Dr. William Cooke - Canary in the Coal Mine: A Forgotten Rural Community, a Hidden Epidemic, and a Lone Doctor Battling for the Life, Health, and Soul of the People

From the first poignant vignette through many dramatic moments to its inspiringly compassionate conclusion, Dr. William Cookes book is a gripping medical chronicle infused with wisdom, science, and deep humanity.

GABOR MAT, MD, author, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

You couldnt find more authoritative tour guides of rural America than Dr. Cooke and Laura Ungar, who have lived and worked among its peopletheir peoplefor decades. The pairs medical savvy and crackling prose can compete with the best out there.... This gripping, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful book is about far more than a tiny town and its hardscrabble people, many of whom were affected by one of the biggest HIV outbreaks in US history. Its a look at where so much of America has been heading when so many others werent watching.

JAYNE ODONNELL, health policy reporter, USA Today; cofounder, Urban Health Media Project

A very powerful and immensely moving must-read for anyone working to end the syndemics of opioid use disorder, poverty, and the HIV/hepatitis C epidemics among people who inject drugs in rural America.... This book is a major contribution that challenges us to see the humanness in everyone and inspires us to care and work to end the suffering caused by the opioid crisis!

CARRIE FOOTE, sociology professor, Indiana UniversityPurdue University Indianapolis; chair of the HIV Modernization MovementIndiana

What a fantastic, inspiring, and informative book on how one person made the difference in leading a rural community from a devastating HIV outbreak and opioid addiction problem to a community of hope and healing. Dr. Will Cooke superbly tells the story of how he, the only physician in the community, guided a small rural town in southern Indiana to recovery by focusing on compassionate, person-centered care. This book is a must-read for all medical students and other health-care professionals. Once you start reading it, you wont be able to stop.

DR. WILLIAM L. YARBER, senior director, Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention; Provost Professor, Indiana University School of Public Health

I found this book to be an inspiring autobiography of how one committed physician truly made a difference in addressing an urgent public health problem through partnerships, persistence, and compassion.

JIM CURRAN, dean, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University; former head of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

People who use drugs havent changed. What has changed is the way physicians and society have become more willing and able to see the humanity of people instead of only their disease and substance use. In his book Canary in the Coal Mine, Will Cooke reaches inward and articulates the steps of his change in a personal treatise of a family physician working to care for an onslaught of opioid injectionrelated HIV and hepatitis C infection in a small rural town. A black doctor in Chicago reminds Dr. Cooke that blacks have been in the midst of a heroin and HIV epidemic for years. Society was too ready to see this as a problem of other and embark on a drug war instead of a treatment war. Dr. Cookes care transforms to embrace the tenets of treatment and harm reduction that characterize the care of most diseases, and he articulates their application to mental health and addiction. Primary care serves as the de facto mental health and addiction treatment system in the US. Canary in the Coal Mine reminds us how woefully unprepared and under-resourced these front-line clinicians are. His book provides a wake-up call to the structural violence suffered by too many and should serve as a humanitarian roadmap to address these challenges.

DAVID A. FIELLIN , MD, professor of medicine and director of program in addiction medicine, Yale School of Medicine

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Canary in the Coal Mine: A Forgotten Rural Community, a Hidden Epidemic, and a Lone Doctor Battling for the Life, Health, and Soul of the People

Copyright 2021 by Dr. William Cooke

Cover and interior photographs of rural scenes copyright 2020 by Michael Hudson. All rights reserved.

Photograph of Dr. William Cooke copyright 2020 by Melissa Meier. All rights reserved.

Designed by Dean H. Renninger

Published in association with the literary agency of Steve Ross Agency, LLC, 70 Hillcrest Avenue, Park Hill, NY 10705.

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ISBN 978-1-4964-4648-0

Build: 2022-09-13 15:13:07 EPUB 3.0

To my parents for sharing your love,

my wife for sharing your life,

my brother for sharing your laughter,

my kids for sharing your wonder,

my mentors for sharing your wisdom,

my patients for sharing your stories,

my staff for sharing your dedication,

my God for sharing Your sacrifice,

and to my friends...

in recovery for sharing your courage,

in ministry for sharing your faith,

in service for sharing your passion,

and last, to those whove experienced isolation, disease, and death

because of a social status you did not choose.

Your suffering has been shared by too many.

I WROTE THIS BOOK as a tribute to Austin, Indiana, and to the people whove inspired me by their spirit, heart, and resilience. All of the events in this book really happened. As I wrote, I relied not only on my memory but on my personal correspondence, media reports, and notes. To protect the privacy and identity of my patients, I have not only changed names and identifying details but created composite characters. The stories are taken from interactions and interviews with actual patients, and their dialogue is almost exclusively quoted in their own words.