What Shapes Health [TheForum.SPH.Harvard.edu]

Yes thank you for pointing that out Tina - the foods semi-truck for the areas with food desert zones is an example that can be copied and is cost effective, not only that it allows for connection to be established. What I mean by that is that individuals that are undeserved are engaged with in a dignified way and through that compassionate act, relationships develop.

 

I am inspired by your courage and the work that you do Tina. Thank you for sharing your voice and your journey with us. I've read much of what you written and it affirms me in the belief that those of us that have ACES burned into our souls are charged with creating a place at the table for our voices and those of others who are living through trauma, to be heard.

It also is important to have the folks affected by these systems be a voice of solution...:which is a component of trauma informed care. For me issues like poverty, food insecurity, housing insecurity, ACES are burned into my soul...and they are burned into the souls of patients who struggle with these problems. It seems to me it really boils down to are we a compassionate society or not?  I am by no means perfect but I chose compassion and folks with lived experience can help us see what needs to be done to effect positive outcomes. I thought there were some nice examples though like the movile healthy foods semi-truck for the areas of the city with food desert zones.

These HealthLeads Clinics seem to me to be the kind of places a doctor would want to work and know what they are doing is really valuable. This is an absolutely excellent forum. I wish such clinics existed across America and I think they could  re-humanize medicine in ways that are so important but in my individual experience, I have found lacking! I also think here lies the ability to turn around some of the discouragement that can be found in medicine. I went to school to improve lives....this seems a perfect way.

Dwayne Proctor said that we have to look at systems (housing, employment, income, education, access to care) and see what needs to be repaired in those systems! I'm no expert but something that I've become constantly aware of, whether it be education, employment, housing, etc...the people who are impacted by these systems are never at the table. What I mean is that what we have created is a system that is run by technocrats who no longer live or are impacted by the systems they are charged with maintaining. Would love to hear from ACE's members on how we can fix this.