Opinion

Health Care in Hues: Walk a Mile in Their Shoes

As famously penned by Harper Lee in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb inside of his skin [shoes] and walk around in it [them].”

Where we as health-care providers strive to holistically care for our patients, our ability to improve their health and well-being is rooted in our ability to understand their perspectives and day-to-day challenges. This illustration emphasizes the importance of stepping into the shoes of our patients and understanding their lived experiences – to understand them as people beyond understanding them as patients.

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Authors

Pooja Gandhi

Contributor

Pooja Gandhi is a speech and language pathologist and PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. Passionate about graphic medicine and an artist by her second calling, Pooja is co-developer of the Health Care in Hues series, focused on bringing narratives and perspectives from the pandemic to life through graphic medicine.

Arnav Agarwal

Contributor

Arnav Agarwal is an internal medicine resident physician at the University of Toronto and an incoming fellow in general internal medicine at McMaster University. He has parallel interests in clinical epidemiology, narrative writing, medical education and health advocacy.

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