Coal Dust and Compassion: DOs in the Mines of West Virginia

🎧 Podcast Episode Summary
Coal Dust and Compassion: DOs in the Mines of West Virginia
Podcast: The Body Returns Home: The History of Osteopathic Medicine
Hosted and Narrated by Dr. Susan Rashid DO, MPH | WVSOM Class of 2012

In this powerful and deeply researched episode, Dr. Susan Rashid—proud alumna of the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Class of 2012—travels into the coalfields of West Virginia to uncover a quiet but remarkable story: the enduring role of osteopathic physicians in some of the most underserved regions of America.

With thoughtful narration, historical depth, and clinical insight, Coal Dust and Compassion explores how DOs became vital to coal mining communities—places where black lung disease, workplace injuries, and relentless labor defined daily life underground.

Listeners are guided through the rise of coal mining in the early 20th century, the profound public health toll of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, and the emergence of osteopathic medicine as a uniquely hands-on, patient-centered model of care—especially in rural Appalachia. Dr. Rashid highlights how techniques like rib raising, thoracic pumping, and diaphragmatic release were used not only to relieve respiratory distress but to offer care grounded in compassion and human connection.

Through intimate stories of miner-physician relationships and the founding vision of WVSOM itself, this episode paints a vivid portrait of rural medicine shaped by trust, presence, and the healing power of touch. It’s a tribute to a medical philosophy that didn’t reduce patients to their illness—but honored their breath, their labor, and their lives.

More than a case study, Coal Dust and Compassion is a reflection on what osteopathic medicine has always stood for—and what it still offers to communities in need today.

🩺 Key Themes:

Black lung disease and occupational health

History of coal mining in West Virginia

Rural medicine and the osteopathic philosophy

Hands-on clinical care in underserved communities

Legacy and mission of WVSOM

📚 Perfect for:
Medical students, physicians, public health scholars, rural health advocates, historians of medicine, and anyone drawn to the intersection of the history of osteopathic medicine, landscape, and healing.

🎓 Runtime: Approx. 50 minutes
🎙️ Tone: Scholarly | Narrative | Medical Humanities 
📍 Presented by Rashid Media Productions, LLC.