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2nd Annual - Search for the Healthy City

Tuscany, Italy
September 6-15, 2007

Join us in beautiful Tuscany for a unique opportunity to discuss the classics of medical history and health services research with knowledgeable faculty and participants from a variety of backgrounds. We will learn from the successes and failures of the past to create healthier cities in our own communities.

We will visit Florence, Padua, Siena and other notable healing sites in central and northern Italy. In Padua we will see the oldest medical school in Europe and stand in its famous anatomical theater. We will tour ancient hospitals, active civic organizations that have promoted public health since the Middle Ages, and historic thermal baths known for healing powers. There will be time for healthy living: to relax, ride bikes, swim in the pool, or walk through the countryside in the Chianti region of Tuscany.

Chef Leo Grazzi returns this year to prepare his exquisite Tuscan meals made from fresh seasonal ingredients and to lead his popular cooking classes onsite.

Course Director:
James E. Bailey, MD, MPH, FACP
MK Callison Associate Professor
Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
jeb@utmem.edu, (901) 448-2561


Location: After two nights in Florence, we will be staying at Fattoria Baćo (www.fattoriabacio.com), a restored villa in Tuscany. Fattoria Baćo has 340 acres of olive groves and vineyards in the heart of the Chianti hills, 22 miles from Florence. The 19th-century villa and its adjoining farmhouses are lovingly restored in authentic Tuscan style and can host up to 50 people. A green park with unusual trees and plants has tables and chairs for dining alfresco, and the beautiful swimming pool overlooks the gentle slopes of vineyard country. Guests are invited to follow walking paths through the nearby fields or to bicycle through the countryside.

Course Faculty: Dr. Jim Bailey, who spent a year in Florence studying Renaissance medical history and health system design, will be joined by Dr. John Henderson of Birkbeck University of London, England, a noted expert on the hospitals and civic health organizations of Renaissance Italy, and author of The Renaissance Hospital: Healing the Body and Healing the Soul and Piety and Charity in Late Medieval Florence. Dr. Giorgio Zanchin of the University of Padua and other medical and art historians will be joining us as course faculty and guides.

Responsibility and accreditation: Continuing Medical Education (CME) and Continuing Education Units (CEU) are offered. The seminar is limited to 20, but accompanying guests can participate in all lectures, guided tours and other activities. Seminar participants will be responsible for completing assigned seminar readings prior to arrival and will have the opportunity to present patient histories or case studies related to the seminar topic at the beginning of each seminar. The University of Tennessee College of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Objectives:
  • Review the history of human disease, medicine and public health.
  • Contrast plagues of the past to the modern plague of plenty, the worldwide epidemic of diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity.
  • Examine how ancient cities were designed to promote health and healing, with particular focus on the architecture of some of the oldest hospitals in Europe.
  • Investigate how voluntary civic organizations can play a critical role in promoting public health by studying the confraternities that have promoted public health in Italian towns since the Middle Ages.
  • Examine waste in the healthcare system by reviewing seminal studies in practice variation, and consider the prevalence and cost of "healthcare" activities that do not contribute to health.
  • Contrast healthcare waste to the wellness-focused benefits offered through the Italian health spa tradition.
  • Study classic works regarding medical errors in the light of the Hippocratic obligation to "at least do no harm." Consider the frequency of medical errors, how they occur, how much they cost, and whether related deaths could be avoided.
  • Examine historical and modern uses of "snake oil" in medical practice both in the allopathic and herbal medicine traditions, focusing on recent drug disasters and discussion of the placebo effect.
  • Consider the value and effectiveness of alternative legal approaches to consumer protection from medical malpractice.
  • Explore ancient and modern approaches for protecting against catastrophic illness, and evaluate the history and effectiveness of modern health insurance.


Course Documents
  

Itenerary
Thursday, Sept. 6 Arrive in Florence. Welcome reception and dinner.
Friday, Sept. 7 Padua. Theme 1: Great Medical Scientists Who Couldn't Cure. Tour the oldest medical school in Europe. Night in Florence.
Saturday, Sept. 8 Florence. Theme 2: Plague, Then and Now. Tour with Dr. John Henderson to ancient hospitals, plague miracle sites and fraternal orders dedicated to public health. Arrive Fattoria Baćo in Certaldo.
Sunday, Sept. 9 Lectures and seminars continue at Fattoria Baćo. Free afternoon with optional trip to Greve, birthplace of the Slow Food Movement, for Chianti Wine Festival.
Monday, Sept. 10 Siena. Theme 2: Plague, Then and Now. Free time and guided tour the Palazzo Pubblico, one of the largest preserved plague hospitals in Europe, and the Siena Duomo.
Tuesday, Sept. 11 Theme 3: Waste in Healthcare. Morning seminars focus on essential benefits in health systems. Free afternoon with optional trip to San Gimignano.
Wednesday, Sept. 12 Field trip to Tuscan hill towns of Montalcino, Pienza (the ideal city of Pope Pius II), and the healing thermal baths of Bagno Vignoni.
Thursday, Sept. 13 Theme 4: Medical Errors, Ambulance Chasers, and Insurance Salesmen. Morning seminars with free afternoon.
Friday, Sept. 14 Theme 5: Snake Oil Salesmen. Morning seminar discussions with free afternoon. Farewell dinner at Fattoria Baćo.
Saturday, Sept. 15 Depart Fattoria Baćo 10:00 a.m. by chartered bus for free time in Florence and departures.

Cost: €1995 (approximately US $2500) for each member of your party includes accommodations, most meals, and all excursions. Other fees include €100 per person if registered after March 31, 2007, €200 per person requesting single occupancy, and $500 per person attending the course seminars.


Tuscan Affairs
Once in Tuscany, many people want to make the most of the magical landscapes, climate, culture, etc. If you would like to extend your stay before and/or after the seminar, Tuscan Affairs (Ann Freeman & Charly Lucas, pictured at right) can help you arrange a holiday or other activities. Contact them for questions about air travel, accommodations, or for assistance with arranging additional tours.

(From USA Dial 011 39 first):
Phone/fax: 0571 660011
http://www.tuscanaffairs.com
E-mail: info@TuscanAffairs.com

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