Rather than get discouraged by the feeling of trudging uphill toward equity, Dr. Vasquez focuses on empowering children to read. “Once they’re able to read, they are self-motivated to help themselves, to be better patients, to be better decision makers, to put themselves first,” he said. “It is this weird thing where you don’t have to fix the world; you just have to teach kids to read. “That extra couple of years of primary school or that extra impact from graduating high school is so powerful. It’s like the best medicine we can get.”

Having Insight into Your Problems

Despite his passion for this work, Dr. Vasquez still gets discouraged when he feels like he’s not making a big enough impact. When that happens, he remembers a book he read that talks about the difference between problems and dilemmas, Stop Physician Burnout.

“There’s this difference between a problem, which is a finite, solvable thing, and a dilemma, which is an eternal unsolvable but must be a managed thing. You have to separate the two,” he said. “[A dilemma is] meant to be managed, and you have to understand what you value most so you can make trade-offs and be okay with what you’re letting go of.”

“I think that we, physicians, especially emergency physicians, try and drive ourselves nuts trying to solve unsolvable things,” Dr. Vasquez said. “You may have insight into the world’s problems, but they’re not yours to solve, because you didn’t create them and therefore you can’t end them.”

“You can advocate,” Dr. Vasquez said. “I can be kind to you right now. I can listen to you right now. I can hear you … I can get to the place where [patients are] regretting losing something, and I can call to them and say, ‘hope better for you. How can I help you to do better?’”

Ms. Grantham was formerly the Senior Communications Manager at ACEP. The ACEP Now Team would like to thank her for her five years of service to the College. She currently works in corporate communications with a national building company.