Direct Primary Care of the Carolinas

08/10/2024

PLEASE TAKE the TIME to READ THIS POST!

Recently my physician-mentor and role model died in Asheville, NC at the age of 87. Olson Huff was a well-respected Charlotte pediatrician and the best friend of my father. In high school I frequently babysat his 3 sons. Many times during high school and college I would “shadow” him by seeing patients with him and then discussing how he treated them. One day we saw a young child who he diagnosed with meningitis; he performed the spinal tap right there in his office and then we walked across the street to the hospital to admit the child; I will never forget that day. He always stressed the importance of evaluating the development of each pediatric patient and not just doing the physical exam.

Midway through his career, he changed his focus to Developmental Pediatrics; he moved to Asheville to become Director of the Toms Center, a facility devoted to the treatment of pediatric developmental and behavioral health issues and learning disorders, including anxiety, autism and depression. He received numerous awards and accolades during his life as a national thought leader for Pediatric Developmental Disorders.

Dr Huff was the wisest man I ever knew. Even after 37 years doing Family Medicine, I strive to emulate Dr Huff in my patient encounters. Whenever I perform a well-child exam, I am inspired by Dr Huff , making sure to take the time to assess the child’s development as he taught me to do.

His funeral will not be for 2 months to allow his friends and colleagues from all over the country to attend.

I urge you to read his obituary below (edited for length) ;it is a Window into his amazing life. I also included a link to an amazing eulogy by the physician who took his place at the Center which now bears Olson’s name. https://dogwoodhealthtrust.org/honoring-dr-olson-huff/

Olson Huff (August 6, 1936 – July 24, 2024 (age 87)
Olson Huff, beloved pediatrician, advocate, and friend to all children, died peacefully at
home on July 24, 2024. He was almost 88. His family moved from the coal hills of Eastern Kentucky to a farm in Salem, Indiana
when Olson was 11. He served 5 years active duty in the Air Force as a Flight Surgeon. He and Marylyn were married in 1963 before shipping out to Takhli AFB, Thailand at the buildup to the Vietnam War. There he was exposed to Agent Orange, which led to his heart disease fifty-five years later.
During his 14 years of clinical practice in Charlotte, he completed a Fellowship in
Developmental Disabilities from UNC-Chapel Hill. He moved to Asheville in 1982 to concentrate on Developmental Pediatrics, founding the team-based Olson Huff Center for Child Development and became the first Medical Director of the Ruth & Billy Graham Children’s Health Center at Mission Hospital.

Olson was a founding board member of the NC Partnership for Children (Smart Start) and served on numerous boards. He was always surprised when given another award, among which were an Honorary Doctor of Science from UNC Asheville, the NC Order of the Long Leaf Pine, and the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame
The American Academy of Pediatrics recognized his work as the Chair of the Academy’s Federal Affairs Committee, by stating, “With gratitude for your compassion, dedication, and tireless advocacy on behalf of our nation’s children. You dare us to run when others would
simply walk.”
To encourage children and their families to get unplugged and to explore the outdoors,
he helped the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation start “Kids in Parks”. There are now Track Trails in local, state, and national parks across the country. A visionary who
changed systems, he never lost sight of the individual child and their family.
Olson was a man of many interests and talents: classical music, reading a wide
range of books, walking his Black Mountain neighborhood with his dogs, bee keeping, and digging in the dirt. As a lifelong runner, he won more 5K races as he got older with fewer competitors!
A wonderful storyteller and writer, he published two books, The Window of Childhood:
Glimpses of Wonder and Courage and Why the Clown Wouldn’t Smile. He co-edited
and contributed to the award- winning Caring for Your Newborn and The Triumphant
Child: Two to Four Year Olds. For several years he published the magazine and
website, the Sixty-Second Parent.
He participated in medical mission trips to Malawi and to the Dominican Republic.

A verse that guided him was Micah 6:8 NRSV. “What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Olson demonstrated the strength of gentleness, the power gained from empowering
others, and persistence that resulted in good outcomes for the wellbeing of children. He
was a loving father, who, in despite a busy medical practice, always made time for
his boys and later delighted in his grandchildren. He and his wife were partners
who supported each other in all they did.
In lieu of flowers, one can make a donation to the George Masa Foundation, 71 Culvern Street, Asheville, NC 28804. A Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, October 26 at 11:00 am in Anderson Auditorium in Montreat, NC.

07/04/2024

WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE of INDEPENDENCE DAY!
PLEASE read these 2 articles.
I believe that we are being called at the present time to join with these PATRIOTS to be bold for our country!

The U.S Declaration of Independence is emblazoned with the words "In Congress, July 4, 1776" at the top, and displays the signatures of John Hancock and other founding fathers at the bottom. These historic events, central to the founding of the United States of America, deserve to be understood in detail.

In May of 1775, the Second Continental Congress was seated in the Assembly Hall of the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia. Weeks earlier, hostilities had broken out between the British and colonial militias at Lexington, Massachusetts, and Concord, Massachusetts. King George III had not replied to the petition sent the prior October by the First Continental Congress, stating the colonists’ grievances. In August of 1775, the King declared the colonies to be in open rebellion. The Second Congress swiftly formed a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. By the middle of 1776, public sentiment in numerous colonies appeared to have turned decisively in favor of independence from Great Britain.

Richard Henry Lee, a Virginia delegate acting on behalf of the Virginia Convention, proposed to Congress a resolution on independence on June 7, 1776. The first of three provisions in this resolution read as follows: "Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." Other town and colonial assemblies were issuing similar pleas.

Such a profound action demanded careful deliberation. On June 11, Congress put off a vote on Lee’s resolution. It appointed a five-member committee to draft a public statement that would explain the reasons for declaring independence should Congress so decide. John Adams of Massachusetts and Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania were on the committee, along with Robert R. Livingston of New York and Roger Sherman of Connecticut. The fifth member, Virginian Thomas Jefferson, was chosen to be the document’s principal drafter. After incorporating changes suggested by Adams and Franklin, the committee submitted its draft declaration to the Congress on June 28. This is the scene depicted in John Trumbull’s famous painting that now hangs in the Capitol Building rotunda in Washington, D.C.

Congress debated Lee’s resolution on Monday, July 1. Nine colonies were prepared to vote in favor. The South Carolina and Pennsylvania delegations were opposed; the two Delaware delegates were deadlocked; and the New York delegates were unable to vote, since their instructions permitted them only to pursue reconciliation with the king. Overnight, however, the situation changed. On July 2, Caesar Rodney rode in to Philadelphia from Dover, Delaware, bringing a tie-breaking vote for Delaware in favor of independence. South Carolina shifted its position in favor, and the Pennsylvania opponents chose to stay away. When the vote was called on July 2, the Lee resolution passed by a vote of 12 to zero, with New York abstaining. After this historic decision, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, predicting that future Americans would commemorate their independence with a festival every second of July.

The full Congress then began debating the declaration, making substantial editorial revisions but leaving mostly untouched the soaring rhetoric of Jefferson’s opening paragraphs. On July 4, Congress approved the final draft. It ordered the statement printed and distributed to the colonial assemblies and divisions of the Continental Army.

That evening, the printer John Dunlap prepared a large broadside with the complete text of “a Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled.” It is believed that about 200 copies of the Dunlap broadside were published on July 5; about 25 still exist today. The document was read aloud in front of the statehouse in Philadelphia on July 8.
Over the next few weeks it was reprinted in newspapers up and down the Atlantic seaboard.

On July 9, New York reversed its earlier instructions to its delegates, permitting them to join the other colonies favoring a formal break with Britain. A few days later, the news reached Philadelphia that the colonies were now unanimously for independence. On July 19, Congress ordered an official copy of the declaration to be “fairly engrossed”—written out in large handwriting—on parchment for the delegates to sign. This job went to Timothy Matlack, an assistant to the congressional secretary, Charles Thomson.

On August 2, 1776, the Congress members affixed their signatures to this parchment inside the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall. The first and largest signature was that of the president of the Congress, John Hancock of Massachusetts. The mood in the room was far from jubilant. All were aware of the magnitude of what they were undertaking—an act of high treason against the British Crown that could cost each man his life. Recalling the day many years later, Pennsylvania’s Benjamin Rush wrote of the “pensive and awful silence which pervaded the house when we were called up, one after another, to the table of the President of Congress,” to sign “what was believed by many at that time to be our own death warrants.”

Not every man who had been present in Congress on July 4 signed the declaration on August 2. Historians believe seven of the 56 signatures on the document were placed there later. Two prominent delegates passed up the chance to sign: John Dickinson of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York. The names of the signers were made public in January of 1777, when they were printed on another broadside edition of the Declaration published in Baltimore, Maryland.

Learn about the historical significance of the Declaration of Independence and its impact on global events and cultures. Discover key figures and facts related to this important event and access educational resources to deepen your knowledge.

06/20/2024

Here is a good article about keeping your skin as young-looking as possible. Sorry about the advertisement at the end.
From Dr William Katibah and Direct Primary Care of the Carolinas

Certain habits have a sneaky way of making your skin look older than it should. Learn which ones are the worst offenders and what to do instead.

05/15/2024

Today I am in Raleigh attending the North Carolina Convention of States Rally. Convention of states is an nation-wide organization that seeks to reclaim our country from the increasingly unconstitutional control of the people by the federal government. The method to do this is by discussing and ratifying new amendments to the US Constitution which is allowed in Article V of the Constitution. We seek to limit the control of the federal government by passing amendments to: 1) set term limits for our senators and representatives, 2) Impose fiscal restraints by mandating a balanced federal budget every year, and 3) restrain the power and the jurisdiction of the federal government.
The NC Senate must pass this resolution by the end of the 2024 short legislative session (June 30) or the passage by the NC House will expire and we will have to start over. This is not a partisan effort; it is an attempt to improve our country - the United States of America.
If you'd like to learn more you can watch the live stream of the rally from 11:00 a.m. To 1:00 p.m.. Go the the page Convention of States

04/17/2024

Thank you, Tom, for expressing these lessons learned in your usual eloquent style!

Growing up, my mother used a rather simple disciplinary technique. When my sister and I misbehaved, she would calmly tell us to go “sit in the bad spot,” a designated place on the kitchen floor. It…