January 1977 RAIN Page 3 RAIN is a monthly information access journal and reference service for people developing more satisfying patterns that increase local self-reliance and press less heavily on our limited resources. We try to give access to: * Soli.d technical support for evaluating and implementing new ideas. * Ecological and philosophical perceptions that can help create more satisfying options for living, working and playing. * Up-to-date information on people, events and publications. . --------------------------------------------------------------------~ what vou need to do things yourself instea-d of pushing a single answer. This good set of booklets lays out how, what and where to drv-in the sun. in the oven, over a hea-t register, with solar heating or electncity. Pros and cons of each and hmv to prepare foods for drying. Companion book has simple, easy-to-follow directions and drawings for making several kinds of food drying cabinets. (TB) (HEALTH ) Take Care of Yourself: A Consumer's Guide to Medical Care, by Donald M. Vickery·, MD, and james F. Fuies, MD, 269 pp., 1976, $5.95 from: Addison-Wesley Reading, MA 01867 A highly useful home medical guide .which includes flow charts for figuring out what to do about the 68 most common complaints that bring people to a doctor's office-sprains, colds, sqr¢ throats, vaginal discharge, headache, back pain, etc. Asks key questions and · allows you to, following a branching logic tree which tells you whether you need to (1) see a doctor NOW, (2) see a doctor today, (3) make appointment with doctor, (4) apply home remedies. Also tells you which home remedies to use. Lots of people go to doctors when they shouldn't and don't when t.~ey should. This book should help you use your doctor more effectively. (Tom Ferguson) How to Practice Prospective Medicine, by Lewis Robbins and Jack Hall, 1974, $12 from: Health Hazards Appntisal c/o Methodist Hospital of Indiana 1604 N. Capitol Indianapolis, IN 46202 I've never been much of a bug on statistics, but rhis seems like a very valuable use. Lays out simply and directly your probability of dying from various causes based on your age, sex and habits. Then shows the impact on your expected lifespan from changing various habits-stopping smoking, losing weight, changing diet, drinking less, using seatbelts, etc. Tells you the odds; you choose how you want to live and die. Good approach and fundamental t? the development of self-care responsibility. (Suggested by Mim Orleans) with healing fo~ a long ,~im~ .rather than faddists. It's a good begmnmg. (LdeM) Alternatives to Chemical Medicines, Mildred Jackson N.D. and Terri Teague, 1975, $4.95 from: P.O. Box 656 Oakland, CA 94604 There are a lot of books out now with herbal remedies- many of which are conflicting. I know in my bones that The 'New Handbook ofPrescription Drt,Jgs, by Richard Burack and Fred Fox, $1.95, from: Ballantine Books Random House 201 East 50th New York, NY 10022 this is the way to go, but it's hard to pick up on this almost lost art. This is the most helpful resource·I've found so far- straightforward with amounts given (it's easy to overdo·on sometimes powerful,herbs) and favorites starred. Put together by two who've been working A 1975 version of the original 1967 guidebook for finding out where and how to get the best value for your pre- . scription dollar; what drugs to avoid and hoW'to evaluate different generic and name brand drugs and which to choose. We found this in Self-Help and Health: A Report from Social Policy (we'll review their stuff next issue): ' ... I was in the courtyard of a place called McCord's Zulu Hospital, an institution of about ~00 beds in Durban, South Africa. The wards and balconies opened onto a courtyard · filled with flowering trees and warm subtropical air. Suddenly a single sopran9 voice soared frof!l one of the w~rds,. wa~ered, was joined.and sustained by a chorus of women s.vo1ces and rose again. After a mom.ent, a great deep harmomc sw~lled : the men's wards had joined in. And for the next ten mmutes, the whole hospital sang. Someone translated for me. The Zulu song was about the pain of being ill, the lone!iness. and fear of being·in the hospital, and the goodness of bemg w1th the people-other patients-:-for sharing an? support. Every da~ at twilight, I learned, the whole hosp1tal sang-all ~he pat1e~ts and some of the staff. It was a profoundly movmg expenence. At intervals since, I have tried to imagine patients so sustaining themse1ve·s in a hospital in Boston. I canno~. From "The Causes of Dehumanization in Health Care and Prospects for Huma:nizazation," J. Geiger in Humanizing Health Care by J. Howard and A, Strauss, eds., 1975, from Wiley-lnterscience Press. ' I '
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