For over 4 decades, Charlene Turner headed the social work department at one of the largest and most renown public hospitals in the Southeast, serving the city of Atlanta and 2 of the largest counties in the state of Georgia. At one point, she had a staff of over 100 social workers, diverse in culture, gender, sexual identity, race, and ethnicity. Together with more than 20 of her former social worker staff members, they share poignant memories, challenges, and triumphs. Through their eyes, you get a glimpse of the struggles of the underserved and you will fall in love with their work and their patients. Replete with human interest stories, it's a must-read for hospital administrators, physicians, nurses, social workers, aspirants, and students in these fields. This group handled some of the most severe social challenges faced by the Atlanta community during that period. You will stay engaged as they share their memories of crises resolved and challenges met.

Granted unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the maternity ward of Atlanta's sprawling public hospital, Jerry Gentry binds together stories of women, medical residents, nurses, and midwives. In this teeming facility that never closes, he shows how their sorrows, struggles, and spiritual fortitude join at the moment when life begins. Gentry tells these stories in a style and pace that mirrors life in the hospital. Scenes may change rapidly or linger on the birth of a child or an older woman's struggle with addiction. Some individuals reappear throughout the narrative while some flash by and then are gone, leaving an indelible imprint on the memory. In his narrative, Gentry follows four principal stories: A young, single woman is having her second child. She gradually reveals that her relationship with her boyfriend is a violent one. An older woman—a “Grady Baby” and lifelong Grady patient—emerges as a kind of spiritual muse. In the charity hospital, a Brazilian émigré is pregnant by a man from a wealthy Atlanta family. A woman with AIDS faces the trials of a mixed-race relationship and the terrifying question—will my baby have the virus? Never maudlin, Grady Baby presents hard choices—some wise, some not—made by women enduring tough realities. The term “Grady Baby” has been traditionally a pejorative, stereotyping the race and class of patients, but it can also be a term of pride and strength. With an insider's eye and unflinching, humanizing narrative voice, Gentry reveals the battles, failures, and triumphs that occur in one year in the place where birth and the hardships of urban life collide.

Explore the in-hospital evolution of social work with HIV/AIDS patients! A History of AIDS Social Work in Hospitals: A Daring Response to an Epidemic presents first-hand historical perspectives from frontline hospital social workers who cared for HIV/AIDS patients during the epidemic’s beginning in the early 1980s. Contributors recount personal and clinical experiences with patients, families, significant others, bureaucracies, and systems during a time of fear, challenge, and extreme caution. Their experiences illustrate the transformation of social work as the development of new programs and treatments increased the lifespan of HIV/AIDS patients. A History of AIDS Social Work in Hospitals portrays the nature of human suffering and teaches how clients deal with adversity and overcome devastating obstacles. At the same time this book, which, while nonfiction, reads like a novel, opens a window into the world of social work providers working with an illness once considered taboo (and now referred to as simply “chronic”). A History of AIDS Social Work in Hospitals provides you with an easy-to-understand medical overview of adult and pediatric infectious diseases that often accompany HIV/AIDS and examines: the evolution of social work with hospitalized patients during the first twenty years of the pandemic the important roles of social workers in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and South Carolina challenges that resulted from improved medications and longer life expectancy the status of current HIV/AIDS care programs the development of HIV/AIDS case management in emergency room settings the benefits of developing custody planning programs for HIV-infected families the challenges of working with perinatally infected adolescents With case studies and thoughtful analysis of the history of city, state, and national case management responses to the AIDS crisis, A History of AIDS Social Work in Hospitals is a valuable book for educators, students, historians, beginning mental health practitioners, social workers, case managers, substance abuse counselors, and anyone interested in stories of human courage. Make it part of your collection today!

Social Work Practice in Health Care by Karen M. Allen and William J. Spitzer is a pragmatic and comprehensive book that helps readers develop the knowledge, skills, and values necessary for effective health care social work practice, as well as an understanding of the technological, social, political, ethical, and financial factors affecting contemporary patient care. Packed with case studies and exercises, the book emphasizes the importance of being attentive to both patient and organizational needs, covers emerging trends in health care policy and delivery, provides extensive discussion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and addresses social work practice across the continuum of care.

This textbook provides an overview for students in Criminology and Criminal Justice about the overlap between the criminal justice system and mental health. It provides an accessible overview of basic signs and symptoms of major mental illnesses and size of scope of justice-involved individuals with mental illness. In the United States, the criminal justice system is often the first public service to be in contact with individuals suffering from mental illness or in mental distress. Those with untreated mental illnesses are often at higher risk for committing criminal acts, yet research on this population continues to shed light on common myths – such a prevailing assumption that those with mental illness tend to commit more violent crimes. Law enforcement agents may be called in as first responders for cases of mental distress; and due to a lack of mental health facilities, resources, and pervasive misconceptions about this population, those with mental illness often end up in the corrections system. In this environment, students in Criminology and Criminal Justice are likely to encounter those with mental illness in their future career paths, and need to be prepared for this reality. This timely work covers the roles of each part of the criminal justice system interacting with mentally ill individuals, from law enforcement and first responders, social services, public health services, sentencing and corrections, to release and re-entry. It also covers the crucial topic of mental health for criminal justice professionals, who suffer from high rates of job stress, PTSD, and other mental health issues. The final section of the book includes suggestions for future research. This work will be of interest to students of criminology and criminal justice with an interest in working in the professional sector, as well as those in related fields of sociology, psychology, and public health. It will also be of interest to policy-makers and practitioners already working in the field. The overall goal of this work is to inform, educate, and inspire change.