2019 has been another productive year for
The Doctors Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine.
The Kienle Center supports projects and initiatives that cultivate empathy and compassion in health care settings. This work has flourished with the collaboration of many stakeholders throughout our healthcare community.
New this year, members of the Kienle Community have dedicated themselves to Working Groups to further the Kienle mission. The working groups are:
• Research
• Workplace Enrichment
• Planning a Symposium for 2021.
Members of the groups will report on outcomes at the Kienle Annual Meeting , date to be determined.
James O. Ballard, AB, MD, FACP, Retires
Professor of Humanities, Medicine & Pathology, Dr. James Ballard, retired from Penn State University College of Medicine. He served as the Drs. Jane W. and Lawrence F. Kienle Chair for Humanistic Medicine endowed chair from 1990 to 2019. He followed the late Dr. Tad Ballentine’s tenure as the inaugural chair holder.
Dr. Ballard fondly remembers the Kienle Scholars and the Kienle Players as highlights of his service. He said, “In 2013, when new funding became available from the Kienle endowment to support the chair’s initiatives , Dr. Kimberly Myers and I offered the first opportunity for 20 scholars and teachers from both the U.S. and abroad – Argentina and the U.K. – to attend a one-week conference at the College of Medicine. The goal of the conference was to showcase pedagogical methods for teaching medical humanities. In 2016, we awarded competitive grants to six scholars/artists for a two-week residential colloquium. It was designed to assist in developing medical humanities research projects and then to continue that mentoring relationship with our faculty over the following year.”
Each of the six scholars/artists received the title “2016 Kienle Scholar in Medical Humanities”. These two programs provided the impetus for the development of the Visiting Artist Program currently offered by the Department of Humanities.
The Kienle Players Drama Group was founded in September 2008 and consisted of a small number of medical students, faculty and staff who had an interest in presenting staged readings of plays having a medical context (e.g., assisted suicide, ethics of transplantation, end-of-life decision-making, bad news, etc.) Over the subsequent 11 years Dr. Ballard offered performances several times a year primarily at the medical center but also at a regional hospital and an assisted living facility. After each performance there was an opportunity for a “talk-back” discussion with the audience.
We are grateful for Dr. Ballard’s service and generous devotion to the mission of the center.
Benjamin Fredrick, MD, director, Global Health Center and professor of Family and Community Medicine and Public Health Sciences and Humanities has been appointed chair. Dr. Fredrick will serve a three-year term from Nov. 18, 2019. He announced his project as chair: Person-Centered and Equitable Care to promote this humanistic type of care throughout our health care system and the communities we serve.
The Practice of Art
Kienle hosted 10 tours of the exhibits at the Susquehanna Art Museum for healthcare providers and their guests. Professionally guided tours allow for new perspectives and reflection on the role of art in health and well-being.
Congratulations to Kienle Humanism in Medicine Awardees!
This award recognized winners who demonstrate a commitment to humanitarian service:
Nurse’s Humanitarian Award in Memory of Lawrence F. Kienle, MD
Darby Catalano, MIMCU
Mary Louise Witmer Jones Resident Humanitarian Award in Memory of Jane Witmer Kienle, MD
Kevin Wile, Family and Community Medicine, Hershey
Michael Alex Germano, Family and Community Medicine, Mount Nittany
Third-Year Medical Student Humanitarian Award
Houda Bouhmam
Taylor Gladys
Published Wild Onions with the 2019 Theme of “Origami”
Wild Onions is an annual journal of poetry, prose, and visual art is created by members of the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center community. Most entries pertain to dimensions of medicine such as the experiences, observations, and reflections of patients, nurses, physicians, medical students, family members, hospital staff, volunteers, and visitors.
The Visual and Tactile Arts in Medical Education
The Visual and Tactile Arts in Medical Education (V-TAME) is a series of participatory arts workshops for our medical students. Professional teaching artists lead 2-hour art workshops designed for pleasure, reflection and community building. Kienle sponsored eight workshops in 2019.
Medical Humanities Course
Kienle Center Director Claire de Boer and Dr. Becky Volpe taught a medical humanities selective titled, “Art as Self-Care” to fourth year medical students. Throughout their last year of medical school, the students designed and implemented programs of self-care through the arts to prepare them for residency.
2019 Kienle Visiting Scholar-in-Residence
The Department of Humanities and the Doctors Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine sponsored Scholar-in-Residence Siobhan M. Conaty, associate professor of art history, La Salle University, Philadelphia. While in Hershey, she worked on her own humanities-based research while enriching the lives of students, faculty and staff throughout the College of Medicine and Penn State Health.
Dr. Conaty’s project, Milestones in the Depiction of Breasts and Breast Cancer in Art History, explores artistic representation of breasts and breast cancer from prehistoric to contemporary times.” Dr. Conaty worked with the radiology department faculty and the Woodward Center for Excellence in Health Science Education to develop innovative pedagogy relating to transferable Art History skills of observation and formal analysis to help train first year residents how to read visual images.
Kienle continued its initiative in which our staff visits with patients admitted to the hospital. During a brief chat, we learn three important nonmedical pieces of information about the individual. Staff members post these items over the patient’s bed so that healthcare providers can engage with the patient on a more personal level. Volunteer Lou Ann Benedict joined the team to help to offer the program to more than 1,500 patients.
In the Key of D Concert Series
Duo Chiaroscuro featuring Maria Corley on piano and Sarah Male on cello performed in November. Kienle hosted 10 “Great Music Unplugged” chamber concerts and jazz series curated by Peter Sirotin of the Harrisburg Market Square Concerts and Steve Rudolph of Central Pennsylvania Friends of Jazz. The evenings were capped off by a community dinner.
A Great Music Unplugged performance in October featured Peter Sirotin, violin, Geoffrey Pilkington, horn, and Ya-Ting Chang, piano. Claire de Boer also pictured.
In addition to the programs and projects described above, the Kienle Center maintained oversight of all Center Stage programs, striving to “nourish well-being through the arts.”
You can inspire future creative programs at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine by making a gift to support The Kienle Center or Center Stage. Visit engage.pennstatehealth.org and click ‘GIVE TODAY’ to make a secure contribution online, or email giving@pennstatehealth.psu.edu to have a member of our Development staff contact you.