March 2008 Newsletter
Back to Main Newsletters Page"... allowing physicians to participate in assisted suicide would cause more harm than good. Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as a healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks."
– Policy statement of the American Medical Association
Have you ever thought about the enormous influence that the medical profession has on the debate over life issues?
At Healing the Culture, we spend a lot of time analyzing the different "agents of influence" that help shape our culture's values, for better or worse. Of course, there are many players - the news media, Hollywood and the entertainment industry, higher education, and the legal profession, to name just a few.
At Healing the Culture, we spend a lot of time analyzing the different "agents of influence" that help shape our culture's values, for better or worse. Of course, there are many players - the news media, Hollywood and the entertainment industry, higher education, and the legal profession, to name just a few.
Dr. Nathanson later converted to the pro-life view, and has written extensively about how abortion advocates in the 1960s worked to suppress the evidence that life begins at conception.
On the brighter side, the American Medical Association and many other physician groups have come out strongly against the legalization of physician-assisted suicide. The fact that physician-assisted suicide has been legalized only in the state of Oregon, and defeated everywhere else, is in no small part due to the opposition of medical groups.
Recognizing the huge importance of the medical profession, Healing the Culture has been involved in a pilot project that trains pre-med students in a philosophy that helps them see the true dignity of their profession. It reminds them that physicians are healers who treat human persons, not just technicians who work to eradicate disease.
For the last two years, Healing the Culture has taught a Life Principles course, called "Being With©," to pre-med students at the University of Notre Dame. This project is now in its fourth semester and has been incredibly popular with students preparing for medical and nursing school.
Students take a weekend crash course, where they can earn one college credit. The first day teaches the Life Principles philosophy, focusing on the four levels of happiness, the dignity of the human person, and the meaning and purpose of suffering.
The second day offers training in Healing the Culture's Being With© project. Being With© trains individuals how to simply be a loving and compassionate presence to seriously and terminally ill persons in nursing homes, hospitals, and hospices.
Students must attend four additional facilitated discussion groups on various topics dealing with suffering and the medical profession. They must also complete at least two Being With© visitations to patients in facilities such as a nursing homes or hospices.
Prior to visiting real patients, the students take part in a role-playing segment, where students practice visiting "sick people" who are played by actors. Sometimes the "patient" has severe dementia, or may be comatose. Other scenarios include a grouchy elderly gentleman, a non-English speaking person, or someone who is angry to be facing debilitation and death.
Inevitably, pre-med students are shocked at how difficult it is to just be with someone - without feeling like they have to get up and do something like insert an IV or check a pulse. Invariably, they are equally surprised at the deep connections they are able to sense with the suffering person, the empathy they develop, and the love and respect that follows.
Let me share some of the reactions from students who have completed this training:
"I put my Being With training into practice in a very acute and emotional way this summer when I volunteered in an AIDS hospice in Cambodia... As an undergraduate, learning to draw blood or insert an IV isn't essential to my pre-medical development. But the experience of being with sick and suffering people, as I was this summer, is what will start to make me a doctor."
-- Brennan Bollman, Michigan
"The [teaching on the four] levels of love helped me discern deficiencies in my own motivations and prompted me to adopt a broader and more thoughtful outlook. During my Being With visits, I would ask open-ended questions, encouraging visitees to tell their personal stories. Patients desire that they, not only their illness, be understood."
-- Patrick McCabe, California
"I feel teaching this philosophy is a great way to instill character and virtue into future doctors... It has helped me be more aware of the value of each human person. I think this is what is lacking in doctors today and this training is a step in the right direction to make better doctors."
-- Julian Lagoy, Maryland
"This philosophy has caused me to look deeper into myself and analyze why I act the way I act. This training made me realize how difficult it is to relate to people who are in situations you've never faced. In the end, they have the same feelings as those who are not ill, and just want to be recognized for themselves and not their illness."
-- Jennifer Zabel, Indiana
"The Being With training opened up a whole new realm of how to approach chronically sick individuals. To be able to show someone that they are loved and significant is a feeling that really has changed my approach to medicine."
-- Allyson Pishko
"Our culture trains us to 'do,' to multitask, even. The more we accomplish in a day, the more people we serve in a day, the better. 'Being with' means something altogether different. It means being completely open and vulnerable to one person in a way that can be uncomfortable... As I prepare for a career in medicine, the philosophy I have gained from this program is all the more valuable. In the medical field, doctors are trained to discern and diagnose, to treat the patient but not always the person. As a doctor one day, I want to treat people, not just diseases."
-- Kim Churbock, Ohio
"Learning about the 'Life Principles' philosophy made me think about my personal happiness, and affected my views on love and suffering. Being able to relate with and understand people who are suffering will allow me not only to treat a patient's physical maladies, but also treat the person as a whole, realizing that even small gestures can make a huge difference: a smile, a hug, just listening, or simply sitting down and sharing a moment of silence with someone."
-- Denise Pineda, Honduras
I hope you were as moved as I was to read these commentaries. Can you imagine how different our world would be if every doctor could experience this type of training before they begin their professional careers?
Our long-term goal is to gather what we've learned from this Notre Dame University pilot project, and develop a program that can be offered at universities across the nation. We envision a comprehensive teaching kit, complete with workbook, DVD video presentations, and other aids.
When you financially support Healing the Culture, you are helping to support this kind of bold and daring project. We are a relatively small institute, yet our partnerships with other groups and enterprises, such as the Pathos Project at Notre Dame, allow us to have an influence far and wide, planting seeds that promise to have a long-term benefit for our civilization.
I have often said that changing the culture is a long-term apostolate. It is not for the faint of heart, or "fair-weather warriors." There are no quick-fix solutions to the "Culture of Death," and there are no "silver bullet" arguments that can win the debate in 30-second sound bytes. This culture that tolerates and even promotes euthanasia and abortion did not arise overnight, and it will not be transformed overnight either.
It takes a long-term, steady commitment. I am so grateful that you have shared in that commitment, through your faithful support of Healing the Culture.
Will you consider renewing your commitment, by using the enclosed envelope to send whatever donation you can afford at this time? Any investment you are able to make, regardless of size, would be a powerful encouragement to us as we continue our life-saving work.
God bless you for your generous support of this mission. And during this Lenten season, may we ask that you keep our work in your prayers? Thank you!
Blessings,
Camille Pauley
President
| March 2008 | ||
| March 29 | Shoreline, WA | Couples for Christ Pro-Life Conference (Camille Pauley, Michael Pauley) |
May 2008 |
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| May 2 | Tukwila, WA | Seattle Catholic Family Spring 2008 Conference (Camille Pauley) |
September 2008 |
| Sept. 18 | Sacramento, CA | Women's Leadership Institute Contact Rita Perstak, 813-854-1518 (Camille Pauley) |
| Sept. 19 | Sacramento, CA | Women of Grace Retreat Contact Rita Perstak, 813-854-1518 (Camille Pauley) |
November 2008 |
| Nov. 6-8 | Bellevue Hilton Bellevue, WA |
Healing the Culture 2008 Conference Contact Lisa-Ann, (425) 481-6563 Fr. Robert Spitzer, Camille Pauley, and many other great speakers! |
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