Byron J. Good is a medical anthropologist and Professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Cultural Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard. Good's writings have primarily focused on the cultural meaning of mental illnesses, patient narratives of illness, and development of mental health systems.
Emergency response is not specifically addressed in this article, but the ideas of how patients interpret their disease is useful to emergency responders so they understand methods of gathering information and initial patient care.
Knowles supports this argument through his investigation and presentation of three historical disasters that occurred in the United States. The disasters he chose included a structural integrity factor and a general malfunction or misuse of safety equipment. Knowles also discussed policy that resulted because of these disasters. The argument is also supported through his discussion of the events that occurred post 9/11 and the public out cry from that event as well. Knowles discusses the investigation after theses events occurred and how often times there is a lot of opinions and findings as to what the cause of the disaster or equipment failure was.
The article has a long bibliography that includes other research papers, articles, public and private reports, as well as policies. The diversity of the bibliography shows the Knowles developed his arguement from a variety of sources and opinions.
The arguments in the article are primarily supported by analysis of narratives given by patients who participated in an interview.
The main argument Knowles develops in this article is structural and engineering integrity of buildings and equipment is not always questioned until a disaster occurs and there is public outcry for regulations to be put in place. Whereas if building codes and safety equipment was being regularly tested and enforced, when disasters occured they would not be as tramatic.
This article has been primarily referenced or discussed in other papers that discuss historical disasters.
"As a result, however, the stories were often quite ambiguous as to the nature of the illness, and it was often unclear whether the stories were "reports of experience" or were largely governed by a typical cultural form or narrative structure"
"Stories, perhaps better than other forms, provide a glimpse of the grand ideas that often seem to elude life and defy rational description. Illness stories often seem to provide an especially fine mesh for catching such ideas.
"much of what we know about illness we know through stories - stories told by the sick about their experiences, by family members, doctors, healers, and others in the society. This is a simple fact. "An illness" has a narrative structure, although it is not a closed text, and it is composed as a corpus of stories."
Scott Knowles is a professor and the head of the Department of History Center for Science, Technology, and Society at Drexel University. His work specifically focuses on risk and disaster, with particular interests in modern cities, technology, and public policy. Knowles has recently released a book addressing the risks and disasters in modern America.
Knowles addresses emergency response in the sense that if regulations would have been previously put in place and enforced prior to a disaster, the emergency response to the disaster wouldn't be as drastic.