In Dr. Elizabeth
Ford’s Sometimes Amazing Things Happen,
Ford recounts her time spent on the Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward. The memoir
is as much about her own personal growth as it is about the daunting, yet
crucial care she provides to one of the country’s most vulnerable populations, prison inmates from Riker’s Island. Dr. Ford goes from being a nervous intern on her
first day working in the ward to a confident—if not emotionally drained—director
of the forensic pathology service all the while trying to balance her family
life as a wife and mother. Dr. Ford’s patient
encounters with the inmates all center around one crucial thing: trust. In many
of her conversations, Dr. Ford works tirelessly to convince her patients, many
of whom had suffered abuse or neglect in their younger life, that she is on
their team. This process is, more often than not, an uphill battle. Nonetheless,
it is an endeavor we see Dr. Ford embark on repeatedly throughout the memoir.
For as she says, “My job is to try to look past
[what they’ve done] and ... to care for them, to be curious about them and to
be non-judgmental. It is a daily struggle, but one that I have found over the
years [to be] incredibly rewarding."
