Interviews

A recent post from the Huffington Post's chronic pain blog presents Chaunte Smith's personal experience with the condition and addresses methods that women can use to be proactive about RA treatment. Here is an  excerpt from the post: " Smith, who comes out of a background in the pharmaceutical industry, intuited that something other than first time motherhood was at play. She said, "I could barely walk. I couldn't pick up my newborn." She connected with a rheumatologist, and in tandem they determined what her course of treatment would be. Smith knew that she wanted to have a second child, and [...]

TRIPLL:  Can you tell us about your clinical work? Dr. Berman: I mostly take care of patients with chronic kidney disease or those who are on are dialysis.  Three months a year I see patients on the in-patient nephrology service. TRIPLL:  What are the challenges working with dialysis patients? Dr. Berman:  What interests me about dialysis patients is that we constantly have to reassess patients as to which treatments are important.  There is little guidance on the risks and benefits associated with dialysis and treatment.  We have many patients who are very sick and whose life expectancy is measured under a [...]

TRIPLL interviews Robbie Altman, N.P. a palliative care nurse practitioner at New York Hospital who has integrated relaxation and aromatherapy practice into the treatment of her patients suffering from pain and anxiety. TRIPLL: Thank you for talking with me.  Can you describe your work in palliative care? Robbie Altman:  I am the nurse practitioner on the palliative care consult service.  The team is interdisciplinary, and I work with a physician and a social worker.  We are able to cover many aspects of patients' cases, including the psycho-social aspects. TRIPLL:  What kinds of pain problems do you see on your consult service? [...]

Before TRIPLL there was CITRA.  CITRA, short for the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging, was a project funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in October 2003.   Like TRIPLL, CITRA sought to maintain strong ties with human service providers in New York City to increase the relevance and usefulness of their research.  Over the last year of their grant, investigators brainstormed to determine the future direction of CITRA.  The brainchild of their discussions was TRIPLL, which successfully allowed them to receive another five-year grant from the NIA in September 2009. I sat down with Dr. Elaine Wethington, a [...]