Ask Dr. Kulik
We encourage our readers to ask questions on any topic affecting your health, your life or the business of health. Write to askdrkulik@kulikmd.com. If your question is answered, we will post it here and send an e-mail reply.
“What do you suggest for someone who does not have health insurance?”
This is a difficult question that more and more Americans are facing. The United States Census Bureau reports that 46.2 million people were living in poverty in 2010, “up from 43.6 million in 2009″. Another 46 million do not have any health insurance. The issue of health insurance and poverty in the U.S. is a topic that frustrates me, angers me and leaves me and many other physicians and hospitals on the front line in terms of having to determine how to get health-care to those without insurance coverage. Continue reading “Ask Dr. Kulik” »
In the Media
Dr. Alfred Kulik began working with media after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon. It was during these appearances that he realized the powerful tool media has offered to reach more patients with information about the who/what/when and how of medicine.
I believe that media and medicine work well together. The power of media and its relationship to medicine is that it is a vehicle to reach more than one patient at a time.
Dr. Kulik is currently working on a book Why Grandma Was Right about the practical advice our grandparents and parents can offer us to stay healthy, fit and wise. Over the next coming months, KulikMD.com will begin to offer video segments highlighting various medical topics. We hope that if you have a medical question for which you would like a more detailed explanation, you will write to our site at askdrkulik@drkulikmd.com.
Following are some of the media outlets for whom Dr. Kulik has offered opinion and medical insight. KulikMD.com will post the video clips in the coming weeks.
Media
Medical Philosophy
Good medicine is about trust; it’s about loyalty and relationships. My patients know that whatever it takes, my job is to be an advocate for them. Sometimes, this means listening for an hour (and at times, listening about a medical issue that has nothing to do with the eyes because everything affects our health); sometimes it means visiting them in their home; and, sometimes it means getting on a telephone and fighting for a procedure (and, if that doesn’t work, it often means eating the Baked Ziti for a week that was my payment for the procedure). In a sentence, I suppose I am a hometown doctor practicing modern medicine in a very busy world.
Some changes have been good, such as advances in early screening for diseases; surgical advances that allow us to perform life-changing procedures with lower adverse risk; and, an ability to get and deliver information faster. But what physicians like me, those doctors who entered medicine shortly before HMO’s and PPO’s, didn’t anticipate and what we rail against is how the business side of medicine takes us away from our patients. I fight hard against it and I think most of my patients who have benefited from hour long exams will attest to this fact, but is difficult attempting to shift my understanding of what I entered medicine to do and what I find I must do to continue practicing medicine.
I want to know what causes them stress; I need to know what kinds of foods they eat; I want to know if they are happy, sad or content. All information is relevant when working to ensure my patients get healthy and stay the healthiest they can be. And truth be told, my patients give me an enormous amount of advice and information that I utilize in my own life and in rendering care to other patients.
I hope you’ll spend some time on this site. If you have a question, please e-mail to askdrkulik@kulikmd.com. My hope is that we learn together and we stay well together.
Best regards,
Alfred D. Kulik, M.D.
Dairy Consumption and Type-2 Diabetes in Women
A study published May 25, 2011 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that higher consumption of dairy during adolescence may decrease the risk of Type-2 diabetes in middle-aged women. The study was based on research obtained during the Nurses’ Health Study II and found Continue reading “Dairy Consumption and Type-2 Diabetes in Women” »
Patricia, Broadcaster and Reporter. Lasik Surgery.
LASIK
I love my lasik! I had it done in May of 2010. I wish I had done it years ago!! It’s wonderful to wake up with perfect vision and not have to deal with contacts or glasses. My dry eyes also have gotten so much better! I used to use rewetting drops contstantly and now just a few times a month! Continue reading “Patricia, Broadcaster and Reporter. Lasik Surgery.” »