THE HEART OF THE MATTER Under the direction of an MFA alum, a group of King’s students are working on a hospital cardiac ward and learning what the humanities and health care can offer one another by John MacKay, BA’71
A CARDIOLOGIST WHO BELIEVES in the restorative power of literature. A college for humanities and journalism with a unique vision for student work experience. An association of book publishers with a novel idea for reaching new audiences with Atlantic Canadian content. And students, excitedly exploring unexpected professional possibilities. This is Books by Heart, a program that has, in its development stages, been a part of King’s campus life for the better part of two years. Recently, it’s moved into a new phase, one that’s seeing a team of the university’s humanities students at work where you may not have expected to find them: on the cardiology ward of the Halifax Infirmary. But let’s back up a little. Books by Heart begins with Dr. Gabrielle Horne, MFA’19, Attending Cardiologist at QEII Health Sciences Centre, Associate Professor of Medicine at Dalhousie and, perhaps surprisingly, a graduate of King’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction program. Dr. Horne has always been acutely aware of the heightened stress, anxiety and, often, depression that patients hospitalized with cardiac episodes face. A writer herself and a lover of literature with its ability to soothe and transport the reader, she wondered if something as simple as a
38
TIDINGS | WINTER 2024
carefully developed program of books and audiobooks might benefit the mental health of cardiac patients. “People are wrenched from their lives very suddenly and put in this unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people,” says Dr. Horne. “And we know that people who have heart attacks, if they have depression after a hospital admission, have twice the risk of dying over the next couple of years. We all have different ways of dealing with an experience like that, but I think reading is potentially a very powerful one.” Books by Heart developed with the ease of something that somehow felt destined to happen. The hospital IT people suggested an app with ebooks and audiobooks. Dr. Horne’s contacts in King’s MFA program introduced her to the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association that would, with the support of King’s students, trial the app within the King’s community. Early on, Dr. Horne contacted Joanna Sheridan, BA(Hons)’07, King’s Manager of Experiential Learning and Public Humanities, in search of a student to help with writing a grant proposal for the project. “Joanna said ‘we can send you a student, but I think we could do more,’” Dr. Horne says of her conversation with Sheridan. With a team of seven interns,
Sheridan oversaw the yearlong testing phase on campus. “So that’s how everyone came on board,” Dr. Horne explains. “It was the beginning of a very deep partnership with the University of King’s College.” This year Books by Heart has seen a new team of King’s students on the ward conducting interviews and administering surveys with patients, collecting baseline data on how patients are experiencing being in hospital and dealing with any mental health issues that arise. This will determine where the program can make a difference and how best to roll out the ebook program to patients next year. Conversations with some of the students involved reveal the particular insights and unique capacities that humanities students bring with them. “All the research assistants are King’s undergrad students. They have a different level of curiosity,” says Nicole Ponto, BSc’23, who is overseeing the work of her fellow research assistants on the ward. Ponto, who got involved in Books by Heart in the program’s early development stage on campus, is now working on a masters in medical neuroscience at Dalhousie while finishing up a second undergraduate degree in philosophy at King’s. “King’s humanities students have a lot of insight when it comes