Literature & Medicine: National Connections
[Arizona ::: Connecticut ::: Delaware ::: Florida ::: Hawaii ::: Illinois ::: Maine ::: Maryland ::: Massachusetts ::: Montana ::: Nebraska ::: New Hampshire ::: New Jersey ::: North Carolina ::: Rhode Island ::: South Carolina ::: Utah ::: Vermont ::: Virginia ::: click to specific state or scroll to read all]

The Arizona Humanities Council is launching its first Literature & Medicine programs at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix and the University of Arizona Medical Center—Family Medicine Department in Tucson.

Liaison Charles Daschbach, a physician, Director of Academic Affairs and an enthusiastic supporter of the program, and Suzanne Pfister were instrumental in bringing the Literature & Medicine program to St. Joseph’s. Beth Larson-Keagy, a cultural geographer who teaches a wide range of human and regional courses in the School of Geographical Sciences at Arizona State University, is the group’s facilitator. Both she and Dr. Daschbach were part of the Arizona contingent that traveled to Maine last summer to participate in an intensive Literature & Medicine training institute to bring this unique program to Arizona.

Physicians Elizabeth Moran and Tammie Bassford, Head of Family and Community Medicine, are co-liaisons for the program at University of Arizona Medical Center. Richard Shelton, poet and Regents Professor in the English Department at the University of Arizona, is their facilitator. The program is a good fit for the University of Arizona Medical School. UAMS has recently revamped its curriculum to take into account the findings that a good doctor-patient relationship can improve health. The new curriculum puts first-year medical students face-to-face with patients. Now, in addition to academic requirements, students are being critiqued on such matters as how well they listen and relate to patients. ::: back to top

The Connecticut Humanities Council reports that the University of Connecticut Medical School in Farmington is hosting a program in 2007. The syllabus includes readings focused on the theme, “Body/Mind Spirituality.” Mark Schenker, the facilitator for this group, has been very involved in the Literature & Medicine program. In March of this year, he gave a talk about the program at the University of Connecticut Medical Center. As a faculty member for the 2006 Literature & Medicine Institute, Mark worked with three other veteran Literature & Medicine facilitators to help orient and guide scholars, health care professionals and council staff from across the country who were new to the program. ::: back to top

The Delaware Humanities Forum is proud to launch its first Literature & Medicine program at the Christiana Care Health System in 2007. CCHS is a full resource health care provider offering nearly 1,100 beds in two hospitals as well as a number of off-site facilities specializing in preventative and rehabilitation care, transitional care, oncology and home health-care. In response to the enthusiastic support of the CCHS administration, we will launch two pioneer discussion groups at their campus in Newark, Delaware. The collaborative efforts of the Delaware Humanities Forum and CCHS in implementing the Literature & Medicine program will certainly yield mutually advantageous outcomes connecting people, cultures and ideas relevant to the world of health care.

We are fortunate to have a good team working with us to offer the program. Joann Helmeczi, who serves as Manager of Physician Relations at CCHS, is the Literature & Medicine liaison. Judy Govatos, Executive Director of the Delaware Academy of Medicine, is another partner in the program as is Facilitator Susan Shoemaker, Professor of History at University of Delaware. To prepare for the program, Dr. Shoemaker has spent time at the Christiana Hospital, observing the practices of health care workers as well as acquiring an awareness of their working environment. The syllabi for the discussion groups include works by Kafka, Rafael Campo, Katharine Anne Porter, and Raymond Carver.

The Delaware Academy of Medicine is another integral partner in our Literature & Medicine program. It promotes health education by maintaining a medical library and providing numerous resources to doctors, dentists, nurses, students, and other health care providers. ::: back to top

Sarasota Memorial Hospital is hosting their first Lit & Med program this year with support from the Florida Humanities Council. Patti Reynolds, the Director of the Health Science Library at Sarasota Memorial and the Literature & Medicine liaison, reports that there has been a tremendous response to the program and that they are looking forward to a great year. Lois Nixon, Professor of Ethics and Humanities at the College of Medicine and the College of Public Health at the University of Tampa, is our facilitator. Among other accomplishments, Lois is an editor for NYU’s on-line Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database and has been one of the editors of On Doctoring, an anthology of literature relating to medicine. Patti wrote that their first meeting in January was a fantastic success, and they are eager to continue these rich discussions. ::: back to top

Hawai’i Council for the Humanities is very happy to host its first Literature & Medicine programs this year! We are fortunate to be working with two wonderful professors from the University of Hawai'i—Heather Young Leslie and Craig Howes. To prepare for the program’s launch, Heather and Craig journeyed to Maine with HCH program officers Grace Lo and Robert Chang for training at the 2006 Literature & Medicine Summer Institute last June.

After the Institute, we were very excited to begin the program. We are partnering with two medical centers in Honolulu. Heather is facilitating for the group at Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children, and Craig is working with a group at The Queen’s Medical Center.

“We’d like to see the program become so popular that hospitals will want it to be on-going. We’d also like it to expand to more health care facilities. It doesn’t have to be hospitals. It can be nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, hospice facilities—any place that provides health care,” says Hawai’i program Officer Grace Lo.

In addition, the Hawai’i Council is planning to support the publication of the upcoming Literature & Medicine anthology, Imagine What It’s Like, through its Publications Assistance grant line. The anthology will be published by the Center for Biographical Research of the University of Hawai’i in the fall. ::: back to top

The Illinois Humanities Council is partnering with two health care institutions to offer the Literature & Medicine program this year. Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield is in the midst of their sixth session—the longest running in Illinois. Readings this session include Abraham Verghese’s My Own Country, Jane Hamilton’s A Map of the World, and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.

Readings for Midwest Palliative & Hospice Care Center in Glenview this session include Marilyn Robinson’s Housekeeping, John Murray’s A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies and Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper. The group at Kishwaukee Community Hospital in DeKalb is on hiatus in 2007 as their new hospital is built.

Read the Chicago Tribune’s health feature story about the Lit & Med program published on May 1, 2007: “Book club good medicine for patients, physicians” by Barbara Brotman, Chicago Tribune staff reporter. ::: back to top

The Maine Humanities Council is pleased to announce that Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health Care® just completed its 10th year! Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor holds the distinction of being the longest running Literature & Medicine program. The initial site for the program in 1997, EMMC has hosted a program every year since. This year their readings include: Gilgamesh (Stephen Mitchell trans.); The Wooden Nickel by William Carpenter (who will visit the group); The Broken Cord by Michael Dorris (combined with material on new-born addiction by participant Fran Loring); The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst; Closing the Chart: A Dying Physician Examines Family, Faith, and Medicine by Steven Hsi, Jim Belshaw, and Beth Corbin-His; and the film of James Joyce’s “The Dead”. The group at EMMC is led by liaison extraordinaire Alanna Stetson and Margery Irvine, their long-time facilitator. Geoff Gratwick, the physician who first worked with MHC to start the Literature & Medicine program, is still a strong supporter and a regular at EMMC’s sessions.

In 2007, 10 other hospitals will join EMMC in hosting a Lit & Med program in Maine: Mayo Regional Hospital, Dover-Foxcroft (the site of the second Lit & Med program in 1998); Maine Coast Hospital, Ellsworth; Maine Medical Center, Portland; Mid Coast Hospital, Brunswick; Mt. Desert Island Hospital, Bar Harbor; Pen Bay Medical Center, Rockport; Sebasticook Valley Hospital, Pittsfield; Stephens Memorial Hospital, Norway, Togus Veterans’ Hospital and York Hospital. Many thanks to each of the liaisons and facilitators whose dedication, creativity and thoughtfulness makes this program so successful.

Two Maine facilitators served as faculty for the 2006 Literature & Medicine Summer Institute. Laurie Quinn, who has facilitated at Southern Maine Medical Center and York Hospital, and John Zavodny, facilitator for Sebasticook Valley Hospital, worked closely with MHC Staff members Victoria Bonebakker and Lizz Sinclair and two facilitators from other states to plan the Institute. They did an excellent job orienting and guiding health care professionals, scholars and council staff from across the country new to the program.

Victoria and Lizz have spent much of the past three years working very closely with Bruce Clary of the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine in developing, refining and administering electronic evaluations for participants in the program nationwide. To learn more about the evaluation, and the results for 2006, click here.

Last but not least, Maine Coast Hospital has a tradition of presenting their facilitator with a creative interpretation of the books they read each year. In 2006 they presented Marli Weiner with a collage they had made. Marli relayed how much the Ellsworth group continues to impact her work as a scholar and her personal enjoyment of the literature they share together. Liaison Christine DiPretoro responded, “It is a wonderful reminder of how the positive impact of this program spreads in all directions.” ::: back to top

Maryland Humanities Council is working with three hospitals in 2007: Howard County General Hospital in Columbia, and Mercy Medical Center and the Kennedy-Krieger Institute, both in Baltimore. To learn more about the program at Mercy, read the article about them in this edition of Synapse. ::: back to top

Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities is pleased to be partnering with four health care facilities in 2007. The readings at each of the sites explore a range of themes and perspectives. The group at Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, led by facilitator Joseph Cady and liaison Alyce Getler, is exploring readings addressing a variety of themes including cross-cultural issues in health care and “Medicine on the Front Lines.”

Alyce is wearing two hats, as she is also facilitating at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, our newest partner in the program. The group is exploring issues of communication in a cross-cultural context, the clinician as patient, professional boundaries and a session titled “The Power to Heal: Apologies and Small Kindnesses.” Rafael Campo’s essay, “The Desire to Heal” and Danielle Ofri’s “Torment” are among their many readings. Susan Edgman-Levitan volunteered to be the liaison for the program.

The group at UMass Memorial Medical Center and UMass Medical School, Worchester is led by facilitator Ruth Smith and co-liaisons Emily Ferrara and David Hatem. The program is located in the John D. Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation. Their readings this year include: Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina; Nancy Mairs’ essay, “On Living Behind Bars;” Elizabeth Bishop’s poem, “In the Waiting Room;” Aaron Lazare’s On Apology and David Feldshuh’s play, Miss Evers’ Boys.

With the guidance of facilitator Martin Newhouse and liaisons Jerry Blaine and Jonathan Metcalf, the Lahey Clinic in Burlington is engaged in discussions of Eugene O’Neill’s play, Long Day’s Journey into Night; Pat Barker’s Regeneration; Siegfried Sassoon poetry; Tillie Olsen’s “Tell Me a Riddle” and Katherine Anne Porter’s, “Pale Horse, Pale Rider,” among other works.

To see complete syllabi for these sites, click here ::: back to top

Montana Committee for the Humanities held a Lit & Med program at Barrett Medical Center in Dillon from fall of 2006 through early 2007. Alan Welzien facilitated. We will host two more programs at St. Patrick’s Hospital in Missoula and Clark Fork Valley Hospital in Plains this fall. ::: back to top

During their August 2006 board meeting, the Nebraska Humanities Council awarded a grant to the Creighton Center for Health Policy and Ethics in Omaha to help cover costs for Nebraska’s inaugural Literature & Medicine program. The Boys Town National Research Hospital will host Literature & Medicine from January to June in 2007. The facilitator will be Dr. Amy Haddad, Director of the Creighton Center for Health Policy and Ethics. ::: back to top

The New Hampshire Humanities Council is working with eight hospitals this year: Concord Hospital, Concord; Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover; St. Joseph Hospital, Nashua; Littleton Regional Hospital, Littleton; Southern NH Medical Center, Nashua; Parkland Medical Center, Derry; NH State Hospital, Concord and Lakes Region General Hospital, Laconia.

Last June, Kathy Smith of the NHHC gathered a team of people interested in becoming involved in the program to attend the 2006 Literature & Medicine Summer Institute. Betsy Burtis, the liaison at Southern New Hampshire Health System in Nashua; David Jones; Dan Collison of Dartmouth Medical School; and Glory Wabe, the liaison at St. Joseph’s Hospital, all participated in the Institute. ::: back to top

2006 marked the successful completion of a second year of Literature & Medicine in New Jersey! Elizabeth Motts, Program Officer of New Jersey Council for the Humanities, reports that four hospitals returned from the first year: The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (New Brunswick); Mountainside Hospital (Montclair); Overlook Hospital (Summit); and AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center (Pomona). New to the program in 2006 was Cooper University Hospital (Camden). All sites have been enthusiastic about their involvement in the L&M program and report that participants have engaged in thoughtful, lively discussions connecting literature, film and poetry with their work.

The 2006 program brought together social workers, nurses, concierges and physicians to reflect on their roles and responsibilities as care givers. Participants explored their relationships with patients and with each other. One participant stated, “[The Lit & Med Program] helped me to develop my personality not only as a physician, but as a compassionate physician.”

On June 6th at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ, the New Jersey Lit & Med liaisons and facilitators met to discuss their experiences in the 2006 program and look forward to 2007. Also in June, five representatives from New Jersey attended the 2006 National Literature & Medicine Training Institute in Maine. The Institute gave us the opportunity to network with colleagues from around the country and gain valuable insights into the program.

We are delighted to announce that the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey (Newark) will be joining our other five sites for the Lit & Med program in 2007! ::: back to top

Although the Literature & Medicine program has been offered in North Carolina in the past, it is not offered at this time. If you are interested in starting a program at your health care facility, please contact Lizz Sinclair. ::: back to top

Although the Literature & Medicine program has been offered in Rhode Island in the past, it is not offered at this time. If you are interested in starting a program at your health care facility, please contact Lizz Sinclair. ::: back to top

The Humanities Council South Carolina is offering the Literature & Medicine program at Columbia Area Mental Health Center and Sisters of Charity Providence Hospitals, both in Columbia.

The readings at Providence Hospital include works by Camus, William Carlos Williams, Robert Coles, Anatole Broyard, Mary Oliver, Anne Fadiman, Grace Paley, Veneta Masson, Danny Abse, Alice Walker and Pat Barker. Nancy Hendershot is their liaison and Robert Oakman is their facilitator.

CAMHC’s readings include The Hours by Michael Cunningham, A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar, The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, Equus by Peter Shaffer, “Notes From the Delivery Room” by Linda Pastan, “When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone” by Galway Kinnell, “Waking in the Blue” by Robert Lowell and “In a Dark Time” by Theodore Roethke. Randy Spencer is the facilitator and Gary Stuckey is their liaison. ::: back to top

The Utah Humanities Council is once again partnering with LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City to host a program. ::: back to top

Vermont Humanities Council is happy to announce that, after much work, nurses, physicians, and social workers participating in the Literature & Medicine program in Vermont can now obtain continuing education credits.

Larissa Picard, Vermont’s Literature & Medicine coordinator, and Pam Fadness, a fellow in public psychiatry and the Lit & Med liaison at Vermont State Hospital, co-led a Grand Rounds at VSH titled “What Can Literature do for Psychiatry?” Larissa spoke about the relationship between medicine and humanities generally, medicine and literature specifically, the importance of the humanities in medical training, and then provided an overview of the Lit & Med program. Pam then cited instances of psychiatric illnesses in various pieces of literature. Vermont State Hospital will host the Literature & Medicine program for the first time in 2007.

These are the other sites hosting a Lit & Med program in 2007, along with the number years they have participated: Gifford Medical Center, Randolf (4); North Country Hospital, Newport (4); Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital, St. Johnsbury (4); Northwestern Medical Center, St. Albans (5); Porter Medical Center, Middlebury (4); Rutland Regional Medical Center (5); Veterans' Administration Medical and Regional Office Center, White River Junction (3) and Fletcher Allen Health Care, Burlington (5). ::: back to top

Katie Strotman of the Fairfax County Library attended our very first Literature & Medicine Summer Institute, and since that time has organized a Literature & Medicine program for local health care professionals through the library. In 2007 they will sponsor a program for Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church. Readings include Mark Salzman’s Lying Awake and excerpts from the book, Being Human. The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities is supporting this effort. ::: back to top

printer friendly article