Leadership Grand Rapids’ December session focused on the daunting and complex challenges our healthcare systems pose.
As we heard from community leaders tackling these complexities head-on, we:
- Learned of the great work of the Kent County Health Department to use data to better understand disparities in both care and health
- Were proud of the Red Project’s pioneering harm reduction programs becoming the model for the statewide approach to the opioid crisis
- Saw innovative community non-profits identifying the gaps in the safety nets and filling them
- Were completely amazed by the true moonshot that is BAMF Health’s revolutionary leap in the effective treatment of end-stage metastatic cancer
Clearly, deep systemic inequities exist, which complicate our progress towards health equity. The deep ripple effects of social determinants can seem like insurmountable factors.
What is clear is that health intervention has to exist everywhere: at every stage of life, in every community, for everyone. In the words of one of our speakers, Dr. Anthony Chang, CEO and Founder of BAMF Health, there’s a difference between “impossible” and “very, very hard.” Health equity will be very, very hard. But it is not impossible.