Personal Narrative: My Experience As A Patient Advocate At Codman Health Center

The ultimate goal is to create environments in which New Haven residents can take the power they need to transform their health and even their lives. To build community empowerment among New Haven neighborhoods means building advocacy capacities that are focus on addressing social and health issues, mobilizing resources for sustainability within the community, and addressing stigma related to health care services through educational resources. I also hope that by working closely with New Haven neighborhoods, I will gain a greater understanding of how decisions made for individual patients affect the entire community. Similarly, I hope to gain greater insight into the social determinants of health that affect New Haven communities, and to use this information to guide the creation of intervention

One of our concerns is the inherent healthcare disparities as found within City Council District 17. District 17 face a disadvantage by virtue of the fact that it is one of the poorest districts in New York City. This fact affects the overall health of our residents as medical and socio-economic research indicates that there is a relationship between income and health. Assuredly, we find that our District 17 communities suffer from a plethora of health issues including asthma, mental illness, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and other chronic health conditions. We find the top three health issues affecting District 17 are lack of quality healthcare and treatment, lack of access to quality care and exposure to environmental hazards.

Week three in clinical was difficult for me, I had a great experience overall but I hated seeing and holding a baby that had passed away at 21 weeks. To know what the family could possibly be going through was heartbreaking. I wouldn’t exactly know what to do if I was with the patient and her family exactly. I do know that I did place her in the room when she was admitted to triage. I do feel good about seeing the scenario play out, while being a student rather than being in the field alone. Other than that I was able to see the beginning stage of labor as well as a C-section. Everyone was so bent out of shape on making sure I eat and that I don’t faint, but it seriously wasn’t bad. As a matter of fact I was too intrigued with the mother rather

Mercy Medical Center is where it all started. On August 4th, 2004, 6:47 p.m. I was born. My name all started as a simple idea 4 years before I was even born. It originated from an American singer-songwriter Shannon Hoon, the lead vocalist of Blind Melon. Eventually, Shannon had a daughter, and named her Nico Blue. My mom liked the name and decided she would name her first child that. Though my first name isn’t actually Nico, it’s Nicolynn. She added her middle name to the first half, leaving me with no middle name.

A unique experience that I had at Norton Women’s and Children’s Hospital was that we also covered labor and delivery and the mother-baby unit. Most of our programming and interventions on these units involved bereavement and grief support, sibling education/support, and memory/legacy making. From my coursework and volunteer experiences at the University of Charleston, South Carolina, I had a solid foundational background with grief and bereavement through our child life courses, our death and dying course, our experiences with Shannon’s Hope, and our experiences with Rainbows. A family is forever changed when there is a loss of a family member, specifically a child (Pearson, 2005). A parents reaction to the death of a child greatly differs

Following residency, I hope to practice medicine in a disadvantaged or medically underserved urban community limited in terms of affordability, accessibility, and availability of healthcare options. In such a community, I will be able to utilize my medical education for the purpose of addressing the health concerns and disparities affecting those in society who are often ignored and suffer in health as a result. I believe healthcare providers have a responsibility of placing a special emphasis on caring for communities in desperate need of reliable healthcare and advocating for the resolution of health disparities plaguing our current healthcare system. Thus, by practicing in a disadvantaged community, I will have the opportunity to potentially change the course of health for a

As I was finishing my last shift as a Health Leads advocate at Boston Medical Center I couldn’t help but think back to my first shift three years earlier. I was nineteen years old walking into the Pediatric Unit eager to make a difference. Being located in a poverty-stricken part of Boston many uninsured and low-income families would bring their children to Boston Medical Center. As an advocate, it was our responsibility to make sure they had everything they needed from food to shelter while working hand in hand with their physician. I expected to reaffirm my desire to become a physician by witnessing all the positive work that can be accomplished. What actually happened was something quite different, something that made me wonder, “Do I really want to go into medicine?”

While sitting in the waiting room at a walk in a clinic, do you feel like every minute that is being wasted should be preventing an illness? Rebecca Onie speaks upon her vision of a healthcare system which can be reconstructed to prevent- and not just treat-illnesses. During her internship job at Greater Boston Legal Services working in the housing units she witnessed many families suffering from a finical bond which leads these families into a deep poverty crisis with an underlining health issue. Parents were unable to provide food for their children, had a limited amount of money to pay for medications when needed and homes were overcrowded. Over the next nine months she grew frustrated with the idea of intervening to far down stream in the lives of their clients, by the time these clients arrived they already were in a major health

This week I found myself in the OR. Lakewood Ranch Medical Center specializes in orthopedics. Specifically hips and knee replacements. This day one hip and three knee revisions were on the list for the day that I was able to witness. The surgeries themselves were something to see but the meat of the day was the nurse I was assigned to. He demonstrated and educated me to the duties of the RN in the OR: Stocking the general supplies needed, assisting in bringing the specific tools and supplies needed for that surgery, documenting everything from orders to supplies to medications, prepping the patient physically- cleaning and draping the patient leaving the surgical site exposed, assisting in the cleanup and turnover of the surgical suite.

My trip was to go to CMMC Wellness Center; unfortunately the plans didn't go as well. So we had to stay at LHS and had a guy came and talk to us about what he does and our job shadow. Ryan Westleigh attended Bates College and eventually became coach. He has played basketball, football, soccer and ran track. Westleigh talked about his career and what he does as an athlete coach and their latest scores. He didn’t really talk about the career but I believe the three significant academics skills would be the ability to communicate by way of written expression, the ability to recognize a problem and think critically to solve it and the ability to use technology effectively. All these academic skills can be used in coaching at all times.

Getting into the specialty center would mean a lot to me. I love art and want to learn more about how I could improve to become better and better. I have always wanted to become a famous artist or just any regular art teacher when I grow older throughout the years. My favorite art media to use is just using pencil or making objects out of clay. I take art as a way of focusing on what you feel by not physically talking it out like an art therapist. It gives me confidence knowing that what I feel like doing is the best thing for me to do.

One thing that did not go as I expected was maintaining professional boundaries with a patient because one of the patients was using appropriate word and make me uncomfortable during the second weeks of clinical which is I didn’t expect to be happening. The second experience that did not go as expected was unexpected behavioral change during community group discussions

One of the most difficult things I’ve ever experienced has been my battle with cancer. When I was 21 I was preparing to submit my mission papers. What was supposed to be a simple physical exam, turned into an unexpected battle. In October 31, 2013 my doctors diagnosed me with papillary cancer. I had surgery, and a couple weeks after had radiation treatment. Months later I was told I was cancer free, and I received my mission call. I was assigned to serve in the Colorado Denver South Mission. Unfortunately a week after I got my mission call, I was told that my cancer was back, and had actually spread to my lymph nodes; its next target would be my lungs, thus making my goal to serve a mission seem further from my reach. I went through the process

I have more than 2 years of experience in working with public health agencies. I have worked for six months with Environment Canada as an Assistant Program Officer. Duties I have performed as an Assistant Program Officer are:

Similarly, the ethical standards of health care professionals are to advocate for the residents in their community and to develop initiatives that monitor benchmarks and practices to improve their lives. The initial step towards making progress in this regard is to identify the community’s needs and assets. We want to capture what improves conditions as well as what prevents progress in the direction of boosting our neighborhood. By identifying the community’s determinants, allows us to find gaps that will help decide where to focus our efforts. The health elements are classified into four factor areas or health care determinants: health behaviors, medical care, society and financial factors, and the physical environment.