Whew, it’s Friday! With our ever-faster news cycle -- so much to report! -- lots of health news gets buried under the politics of the day. Five on Friday gives us a chance to dig up some useful and important pieces that you may have missed. Here are five pieces recommended by MCN staff members.

Kate shared “Two Worker Deaths in January Show Need for Reforms in US Poultry Slaughterhouses,” saying that the article “highlights the need for proper occupational safety training and better working conditions for immigrant workers.”

Kaethe, from our Witness to Witness project, says: “Since the early 1980s, clinicians have been concerned about the moral dimension of providers’ responses to those clinical situations in which they are unable to provide what they believe is the best and most appropriate care to their patients. In my view, in ‘Clarifying the Language of Clinician Distress,’ the authors rightly draw attention not just to the individual factors but to the institutional context of these morally challenging decisions.  The Witness to Witness Program adds to this formulation that there is also a wider political context within which provider decisions must be made – or cannot be made -- that presents challenges.”

Alma in Massachusetts shared Know Your Stats, a new CDC page with an intriguing post-Super Bowl message: “Many people track stats for their favorite players and teams. But do you track the stats for the places where you live, work, and play?”

Laz wanted to share “A Tribute to Peter Salama, a Champion of People in Fragile States and War-Torn Places.” Laz noted, “he left us way too soon.”

Weekly Win: Marysel told us about a teachers’ union in Guanica, Puerto Rico, one of the epicenters for the recent earthquakes, that has been teaching three times a week despite the fact that none of the public schools in the southwest of the island have held classes since the winter holidays. (Article in Spanish.) Marysel notes that part of their reasoning of their work is “the importance of routine for the mental health of the children.” 

Have a safe and healthy weekend.

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