The Power of Positive Thinking

This week we have been learning about movement disorders in our neurology module. We've had patient interview almost every day, which has been great. The patients we had with Huntington's Disease and Multiple Sclerosis particularly impressed me. What stood out about them was not their severe, lifespan-shortening disease, but rather their positive outlook on life. Seeing these patients struggle to walk and move and describe their cognitive decline is difficult. It makes me sad for them, and I think about the struggle they and their family must go through. Yet, both of them were happy.

The multiple sclerosis patient was jovial and joked around with us during the interview, making fun of his doctor from New Jersey with a few Jersey jokes. "Did you ever notice the Statue of Liberty is facing AWAY from New Jersey?" and "Did you know they charge a toll to go out of New Jersey to New York, but there is no toll to go in?" At the end, he simply stated "There are people worse off than me. There are people going to bed starving every night. I think I'm ok."

The Huntington's disease patient described the judgement she encountered at the National Huntington's conference about having a child, and she said "I have ENJOYED my life." ...even having Huntington's.

I have so much admiration for these patients. I don't know if I would be able to keep a positive outlook if faced with such an incredible challenge.

"17 Degrees Ain't Nothing"

I am part of the planning committee for Homelessness & Healthcare Week that is happening this week at Emory. Last night was our first event -- a documentary screening of "17 Degrees Ain't Nothing" followed by a discussion with the filmaker and formerly homeless individuals. The documentary is about a group of homeless individuals living in an abandoned warehouse in Atlanta.

There are so many misconceptions and stereotypes about homelessness, and when we asked the formerly homeless men what they wanted us to take from the discussion -- they said to approach every homeless individual with an open mind, without stereotyping them first.

There are so many different reasons why people become homeless. For example, when I asked Joe* how he had become homeless, he proceeded to tell the audience the incredibly moving story of his life leading to homelessness. Joe was a proud, productive entrepreneur. He had just launched his own business when he had a debilitating stroke. He unfortunately didn't have health insurance and his hospital bills cost him his life savings. At the time, Joe had been in a relationship with a women for 15 years. They had a son together. After Joe's stroke, his partner started becoming verbally and physically abusive. As his caregiver, she would neglect Joe. He couldn't go to the bathroom by himself, and she would just leave him. Joe struggled with this because he knew he was in a bad situation, but he didn't want to abandon his son. After several years of the abuse, Joe knew he couldn't live there anymore, and he decided to leave even if it meant becoming homeless. Joe didn't have anything and he didn't know anything about living on the streets -- there is no guidebook to being homeless. It can happen to anyone.

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Day 2

Today we had a lunch time discussion about mental illness in the homeless population. As an introduction to the issue of homelessness, the lecturer presented some video/audio clips of how homeless individuals are treated in our society. There was the video of the "bum hunter," a spoof of the crocodile hunter where a man would sneak up on homeless people, tie them down, and try and force them to fight each other. He was doing this to other HUMAN BEINGS. What has our society come to that people think this is ok? Another homeless man on NPR talked about how "Friday nights were the worst nights to be homeless" because drunk teenage boys would pee on him, beat him up, and treat him like trash.

It just really saddens me that people would treat other human beings as less than human. They might have made mistakes to end up homeless or maybe just landed in a really unfortunate situation like Joe, but they are still people who should be treated with compassion and respect.

*Name changed