|
While the director of New York's City Health Center in Queens, Nyswander studied child health; her resulting study "Solving School Health Problems" is still used by students in public health schools. During World War II, she set up child care programs for mothers working in defense plants. After the war, she was a professor of public health at the University of California, Berkeley, where she founded the university's School of Public Health. She apparently knew her stuff: when she died December 18, Nyswander was 104. From This is True for 27 December 1998 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Tracy Kidder List Price: $15.95 Amazon Price: $11.16 Editorial Review: Tracy Kidder is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the author of the bestsellers The Soul of a New Machine, House, Among Schoolchildren, and Home Town. He has been described by the Baltimore Sun as the “master of the non-fiction narrative.” This powerful and inspiring new book shows how one person can make a difference, as Kidder tells the true story of a gifted man who is in love with the world and has set out to do all he can to cure it. At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life’s calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. This magnificent book shows how radical change can be fostered in situations that seem insurmountable, and it also shows how a meaningful life can be created, as Farmer—brilliant, charismatic, charming, both a leader in international health and a doctor who finds time to make house calls in Boston and the mountains of Haiti—blasts through convention to get results. Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity" - a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners In Health. He enlists the help of the Gates Foundation, George Soros, the U.N.’s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb “Beyond mountains there are mountains”: as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too. “Mountains Beyond Mountains unfolds with the force of a gathering revelation,” says Annie Dillard, and Jonathan Harr says, “[Farmer] wants to change the world. Certainly this luminous and powerful book will change the way you see it.” From the Hardcover edition.  By: Anne Fadiman List Price: $15.00 Amazon Price: $10.20 Editorial Review: Lia Lee was born in 1981 to a family of recent Hmong immigrants, and soon developed symptoms of epilepsy. By 1988 she was living at home but was brain dead after a tragic cycle of misunderstanding, overmedication, and culture clash: "What the doctors viewed as clinical efficiency the Hmong viewed as frosty arrogance." The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions, written with the deepest of human feeling. Sherwin Nuland said of the account, "There are no villains in Fadiman's tale, just as there are no heroes. People are presented as she saw them, in their humility and their frailty--and their nobility." Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction When three-month-old Lia Lee Arrived at the county hospital emergency room in Merced, California, a chain of events was set in motion from which neither she nor her parents nor her doctors would ever recover. Lia's parents, Foua and Nao Kao, were part of a large Hmong community in Merced, refugees from the CIA-run "Quiet War" in Laos. The Hmong, traditionally a close-knit and fiercely people, have been less amenable to assimilation than most immigrants, adhering steadfastly to the rituals and beliefs of their ancestors. Lia's pediatricians, Neil Ernst and his wife, Peggy Philip, cleaved just as strongly to another tradition: that of Western medicine. When Lia Lee Entered the American medical system, diagnosed as an epileptic, her story became a tragic case history of cultural miscommunication. Parents and doctors both wanted the best for Lia, but their ideas about the causes of her illness and its treatment could hardly have been more different. The Hmong see illness aand healing as spiritual matters linked to virtually everything in the universe, while medical community marks a division between body and soul, and concerns itself almost exclusively with the former. Lia's doctors ascribed her seizures to the misfiring of her cerebral neurons; her parents called her illness, qaug dab peg--the spirit catches you and you fall down--and ascribed it to the wandering of her soul. The doctors prescribed anticonvulsants; her parents preferred animal sacrifices. When three-month-old Lia Lee arrived at the county hospital emergency room in Merced, California, a chain of events was set in motion from which neither she nor her parents nor her doctors would ever recover. Lia's parents, Foua and Nao Kao, were part of a large Hmong community in Merced, refugees from the CIA-run "Quiet War" in Laos. Parents and doctors both wanted the best for Lia, but their ideas about the causes of her illness and its treatment could hardly have been more different. The Hmong see illness and healing as spiritual matters linked to virtually everything in the universe, while the medical community marks a division between body and soul, and concerns itself almost exclusively with the former. Lia's doctors ascribed her seizures to the misfiring of her cerebral neurons; her parents called her illness qaug dab peg - the spirit catches you and you fall down - and ascribed it to the wandering of her soul. The doctors prescribed anticonvulsants; her parents preferred animal sacrifices. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down moves from hospital corridors to healing ceremonies, and from the hill country of Laos to the living rooms of Merced, uncovering in its path the complex sources and implications of two dramatically clashing worldviews.  By: David F. TolinRandy O. FrostGail Steketee List Price: $16.95 Amazon Price: $12.20 Editorial Review: Buried in Treasures outlines a scientifically-based and effective program for helping compulsive hoarders dig their way out of the clutter and chaos of their homes. Discover the reasons for your problems with acquiring, saving, and hoarding, and learn new ways of thinking about your possessions so you can accurately identify those things you really need and those you can do without. Learn to recognize the "bad guys" that maintain your hoarding behavior and meet the "good guys" who will motivate you and put you on the path to change. Features of this book include: -Self-assessments to determine the severity of the problem -Tips and tools for organizing your possessions and filing your paperwork -Strategies for changing unhelpful beliefs about your possessions -Behavioral experiments to reduce your fear of anxiety and fear of discarding.  By: Michael E. PorterElizabeth Olmsted Teisberg List Price: $35.00 Amazon Price: $23.10 Editorial Review: The U.S. health care system is in crisis. At stake are the quality of care for millions of Americans and the financial well-being of individuals and employers squeezed by skyrocketing costs--not to mention the stability of state and federal government budgets. In Redefining Health Care, internationally renowned strategy expert Michael E. Porter and innovation expert Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg reveal the underlying and largely overlooked causes of the problem and provide a powerful prescription for change. The authors argue that participants in the health care system have competed to shift costs, accumulate bargaining power, and restrict services rather than create value for patients. This zero-sum competition takes place at the wrong level--among health plans, networks, and hospitals--rather than where it matters most: in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of specific health conditions. In spite of competition among these systems, the patient care cycle is poorly coordinated. The fractured system undermines both efficiency and quality of outcomes. Redefining Health Care lays out a breakthrough framework for redefining health care competition based on patient value over the full cycle of care—from prevention and diagnosis through recovery or long-term disease management. With specific recommendations for hospitals, doctors, health plans, employers, and policy makers, this book shows how to move to value-based competition on results that will unleash stunning improvements in quality and efficiency.  By: Brenda Watson List Price: $26.00 Amazon Price: $17.16 Editorial Review: Regardless of where and how you live, your body is harboring dozens if not hundreds of toxins that could be sabotaging your health. Low on energy? Dealing with chronic illness? Having trouble losing weight? Toxins might be to blame. From your mattress to your toothpaste to your nonstick pans to the food you eat and the (bottled) water you drink -- every day your body is bombarded with chemicals that can alter the way your body works, affecting its natural processes and capacity to heal and maintain vibrancy. Even though we are built to handle foreign substances effectively, our liver and other organs simply cannot cope with today's glut of toxins, many of which are too foreign and toxic for our bodies to manage well. This ultimately causes us to age prematurely, to gain weight, and to become more prone to disease. The Detox Strategy by Brenda Watson, C.N.C., who is the bestselling author of The Fiber35 Diet: Nature's Weight Loss Secret, a PBS mainstay, and an expert on internal cleansing and detoxification, introduces us to the revolutionary RENEW program (Reduce, Eliminate, Nourish, Energize, Wellness), which aids in reversing the effects of aging and rejuvenating the body and mind. The program offers a holistic approach to protecting and nurturing your body's innate purification physiology. The result is a higher quality of life, more energy, longevity. The Detox Strategy reveals: The truth about where toxins come from and how they affect our bodies How toxins can accelerate the aging process by causing poor health and chronic disease How to determine your individual level of toxic exposure and the steps you can take to reduce it Why efforts to cleanse and detoxify the body are an essential part of enhancing one's energy and vitality and preserving overall health How maintaining a cleaner, more vibrant body can affect longevity The Detox Strategy includes a detailed herbal supplement plan for gently flushing out harmful toxins -- including heavy metals like lead and mercury -- plus delicious original recipes for nourishing meals that further promote detoxification. The Detox Strategy teaches cleansing concepts that are researched and clinically proven, and it provides you with the necessary tools to live in a purer and more energized body. Brenda Watson wants you to know the truth about your body and to help you live a longer and healthier life. With this easy-to-follow program you can jump-start your system and get on a path to optimum wellness. Are you ready? |
About the HUs
About This is True
Prev: "Betty Crocker" actress Adelaide Hawley Cumming Next: Defibrillator inventor Paul M. Zoll |