Fall 2023 Book Club | Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371 by MK Czerwiec
Join us for this fall's USF Health Libraries Bookclub where we'll be discussing Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371 by MK Czerweic. The bookclub will be held from 12:30pm to 1:30pm on Friday, October 13th. Attend in-person at the WELL or virtually via Teams. Attendance is limited so sign up today!
Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371 by ISBN: 9781637790076Publication Date: 2021A graphic memoir and adapted oral history of Unit 371, an inpatient AIDS care hospital unit in Chicago that was in existence from 1985 to 2000. Examines the human costs of caregiving and the role art can play in the grieving process.
This graphic novel combines Czerwiec's memories with the oral histories of patients, family members, and staff. Deeply personal yet made up of many voices, this history of daily life in a unique AIDS care unit is an open, honest look at suffering, grief, and hope among a community of medical professionals and patients at the heart of the epidemic.
While area libraries have limited copies available, Taking Turns is available for check-out from the Shimberg Library for 3 weeks.
Discussion Questions
(adapted from the NLM Discussion Guide by David R. Wessner)
1. Art figures prominently in Taking Turns. MK Czerwiec uses an art form, comics, to tell her story and process her feelings. UNIT 371 has an art therapy program and Tim has an art show opening. In what ways can art, either making it or viewing it, be therapeutic?
2. Throughout the book, Czerwiec includes detailed scientific information. For example, an in-depth description of the immune system and a detailed overview of an HIV treatment regimen is provided. How do these details affect your understanding of the story? How useful is art in conveying scientific or medical information?
3. Taking care of terminal patients can be overwhelming and stressful. How do health care providers recognize when they are experiencing compassion fatigue? If they notice this, what should they do about it? If you are a health care provider, have you experienced compassion fatigue and what did you do about it?
4. Throughout the history of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, people living with HIV have been stigmatized. What examples of stigma does MK Czerwiec provide? In what ways do she and other members of the Unit 371 staff combat stigma?
5. Are there boundaries between clinicians and patients that should never be crossed, and if so, what are they? Do you think any boundaries are crossed in Taking Turns?
6. Near the end of Taking Turns, the author recounts a 2008 visit with Roger, a former patient of Unit 371. Many people with HIV/AIDS who survived the darkest days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, like Roger, describe a sense of survivor's guilt. They lived, while others died. How do you think surviving a disease can lead to feelings of guilt?