Episode 11: Advocacy and leading a purpose-driven life with Dr. Joseph Sakran ﹫Thisisourlane
Dr. Joseph Sakran had a choice. He could be a victim of gun violence, or he could turn an unfortunate event and turn it into something that impacts other people. He chose to become a trauma surgeon, a leader in academics and gun control advocate.
Dr. Sakran created the Twitter handle @ThisIsOurLane. This movement was successful because of all the people who said, "Enough is enough. Let me tell you what we are facing." This united all health care workers, domestic and abroad. We had data and science, but this movement spoke to the hearts and minds of the public. Emotion is needed to move from value to action. This allowed us to communicate and resonate with the public. Now is the time to have a multidisciplinary group that takes a multifaceted group.
Three broad points stood out to him after his year in the Senate studying health policy:
1- Health care workers need to be involved in the policy making process to create better legislation
2- Ideas are not enough- strategy and action need to follow
3- Bipartisanship in necessary
The action does not have to be at the federal level- most governing happens at the local and state level. Most people don't think they can make a difference, but local outreach can be the most effective strategy.
We often think that failure as a surgeon after gun violence is a medical failure. But Dr. Sakran points out that the gun violence itself is the first failure- a societal failure. And this can be the hardest to deal with because intervening is harder, it's not up to us, and requires skills that you may or may not have.
He has great advice about constraint. We have to take care of ourselves, or we will not be able to impact the mission. We have to be deliberate with our time, too, because those closest to us need us and the movement will move on without us because the work never ends.
