I have shared Regina Holliday’s work before on this blog. She is a healthcare advocate that uses art as medium to tell her own story and the story of others. She created The Walking Gallery where people wear their stories she paints as jackets.
She also paints thoughts that move her when attending healthcare conferences. In a conference this week she painted this entitled “I Drink Your Milkshake”…
just finished the conference painting for @Experian_Health "I drink your milkshake" pic.twitter.com/YO2IJM3XWB
— Regina Holliday (@ReginaHolliday) November 17, 2015
I found this particularly moving. In my role as case manager, I often observe the mental health/healthcare system as a storm families have to weather. Then once you land on an island you are often forced to work with fragmented systems of “silo’s” as they are pictured. Care is often fragmented and it very difficult for different systems to work together. The other “safe haven” in picture is the milk shake of being forced to pay irrationally priced fee’s for care. I frequently see co-pays cripple a families’ ability to receive care.
I shared this brief interpretation with Regina on twitter and she said I got it right. I jokingly asked her what the prize was? I really don’t care what the prize is, I am just glad I came across this painting and hope it resonates with you.
So what to do we do to change things? How can we ensure that care is not a storm people have to weather. The safe haven’s should not be silo’ed and disjointed care. We should be providing the best team care possible. Co-pays for visits and drugs are at times very irrational. Insurance and drug companies need to think about the impact some of these prices have on individuals. We should all work together for whole person health care that also includes social determinants as well. Please share your solutions to help families weather this storm.
Please check out some of Regina’s previous conference paintings by clicking on the below image to see if anything moves you…
