"San Francisco's Laguna Honda Hospital is the last almshouse in the country, a descendant of the Hotel-Dieu (God's Hotel) that cared for the sick in the Middle Ages. Ballet dancers and rock musicians, professors and thieves--"anyone who had fallen, or, often, leapt, onto hard times" and needed extended medical care-ended up here. So did Victoria Sweet, who came for two months and stayed for twenty years.Laguna Honda, lower tech but human paced, gave Sweet the opportunity to practice a kind of attentive medicine that has ...
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"San Francisco's Laguna Honda Hospital is the last almshouse in the country, a descendant of the Hotel-Dieu (God's Hotel) that cared for the sick in the Middle Ages. Ballet dancers and rock musicians, professors and thieves--"anyone who had fallen, or, often, leapt, onto hard times" and needed extended medical care-ended up here. So did Victoria Sweet, who came for two months and stayed for twenty years.Laguna Honda, lower tech but human paced, gave Sweet the opportunity to practice a kind of attentive medicine that has almost vanished. Gradually, the place transformed the way she understood her work. Alongside the modern view of the body as a machine to be fixed, her extraordinary patients evoked an older idea, of the body as a garden to be tended. God's Hotel tells their story and the story of the hospital itself, which, as efficiency experts, politicians, and architects descended, determined to turn it into a modern "health care facility," revealed its own surprising truths about the essence, cost, and value of caring for body and soul"--
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Add this copy of God's Hotel: a Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to to cart. $0.99, good condition, Sold by Dream Books Co. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Denver, CO, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Riverhead Books.
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Seller's Description:
Good. Gently used with minimal wear on the corners and cover. A few pages may contain light highlighting or writing but the text remains fully legible. Dust jacket may be missing and supplemental materials like CDs or codes may not be included. Could have library markings. Ships promptly!
Add this copy of God's Hotel: a Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to to cart. $1.83, fair condition, Sold by Gulf Coast Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Memphis, TN, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of God's Hotel: a Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to to cart. $1.86, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brooklyn Park, MN, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of God's Hotel: a Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to to cart. $2.19, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of God's Hotel: a Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to to cart. $2.19, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of God's Hotel: a Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to to cart. $2.19, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of God's Hotel: a Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to to cart. $2.19, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of God's Hotel: a Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to to cart. $2.19, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of God's Hotel: a Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to to cart. $2.19, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of God's Hotel: a Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to to cart. $2.29, good condition, Sold by Blue Vase Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Interlochen, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Riverhead Books.
This book tells the story of one doctor's experience of delivering medical care to those at the bottom: the poorest, people on the streets, the ones most often denied quality care. She's part of an extraordinary facility that delivers, and witnesses its loss, and tells the tender story without getting in the way. It's beautiful, often funny, insightful, sad, and an indictment of the directions healthcare is going.
Vera F
Mar 29, 2016
Excellent book
Arrived in good time, excellent condition, book well worth the read, very well written,
xenodad
Dec 13, 2014
Great book in many ways
This book was so good that I bought an extra copy to give to a friend. Dr. Sweet tells the compelling story of medicine and health care, and the difference. She also walks the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, and describes how that experience had a profound influence on her. Her study of Hildegard of Bingen is also profound and insightful. The book is rich in so many ways, the writing is great, and the story of Laguna Honda is one I will long remember.
