Beth Haynes, MD, BRI medical director participated in the Conference for Global Transformation, a 3-day international event held in Monterey, CA. Her poster, Clichés, Memes, and Euphemisms in Healthcare was accepted for exhibit in a main hall and was designed to promote and foster open dialogue and communication about healthcare.
The poster’s purpose:
“Far too often we use words without clarity. Or, we assume our meaning is the same as other’s. At other times, we use words to signal rather than to deepen understanding or participate in shared inquiry. In politics especially, this is frequently the case. And yet, our best chance at inventing solutions which heal rather than divide is through authentic communication. As a first step in up-grading our conversations, please help me identify explore the clichés, memes and euphemisms in our current debate over healthcare, and maybe even create 5th field conversations in the world of Adult as Possibility.” ~Dr. Beth Haynes
POST-EVENT SUMMARY: 750 people attended The Conference for Global Transformation, an international event with the purpose of exploring ways people can work together to improve themselves and the state of the world.
From Dr. Beth Haynes:
My poster invited participants to examine the way in which we use language as we engage in the healthcare debate.
Which words invite and which shut down meaningful discourse? Which words are used without clear or mutually agreed upon definitions? What can we do/say to improve understanding and communication, rather than continuing to talk past one another?
Over the course of two hours, I was able stimulate dialogue on how we can upgrade our healthcare policy conversations—both as individuals and as a nation. Conference attendees’ political leaning is generally quite liberal, so this was a fabulous opportunity to make the case for the importance of including alternative perspectives in deliberations about the future of healthcare in the US and throughout the world.
I was able to connect with several physicians, all of whom are active at their local level, and are either searching for or working to create better solutions.
I also connected with the founder of Civic Series, a non-profit aimed at educating young adults about important issues facing the world. Thus far the series has reached out to and engaged millennials primarily from a liberal perspective, but the founder is genuinely interested in engaging individuals from a broad range of perspectives. In addition to offering to assist her with identifying conservative/libertarian speakers, I will be connecting her with America’s Future Foundation so the two organizations can look at how they can collaborate.
Overall, the poster was well received and generated thoughtful conversations about how to best approach the challenge of improving healthcare policy.”