Giving back is is a big part of High Point University, so much so that community service has become part of the academic curriculum as well. There are 24 Service Learning classes offered to students that count toward 14 different majors and general education requirements. Civic learning has not only affected the academic programs at HPU, but has made an impact on the High Point community as a whole.

A service learning class focusing on narrative medicine titled “HPU Lifelines” has connected with Pennybyrn at Maryfield, an assisted living facility in High Point, where students combine literature with service by reading poetry to elderly patients with illnesses such as Alzheimer’s, dementia and aphasia. This program was started by Allison Walker, a professor at HPU, and has ex- panded to two sections with two student researchers including Tayla Curran, a senior at HPU.

Narrative medicine is a new form of medicine in which physicians focus not just on a patient’s illness but on who they are as a person as a way to better understand their illness and become more empathetic, with the hope of changing the model for care and aging.

“It allows students to deepen their understanding of the more inspiring side of medicine while increasing their compassion, em- pathy and understanding for the patient,” Curran said.

It may seem like a simple form of community service, but studies in narrative medicine have shown that these types of activities have significant benefits for the patients, both physically and emotionally, such as a decrease in depression and physical pain.

Writing can often be therapeutic and help patients cope with their illnesses and can even trigger memories form their youth. In contributing to a cumulative poem, the residents are given a sense of purpose that they may feel is lost.

“Literature serves as a mechanism to humanize illness in a non- threatening way, while exploring our own mortality and recogniz- ing that illness is a natural part of life,” Curran said.

“Even though these people may look scary or can’t talk much, they are still human beings,” Walker said. “Narrative medicine helps us retain our humanness and advocate for others.”

There has even been a noticeable shift in the dynamics at Pennybyrn outside the workshops, such as increased interactions between the residents. These positive impacts are small things that make a huge difference for the patients in terms of quality of life.