No man is an island

One difference with working in small towns than in big hospitals is that people tend to stick together...the terrible dehumanization and isolation is much less intense.
Alas, most small town hospitals can't afford to have expensive technology and have been shut down. But medium sized town (i.e.50 000) still tend to be more people oriented and people friendly...
This is especially true with immigrants and Native Americans who still live traditional lives.
Indeed, one thing that impressed me when I worked in the Indian Health Service is that no one died alone. Mentally ill, alcoholic, 90 years old, they would have family: If not a sibling, then a cousin or an aunt or a nephew who would come to visit.

But the elite US idea of freedom means social isolation...LINK. And the stress on work means that the lynchpin of women who kept the links going were being destroyed.

Yet those writing the article seem clueless to what allows the ties of human affection.
One "scientist" laments that we don't watch tv together anymore...another insists that "internet ties" will replace human contact.

Headsup from Dappledthings blog.