Submitted by syntaxfactory on April 10, 2012 - 10:23pm
Call for Participation:
Workshops, Invited Sessions, Conversational Sessions, and Performances
Survive and Thrive: A Conference and Arts Festival for Heart Health and Medical Technology
Dates: October 24th through the 27th
Where: River’s Edge Convention and
Civic Center in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Conference and Festival Description:
The Survive and Thrive Conference and Festival is a combination of:
Emergency Medical Services
Medical and wellness conference with research and best practices updates
Medical Humanities and restorative therapies such as Narrative Medicine
The program includes academic presentations for Medical, Art, Music, Writing,
Theater, Film, and workshops in Medical Humanities, CPR, and EMS.
Context:
The primary focus of the event is on the survivors, caregivers, families, and those
who were lost to Sudden Cardiac Arrest and their families. As Stephen and Thomas
Amidon put it:
Perhaps the greatest challenge presented by abnormal rhythms is a syndrome
that has long mystified physicians and terrified just about everyone: sudden
cardiac arrest. This is our deepest nightmare when we think about the heart. It
defies the usual narrative of fatal illness, with its unfolding drama of symptoms,
diagnosis, struggle, and acceptance. Instead, the heart simply stops pumping
blood. The individual collapses without warning and dies within minutes. The
end can come before we even know that it has begun. (The Sublime Engine, 87).
Between 300 and 350 thousand people die of SCA every year in the United States.
Yet, awareness of SCA and the actions we can take to increase the odds of survival
and enable the survivors to thrive are not common topics. Thus, the conference is
dedicated to understanding and responding to SCA, including post incident recovery
for those who survive.
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All topics and presentations start with the heart. Associated topics are also
welcome, including Post Trauma and recovery from illness and injury that are
similar to those of heart trauma. The focus on the heart is physical, emotional,
spiritual, and social. Accordingly, any presentation, performance, discussion, or
paper related to those aspects and their relationships is welcomed.
Possible Topic Areas for presentations, workshops, and performances:
Medical Humanities
Narrative Medicine
Art Therapy
Music Therapy
Performance Therapy
Survivor Stories
Stories from Medical Experience
Current Issues in Medicine and
Technology
The role of aesthetics in healing
Recent research in heart health
Recent research in heart related
technologies
Fiction and Nonfiction readings
Poetry Readings
Art shows
Musical performances
The idea of a conference blended with a festival:
The academic, scientific, and artistic are all needed to understand the heart and
healing in general. Thus, the conference is dedicated to blending and integrating the
scientific and aesthetic experiences. The conference and festival will feature many
events that demonstrate this integration. A play, concerts, poetry readings, and
art displays will be featured along with scientific demonstrations, CPR instruction,
and best practices of EMS. A description of the events will soon be available on our
upcoming web site. Please email Liana Livingstone at lianalivingstone@gmail.com
to be included in updates. Please head your email with “Survive and Thrive.”
Submissions:
Abstracts (500-1000 words) that describe your presentation and purpose
can be sent to rlveeder@stcloudstate.edu. Please email any abstract with the
header “Survive and Thrive” on or before July 20th, 2012.
