East Central Alabama News

UAB Medicine employees will share touching stories of their experiences at work during StoryPower: Here & Now, at noon Wednesday, Nov. 30, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Hear how the medical world at UAB has influenced employees’ lives as they share their tales of heartbreak and loss, tenderness and pain, and hope and reconciliation.

The fourth annual StoryPower is presented by UAB Arts in Medicine, a partnership with UAB Medicine that underscores UAB’s commitment to patient-centered care. The event will be held in the Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium. Free boxed lunches will be provided for the first 100 attendees.

This year’s event emcees will be Jordan DeMoss, vice president of Clinical Operations, and Elizabeth Vander Kamp, Arts in Medicine artist-in-residence. Speakers this year include:

• Arianna Elizabeth Mandt, music therapist/clinical specialist in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
• Emily Deanna Rider, recreation therapist, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
• Michael D. Barnett, M.D., associate professor, Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Care, UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine
• Salaam Green, Arts in Medicine artist-in-residence
• David M. Williams, cafeteria cashier, UAB Hospital Food and Nutrition Services

Sharing at StoryPower “was much more powerful than I had expected,” said Terri Middlebrooks, R.N., program development manager in the Department of Interprofessional Practice and Training and one of the first employees to participate in 2019. At that time, Middlebrooks was the Geriatric liaison and Acute Care for Elders Unit coordinator, and now works with DIPT to disseminate age-friendly care throughout the UAB Health System. She says she was honored to be asked to speak.

Hearing stories from peers about how they got to where they are now and the roads that led them there was just amazing, she says. Middlebrooks went from majoring in accounting to becoming a nurse. She stayed home for 21 years; but because she had that degree, she came back and found an even deeper passion for caring the second time around. Her experiences in the profession cover the spectrum from conception to geriatrics.

“As we work to get through our days, it is so easy to forget the why that brought us here,” Middlebrooks said. “I am almost certain that everyone in the audience could relate in some way to those telling about why they do what they do. Health care of any sort is a calling. It takes a person with a servant’s heart to do this work. It is not easy, and it is not the money that keeps us here. It is much deeper.”

People still tell her they remember that event and what she said. 

“We are all from different walks of life, and we are all motivated by the unexpected events that take place on our life journey,” Middlebrooks said. “Most everyone who spoke told of why they do what they do, and this is very powerful.” 

Started in 2013, the UAB Arts in Medicine program provides services on a rotating schedule to a growing number of UAB Medicine units. AIM strives to transform the care environment and enhance well-being and healing through creative arts experiences for patients, families and staff. Integrating the arts into the health care environment has been shown to benefit patients and caregivers by reduced stress levels, reduction in perceived pain, improved mood, distraction from medical problems, and increased self-expression and self-confidence.

Original source can be found here.