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Detroit, Education, Family Medicine Paul Thomas Detroit, Education, Family Medicine Paul Thomas

Plum Health DPC Featured in Upcoming Alive in Detroit Documentary

Plum Health DPC Featured in Upcoming Alive in Detroit Documentary

Alive in Detroit is a documentary put together by my friend Shiraz Ahmed. He has been acutely interested in health access in Detroit and beyond and our mission of making health care affordable and accessible in Detroit resonated with Shiraz. Shiraz included our work in a forthcoming documentary about health care in Detroit called Alive in Detroit. He’s raising money for the film right now on his Kickstarter campaign, so please contribute if you have the time and the means as this will be a timely and insightful documentary.

Shiraz was recently interviewed on WDET here in Detroit to explain more about the project. Here’s what WDET said:

Alive in Detroit,” directed by filmmaker Shiraz Ahmed, is an upcoming feature-length documentary about the fight against chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes in the city. This story is a celebration of Detroiters and the work they do to heal their communities of illnesses while also providing them with protection and rights.

The film features a patient, a pastor and a physician whose stories inspire hope but also mask deeper inequities in the health care safety net. It’s a product of the city’s creative ecosystem, benefitting from programming by the Detroit Design Festival, the Freep Film Festival and Documenting Detroit.

“The pandemic’s really exposed all these cracks we have in our system,” he says. “I started this film before the pandemic, and then the pandemic just crystalized the themes I was looking at. It really gave me motivation – especially at a really depressing time when there was not a lot else to do to keep moving forward – because if we don’t address these inequities, another pandemic will happen and more people will keep dying.”

@plumhealthdpc My friend Shiraz is creating a documentary called “Alive in Detroit” and he is raising money for the film via Kickstarter #aliveindetroit #detroit #healthcare #familymedicine #primarycare #documentary ♬ original sound - plumhealthdpc
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Detroit, Education, Family Medicine Paul Thomas Detroit, Education, Family Medicine Paul Thomas

Plum Health Direct Primary Care Simplifies How Patients Connect with their Doctor

Health Insurance Overcomplicates Health Care

Intentionally or unintentionally, health insurance companies have made the practice of medicine overly complicated. As a patient, have you ever felt like you wanted to ask your doctor a simple question, but didn’t want to have to call the office, to leave a message, to have someone pass that message to the doctor, to have the doctor call you back 3 days later? I mean, what gives? We have text messaging and emails that make communication seamless among regular people, but for some reason, doctors remain out of reach.

I was watching the Super Bowl Halftime Show when I saw The Weeknd trying to find his way through a house of mirrors. It reminded me of how patients feel when trying to navigate the health insurance system - it’s hard to find your way through a distorted system with blinding lights. So, I made this post on my LinkedIn page (connect with me on LinkedIn if you haven’t already!):

Trying to navigate the health insurance system when all you want to do is ask your doctor a simple question...

This is why so many people are reaching out to their Direct Primary Care doctor - we get rid of this house of mirrors and the distorted versions of primary care and create a system where the patient's needs are prioritized.

See what all the buzz is about at Plum Health DPC.

Direct Primary Care Simplifies the Healthcare Experience

The direct primary care model simplifies health care delivery in that our patients are able to text, email, or call us anytime. We guarantee a response within 24 hours, and if you text during business hours, you’ll often hear from us within a few minutes to a few hours. This takes a lot of the anxiety and stress out of the health care experience and our patients can seamlessly access the care that they need, when they need it.

If you’d like to enroll in our service, you can sign up here:

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day,

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC

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