This episode explores the very human level at which some nurses interact with patients at their most vulnerable moments. What spiritual questions about life and death arise in such encounters? We do nurses turn for their own support? And we look at the concept of “compassion fatigue” and ways nurses can maintain open-hearted care.

To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

In a health care setting, where serious illness may be on the line, what does it mean for a provider to listen attentively? We examine this core nursing practice in several venues.

To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Demanding and sometimes nerve-racking circumstances are a natural part of life and inevitably occur in the health care environment, where patients often arrive when they are in trouble. While it would be easy to get overwhelmed, skilled health care professionals have developed techniques for handling both everyday stresses and situations of unusual strain.

To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

A no-holds-barred look at the stressful conditions in which many nurses work: the long hours, the emotional toll, the rapid pace, and the way that technology and institutional practices can make it hard to form a caring bond with patients.

To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

We remember the late Anthony DeMello with the help of University of London Theologian Michael Barnes as well as recordings of the colorful DeMello during one of his many popular retreats.

To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Rather than merely write checks to charities they don’t really know well, a group of concerned women formed a “giving circle” which identifies social needs and then seeks out worthy recipients.

To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

A Kansas therapist and author, John Heider, describes how his life has been profoundly affected by studying a renowned 2,500 year old wisdom text from China that teaches the art of inner balance.

To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Ida Wells published the first major study of lynching. A close associate of Frederick Douglass, she helped to found the NAACP and advocated the right to vote for women and black Americans. Her amazing life story is finally gaining recognition, nearly 90 years after her death.

To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Born to enslaved parents, Ida B. Wells emerged as a powerful investigative journalist. She overcame death threats and published widely in her quest to document domestic terrorism against African Americans.

To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

After John Wood trekked through Nepal and saw under-educated children, he quit his job as a Microsoft executive and founded Room to Read, a nonprofit that went on to establish over 16,000 libraries aimed at spreading literacy in poorer nations.

To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are  heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.