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Staff Meeting 4/7/13

April 7, 2013 by Anoushka Sinha   

Announcements from tonight’s meeting:

  • Professor of Economics Erick Gong, who gave an incredible talk last week on global health economics, is looking for a research assistant for a two-week period. Feel free to contact him if this opportunity interests you!
  • Our screening of Sometimes in April is set for tomorrow night at 7:30 pm in Axinn 229.
  • Leaders of our partner org, Gardens for Health International (GHI), are touring the US, giving talks in Boston, NYC, LA, San Francisco, DC, among other locations.
  • This summer, not only will GROW interns Cate Stanton and Ryan Brewster be working with GHI in Rwanda, but Olivia Wold, Austin Nalen, and Emily Nuss will be interning at GHI’s Boston office!
  • Looking towards the next academic year, we’re seeking new Exec Board members for the following positions: 2 Co-Presidents, 1 GHU Coordinator, 1 Design and Social Media Coordinator, 2 Co-Directors of Development (1 financially focused, 1 educationally focused), 1 Director of Community Building, and 2 Campaign Coordinators. Applications are due Monday, April 15, by midnight. Later in the fall, we’ll also be seeking a GROW Coordinator.

In GHU we learned about prisons and the US healthcare system. Focus questions included: Who takes responsibility for prisoner health rights? What significance does their health have on non-incarcerated citizens? The US incarcerates more residents than any other country: we have less than 5% of the world’s population but nearly 25% of the world’s prisoners. One in 31 US adults is either in prison or on probation or parole. Furthermore, prisoners are five times more likely to have mental health illness than general citizens, largely because of the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill.

According to the ACLU, the government has the responsibility to provide adequate medical care to prisoners in their custody. Yet with limited access to the outside world, prisoners are sometimes denied the medical attention they need. Too often conditions of confinement can exacerbate existing mental illness or have negative psychological effects on prisoners without mental illness. Prisoners must receive adequate mental health care to ensure they don’t leave correction systems worse off than when they entered. On the other hand, there are numerous instances of US citizens purposely getting arrested in order to receive better medical treatment. These contradictions complicate the issue of how the government does and should allocate its resources towards medical care both within and without the prison system.

After an insightful discussion, we broke up into campaign groups to plan our upcoming 5K and Babysitting Night events. GlobeMedders, be sure to keep sending out our babysitting flyer to anyone with kids aged 4-12 years!


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