Engaging Youth in a New Kind of Advocacy.

Abstract

> We are pleased to publish the top 2 submissions from the second annual Section on Pediatric Trainees advocacy essay competition in the November and December issues of Pediatrics. This year’s competition asked participants to consider how we as pediatricians could best advocate for access to quality care for all children. The winning submission by Dr. Michael Mattiucci took this prompt a step further, exploring how we can empower children and their families to be their own best health care advocates. Drawing on earlier, transformative experiences in a small village in Haiti for inspiration, where youth-led initiatives were critical in helping to combat a cholera outbreak, Mattiucci argues that to have the most far-reaching impact, we must move beyond the traditional model of advocating on behalf of patients and instead adopt a more collaborative approach by advocating together with them. By partnering with our patients and their families to build a network of committed advocates, we can help to bring about meaningful and sustainable change. I felt awful, just sitting there with the unrelenting drumming of rain on the tin roof above me. I had just hiked with a small team through the mountainous Haitian countryside to reach a remote village. We were a group of college students researching the cholera outbreak that occurred after the 2010 earthquake, and we had come to this village because it was especially affected by the disease. Soon after we arrived, it began to storm, stranding us inside a small hut on a muddy mountainside. As the rain continued for hours, I began to feel a deep sense of helplessness. I could almost see the bacteria in the water, spreading, crippling the … Address correspondence to Michael J. Mattiucci, MD, MPH, University of Colorado Pediatric Residency Program, 13123 E. 16th Ave, B158, Aurora, CO 80045. E-mail: michael.mattiucci{at}childrenscolorado.org