Nicola's Churchill Adventure

What did I take away from such a surprising and inspiring day?

• Ask people what they need – “What help you get to the Doctor’s tomorrow?’
• Get money and more money will come
• Shout loud and consistently
• Need to include evidence based/proven approaches in your offering
• Build the space and they will come

Choose what you want to do and do it.

Setup monthly patient/family forums – ask them what they need, get them review what you produce and take on their feedback.

We Ask Everyone

This poster when I saw it blew my mind, the simplicity and clarity of it. The respectfulness of it. I saw this when I was right in the midst of incredibly strong resistance to implementing ACEs screening into our Kindy Health Check. Today I shook the woman’s hand who did this.

The team

‘Where’s your team?’ Asked Meredith. ‘Why are you here on your own? You need a team. A diverse one. One that includes people that can tell stories. If you can’t tell stories find someone who can. Do you have people that don’t look like you on your team? Who are you agitating to about this?‘

Have you and your team done the ACEs and Resilience survey? Why not? That’s your first step. Do it. Sit back and let that sink it. Deal with the repercussions of that. Then move forward.

MK 2022

Kieschnick shared the experience she had of completing the survey 30 years ago, it was part of comprehensive 30 or so page screen done by Kaiser. Terri sitting next to her recalled how it was to conduct this with Meredith. And then to have to relay to Meredith that she had osteopenia – low bone density at a young age – she had no other risk factors other than her ACEs exposure. This experience set Meredith on a journey that she has pursued for the next few decades tirelessly and at times at her own expense physically, emotionally and financially.

The devastating fires of 2017 in Sonoma County came. The Community Health Centre was destroyed. Meredith recalls the devastation and how days like today – record breakingly hot for September are hard for the whole community. Trauma memories evoked by the hot winds have people on edge. Meredith stepped away from leading the charge. She had ensured what she set out to achieve was achieved and she had succession planned.

She had set up a community centre in a half house plonked on and elementary school grounds. It was crowded shoulder to shoulder by people who were able to access good quality free healthcare for themselves and their families. People came from everywhere. Grandparents volunteered to keep the doors open. The families were asked what they needed and were listened to. They were asked about their stories and they were listened to. They were cared for, and respected and enjoyed.

Meredith and Terri have a beautiful family home where they are tending their garden and now focus on their produce and share the spoils with the health workers in the clinics across Santa Rosa that they helped establish, grow and thrive. They acknowledge the toll the last few years has taken on everyone, particularly health workers, so regularly they bring a brown bag to the clinic of freshly picked fruit or vegetables and as Meredith laughs “I know you’ve had a really rough time, but you gotta try these tomatoes”.