Volume 8

December - 2019

Cover: Alone

The song has a hodge podge of meanings relating to the word "alone"; it is a song asking whether we truly need to always be "out there" sharing every moment of our artificially edited lives in our virtual, online world. Isn't what we actually do more important than the image we try to create of ourselves? Am I alone in appreciating the power of silence, or of being quiet? (Which I especially appreciate after a shift, often not willing to recount or mull over what the day's events were like.) And am I going through life with others who feel as I do, who are like me, or "am I the only one" in this world? Once I realized I had some ability to write words and music there was a strong internal push to get this creative side of me fulfilled by having the notes actually played and the words sung. To have musician friends/colleagues happily do this is very rewarding and cathartic and has contributed greatly to my wellness as an ED physician and person.

The lyric video itself was contracted out to a professional and I had little input into its production. The words/music and the final song as you hear it are all original and written and co-produced by myself. My fellow producer was an extremely talented medical student whom I met when she wore the hat of medical scribe in our ED up till a few months ago. She plays solo violin, some keyboards, and is responsible for the synth percussion. Besides myself on main keyboards, an ED physician colleague plays the guitar, and former ED nurses man the lead and female backup vocals and bass guitar, with another medical student (formally a registration clerk in our department) on male back up vocals.

Letter from the Editors:

Welcome to Art of Emergency Medicine, a curated art blog dedicated to showcasing the creative side of emergency professionals!

From all of us here at Art of Emergency Medicine, we want to wish you the happiest of holiday seasons and hope you are able to gather with those closest to you. We also wants to send you our very best wishes for the New Year and look forward to sharing even more wonderful content in the year to come!

Beauty is There just open your eyes to see it

We had spent all day without sleep getting our truck repaired and then the moment we got into county we got a call to help the sheriff dept. investigate the Consuga river and so I saw how beautiful it looked and took pictures.

Anatomy Study

When I was studying art all of those years ago I was interested in a variety of mediums, particularly ceramics, metalworking, and other 3-D forms. The problem is they don’t look as good in photographs! Currently I’m interested in architecture, home remodeling, and rekindling a past hobby of DJing soul, disco, and boogie music.

I’m looking forward to learning about medicine and in particular developing relationships with students/patients that lets me pay witness to the beautiful creative energy that is within everybody.

The Library

Solitude, a quiet respite, a place to study. All of these are part of a library and important to our own self-reflection. I have always found a sense of calm when I get the chance to sit back and observe a scene unfolding before me. The quiet footsteps, the scratching of pencils, the clicking of keys. It all creates an atmosphere of calm. Sometimes I even remember to take photo.

Do you want to see your art shared with the community? Don’t forget to submit today!

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This Months Featured Artists:

Bridget Fino

EMT, I always took pictures but I started taking pictures of things that where around me because there is always something beautiful even in the worst scene.

Eric Kaltz

My route to Emergency Medicine is a little unusual, which makes it the norm in a sense. I studied both Physics and Art and a liberal arts undergraduate school, before enlisting the military and discovering the National Ski Patrol almost always has volunteer opportunities available for wayward souls. They took me right in and fed me a hearty bowl of Emergency Medicine basics, and I haven’t looked back since.

Will Grad, MD

Emergency Medicine physician in Quebec's busiest ED. Privileged to have by chance met/worked with a number of other physicians, nurses, allied staff (registration clerk, medical scribe, both now medical students) who were fantastical musical talents, who themselves wrote great music of their own but were actually also willing to play/perform the music I wrote! Our band called "The Bedpans", have 3 singles out on all streaming media. Band members are now spread out between Montreal, Edmonton, San Francisco and Medellin, Colombia. Also, a successful Airbnb owner, avid hockey fan and weekly year round ice hockey player! He can be found on Twitter.

Jonathan Warren, MD

A PGY-2 at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and founder of Art of Emergency Medicine. His hobbies include photography, hiking, Netflix, and dogs. He’s always on the lookout for the next adventure. Find more of his photography on Instagram.

You can learn more about the artists featured in this and other volumes at our contributors page!