Healthcare is Human
Since 2020, Healthcare is Human (HIH) has been telling authentic healthcare stories.
Dr. Ryan McCarthy created HIH in Martinsburg, WV, to give voice to individuals who were under-represented as the Covid-19 pandemic began. Since then, HIH has grown exponentially and is now a complex narrative medicine initiative. Writer, poet, and narrative medicine expert Renée K. Nicholson co-hosts the podcast.
Molly Humphreys, native of Shepherdstown, WV, photographer on the project, has captured hundred of images of healthcare workers in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Visit HIH on Facebook and Instagram to see these incredible photos . Molly's world class portfolio can be found by searching for Piccadilly Posh.
Kym Mattioli produces the podcast.
HIH is supported by grants from the West Virginia Humanities Council, WVU Foundation, and generous donors across West Virginia.
Our first exhibit "Wild, Wonderful and Brave: Fighting the Pandemic in the Eastern Panhandle" ran at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, VA, from June 2022-June 2023.
Our most recent exhibit was in the Pylons Commons at the Robert C. Byrd Health Science Center in Morgantown, WV, feom September 2023 through June 2024. Dozens of the best photographs were featured alongside poetry by Marc Harshman, Torli Bush, Renée K. Nicholson, and Randi Ward. Our companion film, HEALTHCARE IS HUMAN, directed by Corwyn “Cory” Garman, can be viewed inside the William A. Neal Museum.
Original music for our films and museum exhibitions is composed by Robert Sears and Jared Sims. Isaac McCarthy plays the banjo on the podcast.
Healthcare is Human has been featured in 100 Days in Appalachia, West Virginia Public Radio, Synapsis, INSider, KevinMD, and the Gold Foundation.
A book is in development as is HIH curricula at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. HIH is a signature program of the WVU Internal Medicine Residency at the Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg, WV.
Find us on TED.com to hear our origin story.
Healthcare is Human
Dr. Urooj Fatima - Making Biryani in West Virginia
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In this episode we meet Dr. Urooj Fatima, a native of Pakistan and first-year internal medicine resident at the Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia. During her first month of residency, Fatima participated in a cooking class on the Eastern Campus of the West Virginia University School of Medicine as a part of the Culinary and Lifestyle Medicine Track. Working alongside medical students and family medicine residents, she helped prepare meals appropriate for patients undergoing bariatric surgery. The cooking was facilitated by a chef and paired with lectures from diabetes experts and bariatric surgeons in a day of hands-on learning at the Erma Byrd Health Professions Education Center.
While she was cooking, hosts Renée K. Nicholson and Ryan McCarthy spoke with Fatima about a dish at the heart of Pakistani cuisine.
“Biryani is important to us in Pakistan and we have it on every special occasion. You marinate meat in yogurt and cut up onions and tomatoes–lots of tomatoes! And you then cook the onions and tomatoes together while you boil the rice. Then, you create layers, one of meat, one of rice, over and over again. Then, it goes in the oven on a slow temperature, creating a meat and rice layered cake. It’s spicy.”
Fatima also shared how her love of food helps shape her medical practice. “You have to be culturally relevant, understanding patients, their needs, their home. When we speak to patients, we need to understand where they are coming from.” She also shared, “I really like mysteries, stories, novels–these are my things. In medicine, I love puzzle solving,” which prompted Nicholson to respond, “With you and your patient, it's a co-constructed mystery. ”
Healthcare is Human is created by Ryan McCarthy and is a signature program of the Berkeley Medical Center Internal Medicine Residency in Martinsburg, WV, https://medicine.wvu.edu/internal-medicine-eastern-division/residency/
This podcast is engineered by Kym Mattioli.
Visit Healthcare is Human on Facebook and Instagram to see incredible photography by Molly Humphreys, native of Shepherdstown, WV. Find more of her world-class portfolio on Piccadilly Posh Photography https://www.instagram.com/piccadillyposh?igsh=Nm02YXlmdG1vZTJx
Learn more about Renée K. Nicholson, her poetry, prose, and other projects by visiting http://www.reneenicholson.com/
Healthcare is Human is supported by the West Virginia Humanities Council, WVU Medicine, WVU Foundation, Freedom’s Run Foundation, and generous donors in our community.
Isaac McCarthy (PhD candidate, Ohio State University) plays the banjo to open and close the show. https://music.osu.edu/people/mccarthy.851
Healthcare is Human is featured on TED.com; KevinMD; Synapsis; The Gold Foundation; Narrative Mindworks; West Virginia Public Broadcasting; 100 Days in Appalachia; American Public Health Association; and Academy for Professionalism in Health Care, amongst others.
#healthcareishuman
Be sure to visit Healthcare is Human on Facebook and Instagram. If you have a great idea for a podcast, we would love to hear from you.
