Our Stories
Here’s what’s happening on in our corner of Narrative Medicine. What’s going on in yours? Drop us a line and let us know!
Dreams
I am a terrible story-teller, by dinner party definition. Small talk can spiral out of control. Lovely weather we’re having. Blue was the first color to be synthetically produced. The 9/11 Commission Report opens with “dawned temperate and nearly cloudless in the eastern United States.” The World Meteorological Organization publishes the International Cloud Atlas. In…
What is your narrative medicine?
This is the first in a series of discussions with health professionals who use narrative medicine in their work. Together we hope to answer the question: What is narrative medicine? If you’d like to be included in this conversation, drop us an email! Dr. David Schleich, PhD President Emeritus, National University of Natural Medicine [Portland,…
¡LLAMANDO A TODOS LOS CUENTADORES! ¿Tiene una historia de COVID que contar?
Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative (NWNMC) y Metropolitan Alliance for Common Good (MACG) están encantados de presentar “El Intersticio,” una noche de historias de nuestra comunidad sobre la vida durante la pandemia de COVID. “El Intersticio” es un espacio para que nuestra comunidad puede compartir las historias sobre las relaciones personales que todos tenemos con la…
Pink Purple Orange and Blue
by Hope SasekFebruary 27, 2005 Screaming, squalling, red faced and a fractured clavicle suctioned and rushed to the NICU, six pounds, five ounces of new life measured, named, and cradled in the warmth of the incubator. Twenty-one days later, Hannah came home in mother’s arms and to sleep on father’s chest; nursed, nourished, loved,…
The List: 26 Statements Reflecting Non-Disabled Persons’ Privilege
(Modeled after White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack created by Prof. Peggy McIntosh. The first ten have been taken, with minor adaptations, from her White Privilege article) 1. Most of the time I can, if I wish, arrange to be around people who share my disability status, either disabled or non-disabled. 2. History textbooks include…
“we all make mistakes. If we live in this world…”
Writing from Community of Practice Dr. Cirila Estela Vasquez Guzman shared a raw paragraph she wrote during Ripping the Bandaid Off: Addressing Racism as a Public Health Crisis, led by Leslie Gregory. Read on! Ripping the band-aid off is the moment when you realize you yourself can be biased as well. No one is immune…
Three Hour Glucose Test
I have wished to be silent, to sleep deeply,my body grown large again. Cravingonly the juices – no pulp, no bone.Before, my prayers were always thy will not mine. Now I want only this small life inside. Not in return for anything. The arc of a small arm in blackness, texture of spine. Five vials of drawn blood. I have eaten sugar and…
I am the emotion for this machine
Her eyes blink heavilybeneath a sloppy wigChest rising and fallingHeart beating hardas I touch my sister’s wrist She can’t reactwhen the nurses drag the breathing tubeacross her eye, let it sit tangled in her hair so I wince instead, ask them to be carefulremind them she is my sister I am showing the care they…
RX: A Poetic Act of Resistance and Resilience
What gives us olagaWhat gives us soifua maloloina The rationed insulin The hard pills to swallow Only heal the Physical Pain What prescription Can be written To heal the Trauma We have Survived Our hypertension Is a reflection Of the stress And salty diets forced upon us As our culture was stolen What could I prescribe…
“I can’t breathe.”
These are the devastating words uttered by George Floyd before he was murdered by a white police officer on May 25, 2020. Collectively, our communities and cities are breathing, shouting, and demanding justice for Mr. Floyd and countless other men, women, and children of color before him. At Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative, Black Lives Matter…
Interrupted
Life has been interrupted. I’ve taken on these interruptions, like all of us, wearing different hats. The doctor, mother, wife, daughter, sister, teacher, and friend hats transform my reactions based on the role I inhabit. My responses to the interruptions have been as varied as the roles. I imagine yours have to. There is fear,…
How We Began: Northwest Narrative Medicine Collaborative’s History
In 2014, April Brenneman googled “Portland Narrative Medicine” and found Elizabeth Lahti, the newly appointed director of narrative medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. April, the mother of a cancer survivor, told Elizabeth the story of how one day she pulled her son’s X-rays from the kitchen drawer and started painting over them, using…
Connections in Narrative Medicine
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MedHumChat
medhumchat.com
Narrative Healthcare
narrativehealthcare.net
The Nocturnists
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