Practice and Life Update(s)

Greetings,
I am going to try using the Blog platform as a newsletter to patients and beyond.

​Let's start with some fun stuff:
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1) DISCOUNT CODE (!) for Sauna Blanket from HigherDose: DrC30 for 30% off through the end of October 2022. DrC15 for 15% off from thereon.

I like to be warm. I like to sweat. I also prefer passive, low impact exercise which allows me to multitask. The HigherDose infrared sauna blanket combines science backed technology with clever design to bring the sauna experience into your own personal burrito. I set mine at 9 (highest setting), let it warm for 10 minutes and then slide in (wearing sock, sweatpants and a hoody to amplify the heat), pop on a podcast or Nextflix and relax deeply for 45-50min until the blanket turns itself off. Heart rate elevated, sweating into puddles, body flushed-a full session in the blanket is like run-in 3-4 miles, stimulates collagen growth and lymphatic release. 

This blanket is the jam. I use it 3-5 times a week and consider it an essential part of my wellness plan.

I do not receive any financial benefits from this...I just really wanted you all to have access to it.

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Post sauna blanket session

That isn't water

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2) Borehole update:
April through July 2021, I was invited to Zambia for medical volunteering with very short notice. Thanks to the flexibility and support of my patients and family, I was able to fulfill this lifelong dream of being a volunteer doctor in a remote rural area. I enjoyed the experience so much, a few days into my stay I asked to be put on the waitlist to return. For perspective, there are normally doctors lined up to do this gig for 2.5 to 3 yrs out. Because of the extenuating circumstances of COVID they had a last minute cancellation and I was able to step in a fill it.

April through July 2022, there was another opening/cancelation and I was invited back to the South Luanga Valley of Mfuwe, Zambia.  This second trip I had a bit more notice, allowing for my family and I to plan a Safari prior to the start of my stint. My parents, daughter, sister and significant other and my best friend from high school all joined me in Zambia for 10 days of safari bliss. It was epic. We saw lions and leopards are fist few drives (I didn't see the big cats my whole first trip)! I will try and link to my father's video of all the pictures and video's here.

We (the adult kids, me and my sister etc) wanted to extend our gratitude to my parents for facilitating such an amazing trip. My parents are the type of couple to silently pick up the tab of a table of police or firemen, to make sure everyone feels welcomed, valued and taken care of, to share their home, their experience and hard earned resources. Taking their lead, we figured the best way to honor them is to pay our gratitude forward.

I asked our safari guide Chris (we had the same gentleman for over 14 drives in a week) to join us for dinner one evening at the lodge. Casual conversation lead to us learning his wife and children had to walk over 200meters in the bush among the animals (this can be dangerous) to obtain clean water for their home. I asked what they would need to get water near their home. He answered with a borehole (this is like drilling for a well). Chris added that placing a borehole near his house would actually benefit 7 to 8 other houses in the area. Funding a borehole with our "thank you" gift money felt more in line with what my parents would want anyway. So, myself, my sister, her partner and my friend all agreed to finance the borehole in my parent's name.

However, as anyone in construction would tell you: double the budget and double the timeline. Things are no different here in Zambia. When the quote came through it was over double what we had discussed with an additional phase proposed afterwards. Committed to the project, but far from able to fund on our own, I reached out to my patients for support.

And, did you ALL deliver. I am humbled and awed by the grace, compassion and action of my patients. It is an honor and pleasure to be over service to you all. Check out what we were able to do together!!!

A local artist was commissioned to personalize the borehole cover

Borehole

Water holding tank

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2) cont. There is an additional phase of the plumbing to rig water flow into the homes rather than have them come to the, now, very nearby borehole. I will be fundraising an additional $2500.00 for this portion of the project. If you are keen to participate, please email me at [email protected].

3) TINY LIVING 
If you have been to my Brooklyn office location, you know I live in a tiny house. Like a legitimate, seen it on HGTV, built on a 30ft trailer with a 6ft gooseneck by hand, by my father. This tiny is as unique as they come with beautiful finishes and eclectic art. 

The TINY is available for short and long term rental, as well as for sale (serious inquiries only may email me). My vision is to establish a home base in New Hampshire, near my daughter as she approaches high school, while maintaining my practice in New York, same as it is now: dominant telemedicine with selected in person appointments available (Sayville and NYC metro area). 

4) TELEMEDICINE ONLY until JANUARY 2023: God Bless the Bats
April 2022 I was back in the well appointed "doc" house in Mfuwe, stoked for another three months of volunteering. Long story short, the house was infested with bats (hundreds) and I needed to be relocated for an unknown amount of time in order for repairs to be completed. The accommodations in the valley are mostly for people on safari or the community who lives here, i.e limited. I ended up 40 minutes away from my original location (near the game park) at a short term housing rental (near the Airport) called Just Africa. One of my neighbors was the project manager for the local hospital build. 

When and where I least expected it.

I fell in love with the valley last year, and fell in love in the valley this year.
For the first time in my life, I am embarking on an adventure with no plan other than to be  in the flow of and surrender to love. 

(As I type this, I realize the smell of queso may be wafting from the screen. But, if you know, you know and all the silly love songs make so much sense.) 

I have adjusted the telemedicine hours from 11-4 to 9-2 in order to accommodate for the time change. In person appointments will resume in January 2023. Click here to access appointments.

With love and gratitude,
​Dr. Caroline Hartridge
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