Personal Narrative: My Access To Health Care

I fight for my health every day in ways most people do not understand I lay in bed struggling just to get up in the morning only to get faced with a new day of troubles. All I think about is the day that being a normal eighteen year old ended for me. I was responsible went to work every day, and was trying to figure out my first year of college until everything was flipped upside down.

My interest in public health emerged when I recognized how much the health and well-being of an individual affects a community. From a young age, both my parents have struggled with their health; my mother having diabetes and my father having hypertension. I have seen how their health has affected them on the day to day basis and how it has affected those around them at a community level. As I continue to learn more about public health I am beginning to understand that many of the health problems, like the ones my parents face, can be prevented through lifestyle adjustments. Also, I have learned the most effective way to prevent diseases in a community is through advocating healthy habits to avoid health problems from emerging in the first place.

The phone was ringing as I stepped into my house. My mother picked up the phone without realizing she would shortly be sent to her knees. She yelled for me to get into the car and we rushed into the hospital. As hectic as the situation felt, time seemed to pass by very slow in that car. We finally arrived to the hospital to find my father nervously talking to the doctor. I learned that my brother had been brutally beaten up by a couple of teenagers on his way home from school and, as a result, had lost most of his teeth.

By this document I, DANIELLE M. MOORE, of 13317 Wyngate Point, San Diego, California 92130, intend to create an advance health care directive under California Probate Code Section 4600 and following. This advance directive shall not be affected by my subsequent incapacity. All references herein to “my agent” refer to the agent acting at the pertinent time.

I went to Free Clinic on Wednesday in part to get away from all that is going on currently, and I quickly realized that I couldn’t escape the realities many face today in America.

This past summer, I was called to act upon one of the Four Pillars of NHS, service. I joined my church’s Youth Mission Team and spent five days in Athens, Ohio. During this time, my team members and I completed various projects including making a free lunch for the community, shoveling gravel, building a ramp, and working with children.

“Oh, my goodness,” “Wasn’t it so funny when Mr. Speranza split his pants in class today?”

He knew it was going to be a no excuses to lose to weather and it was going to be a good day for fans to watch football tonight. He had met with Kyle Cannon who was the quarterback for the team and a running back on the team named Dion Gordon;

Imagine a connected healthcare interface where your medications are linked to your smartphone, smart pill bottles remind you of when it’s time to take your medications, and prescription medications or surgeries are customized towards your individual genetic and physical needs. This is the future of healthcare - we just have a long way to go before we get there. As you look at startups in the healthtech space - many of them are well on their way to having one piece of the puzzle - AdhereTech with smart wireless pill bottle to TalkSpace with customized online mental health counseling. To create that integrated network I believe the buy-in will need to come from some of the largest healthcare companies currently, such as Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal

I was born on September 20th, 1997 on the coast of Virginia Beach. Now living in South Carolina I am 19 years old and living a very healthy and eloquent lifestyle. As I filled out the Real Age questionnaire I encountered many questions that made me think if my diet and health were flawed, while other times it seemed as if I was the pinnacle of health. I found at the end it had me down as a 16-year-old teenager. This three-year difference in what my age and what Real Age had put me down for really opens my eyes about how well of a healthy lifestyle I am living, and motivates me to continue living it to the best of my ability.

I sat at the kitchen counter, staring at the green cabinets and bowls of fruit. I wanted to play in tonight’s soccer game, but my mind was still foggy from the drugs I received in the hospital the day before. I didn’t want my teammates to see me like this. My hair was matted from where my head rubbed against the blue hospital pillow, and a wrinkled piece of clear tape secured a nasal feeding tube onto my cheek. I hated what the tube meant: that I was inadequate and that I couldn’t drink by myself. I was someone who insisted on doing everything on my own, and the thin, flexible tube was a physical reminder that I could not. My mom and dad lauded my bravery, but I dismissed them. I didn’t believe bravery was dictated by necessity.

I have been in the Marine Corps for roughly three and a half years and throughout that time I have done many things. Most of the things that I have done were with Combat Logistics Battalion 26. For three years, I worked with that unit through work ups and a deployment and I have seen and done many unique things. However, nothing I did with CLB 26 felt fulfilling, but that all changed when I changed units to CLB 8.

I have worked for The Advocate, a Baton Rouge award winning newspaper, for more than 23 years. When I first hired on in May of 1992, it was only to be a temporary job until I finished college. Before computers and electronic layout programs simplified this process with the click of a button, people had to cut out and paste the stories, pictures, and advertisements that appeared in the daily newspaper. This was my job: I was a Compositor. I worked evenings so this allowed me the availability to go to school during the day. I have always been a hard worker and taken pride in whatever assignment I was given. This character trait was recognized by others and I was quickly promoted to other jobs. As the computer age and world wide web came to life,

Hi doctor. I'm wondering if I need to be concerned. I keep getting what seems gas. The mild/dull pain is always in a different area. It bothers the most the most when lying down. Therefore, sleeping at night has been a challenge, leaving me unrested. It also bothers when pain is around the groin, it sort of feels like if I had an urine infection, but I'm urinating okay. I've been taking the Omeprazole, thinking it might help. But it has not. What do you think?

“But you don’t look sick!”-- Wow, thanks, am I supposed to take that as a compliment: that my chronic illness hasn’t yet affected my appearance? There is no real way to look like you have a chronic illness. Maybe when I’m in my back brace it’s more noticeable, or when I’m forced into my various other braces and supportive wraps it’s apparent that my body is in a constant war with itself. Newsflash: I am sick. I was sick when I was born, I am sick right now, and I will be sick when I die. I am, forever and always, sick.