August 2nd, 2011…Youth as Health Care Advocates

Can young people be advocates for their own health care? Can they be spokespeople for the health care needs of their peers?

What a tough question. I think back to when I was in high school and I knew little to nothing about accessing health care or the health care system itself. I’m very thankful that I never had to worry about either of these issues as well.

So when we live in a society that makes it hard for, possibly even discourages, young people to be involved in their receiving appropriate health care, how do we get them to be advocates.

Because it’s not enough to put petitions in their hands, get them fired up and send them in to talk to Legislators. They need to understand the relationship between health care to the world around them.

The relationship between health care and the people who are making the decisions.

The relationship between health care and the school community, because we know that no matter how great the school or teacher are, if student isn’t healthy, safe and in their seat, they just aren’t going to learn.

Most importantly, the relationship between health care and the people who are not receiving it.

Wake County: # Estimate of Uninsured Adolescents 0 - 18

Year	County	Peer Average	State
2007	31,071	21,242	306,000
2009	27,701	18,601	282,000

They have to see the disparity for what it is. A system that creates unequal opportunity for access to health care. They have to understand the barriers that prevent people from accessing the basic levels of care that they need and deserve.

This is how we begin to start moving social norms, shifting communal perceptions to be more inclusive of the underserved and underrepresented.

And they have to enjoy what they do…

Entry 7: Wake UP and Get It Together!

Whew! What is it they say about hindsight? Let me just get this out of the way first, maintaining a blog is TOUGH! Kudos to Gluten Hates Me…a new appreciation has been formed!

Soooo…let’s catch up on the past SEVEN MONTHS How have you been? How’s work? Are you still going to the same gym? Nice!

Here’s what we’ve been up to…

We went to Chicago, to the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care National Convention where we were invited to present a 2.5 hour workshop on the great work we’ve been doing in North Carolina…

Check out our blog post on the workshop here: North Carolina's Youth Advocacy Work Toolkit

We spent some time at the NC General Assembly, for Chronic Disease Legislative Advocacy Day…

We spent time lobbying with our state legislators for continued and increased funding for school-based health centers across the state. It was a tough crowd, but we got several legislators to sign our Petition T-Shirts!

And most importantly, last week we reached a HUGE milestone. We convened the first Wake School-Based Health Center Task Force, made up of local leaders from:

WakeMed Health & Hospitals, WakeMed Foundation, Rex-UNC Health Care, Wake Health Services, Inc. (Federally Qualified Health Center), Wake County Board of Education, Wake Health and Human Services, Wake County Public School System Senior Staff, UNC Department of Pediatrics, North Carolina School Community Health Alliance, NC Division of Public Health School Health Center Program, Poe Center for Health Education, a local school nurse supervisor and school nurse, and of course, our Youth Empowered Solutions (YES!) Access to Care Youth Team!!!!

Needless to say, we’ve been busy! Growing a school-based health center through a true youth-driven, grassroots advocacy, process takes time and energy, but we are seeing success! More to come soon (I promise!)