Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Illinois

  • Trying to conceive: Royal fertility issues in Renaissance times

    Julius P. Bonello Peoria, Illinois, United States Photos by Julius Bonello Dynasties beget legacies. An enduring legacy is important to all great leaders. However, dynasties need time—time to accomplish major national objectives or memorable feats. Today that is why our elected officials, to pass on a lasting legacy, spend much of their time campaigning for…

  • The history and mystery of cupping

    Mariel Tishma Chicago, Illinois, United States   Peasant Spa of Krapinske Toplice, Yugoslavia. Where ancient method of cupping using cow horns is practised. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY Maybe your chest hurts from coughing, or maybe your muscles ache. Maybe you feel sluggish and anxious, worn out, and not sure why. There is a treatment, some…

  • Where the unusual was usual: The Cook County Hospital blood bank

    Jayant RadhakrishnanChicago, Illinois, United States There are those who claim that the first blood collection and transfusion services were started by Percy Oliver of the Camberwell Division of the British Red Cross in 19211 and not by Dr. Bernard Fantus at the Cook County Hospital, Chicago in 1937. However, everyone agrees that the term “Blood…

  • History repeated: child abuse in the United States

    Joseph deBettencourt Chicago, Illinois, United States   U.S. Border Patrol agents conduct intake of illegal border crossers at the Central Processing Center in McAllen, Texas, Sunday, June 17, 2018. Q: Did you see any place for this child to sleep in? A: No, Sir, except in one corner. The child told me she slept up…

  • Alice Hamilton: Physician and scientist of the dangerous trades

    Anne Jacobson Oak Park, Illinois, United States   Alice Hamilton in 1919 It is a gritty, frozen day in winter-weary Chicago, one that does little to inspire action; perhaps least of all a frigid walk around the salty, potholed neighborhood. In a month or two a lunchtime walk would be a welcome idea; university students…

  • Michael Reese Hospital – Beginnings

    Excerpts from the book All Our Lives: A Centennial History of Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center, 1881-1981, Sarah Gordon, ed. The first Michael Reese Hospital opened in 1881 at 29th Street and Groveland Park Avenue (renamed Ellis Avenue) in Chicago, at a cost of $60,000 donated from a charitable fund derived from the will of Michael…

  • Normal – Hang in There – The Monster and other work

    Monika Filipiak Peszek   About two years after my daughter was born, I was depressed. I didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything. I could feel myself growing heavier and heavier, and angrier and angrier. I was mad at my husband all the time. I blamed him for the way I was feeling. I…