Raj Panjabi's new book has a simple title: Safer: A Playbook. Yes, a playbook like the kind sports managers use to firm up a winning strategy. But playbooks aren't just for games.
"In the intensive care unit, we have a playbook when someone's heart stops beating," And when he was a White House health adviser during the COVID emergency, he says, "In the Situation Room, we had a playbook for pandemic preparedness." Then there was his own family's situation — at age 1, his daughter was diagnosed with heart failure. That experience inspired Panjabi to write a different kind of playbook. "I was frustrated that we didn't have a playbook for crises that appear in our own living room." What he wrote is actually three books in one: The story of how he and his wife addressed their daughter's life-threatening condition; an exploration of public health issues that beset the globe – and straightforward advice for anyone with a living-room crisis.
The book's chapter titles telegraph his philosophy: "Turn Denial Into Action." "Don't Go It Alone." "Get Ready to Pivot." "Embrace Uncertainty." Panjabi was born to Indian parents in Liberia; his family immigrated to the United States when he was 9. He became a physician and went on to found the award-winning humanitarian group Last Mile Health, which employs community workers to bring health information to people in remote areas. We interviewed Raj Panjabi at NPR headquarters on October 30.
He had just flown in from meetings in Boston, wearing a sharp-looking sports jacket he'd bought at the airport — because his mother, who sells men's clothing, is a tough critic of his fashion choices. So one thing that happens in a crisis — and that a playbook can help address — is denial. You and your wife both dismissed early concerns about your daughter — thinking at first that her extremely low weight was because she was a picky eater.
I was wrought with the guilt of being a dad and missing this illness — and being a doctor and missing this illness in my own daughter. I thought it was a character flaw. What I learned is that it's not.
Denial is the first stage of almost every crisis. It could be a medical emergency, like in the case of my daughter. It could be job loss, that layoff you never thought would affect you.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
