February 15, 2012 -- Come down to the Cafe at Sisters Of The Road, and you will often hear about health concerns. These include trouble getting needed health care, chronic medical and mental health conditions, and a lack of resources that promote wellness.
Although health disparities of people experiencing poverty and homelessness have been well-documented, at Sisters Of The Road we believe it is important to continue gathering information from our community, and documenting what we learn. This is important because our community’s voices are not often heard at policy-making tables. It is essential that these experiences are illuminated, so that truly meaningful systemic change can occur without harmful and unintended consequences. Unintended consequences occur when there is missing information or under-representation of groups of people.
Late in the summer of 2011, Sisters’ Health Workgroup engaged in a strategic partnership with the University of Portland (UP) Nursing. Sisters staff members Heather Fercho and Andrea Jacobson worked closely with Jenny Carson, a nursing student at UP with an interest in health care reform. Together they created a survey to learn more about access to health care and about each individual’s general health and chronic conditions.
Fifty people were surveyed in and around the Cafe. While gathering this crucial data, Sisters staff also deepened relationships with participants; many became excited about becoming more involved in our systemic change work.
Some of the most disturbing data pointed to the physical pain many people experiencing homeless and poverty deal with daily. Eighty percent said they were “currently in pain." Twenty percent said they have a physical disability, and 24% said they have arthritis. Twenty percent experience chronic knee pain, 14% have chronic pain in their feet and 26% have chronic joint pain. When asked how much pain interfered with daily activities, 38% responded “very much."
This pain experienced daily by people in our community is not acceptable and one of the many reasons Sisters Of The Road continues to work for health reform and other systemic change. There are many ways to get involved in the work for a healthier community – let’s make health reform make sense for our community; contact Heather Fercho at [email protected] to find out more. To read the full health report, visit Sisters Of The Road's website at http://sistersoftheroad.org/.
