In May, RHHD welcomed a new Health Equity Specialist to our team! Cameron Foster joins us after working for the VDH Central Office as a COVID-19 investigator and vulnerable population data analyst. Cameron has a master\u2019s in public health from Eastern Virginia Medical School and an MBA from William & Mary. He talked to us about his understanding of and hopes for this new job!<\/p>\n
How do you think about health equity?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n A lot of people understand the main idea of health equity and why it\u2019s important, but it\u2019s like any big reform movement\u2014what does it look like in practice? I try to move from the idea to action.<\/p>\n I break health equity down into things people can understand. Let\u2019s think about access, for example. Are people able to find a primary care provider who takes their insurance, or who they can reach through public transportation? Do they have time to take off work to go? Are there even enough providers in the area?<\/p>\n What did your experiences in school and other jobs teach you about health equity?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n COVID-19 investigation was very rewarding work but also very draining work, simply because you\u2019d be calling people at some of their worst moments. And you\u2019d see the inequities. Take when the pandemic first started and we sent school children home with a laptop or tablet to complete work virtually. If the child didn\u2019t have access to high-speed internet, that laptop was just a paperweight\u2014there was no way to complete assignments.<\/p>\n Or if you couldn\u2019t physically get to a location participating in the COVID-19 rollout, what good was the vaccine for you? We really needed these vaccine drives that came out to individuals at nursing homes or congregant settings like prisons to ensure that treatment was given equitably and to as many people as possible.<\/p>\n I also noticed inequities through academic pathways. Living in Williamsburg, I was on Medicaid because you can apply for it as a grad student, and it was very difficult for me to get treatment\u2014there weren\u2019t as many providers taking Medicaid. I\u2019ve also worked as a medical assistant and a medical office administrator at a private practice. It was heartbreaking to see individuals take time out of their day to come in, and then you\u2019d find out that insurance doesn\u2019t cover the treatment or medication that they needed.<\/p>\n