Sydney Lewis
Auteur van Hospital: An Oral History of Cook County Hospital
Over de Auteur
Sydney Lewis is the author of "A Totally Alien Life Form": Teenagers and Hospital: An Oral History of Cook County Hospital She lives in Chicago.
Werken van Sydney Lewis
Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Geboortedatum
- 20th c CE
- Geslacht
- female
- Land (voor op de kaart)
- USA
- Woonplaatsen
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Prijzen en onderscheidingen
- National Medal of Arts (1987)
Leden
Besprekingen
Lijsten
Chicago Books (1)
Prijzen
Statistieken
- Werken
- 4
- Leden
- 71
- Populariteit
- #245,552
- Waardering
- 3.9
- Besprekingen
- 2
- ISBNs
- 6
This book was written as the Clinton administration was working to develop healthcare reform, and there is some discussion of what type of reform might be needed or how changes would affect County. As a public hospital governed by the County Commissioners, Cook County Hospital got little funding but was expected not to turn any patient away; in spite of the EMTALA law, other hospitals routinely turned away patients and told them to go to County. Cook County's patients tended to be poor, with the attendant illnesses associated with poverty. Staff and administrators were not confident that any healthcare reform would have a great impact on their hospital; they'd heard too many times that a new building is coming or some other change will take place.
The format of the book is oral history, which in this case means each chapter is a direct quote from a staff member or patient, from environmental services, to security, to nursing, to maintenance, to physicians, with more interviews with physicians and nurses than other areas. Themes that recurred at every level included concerns about the age of the hospital building, poverty, lack of security, the perceived increase in violence inside and outside the hospital, and racial tension in the community and among the staff, as well as the pleasure of doing a job well and feeling that one makes a difference, providing dignity to patients, learning from the mixed cultures that come together at the hospital, and passion for improving healthcare.
Ultimately, this book paints a picture of healthcare in what is almost a war zone. Several of the interviewees mentioned the TV show M*A*S*H, with the alternating camaraderie, conflict, pressure, satisfaction, heartache, futility, and hope that healthcare workers under fire feel. It is clear that we need hospitals like County, who do not turn anyone away, and that these hospitals need support and renewal. I'd be interested to see a follow-up to this book to see where the specific interviewees are now and the current state of Cook County Hospital. I did take a brief peek online to see that it appears to be now part of a large health system with a pretty website and good branding; hopefully the culture, atmosphere, and quality of care have all improved as well.
Overall, this was an interesting read, a little peek into the experiences of a select few staff at one of the busiest hospitals in the country. It is a reminder that the poor are still with us and that there are people who make it their careers to get in the trenches and try to make lives better, and that we all should take the time to do our jobs with consideration for how our behavior affects those around us.… (meer)