Blog Audit - The Final Say

Looking back at my first blog entry dating back to January, I can see that social change is undoubtedly a recurring theme in all the posts. Although this may be due to the fact that this theme itself is a major component of this course, I did still notice that my blog entries transformed from focusing on the issue itself (the Shona Holmes commercial attacking Canada’s Medicare), to looking at different issues through the lens of social change and community awareness.
By revisiting my posts, it seems as though I am learning to use the tools provided in classrooms to view the world. For example, in the first week, we learned about how Canada’s Medicare system came to be, and I was furious when I saw the message Shona Holmes was sending out to American residents discrediting the system because it did not adhere to her specific needs the way she would have liked. My entire post revolved around defending our healthcare system, of which countless citizens are thankful for. In the weeks that followed, we learned about social change – why it is necessary, how it is advocated, and the difficulties that come with actually achieving it. I have to be honest in saying that sometimes the concepts did seem redundant; because it felt like the same messages have been brought up time after time in classroom discussions. But to my surprise, rereading these blog posts made me realize that perhaps these messages are actually being absorbed and internalized. This is because the more recent posts discuss different issues, events, and stories in terms of social change. From the story about the starfish washed up on the beach shore, to Malcolm Gladwell’s speech on social change, to my dear friend Jennifer’s bone marrow drive, I am able to take all that information and either look at them in terms of social change or marvel at the level of community involvement I can see and notice. Suddenly, the redundancy in the classroom does not seem to be a problem anymore.
I saw in a few of my posts that I had questions which came to mind as I explored the topic, and they remain largely unresolved, and to-date, I feel as if they are worth further investigating. The first I would like to bring up again is the roles of dietitians and nutrition professionals; are our roles changing? And if so, where does it lead to? Where does it leave us? The past few months of class has brought me to recognize that we are pushing for social change – to achieve a healthier community with healthier individuals. Since change is most obviously observed on a local level, it must also start there. Community involvement is where we want to begin; this involves raising awareness, as well as providing means for the community to be involved – speaking up, being heard, and driving for change. And my question remains: should we achieve this, where all levels of the community are actively involved in better the health of everyone, how does the role of dietitians change? How many jobs will there be still? And will those who are out of the profession due to a decrease in demand fall into the (for example) low income category – the very same category of people they were helping? This is still very ironic to me; perhaps it is necessary to further clarify the role of dietitians and nutrition professionals.
Secondly, I have not stopped thinking and wondering why, after all these years, we appear to still be in the same position as before. I mentioned in my blog ‘Getting to the Next Step’ that despite all the awareness campaigns, issues such as hypertension and childhood obesity remain on a rise, and I wondered why. One new theory that has come to mind is that perhaps to achieve social change, all levels of the community must be fully committed to make the change. What I mean is, there cannot be second-guessing whether it is the prevention technique doing its work, or is something else at play; if we want to push for the population rather than the high-risk approach, then we need to make a decision and not look back.
This blogging experience has been an interesting one to say the least. I do 100% believe it helped me grasp the concept of the course more completely, and showed me how I can apply all these theories, concepts, and views in a practical setting. I saw an article talking about the government wanting to give immigrants access to healthcare (without the 3 month wait) and it immediately grabbed my attention. I cannot say whether I will continue to post after this course, but I know for sure that I will be looking at everything through one more lens.

Jenn 'Pho' Ever

Jenn Pho Ever

In these past two weeks, I have had the privilege to experience and witness first-hand what, to me, was the most heart-felt social change in my community.
In December 2010, my friend Jennifer – an amazing young woman – was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She underwent her first round of chemotherapy, but the disease proved too strong, and now her only chance lies with finding a match for a bone marrow transplant. Knowledge of her condition brought shock, fear, and sadness to the hearts of her family, friends, and volleyball team mates. However, what I witnessed was not a patient who dwelled on her misfortune by asking “Why me?” but a family who brought together different communities to form a new one, now connected by the common goal of helping Jenn find a compatible bone marrow donor.
The event might have started because something so terrible is happening to such a young, vibrant, and active woman, but it certainly is not where it ends. What began as a call of help to friends and family escaladed into an entire awareness campaign to encourage the Asian community to join OneMatch.ca. Thinking back to the Malcolm Gladwell speech that critiqued some social change as having too much emphasis on the ‘knowing’, and not enough on the ‘doing’, this is an example that demonstrated successful social change which began with raising awareness, and almost simultaneously translating that into actions to facilitate change. Through mediums such as Facebook, various news broadcasts, word of mouth, and radio broadcasts, the word of Jenn’s story spread through Toronto, accompanied by information of how each person is possibly capable of saving a life by a simple swab test. I attended Jenn’s bone marrow drive two weekends ago, at the Sheraton Hotel, and was amazed when I overheard one man tell the volunteer that he did not know Jenn personally, but simply came to know her story and how he could potentially help many other leukemia patients by coming to swab his cheeks for a DNA sample. There have been subsequent bone marrow drives after that which were very successful, despite the fact that she has yet to find a matching donor.
While it is true that we don’t know how many patients, if any, have benefited from this awareness campaign; but one thing we do know for sure is awareness was increased, and people responded. It might not be visible on a national, even a provincial level, but it sure was a huge movement to me; it was our community raising awareness on a topic that was close to heart, and mobilizing our resources - the choice to donate our bone marrow - to help create a healthier community.