California physician ‘a force for good, a force for Family Medicine’

Family medicine physician Dr Jasmeet Kaur Bains has been honoured by the California-based medical fraternity as an hero.

At its recent event, California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) had honoured the Taft-based physician as the CAFP 2019 Hero of Family Medicine.

“Dr Bains is a force for good, a force for Family Medicine, a force for justice,” CAFP twitter qouted a fellow medical practitioner.

“She’s an amazing physician in terms of being able to take great care of patients but also does that in the context that it really differentiates her,” CAFP president Dr. Walt Mills was quoted in a report in Bakersfield.com. “She sees her patients as being part of families and even more part of the community, so she’s actively engaged in working on improving the health of the community that her patients live in.”

Jasmeet works as a family medicine physician means she is involved in “all aspects of healthcare,” including pediatrics, geriatrics, gynecology. Her mission has been to provide care for underserved populations.

In an effort to connect with more patients, she speaks English, Spanish and Punjabi. She also works closely with the developmentally disabled population of Kern County and is focused on continuity of care.

“My vision of a family med physician is someone that is able to see you (and) … knows you from the day you were born until the day you hit the ground,” she told the newspaper.

The report captured her story, noting that Jasmeet was working at her father’s car dealership in Taft, selling cars and doing accounting work, when the stock market crash in 2008 forced her to come to a few realizations.

The report added:

She had planned to spend her life working in business and the automotive industry until she witnessed the effects of the recession. She saw parents unable to afford trips to the doctor and having to forgo healthcare for their children. It reminded her of a scene out of John Steinbeck’s novel “The Pearl.”

Around the same time, Bains’ close friend suffered a heart attack in his home. With no hospital in Taft, the friend’s only option was to call emergency services. He died in the 20 to 30 minutes it took them to arrive, Bains said.

“It angered me that such basic level of healthcare cannot be provided for people at the time that they need it most,” she said.

Bains decided to reverse course and go to medical school to become a doctor. She attended medical school at the American University of Antigua, graduating in 2013, and then returned to Kern County to do her residency with the Rio Bravo Family Medicine Residency Program at Clinica Sierra Vista in Bakersfield.

See full story, ‘Taft doctor honored as ‘hero’ for work in family medicine (Bakersfield.com, 31 March 2019), here.

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