The Health Advocate Role (cont.)

Preparing future physicians for socially responsive practice

Davedeep Sohi

PGY2 UBC Internal Medicine

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What kinds of advocacy activities are you involved in?

I am primarily involved in health advocacy at the community level. The foundation for these activities is community networking with local organizations such as community centres, outreach groups, residential facilities or shelters, and cultural groups. This allows our advocacy team to reach a large portion of the population and focus on at-risk groups that are particularly in need of health information and education.

This past year we have been focusing on providing public education on Internal Medicine topics. The response has been remarkable. So far this year our team has held community-based seminars on addiction, smoking cessation, heart disease, and cancer. Through the dedication of numerous Internal Medicine residents we have reached literally hundreds of people. We have worked in a variety of locations from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to suburbs such as Langley and Richmond. Our advocacy program, focused on educational seminars, has provided the community with accurate and accessible healthcare information while giving residents an opportunity to get practical health advocacy experience.

How did you get started?

The Internal Medicine residency program already had an advocacy group, where like-minded residents could get involved. With this support in place, I reached out to various community groups and advertised our team’s expertise and availability. In particular, the Healthy Living Program team at Vancouver Coastal Health was incredibly supportive and helpful in getting our name into the community. We immediately had a huge response from community groups requesting health promotion seminars and have been busy ever since.

What is satisfying about this work for you as a physician?

For me, this work is an extension of what it means to be a physician and is satisfying in many of the same ways. For starters, I have the opportunity to meet a lot of incredible people. Listening to concerns from the community and responding to questions also gives me a slightly different perspective on how the community views health, disease, and disability. Undoubtedly, I think this makes me a better physician. On top of this, there is always the immediate gratification of being able to teach people about their illness or help them learn about illnesses affecting loved ones. I really believe that this kind of education helps empower people to live healthier lives and manage their illnesses proactively.

What pearls of wisdom would you like to share with medical colleagues about this work?

The profession as a whole should be proud of the many amazing technologies we’ve developed to treat and sometimes cure disease. However, we also need to look further than the philosophy of our Western based practice, which largely deals with disease palliation rather than prevention. The best thing we can do for any person is to find a way to keep them healthy in the first place and optimize their quality of life. To me, this represents the core principle of health advocacy and will hopefully be something I can draw from in my future as a geriatrician.

How do you think more physicians can be engaged in HA?

I think the major barrier to physicians being more involved in health advocacy is time. From a resident’s point of view, it would be great to see advocacy incorporated as an integral part of the training program given that it is a CanMEDS requirement. While dedicating time may be difficult during work hours, streamlining the logistics so that residents have to dedicate only one or two hours to conduct a health promotion seminar in the community is a great first step.

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