up before passing it on to the next generation of emergency physicians.

Advice for young physicians?

There’s a Bible passage from Jesus’s brother that came to mind for me when I read this question: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:13-16). We are only here for this brief moment in time (we as emergency physicians understand this more than most people). Let’s do as much good as we can while we are here. It’s our time now. Go big y’all.