[UDSM Leadership] Reflections and Updates for UDSM

[Srirama Josyula via UDSMLeadership]

Hi team,

I’m hopeful to create space for dialogue and creativity in the face of current federal administrative policy changes. I feel fortunate to work with you all as we continue to operate regardless of the chaos surrounding us. I’m going to hit a few topics in this email, sorry to be a bit scattered.

Kudos
Delbert Oxborrow was recently featured as an award recipient for the Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute Award for his service. I’m sure most of us are already aware of his dedication in the context of organizing dental school support for UDSM dental events. Lots of appreciation for him.

Here is a quote that I have been thinking of recently,
"Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Immigrant Rights
Many of you may be hearing stories from around the country and also locally. I have heard of immigration law enforcement activity in Capitol Hill as well as on Rainier. Unverified stories and hopefully we will see reliable reporting on this in the near future. We are seeing certain immigrant populations are fearful to access hospital/clinics. I want to highlight the opportunity we have to engage with this community during our outreaches. I appreciate Natalie Thiel for advocating for access to interpreters. Here are two resources that may be useful to us -

  1.  Here is a toolkit that is fairly comprehensive regarding creating safe clinical spaces. WelcomingProtectingImmigrants-toolkit-3.pdf<https://doctorsforimmigrants.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/WelcomingProtectingImmigrants-toolkit-3.pdf>
  2.  Immigrant rights cards in various languages. I have placed an order for 1000 in English/Spanish and will plan to place them in the supply closet when they arrive. Red Cards / Tarjetas Rojas | Immigrant Legal Resource Center | ILRC<https://www.ilrc.org/red-cards-tarjetas-rojas?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6Ou5BhCrARIsAPoTxrBHBw7vpYQ-aXFUxvi614qilmH0ZtcVl9lzgC_b1-WKAWklxL9v4roaAumjEALw_wcB>

Also, Seattle Times is trying to get more accurate reporting of what is happening in our community here<https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/ice-sightings-in-seattle-help-us-report-on-trumps-policies-in-the-pnw/>.

Career decision-making in the face of changing federal funding prioritization
I want to recognize that many of you are in a place to make big life decisions regarding your future careers. I’m happy to be a sounding board, though will acknowledge lots of uncertainty at the moment.

Cold weather shelter
I was discussing a recent incident during street outreach from Dr. Lukoff where a relatively sick patient needed help accessing care and shelter. I think there is an opportunity for advocacy with KCRHA to improve transportation support to emergency cold weather shelters. This could be specific to their various tiers of cold weather shelter activation, i.e. perhaps KCRHA could provide support to order taxi/rideshare for people to get to an emergency cold weather shelter. If this is not feasible, I know that we have discussed creating a slush fund for this purpose. Happy to discuss further with anyone who is interested in this.

Incident debrief process
I have created a formal incident debrief for preceptors to access so that I can gather feedback on the types of problems that we are encountering and barriers to us providing the care we are hoping to provide. Of course, I am always open to hearing from you all as well regarding this! The link is here<https://forms.office.com/r/AQGnTRWjvF>.

Supplies
Supply list is finalized for now but I am still open to feedback. It can be found here<https://uwnetid.sharepoint.com/:x:/s/university_district_street_medicine/EQVQNxIUuGVHujlI116XVigB5Eq2WdD7Ae_Ke61KqmWvHg?e=yxBd2V>. I have a draft form to formalize our process for adding new things to the supply list, but I will review it with the co-directors and Ellen before circulating more widely.

That’s all for now. Thank you everyone!

Sri

--
Srirama Josyula, MD (he/him)
Internal Medicine, Harborview Medical Center
Faculty Advisor, University District Street Medicine
(p) 206-314-5588 | (c) 937-260-9510

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