WORCESTER HAS BEEN long recognized as a “gritty” city in the heart of the Commonwealth. But what exactly does that mean and how did it get this moniker? Some have used it in a derogatory fashion, referring to our beloved city as a “gritty central Massachusetts mill town whose only attraction was its close proximity […]
Douglas S. Brown
Posted inOpinion
Learning firsthand the value of compassionate medicine
TWO HOURS BEFORE my dad’s funeral in November, I fell down my garage stairs. I was carrying trays of sandwiches that would nourish my extended family after the burial. Words uttered to me moments before my fall continued to echo in my head. “Doug, please let us do that, you should be focusing on grieving.” […]
Posted inOpinion
Life lessons from my dad and my dog
THANKSGIVING WEEK was a painful one for me. In the course of four days, I lost my dog and my dad. A week that was supposed to be filled with food and family was filled with loss instead. But my dog Izzy and my dad Ken both taught me important life lessons, which came into […]
Posted inOpinion
Daniel Gookin and the full story of Thanksgiving
THIS WEEK MARKS the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving. That feast, which brought together Pilgrims and Native Americans, is celebrated as a moment of peace and togetherness. But lying just below the surface of this Thanksgiving veneer are troubling aspects of our early history that have not fully been told. Chief among them is […]
Posted inOpinion
At Mass General Brigham, when is enough enough?
ON AUGUST 19, 2003, I stood in the operating room of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. My wife was lying supine on a table in front of me and the obstetrician was pulling and tugging at her insides in a manner that exceeded my comfort level. I was running the state Medicaid program at […]
Posted inOpinion
What our ‘anchor mission’ means for central Mass.
EARLIER THIS YEAR, UMass Memorial Health, the largest health care system in central Massachusetts, welcomed Harrington Hospital in Southbridge into its family. A merger of a community hospital into a large academic health system is not noteworthy these days. But this one might be different. Prominent in the 37-page affiliation agreement is a unique provision […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Pilot program
On a hazy August day in 1983, with about seven miles of visibility, I took my first solo flight in a Piper Cherokee single engine aircraft. I was 20 years old, and it was a moment I will never forget. I had less than 20 hours of flight instruction under my belt. I had just […]