Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: gratitude

  • Aunty Felicia

    Boma SomiariPort Harcourt, Nigeria I can’t stand blood. So my goal was to stay as far as I could from hospitals and all they come with. But then change came to me when Aunty Felicia came to my village with a missionary organization that chose medicine and science as the medium for their message. As…

  • Best friends for never

    Ariya MobarakiPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States I stand looking over you, Wishing I could turn back time. Wondering what wisdom you would give me, Back in your prime. You opened yourself up to me, In a way that most of my friends cannot. A part of you that was intrinsic to your life, Means more to…

  • Burnout: Are we looking at it through the wrong lens?

    Elizabeth CerceoCamden, New Jersey, United States The epidemic of burnout seems to afflict ever more populations as it insidiously creeps into the workplace of everyone from nurses to teachers, from medical students to seasoned clinicians, from Amazon to Apple. As physicians, we are trained to identify a condition, make a diagnosis, and prescribe a treatment.…

  • Notre Dame and gratitude

    Elizabeth CerceoCamden, New Jersey, United States On April 15, 2019, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris burned. This event highlighted the integral nature of art and beauty in our culture. We often take for granted the beauty that surrounds us and stands as a connection to our past. I was in Paris years ago and went…

  • Gifts of gratitude

    Henry BairPalo Alto, California, United States “It’s for you,” the old man said when his niece tried to hand Dr. Alba the large wrapped package. It was a gesture I was familiar with, though Dr. Alba looked puzzled. “These scratchy hospital blankets made me think of this,” the patient, Clark, continued. “It’s a good blanket;…

  • She was even in love with you

    Stewart MassadSt. Louis, Missouri, USA Francis Delisle was coming out of Bard’s TrueValue Hardware with ant bait in a paper bag when he saw Marty Van Etten coming up Main Street. Marty’s wife Anne had died at winter’s end, only forty-seven, from glioblastoma, after surgery in Baltimore, radiation in New Haven, chemotherapy in New York.…

  • Saying thank you

    Robert FolbergRochester, Michigan, USA From the commencement address to graduates of the University of Illinois-Chicago College of Medicine on May 6, 2016 It seems to me that members of the medical profession should practice expressing gratitude as often as possible. After all, gratitude may be an effective antidote to arrogance: it is difficult to be…