Week 1 Discussion Post:

 

Rita Charon’s articles “Sources of Narrative Medicine” and “Close Reading and Creative Writing in Clinical Education” center around the idea of narrative medicine and its importance in the field of medicine. In “Sources of Narrative Medicine” Charon describes a growing divide with doctors and their ability to empathize with patients in order to diagnose them and assist them in their healing. According to Charon, narrative medicine is a way to bridge this gap and assist medical professionals in “absorbing, interpreting, and being moved by the stories of illness.” Charon then talks about how she wrote a story about a patient named Luz and filled in the gaps of facts with her own details. She had made an assumption about the patient, that she needed money to help her career, when in fact she needed money to save her family. This resulted in Charon discovering what narrative writing can do, transform the “impersonality fragmentation, coldness, and self-interestedness” of the medical field. As I read Charon’s article the words of my grandfather came to mind, “The best doctors are the sweetest doctors… The doctors that know how to talk are the ones that I tend to relate with the most and have greater trust in.” It is evident that an empathetic doctor is one that will be more successful at treating patients. Through narrative medicine doctors can learn to put themselves in the shoes of their patients and can truly see the world from their perspective in order to truly heal them. Later on Charon was able to truly connect and feel the pain of an 85 year old patient who had lost her grandson recently.I have realized that becoming a doctor is simply not just making a prescription to heal a patient, but it is to establish an emotional connection where I can truly understand a patient and can treat them in a personalized manner.

Chimimanda Ngozi Adiche’s Ted Talk titled “Danger of the Single Story” is a powerful speech that demonstrates the importance of narrative medicine. Adiche goes into depth to talk about the danger of looking at something from one perspective. She states “show a people as one thing as only one thing over and over again and that is what they become.” I was moved by this phrase because it occurs all around us daily through stereotypes. Charon made this same mistake as she this quickly judged her patient Luz for wanting her disability form signed without understanding why she needed the extra money so desperately. If Charon had heard Luz’s perspective she would have been able to get Luz and here family help quicker.

I have determined that in order for me to take my first step to becoming a doctor I must learn not to judge, but to gather all facts, feelings, and information from different perspectives in order to truly help a patient. I mustn’t become jaded to the problems of my patient, and I must truly feel for them.

 

Week 10 Discussion Post:

 

Even after the civil rights movement is America truly equal? The answer is no. From schools to prisons to quality of medical care, there is no equality anywhere. In “Students of color with disabilities are being pushed into the school-to-prison pipeline, study finds” written by Lorelei Laird it is detailed as to how minorities with disabilities are set back in life from the start, such as in school. In the article she states “the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights collected data in 2015 showing that black students with disabilities are almost four times as likely to have multiple suspensions, and almost twice as likely to be expelled, as white students with disabilities.” It is evident that minorities are singled out in schools, and when they are suspended or expelled that leads to them having a distrust of authority and not obtaining a good education. If they don’t get a good education they will not be able to get a good job and this may lead to them committing crimes in order to get by. This shows how minorities with disabilities are pushed into the school to prison pipeline.

Now in prison, there begs the question are prisoners mistreated? Yes they are, they do not receive proper medical care, live in horrible conditions, and are forced to do horrible jobs working without pay. In The Graybar Hotel written by Curtis Dawkins there are first hand accounts of prisoners being forced to do disgusting jobs. For example, when Catfish was free his job was to clean up suicides, but now in prison he cleans up every mess including human feces from the shower. Catfish exclaimed at one point that he preferred cleaning up suicides to what he cleans up in prison. This highlights how he is mistreated as he would prefer to clean up something as dark and saddening as a suicide compared to a mess in the prison. It shows that prisoners are treated as slaves as they receive no pay, horrible medical care, and are tasked with demeaning jobs.

Minorities are discriminated against in regards to their medical care. In “A Community Mobilizes to End Medical Apartheid” written by Maxine Golub it is pointed out the discrepancy in the access to high quality of medical care for people of color. As those that are white tend to have more money and have private medical insurance and go to a private practice, while minorities tend to have less money and have public insurance so they can only go to clinics where they are treated by a rotation of residents and fellows.

There is also discrimination in the mass transit system in NYC, as the MTA discriminates against those with disabilities, the elderly, and those with injuries. The MTA does this by not having elevators for those who can not walk very well at their subway platforms. In “MTA must do the right thing” by Olga Lucia Torres it is evident that the MTA must solve this issue so that everyone is able to use mass transit. According to Monica Anderson in “Who relies on public transport in the U.S.” 34% of black and 27% of hispanic people use mass transit as compared to 14% of white people. This shows that by the MTA neglecting the elderly and those with disabilities they are neglecting mostly minorities.

From school to prison to mass transit to medical care it is evident that America is far from equal and as citizens of this country we must bridge that gap.

Free Write on Gun Hill Road:

Write a scene that- what do you think happens next?-from end of story

Vanessa see’s Enrique being arrested:

Vanessa goes to visit Enrique in jail a couple of weeks later after having time to process.
Vanessa sits down to talk with Enrique.

Enrique begins to say “I’m so sorry for the mess that I’ve created and the problems I have
caused for you. I have messed up your life and was never there for you, and now I am gone once
again. I know it will be tough, but I will try my hardest to begin to accept you as Vanessa, my
daughter. I will change and become a more accepting person that is better inclusive. I just hope
that I haven’t disrupted your life too much, and that you would like me to be apart of it still.”

Additional Free Writes:

Write about something you would like to change in the world.

Something that I would like to change in the world is the looming threat of climate change. I
believe climate change is the biggest threat to the world, as oceans rise and more floods and
storms occur people will be forced to leave their homes. Recently, places such as Bermuda have
been destroyed by hurricanes and the likelihood that these powerful storms will occur will only
increase as climate change is unchecked and will become more severe. People will be forced to
move to places with less economic opportunities and this may lead to an increase in poverty. The
world will also run out of clean water and agricultural land to provide water and food to people all
around the globe. Disease will spread more quickly in poorer areas in the globe. Climate change
has the ability to disrupt the whole ecosystem, as animals will die, humans will die, plants will die.
I believe if climate change is stopped the world will be a better place, and many potential
problems will be prevented.

Write about a time you felt like an outsider.

For me, there are specific moments where I always feel as if I am an outsider. I am half
Greek and half Indian, and at the local Greek church or Indian temple I always feel as if I am an
outsider. People around me at these places always know what is going on, understand the
languages, the prayers and I don’t. I am an outsider at these two places because of me
belonging to two races, and it splitting me so that I don’t necessarily fit in with one specific
culture. It makes it tough to go to Greek or Indian events because I feel as if I don’t belong,
because everyone there seems to know what’s going, but I don’t.