2 Comments July 5th, 2008 by bronxdoc
A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others. The cooperative principles are guidelines by which cooperatives put their values into practice: 1. Voluntary and Open Membership; 2. Democratic Member Control (one member, one vote); 3. Member Economic Participation; 4. Autonomy and Independence; 5. Education, Training and Information; 6. Co-operation Among Cooperatives; and 7. Concern for Community.
Based on coop principles and values, people create different forms/models of health care cooperatives. One of the most known model is the user/client-owned model. User or client-owned health cooperatives are set up by individuals in the same community to help them meet their own health care needs. Members of the coop determine goals and practices, thereby enabling ordinary citizens to empower themselves with respect to health care. Members-owners each contribute shares of capital and subsequently contribute to operating costs, usually by prepaid premiums and appoint managers to negotiate contracts with health insurance and health care providers. Often these cooperatives purchase and operate hospitals and other facilities, and hire professional and other staff. Services range from simple preventive care and basic insurance to advanced curative and rehabilitative interventions. There are also cooperatives owned by health professionals and pharmacy coops. In fact, cooperatives are being used as the model in the social economy and the delivery of a wide range of social services around the world.
Community Health Centres that follow the cooperative model are non-profit organisations, owned and operated by the members who use their services. Members elect a board of directors who govern the centre. Each member has one vote, regardless of the number of shares held by the member. Members and users are involved in defining the centre’s mission, mandates, goals, and the types of services offered. With the cooperative model, community participation can be facilitated through Board representation, committees of the Board, development of needs assessment, satisfaction surveys, fundraising, volunteer involvement etc. Community Health Centres that are not cooperatives provide similar programs and services as a cooperative, but the level of community membership and control is not as extensive.
For more on Health care cooperatives visit:
— Prepared by Franklin Assoumou Ndong, B.A., M.Sc., Sherbrooke (Québec), Canada, September 2004.
2 Comments May 28th, 2008 by bronxdoc
On April 29th “Social Medicine Rounds in the Community” took us a few blocks from the hospital to the Ampark Community School, an elementary school that is part of the New York City School System.
We were greeted by the school’s Principal Betty Lopez Towey, a certified labyrinth facilitator. She is pictured here standing on the labyrinth. An energetic and enthusiastic woman (the perfect mixture for a grade school principal) she took us upstairs to a large room where the school’s labyrinth was laid out on the floor. For the next 45 minutes she taught us about labyrinths.
Labyrinths are increasingly used around the world to create spaces where people can meditate through walking. They have been constructed in a variety of settings: schools, churches, parks, forests, health care facilities, even prisons. The action of walking the labyrinth is designed to promote well-being, emotional, spriritual and physical.
The first labyrinth in a hospital was built in 1997 at the California Pacific Medical Center. We were fortunate enough to see a brief video clip of a stroke victim describing how the labyrinth helped her recover her sense of balance. [Unhappily, the CPMC website doesn't have a picture of their labyrinth, but we found one at this link.] Kaiser Permanente installed a wall-mounted finger labyrinth at their Walnut Creek Hospital in 2001. Labyrinthenterprises.com has a listing of well over 100 hospitals with labyrinths
Of course, the best part was actually getting to walk the labyrinth. As someone who has meditated in the past, I was struck by how easily my mind began to focus on the simple act of putting one foot in front of another. After a few twists and turns I had no idea of where I was in the labyrinth. I knew where I was going - first to the center and then back out - but I had no idea exactly where I was on that journey. This helped me to focus on the mechanics of my steps, in much the same way that quiet meditation involves a focus on breathing. The sense of disorientation was heightened a bit by occasional very sharp turns at a time when one’s concentration was focused on the feet. A hint of vertigo. But the overall effect was of feeling at peace.
When we left the School we discussed taking the TV out of our waiting room and installing a labyrinth. Or perhaps labyrinths of paper, wood or stone on which the anxious (and the not so anxious) could gently trace their finger, finding a spot of peace in a chaotic world.
Some labyrinth websites:
Labyrinth Resource Group
Veriditas
Labyrinth Enterprises
The Labyrinth Coalition
Add a comment April 18th, 2008 by bronxdoc
The Gesundheit Institute was founded in the 1970’s with the idea of creating a free silly hospital in Hillsboro, West Virginia. This vision was the dream of Patch Adams, a story dramatized in the 1998 Hollywood movie, Patch Adams. But this is more than a Hollywood tale.
While the hospital has yet to be built, Gesundheit serves as a model for a different, positive vision of health care; see, for example, Re-Designing the US Health Care System: Think Universally, Design Locally by Dr. Susan Parenti. Today this vision is embodied in a variety of programs hosted at the Institute:
The Institute sponsors a variety of workshops, such as Thinking Outside the Box 2008: Re-Design Our Health Care System which will take place from August 6-11 2008, at the Gesundheit. The aim is to seed a variety of designs of projects at the local level, that will fundamentally change the health care system for the better.
There are also clown trips. The 2008 trip will travel to Italy and will “spread joy” through clowning in hospitals, nursing homes, disabled centers, prisons for young people, and on the street. The Institute also offers speakers and individual workshops.
What follows is the report to the Portal from Portal Editor Michelle Yu who went to the Gesundheit Health Justice Gathering in 2005: “Wild wigs and clown noses, talks by Patch Adams and his team of doctor-dreamers, imaginations that span the sky, sunrise hikes in West Virginia hills, nonstop music and dance, organic nourishment, and most of all, inspiration to change the world of medicine! If any of the above pique your interests, read on, dear friends! We are looking for 30 heath justice activists nationwide to join together for an inspiring and unforgettable gathering at Patch Adams’ Gesundheit! Institute in Hillsboro, West Virginia. The first gathering in January 2005 featured workshops on Building Novel Model Health Clinics, Coalitions, Liberation Medicine, Greetings, Medical School Curriculum, and much more. Patch Adams, Susan Parenti, Lanny Smith, Andrew Ziwasimon, and other fantastic doctors and spirits participated and presented, and we’re looking to have a similarly brilliant line-up this year. Students and past participants organize the gathering each year, and the experience is unrivaled in your medical education. For questions or information, write to Michelle Yu.”
