Posts Tagged ‘Northwestern Hospital’
“Power Over” or “Shared Power”: Which Will It Be?
by Susan Gust Northwestern Hospital began in 1882 in a humble abode with a simple mission ---to serve the community by aiding its women and children. This is truly a well-intended and honorable goal. It is not that different now from the many human service nonprofits in our community which begin with the singular, compelling and well-meaning goal of service to specific populations or need in the community. But, even with the best of intentions and most stellar delivery model, there is a power imbalance in the “service” model. There is a community or specific group of people that need to be served and those who are deemed to be the “servers”, usually because of their relationship to privilege, race and/or class. This seems to have been true as one reflects on the development of the health care industry that is so rooted in the Phillips Community, in particular. The health care-providing institutions changed, evolved and grew bigger, not always any longer [...]
