The Gonzaga College Faculty of Arts and Sciences launched a Well being Fairness main in Fall 2022 to supply college students keen on well being sciences and public well being an 18-credit justice-based curriculum. Social.
This system, open to all undergraduate college students, integrates decrease division programs in sociology and solidarity and social justice, experiential studying programs together with internships and praxis, and numerous electives from the Well being Professions Pathways Program, also referred to as the pre-med program.
Andrea Bertotti, president of the sociology division and director of the minor for social justice and solidarity, is the director of the minor for fairness in well being. Bertotti, with Kevin R. Measor, professor of biology, have been college main the distinction’s implementation this fall.
Bertotti mentioned that the minor was the results of his personal reflection years in the past.
“The minor is helpful for college students who need to get into utilized healthcare careers, so [a] physician, nurse, physiotherapist, and so forth., as a result of it’ll give these folks basis to know their sufferers as people inside the social context,” he mentioned.
College students pursuing a significant in well being fairness don’t have to be on the pre-medical observe. Bertotti mentioned that as a result of well being fairness is a part of social justice, anybody keen on enacting social change can be match for this system.
College students within the Well being Fairness main come from quite a lot of totally different careers. Nevertheless, Bertotti mentioned he was in a position to gauge the curiosity of his personal college students, finding out in his sociology and social justice lessons.
“I had Dr. Bertotti as my advisor and I went to her to satisfy along with her about lessons for the subsequent semester and I mentioned ‘I do not love my [political science] class and I am actually keen on public well being,’” mentioned Zia Meyers, a sophomore now finding out sociology.
In accordance with Meyers, Bertotti, his adviser, urged that Meyers take into consideration well being fairness as a result of it suited his pursuits.
Meyers hopes to work within the nonprofit sector or group organizing. With that final objective in thoughts, she mentioned she appreciated that the minor provided extra than simply sociology lessons.
“I’m very excited to take the medical Spanish class that’s provided and the economics of well being, as a result of I took [economics] in highschool and I actually loved it,” he mentioned.
Maddy Rose Lennon, one other sophomore sociology main, echoed the advantage of bringing various experience to unravel a fancy downside.
He mentioned that along with medical professionals, politicians who write coverage will be pioneers in public well being, in addition to economists, sociologists and lots of others.
Lennon mentioned that is why when he took the category, Group Organizing for Well being Fairness, he realized that the minor might complement any main, together with political science and economics.
“Generally, we consider well being as one thing that occurs to a person by means of their decisions or their entry to well being care, and what this well being fairness program gives is a take a look at structural, cultural, and social social forces. one other type and the way they create well being disparities. Lennon mentioned. “If we take a look at the social causes of well being, we will truly handle them, whereas if we solely take a look at the person, we’ll act from the underside up. We’ve to go upstream.”
This perspective resonated with Lennon, who characterised fashionable American well being care as a Band-Help short-term repair. She mentioned the kid’s extra holistic understanding of well being care is effective.
“We’re patching folks up and sending them again,” Lennon mentioned, then posed the query: “What can we do exterior of a hospital and a physician’s workplace?”
Considered one of his favourite TED Talks wrestles with this very thought. The speaker is a younger mother-in-law who regularly makes residence visits with purchasers and witnesses severely unsanitary dwelling circumstances. Retelling the influence this TED speak had on her, Lennon paraphrased it: “Think about if docs might prescribe meals, protected housing, or activate the warmth.”
Lennon will graduate in 2025 and hopes to turn into an epidemiologist or well being coverage adviser. He mentioned he, too, want to do an internship on the Spokane Regional Well being Division or on the CHAS Well being heart, which serves the homeless in Spokane.
“On a broader scale, we noticed the COVID-19 pandemic hit and public well being was in excessive demand, it was on excessive alert,” Meyers mentioned. “It is attention-grabbing to see the response to that and likewise, in response to that, how there was a sure lack of societal options to those broader societal issues that have been exacerbating the pandemic fairly than making an attempt to unravel it,” she mentioned.
Though minor steps might be taken to alleviate this, Meyers mentioned it was inevitable that underserved populations can be hit hardest by COVID-19. His most important operative within the seek for public well being is to deconstruct this inevitability in future conditions.
“We assure life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We even have to ensure well being,” Lennon mentioned.
For extra info on particular course necessities, go to https://www.gonzaga.edu/catalogs/present/undergraduate/college-of-arts-and-sciences/health-equity.