Students will tackle the national health care debate from an interdisciplinary angle
(The Beacon)
By Will Lyons, Staff Writer -- lyons14@up.edu
Senior Jenny Carson and a group of UP nurses at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing summit looked out on a crowd of protestors on the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Monday afternoon.
President Obama's Affordable Care Act had been introduced to the Supreme Court earlier that day to decide if the government can mandate individuals to buy health insurance. For Carson, seeing the partisan crowd galvanized her resolve to create open discourse about health care back on campus.
To help inform students about the many issues involved in health, not just the politics, Carson and the School of Nursing and the TOLCS (Teaching Our Leaders Civil Discourse and Service) program will host the "Re-Visioning Health Care Summit" Saturday.
"We've never had a chance for students of all disciplines to discuss health," Carson said. "It just makes sense."
In the morning, guest speakers will present their research on many health issues in the United States, and in the afternoon, TOLCS will facilitate group discussions. Participating students will also receive breakfast and lunch and have the chance to win door prizes, which include tickets to Disneyland.
The presenters at Saturday's conference will be Economics Professor Bill Barnes, Biology Professor Andrew Lafrenz and Neurology Professor Jacquie Van Hoomissen. The keynote address will be given by Theology Professor Rene Sanchez.
The interdisciplinary nature of the conference is key to finding solutions for healthcare according to another of the conference organizers, nursing student Alissa White.
"We're not just looking at health from a hospital setting, but at the root cause of the issues," White, a senior, said. "It's about looking at society and its impact on health."
White believes students from every discipline can benefit from attending the conference.
"Students might be aware of health reform issues, but there isn't enough awareness turned into action," White said.
In the afternoon, the TOLCS focus groups will apply the knowledge participants learn through discussion and voting on proposed solutions.
Communication Professor Rene Heath and her core group of mediation-trained students will work with students and community members to generate possible national solutions to health care reform as well as concrete steps students can take to improve their own health care situation.
"Health care is an issue that affects everyone, not just students in the nursing school," Heath said. "Especially since in a couple years, every UP student will have to take care of their own health care."
Heath began designing TOLCS as a student group to help mediate discussions while the heated national health care debates were going on in 2009.
"My thought was, we're better than this. We can have civil discussions on complex issues," Heath said.
TOLCS will help ensure that students and community members have an equal chance to have their voices heard during the group discussions.
After health care returned to the national spotlight in 2009, many students began to formulate their own views.
"There should be some kind of public health care everyone should be able to have," sophomore John McDonagh said. "Even if it's just so that they can receive basic treatments."
Senior Harli Lozier agrees there should be changes in health care reform, but not without caution.
"Whether or not universal health care is a good or bad thing, you are going to be changing some of our country's founding principles," Lozier said. "I think people need access to health care they can afford, but it's hard to mandate it."
According to Carson, Saturday's event will provide an excellent opportunity for UP students to share and learn about one of America's most pressing issues.
"I hope that everyone takes away at least one new message about the interconnected issues of health," Carson said. "I also hope they see the connection between their studies and the changing issues of health."
Register
Register for the "Re-Visioning Health Care Summit" online. Registrants will receive breakfast, lunch and a chance to win door prizes, which include tickets to Disneyland.
Register at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3075235111/efblike
Registration begins at 9 a.m., and the event begins at 10 a.m.
