Maine Humanities Council

Created by the Maine Humanities Council, Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health Care® is a national award-winning reading and discussion program for health care professionals. The Maine Public Broadcasting Network’s Tom Porter interviewed Literature & Medicine Program Officer Lizz Sinclair when the Literature & Medicine anthology, Imagine What It’s Like, was published by the University of Hawai’i Press in the summer of 2008. Here, with permission from MPBN, is a re-broadcast of the interview.

Lizz Sinclair [ 7:07 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2583)

A former public health nurse with many years’ experience, Veneta Masson, R.N., M.A., is also the author of three books. Though no longer in practice, Veneta continues to explore healing art. The title of her newest collection, Clinician’s Guide to the Soul, was also the title of her conference workshop. “As a family nurse practitioner, I relied on countless ‘clinician’s guides,’ concise, up-to-the-minute print or online references to specific topics like antibiotics, common skin conditions or pediatric lab values. But, a guide to the soul! What is the soul? And why, in this golden age of scientific exploration and achievement, do so many of us insist on its relevance to health and health care?”

This workshop was part of the Literature & Medicine program’s national conference, Caring for the Caregiver, held on November 9 & 10, 2007 in Manchester, NH. We welcome your feedback on this workshop.

Veneta Masson [ 42:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (671)

Rita Charon, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor of Clinical Medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University and the leader of the emerging field of Narrative Medicine. (Click here for a full bio.) As Director and Founder of Columbia’s Program in Narrative Medicine, she guides both aspiring and practicing health care professionals in writing about their experiences from both their own points of view and the imagined perspectives of their patients. In this talk, “Listening for the Self-Telling Body,” she speaks about how these narratives, which she calls parallel charts, both heighten the attention of the caregiver, and create an affiliation between the patient and the caregiver. Dr. Charon is introduced by Lizz Sinclair.

This talk was part of the Literature & Medicine program’s national conference, Caring for the Caregiver, held on November 9 & 10, 2007 in Manchester, NH. We welcome your feedback on this Rita Charon podcast.

Rita Charon [ 1:09:16 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (641)

Judy Schaefer, R.N.C., M.A., is a nationally recognized author, editor, lecturer, teacher, and advocate for patients as well as nurses. Her conference workshop was called “The Courage to Create: Finding Your Voice Through Writing.” If you have pen and paper handy while you listen, and pause the recording when Judy says to start writing, you can actually take part in the workshop yourself.

This workshop was part of the Literature & Medicine program’s national conference, Caring for the Caregiver, held on November 9 & 10, 2007 in Manchester, NH. We welcome your feedback on the workshop.

Judy Schaefer's Writing Workshop [ 36:59 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (310)

In this conference workshop, Rafael Campo, M.D., M.F.A., defines a “biocultural” narrative of the illness experience, in contrast to the restrictive biomedical narrative encountered in today’s health care setting. He explores how literary works by Frank O’Hara, Debra Spark, Abraham Verghese, and Veneta Masson issue an insistent invitation to share in diverse human experiences. Please note: This workshop involved a great deal of audience participation. Workshop participants read each of the literary works aloud, and then shared their thoughts and questions. Campo’s microphone did not capture the participants’ voices, so in their place you will hear substitute readers and gaps in the recording. The works discussed are also available here in PDF format.

This workshop was part of the Literature & Medicine program’s national conference, Caring for the Caregiver, held on November 9 & 10, 2007 in Manchester, NH. We welcome your feedback on this Rafael Campo podcast.

Rafael Campo, Workshop [ 55:57 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (365)

Rafael Campo, M.D., M.F.A., is a national award winning poet who is also a faculty member and practitioner of general internal medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. (Click here for a full bio.) His newest collection of poetry, The Enemy, was published in April 2007. He is a recipient of the Annual Achievement Award from the National Hispanic Academy of Arts and Sciences, among many other awards. Campo lives in Brookline, Massachusetts. In this recording, he is introduced by Veneta Masson.

This talk was part of the Literature & Medicine program’s national conference, Caring for the Caregiver, held on November 9 & 10, 2007 in Manchester, NH. We welcome your feedback on this Rafael Campo keynote.

Rafael Campo, Keynote [ 55:57 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (365)