Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Above Water, Vania Arboleda

be Still

After a trial and error period, I understood that balance is not about absolute control but of continuous inspiration.

ABOVE WATER represents my balancing act during my first year in medical school while going through the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been hard not to lose pieces of myself in these tumultuous times, especially when there is so much to learn and so little time. I turned to my loved ones to bring me light and joy. To be those shades of color that I had lost. I painted ABOVE WATER as a reminder of how I got here and why …

Balance, Nafisa Choudhury

be Still

As the COVID-19 pandemic grew into a frightening monster to be reckoned with, medical professionals throughout the world had to address a question within themselves: where does the balance lie between our duty to heal and our personal obligations for our individual health and safety?

As personal protective equipment shortages, long work hours, and hospital overflow wreaked havoc on the medical systems nationwide, doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel were plunged into uncertainty and were almost wholly unsupported in this ethical dilemma. Our duty to treat and our obligation to treat the community around us does not often directly conflict …

The Shortcomings Of Support: A 2020 Meta-Reflection, Emily Abellon

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

This reflective essay explores the shortcoming of social support experienced in 2020, through the navigation of the pandemic, becoming a mother, and through progressing in a doctoral program. Through this meta-reflection, social support is discussed, specifically in regard to new motherhood, the challenges of enacting it during a pandemic, and how the practice of self-compassion needs to be normalized and can provide aid in times when support is lacking. The argument is made for further research and education on social support to be done to better prepare for challenges and obstacles that people of all backgrounds, from all industries and …

Sewing Self-Efficacy: Images Of Women’S Mask-Making In Appalachia During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Melanie B. Richards Phd, Mildred F. Perreault Phd

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

“I could get out my sewing machine and do something to make a difference.”- Gwen

In the early days of March 2020, news regarding COVID-19 spread in hushed tones throughout medical offices and church hallways in small cities and towns in the Appalachian Region of the United States. Although case numbers were quickly rising in major U.S. metropolitan areas, the virus was just becoming a known risk in Appalachia. During this time, Appalachian women gathered information about prevention efforts, and quickly acted using what resources they could access to provide homemade masks for themselves, their families, and their communities. …

The Third Plague Pandemic And British India: A Transformation Of Science, Policy, And Indian Society, Rebecca L. Burrows

Tenor of Our Times

This paper seeks to understand the role of the Third Plague Pandemic's overwhelming devastation in colonial India, specifically through the new advancements in scientific understanding, unheard of proactive prevention measures, and increased separation between the colonial powers of Great Britain and the common people of India.

Aching For Sacred Spaces, Arjun Mann

Akesis

This image was made in early 2021, inside a local cafe that was operating takeout-only. It is a space that is very dear to me, one in which I spent countless hours (pre-pandemic) studying and reading, rejuvenating and relaxing with friends.

Recently, as I browsed books while waiting for a latte to-go, this scene caught my eye. The warm light pouring in through a large window fell over my favorite table, marked as "unavailable" by the chairs perched upon it. It would remain, understandably, unavailable for months to come. I was reminded, as I so often am these days, of …