Posted on February 27, 2015
Source: Neha Patel
Hello!
My name is Neha Patel, and I am a graduate student at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Generation Tomorrow has played a crucial role in bridging the gap between the Baltimore community and me. Constantly encouraging us to think one level deeper by conducting amazing lecture series from public health practioners with expertise in HIV/HCV, as well as finding different ways to incorporate us into the community with outreach projects, Generation Tomorrow has provided us with a nurturing environment to grow into well-rounded, competent educators and counselors.
I have had the wonderful opportunity to work at the ‘ALIVE’ study site, which is a long-standing community based cohort study. It has been studying injection drug users in Baltimore since 1988, learning more about HIV and HCV incidence and natural history in this population. I often ask the study participants, who have been coming to the clinic for decades, ‘what brings them back year after year?’ The main reason they always gave me was that they liked being treated with respect and receiving attention and care. It was humbling to come face to face with the prejudice faced by these socially marginalized people from the health care system. Working for the past few months at the clinic, my hesitancy about discussing uncomfortable topics like drug use or sexual behaviors has been wearing off. I can feel myself becoming at ease and more open with people from different ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds, which in turn is turning me into a better healthcare provider.
