Pain Management

Cognizant of the importance of providing adequate pain relief to patient afflicted by disease, Hektoen has sponsored educational activities in cooperation with the International College of Surgeons and the Pain Management Center of Stroger Hospital.

From October 2006 until May 2007, The Hektoen Institute of Medicine partnered with the International Museum of Surgical Science (IMSS) to present the lecture series Understanding Pain. This medical humanities lecture series examined the human experience of pain from clinical, historical, ethical, and social perspectives. To build on the success of Understanding Pain, The Hektoen Institute founded the Hektoen Pain Society and will present a series of lectures every year addressing a specific topic of pain.

Our 2008/2009 theme is Emotional Pain. Through a series of lectures and panels we will present the multi-faceted aspects of emotional pain and challenge preconceived notions of how emotional pain is typically managed and understood. We hope to stimulate the public to think more critically about the complexity of pain.

Making New Meanings: Creative Relief in Managing Emotional Pain
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 5:30 – 7:15 pm

A panel discussion moderated by Mary Ann McDermott, RN, EdD, Professor Emeritus, Niehoff School of Nursing, Loyola University Chicago; with Ted Rubenstein, MFA, PsyD, VP of Creative Arts Therapy & Clinical Director, ITA, Drama Therapist; Nancy Gershman, Artist & Founder of Art For Your Sake; Christine Sterkel, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Rush University Hospitals and Psychoanalyst at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis.

Moments Held: Legacy Work

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008, 5:00 - 7:00 pm at Hektoen Institute.

Session conducted by Todd Hochberg, documentary photographer.

"Moments Held: Legacy Work" is a video and photography presentation that shares the experiences of Bob, a cancer patient, creating legacy materials through the documentary form. In Hochberg’s view legacy work is best when it incorporates in addition to the richness of oral histories, a personal emotional and spiritual assessment of one’s place during a time of life transition. Considering the importance of "meaning-making" when one's assumptive world is shattered by serious illness, impending death or loss, the telling of one’s story may possess great therapeutic benefit. Some may intuitively have the need to give it voice but know not where to begin. As Bob put it, “We’ve all been given journals to write in… the pages are blank… we wouldn’t have done this on our own.”

A Burst of Sunshine: Positive Visualization Through Photomontage

Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 5:00 - 7:00 pm at Hektoen Institute.

An interactive program by Artist Nancy Gershman presented by Nurses & the Humanities.

Nurses often contend with negative energy inside the workplace, and with their own demons back at home. Over a lifetime, emotional body armor protects against a battery of loss and regrets. Enter the artistry of Nancy Gershman. By digitally altering people’s personal photographs, Gershman has developed a methodology that heals emotional pain by reframing the past and present through positive visualization. The relief gained through these fine art photomontages is no less than miraculous. Join us as artist and audience jointly build a “healing dreamscape” for one lucky nurse, discovering how such custom wishful reality can be transformative for everyone in the nursing profession.  

For information on Nancy Gershman, check Art For Your Sake.

 

Officers of the Pain Society:

  • Silvio Glusman, MD, PhD, Associate Chairman, Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Management, and Director of the Pain Management Center, at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County.
  • Maria L. Torres, MD, Chair, Division of Acute Pain Management, John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County.
  • Nancy Gershman, Artist & Founder of Art For Your Sake.
Illustration of Descartes' theory of Pain
Illustration of Descartes’ theory of pain, in which a painful sensation travels along a specific “pain pathway” up the spinal cord to be perceived in the brain, c. 1664.

 

Contact information: Rachel Baker at 312.768.6030 - rachel.baker@hektoen.org

Click here to join our Email list.