REWARDS: A
Multi-Part Learning Program
R -
Read a book on a
selected topic
E - Enjoy talking about the book and its topic with
others
W -
Watch a movie on the
topic
A
- Analyze the topical points in the movie
R -
Review the literature using a topic
bibliography
D - Discuss the
topic with an expert
S
- Share
the topical information with a
friend
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GENERAL
INFORMATION
For a number of years the
REWARDS program was a collaboration between
Occupational
Health Services (OHS), the Frederick
Employee Diversity Team (EDT), and the
Scientific Library. This multi-part program was
designed to help attendees learn more about consumer health topics through
participation in Movie Showings, Invited Speaker Talks, and Topic Discussions
that included a book selection.
As of 2010, REWARDS: A Multi-Part Program has been
discontinued in its original format. The same goal of consumer health
education is being reached with the use of two other Scientific Library
programs: Science
in the Cinema and the
Reading Diversions Book
Club. Please check those websites for current information. The archived
REWARDS programs listed below are still
available for checking out of the Scientific Library.
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ARCHIVE
Whenever possible, we videotaped
the REWARDS
speakers, purchased multiple copies of the books, and bought videotapes or DVDs
of the movies. We then packaged them together and added them to the Scientific
Library's
Center for Health Information collection
so that library barcode holders could check them out to view at home.
Below is a list of
REWARDS programs available from the Scientific
Library. The list is organized alphabetically by consumer health
topic.
- ALCOHOL
ABUSE
Call Number for entire set: Center for
Health Information AV OHS 00204
BOOK:
SMASHED: THE STORY OF A DRUNKEN
GIRLHOOD by Koren Zailckas; Call Number:
Reading Diversions WM 274 .Z22 2006 (10 copies)
An eye-opening and gripping
memoir, Koren Zailckas's story is that of thousands of girls like her who are
not alcoholics-yet-but who routinely use booze as a shortcut to courage and a
stand-in for good judgment.
Book Discussion
Questions
MOVIE: 28 DAYS
This 2000 drama stars Sandra
Bullock. After having a car accident while drunk on the day of her sister's
wedding, Gwen Cummings is given a choice between prison or a rehab center. She
chooses rehab, but is extremely resistant to taking part in any of the
treatment programs they have to offer, refusing to admit that she has an
alcohol addiction.
DOCUMENTARIES:
1)
BINGE
DRINKING
This 19-minute program shows how
drinking too much too fast can be deadly. It explains what to do if someone
develops acute alcohol poisoning.
2)
ALONE IN THE
DARK
This 30-minute program is a suspenseful
drama that depicts the lethal dangers of alcohol, and shows how actions have
consequences.
INVITED SPEAKER:
Mr. Mike Saponara, a MD certified Alcohol and
Drug Counselor, who is currently a Primary Addictions Counselor at Mountain
Manor Outpatient and Safe Haven Counseling Center
No Web Bibliography is
available for this program.
- ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
Call Number for
entire set: Center for Health Information AV OHS 00175
BOOK:
THE NOTEBOOK by Nicholas Sparks; Call
Number: Reading Diversions PS 3569 .P363 .S736 2004 (10 copies)
The story
unfolds as an older gentleman reads a story to an older woman in a nursing
home. Through flashbacks we see the development of a love story. The connection
between the old and the young becomes clear as the older woman exhibits signs
of Alzheimer's disease.
Book Discussion
Questions
MOVIES:
1)
IRIS
The movie is a
tender, emotional depiction of novelist Iris Murdoch (Judy Dench and Kate
Winslet) as she struggles with Alzheimer's disease. It covers the period from
just before her marriage to intellectual John Bayley (Jim Broadbent and Hugh
Bonneville) until her death.
2) THE NOTEBOOK
This
poignant movie, starring Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, James Garner, and Gena
Rowlands, is based on the Nicholas Sparks novel.
INVITED SPEAKER:
Dr. Edward Feher, Frederick
neuropsychologist
Web
Bibliography
- AUTISM
Call Number for entire set:
Center for Health Information AV OHS 00171
BOOK:
CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME by
Mark Haddon; Call Number: Reading Diversions WM 203.5 .H116 2003 (10
copies)
Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people,
Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to
investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information
about his mother.
Book Discussion
Questions
MOVIE:
SILENT FALL
Richard Dreyfuss plays a
psychiatrist who attempts to treat an autistic boy who witnessed his parents'
murders. The child only communicates by imitating others.
INVITED
SPEAKERS:
1) Dr. Ralph
McBee, Psy.D., Co-Director of Services,
Monocacy Neurodevelopmental Center,
Frederick, MD
2) Ms. Paula Mathis, Parent and
Registered Nurse, Occupational Health Services,
NCI-Frederick
Web Bibliography
- BRAIN
HEALTH
Call Number for entire set: Center for
Health Information AV OHS 00228
BOOK:
THINK SMART: A NEUROSCIENTIST'S PRESCRIPTION FOR IMPROVING YOUR BRAIN'S
PERFORMANCE by Richard Restak; Call Number:
Reading Diversions WL 300 .R436 2009 (4 print copies and 1 audio copy)
The
author combines advice culled from cutting-edge research with brain-tuning
exercises to show how individuals of any age can make their brains work more
effectively.
Book Discussion Questions
DOCUMENTARY MOVIE
#1:
SCRABYLON
This award-winning,
critically-acclaimed documentary focuses on the cutthroat world of tournament
Scrabble®. Featuring fierce anagrammers, rack balancers, and bingo experts,
the program delves deep into the wacky, odd, and compelling
subculture.
DOCUMENTARY MOVIE
#2:
WORDPLAY
The linguistic ballet of the crossword
puzzle and the obsessive minds that wrestle with them are a source of delight
in this charming documentary that is built around the American Crossword Puzzle
Tournament.
DOCUMENTARY:
THE BRAIN FITNESS PROGRAM
This program is based
on the brain's ability to change and adapt, even rewire itself. In the past two
years, a team of scientists has developed computer-based stimulus sets that
drive beneficial chemical, physical and functional changes in the
brain.
Web Bibliography
- CIVIL
WAR MEDICINE
Call Number for entire set: Center
for Health Information AV OHS 00198
BOOK:
MANHUNT: THE 12-DAY CHASE FOR LINCOLN'S
KILLER by James L. Swanson; Call Number: Reading
Diversions E 457.5 .S972 2006 (10 copies)
For 12 days after his brazen
assassination of Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth was at large, and in
MANHUNT, historian James L. Swanson tells the vivid,
fully documented tale of his escape and the wild, massive pursuit.
Book Discussion
Questions
MOVIE:THE DAY LINCOLN WAS SHOT
This
1998 made-for-TV movie, starring Rob Morrow and Lance Henriksen, is based on
the book by Jim Bishop. The movie is a thrilling and detailed chronicle of the
plot, murder, and manhunt that changed America forever.
INVITED
SPEAKER:
Mr. Jason
Grabill, a Civil War Surgeon re-enactor and historian, and a docent
with the National Museum of Civil
War Medicine, Frederick, MD
Web
Bibliography
- CYSTIC
FIBROSIS
Call Number for entire set: Center for
Health Information AV OHS 00178
BOOK:
ALEX: THE LIFE OF A CHILD by Frank Deford; Call
Number: Reading Diversions WI 8920 .D315 (10 copies)
The book tells the
moving story of Alexandra Deford, a very courageous young girl who lost her
battle with cystic fibrosis at the age of 8.
Book Discussion
Questions
MOVIE:
ALEX: THE LIFE OF A CHILD
This
inspiring, 1986 made-for-TV movie starring Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia,
is based on Frank Deford's book.
INVITED
SPEAKERS: Dr. Mike Dean,head of the Human
Genetics Section of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, Dr. Bert
Gold, senior staff scientist and licensed genetic
counselor
Web
Bibliography
- DEAFNESS
Call Number for entire set:
Center for Health Information AV OHS 00176
BOOK: IN
THIS SIGN by Joanne Greenberg; Call Number:
Reading Diversions PS 3557.R3784 .G795 1984 (10 copies)
A young, deaf,
married couple navigate the strange world of the hearing as they raise a
hearing daughter.
Book Discussion
Questions
MOVIE:
CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD
William Hurt plays a newly-hired teacher at a school for deaf children,
where he meets the deaf janitor, played by Marlee Matlin. While trying to teach
deaf students how to speak, Hurt also reaches out to the withdrawn, antisocial
Matlin.
INVITED
SPEAKERS: Ms. Lisa Houck and Ms. Louise
Hansch, Itinerant Teachers for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Frederick
County Public Schools
NOTE: No speaker video is available for this
topic.
Web
Bibliography
- DEATH
AND DYING: ALIVE AND WELL IN THE 21st CENTURY
Call
Number for entire set: Center for Health Information AV OHS
00216
BOOK:TUESDAYS
WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom; Call Number:
Reading Diversions WE 550 .A339 1997 (7 printed copies and 1 audio CD)
This
1997 best selling non-fiction book tells the true story of Morrie Schwartz and
his relationship with his student Mitch Albom. It chronicles the lessons about
life that Mitch learns from his professor, who is dying from amytrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Book Discussion
Questions
MOVIES:
1) FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN
This
movie tells the story of a war vet and maintenance worker at the Ruby Pier
amusement park, who dies while trying to save a girl sitting under a falling
ride. When he awakens in the afterlife, he encounters five people with ties to
his corporeal existence who help him understand the meaning of his life.
2)
THE BUCKET LIST
This film traces the adventures of
the two unlikely friends, who meet in a hospital cancer ward, each given six
months to live. The "bucket list" of the title refers to a lifelong list of
goals that one of the men compiles to achieve "before you kick the bucket." The
two go off on what may be the last grand adventure of their life, vowing to
tick off as many goals as they can in the time they have left.
INVITED
PANEL OF SPEAKERS:
1) Ms.
Cheryl Parrott, Director of Communications at NCI-Frederick
2)
Ms. Andrea Warnick, R.N.
3) Ms. Marlene
Lee, former American Red Cross Volunteer of the Year, Disaster
Services, National Capital Area
4) Mr. Selden Cooper,
On-Site Employee Assistance Program Provider at NCI-Frederick
No Web
Bibliography is available for this program.
- DEPRESSION
Call Number for entire
set: Center for Health Information AV OHS 00188
BOOK:
A LONG WAY DOWN by Nick Hornby; Call
Number: Reading Diversions PR 6058.O689 L66 2005 (10 copies)
This book tells
the story of four very different people who encounter one another on the roof
of a London building on New Year's Eve, where they are all contemplating
suicide.
Book Discussion
Questions
MOVIES:
1)PERMANENT RECORD
In this 1988 movie
starring Keanu Reeves, a surprise suicide of a teenage boy affects everyone in
the community in different ways.
2)
GIRL,
INTERRUPTED
In this hard-hitting 1999 movie
starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, a young woman who has attempted
suicide is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where she meets other women with
emotional problems.
INVITED SPEAKER:
Ms. Suzanne Borg, Program Director for the Frederick
County Hotline, Frederick County Mental Health
Association
Web
Bibliography
- DIABETES
Call Number for entire set:
Center for Health Information AV OHS 00190
BOOK:
GOING TO THE SUN by James McManus; Call
Number: Reading Diversions PZ 4 .M167 1996 (10 copies)
A young diabetic
woman takes a solo bike trek from Chicago to Alaska, a journey that helps her
come to terms with a past heartbreak and present health issues.
Book Discussion
Questions
MOVIE:
STEEL MAGNOLIAS
This 1989 movie stars Julia Roberts, Sally
Field, Dolly Parton, Olympia Dukakis, Shirley MacLaine, and Daryl Hannah as a
close-knit group of friends who share their lives in a small town in Louisiana.
One member of the group has Type 1 diabetes, a situation that affects everyone
in different ways.
INVITED
SPEAKER: Ms. Linda Hicks, Registered Nurse and
Certified Diabetes Educator with the
FMH
Diabetes Center.
Web
Bibliography
- HEART
DISORDERS
Call Number for entire set: Center
for Health Information AV OHS 00174
BOOK:
TAKING ON HEART DISEASE: Peggy Fleming, Brian Littrell, Mike Ditka,
Walter Cronkite, Joyce Carol Oates, Eddie Griffin, Mike Wallace, Kate Jackson,
Ed Bradley, Tommy Lasorda, Pat Buchanan, Victoria Gotti, Regis Philbin, and
others...reveal how they triumphed over the nation's #1 killer and how you can,
too by Larry King; Call Number: Reading
Diversions WG 200 .K5356 2004 (10 copies)
The author takes the reader
through his experience with heart disease, and explores stories of others who
also faced it, whose names and work are known to the general
public.
Book
Discussion Questions
MOVIE: SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE
An older
man (Jack Nicholson) suffers a heart attack at the home of his younger
girlfriend's mother (Diane Keaton). Keanu Reeves plays the cardiac doctor
caring for Nicholson.
INVITED SPEAKER: Dr. John
Vitarello, Frederick cardiologist
Web
Bibliography
- LAUGH
FOR THE HEALTH OF IT!
Call Number for entire set:
Center for Health Information AV OHS
00206
BOOK:
SATURDAY
MORNINGS by Mark Butt; Call Number:
Reading Diversions WM 90 .B988 2006 (2 copies)
This book is a compilation of
the author's weekly newspaper columns published in the Frederick
News Post.
There are no Discussion Questions for this
book.
MOVIES:
1)
MRS. DOUBTFIRE
This
1993 comedy stars Robin Williams, Sally Field, and Pierce Brosnan. After a
bitter divorce, an actor disguises himself as a female housekeeper so he can
spend time with his three children.
2) YOUNG
FRANKENSTEIN
This 1974 Mel Brooks comedy stars
Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, and Marty Feldman. Dr. Frankenstein's grandson, after
years of living down the family reputation, inherits granddad's castle and
repeats the experiments.
COMPANION DOCUMENTARIES:
HOW SERIOUS IS THIS?, HUMOR YOUR STRESS, THE JOY OF
STRESS, LIFE IS NOT A STRESS REHEARSAL
INVITED
SPEAKER:
Dr. Mark Butt, Frederick
scientist/columnist/humorist
List of Jokes
- MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
Call Number for
entire set: Center for Health Information AV OHS
00215
BOOK:
A SUNDOG
MOMENT by Sharon Baldacci; Call Number:
Reading Diversions RC 377 .B175 2006 (8 copies)
In this novel, Elizabeth
Whittaker's seemingly perfect life is derailed after a diagnosis of multiple
sclerosis. The disease affects her relationships with the well-meaning people
who love her but don't know how to help her. Although the book is fictional,
the author has suffered from multiple sclerosis for the last 20 years, so the
story is realistic and authentic.
Book Discussion
Questions
MOVIE:
HILARY AND JACKIE
This film
follows the true story of the tragic life of the brilliant international
concert cellist Jacqueline Du Pre and her sister, Hilary. Hilary's devotion to
her sister causes them to take some rather drastic measures in their lives. The
irony of having a great musical ability fades away as Jacqueline transcends
into a slow decline when struck with multiple sclerosis.
COMPANION
DOCUMENTARIES: LIVING WITH MULTIPLE
SCLEROSIS, ASPECTS OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
Web
Bibliography
- PETS:
JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED!
Call Number for entire
set: Center for Health Information AV OHS
00225
BOOK:
DEWEY: THE SMALL-TOWN LIBRARY
CAT WHO TOUCHED THE WORLD by Vicki Myron
with Bret Witter; Call Number: Reading Diversions SF 445.5 .M998 2008 (4 print
copies and 1 audio copy)
This uplifting and funny book tells the story of a
bedraggled orange fur ball that became "Dewey Readmore Books," an enchantingly
irresistible library mascot capable of melting the hearts of even the most
curmudgeonly library visitors.
Book Discussion
Questions
MOVIE:
MARLEY AND ME
Marley is an
irresistible fluff-ball of a yellow lab puppy who has an uncanny ability to eat
and/or destroy just about anything. As the years go by, Marley grows into 100
lbs. of funny, wild, completely untrainable canine companionship -- as well as
one of the most important members of the family of John and Jennifer Grogan,
played by Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. This movie is based on the
best-selling autobiographical book by columnist John Grogan.
INVITED SPEAKERS:Linda Shea,
Humane Educator and Shawn Snyder, Volunteer Coordinator,
Frederick County Animal Control, Frederick, MD
SPEAKERS ON DVD:The
Human-Animal Bond: What Has Your Pet Done for You Lately?
(recording from an NIH program on November 25, 2008)
No Web Bibliography is available for this
program.
- SMOKING
AND TOBACCO
Call Number for entire set: Center
for Health Information AV OHS 00223
BOOK: GASP!: A NOVEL OF
REVENGE by Frank Freudberg; Call Number:
Reading Diversions PS 3556 .F889 1996 (5 copies)
Martin Muntor, dying from
cancer after decades of heavy smoking, vows to wreak his revenge upon the
industry that is killing him by distributing poisoned cigarettes and creating
havoc.
Book Discussion Questions
MOVIE: THE
INSIDER
Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) is a former
tobacco scientist who exposes big tobacco's lies about cigarettes.
60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino)
reports Wigand's story, in spite of corporate objections.
COMPANION
DOCUMENTARIES: MODERN MARVELS:
TOBACCO, NOT A COUGH IN A CARLOAD, DREAM STEALERS, IF YOU LOVE SOMEONE WHO
SMOKES, GET THEM TO WATCH THIS VIDEO
INVITED SPEAKER:
Dr. Michael
Dean, Head, Human Genetics Section of the Laboratory of
Experimental Immunology, NCI-Frederick, and author of the book
EMPTY CRIBS: THE IMPACT OF
SMOKING ON CHILD HEALTH
INVITED SPEAKER:
Mr. Todd Crum, Frederick County
Health Department
Web Bibliography
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CONTACT
INFORMATION
If you have any questions about
the REWARDS
programs, please email the Scientific Library Public Services
Librarian.
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