Lessons from NHC

I chose to become a member of the National Health Corps because I wanted to see firsthand the effects of the Affordable Care Act. I wanted to see how it would help or hurt the people that would be most affected by it. The more time I spend with under or uninsured patients and consider the multiple layers of systems working against them, the more confirmation I have that I need to continue to work on these issues. If I have the means and the potential power, I absolutely need to use that to work in the best interest of those that don’t have the resources to advocate for themselves. The population I serve inspires me everyday to do more in that way.

An instance of this everyday inspiration can be exemplified in my work with one patient in particular. In my position as a Patient Advocate for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, there has been one specific case that I’ve really struggled through. To summarize, I’ve been applying to get a patients medication free of charge through the pharmaceutical company for over 5 months, a process that normally only takes 1. The process has been delayed through a number of obstacles out of our control – the company losing my faxes, requiring an exorbitant amount of income documents, personal letters written from the doctor explaining his recent divorce, etc. His reaction, while not ideal or comfortable, is understandable. He calls me everyday irate and upset. He yells. He expresses his frustration aggressively. It’s been a very difficult process, but is my most valuable learning experience thus far. There are so many hoops for this man to jump through in order to just survive. It feels at times like everything is working against him. It’s moments like this where I realize he shouldn’t have to fight this hard to only live. He shouldn’t be punished for being poor. I’m only one part of his struggle to live, I’m sure he encounters this type of resistance in applying for food stamps, in attempting to get a job, in just walking down the street while being a person of color and an immigrant. The system does not work for him. Every time he yells at me, I remind myself of all the other things fighting against him, that I am only one small part of the puzzle of life he struggles with everyday. Every time he yells at me, I remind myself that my dedication needs to lie in creating a system that works for him, not against him.

NHC has impacted my life by showing me how to connect an everyday experience that someone has to the macro systems that impact that. In reference to the patient I was speaking about above, for example, I can see his frustration not just as anger towards me but also as a product of his lack of access to affordable health care, perhaps access to healthy food and a safe place to live. Deeper than that it may be a result of frustrations in not being able to provide for himself or his family or being discriminated against perhaps in a day to day or structural way. I have really strengthened my intersectional lens through which I plan to see the world in my future education and employment because of my service with NHC. 
 

This blog post was written by NHC Philadelphia member Allison Schilling.
Allison serves as a Patient Advocate at Philadelphia Department of Public Health-Ambulatory Health Services: Health Center 9.