Pan Dulces and Plain Language
I can remember seeing her come into the dimly lit room in a wheelchair surrounded by used furniture. We were there to see her after the surgery. Both her knees were wrapped in tan gauze and thick bandages below those layers. She wore a baggy well-worn Mexican Huipiles dress which stopped above the knees. I was told that she had diabetes and that eating too much sugar caused her to need to have both her legs amputated. As a child it was terrifying to think that a few too many pan dulces might lead to such an event.
As I grow older, I think about that situation more and the complexity of the situation. Medical interpreters were optional at that time. Did she even understand what diabetes was doing to her body? Without medical insurance, she wasn’t a US resident or citizen, did she choose between a vial of insulin or the next meal? She lived in a house where going to the bathroom alone was a luxury. The bathroom was an outdoor hole in the ground surrounded by four slat walls, space where you could see out and bugs could come in. Affording a Dextrometer was out of the question even though it became home available in 1980’s. At $250 (~$900 in 2023) this portable device would have been more money than the family might have seen in a month.
This week I attended a webinar where Stacy Robinson, from CommunicateHealth, talked about the movement from health disparity focus to health equality. I think the distinction is so important. Health equality is focusing on the systemic changes AND the health disparities. When I think back to Ms. Espinoza, I think about all the systemic failures that happened. Although she died a long time ago, we can take her story and now help others with systemic changes.
Writers can change systemic systems by using equity-focused plain language. It seems so small and insignificant a lot of times. Yet I think this quote might help us understand the importance.
Narratives preserve human histories and identities. When patients’ share stories, they offer insight into their personal experiences as patients within an imperfect public health system.
*Image above is not of the woman being discussed in the blog.
