Why I Became a Doctor
Dear Patients and Followers,
If you ask my purpose, the answer is simple: to help you live yours.
Health is not an end, but a foundation for the life experience. It allows us to learn, experience, love, taste, enjoy, dance, create, teach, listen, build, discover, help and dream.
My fate was sealed as a doctor when I was probably 7 or 8 and developed an infection in my lungs. I remember riding to the ER in the back of the car, hunched over a pillow, each short breath sending searing pain through my chest. I wondered if I might die, and in that moment being 'sick' superseded anything else happening in my life. By the time I left the hospital, I already felt a bit better. I wanted to be a doctor not because it seemed noble, but because it seemed so basic.
Health is valuable; it breaks my heart that seeking trusted care has become a choice for fewer and fewer of us as we struggle to afford food, clothing and shelter. In 2020, it should not be like this. However, this month hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their health insurance, and every single American lost the chance for universal health care.
Its not right, its not fair. YOU deserve health care, just like 8 year old Kayla deserved to be helped with her lung infection, no questions asked.
This week was a devastating blow, but I will not lose hope, and I don't want you to either. We are still here for each other.
The truth is, whether we are insured or not, each of us represents our own primary health care. Whatever guidance we seek outside of that is secondary. If the oligarchy that is our leadership has left you without insurance and without the ability to meet your basic needs, the burden of being your own primary health care may feel heavier.
I understand, because I am right there with you. I continue to be uninsured and have been for over 4 years. When I had trouble keeping a roof over my head and food on my table, people stepped up to help me. Despite the hardship, my health is the best it has ever been.
What I want is the "justice for all" that I believed in as a child when I put my hand over my heart each morning. I do not want temporizing measures and to have to "make do". I don't know why the current situation is what it is.
Through it all though, what I want for you is unwavering, and it is the same thing I want for myself: to have the best health possible, to live the lives we want.
I have the advantage of a $250,000 graduate medical education, followed by $15,000 of Ayurvedic training and a decade of experience taking care of clients. What I want now is to share this information with you, so that you can feel better equipped and supported in your personal health journey. This is why Moon Cycle Medicine was created, and specifically the "Health Class for Adults" series which starts this Sunday.
I do not want to be the barrier, but I want to help us all remove the barriers. This is why tuition has been moved to "Pay-What-You-Can". Whatever you contribute, I am deeply appreciative of, and I believe you will get out what you put in. This might be a monetary sacrifice, but time and effort are also valid.
When our community is healthier, we as individuals are healthier. Therefore simply by improving your health, you are actually giving back to me, and if that is what you currently have to give, that is enough.
Please know the subliminal messages our national leadership is currently sending us about our individual value are not correct. I am essential. You are essential. No questions asked.
In Wellness, Peace and Love,
Dr. Kayla Luhrs, MD