Submission Medium: written

Allyson Felix es campeona de la salud materna

Allyson Felix is an Olympic athlete who experienced complications with her pregnancy. She prepared for her pregnancy, exercising and trying to take every precaution. However, on a routine check-up, she was informed she had grave preeclampsia. Frightened and confused, Felix learned black women were at a higher risk for these complications. Felix received quality care and recovered from the disease, but wants all pregnant women to be aware of this risk. This is a quick read of about 10 minutes for intermediate level Spanish readers. The Q & A interview format help with comprehension. Readily usable in a medical Spanish class to expose students to health disparities (risk factors, access to care, outcomes) or in a mid-level composition, conversation or health narratives course.

Columna de Adictos y adicciones: Mi experiencia en un grupo de doce pasos

This 5 page newspaper article (about a 15 minute read for advanced Spanish speakers; more for lower levels) is a transcript of an addict’s story as told to a Narcotics Anonymous group. Jose Antonio says that he was trapped by a “circle of death” and describes how addiction is a disease that isolates the addict from the world. NA teaches him the difference between religion and spirituality and he explains how this insight was important to his sobriety. Useful for insights into 12-step programs and their approach to addiction, perhaps best for a community group discussion.

Familia conoce a mujer que recibió corazón de hija con VIH

Shaffrey describes the life of a woman, Brittany Newton, who suffered from a heroin addiction and died when she was 30 years old. She was also HIV-positive–for many years, doctors have transplanted organs from one HIV-positive person to another. This happened in the case of Brittany’s donated heart, and Brittany’s family was able to hear her heart beating in Maria’s, the transplant recipient’s, chest. 5 minute read, appropriate for upper intermediate Spanish learners.

La historia de Bill

This CDC-based cautionary tale about the dangers of smoking involves a Michigan man who was diagnosed with diabetes as a child. It stresses how angry Bill is to have accepted the first cigarette as a teenager, given the complications for diabetes caused by smoking. At 37, he lost sight in his left eye and later had kidney failure. Two years later his leg was amputated due to poor circulation, which motivated him to quit smoking. He nonetheless died of cardiac disease at age 42. A 5-7 minute read for intermediate level Spanish speakers – written in simple past tenses – it leans heavily into the cautionary tale of not smoking. It also gives vivid details of how much worse smoking is for diabetics, giving a starting point for discussion of both smoking and diabetes. Usable in mid-level medical Spanish courses, composition or conversation; stylistically might not be very compelling as a health narrative.

The CDC website where this written narrative is posted also offers an English translation and biography of Bill.

Maldita Depresion

This poem (~30 lines) describes depression from the inside, emphasizing the writer’s frustration that her depression is impacting her writing. She describes her feelings by saying that the world is cold, but she doesn’t have a coat. She wants to feel the world’s beauty, but she doesn’t see any heart or soul in the world around her. She finishes the poem wondering if she will wake up tomorrow. The poem is constructed around concrete imagery that makes it accessible to intermediate Spanish readers and above. It could be a useful writing prompt or discussion starter in poetry, composition or conversation courses, as well as storytelling groups or workshops.

Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life.

A critical care/palliative care specialist describes hard cases at the end of life, admitting times when she has been unclear about how to advise families making difficult decisions about taking loved ones off of what she describes as the “end of life conveyor belt” of extreme measures seen in emergency rooms. From NYT book review: “Medical training fosters a heroic model of saving lives at any cost. American can-do optimism assumes all problems can and should be solved. Both doctors and patients tend to subscribe to a ‘more is better’ philosophy. If technology exists, surely it should be used. Physicians’ fears of litigation plays a part, as do patients’ fantasies of perpetual life. For too many, death remains unthinkable and unspeakable.” A 25-minute documentary that features her and shows some of these kinds of conversations is available on Netflix (“Extremis,” 2016)

Creative writing as a medical instrument

“Writing stories can create better doctors.” Baruch is convinced that narrative medicine – focusing on close reading – isn’t enough to prepare physicians to deal with ambiguities, confusions and conflicts inherent in medical practice. He urges teaching them to write stories so they can hear their patients’ stories better. References and describes courses he has taught (one with an MFA creative writer) to teach medical students about characters, conflict, selecting key details … storytelling elements often emphasized in creative writing. The goal is to encourage them to struggle with words on the screen (or page) to prepare to more deeply understand the fragmented, often confusing stories presented by patients. Good preparation for a teacher contemplating a narrative assignment; maybe less so for the students themselves.

The Almost Right Word: The Move From Medical to Health Humanities.

Concise summary of the history of medical humanities and how a distinct understanding of health humanities (using disability studies as an example, emphasizing how much of living with disabilities does not happen in medical contexts) contributes to analyzing and understanding human factors in health. Useful as background for undergraduate courses; expanding conversation for pre-health and health professional students.

Mi vida con Sida: La historia de Carolina

Details a young Chilean woman’s experience with AIDS. Her first symptoms were a severe pneumonia and first diagnosis was depression; finally tested positive for AIDS. Details both the stigma of having AIDS and the often supportive reactions from family members. Chilean dialect features may make this otherwise brief, accessible story a stretch for non-native speakers before upper intermediate level. Good example to discuss stigmatized health conditions, misdiagnosis, dealing with family members’ reactions.

Volver a escuchar ha sido un milagro para Gabriela

Gabriela has been working at the Ministry of the Nation in Buenos Aires in her private practice with patients with hearing loss for 20 years. She suffered from measles at the age of 2 and began to lose her hearing soon after. She goes into great detail describing the gradual loss of her abilities and independence, her career change to be a psychologist working with people with hearing loss, and her eventual decision to get a cochlear implant. She emphasizes her will and determination to overcome any goal that life puts before her. A story in question/answer form, about 2 pages, suitable for discussions of Deaf Culture or ways of coping with progressive disability.