Author: Emily Breitbart

Wrapping up at The Center for Ethics and Advocacy in Healthcare, Techny, IL

I had a fantastic experience at The Center for Ethics and Advocacy in Techny Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago. It was a big risk to fly across the country and intern at a nonprofit I’d previously never heard of and in a town I’d also never heard of. Luckily, it turned out to be a life changing summer and I couldn’t be happier with the results.

There were things I learned at The Center that I couldn’t have learned anywhere else. For instance, working in the office every day helped me learn the day-to-day tasks that needed to be done in the morning and then in the afternoon, when we left. Checking the mail, email, banking account balances, printing articles we needed for the next day, and using the scanner and photocopier are just a few of the many daily tasks we interns learned to do, very quickly. In other words, I know how the office operates and what the employees have to do to keep it running. Since I know how this nonprofit operates, I’ll have a better idea of how others might operate if I decide to go into the world of nonprofit management. Some of the same skills will be required and what I’ll already have experience from this internship which will help me navigate the new job.

During my internship at The Center, I also learned how to communicate effectively with my fellow coworkers, complete my assignments on time under tight deadlines, and compose myself professionally at all times. This experience will help me at Brandeis and beyond, for instance, when I work in the Admissions office and at my (future!) job after graduation. One cannot have enough experience working in a professional setting because it will always come in handy.

After this internship, I want to continue learning about the current healthcare system in the United States and how the newly upheld Affordable Care Act will affect not only other American’s lives, but my life as well. I want to explore how this new law will change America’s health system – for the better or worse – and how people will react to this change. The future is wide open and it’ll be exciting to see where it takes us!

If someone were seeking advice about my internship, I would say the following. Do it if you’re interested in the following topics: local healthcare, global healthcare, healthcare ethics, bioethics, social work in a medical setting, nonprofit management, or patient advocacy. If any of these topics resonated, I would definitely suggest applying for this particular internship. Also, the prospective intern must be willing to work in a small office. Working in the nonprofit world is hard but very rewarding. The current economic climate is not the best right now, hence many nonprofits, especially small ones, are penny pinching, which is stressful; however, the work is very rewarding and I can see how the work I did helped the nonprofit stay in existence, a very special takeaway.

This internship opened up my eyes to how much everyday people suffer these days when a medical catastrophe strikes and they cannot afford health insurance. I’ve talked with these individuals myself. I grew up completely blind to the healthcare costs my parents incurred because luckily we have insurance from my dad’s job. Hearing people’s stories and struggling to help them find a solution was a growth experience and taught me to never take anything for granted – including good health.  If I end up working for a nonprofit, I might get a few raised eyebrows because of the presupposed pay rate, but what I’d be doing at the nonprofit I would be immensely proud of. I would be proud to advertise myself as a nonprofit worker because the one I would work for would align with my own interests, passions and philosophies. I would be making visible change in the community and be very happy doing it.

 

 

Here is a link to a Chicago Health Poverty Law Center. We talked with one of the lawyers who is very well-known in the Chicago area for helping people with lower incomes and their healthcare rights: http://povertylaw.org/index.php?q=advocacy/health/

At the internship, I also learned a lot about free clinics in the Chicago area and how important they are in helping people who have no health insurance. Community Health is the largest free clinic in the Chicago area! http://www.communityhealth.org/

– Emily Breitbart ’13

Halfway Point at The Center for Ethics and Advocacy in Healthcare

A wide variety of speakers have visited The Center for Ethics and Advocacy in Healthcare because they want to educate the next generation of young people, specifically about what is going on in our healthcare system. All of the speakers deeply respect the Director of my internship, along with the internship’s mission, for they present usually every year and never ask for compensation. This speaks to the quality of the internship program I am in.
One day, a school nurse came and talked with us about healthcare in the elementary school she worked at. I learned that 1 out of 3 students in her school visited her – in one year. Calling parents, filling out paperwork and nurturing 33% of her school’s population is quite a demand. I learned that widespread sickness endures because not enough is being done to help prevent diseases from spreading. Childhood obesity and bullying are on the rise, and the disparity in wealth in her town is obvious.
From speaking with a Nursing Home Administrator, I learned that nursing homes around the country are suffering badly. The recent cuts in healthcare are the main culprit, along with the lack of resources coming from the government. It’s also hard for many nursing home residents to pay the monthly fee nowadays, which make nursing homes hard to afford for them. Meanwhile, in today’s culture, fewer and fewer people want to live in nursing homes or assisted living facilities because they prefer to stay at home or move in with family. This is becoming the trend around the country.
I learned from a community activist that the poor are the ones who are suffering the most when it comes to healthcare cuts, and they suggest what we should be doing is coming together as a community and pitching in to help those in need. Volunteering at local clinics, donating food and clothing to the local shelters and planting trees and flowers around neighborhoods are all things community members should think about doing.


Those were just three experiences I’ve had at my internship. There are many more I could talk about but I think this gives you a good idea of what I’ve been learning about. Healthcare is becoming more and more a community issue.
We’ve also met with Quentin Young of the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, the Director of The Center for Faith and Community Health Transformation – a woman who wants to incorporate religious and spiritual habits into hospitals, a biology professor who teaches her students about natural medicine and the process of harvesting plants and transforming them into synthetic medicines, and a couple of other directors from other local non profit agencies who also want to work on a grass roots level to help their communities be healthy and stay healthy. It’s been a wonderful experience getting to listen to all of these intelligent, passionate and highly respected people – who all hail from the Chicago area.
Here’s a link to an article from Time Magazine about selling one’s bone marrow.  It’s something we talked about in one of our in-services. Read more to learn more.

This is a link to a very helpful video which breaks down what you should expect from the newly upheld Affordable Care Act.
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How am I progressing on my goals I outlined in my WOW Scholarship Application?
Academically: I have without a doubt learned immense amounts about bioethical issues and how to talk about them with other people. This experience has given me insights I never would have gained otherwise. Through talking with the Director about how she goes about resolving tough medical problems with patients (a word she hates because it implies a power hierarchy) I have learned how she deals with the issues and how she helps people overcome their own problems. In addition, I now have a better idea as to how to help others when they are conflicted.
Professionally: I have also been exposed to a nonprofit work environment which fights for social justice in and around its community. With this experience under my belt, I will be a better candidate for a nonprofit administrator position, if I choose to pursue that path in the future.
Personally: This internship has taught me that I need to identify what my true, honest values are. From this internship, I’ve learned that values shape our opinions. Once I realize my values, I will be able to take the next step and gain insight into possible career paths.

 

 

Of what am I most proud? Why?
I am proud of myself for delving in and learning about the Healthcare scene, on both the local and national levels – because now that I have so much more knowledge about healthcare in today’s world, I am now responsible for keeping up with the issues and standing my ground. Having this knowledge now puts pressure on me to act and fight for what I believe is right.
How am I building skills in this internship?
This internship has in practice made me a better listener and analyst of information. At all times, I have to be able to listen to whomever is speaking (the other interns, the director, a speaker), synthesize what they’re saying, and transform this information into knowledge. My listening and analyzing skills are enhancing because those are the skills I’m utilizing everyday.
I’m also learning how to function in a nonprofit setting – how to communicate professionally, work independently, ask questions, etc. People operate differently in different environments, and now that I’ve had experience working at a nonprofit, I know how this nonprofit operates day to day.
All of these skills will help me in the future, for I will be a better candidate if I choose to apply to jobs in the nonprofit sector, but also, I will be a better candidate for any job having had ample experience listening and analyzing information. Having had the chance to improve my listening and analyzing skills, I will be a better thinker, reader and speaker after this experience.

 

– Emily Breitbart ’13

 

 

 

 

 

My First Week at The Center for Ethics and Advocacy in Healthcare in Techny, IL

I was lucky enough to secure a summer internship at The Center for Ethics and Advocacy in Healthcare in Techny, Illinois. The Center is a small, non-denominational, community-initiated nonprofit and NGO that educates and supports people regarding their right to make well-informed decisions about their healthcare needs regardless of religious beliefs, age, and gender. In addition, The Center offers educational programs on healthcare ethics issues; some topics include: spirituality and end of life issues; conflict resolution; learning to live with pain/suffering; and decision-making. Lecture series and guest speakers frequent The Center regularly. The Center also offers individual counseling for those people who want to talk to someone about a current medical dilemma.

The Center for Ethics and Advocacy in Healthcare is located in Techny Towers, Techny, IL.

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I wanted to intern at the Center because it’s mission fits well with my interests. I am a Philosophy major, and I am very interested in ethics – specifically, bioethics. With each person that asks for assistance, the Center has to be able to comfort the person and guide them through whatever problem they are facing. This decision making process is what I am very interested in. In addition, this internship will teach me about healthcare on the local and global scale and how near-future Medicaid and Medicare cuts will affect people and their decisions about healthcare.

To secure the internship, I went to the Center’s website; I was so excited with what I read that I called the Director herself. She took a liking to me, as I did to her, and the rest is history! I also was able to find someone at Brandeis who had this internship a few years earlier, so I talked with her over coffee about her experience.

Another reason why I wanted to intern at The Center is because of the woman who runs it. The Director exudes so much joy, kindness and warmth. After talking with her a few times, I knew I could and would want to learn a lot from her. She is a nun and was a nurse in the Boston area for a while, until she chose to pursue Ethics. Her passion for helping people get through tough medical situations led her to found this nonprofit, which I think is an extremely laudable path to take, if you ask me!

The view behind Techny Towers.

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My internship responsibilities include: clerical work (filing, printing, photo-copying, answering phone calls and email requests, cleaning), learning about the current healthcare climate on both local and global levels from the speakers who will speak to us, and learning how the Director helps people make tough decisions during trying times. She will teach me how she has helped people in all different situations get through whatever medical or financial dilemma they faced. Lastly, one of the employees at The Center will teach me how to apply ethics theories to real life, everyday situations. This is my main goal for this summer- to learn how to apply theoretical ideas to real situations.

My first week was great! I got to meet the Director and the other two interns, who are very nice. I did not realize how small the office would be, but it makes sense now, knowing that it is a nonprofit and that it exists only because of the people who donate money to help support it. A lot of people in the area donate to the Center because they think it serves a real need in a very personal way.

We met with a couple of people who work at the New Trier Township in the Health and Social Services department – a social worker and director of community services – to learn more about all the different social services being offered in the area to people who either do not have health insurance or who are unemployed and have few or no health benefits. We learned how the Township assists these people and how much of a need there is since the state of Illinois, not to mention the entire country, is in dire financial straits.

Also during the first week, we learned how some philosophical ideas tie into viewing healthcare. We discussed theories about how people think it best to approach healthcare decision making. One theory is beneficence, which states that we should always aim to do good and eliminate evil. But when one agrees with the idea of Respect for Autonomy, (s)he thinks we should respect whatever decision the person will make. We also talked about the two different views of Justice – Distributive Justice and Justice “as desert,” or Deserved Justice.

After meeting everyone and learning a lot already, the first week was a great introduction into the internship program and I’m really excited for the coming weeks!

My goals for the summer are to learn how the Director helps people get through tough medical situations by examining her decision making process, to learn more about the current state of healthcare on the local and international level, and to learn how to apply philosophical theories to real life situations.

To learn more about some of the issues within bioethics, look here!

– Emily Breitbart ’13