Your Heart is the Size of Your Fist draws readers into the complicated, poignant, and often-overlooked daily happenings of a busy urban medical clinic for refugees. An Iraqi journalist whose son has been murdered develops post-traumatic stress disorder and mourns his loss of vocation. A Congolese woman refuses antiretroviral treatment for her new HIV diagnosis, and instead places her trust in Jesus. Two conservative Muslim Iraqi women are inadvertently exposed to pornography when a doctor uses Google Images to supplement a medical discussion. By turns humorous, distressing, and moving, these stories offer insight into the people seeking a new life in Canada while navigating poverty, language barriers, and Canadian neighbours who aren't always friendly. This collection is filled with hope and humour, and is a deeply moving portrait of how one doctor attempts to provide quality care and advocacy for patients while remaining culturally sensitive, even as she wrestles with guilt, awareness of her own privilege, and vicarious trauma. In the spirit of Louise Aronson and Atul Gawande, Scholtens' writing explores the transformative moments in which a clinical doctor-patient relationship becomes a profound human-human connection.
The Community Reads Committee is pleased to annouce Your Heart is the Size of Your Fist: A Doctor Reflects on Ten Years at a Refugee Clinic by Martina Scholtens, MD, MPH as our 2020-2021 book selection.
Your Heart is the Size of Your Fist explores the transformative moments in which a clinical doctor-patient relationship becomes a human-human connection. In this collection of candid and moving true stories, we are drawn into the complex mosaic of a busy urban medical clinic for refugees. Through Scholtens’ experiences, we see real people seeking a fresh start in a new country while navigating around North American culture, finances, post-traumatic stress, language barriers, and neighbors who aren’t always friendly or helpful. We also witness Scholtens’ own evolution as a health care practitioner as she endeavors to provide quality care and advocacy for patients while remaining culturally sensitive. Wrestling with the guilt, awareness of her privilege, and vicarious trauma, she discovers the surprising-and at times uncomfortable-places where the sphere of her life touches the spheres of those she treats.
All members of the SMU Community are invited to read Your Heart is the Size of Your Fist in preparation for discussions centered on newcomer health, cultural responsiveness, mental health and vicarious trauma, Whole Person Care Model, advocacy and calls to action, and more. The book is available for loan in the SMU Library in print and electronic form. Stay tuned for a readers’ and teachers’ guide, events, and other resources.
Reference
Scholtens, M. (2017) Your Heart is the Size of Your Fist: A Doctor Reflects on Ten Years at a Refugee Clinic. Brindle and Glass.
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