Convention Update from Parrish Ravelli

#Me

One of the things that I have been thinking about at NASBHC is in how our social networks are shifting to be more technological. How these networks are moving online and away from personal interaction. And while we boast our limitless connection to the world around us, we struggle to connect simple resources where they are needed the most. And hashtags, what's up with hashtags?

This symbol that once was the lonely button on the bottom right hand corner of your touch dial phone has lept into stardom and now is the corner stone of wit, underlining sentences, comments, status updates with a subtle piece of whit that gets at the reality of what you really want to say. #lookatmenow!

I wonder, if we all were required to label ourselves, our groups, our crew with hashtags, what would they say. I might want to simply brand what we represent #schoolbasedhealthcenters or the national group that connects us all #nasbhc. But really, there is so much more that I have seen here in Chicago. I hear people talking about "battle scars" taken from fighting for minor consent laws and smiling at all that the past years have brought in healthcare reform. When I see leaders in the health community finding common ground with the education community and, more than that, understanding that silos cannot exist if we are to succeed. I have felt the energy from youth coming together from all over the country to say #wedeserveaccesstocare.

The truth, I think, is that while our networks are continuing to be facilitated online, they are not defined by this. Our social networks are inclusive of anyone who is willing to challenge systems that create health care disparities. So to that I say:

#strengthinnumbers

Parrish Ravelli