Patient Story – Denise Octavia Smith
September 29, 2020
Susan Edgman-Levitan and Denise Octavia, survivor of a rare kidney disease and the founding Executive Director of the National Association of Community Health Workers, Smith discuss health equity and trust through the lens of a patient during the pandemic.
Ms. Smith said the clinicians who cared for her in Connecticut did not know about a course of treatment that she said was common in neighboring New York, and described winding up in the emergency room 7–9 times a year for seven years. She faulted her clinicians for neither asking about the impact of her illness on her family nor helping her understand her condition
Creating a Trustworthy Community
