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Before meeting Ms. Shimizu, Ms. Harper was linked to the filmmaker Daniel Leeb, sometimes inaccurately described in print as her husband. It was important for me to see her. You know, I speak about some of my experiences, as you mention, where I was in a large teaching hospital, more affluent community, predominantly white and male clinical staff. NPR's Scott Simon speaks to Dr. Michele Harper about her new memoir, The Beauty in Breaking. She's a graduate of Harvard University and the Renaissance School of Medicine at . Dr. Michele Harper is an award-winning physician, New York Times bestselling author, and nationally recognized speaker whose work centers on individual healing and social justice. DAVIES: You described in the piece that you wrote about the mask that you wore over your face. It's emotionally taxing. Harper joins the Los Angeles Times Book Club June 29 to discuss The Beauty in Breaking, which debuted last summer as the nation reeled from a global pandemic and the pain of George Floyds murder. Michele Harper grew up in Washington, DC, knowing from a fairly young age that healing would be in her future. MICHELE HARPER: (Reading) I am the doctor whose palms bolster the head of the 20-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his brain. The constant in Dr. Harper's reflection on these patients is the importance of connection, the importance of asking the hard . Print this page. Nope - not at all because different would mean structural change. But, you know, I'm a professional, so I just move on and treat her professionally each shift. So I could relate to that. Anyone can read what you share. She has taken on many leadership roles . Harper shares her poignant stories from the ER with Mitchell Kaplan. HARPER: Yes, 100%. He refuses an examination; after a brief conversation in which it seems as if they are the only two people in the crowded triage area, she agrees (against the wishes of the officers and a colleague) to discharge him. While she waited for her brother she watched and marveled as injured patients were rushed in for treatment, while others left healed. I asked her if there was anything we at the hospital could do, after I made sure she wasn't in physical danger and wasn't going to kill herself. So we didn't do it, and I discharged the patient, which was his wishes. But because of socialization, implicit bias and other effects of racism and discrimination, it doesn't happen that way. He had no complaints. I mean, she said that she had been through a lot. So I explained to her the course of treatment and she just continued to bark orders at me. In her new memoir, she shares some memorable stories of emergency medicine - being punched in the face by a young man she was examining, helping a woman in a VA hospital with the trauma of sexual assault she suffered serving in Afghanistan and treating a man for a cut on his hand who turned out to have incurred the wound while stabbing a woman to death. We have to examine why this is happening. I didn't know why. At that point, at that time of the day, I was the only Black attending physician, and the police were white. I'm Dave Davies, in today for Terry Gross. Then, thankfully, my father then left for a little bit also. Our guest today, Michele Harper, is a career ER doctor and one of roughly 2% of American physicians who are African American women. How did you see your future then? Her book, The Beauty in Breaking: A Memoir. It's not an issue. But that is the mission, should they choose to follow it. There was nothing to it. I enjoyed my studies. Emergency room doctor Michele Harper brings her memoir, The Beauty in Breaking, to the L.A. Times Book Club June 29. And it was a devastating moment because it just felt that there was no way out and that we - we identified with my brother as being our protector - were now all being blamed for the violence. He has bodily integrity that should be respected. This man has personal sovereignty. So he left the department. DAVIES: And we should just note that you were able to calmly talk to him and ask him if he would let you take his vital signs. That's what it would entail to do what the police were telling us to do. Its really hard to get messages all the time and respond. And we have to be able to move on. Eventually she said, I come here all the time and you're the only problem. I'm also the only Black doctor she's seen, per her chart. Be it Mr. Spano, my ex-husband, my . If we had more healthcare providers with differing physical abilities and health challenges, who didn't come from wealthy families that would be a strong start. It's people outside of your departments. There are so many barriers to entry in medicine for people of color: the cost of medical school, wage gaps, redlining, access to good public education and more. She was a Black patient. His office is not accepting new patients. These aren't - the structural racism isn't unique to the police, unfortunately. And so that has allowed us to keep having masks. And you write that while you knew violence at home as a kid, you know, you didn't grow up where - in a world where there was danger getting to school or in the neighborhood. It's not graphic, but it is troubling. You wrote a piece recently for the website Medium - I guess it was about six weeks ago - describing the harrowing work of treating COVID-19 patients. Thats why I have to detonate my life. And is it especially difficult working in these hospitals where we don't have enough resources for patients, where a lot of the patients have to work multiple jobs because there isn't a living wage and we're their safety net and their home medically because they don't have access to health care? The Beauty in Breaking is Dr. Michele Harper's New York Times-bestselling memoir of service, transformation, and self-healing.Longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Nonfiction, The Beauty in Breaking explores the meaning of healing at the physical, psychological, and societal levels.Through intimate stories about the healing process, Dr. Harper emphasizes the . So I didn't do it. Each milestone came with challenges: Harpers father tried to pass himself off as the wind beneath her wings at her medical school graduation, and her marriage to her college sweetheart fell apart at the end of her residency in the South Bronx. DAVIES: Dr. Michele Harper is an emergency room physician. "was reminded, too, of Dr. Albert Kligman's experiments on imprisoned men in Philadelphia from the 1950s to the 1970s. Then along the way, undergrad, medical school, that was no longer a refuge. DAVIES: What was going on when you - what made you call that time? Let me reintroduce you. The following techniques are used in her office . They didn't inquire about any of us. . She is an advocate of personal wellness and evolution as a foundation for collective liberation. You know, ER doctors and nurses have a lot of dealings with police, and there's a lot of talk about reforming police these days, you know, defunding police in the wake of protests of police killings of African Americans. So if I had done something different, that would have been a much higher cost to me emotionally. She said no and that she felt safe. Published on July 7, 2020 05:41 PM. This is an interesting incident, the way it unfolded. But everyone heard her yelling and no one got up. So they're recycled through some outside company. And I felt that if I just left the room and didn't ask that I would be ignoring her pain. Harper looks each one in the eye. Well, as the results came back one by one, they were elevated. He was in no distress. But I feel well. All of those heroes trying to recover from the trauma of the pandemic are trying to figure out how to live and how to survive.. To say that the last year has been one of breaking, of brokennessbroken systems, broken lives, broken promiseswould be an understatement. I felt Id lost the capacity to write or speak well, but there were stories that stayed with me this sense of humanity and spirituality that called to me from my work in the medical practice. They stayed together through medical school until two months before she was scheduled to join the staff of a hospital in central Philadelphia, when he told her he couldn . Welcome to Group Text, a monthly column for readers and book clubs about the novels, memoirs and short-story collections that make you want to talk, ask questions, and dwell in another world for a little bit longer. So they brought him in because part of their legal work is to prove it. In one chapter, she advocates for a Black man who has been brought in in handcuffs by white police officers and refuses an examination a constitutional right that Harper honors despite a co-worker calling a representative from the hospitals ethics office to report her. There wasn't a doctor assigned yet to her, she only had a nurse. Photos of Harper the bride wearing her voluminous wedding gown on . Education. And the consensus in the ER at the time was, well, of course, that is what we're supposed to do. Brought up in Washington, D.C., in a complicated family, she went to . You grew up in an affluent family in what you describe as some exclusive neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. You went to private school. Dr. Michele Harper has worked as an emergency room physician for more than a decade at various institutions, including as chief resident at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx and in the emergency department at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia. Join us for an enlightening discussion with Dr. Michele Harper as she highlights the lessons learned on her inspiring personal journey of discovery and self-reflection as written in her New York . Our hours have been cut, our pay has been cut because healthcare in America is a for-profit system. Michele D. Thomas, MD Colon & Rectal Surgery. DAVIES: You know, I'm wondering if the fact that you spent so much of your childhood in a place where you didn't feel safe and there was no adult or professional that you encountered who could relieve that, who could rescue you, who could make you safe, do you think that that in some way made you a more empathetic doctor, somebody who is more inclined to find that person who is in need of help that they somehow can't quite identify or ask for? We Hope she misses her camera days and returns to Michigan and the show "Dr. Pol.". Her book is called "The Beauty In Breaking.". So I started the transfer. What's it like not to have follow-up, not to know what became of these folks? Michele Harper, 2020. Certainly it was my safe haven when I could leave the home. MAKE AN APPOINTMENT CALL (302)644-8880. And he apologized because he said that unfortunately, this is what always happens in this hospital - that the hospital won't promote women or people of color. The Beauty in Breaking is a journey of a thousand judgment calls, including some lighter moments. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. HARPER: Yes. And even clinically, when I'm not, like when I worked at Einstein Hospital in Philadelphia, it's a similar environment. You want to describe some of the family dynamics that made it hard? She is affiliated with Saint Francis Medical Center. Its a blessing, a good problem to have. In a new memoir, Dr. Michele Harper writes about treating gunshot wounds, discovering evidence of child abuse and drawing courage from her patients as she's struggled to overcome her own trauma. I was really scared because I didnt know that I could write a book. DAVIES: The resident in this case who sought to go over your head and consult with the hospital's legal department - did you continue to work with her? Though we both live in the same area, COVID-19 kept us from meeting in a studio. We know, in medicine, people can make their own decisions. So not only had they done all this violation, but then they were trying to take away her livelihood as well. This conversation with ER doctor Michele Harper will cover many of the lessons she's learned on her inspiring personal journey and the success of her New York Times-bestselling memoir, The Beauty in Breaking. And as a result, it did expedite the care that she needed. Racism affects everything with my work as a doctor. Dr. Elise Michelle Harper, MD is a health care provider primarily located in Frisco, TX. Tell us what happened. DAVIES: I don't want to dwell on this too much. . Where: Free live streaming event on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. She went on to attend Harvard, where she met her husband. When I speak to people in the U.K. about medical bills, they are shocked that the cost of care [in the U.S.] can be devastating and insurmountable, she says. The N95s we use, there's been a recycling program. None of us knew what was happening. So I call the accepting hospital back to let them know that. It's another thing to act. Please register to receive a link for viewing this online event. And my emergency medicine director was explaining that even though there was no other candidate and I was the only one who applied, they decided to leave it open. It's 11 a.m., and Michele Harper has just come off working a string of three late shifts at an emergency room in Trenton, N.J. And there was no pneumonia. I'm Dave Davies, in for Terry Gross. HARPER: Yeah. Because if the person caring for you is someone who hears you, who truly understands you thats priceless. It's difficult growing up with a batter for a father and his wife, who was my mother. She was chief resident at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx and has worked in several emergency medicine departments in the Philadelphia area where she lives today. DAVIES: Michele Harper, thank you so much for speaking with us. Penguin Publishing. There was nothing to complain about. HARPER: So she was there for medical clearance. DAVIES: Have things improved? The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. Not only did he read his own CT scans, he stared unflinchingly at his own life and shared his findings with unimaginable courage. DAVIES: Dr. Michele Harper is an emergency room physician. As she puts it, In life, too, even greater brilliance can be found after the mending., Who Saves an Emergency Room Doctor? You write that the hospital would be so full of patients that some would wait in the ER, and then you would be expected to care for them in addition to those arriving for emergency care. [Recent data from the Association of American Medical Colleges shows that of all active physicians in the United States, only 5% identified as Black or African American. In medicine, theres no consensus that racism is a problem. Dr. Michele Harper. 419 following. Harper writes about this concept when she describes her own survival. I mean, there was the mask on your face. Michele Harper An emergency room physician explores how a life of service to others taught her how to heal herself. She was rushed into the department unconscious, not clear why but assuming a febrile seizure, a seizure that children - young children can have when they have a fever. So the police just left. Michele Harper is a female, African American emergency room physician in a profession that is overwhelmingly male and white. She just sat there. Emily and Dr. Harper discuss the back stories that become salient in caring for patients who may be suffering from more than just the injuries . She was there with her doting father. That's depleting, and it's also rewarding to be of service. A graduate of . You say that this center has the sturdy roots of insight that, in their grounding, offer nourishment that can lead to lives of ever-increasing growth. Do you know what I mean? And so then my brother became the target of violence from my father. And it's a very easy exam. Despite her rigorous schedule, Dr. Michelle enjoys spending time with her family. Michele Harper. Michele Harper, thanks so much for being here. When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi. HARPER: Well, what it would have entailed - in that case, what it would have entailed was we would have had to somehow subdue this man, since he didn't want an exam - so we would have to physically restrain him somehow, which could mean various nurses, techs, security, hold him down to get an evaluation from him, take blood from him, take urine from him, make him get an X-ray - probably would take more than physically if he would even go along with it. And they were summoned, probably, a couple of times. I mean, you say that her body had a story to tell. And you're right. It was crying out for help, and the liver test was kind of an intuition on your part. Michele Harper is a female African American emergency room physician in an overwhelmingly male and white profession. He said it wasn't true. It made me think that you really connect with patients emotionally, which I'm sure takes longer but maybe also has a cost associated with it. This is her story, as told to PEOPLE. Accuracy and availability may vary. During our first virtual event of 2021, the ER doctor and best-selling author shared what it means to breakand to healon the frontlines of medicine. They speak English and Spanish. Welcome to FRESH AIR. She'll be back to talk more about her experiences in the emergency room after this short break. . Email this page. D.C., in a complicated family, she attended Harvard, where she met her husband. Is it different? And I remember thinking - and it was a deep bite. Share this page on Facebook. We're only tested if we have symptoms. Dr. Michele Krohn-Harper is a Chiropractic Physician and Board-Certified Clinical Nutritionist with a practice in Dublin, Ohio, since 1996. But I always seen it an opportunity. Monday, 8/22/2022 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm . And I said, "She's racist, I literally just said my name," and I repeated what happened. You know, hopefully, one day we can do something different. HARPER: At that time, I saw my future as needing to get out and needing to create something different for myself. D.C., in a complicated family, she went to Harvard, where she met her husband. I kept thinking, This is absurd. Part of me was laughing inside because she thought she could be so ignorant and inappropriate. DAVIES: You know, you write in the very beginning of the book, in describing what the book is about, that you want to take us into the chaos of emergency medicine and show us where the center is. She was being sexually harassed at work and the customers treated her horribly. DAVIES: You describe being 7 years old and trying to understand this. Her physical exam was fine. It was traumatic brain injury, and that's why she presented with altered consciousness that day. My trainee, the resident, was white. www.micheleharper.com. And the police were summoned only once. They left. Sometimes our supervisors dont understand. Dr. Harper reflects on her journey from navigating a complicated family in Washington D.C. to attending Harvard, where she pursued emergency medicine and met her husband. I feel people in this nation deserve better.. When I was in high school, I would write poetry, she says. 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