10/30/2018 0 Comments Day 4: Footprints in the CityIn a word, day four was introspective. The day began with the opportunity to sleep in a little later than usual, and believe me when I say that most of us took advantage of that to the fullest. We started out with some of what I like to call, “immediate service,” and we dedicated our morning to helping our host site. The Metro Baptist Church hosts several clothing and food drives throughout the year for local homeless residents and given that their next drive is being held next week, we offered and were asked to help organize their inventory in preparation for the event. Right after breakfast, the twelve of us all set out to work with a caring and dedicated member of the church, Ms. Kathy Conry, who wholeheartedly trusted us and our organizational skills to separate, sort, and showcase a variety of sizes and types of both men’s and women’s winter clothes on rolling racks. When we successfully put the closet in order, we were invited up to the roof of the church to see the Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project, the garden that the church cultivates and donates its produce. This is the eighth year that the Farm Project has been active after having invited urban agriculturists to lay down the roots of the rooftop garden (no pun intended). The upstairs area was decorated as beautifully as the city skyline and had all of the fixings for a beautiful Manhattan morning. Afterwards, Kathy sat with us as we ate our bagged lunches, talking to us about New York City and her experiences. A Cleveland native, she’s a retired theater professor and a very clearly outstanding member of the church. Her enthusiasm and cheery attitude towards an otherwise daunting task that she said she often comes and spends a few hours a day doing herself, made for a pleasant atmosphere as we went about organizing. One thing that we all appreciated about Kathy’s leadership style was her invisible hand approach. She gave us all a general direction to follow, but allowed us to figure out the system for organization on our own, still providing helpful answers to our questions. When we sat down to eat, sandwiches in hands, we listened intently as Kathy passed on very valuable information to us. She gave us a short history lesson about the church, which we noticed immediately changed our perspective on our host site - it made the space feel cozier after knowing a little more about the building’s and the church’s history. Kathy also made the effort to speak to us about the importance of giving back to the community whenever we can and how important it was to continue to pursue our individual academic endeavors. I had the opportunity to speak to Kathy personally and after speaking a little bit about what it was like for me to grow up in Brooklyn, we also spoke about some of the social issues that are going on today. Kathy reassured me that she and the members of her community shared the same concerns that most of us at Princeton also share. She commented on how great she thought our mission here was and, after emphatically wishing me and the rest of our group good luck on our trip and at school, told me about the faith that she has in students like us to make a difference, even if it starts with something as simple as helping the church organize clothes for a good cause. We took the subway, sans a round of Contact, to the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention in Harlem and quickly realized an unspoken group tradition of entering the same community partner facility on the second try. At the Ralph Lauren Center, we got to see a more holistic perspective of everything that we’ve been investigating over the last few days. We had the opportunity to speak to Dr. Kampel, an oncologist at the Center who enabled us to have an interactive experience in the presentation he gave us, giving us the platform to once again debrief all that we’ve learned about the inequalities and social barriers that surround cancer screening, prevention, and treatment. We also got to speak to a Patient Navigator and learned that the role of Patient Navigator that even exists in the New York Presbyterian Cancer Services Program was pioneered by Dr. Freeman, a renowned physician at the Ralph Lauren Center. Carmen, the navigator who spoke to us was very welcoming and open, and the sheer amount of passion that she puts into her work shone through as she told us a number of stories about different patients with specific detail. Hector later reflected that he thought her job would be a “cool” one to have, to actively champion for people that he genuinely cared for, just like Carmen. A common theme that I noticed between the Ralph Lauren Center and New York Presbyterian, aside from the common role of patient navigator in their system of care was that of cultural competence. Both of these community partners made sure to mention to us, with emphasis, the importance of being culturally appropriate, sensitive, and competent to the patients that walk through their doors. Especially in a culturally diverse city like New York City, you may not initially realize just how big of a factor cultural differences may be in access to care. More obvious factors like language often pose a barrier, but the focus on cultural competence has highlighted more overlooked factors like religion and cultural beauty standards that might keep a person from either seeking out or continuing certain forms of treatment.
SiUnfortunately, we had a limited time in the museum and a very friendly security guard suggested that we make the most of it at the bottommost floor, in the footprints of the original twin towers. We each went off independently from the group and took the time to look at and reflect on each exhibit that was there. Reconvening, we all thoroughly appreciated the opportunity that it gave us to see from a second-hand perspective, a historical event that we all lived through but didn’t necessarily experience first-hand effects from. Overall, day four presented to us the opportunity to learn and reflect. To process and digest everything that we’ve learned thus far on our trip. To think about the significance of the history of the places that we’ve been to and of the institutions that we’ve interacted with. (We also got to do it with a phenomenal last home-cooked dinner, courtesy of Joyce and Niroshan.) Signed off, Leyla :)
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