By Gina Tomaine, Philadelphia, September 14, 2020
Name: Susanne Johnson, (@seesuzgo), a family nurse practitioner.
Nonprofit of choice: Project H.O.P. E – Camden’s Healthcare for the Homeless. Their mission is to improve the health and well being of homeless persons and others in need by providing primary, preventative, and related health services. For the past thirteen years Project H.O.P.E. has fulfilled its mission by assisting more than 11,000 homeless persons in their journey to permanent housing and self-sufficiency.
What motivates you to try and make Philadelphia a healthier place?
Healthcare is a social justice issue. All persons deserve the right to access high quality, comprehensive primary care and preventive screenings. We live in a society that continues to place a premium on healthcare. Our current system of managed care organizations is set up to serve a privileged few. Philadelphia is one of the poorest large cities in the United States with 22% of Philadelphians self-reporting their health as poor or fair, according to the 2019 Health of the City report. 25% of Black residents and 32% of Hispanic residents report their health as poor or fair while only 20% of white residents report their health as such. In 2019, 1,556 per 1,000 Philadelphians had a potentially preventable hospitalization with non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic residents being disproportionately affected. This means that comprehensive, high quality health care remains largely inaccessible to most Philadelphians. Even with insured via programs like Medicaid and Medicare, Black and Hispanic residents are far more likely than their white counterparts to utilize emergency rooms and urgent cares for chronic conditions because of overcrowded public health centers with long wait times, lack of continuity of care, and lack of funds for daily medication.
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