Carol Mendez’s essay is really informative about the Latinos in America and the difficult implications they face on a day-to-day basis. Most importantly, in regards to the healthcare troubles minorities face in the United States. Hearing Mendez’s story was extremely moving to see how she was able to accomplish so much when coming from nothing. The most interesting thing I found in Mendez’s essay was the role of activism. Whenever I think of being an activist, I think of dedicating my whole life to one cause. Mendez proved that you could be an activist by caring enough about something to try and change it. She discussed how when she was in college it was hard for her to go back to Morristown to help with the previous programs she had been so deeply involved with. Mendez really made me understand the role of activism and how anyone can be an activist whether it’s handing out pamphlets on the quad or starting a new club. I really liked how Mendez conveyed the role of activism and brought it down to a smaller scale while still focusing on the grander scale of creating change. Also, like Abby said, I was not even aware of these interpreters in the medical field and all of the miscommunications minorities face. This part reminded me of Eang’s story of how the doctors had her mother, who couldn’t speak English, sign a release to use her deceased baby to conduct research. I think the first step to getting undocumented minorities the proper health care is to deal with the immigrations laws currently held by the U.S.
Just like Mendez’s essay, Turner’s essay informed me of the public health industry that I significantly lack much knowledge in. Something I really like about Turner was her motivation and passion that she carried with herself no matter what she was doing. It was really interesting to learn about the world of public health, especially needle exchange. I had no idea that people actually went around in a van to teach people public health. This is ridiculous that this system even exists. The United States should, like Turner argues, have health care be a right not a privilege. However, what Turner does is extremely beneficial to the people who have been struck with such a harmful disease. Hearing the personal stories of the interviewees must such an intense emotional feeling for Turner. I really liked reading about what she does and the public health field because I had no idea what their role was in maintaining healthy lifestyles.
Kaminsky’s essay was also about health care, specifically about the nurse profession. I feel that a common stereotype, like Kaminsky points out, is that nursing a woman’s profession and that most women are nurses because they do not want to do the work to be doctors, hence settling. However, Kaminsky argues that the role of a nurse has exponentially changed from it’s historic past of being at hand and foot of a physician. All of these essays value the importance of leadership. It does not matter what you do as long as you do it to your best ability and are helping people. I think it is interesting how Kaminsky was living in the midst of 9/11 and decided she needed to do “meaningful work”. We often define success in numbers, however I do not think any of the success these women have reached is defined in numbers. It is defined by something much more important, changing lives.
I attended the "Big Questions Jews Ask" lunch yesterday, in which President Herbst discussed the connection between foreign aid and the service to those in need that is expected of Jews (and other religious groups). He brought up an interesting point, which is that when contributing to charitable organizations or governments of nations in need, we often focus on the inputs (how much money we are giving them, how much time we are serving them, what can be defined in numbers) rather than the actual affect that the recipients of the service receive (the meaningful work). We also give our money (in most cases) to an intermediary source (org./govt.) which decides how the money/services will be used. Just because you contributed more money doesn't mean that you are "helping" any more because those who are spending your money may have poor intentions. The authors of the pieces today are working "on the ground" and can experience how their work affects those in need. They are measuring the outputs and the meaningfulness of their work, which seems like a truer picture of its impact on others.
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