Corpus - conversations about medicine and life

‘Family History’: poems by Johanna Emeney

21 August 2017 Leave a Comment

Johanna Emeney

It’s poetry week in New Zealand, in the run-up to National Poetry Day on Friday 25 August. Here Auckland poet Johanna Emeney talks about the writing of her second poetry collection, Family History, which contains poetry written in response to her mother’s illness. Many of Emeney’s poems in this collection document the behaviour and language of healthcare professionals, and the impact of that on the quality of care received.

Family History grew from the creative component of my PhD. My thesis was essentially a study of autobiographical medical poetry written from the points of view of doctors, patients, carers and parents.

I knew that I wanted to explore constructs of identity and family in my own collection – how they are affected by illness and medical treatment. I also knew that I wanted to write about how it felt to be close to someone who was not being well cared for by medical professionals, and conversely, how it felt when a person in a healthcare role acted compassionately. In particular, I wanted to highlight how important the job of anyone in healthcare is, whether that person is a physician, hospital nurse, district nurse or liaison officer. Their warmth or coolness, their dedication or dispassion, makes a huge difference to the experience of the patient and his or her family.

Sex education in schools: a student’s view

21 August 2017 5 Comments

Molly Wootton

I am 17, and lucky enough to have been brought up in a household where sex education was readily available. When I asked where babies came from I didn’t get some long-winded story about a stork, or a cabbage patch. I got the truth. This openness meant that I didn’t have to rely on puberty education at intermediate, or sex education at high school, but the fact is that our education system is many students’ only resource for learning about sex and our ever-changing bodies. However this power is not fully utilised. The curriculum still tends to shy away from some important aspects of sex education.

Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink

21 August 2017 Leave a Comment

Barbara Brookes

Water everywhere but not a drop to drink – this is how it was last week in North Dunedin after an unfortunate incident when an old unclosed pipe led to possible contamination of the treated water supply with untreated water. Those cups of coffee we’ve all come to rely on were unavailable. The hospital, residential colleges, food suppliers and local households were thrown into disarray. Where to eat lunch safely became an important question around the university. After an exceedingly wet winter, just when we hoped the rain would stop and make the grass less muddy, all of a sudden we were gasping for clean water.

We were grateful that the Dunedin City Council moved quickly to avert the kind of catastrophe that occurred in Havelock North in August 2016 where over 5000 people became violently ill with campylobacter because of contaminated water. A general complacency about the safety of drinking water was well and truly shaken by that event. So when and how did Dunedin water become safe?

Fictional doctors

14 August 2017 1 Comment

John Hale

Historically, plays, then novels, treated medical doctors as stock characters, often quacks or figures of fun, as in the Commedia dell’ Arte. Similarly, in Wycherley’s 1675 Restoration comedy, The Country Wife, the doctor serves as a device for the audience to be in the know, about Horner’s camouflage as a eunuch.

And Macbeth, telling the Doctor about his wife’s condition, understands it better than the doctor does:

that perilous stuff that weighs about the heart.

[Read more…] about Fictional doctors

Doctor on the ice: Louis Hauiti Potaka in the Antarctic

14 August 2017 2 Comments

Barbara Brookes

Accompanying Admiral William Byrd’s second expedition to the Antarctic in 1934, Dr Guy Shirey reached the Bay of Whales and decided that he could not go on. Faced with this news, Byrd immediately sent out a flurry of telegrams seeking a replacement. He contacted his agent in Wellington and was told that few doctors were willing to come forward. Those who had expressed interest wanted higher salaries. There was, however, one applicant from Nelson. The telegram continued:

THOROUGHLY CAPABLE MAN HIGHLY RECOMMENDED STOP BUT HE IS ONE THIRD MAORI IN BLOOD WOULD THIS DISQUALIFY HIS FEE ALSO 350 POUNDS.

A rhinestone cowboy in the waiting room

14 August 2017 6 Comments

Sue Wootton

From memory, for memory, and in memory.

I used to have a physiotherapy clinic in central Dunedin. One Friday evening I farewelled my final patient and began to tidy up before heading home. It had been a busy week and I was exhausted. Already mentally off-duty, I wandered into the waiting room to stack the magazines, and to my surprise and annoyance found two men sitting there. In an American drawl, one of them said, “My friend here needs an appointment.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, “but the clinic is closed.”

The man persisted. “This is very important,” he said. “He needs an appointment now.”

I glanced at the friend. He was certainly holding himself rigidly, as if in pain. But the very idea of treating one more patient that day was too much for me. “I’m sorry,” I repeated, “but I am closing now.”

The man amped up his appeal. It’s urgent; it’s necessary; it has to be done and you have to do it.