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Literature & Medicine in the News
and a Report on our Second National Literature & Medicine Summer
Institute
Literature & Medicine in the News...
Articles about the Literature & Medicine program have appeared
in two more national journals. Dina
McKelvy, the liaison at Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford,
Maine wrote “Literature & Medicine: Literacy Advocacy
and Library Programming in the Hospital Setting” for the Journal
of Hospital Librarianship, v4(2), 2004.
Jolynn Tumolo’s article, “The Other Medical Literature: Can
Poetry and Prose Cure Health Care’s Ills?”, appeared in the
July 2004 issue of ADVANCE
for Nurse Practitioners. Don’t miss Jolynn’s interview
with nurse, essayist and poet, Veneta Masson, in "From
the Inside Out" in this issue of Synapse!
| Our Second National Literature & Medicine Summer Institute | ||
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| L to R: Paula Millen, Literature & Medicine Coordinator for the Humanities Council of South Carolina; Institute participants discussing Literature & Medicine readings | ||
This was one of the most intellectually stimulating and exciting experiences of my life. I can’t thank you enough for the opportunity to participate, and hope I can bring some of the same enthusiasm, creativity and wonder back to our groups.
This was a mind and attitude altering conference.-2004 Literature & Medicine
Summer Institute participants
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| Fran Cerulli, Institute faculty member, and Rita Gilpin, Literature & Medicine coordinator at Rhode Island Council for the Humanities |
Thanks to a grant from the Society for the Arts in Healthcare/Johnson & Johnson Partnership to Promote Arts and Healing, Maine Humanities Council was able to hold our second national Literature & Medicine Summer Institute on the Bowdoin College Campus in Brunswick, Maine on June 26-29, 2004. The Institute provided the training necessary for the program to become established in Connecticut, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, and South Carolina. A total of 57 people participated, including health care professionals, scholars, and humanities council staff from 11 states.
The Institute included small group discussions of representative Literature & Medicine readings as well as opportunities to talk with and learn from scholars, liaisons, and council staff who have been involved in the program. We discussed:
- the goals and structure of the program;
- why veteran Literature & Medicine participants value the program;
- the selection of readings and crafting of syllabi;
- how to incorporate theatre, art, film and writing into the program;
- the nuts and bolts of organizing the program; and
- the roles and responsibilities of the liaison, the facilitator, and council staff.
Participants wrote that they found the Institute intense and rewarding. “This institute is by far the best I have experienced: tremendously enjoyable and intellectually stimulating,” wrote one participant. “This was a unique opportunity for me to stretch myself intellectually in ways that I don’t get to do much in my everyday life (perhaps like the members of our new [Literature & Medicine] group),” wrote another. Hospital liaisons felt they gained both a deeper understanding of the program and enthusiasm for implementing it in their institutions. Facilitators and council staff stated that the training gave them a solid understanding of the program, its goals, and issues they need to be aware of. The training also helped them realize that Literature & Medicine is very different from other programs they have worked with, with its very specific goals and expected outcomes for the health care professionals who participate. A humanities council staff person new to the program wrote:
My experience with the Institute was so rich intellectually and personally. Our council was investigating whether or not to participate [in the program] and the Institute really won us over. [The Institute also] did impact positively my view of the medical community and gave me direction on how to implement humanities in that area.
Participants from our first Institute in 2002 have reported that this immersion in Literature & Medicine left them well prepared to facilitate or organize the seminars, and made them part of a larger Lit & Med community with whom they can share questions and ideas. We expect that the 2004 participants will find the same is true for them.
Contingent upon funding, Maine Humanities Council hopes to offer another Institute in June 2005 for humanities council staff interested in becoming involved with Literature & Medicine and for liaisons and scholars new to the program.
Photos by Diane Magras
For more information, please contact Lizz Sinclair, the Program Officer for Literature & Medicine at MHC.
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Literature & Medicine has received major support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.