Sylvia Auguste

The reason why I chose an MPA is because I have always felt the need to help people but a vast amount of people. I feel that an MPA will help me achieve my goals of creating clinics and recreation centers in Haiti. The reason why I chose the health care concentration is because I want to go from health administration in a possible hospital setting or health services setting and work internationally to help other countries tweak their health care system at a grass roots level when needed. I want people to able to help themselves after my work is done. I have strong ties to helping people because of the people that have helped me along the way throughout my life. I have close ties to Haiti, I'm Haitian, and I am driven by the events that have occurred during and after the earthquake. I want to use my degree to use all of the policies and knowledge that I have gathered throughout my classes to be an effective leader and contributor. I hope that this course will not lose sight of the people when politics get involved, we are all human, just different ideologies.

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Feasibility, politics, quality, and accessibility have been at the forefront of debate. This has been noticeably prevalent in the case of what some call “OBAMACARE” which in actuality is called the Affordable Care Act. Many people have made it into a political innuendo; President Obama has it created in order to “penny pinch” insurance companies and make the economy unstable?! In my opinion, one of the greatest obstacles that the United States health care system faces is politics taking precedence over the need of the people. With constant debates, turmoil, and lack of connectivity between congress and the executive branch of government, many people are paying the cost. It seems so surreal that the people that we elected into office and thought would vocalize our needs the best, cannot seem to remember and take action for our needs. I believe that in order for the U.S. health system to get back in order, we need to put politics aside and properly arrange funding. We fund things that are not necessarily important to the needs of the people but are for the needs of rhetoric and personal agendas. Whenever something needs to be cut, education and health services are the first to go.

          Now where do I fit into this whole thing? I want to help people meet and establish their health needs on a grassroots level that is sustainable. We live in an unknown and ever changing global economy. We need to develop a way that people can help themselves, and not be in fear of what will happen tomorrow. I want to help citizens of any country that is in need, develop policies that are attainable and practicable for them. I think it is unreasonable for me to go into a country and say, “This way or the high way!” Health care is a system that is constantly evolving but yet the same. Not every health care system whether in a developed or developing country needs to be changed, some just need to be applicable. I want to help countries that need my help create policies, initiatives, and awareness that helps them help themselves. Dependency can be a great thing, but not always. I would prefer to help someone to stand on their own and call me when they need me than to seek me at every waking moment and at times I am nowhere to be found. I seek to aid the world in helping itself.

Good news is no news; bad news is front page news. The media has played the role of creating panic not sensibility. Regrettably so, when health care administrators make a mistake it’s the main story to be displayed. Most of the time, journalists look over some of the successes that are made from day to day, forgetting that everything takes time and effort. Our society has mandated an image of perfection that is not attainable, yet we strive for it. Especially in the expansion of technology, fact and fact spread quickly. Sometimes I believe the media adds to this by playing telephone with the facts, and manipulating the information at hand until it reaches a point where it’s unrecognizable. But to every cloud there is a silver lining.  Many health organizations, private, individual, or governmental, have used many social media outlets to reach the people. For example, I follow many health organizations that are on Twitter such as the Department of Health, the Mayo Clinic, UNAIDS, and several international coalitions to raise awareness. I try to play my part by retweeting or forwarding the information to some of the people that follow me or those who are close to me. I believe that as a citizen of the world, I need to play my part in educating the world about what is going on and who needs what information. I firmly believe that if you are not looking for a solution to the world’s dilemmas than you are only adding to the problem. It’s great that these organizations and even elected officials are using common forms of communication to get connected to the necessary people. Unfortunately, more people go on Facebook and Twitter than those who vote and read new updates from their elected officials. This is a very poignant time of change, health administrators are noticing that they need to get to the people because some consumers are unwilling or unable to get to them. As a future health administrator, I have started to add to the solution and remove myself from the problem.

We live in the society where money and politics rule over the human life like death. The reason why I say thing is because many people in our country, one of the richest countries in the world to say the least, have to choose between fixing our cars and going to the doctor. Putting food on the table or getting a yearly mammogram. It sounds weird right? Most people are unaware of the pitfalls of the American Health System because as Americans we always seem to be running to other countries to help provide medical care and assistance. But we can't even help ourselves? I think it's sad and unfortunate that our wealth is so dominant on the forefront, but people are dying the shadows. I thought that once a president was elected things would be able to run smoothly with our health system. I never expected that President Obama would get such a backlash from so many political parties and citizens when he created "Obama care." I understand that so many people wanted jobs to be put in the forefront of his plan, but how are you supposed to work if you are ill or you are unable to take on the necessary hours at work to take care of your family because you have a child or elderly parent at home who has no insurance to cover their medical needs? I have even personally experienced a couple times in my life how it is to live without health insurance. I still have medical billings that are in collections. It's during periods where my mother's insurance from her former employer did not cover all of the expenses of a need doctor’s visit. I have not even had moments that I decided not to go to the doctor because the co-pay for a procedure that I needed to have done required weekly doctor's visits and money that I did not have, nor did my mom. I think in order for us to understand the health system or find a solution, we need to have stricter policies that make both private and public insurance companies need to cover needed procedures. Not procedures that they "feel" is appropriate but need to speak to the primary physician of the individual and find other alternatives if it is too expense. Politics rule everything that needs to be improved in the United States, let's put politics aside and move on the basic human need and ethics.

We have completed our project on time and have made the final arrangements. I hope the class is ready to get interactive with this whole thing. We will be doing a dual presentation in real time!

We finally finished off our filming portion of the project. Of course there was confusion about what we should include and what should be removed. However, in the long run we were able to accomplish our goals. I would say more but, that would defeat the purpose of having a (surprise) presentation!

In regards to our paper,  we were able to establish who will do what and what else neds to be done!

Until next time folks! :)

We decided that we will make a thirty minute presentation on Video and Music Production. This week we are finalizing all of our ideas that we have been brainstorming by putting into action. We will be recording our videos and having kind of a "sound off" and then go from there. I'm excited to see what happens next! Stay tuned...