Authority Health

This summer I am working with Authority Health, a community-based GME Teaching Health Center dedicated to improving the health of residents in the City of Detroit and Wayne County by assuring access to care. Authority Health houses many programs like the Detroit Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, for example. They also have Medical Residency programs that focus on the social determinants of health so physicians can better understand how to care for people in underserved communities (shameless plug if anyone is interested!). Authority Health is a catch-all organization that dabbles in a little bit of everything concerning health within the City of Detroit. 

The bulk of my research this summer includes looking into food security as a social determinant of health and how food security in Detroit has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. I am also assisting in researching the projects of past fellows from the Detroit Albert Schweitzer Fellowship to see how sustainable they have been since the participants left the program. 

My first week in DCERP was a real eye-opener for me to say the least. Last week was very stressful and it was the most tired I have been in a long time lol. After doing absolutely nothing for over a month I was thrown off by having to suddenly work 35 hours even though one could argue I knew it was coming. It was hard to adjust to a new schedule that required so much discipline. Last week was kind of a bumpy start, but this week has been a lot better and I see it getting better in the coming weeks! Now, I have been keeping track of my daily and weekly goals to make sure I meet my hours and waking up earlier so that I’m not working late in the evening. The more I get adjusted to a schedule the more grounded and confident I become. I’m really enjoying the research I’m doing and look forward to networking with others in the organization since so many people there are in fields that I have taken an interest in. I’m glad I was placed with this organization this summer and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for me next. 

As far as other aspects of DCERP, like interacting with other fellows I think it’s going pretty well, it’s still very new in a sense because I haven’t talked to everyone “personally” since our only interactions are virtual. I would like to build more relationships with other fellows and I think that could happen by having a more relaxed social hour where we play virtual games and just get to know each other. We have conversations on GroupMe that I enjoy, but I think that edition could make our community stronger despite the circumstances.