The Art of Resilience: Reimagining the Future of Healthcare

The Art of Resilience: Reimagining the Future of Compassionate Healthcare
Featuring: Dr. Jillian Horton, Dr. Ronald Epstein, and Molly Peacock
Hosted by Dr. Shannon Arntfield
16 November 2021, 7PM

COVID-19 has transformed our relationship to global public health and placed considerable stress on our healthcare systems, forcing us all to reconsider our collective response to isolation, illness, and human suffering. Though we all rely on doctors and healthcare workers to put us back together when we fall ill, the recent crisis has intensified the pressures of medical life, including the exhaustion of long hours, the loneliness of coronavirus illness and death, and the potential for burnout. The seemingly overwhelming complexities of our current moment call for us to rethink our approach to compassionate care and to listen to the stories of those caring for others as well as themselves. 

To engage with these challenges, we have invited a group of dynamic speakers to reflect on their lived experience and to share their expertise and creative work. Dr. Jillian Horton is a medical educator, writer, musician, and podcaster whose new book, We Are All Perfectly Fine, sheds light on the flawed system that shapes medical professionals and offers lessons on the power of mindfulness. Dr. Ron Epstein is a leading authority on communication and mindful practice in medicine and on patient-centered care. He's the author of Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity, the first book for the general public about mindfulness in medical practice. Molly Peacock is a distinguished poet, biographer, and essayist whose recent book of poetry, The Analyst, tells the story of a decades-long patient-therapist relationship that now reverses and continues to evolve after the therapist suffers a stroke and turns to painting. In radiant images, The Analyst describes the state of ambiguous loss (where a loved and respected person is still alive, but no longer the same) and celebrates the restorative process of painting. 

Our host and moderator will be Dr. Shannon Arntfield, who is an associate professor at Western University where she works as a clinician-educator in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She applies her background in Narrative Medicine in her approach to education at the Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels, where she leads a teaching series involving narrative and reflection for ob/gyn residents.