Sometimes Amazing Things Happen

Heartbreak and Hope on the Bellevue Hospital Psychiatric Prison Ward

De: Elizabeth Ford MD

Narrado por: Bernadette Dunne

Elizabeth Ford went through medical school unsure of where she belonged. It wasn't until she did her psychiatry rotation that she found her calling - to care for one of the most vulnerable populations of mentally ill people, the inmates of New York City's jails, including Rikers Island, who are so sick that they are sent to the Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward for care.

These men were broken, without resources or support, and very ill. They could be violent, unpredictable, but they could also be funny and tender and needy. Mostly, they were human and they awakened in Ford a boundless empathy. Her patients made her a great doctor and a better person. While Ford was a psychiatrist at Bellevue she became a wife and a mother. In her book she shares her struggles to balance her personal and professional lives, to care for her children and her patients, and to maintain the empathy that is essential to her practice - all in the face of a complex institution, an exhausting workload, and the deeply emotionally taxing nature of her work. Ford brings humor, grace, and humanity to the lives of the patients in her care and in beautifully rendered prose illuminates the inner workings (and failings) of our mental health and criminal justice systems.

©2017 Elizabeth Ford (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

amazing book!!

loved this book!!! Very interesting insight to a growing problem in America. I wish I knew this woman.

Quite revealing...

I enjoyed this realistic story about the famous Bellevue psychiatric area. Having a medical background, but not much psych experience, I found it revealing about some of the truly psychiatric ill people who are her patients in these stories. Many are quite damaged from childhood, and it tugged at my heart to hear their stories, and accounts of having to leave reality to cope with their lives.
Dr Ford becomes truly immersed in her patients’ treatments, and she represents the best of what modern healthcare can deliver.
The ending is bittersweet- it would be a spoiler to reveal it...... but listen to this- you will not be disappointed.
The narrator was excellent: I did not realize until almost the end of the book that Dr Ford was not the narrator; Ms Dunne puts that much emotion into her reading.

An interesting insight into the world of a psychiatrist working with inmates with mental illness

Interesting, realistic view / perspective of the work of mental health professionals within the criminal justice system.

Extraordinary

This is exceptional reading...true to life, and stimulates discussion of psychiatric illness, treatment, and the people who choose to labor in the field. Excellent.

Inspiring!!!

Everyone who works with mentally ill patients should read this book ❤️ Dr. Ford shares how love, hope, compassion, and respect help those who society treats as outcasts and dangerous. Most of them don’t need punishment, they need help.

Highly Recommend! 👌👍

Dr. Ford must have overcome hurdles getting this book published (due to the telling of patient stories, but keeping identities private). In this book she shares how she was able to successfully move through barriers to better care for her patients. She used a lot of common sense and mad skills. I saw her on a talk show introducing this book. Not real long and worth a listen or a read!

phenomenal

absolutely my new favorite book. spell binding. couldn't hardly focus on my work, I wish more people would know about this book and read it! compassion is key.

Probably my new favorite book

As a social worker, I love everything behavioral health related. This book did not disappoint. I was so sad to see it end. 10/10. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to Dr.Ford discuss her patients and her life on the forensic psychiatry service and how it shaped her as a doctor and as a person.

Dr. Ford

some are saying she had no closeness with her patients. as a Dr. or a C/O that's impossible. if you know anything about Rikers you can't give a regular prisoner let alone 1 with a mental illnesses an inch cause they'll take a yard.
Half of the population is mentally ill.and dangerous. Most want a trip out of solitary confinement
On the island they don't want to take their meds or in hospital.
she seems like a very companionable Dr. their aren't too many psychiatrists who do. some just throw u on meds.
If you don't take your meds u will never get better. most don't care because there facing long sentences. There's not enough staff to handle them.
I liked the book.

Thought-Provoking

This book covers Dr. Ford’s psychiatry rotation in medical school. She says she discovered her calling on that rotation. She went on to become Chief of Psychiatry for Correctional Health Services in New York City. She worked at Bellevue Hospital and Riker’s Island. Ford discusses the mentally ill in the jail system. She also includes personal information about the problems of balancing her professional and personal life.

The book is well written and provides the reader with a good overview of the problems of the mentally ill in the correctional system. I came away with reinforcement of my opinion about the need to reform the mental health system both in the need to remove the mentally ill out of the prison population and get the mentally ill homeless off the streets. The book is a worthwhile read.

The book is almost eight and a half hours long. Bernadette Dunne does an excellent job narrating the book. Dunne is an actress and well-known audiobook narrator. Dunne has earned the Audie Award and over six Golden Earphone Awards.