How to Tell the Health Equity Story
By Ned Calonge, MD, MPH, The Colorado Trust
“Making the invisible visible.” That’s what Llewellyn Smith, co-founder and project director at Massachusetts-based media company BlueSpark Collaborative, says he seeks to achieve in the stories he tells through his documentary films. In 2008, Llewellyn co-executive produced Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?; six years later, the film remains one of the most insightful, character-driven looks ever at the social determinants of health.
Llewellyn joined Laura Frank, executive director of I-News and vice president of news at Rocky Mountain PBS, for two hours of engaging presentations and discussion at The Colorado Trust’s Health Equity Learning Series event on Aug. 20. Laura is a veteran storyteller as well, with two decades of journalism experience across print, broadcast and other mediums. One I-News project in particular, the special report Losing Ground, shone an important spotlight on the increasing racial and ethnic disparities here in Colorado.
Though their work is separate, Laura and Llewellyn are clearly kindred spirits when it comes to the art of storytelling. Both know the value of making stories accessible to as many audiences as possible; for example, Laura and her colleagues have created study guides, infographics and other value-added resources for Losing Ground and other I-News projects that have greatly extended the reach, awareness and sustainability of their reporting. Both Laura and Llewellyn always seek out compelling subjects to drive home their messages, never forgetting to honor and appreciate these unique, real-life perspectives and experiences. “They are us,” Llewellyn said of his films’ subjects. “They are experts on their lives. We can imagine—but they know.”
These lessons echo much of what The Trust recently learned in its evaluation of Project Health Colorado, our three-year, statewide work to increase awareness of and action around health care access issues in Colorado. I encourage you to review the Spark Policy Institute-authored issue brief we released last month on how storytelling can be a powerful tool for advocacy. Relatable characters, emotional engagement and audience empowerment were all identified in the evaluation as crucial to a powerful, persuasive story, and Laura and Llewellyn have accomplished all of this in their work. Click here to access their presentation slides from last week, and check our website in September for a complete video clip of the presentations and discussion.
We still have one more exciting speaker scheduled in this year’s Health Equity Learning Series. Our final presentation for 2014 will be on Nov. 13 and feature Dolores Roybal, executive director of the Con Alma Health Foundation in New Mexico. Con Alma is a national leader in addressing health equity issues in a rural context, and its experiences are certainly applicable to The Trust and Colorado. Registration will be available on our website in the near future; for those unable to attend in person, The Trust will once again live-stream the event online. For more information, please sign up for our mailing list.
