Author: Cole Zanetti, DO, MPH
Family Medicine & Preventive Medicine Physician
I am from a small town called Otisville, New York made up of about 800 people. My mother was a deli manager, my father a linemen that fixed electric poles. Neither went to college. My grandmother who was a music teacher in a local school helped raise me and my younger sister. I went to an osteopathic medical school in Texas and during my last year my grandmother became ill. It was the first time that I was able to see the healthcare system through the eyes of a family member, a loved one, not a physician. Due to a key medication mistakenly not given my family and I had to see my grandmother so confused she could barely recognize us. Her wishes and our families’ wishes were not considered as the same weight as the "experts."
From that point on, a new understanding of what expert meant began to grow. I decided to go to Dartmouth for family medicine and preventive medicine residency because it offered an opportunity to test real change in our healthcare system. During this time I had the honor to dive deeper into positive deviance where I discovered a new world of untapped, impassioned, brilliant leaders that not only could change our healthcare but our community and our hearts. I am now working in Denver as a Clinical Innovator with Iora Health applying these same principles for Denver's geriatric population. Making sure that everyone's grandparents and families are listened to, cared for, and respected the way they deserve to be. I have so much to learn from them.
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/colezanetti Twitter: @ColeZanettiDO