Logo

Log In Sign Up |  An official publication of: American College of Emergency Physicians
Navigation
  • Home
  • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
  • Clinical
    • Airway Managment
    • Case Reports
    • Critical Care
    • Guidelines
    • Imaging & Ultrasound
    • Pain & Palliative Care
    • Pediatrics
    • Resuscitation
    • Trauma & Injury
  • Resource Centers
    • mTBI Resource Center
  • Career
    • Practice Management
      • Benchmarking
      • Reimbursement & Coding
      • Care Team
      • Legal
      • Operations
      • Quality & Safety
    • Awards
    • Certification
    • Compensation
    • Early Career
    • Education
    • Leadership
    • Profiles
    • Retirement
    • Work-Life Balance
  • Columns
    • ACEP4U
    • Airway
    • Benchmarking
    • Brief19
    • By the Numbers
    • Coding Wizard
    • EM Cases
    • End of the Rainbow
    • Equity Equation
    • FACEPs in the Crowd
    • Forensic Facts
    • From the College
    • Images in EM
    • Kids Korner
    • Medicolegal Mind
    • Opinion
      • Break Room
      • New Spin
      • Pro-Con
    • Pearls From EM Literature
    • Policy Rx
    • Practice Changers
    • Problem Solvers
    • Residency Spotlight
    • Resident Voice
    • Skeptics’ Guide to Emergency Medicine
    • Sound Advice
    • Special OPs
    • Toxicology Q&A
    • WorldTravelERs
  • Resources
    • ACEP.org
    • ACEP Knowledge Quiz
    • Issue Archives
    • CME Now
    • Annual Scientific Assembly
      • ACEP14
      • ACEP15
      • ACEP16
      • ACEP17
      • ACEP18
      • ACEP19
    • Annals of Emergency Medicine
    • JACEP Open
    • Emergency Medicine Foundation
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Medical Editor in Chief
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Awards
    • Authors
    • Article Submission
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright Information

A Rewarding Job Made Even Better

By Jennifer Thompson, M.D. | on November 1, 2012 | 0 Comment
From the College
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
Print-Friendly Version

Sitting in a hogan, warming ourselves by the fire, Stephen Begay told me a story about his journey from childhood to Navajo Medicine Man. He spoke about learning to chant healing ceremonies at the knee of his grandfather and how each aspect of a ritual has a specific order in which it must be sung.

You Might Also Like
  • Job Market for Emergency Physicians
  • EMRA to Host Residency and Job Fairs, Networking Activities at ACEP18
  • Job searching on the Web
Explore This Issue
ACEP News: Vol 31 – No 11 – November 2012

He described the clash between the customs he observed at home and the norms he learned in organized school. For example, as a child he was taught to sit quietly during a storm; however, at school, such weather was seen as a chance to run around and play inside. Then he talked about his role as a Healer.

It is a Navajo belief that if you live your life in a righteous manner, you can live to be 102 years old. Wrong decisions or poor choices that disturb your life’s balance can negatively affect your lifespan and the lifespan of others who are close to you. This imbalance leads to illness, and it is the job of a traditional Healer to try to restore balance.

This core Navajo belief forms the basis of Stephen Begay’s work. He is the Native Medicine Program Coordinator at Gallup Indian Medical Center in Gallup, N.M. He was kind enough to share his perspectives on health and his role as a health care practitioner. Our discussion gave me a better understanding of the population I served as a volunteer physician in the emergency department of an Indian Health Service hospital.

How many miles does this patient live from town? Does she have a mode of transportation? Is rain predicted tomorrow? These are questions you need to ponder when 32% of the population you serve lacks indoor plumbing, 60% have no telephone, and 80% of the roads are unpaved. If it rains, many roads become muddy. Rivers are impassable by ambulance or pickup trucks trying to get the sick or injured to a health care facility.

Three-quarters of people in the United States living without electricity are part of the Navajo Nation, the largest land-based Native American tribe. That’s more than 18,000 households. So when it is time to discharge a patient you have to consider their resources and their ability to get back to the hospital should the need arise.

It was not until I saw the Navajo Nation and visited people’s homes that I realized how vast, arid, and spread out it is. Seeing how far a family may live from its nearest neighbor was surprising for a city girl like me. I realized how difficult it might be to get help or travel back to town.

Pages: 1 2 | Single Page

Topics: Career DevelopmentEducationEmergency MedicineEmergency PhysicianInfectious Disease

Related

  • ACEP4U: Reinventing Research Education

    June 11, 2025 - 0 Comment
  • EM Runs in the Family

    February 26, 2025 - 0 Comment
  • Reader Responds: Why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Matter in Medical Education

    October 9, 2024 - 0 Comment

Current Issue

ACEP Now: June 2025 (Digital)

Read More

No Responses to “A Rewarding Job Made Even Better”

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


*
*

Wiley
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Advertise
  • Cookie Preferences
Copyright © 2025 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial technologies or similar technologies. ISSN 2333-2603