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September 30, 2021
2021
Yvette Perry
Re-set

"I grew from the experience – though I think it aged me 10 years!" This is how a resident described a turning point with a specific patient when he recognized how burned out he was.

August 24, 2021
2021
Elle Klassen
Words of Silver

Although he had been through many stressful experiences in his life and recently, he always held onto his positive outlook. He took particular care to use words intentionally, paying attention to their connotations, so that his positivity extended to those that he interacted with as well.

February 4, 2021
2019
Ravenna Raven
In the Cath Lab

“I’ve always loved hearts,” she said. She was a cardiac nurse who had been drawn to a job in the catheterization laboratory. “It’s so rare to have an opportunity to immediately do something good for somebody, but it happens often in the cath lab,” she told me.

October 13, 2020
2020
Frankie Abralind
PPE

She was tired after working twelve straight days on her current rotation. It was her third year of medical school, and she was already feeling burnt out. “I have five more years like this,” she said. “My sister tells me, ‘Keep pushing, you can get through it,’ but I don’t know if I can.”

August 24, 2020
2020
Jenny Hegland
Skin

He had been thinking a lot about race over the past several months. He’s a White man with two children: a 20-year-old biological son who is White, and an 18-year-old adopted daughter who is Black.

Ravenna Raven
May 29, 2025
2024

What You Will Call Me

Ravenna Raven
May 29, 2025
2024

What does it mean for people living with Sickle Cell Disease to be seen, heard, and understood? For this person, it meant finding – and using – her voice to advocate for herself and for others.

Tagged: Yvette Perry, Patients

Ravenna Raven
May 1, 2025
2025

The Beacon

Ravenna Raven
May 1, 2025
2025

“I’ve experienced a lot of big losses,” she said, referencing the passing of a grandfather and two uncles who did not survive their cancer diagnoses. “There were others too.”

Tagged: Healthcare Staff, American Cancer Society, Geva Thole

Ravenna Raven
March 31, 2025
2025

Hidden Figures

Ravenna Raven
March 31, 2025
2025

Professionally, Lacks’ story represents for her the need to critically examine our research infrastructure generally. “We need to pay more attention to the sustainability of research,” she explained. “Private companies benefit from publicly-funded research without a requirement to give back to ensure the viability of future research.”

Tagged: Healthcare Staff, Yvette Perry, Cedars-Sinai 2025

Ravenna Raven
February 27, 2025
2025

Mirror Talk

Ravenna Raven
February 27, 2025
2025

“The fact of my life is a miracle,” she told me. Living with multiple chronic illnesses, this patient spoke to me of her journey with alopecia. Of how, in witnessing her body transformed by the condition, she continues to move at once through grief and reclamation.

Tagged: Patients, Gray Davidson Carroll

Ravenna Raven
January 30, 2025
2024

Relationships Are Hard (Especially with Doctors)

Ravenna Raven
January 30, 2025
2024

“I can’t see a future outside of our relationship,” she tells me, “but I also can’t see a future outside of residency.”

Tagged: Healthcare Staff, Leigh Finnegan-Hosey, CLP Practicum Poems

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
December 9, 2024
2024

Rooted

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
December 9, 2024
2024

“I always believe, no matter what the doctor says, that I will be cured,” she says as her sister sits next to her.

Tagged: Joseph Jablonski, Inova Schar Cancer Institute, Patients

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
November 14, 2024
2024

Everyday

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
November 14, 2024
2024

“I was at a crossroads about what to do with the rest of my life.”

Tagged: Elizabeth Pringle, American Cancer Society, Healthcare Staff

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
October 2, 2024
2024

Prayer for Peace

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
October 2, 2024
2024

For many years, this patient has avoided confrontation in pursuit of peace.

Tagged: Inova Schar Cancer Institute, Joseph Jablonski, Patients

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 28, 2024
2023

The Mind is a Rabbit Making Warrens of its Grief

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 28, 2024
2023

“I wonder if these medical professionals, in caring for people who face such insurmountable odds, walk around all the time carrying this weight I’m hauling now.”

Tagged: CLP Practicum Poems, Communities, Moriah Cohen

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 27, 2024
2024

Just Maybe

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 27, 2024
2024

His empathy only reminded him that he could not help those in pain.

Tagged: CLP Practicum Poems, Communities, Chidube Nkiruka

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 27, 2024
2021

Kunal’s Kavita

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 27, 2024
2021

He had been trying to cope with the grief ever since and was on a quest for soul-searching and meaning-making.

Tagged: CLP Practicum Poems, Communities, Sailaja Devaguptapu

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 27, 2024
2024

Tinder

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 27, 2024
2024

She spoke about the ways this traumatic event shaped who she is today: a person with an “unshakeable peace” born of deep faith,

Tagged: CLP Practicum Poems, Communities, Kami Bevington

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 27, 2024
2022

Caterpillar? No, Butterfly

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 27, 2024
2022

"I don’t know what I’m doing,” but this time, she admonished the negative self-talk.

Tagged: D'ete Blackshire, CLP Practicum Poems, Communities

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 10, 2024
2024

Crab Shell

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 10, 2024
2024

She wanted to help people feel comfortable and transform the shame around colon issues. "I want to talk about things that matter, the things people don't want to discuss.

Tagged: D'ete Blackshire, KNN, Healthcare Staff

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 10, 2024
2024

Bedside

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 10, 2024
2024

"Death, in many ways, ignites new life for the ones left behind."

Tagged: D'ete Blackshire, KNN, Healthcare Staff

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 10, 2024
2024

A Good View

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 10, 2024
2024

When we met, she was coming off a stretch of nine 14-hour shifts. She was tired but in good spirits.

Tagged: D'ete Blackshire, KNN, Healthcare Staff

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 10, 2024
2024

A Mere Flutter

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
September 10, 2024
2024

Residency was challenging, and there were times when it felt chaotic.

Tagged: D'ete Blackshire, KNN, Healthcare Staff

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
August 30, 2024
2023

High Notes

D'ete Blackshire {TGLP}
August 30, 2024
2023

She reflected on how her resilience was born from moments of shared mirth amid life's trying chapters.

Tagged: Communities, D'ete Blackshire

Jenny Hegland
July 29, 2024
2023

Digging In

Jenny Hegland
July 29, 2024
2023

“Life is complex and dirty, but digging in is important to me,” she said. “Maybe if more of us understood history, we could understand each other better.”

Tagged: Jenny Hegland, American Academy of Hospice & Palliative Care (AAHPM), Healthcare Staff

Guest User
June 18, 2024
2022

Seams

Guest User
June 18, 2024
2022

We are expected to research, contribute to scholarship,  earn grants – all on our own time.

Tagged: CLP Practicum Poems, Matt McBride

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Photos courtesy of Jeff Krentel Photography, Deborah Raven, A Byrdseye Photo, and Brendan Bush for The Mayo Clinic.

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