2022年5月18日
“做一个真正的倡导者. Don’t just use this to put on your resume; it’s something to act on, and let’s figure out how we make health care available to everyone.”
诺拉·德·霍约斯·康斯托克博士.D., 是一位企业家, 商业领袖, and pioneer in utilizing social media to build a community for Latinas. 诺拉认为教育, 这意味着希望和机遇, is the single most important factor that can transform lives.
Nora is the national/international founder of Las Comadres Para Las Americas, and served as organization’s volunteer (unpaid) President/CEO since its founding. 她把这个组织发展到20多人,大约100个城市的1000名妇女, 28个州, 波多黎各, 和加拿大. She has since retired but remains on the board and still performs work for the organization.
Her leadership in the Austin community includes chair and member of the Capital Area Workforce Development Board (now Workforce Solutions). 另外, she has worked with the Long Center for the Performing Arts, 经济增长企业孵化器, 大奥斯汀商会, 以及奥斯汀艺术博物馆, 举几个例子. 她目前是the 哈佛西班牙裔政策杂志 (剑桥,马萨诸塞州)和 拉丁文化 (洛杉矶,加州). Comstock was elected to the Austin Community College Board of Trustees in November 2016 for a six-year term.
Comstock served as a Community 健康 Champion with the 2019 cohort.
Q: What made you want to become a Community 健康 Champion?
A: I was interested in having a better understanding of people who do not have health insurance and who do not have means to support being healthy, 我们的社区为这些人所做的一切. I knew we had created a health district and I wanted to better understand what that was and how to participate and share that information in the community, 并鼓励其他人也这样做.
Q: How was the 经验 of being a Community 健康 Champion compared to your expectations?
A: 这些年来我学到的是,你要把它变成你的. 不管是什么, 无论你走到哪里, 你参与任何活动, 如果有基本的程序, 然后你可以把它融入你的需要. You can participate in ways that allow you to do what you need to do. I went in with more expectations than the program could possibly achieve, 无论如何,这都不是一个负数, 因为我非常喜欢. 但我也意识到,为了实现我的目标, 我需要更多地参与进来, find the ways that what I needed to do could be accomplished in the system and learning where and how things happen. 这个项目允许我这样做.
It also allowed me to create an amazing group of friends and colleagues who share the same passions. 把它当作一个起点. It’s not going to be the be-all and end-all of what your expectations are, but it’s certainly a beginning and it lays the groundwork for you to take what you want to accomplish – your goals, 你的使命, 你的激情——给你一条通往那里的路. 但你必须想办法让它发生.
Q: Was there anything interesting or surprising about your 经验?
A: 我喜欢这个企业的想法, 因为对我来说, the enterprise is a huge collaboration and that’s what I think 澳门真人赌场官方网站 has brought to the table, 这使我们能够实现我们的一些目标, 或者至少, 朝那个方向移动. 因为我不知道澳门真人赌场官方网站是什么, learning about the enterprise and about the pieces and how they’ve been brought together really allowed me to think bigger about how we can, 作为一个社区, 利用我们的资源来解决这些问题. The fact that 澳门真人赌场官方网站 understands we can’t do it alone and that partners are critical.
问:你个人从你的经历中学到了什么?
A: 首先,他们是了不起的人. 不只是中央医院的员工, who are amazing and mission-driven and passion-driven to accomplish the work they do, 还有我遇到的很棒的人. We had a common goal; we all approached it from different directions based on what their 经验 was, 因此, 这就是他们的激情所在. 他们每一个人都很了不起, 所以激情, 如此忠诚,如此美妙,如此拥抱, 我和他们有一种友情和联系. 现在知道了澳门真人赌场官方网站是如何运作的, 它让我更专注于如何使用我的精力, 我的激情, my commitment in interactions with the community to achieve some of our mutual goals.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who is considering becoming a Community 健康 Champion?
A: 想想你想从中得到什么. 我会很清楚你想从中得到什么. I knew I just wanted to be involved, and it doesn’t to be a whole lot more than that. You need to be proactive to make sure you get what you want. 不管是什么 that is driving your interest, you need to be pretty focused about it. 让大局浮现出来, 但同时, you need to figure out what you are interested in doing and how you can achieve it. 这个机构,这个团体,它需要我们. 这是一条双向的道路. 这不仅仅是关于你自己. 这也与制度有关, 企业,以及它如何获得我们的能量, 我们的使命和激情推动着这一切向前发展.
Q: How did being a Community 健康 Champion influence your work for healthcare equity?
A: 我到哪儿都带着它. 澳门真人赌场官方网站 comes out of my mouth I can’t tell you how many times a day because I make sure wherever possible to insert knowledge, 经验, 问题, 连接——所有的一切. 这是我每天生活中不可或缺的一部分. 我只是觉得这很重要.
做一个真正的倡导者. Don’t just use this to put on your resume; it’s something to act on, and let’s figure out how we make health care available to everyone.
社区健康冠军 is an annual 澳门真人赌场官方网站 program that brings together diverse community members from across Travis County to learn about, 讨论, and collaborate on our work to improve the health of Central Texas.
通过五个月的系列研讨会, participants learn about the healthcare system for Travis County residents with low income and how 澳门真人赌场官方网站 and its partners come together to address health disparities.
健康 Champions are challenged to think outside of their individual realities to become advocates for healthcare access and equity in their own communities.