Thread by @askdrfitz

I am still trying to understand why #healthcare and #publichealth still use the term ‘hard to reach’. Over the years I have noticed strangers will talk to me-unprovoked- and end up telling me their story or some issue they are navigating. This happened yesterday. 1/

I was sitting on bench soaking up the sun and a man passed by then pivoted back to tell me about the trouble he was having getting an updated ID. This was on his mind acutely because he had just come from the social services office. 2/

He was told he needed a bill to prove his identity but he lives in a building and doesn’t pay utilities. He was headed to a telecom store to figure out how to get a bill for his cell phone- which is pay as you go. In the end he talked to me for at least 15 minutes. 3/

Given my obsession with digital access, I asked about his smartphone. Like most I've encountered, he doesn’t use it for anything health-related. I asked how he gets his news. 4/

He said he doesn’t seek it out because he gets notifications on his phone telling him important news. Do you see the opportunity here? We also talked about what he is doing on the phone. Watching sports, Marvel movies-he is a fanatic- and scrolling on Facebook. 5/

I’ve said it a thousand times- the healthcare system, regulators, policymakers can no longer remain skeptical & afraid to engage with the public, consumers and patients via digital communication. 6/

Talk to your lawyers, risk managers and all the other skeptics and risk averse influencers and get it together—and if you can’t, at least tone down the rhetoric about your commitments to #justice and #healthequity. 7/

#Healthequity is not just about looking at and fixing your data woes, it’s about engaging people, especially at points of intersection with health and social services. 8/

Those you deem hard to reach are out here engaging, surviving and seeking support in plain sight—and talking to strangers about it. I never told him I was a doctor. 9/

Finally, I asked him why he stopped to talk to me. I was just sitting there. He said, “Because you looked at me and nodded.” So- who are you looking at? /End
#healthwithhumanity #digitalhealth #healthcommunication #healthmedia @Google @YouTube @Apple @amazon @cms @aaronmartinfc

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