Among the undergraduates receiving their diplomas on May 11 will be the first two graduates of Bellarmine’s new Health Humanities program: Olivia Remmert and Abrayah McMillen.
The Health Humanities program began in 2021 with a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and is the first of its kind in Kentucky. Health humanities, also called “medical humanities,” includes sub-fields like bioethics, disability studies, aging studies, social justice in health, cultural perspectives on health and many other intersectional areas related to health, healthcare and the human condition.
Students explore challenging interdisciplinary topics in classes like Death and Dying through the Humanities, Creativity and Caregiving, and Healthcare, Justice, the State and Society.
Olivia, who is from Evansville, Ind., graduated with an associate degree from Ivy Tech Community College in Evansville before coming to Bellarmine.
Abrayah, who is from Breckinridge County, Ky., essentially grew up at Bellarmine: Her mother is Dr. Alice Kimble, director of Bellarmine’s Office of Health Services.
“My mother loves working here and always took me to campus, so I felt I was a part of the community before I even applied to the school,” Abrayah said. “I also knew how connected and helpful Bellarmine is to students.”
"I want to provide good healthcare that makes patients feel involved and taken care of."
Olivia said she was attracted to the Health Humanities program by its focus on patient-centered care and social justice in healthcare.
“It has taught me to advocate for myself and others and see that there is a side of healthcare aside from the clinical perspective,” she said.
In April, she and two other Bellarmine students were the first-ever undergraduate presenters at the Health Humanities Consortium Conference at Creighton Health Sciences Campus in Phoenix, Ariz.
“We presented on our journey to starting our Students for Health Humanities RSO [Registered Student Organization] on campus,” she said. “We talked about our challenges with student engagement in the Health Humanities program, considering it is such a new program, and provided an analysis of our program to see what we had in common with other Health Humanities programs. It was an amazing experience to be able to present at the Consortium after working so hard.”
Abrayah said the Health Humanities program was appealing to her because she wants to be able to connect wth patients on a more personal level. “I want to be able to understand a diagnosis in a more elaborate way than just its definition, and to provide good healthcare that makes patients feel involved and taken care of.”
She plans to apply for healthcare jobs following graduation and is leaning toward medical sales.
Olivia is exploring continuing her education in social services in healthcare and said she believes the Health Humanities program has prepared her well.
“The Health Humanities program allows for students to be knowledgeable about different fields across healthcare that are not taught or spoken of enough,” she said. “This program has given me many opportunities to learn while still gaining real-world experience.”