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Tara was excited this week to talk to another Tara who loves books almost as much as she does! Tara McCormack is an Emergency Department Nurse in Sydney and part of the https://dontforgetthebubbles.com community.

Follow Tara McC on twitter https://twitter.com/codebluenursey

We discovered our shared enjoyment of this book as part of an online book group and there's literally so much to talk about. We talked about carers, about narratives, effective communication and so much more.  Some resources below may help if you want to know more.

https://carers.org/about-caring/about-young-carers

https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-we-do/our-work/supporting-young-carers

https://dontforgetthebubbles.com/communicating-clearly/

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 In honour of world poetry day on 21st March, in a slight change to the format this week I'm delighted to welcome Dr Vicky Thomas (aka @LittleDoctorVic  on Twitter) to talk about some of her poems, published and unpublished. We talk about writing as therapy, about clinical supervision and how it's almost impossible to be a doctor and not be political.

Some of Vicky's poems are published in the NHS anthology These are the hands  https://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/products/these-are-the-hands and in Night Feeds and Morning Songs  which was discussed on this podcast back in December 2021.

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Another pandemic, 104 years before I met Jenny Slough to talk about it but the parallels with 1918 Dublin and 2020/21 London are uncannily familiar.  We talk about Emma Donoghue's brilliant Novel The Pull of the Stars and find shared comfort in remembering that pandemics whilst usually once in a lifetime are events which have happened before and history allows us to start to feel reassured there will be an after.

Jenny's own experiences of redeployment which we touch on in this episode are beautifully and thoughtfully explored here  in an NHS living well podcast:  https://keepingwellncl.nhs.uk/podcast/in-conversation-with-jenny-family-liaison/

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It's International Women's day, in a special episode to mark the occasion catch Tara talking to GP Registrar Eleanor Love about Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez

We talk about the gender data gap and the possible impact on health outcomes as well as discrimination (overt and indirect), sexism, feminism and how recognising and acting on gender bias and moving away from the "default male" actually makes the world fairer for everyone.

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What a treat it was to talk to Ani Gavrilovic about what must be one of the most moving, and thought provoking novels I have ever read.  Maylis de Kerangal's Mend the Living is the story of 24 hours in the heart of 19 year old Simon Limbeau. It is a story of death and life, of organ transplants and human stories, of a day from many different perspectives.  It is a story of love and hope as well as loss and darkness.

Organ Donation UK
https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/

https://orgamites.com/ this is a brilliant resource for assisting with conversations with primary school aged children about organ donation

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Join Tara this week as she talks to Mahima Chandrasekar about the powerful love story of the NHS and its neonatal care that is Francesca Segal's phenomenal memoir Mothership.

We talk about the alien spaceship world of the NICU, how if we are scared as doctors it must be terrifying as a parent. We think about language, how relatives are horribly diminished is we call them "mum" rather than their real names. We think about camaraderie, support networks, love, compassion, hope and wonder.

This is a stunning book. Our first discussion/review was published as a DFTB book review in summer 2021: https://dontforgetthebubbles.com/mother-ship-by-francesca-segal/

We had so much more to say about it this time round!!!  It is a book full of life, love, hope, fear and one which has undoubtedly changed both our practice significantly and positively forever.

Francesca Segal has her own podcast which is all about prematurity and can be found here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mother-ship-a-podcast-about-prematurity/id1500789844

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It's Valentines Day this week and in celebration we have a love story on the podcast today. This isn't a traditional schmaltzy love story though, The Salt Path is a stunning love letter, the record of a long walk and features the sort of love story most of us will never be lucky enough to experience. Tara is joined by Pim Dahan to talk about love, homelessness, the power of nature and the importance of slowing down.

When Raynor Winn and her husband became homeless and he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, they packed their rucksacks and began walking the South West Coast Path. She tells her extraordinary story of prejudice, hidden communities and finding home



RESOURCES FROM TODAY'S EPISODE

Rural Homelessness
https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/rural-england-homeless-problem-hidden/
Raynor Winn writing in the Big Issue about rural homelessness

Shelter
https://www.shelter.org.uk/

NHS England Guidance on Social Prescribing
https://www.england.nhs.uk/personalisedcare/social-prescribing/

Men's Sheds
https://menssheds.org.uk/

Grounding Techniques
https://togetherinmind.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/TSC-Posters_Grounding-Techniques.pdf

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Join Tara George and Trisha Cantley as they talk about Ben Watt's memoir Patient. Yes it is that Ben Watt from "Everything But The Girl".  This is the at times terrifying story of a mystery illness which results in a young man having a near death experience and a prolonged and terrifying hospital stay.  We talk about our experiences of hospitals as doctors rather than patients, about the vulnerability of being ill, the effect of illness on relationships, what hospitals are good at and what they aren't.  We also thought a lot about the value of book clubs (Trisha is involved with the wonderful #geribookclub on twitter) and how we read - "real" books vs e-books vs audible and the pros and cons of all of these. 

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Join Tara as she talks to Ripon Ahmed about Sunjeev Sahota's phenomenal novel "The Year of the Runaways".   This is a wonderful book and we had such a brilliant discussion about migration, generational changes, aspiration, survival, access to healthcare, attitudes to mental illness, homelessness, families, caste, class and discrimination among many many other things.  The Year of the Runaways is a superb exploration of experiences which are all too real for some of our most vulnerable patients.

There are a couple of great interviews with the author about the book here:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/12/sunjeeva-sahota-books-interview-the-year-of-the-runaways

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ktmzc

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This episode Tara is talking to Emma Cunliffe a locum civilian medical practitioner for the MOD and long standing Out of Hours GP about Fredrick Backman's book A Man Called Ove.  They talk about unexpected friendships, grumpy old men, grief and how life experiences  shape us in unimaginable ways.

This book does explore suicidal thoughts and attempts and whilst framed in a lighthearted way it is important we don't trivialise the topic or dismiss the topic.

If you are having thoughts of ending your own life, please try to reach out to someone

Samaritans run a 24hr helpline:

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/

Campaign to end loneliness:

https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org

Age UK

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/get-involved/brighter/

For younger people

https://www.papyrus-uk.org