As we celebrate Martin Luther King day, it is important to remember that the groundswell of support for the Occupy Healthcare movement has deep roots in the American consciousness. Reverend King spoke to the Medical Committee for Human Rights in 1966 and stated,
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”
His sentiments remain true and our need for proactive solutions have grown even more pressing. As will unfold in our blogs and actions of the #OccupyHealthcare group over the next several months, we will challenge you and ourselves to take decisive actions that move us closer to achieving the justice Dr.King dedicated his life to create. We owe him and each other that much.
“I can walk to freedom, but only if I have a healthy body.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King
Thanks for reminding us of Dr. King’s commitment towards equality in all things – including healthcare. No doubt there continues to exist substantial disparities in healthcare. In fact just this morning there was a OpEd piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer that addressed this issue: http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20120116_Reform_addresses_health_disparities.html
We have a lot of work to do to create a system that can meet the needs of everyone and reduce some of the horrendous disparities we still see.
I’ll echo Ben’s thanks, Carmen! Highlighting – and more importantly, fighting – injustice was an important part of Dr. King’s, and the civil rights movement’s, legacy.
In the context of healthcare, it also reminds me of where the community health center movement started – about 45 years ago, with roots in the civil rights and social justice movements of the 1960s. At the dawn of this movement, community health center leaders saw health as but an entry point to solving a broader range of problems, without raising the same level of opposition as more blatantly political “social change” programs. The goal was to not just to provide primary care and related outreach and patient education, but to address social determinants of health through job development, nutrition, sanitation, and social services. All while maintaining a core principle of respect for and involvement of community residents.
While this belief in community ownership has persisted through the years, the idea of health as but an entry point to solving a broader range of problems seems to have diminished (though, thankfully, not disappeared). It’s an idea worth going back to, and can help us better integrate primary care, mental health, and individual and population level prevention.
To add another quote to the mix, Bill Walczak, former director of the Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester, Massachusetts, concludes a talk entitled “reflections on a healthy city” with words that are very pertinent to #occupyhealthcare –
“We need to create integrated systems that promote community and health values. Like all change such cultural shift will take a generation or more to accomplish. But I am reminded of the story President John F. Kennedy told of the French leader who asked his gardener to plant a rare tree on his estate. ‘But the tree won’t bloom for 100 years’ the gardener said. The response: ‘In that case, plant it this afternoon.’”
Vinu – Love the planting of the tree quote. Wow. Thanks for sharing.