Why Child Healthcare?
As part of the Peer Impact Leader program at Agnes Scott College, I have decided to focus on a specific social justice issue, child healthcare, which is something that I have had interest in for a long time. Each of us is required to have one issue that we educate ourselves and our peers about through various activities and social media campaigns.
I was initially exposed to the big world of healthcare when my younger brother was diagnosed with a brain tumor. While the surgery was traumatic and hard, it was really the journey afterwards that brought me lifechanging perspectives. It taught me so much about all of the different aspects and necessities that fall under child healthcare. There were so many things that my parents had to take into account; the constant appointments, his developing mental health needs, whether insurance would cover medical expenses or not, who his doctors and nurses were, how to navigate the school system with a child with special needs. I could go on but over the last eight years all of these needs have shown a light on how blessed and privileged my family has been. What my brother has and still goes through has been so challenging, yet when I think about what it would be like to do it all as a marginalized child, I pause. I pause because I know that it wouldn’t have been the same journey. The healthcare that he was guaranteed is not something that all other children would so easily receive no matter how deserving or urgent their conditions are.
When I was thinking about a topic to focus on, I wanted to choose something that spoke to me both on a personal and professional level, but also a topic that I could continue to educate myself on. I have wanted to learn in greater detail how our healthcare system works, why it doesn’t serve all communities it needs to, and what needs to change in order for the disparities in child healthcare to decrease. There is a huge umbrella when it comes to pediatric health and I could go in a million directions, but I know that for the purposes of this, I want to focus my energy on the Agnes Scott student body and greater community to help others realize the discrepancies and systematic issues that lie within our healthcare system. Besides bringing awareness to these issues, I also want to provide actionable ways to help. Things like researching healthy ways for children to universally stay active, how to nourish their well beings, how can mental health support reach more vulnerable communities, and in what ways I can take the things I learn into my future nursing career.
My hope is that my impact at Agnes and in the greater community comes from people learning something new about the disparities in child healthcare and that they too become advocates for the a more equitable health care system. With a pandemic that is raging on all corners of the world, it is of utmost importance to me that we continue to be open to new studies, to read about new ideas and proposals, and continue to hold those in power accountable for the safety and health of all children, now and in future generations.
