Thursday 25th of April 2019 07:43:06 PM

Hygeia®, symbolic of the Greek mythological goddess of health and healing for which it is named, concerns my interpretation of the human dimension of healthcare and uses new technologies to share age-old feelings and lessons providing poetry, essays, software programs and personal communications to improve comfort, quality,safety, access and patient-centric approaches to healthcare services.

The software programs and services of Hygeia® advocate for the safest possible healthcare experience. The foundation of this quality experience begins with optimal communication between the patient and the healthcare provider. Families achieve optimally healthy outcomes when their care and resources are provided in an atmosphere of:

open (transparent), effective healthcare / provider communications

shared decision-making process between and among families, clinicians and nurses (teamwork)

evidenced / experiential based practices -all occurring within a milieu of consistent and compassionate care

support that fosters understanding, compassion and hope; the human dimension of healthcare.

The poetry of Hygeia is about the human experience, hope and despair; about celebration and sorrow. But mostly, it is about Hope. Forms of expression implicit in symbolic language; poetry and verse, song, prayer and ritual, have served a role in all cultures and societies to dispel the tears and foster the healing of death and human loss. Why does the poetry of death triumph as a source of enduring inspiration and hope?

"Though our spirits may fade and our viscera bleed, we are enabled by the agents of our humanity empowered by ancestral song and promise"

Comfort may be achieved through the transfer of the poet's feelings into the reader or listener's mind. It transports the reader from the distractions and influences of the outside world inward to the internal rhythms and solace of the personal soul. The poet becomes a healer and his poetry his staff. Through verse and meter, free of inhibition yet full with expression, the poet may articulate a sensitivity and empathy and provoke this introspection and inner peace. A poem is transformed into a message of hope. There is wonderment and magic in the words of a poem. Each word is selected for its individual meaning within the context of the entire poem. A few properly selected words can move the reader to tears and awaken the primal emotions of joy, promise, despair and hope. A poet should evoke emotion in his work and write as if each poem is written with the poet's last words.

The language of poetry, within the broader context of its 'parent body' (literature,) has always had as its great themes, love, loss and death. The inclusion of hope to these thematic elements is worthwhile if not essential for, (as humans) we have the capacity to bring hope to a despair that is uniquely created by our humanity and our human conditions.

As an Obstetrician, my professional career has involved a striving to bring comfort and healing to children, born and yet to born, and to mothers through their years of childbearing and beyond. It has been the cause in my life. I have been uplifted by the triumphs of birth and healing and depressed by the failures. Yet I have always tried to look beyond the failures in search of the triumphs. I have counseled patients at the darkest times of their lives, when their children have died, and I have turned to the comfort of personal reflection, poetry and self-expression to better help me help my patients. I have learned that by writing down thoughts which might elucidate my feelings more clearly than the spoken word, I have become a better physician.

Hygeia Health Systems LLC is an entity which provides programs and services to the public, to healthcare teams and others with a mission to enhance communication, clarification, engagement, quality, safety, trust and humanism (the need for healthcare to be personal and humane with empathy and compassion) within the healthcare system. Hygeia Health Systems, LLC provides its transacted business through Internet-based programs, programs distributed as Software as a Service (SAAS), personal communications (virtual and face-to-face) and the rendering of professional reviews publications and lectures.

Michael R. Berman, MD, MBI, FACOG
Founder and President
Hygeia Health Systems, LLC