Azumi V's Senior Project Blog
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Project Title: Health Inequity in Arizona: Researching Health Disparities for Immigrant Women BASIS Advisor: Autumn Ficker Internship Location: Tucson Spotlight Onsite Mentor: Caitlin Schmidt |
Project Abstract
Health inequity is a huge issue in the United States, with minority groups not having nearly the same access to health as they should. This is a major issue in the medical field, with systemic barriers, negligent doctors, and skewed research making healthcare inaccessible or inaccurate for minority groups. During the political climate of the past couple of years, the rights of Latino people and women have been threatened. Coupled with an internship with Tucson Spotlight, a local journalism nonprofit newsroom, I will investigate this topic and bring light to this incredibly prevalent issue by publishing stories, amplify Hispanic voices by interviewing community members and professionals, and propose solutions to solve health disparities.
Conclusions!
These past 11 weeks have been incredibly unique, challenging, and rewarding. When I first started, I was completely unaware of what a complicated path I would be taking. I had almost zero experience in journalism, just a love for writing and research, and a topic I felt strongly about. Getting my footing was honestly... Read More
Week #11- Final Week!
Happy last week of internship! First things first, my story was officially published today! You can read it here: https://www.tucsonspotlight.org/immigrant-women-face-deepening-healthcare-crisis/. There are lots of really cool stories by talented people on there that you should totally check out, too! This week, I’ve been focused on finishing writing my second story about medical deportation.... Read More
Week #10- Getting ready to wrap things up
Hi, hope everyone had a great week! I didn’t have any major advancements this week, and have been mostly focusing on wrapping things up. I worked mostly on updating my syllabus, project proposal, and my PowerPoint presentation. I didn’t realize how many of my goals had changed since I first began writing my proposal and... Read More
Week #9-Draft Done
Hey everyone, and happy Friday! The first couple of days of this week, I was reaching out to more people, hoping to get more usable quotes for my story. As mentioned last week, I reached out to some nurses from El Rio, and although I got some vague answers, nobody set up concrete times to... Read More
Week 8-Drafting
This week I've been working on drafting and finishing up my first story. First, I read through previous stories written by members of Tucson Spotlight to get an idea of the style. Through this I feel like I’ve learned a lot about the going ons, stores, and events in Tucson. For example, a new place... Read More
Week #7: Talking to a Professional
Hello and happy friday! This week, I ended up talking to a professor who specializes in medical and social anthropology and food studies. Although that may not sound super related to my research, her focus on migration, health disparities, and feminist methodology made her a perfect person to talk to. We set up a phone... Read More
Week #6- Emails!
Hello everyone, This week’s work has been almost entirely on the Gmail app. I’ve gotten responses from a student researcher who did a project last year in Mexico working to make hospitals and healthcare more accessible, and a couple professors! One of the professors is the director of the Southern Institute for Research on Women,... Read More
Week #5-Finding a New Batch of Sources
Hello everyone! Truthfully, I started off this week feeling very unmotivated. Everyone I had reached out to before still hadn’t responded and I felt as though I was at a dead end. I know delays because of spring break and professors' busy schedules didn’t help, but it's still difficult for me to continue my research... Read More
Week #4-Waiting for responses
Hello, hope everyone had a good week! I was hoping to maybe talk to some people this week, but unfortunately I’ve yet to get any responses from the university professors I emailed. Since I know they're definitely busy, I’ll be sure to send follow up emails in the coming days, and maybe reach out to... Read More
Week #3- Looking for sources and reaching out to professionals
Hey everyone! I’ve been mostly focused on looking into academic studies and groups from Arizona State University and University of Arizona who have covered this topic and made an impact on the community. Groups like The Southwest Institute for Research on Women with the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arizona,... Read More
Week #2- Further Research
This week has been mostly the same as the last one: doing my own independent academic research alongside looking into local community groups. I’ve been doing a lot of reading on immigration statistics, access to healthcare and how different acts, such as the affordable care acts, have affected immigrant populations, cultural competencies, disproportionate share hospital... Read More
Week #1- Researching the History of Health Disparities
Before I start actually writing stories, I have to do a lot of research! This week, I’ve been mostly focused on researching the history and current studies done on health inequities for women and people of color. This has consisted of mostly reading through and taking notes on my sources in my annotated bibliography. I’ve... Read More
Introduction
Hello! My name is Azumi Valencia and I am a senior at BASIS Tucson North. For my senior project, I have decided to research health disparities that immigrant women face in Southern Arizona. Living in Tucson, it’s impossible to ignore the glaring issues that this city has with its treatment of immigrants. Especially in the... Read More