ReThinking Health
By Tabitha Ervin
Editorial Director
Lately, I have participated in a variety of meetings around the city of Fort Wayne including but not limited to discussions about maternal mortality, obesity, mental health and of course infant mortality. Many of these conversations have included data and discussions about the social determinants of health which the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) defines “social determinants of health” as conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes.
At the Rethinking Health event held on October 28 led by the HealthVisions Midwest organization, it all came together for me. The event was the organization’s inaugural fundraiser and featured guest speaker Dr. Viva Combs Thorsen (who I later found out is related to my husband) and panelists Dr. Sarah GiaQuinta from Parkview Health, Dr. Nicholas Leonowicz from Lutheran Downtown Hospital and Dr. Stacy Grundy from IU Health.
Dr. Thorsen kicked off the event with the most powerful and personal presentation I have ever witnessed. She told her personal story as it relates to the social determinants of health and how these things impacted her life growing up. She shared the story of her mother who was a single parent working two jobs to support her and her siblings. She shared how her mothers income wasn’t steady and they had no transportation. When she was 10, her mother was killed at the VFW in 1981 and she and her siblings became orphans.
They moved to her grandmother's home also with unstable income and no transportation. She highlighted that her close knit family of aunts, uncles and others stepped in to support as well. She discussed mentors from school and those who noticed and supported throughout this journey and how without the support of those around her family she would not be where she is today.
Within the talk, she told personal stories of her and a sibling walking to the grocery store or laundromat. She told a story of her mother putting her and her siblings in a cab to go to the dentist alone because she was working.
This powerful and personal talk highlighted food desserts, medical costs, medical distrust, literacy/education and transportation or lack thereof. I later found out on a call with Dr. Thorsen, that this was the first time she presented her story this way and I was surprised. The audience was enlightened and touched by walking through her journey while she showed personal family pictures and even the article from the paper when her mother was shot on the screen.
She closed her talk discussing how some of the same issues from 25 years ago are still present in Fort Wayne and how we have to do better as a community to move the needle on these things. Her family still owns a home in Fort Wayne and when she comes to town, she spends time there so she sees what’s still the same. This presentation hit the nail on the head for the theme of ReThinking Health.
Thorsen’s story is tangible and a concrete example of how people continue to live in environments where they are faced with these challenges every single day. When chatting on the phone with Dr. Thorsen, she reiterated that we all must work together because everyone should have access and the ability to thrive in their community. Structural barriers must be addressed in the communities here in Fort Wayne and other cities. We have to do it together or nothing will change!
The panelists added to the conversation by also acknowledging that by the time people get to the hospital it’s oftentimes too late and we must do more with community health, medical trust and prevention. All three discussed working better together to overcome and support the community with better more collaborative health equity strategies. Dr. GiaQuinta and Dr. Grundy both specifically lead health equity work in their respective hospital systems.
Before the event ended, HealthVisions Midwest also honored two community members with the Dignity Award, Phyllis Bragg, nurse and president of the local black nursing sorority Chi Eta Phi and Yin Yin Moe and Win Tun Nyunt for being unsung heroes in the fight for health equity in our community.
Bravo to HealthVisions Midwest, Sharon Tubbs and her team and Ruoff Mortgage for sponsoring this phenomenal inaugural fundraiser that was a packed house on a Friday morning with life-changing and collaborative conversions! Can’t wait until next year's event!
