fostering the humanistic practice of medicine publishing personal accounts of illness and healing encouraging health care advocacy

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fostering the humanistic practice of medicine publishing personal accounts of illness and healing encouraging health care advocacy

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August 2016

Rijks.Fountain.Peter.Lewis

Rijks Fountain

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Peter Lewis

About the artist: 

Peter Lewis is a professor of family and community medicine and humanities at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, PA. His professional interests include doctor-patient communication, medical humanities, interdiscplinary collaboration and peer-mentoring. He and his wife Jennifer (who is a much more talented photographer) are grateful for times and travels with family and friends, neighbors and colleagues–in particular, their sons Kyle and Tyler.

About the artwork:

“As a physician I strive to be mindful and aware; to have the eyes to see the patient as a person, as both an individual and as one connected to a family or a community; and to have the ears to hear a person’s narrative, joys and sorrows, hopes and expectations. In the clinical environment I recognize that I see and may perceive but a fraction of who the patient truly is and where he or she finds meaning. While at a conference in Amsterdam » Continue Reading.

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Careful Fingers

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It was a Friday night in February. I was finishing up a poster for a conference on cancer genomics I had to attend the following Monday. As I worked, I thought about the possibility of making mistakes on the data analysis.

Gingerly, I went back to the raw data and repeated the process. Highlight this portion of the data. Make sure the data is valid. Copy and paste it into the statistical software. Click this button before pressing “Enter.” My eyes darted across the screen, watching every move my fingers made.

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Selfie

12 Comments / Stories /

Melanie Di Stante

In 2000, my husband Brian was diagnosed with Stage IIIB Hodgkin lymphoma, which has since become a prominent part of our lives. My children and I belong to Gilda’s Club, a cancer support community, and recently we were asked to help record a promotional video to be featured at a fundraising gala for the local chapter and on the club’s website.

I’m not a “spotlight” kind of girl, and I don’t feel drawn to video cameras or speeches, but I’ve been going to two Gilda’s Club programs–a caregiver-support group, and a writing group–for nearly five years. Everyone is nurturing, supportive and so nice. My son Marco and daughter Gabriella also attend a group, where they do projects to help build resilience for kids impacted by cancer. It’s priceless, and it’s free.

If this is something I can do to give back, I thought, I’ll do it. My kids were on board as well.

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A Shared Language

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I was waiting on a friend who had injured her arm. They entered later and huddled in the seats nearby, murmuring in hushed Korean and peering at the English signs.
Feverish and weak, the mother clutched her stomach while her husband stroked her arm. You could tell the son was anxious by the way he kept tugging at his father’s wrist to check his watch, the way he paced in little circles and rubbed his mother’s hand.

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A Mother’s Son

10 Comments / Stories /

Hugh Silk

“Why do you want to go into family medicine?” my internal-medicine preceptor asked.

It was an innocent enough question. I’d known from day one of medical school what I wanted to do, so I answered with confidence, and perhaps a bit of a chip on my shoulder.

“I love being with people and getting to know them,” I said. “I’ve always been this way, so it makes sense that’s what I would do for my career. I’m looking forward to having the long-term relationships and seeing where they go.”

A raised eyebrow, followed by his knowing Irish brogue: “I applaud that. My own father was a GP in Ireland. But I’m afraid you won’t find much of that in one month on the wards. This will be a chance, however, to learn your medicine well.”

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Listening to Light Doyle

Listening to Light

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Donna Doyle

About the artist: 

“My work as a poet and as a photographer is inspired by experienes I am unable to let go of–images, thoughts and feelings. These reflective practices help me grow. A year-and-a-half ago, the medical library where I work relocated from a building (with windows) outside the hospital to a windowless space in the center of the hospital. The transition has been challenging for me. As an introvert and a highly sensitive person, I experience the hospital environment most often as a kind of sensory overload. Writing poems and making photographs are my way of looking past and deeper…creating a different sensory experience by transforming it into art.”

About the artwork:

“Late afternoon in the cafeteria is one of the few times and places in the hospital where I can enjoy quiet and window views–even though I still feel surrounded by darkness.”

Visuals editor:

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