Challenging the Medical Hero

If you go to the Wellcome Collection Reading Rooms in London, you will find it adorned in a list of names of ‘Medical Heroes’ on the frieze. This list of names was devised in 1913 by Henry Wellcome. Everyone on the list has acheived a huge feat in medicine and science, but the list is outdated: of the 30 people on the list, only one is a woman and only 3 people are non-white from outside of Europe! We really think this needs to change and that we need to diversify medical history.

In this activity, we want you to question what you think a Medical Hero is by playing a card game of ‘top trumps’ and then making your own!

Step by step:

Play The Game!

Step 1

Print this set of cards (see PDF attached) and cut along the lines to make the set of cards.

Step 2

To start the game, shuffle and deal all the cards face down (any number of people can play). Each player holds their cards so that they can see the top card only.

Step 3

The player to the dealer’s left starts by reading out a category from the top card (e.g. popularity).

Step 4

The other players then read out the same category from their cards. The one with the best or highest value wins, and that player collects all the top cards, including their own, and moves them to the bottom of their pile. It is then their turn again to choose a category from the next card.

Step 5

If two or more cards share the top value for that particular subject then all the cards are placed in the middle and the same player chooses again from the next card. The winner of the hand takes the cards in the middle as well.

The person with all the cards at the end is the winner!

Step 6

Now you know how to play, you’re ready to make your own set of cards with your medical heroes!

Some things to think about as you’re playing the game:

  • Do you know who this person is? Maybe you can research more about them!
  • What has this person achieved that makes them a Medical Hero?
  • Who else took part in this achievement who may have not been recognized?
  • Would you include them in your own set of Medical Heroes cards?

Make Your Own Cards!

Step 1

Print this set of cards (see PDF attached) and cut along the lines to make the set of cards.

Step 2

Decide the three categories you will use to rate your heroes. This could be anything from trust, intelligence, skill, perseverance, etc.

Step 3

Choose the heroes you want to include in your game, this could be a nurse you know personally, a first-aid teacher or someone who volunteered as a test subject for a new cure. Draw their face on the card, write a sentence about them and give them a rating. Repeat this process until you have filled in all the cards.

Step 4

You’re ready to play! Follow the instructions above and play again, but this time with the set of cards you made yourself!

Share photos of your set of cards with us on social media at @weareonthemend!

Some things to think about as you’re playing the game:

  • What have you changed about the categories that you used before? Do you think this is a better way to rate Medical Heroes?
  • Did you find it easy or difficult to think about your own Medical Heroes?
  • Has this activity changed the way you would define a Medical Hero?

On The Mend is a design studio that targets social inequalities in the UK healthcare system. We create events that educate the general public about social inequalities, which are playful, thought-provoking and call the public to action.

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