The AUCD Conference is normally held in Washington DC, but given our current situation as a society, the 2020 conference was a virtual event. While a virtual event may not be as exciting of an experience as an actual live conference, I am almost certain that I would not have been able to attend the conference if it had been in Washington DC. I am so incredibly grateful that I was able to Zoom into the different plenaries and concurrent sessions; each was very beneficial to me as a trainee and I plan on reflecting back on this experience often during my future career as a physical therapist.
While I feel that I learned something new during each concurrent session that I attended, there are two main concepts that really stuck out to me. The first idea was discussed during the opening plenary on Monday December 7th. The speaker presented a picture of a big, healthy tree with many green leaves, some low hanging fruit, and large roots. There were several groups of people in the green grass surrounding this tree, and each group of people were visiting a gravestone. This tree is called the tree of health and represents society and the social determinants of health. The tree’s fruit is a result of what the tree is fed by society, and unfortunately the tree has roots in racism, sexism, classism and many other harmful concepts. This causes the fruit to be poisonous; instead of being nourishing, the fruit harms those who eat it. The way that the speaker presented this tress made it seem as if this was a fairly well-known concept, but it was new to me. Seeing this tree and hearing the explanation behind it made me realize how prevalent health disparities are in our society. If we are to truly make a change in the lives of those we treat who have been harmed by the metaphorical fruit of this tree, then we need to address the root of the problem and enact change from the bottom up.
A second idea that really struck me during the conference was the concept, or should I say myth, that ‘one size fits all.’ The concurrent session I attended on Tuesday December 8th entitled “Cultural Competency to Promote Diversity ‘Equity’ and Inclusion: Examples from the field” opened with a video about red high heeled shoes. The video talked about how this specific pair of shoes are not reasonable for everybody. Some people might need a different size, while some may not like the color red. Other people might get blisters form this shoe, while others might not be able to balance in a heeled shoe. If everybody had these same shoes things would be equal, but not equitable. In order to provide equitable care, things need to be individualized for each patient based on their specific background and needs. Making individualized treatment plans for patients is a huge concept that has been covered over and over again in my current PT and LEND curriculums, but seeing this video really cemented my understanding of why individualization is important. The video about the red shoes really heightened my appreciation of the facts that equality is not the same as equity, and that ‘one size does NOT fit all.’ I will need to always keep this in mind if I am to provide truly equitable care for my future patients.
As I said before, I am so grateful that I was able to attend this conference. It was eye opening and a very meaningful experience to me personally. I hope that one day I am able to attend an AUCD conference in DC, but until that time, I will make the most of what I learned from the 2020 virtual conference by sharing with my peers and incorporating it into my education and future career.
Picture Description: Screenshot from the 2020 AUCD conference opening plenary. The image is of a tree that the speaker called the tree of health. The tree is tall with lots of green leaves, fruit, and large roots growing from the green grass. There are several groups of people visiting tombstones in the grass around the tree.
