My first entry--I'm a little overwhelmed...

After two classes of PM 565, I feel as though a whole new world of information and knowledge has been opened up and literally dumped on me. I never realized how many organizations for public health existed, how many acronyms are necessary to know in order to follow lectures, or how much more knowledgeable my fellow classmates are then I about the issues that have always been vague and undefined for me. I am extremely excited and honored to be a student among such accomplished and passionate people, and feel like for the first time in my college studies I can actually learn as much from my peers as I can from my professors. I have found myself wading through other's blogs, trying to catch up on the background of issues they are addressing, and am really enjoying the process of emerging myself in this program.
The reason I entered this field is fairly simple. For the latter part of my life, my family and I have lived without health insurance. This has greatly affected my family in more ways then one would imagine, and that is what initially sparked my interest. However, through friends who volunteered and worked abroad, I became increasingly aware of how little my problem was compared to those healthcare disparities people face in other countries. The second reason was that I want to make a difference (don't we all :)), and for some reason I have always been drawn to the field of health. I think it is because it integrates the two things I am good at: science and interacting with people.
Anyhow the lecture this week was great. I think the part that stuck with me most was the comment made by Dr. Shahi, when he said something like "the true test of development is when you can imagine a child from the poorest family you know and a child from the richest family you know, and if they would both be able to pay for their child to sit in the classroom that we are in right now, then that country has passed the test." And like he said, I don't think any country has truly achieved development. One can examine our own nation, the world's leader (for now) of development, and the gap that exists between the rich and the poor is unacceptable. There is absolutely no reason that people should not have access to basic health care needs. I am excited to see what the newly elected delegates in Congress will do in efforts to address these issues. And although I am new to California, I have already heard a lot of hype about certain initiatives the governor wants to implement in this state in terms of health care and it will be interesting to see what happens.