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From the Rotarian

The Rotarian Conversation: Vivek Murthy
Loneliness — the absence of human connection — is twice as prevalent as diabetes in the United States. A former surgeon general tells us what we can do about it. 

Vivek Murthy grew up helping out in his parents’ medical practice, filing charts and cleaning the office as he watched the way they built connections with their patients by taking the time to listen to what they had to say.

When he became America’s top doctor — the 19th U.S. surgeon general, a position he held from 2014 to 2017 — he went on a listening tour himself. Some of the problems people told him about were things he anticipated: opioids and obesity, diabetes and heart disease. He also talked to Elmo of Sesame Street about vaccines and called for addiction to be recognized as the health problem it is rather than a moral failing.

But one unexpected topic became a recurring theme: loneliness, which “ran like a dark thread through many of the more obvious issues that people brought to my attention,” Murthy writes in his new book, Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World.

Keep reading at https://www.rotary.org/en/rotarian-conversation-vivek-murthy.

Reprinted by permission from The Rotarian magazine, August 2020. Copyright (C) 2020 Rotary International. All Rights Reserved.