conversations about medicine and life
We publish a range of perspectives on health and wellbeing, especially reflective or creative work which fleshes out the biomedical version of illness and disability.
Annette Rose
It is 22 February 2011 and my hometown of Christchurch has been unearthed by a series of devastating earthquakes. I have an idea for helping Cantabrian youngsters make sense of strange events: a ‘debrief and development’ mask-making project in schools.
Here is a hint at what the quake kids saw with their terror-blinded eyes, not only a tour de force but also a tour de face… [Read more…] about Tour de face: making masks in a landscape of ruin
Dr Jill McIlraith
In the realm of angels and miracles, a schnoodle would seem an unlikely heroine.
But making grief bearable, helping a 68 year old lady fall in love again and bringing a family together is all in a day’s work for Maisie, a schnauzer-poodle bundle of cuddles and energy.
Dr Barbara Brookes
Sue Wootton
The language of the body is amazing… I couldn’t hear it but the physiotherapist could.” Jenny Powell
Like the ‘disembodied lady’ described by Oliver Sacks, poet and teacher Jenny Powell has lived her life without a sense of body. Confused and frustrated by her inability to feel connected to her joints and her movements, she started to investigate, piecing together a comprehensive picture of her condition. The result is a fascinating and informative book: The Case of the Missing Body (Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2016)
Dr Rae Varcoe was a Leukaemia and Lymphoma Physician at Auckland Hospital for 30 years. She has been a poetry reader for much longer and began writing verse at Victoria University’s inaugural MA class in 1997. Poetry has been one of the buttresses of her life in medicine.[Read more…] about “I give you my guessing tubes”: 4 poems by Rae Varcoe
Dr Joe Baker
All you need to know about General Practice can be learnt from reading Austen.”
So said Anne, my GP training supervisor. Needless to say when it came to the final exam I fared poorly with the medical emergencies, although I did better with those patients who had complex interpersonal relationship problems.
