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Elections Matter
There is no way to escape them, political ads are everywhere. Candidates are making their closing arguments before the votes are counted. Do not close your eyes and ears to these messages. Listen and watch for who will best protect vulnerable people in our communities.
Community Spread of Disease
On average, an adult blinks twelve times every minute. Blinking is an autonomic process of the human brain and serves many health functions, the entire world can blur or focus our sights on what we value most. Consider this, you could become a vulnerable person in the blink of an eye. Someone sneezes in the grocery store checkout line. You have the misfortune of inhaling the virus. You suffer from what is now called “Long Haul Covid” The virus depletes you physically. You seek medical care, but the hospital emergency room is overwhelmed with patients and no beds are available. Weeks into the COVID journey you lose employment. The unemployment benefits fail to cover the cost of food, medicine, housing, and healthcare. In the blink of an eye and that errant sneeze, you became a vulnerable person.
Communities in Crisis
Blink and you may suffer sustain life-threatening injuries from a car accident or gun violence. The world is full of risks, seen and unseen. Rates of mental illness are skyrocketing as vulnerability clouds our vision for a safe future. The recent major hurricane is evident of the risks around us. Hurricane Ian’s bullseye was set on Tampa Bay till the storm took a hard right turn into the lowlands of Fort Myers and Naples then up the middle of Florida and onto a second landfall along the Atlantic coast, some Florida residents were sparred a predicted direct hit while others lost everything. We think we are mitigating our risk with insurance and stronger building standards, but the truth is, climate change makes all of us vulnerable people.
Community Access Health and Safety
I believe vulnerable people come in all shapes, sizes, ages, and colors. However, some of us live in communities where the resources to address a crisis are accessible and others are not. These social inequities are easy to ignore or to wear ‘rose-colored glasses.’ The Social Determinants of Health include
- Economic security
- Access to education
- Access to healthcare
- Community safety and social connections
- Access to food
- Livable communities including transportation, housing, parks, walkability
Vote for Leaders who Care
I encourage you to listen and read how each candidate believes government should allocate our finite national resources this election year. Keep in mind, it only takes the blink of an eye to become a vulnerable person. Which candidate recognizes that government plays a vital role in protecting all people and not just a chose few. Our resources are limited but our thinking need not be. What future do we want to build? What and who do we want to protect in the decades ahead?
Vote like a vulnerable person
In the blink of an eye our well-organized, predictable lives could change. We can face this election to real and potential risks we face. This is a consequential election. Please do your part, vote like a vulnerable person.
Yours in Health,
Monica
