Emily Harris, BC ’14, is an English major and enthusiastic member of the Athena Scholars Program. For her social action project, which will meaningfully culminate her dedication to leadership at Barnard, she created the writing workshop series Breathe in honor of patients recovering in New York City burn units. Though she is still in the process of reaching out to specific hospitals to arrange workshop times, she asks that anyone interested in participating email her at ejh2159@barnard.edu.
Where did you find inspiration for “Breathe?”
In 2010, I was in a car accident that left 10% of my body covered in 3rd degree burns. Luckily, I was treated at New York Presbyterian Hospital, one of the best burn units in the country, after some negative experiences with doctors unsure as to how to treat me. While in the hospital I wrote a short story about my experience during my two-week stay, including narratives about the healthcare professionals attending to me and a narrative about my own experience of the pain and recovery. I have since been inspired to find a way to give back to the hospital that treated me, and to burn patients in general who do not always have the words to express the feelings that accompany their unique injuries and bodily changes.
How has your Barnard career helped shape and narrow down your interest in Narrative Medicine?
Interested in creative writing since a young age, I began taking classes through Barnard’s English department beginning my freshman year. In one class, my professor, Timea Szell, explained to us that there was an emerging field called Narrative Medicine and that the grassroots program had begun at Columbia. Narrative medicine is essentially the act of constructing a narrative from contraction, to treatment, to recovery when a patient is diagnosed with an illness or disease or has an injury. The end goal is to provide health practitioners with a clear and concise explanation of the patient’s experience so as to better improve their healthcare and pain management. It also provides an avenue of emotional expression for the patient, something psychologically proven to aid in recovery and to alleviate the stress that accompanies a disease, illness, or injury.
Do you think more students participating in the Athena Scholars program should draw ideas from first-hand past experiences, especially those which are difficult?
Yes. An essential component of the Athena Scholar’s Social Action project is that our ideas come from a meaningful place and aim to improve the standard of living for a certain demographic. I believe that having a personal story behind the project enables greater insight to the difficulties of the demographic being served, lending a certain sympathy that can be exchanged through shared stories. However, I don’t believe a personal story is necessary – there are many wonderful social actions in progress that have been established out of the Athena Scholar’s personal concern for improvement in a field, such as technology or healthcare, without there being personal relevance. Their work should not be undermined.
What steps should students who are interested in participating in your workshops take at this point to get involved?
If you have an interest in being a volunteer for Breathe, please email me at ejh2159@barnard.edu with your name, email, and reasons for wanting to volunteer. We are looking for 10 volunteers to participate in one training day and two volunteer days at a burn unit in New York City (Manhattan). I anticipate this to be a very rewarding experience for all who are involved!
Have there been any unexpected roadblocks along the way?
Yes. It is a difficult process getting approval from burn units to have a new program implemented into their centers that hasn’t had a record of establishment over the years. As a college student unattached to an outside organization, partnering with a hospital comes with a lot of preparation. We need to prove to the hospitals that we are volunteers who are both intellectually and psychologically prepared to deal with patients with serious injuries – that we will respect their boundaries, their injuries, and their stories. There is a lot of trust being endowed to the volunteers.
Depending on how the workshops go, can you see yourself keeping in touch with the burn victims you meet in the future?
Perhaps. Many burn patients go on to recovery through programs outside of the burn units, through regular visits to their family doctors and specialists. Their contact with the hospital decreases exponentially over time. We are also not asking for their contact information – this program is intended to provide an avenue of holistic recovery that is needed while the injury is still being treated, rather than a long-term relationship with the patients.