First Week of Work

I am interning at Rekindling Reform, which is an advocacy group seeking to gain universal healthcare for all New Yorkers and eventually all Americans. It was a subject I was not extremely familiar with before coming to this position, but which I now understand the immense importance! I am the only and the first intern, which makes the experience unique to some of the other students in CUSP.
The first week went very well, as I am surrounded by experts in many different fields which all in some way relate to healthcare. My supervisor, Aaron Beckerman, is one of the most knowledgeable people about NYC, as he has lived here forever! He is an emeritus professor at Yeshiva University and also an adjunct professor at NYU Med in the field social work. He has been wonderful in helping to expose me to as many different healthcare experiences as possible, by sending me to various meetings, not only for Rekindling Reform, but also other healthcare organizations that he is connected with. Last week, I attended a few different RR meetings (including the annual meeting in which Ted Marmor, a political scientist at Yale, presented a call to save Medicare) and also attended a conference hosted by NY Health and Hospitals Corporation, which focused on patient safety in long-term care facilities. This conference was a wonderful experience because it enabled me to interact directly and have discussions with patients, all whom are members of the Community Advisory Boards at their own facilities. On Saturday, I journeyed out to Long Island to attend the annual meeting of Long Island Coalition for a National Health Program.
The combination of all the different meetings is really enabling me to get a taste of health care advocacy from every angle! So far the first week has gone great!