First Resident Roundtable Examines Healthcare

The first Resident Roundtable on 'Heathcare - Global Perspectives,' held on Thursday, October 1st, was joined by nearly 50 I House residents. The whole event – which included four presentations and an open discussion, as well as ongoing informal conversations afterwards – lasted until midnight.

Initially, the success of the first Resident Roundtable, the monthly discussion forum on current issues for the House community, seemed uncertain. Even though it was not scheduled to begin until 9.15 PM, many evening classes were still going on and residents could only arrive later. Over the first half hour, however, the Home Room was stretched to its maximum capacity as the chair circle was gradually expanded to include more and more residents as they arrived.

To ensure a range of perspectives from around the globe on the issue of healthcare, the initial speakers discussed healthcare provision on four different continents and gave the topic a much broader context than simply the current debate in the United States.

Gary Yu, a US citizen of Vietnamese descent, first discussed the history and problems of the American healthcare system. Peter Manyang, a Sudanese I. House resident spoke next on the current state of healthcare in Kenya, where he recently completed his practicum. Like Gary, he is currently a student at Columbia University’s School of Public Health.

Ken Schaefle then gave his perspective as an American on healthcare in Europe. A current pre-med student at Columbia, Ken lived and worked in different European countries for fourteen years before coming to New York. Rounding up the initial presentations, Pooja Merchant, a resident from India who was a practicing doctor there before completing a Master’s in Public Health at Columbia, shared her experiences of medical work in India.

Despite being limited to just seven minutes each, the four presenters were thus able to give a broad range of perspectives and personal experiences of healthcare provision, and provided a fascinating basis for the subsequent discussion.

Many of the participating residents were inspired to share their own stories, experiences, or perspectives. The free-flowing discussion was characterized by a respectful atmosphere in which everyone present was encouraged to speak up. The four presenters were often asked to elaborate further on their initial presentations or would add their own perspectives on the points made. An extraordinary range of viewpoints on healthcare issues all over the world thus emerged during the discussion. After the formal Roundtable had ended, many of those present stayed on to continue discussing the issue.

The Roundtable achieved its objective of inspiring the exchange of ideas, experiences and perspectives among the diverse I-House community in a friendly and respectful atmosphere. If the group hadn’t had to leave the Home Room at midnight, it is difficult to tell how long the discussion would have lasted.