Report of Healthcare Activist Interview and Activism' Impact

A wise woman once said “How wonderful it is that nobody needs to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world”- Anne Frank. The first thing that comes to mind when speaking of activism is action to change the world. These actions are usually associated with how to change the world through environmental, political or social change. These actions must go beyond what is conventional and normal. It only takes a single individual to make a change. A lot of people can be labeled as activists and many acts can be viewed as activism, but that doesn't mean that activism is only undertaken by activists. When studying activism, it is very important to not simply pay attention to how organizations or persons describe themselves but also pay attention to their actions and the changes they are trying to make.

Background

On November 14th, 2019, I had the privilege of interviewing a healthcare activist by the name of Ms. Charles. Ms. Charles grew up in a small town in Trinidad. After migrating to the United States, Ms. Charles obtained her master’s degree in social work. Ms. Charles is a rehabilitation counselor at King’s County Hospital who is trained to help people overcome diseases and disabilities to improve their health. She provides counseling for clients who are going through physical, mental and substance abuse issues. As she explained to me, she can escort clients to doctor visits to ensure the delivery of proper service. She is also a certified nutritionist. Her current interest focuses on nutrition issues and how what we eat could impact our health. Her main concern is that our society today does not fully understand that the choices we make about our meals have significant effects on our quality of life, and lifespan. Ms. Charles is doing her best to educate her clients on how to make better decisions when it comes to their diet.

Experiences

Where an individual is born, play or live has an impact on how the individual thinks of health. The environment and experiences can influence the actions and motivation of people. During my interview with Ms. Charles, she indicated that she was drawn to advocating for better health and nutrition due to her family experiences while growing up. As a young lady growing up in Trinidad, she witnessed her family members and close relatives battle with diseases, wishing she would never fall victim to those diseases. When she started attending school, Ms. Charles was drawn to health by speakers who came to her school to inspire a new generation of children to make better food choices and to be more aware of what they ingest into their bodies.

During my interview with her, she narrated a story of how her grandmother who was diagnosed with diabetes and every time she escorted her Grandmother to her doctor’s appointment, no one ever mentioned to her that if she can adjust her diet and make the right health choices, then she would be fine. All they mentioned to her grandmother was to keep taking her medication without any mention of her diet. After several years on continuous medication with minimal improvement, she insisted on her grandmother see a nutritionist. It was a nutritionist who made the greatest impact on her grandmother’s life by advising her on the importance of proper nutrition. Because of this experience, she became more health-conscious of health issues and decided to embark on a journey that is geared to helping vulnerable communities, serving others and helping them make the right decisions. She wanted to inspire people to live better and make the right choices just like the nutritionist did for her family.

Challenges

As activists, we face many challenges in our attempt to advocate for what we believe is right. No form of activism succeeds on its first try. While speaking with Ms. Charles, she pointed out some of the challenges she faces in getting people and her clients to adopt a healthier lifestyle. One of the challenges, as she stated, is that “she is not viewed as a medical professional, so people are skeptical of her idea and the change she is trying to make”. In today’s society, people are made to believe that the only people who can make a change on matters concerning health and health issues are medical professionals. That is not so. Although Ms. Charles is a certified rehabilitation counselor and a nutritionist, her profession is still not given the recognition that it should. Another challenge she spoke about is a lack of resources like money. As she explained, printing out flyers, pamphlets and brochures cost a lot of money.

Successes

Regardless of all these challenges, Ms. Charles was very upbeat and enthusiastic about the successes that she has had. Over the time that Ms. Charles has been involved in this movement, she has been able to make a positive impact on the lives of many of her clients and people. Some of the success stories she spoke about is that of a client who was suffering from high blood pressure and was on medication for several numbers of years. By giving this client a regiment diet sheet with great emphasis on his water intake, the client was able to get her blood pressure under control and was able to be weaned off the medication within a couple of weeks. As she described, she uses different ways in allowing her clients and people to make their own goals by giving them the resources and information they need and empowering them along the line. In this case, I believe Ms. Charles is giving people a sense of their power. As discussed in reading 2 'The Fundamentals of Direct Action Organizing,' giving people a sense of their power is as much a part of the organizing mission as solving the problem. We gain self-confidence by teaching people through real-life examples.

Ms. Charles seems to be very committed to this cause. This is not done just by her words, but by her actions also. For a change to happen, activists have to be involved and connected with the people they are trying to help. No form of activism is done by just merely speaking, it requires actions. As previously discussed in lecture, there are different methods of organizing. In this case, I believe Ms. Charles is exhibiting the educational method. Ms. Charles is taking action by going around and educating her client’s people in the community, coming up with meal plans for people, creating awareness for both healthy and unhealthy individuals.

Current Plans

Although Ms. Charles has been actively educating people and her clients to the best of her ability, she realizes that for her to have a wilder reach, she would have to form an organization or be part of a group. Because Ms. Charles is so committed to having her message spread, she is now working towards forming an organization that would champion the cause for a better lifestyle not just within her community but beyond. She is also committed to attending meetings’ held at the Department of Health. As she described, these meetings main goal aligns with the issue she’s trying to advocate for. As Glenn Laverack (2013) mentioned, Participation in an activist organization will begin with attending a public meeting and slowly become more active.

Analyzing My Interview with Ms. Charles

After conducting this interview with Ms. Charles, several ideas and thoughts of the healthcare industry and how sometimes medical doctors are incentivized to keep patients on pills for a lifetime instead of encouraging patients to make lifestyle changes that can have greater impacts on their health. An example used by Ms. Charles involved her medical doctor who said, “how I can feed my family if you only come here once a year for your regular checkup”. This simple statement depicts a deep-rooted problem in our healthcare industry. The industry seems to be more committed to their financial gain rather than seeking the total wellbeing of the patient. The Doctor also seems to be more focused on prescribing medications as opposed to educating their patients on ways they can take better care of themselves.

Having spoken with Ms. Charles, it makes me think about how it could be possible that one person could make a difference in the lives of other people. Also, I thought about the different steps it takes to build an organization from scratch. I was very impressed with how she started this journey. She didn’t wait for the government or healthcare officials to make a change. She took matters into her own hands by being proactive and not reactive. This conversation made me think about what can be done to solve this issue and how can I get involved as a student to create awareness. Furthermore, it made me think about what roles the government can play to make sure people make the right choices. She believes that the Government should provide information to vulnerable communities. If this is done, then the quality of life of people would increase and people would live longer.