Voting For My Health
By The Rev. Dr. Ebony D. Only
In our work at Bishop Anderson House, as the inaugural Community Chaplain Fellow, I am working to influence healthcare leaders to find creative ways to address the social determinants of health which have been proven to improve outcomes. I have been encouraging those with the power and influence to do so, to implore health care systems to proactively screen patients for social needs (i.e., housing, food, legal assistance) and connect patients to existing community resources to address those needs. These practices are critical while we work to change the policies that drive the systemic causes of limited to access to healthcare.
Changing these policies means that it is imperative that we do not lose sight of the importance of voting and representation as we consider how to address health inequities and disparities to access to care in the communities in which we live and serve. As much as social determinants are important, so are the political determinants of health. “It’s important to realize that for every social determinant of health, there was some preceding legislative, legal, regulatory or other policy decision that resulted in that social determinant. Those are the political determinants READ MORE
