A registered nurse and artist will give a talk about her graphic novel that combines an oral history of Chicago’s first inpatient AIDS unite and work from her time as a nurse on that unit. MK Czerweic will give a presentation titled “When We Were 371: An Illustrated Oral History of an Inpatient AIDS Unit” at 1:30 p.m. Monday, April 26 in the Hedges Conference Room in The Commons on Cornell’s campus. The presentation is free and open to the public.
In 1985, two gay physicians, partners in work and life, founded Unit 371, Chicago’s first inpatient unit dedicated exclusively to the care of patients with HIV/AIDS. In the 15 years of Unit 371’s existence, a time of unparalleled medical crisis, a unique and creative model of patient care emerged. In this multimedia presentation, Czerwiec will share stories from her oral history of the unit, from her work as a nurse on the unit, and she will discuss her in-progress graphic novel that combines the two.
Czerwiec is a recent graduate of Northwestern’s program in Medical Humanities and Bioethics. She is a nurse and cartoonist who will be presenting on “Narrative Graphic Medicine” at the first Comics & Medicine conference this summer in London. Her art can be seen on her website, www.comicnurse.com.