Being a patient advocate and navigator began for me when I was only 20 years old. These words or labels were not the vocabulary of the time 37 years ago, but it was the work I did on behalf of my 50-year-old mother.
Communications
The words we use matter, both in ensuring understanding and in building support for the issues. Read more about how we're choosing our words carefully.
Celebrating Our Solstice
Alongside Christmas and the New Year holidays, my family has long celebrated the Winter Solstice. The Solstice marks the period of time in the winter when the sun makes its long turn on the horizon back toward the middle of the sky and brings increasing daylight with it.
“Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood”
To make progress on our shared challenges, like improving our health care system, our political system, or our civic discourse, we must pursue an appreciation and understanding of others’ experiences. It is hard work. It requires discipline, commitment, a closed mouth, and an open mind and heart.
Engaging in Your Own Health
Recently, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know venerable leader Reverend Bill Calhoun. Reverend Calhoun has a long history of serving Denver, including leading critical conversations about health care in communities around the city.
A Conversation About Health is a Conversation About People
The speakers’ comments all share a common theme: they are all about PEOPLE. They remind us that health is not institutions, models, and policies–health is human.