3361.0: Monday, November 17, 2003: 4:30 PM-6:00 PM | |||
Oral | |||
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| Walk in My Shoes is an in-depth participatory learning experience for up to 75 people that focuses on health access issues affecting low-income women and children. It can be used in a variety of settings to sensitize health professionals and students, build “teamwork” in community collaborations, or increase support for general or specific policy initiatives. It is based on the premise that “…until you walk in another’s shoes, you can’t imagine how they feel.” Participants are assigned a role in a family that specifies their ethnicity, immigration status, employment , language, health problems, and insurance status. In “one month”, they must try to obtain the health care needed by their family. They seek services by going to one of a dozen ‘stations’: the state Medicaid and SCHIP agency, health plan, clinic, private doctor’s office, pharmacy, ER, mental health or family planning agency. They may face frustration along the way. If they lack a car, they must take a bus, a time consuming process; if they don’t speak English, they’ll wait for an interpreter or even go ‘home’ and get a child to translate; offices will close due to a snow storm; people will lose their jobs or insurance. Following the simulation, participants will discuss its impact in a ‘debriefing’. They will leave with ideas of how this or similar experiential activities can be used in educational or community settings to promote and preserve vital health services and programs, bring together community partners, or introduce students to the barriers faced by those with limited access to health services. | |||
| Learning Objectives: 1. Increase awareness of the experience of low-income families seeking health services and identify the access barriers they face, with emphasis on women and children’s health issues. 2. Increase understanding of the scope and limitations of publicly funded health programs. | |||
| Deborah Katz, MS Emily Feinberg, ScD, CPNP | |||
| Organized by: | Maternal and Child Health | ||
| Endorsed by: | Caucus on Refugee and Immigrant Health; Health Equity and Public Hospitals Caucus; Socialist Caucus; Spirit of 1848 Caucus | ||
| CE Credits: | Pharmacy | ||