Leave Your Mark Here

AP - Only 2 percent of graduating medical students say they plan to work in primary care internal medicine, raising worries about a looming shortage of the first-stop doctors who used to be the backbone of the American medical system.

Family-Nurturing Communication Promotes Family Survival in Financial Loss HGJ

Downsizing takes a toll on the family of the employee and can cause much domestic wreckage.

• One of the principle rules in successful family survival is to monitor your emotions and those of your family members. It is especially important for husband and wife to do so.
• Loss of finances and the loss of career/employment do seem to produce a potential damage-component for middle-agers with teen and college-age children.

"If Wisdom's Ways You Wisely Seek, Five Things Observe with Care: Of Whom You Speak, To Whom You Speak, and How, When and Where.' Memory Gems

1. The Blame-Game: DON'T PLAY IT.Your laid-off husband or wife, being at the depths of despair, needs your support and comfort now not your scorn. The pressure of financial losses can cause one to say something later regretted.
2. Family members should carefully observe how they speak to each other when in this situation.

Two Complex Components of Financial Loss that can Negatively Effect Family Dynamics

Curtailed Freedom and Added Responsibility -Laid off Mother or Dad my need help from working teen children to make ends meet. Your teens may have to transition from receivers of disposable income to income contributors. May have to get jobs.

Disappointment - this can be a big, big issue for the family. Things can get way out of hand when a planned event is either postponed or eliminated because there are no funds available; you need to prepare for this possibility. For example, a graduating teen may have to skip a senior trip. Dad and Mom may have planned an anniversary cruise that is no longer possible or changed due to financial

• Have a Family Talk ..center the discussion around the ways each member of the family can help make the adjustments no one is eager to discuss, acknowledging each person's dismay. Huldah Gibbs Jones

For more tips on family-nurturing communication during financial stress, join me at http://www.jbhgroup.com

Huldah Jones, a Vision Therapist, retired as Technical Director of the Orthoptic Center, Helene Fuld Medical Center in New Jersey. She writes more on surviving Job Loss and Financial Stress at http://www.quietmysoul.com