I have been working in the public health industry for six years now; first with Planned Parenthood, then with the Alternative Clinic, and now with Planned Parenthood again. It has grown into something of a passion for me and I can’t seem to tear myself away. I knew I wanted my senior project to revolve around health care but I didn’t want to just write a paper that would, more than likely, go unread. I have always been more of a hands-on type of person and I wanted my project to reflect that.
After witnessing many of my friends graduate college without health insurance and forego much needed medical care, I realized something had to be done to give students the information they need on accessing health care after graduation. So I decided to create an event that would directly benefit the students of Purchase. The purpose of my event is to make students aware both of the issue of high rates of uninsured young adults in the United States as well as their resources for getting covered and finding health care services at no cost or on a sliding scale.
The event is set to happen Wednesday, April 20th and will encompass three main parts: the health fair will be going on in the Student Services lobby from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and will feature representatives from local health clinics, health insurance plans and the Westchester department of health. There will also be a table set up for further resources separated by county and information on the health reform provisions and health exchanges. There will be free STI testing from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Southside provided by the Westchester Department of Health. Finally, at 6 p.m. in Southside there will be a panel discussion lead by Eesha Pandit, of Raising Women’s Voices, and Matt Bishop of the Young Invincibles. They will be addressing the issue of high rates of uninsured young adults and will introduce the “Graduation Toolkit,” a new resource for students on how to get covered and get health care after school. Furthermore I am starting a blog, which will feature all of the information and resources offered during the event. My goal is for this blog to continue to be a resource for students as they approach graduation.
Like every other senior, the main obstacle I ran into was lack of motivation and general apathy. Senior project is like the monster under your bed. It’s really nothing at all but the more you neglect it, the bigger and scarier it gets. But after reaching out to a few departments on campus like Health Services and my colleagues at FORTH, I was able to get back on track. With events like these, funding is always a bit of a nightmare. Lucky for me, I’m involved with Residence Life and Planned Parenthood where I get a budget to plan programs and events just like these. Another main obstacle I ran into was finding local health centers to participate in the health fair.
There are only so many free/sliding scale health centers in Westchester and the majority of them are Open Door Family Medical Center, which is fabulous and is one of the centers coming to table. But when I tried to outsource to other counties, many of them said they did not do health fairs outside of their county. This was frustrating, but I came up with an alternative plan to have a table set aside with information about resources from other counties. Other than that, I’m just a bundle of nerves waiting for the event to come so I can take a deep breath and finish up the semester.
As for after school, who knows? It’s hard enough trying to balance work, classes and graduating, let alone make plans for the future. I’ve been applying for Americorps and had my second round of interviews last week, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Sooner or later I will go back to school, maybe for a degree in Public Health, but until then I’m going to bask in the glory of my bachelor’s degree, I think I’ve earned it.