Academic Medicine Open Forum

I just finished reading the book "Insistent" by Joey Ramp-Adams and thought it would be of interest to others, for many reasons. 

It gave me a lot of insight into the challenges faced by learners who are service dog users and the barriers that we, as educators, should be working to eliminate.   I also thought it would make a good book for a guided reading elective for medical students, psychiatry trainees, or other health professional students.  For those who are clinicians, it may also be helpful for some patients. 

I first became aware of Joey's story through the Twitter/X account of Sampson the Service Dog (@sampson_dog) "the original ambassador for service dogs in science."  Sampson has 70,000 followers and provides information on day to day experiences in addressing barriers to service dogs, especially in educational and laboratory settings.  In 2024, Sampson was named American Humane Hero Dog in the Service Dog category.

Great pictures of Sampson and descriptions of Joey's experiences are in a brief video from that award (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeuk3oMMRls), a longer video interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmO8IQ_lKY0), and a number of websites (e.g., https://thetucsondog.com/arizonas-sampson-the-science-service-dog-becomes-sampson-the-hero-dog-winner/).

"Insistent" provides much more detail on Joey's injury in a horse accident, the misdiagnoses and delays in diagnosis that occurred, her cognitive and psychological symptoms due to traumatic brain injury and PTSD, the stigma/discrimination that she faced in getting her bachelors degree in neuroscience, the specific barriers related to having a service dog, how she overcame those challenges, and her evolution into an effective and insistent advocate for policy change.  The book is very well written and describes her psychological symptoms and sense of despair in vivid terms, yet it also describes the ways in which she was able to move forward, with the help of her service dogs. She also notes the ways in which some people were empathic and helpful and that books were another source of hope and inspiration, which she is trying to pass on to others through "Insistent".

I don't know if we're allowed to post links to product websites, but it's easy to find via Google or any of the usual book seller sites.

All the best, 

I just finished reading the book "Insistent" by Joey Ramp-Adams and thought it would be of interest to others, for many reasons. 

It gave me a lot of insight into the challenges faced by learners who are service dog users and the barriers that we, as educators, should be working to eliminate.   I also thought it would make a good book for a guided reading elective for medical students, psychiatry trainees, or other health professional students.  For those who are clinicians, it may also be helpful for some patients. 

I first became aware of Joey's story through the Twitter/X account of Sampson the Service Dog (@sampson_dog) "the original ambassador for service dogs in science."  Sampson has 70,000 followers and provides information on day to day experiences in addressing barriers to service dogs, especially in educational and laboratory settings.  In 2024, Sampson was named American Humane Hero Dog in the Service Dog category.

Great pictures of Sampson and descriptions of Joey's experiences are in a brief video from that award (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeuk3oMMRls), a longer video interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmO8IQ_lKY0), and a number of websites (e.g., https://thetucsondog.com/arizonas-sampson-the-science-service-dog-becomes-sampson-the-hero-dog-winner/).

"Insistent" provides much more detail on Joey's injury in a horse accident, the misdiagnoses and delays in diagnosis that occurred, her cognitive and psychological symptoms due to traumatic brain injury and PTSD, the stigma/discrimination that she faced in getting her bachelors degree in neuroscience, the specific barriers related to having a service dog, how she overcame those challenges, and her evolution into an effective and insistent advocate for policy change.  The book is very well written and describes her psychological symptoms and sense of despair in vivid terms, yet it also describes the ways in which she was able to move forward, with the help of her service dogs. She also notes the ways in which some people were empathic and helpful and that books were another source of hope and inspiration, which she is trying to pass on to others through "Insistent".

I don't know if we're allowed to post links to product websites, but it's easy to find via Google or any of the usual book seller sites.

All the best,