Literature plays a vital role not only in educating readers about health and medicine but also in appreciating health workers and medical practitioners.
The Value of Books on Health and Care
Books that tackle health, medicine, and medical practice are essential in educating people about our physical and mental well-being. They provide us with knowledge about diseases, cure, first aid, and how to deal with patients. These works of literature equip us with readiness, understanding, and means to care for other people, especially our loved ones. While most of these works come in the form of manuals, guidebooks, handbooks, and textbooks, there are also health and medical works of literature that are written as memoirs, autobiography, and even non-fiction materials that depict their encounters and experience in health and medical practice. All these materials invite us to discover the amazing and inspiring world where people heal and take care of other people. That is the ultimate value of health and medical literature.
Eleanor Gaccetta’s One Caregiver’s Journey
Eleanor Gaccetta is one of the authors who have produced a remarkable book that deals with health and caring for other people. Her memoir One Caregiver’s Journey presents us with a unique and inspiring narrative. Published in 2019, One Caregiver’s Journey chronicles the years Eleanor Gaccetta spent as a full-time caregiver to her elderly mother. Ellie’s mom suffered a hip injury at age 93. Ellie decided to play the role of a caregiver, a role she would play for nine and a half years. In her book, Ellie recalls all the things that she encountered including the challenges, the changes, as well as the discoveries. It is both a personal and a medical narrative as Gaccetta shares her routine, the lessons, as well as practical insights involving the care for her mother. The book started as a collection of journal entries a few months after Ellie started her full-time caregiving duties and extends six months after her mother’s death. Ellie’s mom passed away at age 102. Although One Caregiver’s Journey is not written from the perspective of a professional medical practitioner, readers will be delighted to learn that the book contains much practical wisdom that they can use in taking care of their elderly patients as well as managing their own time as caregivers. Eleanor Gaccettta’s extensive first-hand experience provides an invaluable wealth of knowledge and inspiration.
Appreciating Medical and Health Workers
One Caregiver’s Journey and other similar works, especially memoirs and real-life accounts provide us a glimpse of the medical practitioner’s world. Health and care books whether they are handbooks, manuals, or journals are products of years and years of theory and practice. The knowledge and wisdom found in these literary works are not simple products of imagination. They are borne out from many encounters, failures, experiments, and even loss of lives. This is what separates health and medical literature from all other books. They are founded on objectivity and desire to better our understanding of different health and medical conditions. More importantly, they inspire us to better take care of ourselves and those we mean to care. Apart from our benefits, health and medical books especially memoirs and autobiographies, allow us to see the lives of everyday heroes- doctors, nurses, hospital staff, and caregivers who sacrifice their lives for others. Through these books, we can appreciate the things that they do. For authors like Eleanor Gaccetta, their books are extra special simply because documenting one’s journey and sacrifice is never that easy. It takes courage to record all the hardships, sacrifices, and even one’s loss. One Caregiver’s Journey is indeed a very remarkable book that everyone should read.