MK Czerwiec - "Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371" - Brian Callender

MK Czerwiec discusses Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371. She will be joined in conversation by Brian Callender.

At the Co-op

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About the book: In 1994, at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the United States, MK Czerwiec took her first nursing job, at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, as part of the caregiving staff of HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371. Taking Turns pulls back the curtain on life in the ward. A shining example of excellence in the treatment and care of patients, Unit 371 was a community for thousands of patients and families affected by HIV and AIDS and the people who cared for them. This graphic novel combines Czerwiec’s memories with the oral histories of patients, family members, and staff. It depicts life and death in the ward, the ways the unit affected and informed those who passed through it, and how many look back on their time there today. Czerwiec joined Unit 371 at a pivotal time in the history of AIDS: deaths from the syndrome in the Midwest peaked in 1995 and then dropped drastically in the following years, with the release of antiretroviral protease inhibitors. This positive turn of events led to a decline in patient populations and, ultimately, to the closure of Unit 371. Czerwiec’s restrained, inviting drawing style and carefully considered narrative examine individual, institutional, and community responses to the AIDS epidemic—as well as the role that art can play in the grieving process. Deeply personal yet made up of many voices, this history of daily life in a unique AIDS care unit is an open, honest look at suffering, grief, and hope among a community of medical professionals and patients at the heart of the epidemic.

About the author: MK Czerwiec (pronounced sir-wick) is a Senior Fellow of the George Washington School of Nursing Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement and the Artist-inResidence at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. She has a BA in English & Philosophy from Loyola University of Chicago, a BSN in nursing from Rush University, and an MA in Medical Humanities and Bioethics from Northwestern University. Her clinical nursing experience is in HIV/AIDS care and hospice care. MK has been making comics under the pseudonym Comic Nurse since 2000. With UK physician Ian Williams, she coruns GraphicMedicine.org a website devoted to the intersection of comics and health. Her first graphic memoir,Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371 (Penn State University Press, 2017) is believed to be the first graphic memoir by a nurse. She is also a co-author of the Eisner Award nominated Graphic Medicine Manifesto (Penn State University Press, 2015) which maps the field of Graphic Medicine.

About the interlocutor: Brian Callender is a physician at the University of Chicago. His academic interests include the intersection of the arts and medicine. He taught the course The Body in Medicine and the Performing Arts and curated the exhibit Imaging/Imaging the Human Body in Anatomical Representation, a three-venue exhibit that explored the artistic and scientific history of anatomy. Combining his clinical interests in the patient experience and patient education, he is currently exploring the use of graphic medicine to improve the inpatient hospital experience.