Cognitive Dissonance, Trust, and COVID-19
Jul 10, 2021
Most of us have had our lives disrupted in some way as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As difficult as job loss and economic upheaval have been, it is ... continue
Vaccine Passports Are Coming
Jun 12, 2021
Like it or not, vaccination passports are coming.[1] Before we go too far, let’s be clear: the federal government has no plan – and really no ability, at this point ... continue
Rosie the Riveter and Dolly Parton
May 08, 2021
The time was the early 1940s. America was at war. The aircraft and munitions industries heavily recruited women to take up important jobs in support of the war effort. In ... continue
OpenNotes Mandate: A Box of Chocolates
Apr 10, 2021
Sometimes cans get kicked so far down the road that we forget about them. Such is the case with a 2016 federal Health Information Technology mandate known as the 21st ... continue
Vaccine Website Up and Running
Mar 13, 2021
As of Monday, March 8, 2021, the new online COVID vaccine registration portal is up and running at www.etxcovidvaccine.com. A result of the efforts of a volunteer group known ... continue
Bruised Arms and Bruised Egos – They Will Heal
Feb 13, 2021
I have never seen people so grateful to feel flu-like before! Those who have been able to get their COVID-19 vaccinations are happy people. They are proud of their bruised ... continue
2020, We Are Giving You the Boot
Jan 09, 2021
Are you as relieved as I that 2020 is over? Like the uninvited guest that overstayed a visit, 2020 deserves to be booted out and have the door slammed shut ... continue
All I Want for Christmas
Dec 12, 2020
“All I want for Christmas is a new vaccine…” It has a nice, catchy ring to it, don’t you agree? Though several COVID-19 vaccine successes have been announced, thanks to ... continue
Changing our Focus after the Election
Nov 07, 2020
The 2020 election is over. We’ve made our choice for the top of the ticket and any number of other down ballot races. It may be we still don’t know ... continue
2020 and Coronavirus Fatigue
Oct 10, 2020
I’m tired. I’m tired of 2020 and COVID-19. 2020 has certainly been full of meme-worthy events, but the pandemic has loomed over them all. I vacillate between exasperation and calling ... continue
Will a Coronavirus Vaccine Be the Answer?
Sep 12, 2020
The novel coronavirus has changed our lives. Just about everything we do is affected by mask-wearing and social distancing. The economy has been reeling, although you wouldn’t know it by ... continue
Coronavirus Information and Misinformation
Aug 08, 2020
As a physician, I have been fascinated by the rapid acquisition of knowledge about the novel coronavirus and the deadly disease it causes, COVID-19. True, that knowledge may not be ... continue
Pandemics and Personal Responsibility
Jul 11, 2020
We have been dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic for many months now. What an emotional roller coaster ride it has been. Early thoughts of “flattening the curve” have not panned ... continue
Trump, Faith, and the Church
Jun 05, 2020
Note: This column was first published as a Letter to the Baptist Standard on June 3, 2020. The Lufkin News posted it on June 4, 2020, and it ... continue
Finding a New Normal with Coronavirus
May 09, 2020
We have been self-distancing through the COVID-19 pandemic for a few months now. What a wild ride it has been! Despite the number infected – over 1.25 one million – ... continue
What If We Don’t Flatten the COVID-19 Curve?
Apr 12, 2020
End-of-Life Implications of the Coronavirus Pandemic
Mar 26, 2020
We are early in this coronavirus game of social distancing and hand washing. We haven’t quite become weary of it. We joke about it. And yet, I am starting to ... continue
DETCOG, Broadband and Health
Mar 08, 2020
Can you hear me now? That phrase, made popular by Verizon Wireless in the early 2000s, epitomizes the frustration of rural America over lack of reliable cell phone coverage. To ... continue
An Accurate Census – Our Health Depends on It!
Feb 09, 2020
When I was a skinny, naïve teenager, I worked the summer of 1980 for the US Census Bureau going door to door, pencil in hand, filling out census forms ... continue
The Graduation Speech I Would Give
Jan 12, 2020
Facebook and YouTube are full of graduation speeches that go viral and become memes representing personal life views, political stances, or just feel good, philosophical pablum. Usually, speakers invite ... continue
Modifying Your Alzheimer’s Risk
Dec 08, 2019
One of the most feared illnesses today is Alzheimer’s disease. Aloysius Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist, first described the characteristic brain changes and associated dementia more than one hundred ... continue
How and Where People Die – Is it Good?
Nov 10, 2019
All of us, at some point, have pondered what it means to have a “good” death. A common theme is to fall asleep in one’s own bed and simply not ... continue
Vaping Dangers are Frightening
Oct 13, 2019
Over the last few months, a rapid rise of vaping related acute lung disease has come to light. Both the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates ... continue
How to Lose Weight and Improve Health
Sep 08, 2019
Weight loss is always high on most people’s New Year’s resolution list. For something that is desired by so many of us, it is surprising how difficult it is to ... continue
A True Community Health Needs Assessment
Aug 11, 2019
The IRS requires charitable hospital organizations to conduct a community health needs assessment (CHNA) every three years and to adopt an implementation strategy to meet the community health needs identified ... continue
Achieving Equitable Cancer Care Access in Texas
Jul 14, 2019
Much is known about what influences the health of a community, including individual health behaviors as well as social and economic determinants of health.[1] Health equity has been defined ... continue
Money, Insurance, and Health: An Unfair Relationship
Jun 09, 2019
Money doesn't buy happiness, or so they say. But money can buy better health. Add one more difference between the haves and the have nots. There are many determinants of ... continue
Suicide: More Common than Ever
May 12, 2019
A Rice University classmate and friend of mine – a 57 year old woman and mother of two – committed suicide on Easter Sunday. She was going through a divorce ... continue
Dental Health is Community Health
Apr 14, 2019
We need to return to adding fluoride to our water supply. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that fluoridation of community water supplies is one of the ... continue
Continue CPRIT Cancer Research Funding
Mar 10, 2019
The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) was created in 2007 when Texas voters supported legislation setting aside $3 billion for cancer research and prevention. Since then ... continue
Dr. Sid Roberts is an Eagle Scout, a graduate of Rice University, and he received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine, where he also completed his internship and radiation oncology residency. He is board certified in both Radiation Oncology and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He has practiced in Lufkin, Texas at the Temple Cancer Center at CHI St. Luke’s Health Memorial since 1992. He is also a long time medical director for Hospice in the Pines.
He served on the board of Memorial Health System of East Texas (now called CHI St. Luke’s Health Memorial Lufkin), chaired the Lufkin/Angelina County Chamber of Commerce board, was President of the Angelina Arts Alliance board, was President of the St. Cyprian’s School Board, served on the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, and was President of the Texas Radiological Society. He served many years on the High Plains Division board of the American Cancer Society and is currently on the board of Angelina College. He is active in Lufkin's First Baptist Church, where he can often be found at the keyboards. He has written a monthly column for the Lufkin News since 2013.