Not All of Us Are Saints: A Doctor's Journey with the Poor

Dr. Hilfiker's account is sad, rugged, and filled with faith and hope all at the same time! This doctor has set an example that would be worth following for doctors and nurses in the future who truly wish to make a difference in the world. Well-edited and sprinkled with humor this is a tremendously satisfying book to read. Well worth the money, this is legitimate inspiration. Hats of to Dr. Hilfiker and staff and may his tribe increase!

NOT ALL OF US Are Saints is a compellingly honest portrayal of both the brokenness of the people Hilfiker cares for day in and day out, and his intimate wrestlings with doubt, discouragement, and anger. The title speaks of the humility with which he approaches the task. He confesses early in the book, while still living upstairs in Christ House: "I live on the mainland of our society. No matter what route I choose, what decisions I make, I will always have a secure route back. The men downstairs live on an island, separated from me by waters deep and unbridgeable.... "The spiritual discipline of "voluntary poverty" has nothing in common with the oppression and despair of the ghetto. There is nothing beautiful or romantic in frostbitten toes or minds destroyed by alcohol, in lives crushed by the weight of indifferent history and cultural negligence....We betray those caught in [poverty's] web by romanticizing it or imagining that we-by divesting ourselves of some bits of our privilege-can choose to enter it. The landscape of poverty is inaccessible to most of us. We can barely imagine the scenery. "But neither is it possible to live as a privileged person within the world of the very poor without undergoing some changes."The stories Hilfiker relates about his patients are difficult to read. They start to sound tragically similar, and we are left longing for hope. But there are few "success stories" to tell, as anyone who is acquainted with the inner city knows. Heartfelt--and heartrending--Not All of Us Are Saints paints a disturbing picture that America needs to see. It is important reading, both for those who have yet to have their eyes opened, and for those who live enmeshed in the issues with which Hilfiker daily struggles. It is honest, and truly courageous, guidance for the journey.

Dr. Hilfiker's book should be required reading of every medical student, physician, social worker, and minister. It should also be required reading of individuals and organizations, medical or not but especially medical, who in any way must brush up against or who work directly with the poor. An excellent read with profound implications.

This book will make you want to do something to help those less fortunate. Although, I did not always agree with Hilfiker's assessments of situations and the individual's culpability in the status of his/her life, I do agree that poor people need more help than they are currently receiving in our society.Hilfiker does a masterful job of avoiding the major pitfall of books in this vein. That is, each new case presented to the reader does not seem like a retread of the previous case. Another pitfall Hilfiker dodges is that his book is truly a journey, it is not a static snapshot of a couple of years on the front line. It begins with he and his family in one state of mind, and ends with them in another state of mind. To an extent, the reader experiences that journey with the Hilfiker family.This is a very good book about a very important subject! It definitely makes me want to read more by Dr. Hilfiker.

Dr. Hilfiker's book does not raise the problems of poverty in America as **an** issue to consider in modern medicine, but **the** issue. In a speech he gave at Baylor in 1996 concerning poverty medicine in our country's capital, he identifies poverty as the **first** issue, the most pressing moral dilemma of the century. Dr. Hilfiker's address at Baylor and his insightful book, are keenly focussed on the key issues of poverty. By way of telling individual case histories about real people, Dr. Hilfiker both reveals his struggles with poverty medicine and the heart of the issues of poverty itself. It is a heart wrenching book but well worth the time and effort to read. The persistent problem of inequality of services, medical attention, opportunity for jobs etc. that plagues our society unnoticed is a travesty. And though Dr. Hilfiker explores a few problems that stem from governmental neglect or cuts and bureaucratic misdirection, in large part he describes it as the rest of our individual selfishness and growing neglect of community. What the dilemma calls for is communal action, some kind of a societal effort. Even as an active practioner of poverty medicine, though, Dr. Hilfiker admits, "My work puts me in daily contact with poor people, but the fog between us most often seems impenetrable. Friendship - as one might normally define it - has not been possible, and a real understanding of who my patients are has, I suspect eluded me." If one who works daily with these people cannot assure us that he understands the full scope of the problem, than how can academics, politicians or legislators who make policy regarding such people, presume to know anything? There is that part of our culture today that lives from day to day wondering if they will still be alive tomorrow, not if religion and politics will ever come into a healthy realtionship. I think among other things this book calls us to a higher standard than just political rhetoric and debate, it calls us as citizens to get involved.