Table of Contents
Activity Description
Healthcare and political are two things that should never be separated from one another. Mainly, this is because when leading people, leaders require a health community that will be able to work for the development of their area. In this case, I will attend Dominican Heritage on 26 February 2018, venue Council Chamber, City Hall New York, NY 10007. The main participants will be Corey Johnson, the chairman of New York City Council speaker and other members of the council who are Ydanis Rodriguez, Antonio Reynoso, Rafael Espinal and Fernando Cabrera.
The Dominican Heritage started from January 21, 2018 to 26 February 2018 when the significant event will be held. During this period, Dominican community is supposed to carry out activities, which signify their heritage and cultural background in religious and patriotism. In particular, this event will be an appreciation of ancestors, friends, and neighbors who have contributed to the development and growth of their state.
The main aim of attending this event is to meet with Ydanis Rodriguez who is a member of Council representing 10th Council District, including Inwood, Marble Hill, and Washington Heights. He is well known as the voice of the community in advocacy of their security, health care, education, suitable housing and advancement of technology (Ricourt, 2015). The people he represents understand the goals and objectives Ydanis has towards their area. According to the action plan of the previous years, Ydanis has focused on the well-being of the community advancement in technology, business and raising their living standard by providing better work policies and rules.
Further, Ydanis is well known for passing many bills concerning people welfare. He is known for appreciating all people regardless of their race or color. In this case, he started schools for immigrants to improve their future lives (Ricourt, 2015). Mainly, he understands that education is the key to success to all young people. According to research, Ydanis has done a lot in all sectors but little in the healthcare sector. As a result, the focus will interview Ydanis after the Dominican Heritage event, to understand how he is planning on the healthcare of his people.
The primary objective is to understand policies and rules Ydanis has put in place to cater for the health care of the people (Ricourt, 2015). In addition, what Ydanis is planning to improve in the healthcare sector? Notably, the topic will focus on improvement of healthcare sector by providing high-quality services, develop knowledge and skills of healthcare staffs, and improve the technology of machines and tools used in hospitals. The main activities will investigate the development of healthcare sector in District 10. Study the progress Ydanis has made since he became the leader of this area.
Interview Summary
The interview will be held immediately after the Dominican Heritage event is over. Arrangements were made, and Ydanis is aware of the planned discussion. In this section, questions will be provided and the response was given. The items are as follows;
How long have you been serving 10 District of the New York Council?
Ydanis has been serving as city council as from 2009 when he won with 60%, making other seven contestants to lose. Notably, this was after he has loss in 2001 and 2003 elections.
What motivated you to vie for city council site?
Ydanis explain it is from his interest to make sure people are living a desirable life. It started when he was in college, he was a student leader, and he advocated for lack of increment of school fees for students. Further, after accomplishing his course on political science, he enrolled for masters’ degree in Bilingual Education. He was a teacher for more than 14 years, where he was among the founded of the faculty member at Gregorio Luperon High School (Ricourt, 2015). As a result, he was able to recognize many problems in his schools as well as other schools in New York City, among them, includes overcrowding in schools and lack of enough resources. Along with the help of community and another teacher, they were able to construct another school, where congestion was reduced. All over his life, he has been focusing on bringing change in the community.
As member of New York Council, you have done a lot of development and improvement in many sectors, which has continued to raise the living standard of people. You have passed many bills, where you have provided money for the projects. For example, you invested over $500,000, which was used to expand bike network, expected to connect community in Northern Manhattan. In addition, the construction of ferry dock for $ 5 million at Dyckman Pier among others projects you funded.
Where do you get a budget?
City obtains its funds from imposed taxes on citizens, from state and federal government; this money is supposed to return to the people by providing them with public goods. Mainly, these funds are distributed to services and construction operation in the city. The money is then disturbed to different budgets such as expense budget, which is responsible for the running of the town. In this case, it pays for city workers, who ensure our environment is kept clean all the time. Another one is capital budget, which is allocated for long-term investment such as construction of infrastructure and other city projects. Mostly, Ydanis has used this money in improvement of packing and development of public schools.
How would you describe your management style?
Ydanis explained his management as involving and use of transformational strategy. In this case, he meant his development projects comes from the people he leads. He listens and arranges how a particular problem can be solved. Consequently, New Yorkers feels like part of development and growth of their area (Ricourt, 2015). Besides, he said he observes the problems people are experiencing in silent and try to come up with better solutions. Ydanis noted he always takes trips around New York where he can point out areas that need improvements, rectification or construction.
In 2017, when ranking the New York City Council member, most of those who were rated on the lower position were associated with absence of medical meeting. Mainly, this shows most of them are not concern about the health status of their people. According to many reports, healthcare has ever since been given priority to ensure wellbeing of New Yorkers. Are there any issues in the healthcare now? What are you doing about it?
The main problem affecting health care now is the areas where health care workers live. On 1 February 2018, it was reported that 65% of healthcare workers lives very far from subways and boroughs. Mostly, they are forced to use New York City buses, which are inadequate. The time they commute from their homes to working places is about fifty minutes (Ricourt, 2015). In this case, workers have been getting lately, which in return has to lead to delays to take care of patients. Besides, healthcare workers have been suspended, and other has been involved in other disciplinary cases associated with lateness. To address this issue, Ydanis have agreed with people that agency needs to invest in outer borough to reduce congestions. Further, as chairman of the transportation committee, he has pressed for more financial support policies to assist outer borough commuters. Lastly, he requested the city and state to work as a team. He said he hopes these remedies will not take long, as both patients and workers are suffering from issues they cannot solve without the help of city council.
We can do it today.
A part of the issue you have mentioned, it is there another major healthcare issue affecting the community?
Ydanis agreed there is a significant healthcare issue affecting the community. Public hospitals are facing a financial blow, where most poor patients receive medication (Ricourt, 2015). At the moment, the City Council has incurred an additional cost to maintain medicine and salaries for the worker. The sad part of the story is the situation is expected to be worse in the coming years. However, the implementation of Affordable Care Act replacing Disproportionate Share Hospital which had been $1.6 billion in 2019 and expected to rise to $1.8 billion in 2020.
Who keeps you informed about the community health care?
Ydanis explained that he gets community healthcare from patients’ feedback in hospitals. Besides, Ydanis works together with public and private hospitals, which address their concern about community wellbeing.
How do you advocate for the community/organization?
Ydanis said he has advocated for community by ensuring their rights are protected especially for children, women, and immigrants. Moreover, he has contributed to passing thirty-seven bills concerning affordable housing, education, environment, and transportation.
Student Analysis of Project
The project will enable students to understand how political is connected to community development such as healthcare. Notably, every politician should be concern about the wellbeing of people he/she is leading by providing financial support. Moreover, healthcare needs political leaders to drive bills, which address medical issues (Ricourt, 2015). Students have learned that political leaders are community leaders; they should understand the needs of the people in every sector. Further, the study has enabled students to gain actions, which they should take during every issue in the community. For example, Ydanis started advocating for community issues when he was a student, a teacher and later a member of council. Hence, leadership is a learning process but not a one-day decision.
Mostly, this knowledge will influence my caring professional nursing practice because I understand the part patients and political needs to be involved to ensure nurses are provided with everything they need to care for patients. Besides, I know nurses should be located near their working areas to reduce lateness, which can cause delay to take care of the patients on time. In conclusion, this project has created an overview of the connections between community development and political leaders. Lastly, the great concern of political leaders especially city council on healthcare of the people they are leading.
- Ricourt, M. (2015). Dominicans in New York City: power from the margins. Routledge.