Veronica Squires & Breanna Lathrop: How Neighborhoods Make Us Sick

How Neighborhoods Make Us Sick
(IVP, 2019)

WHO: Veronica Squires, chief administrative officer for Good Samaritan Health Center in Atlanta, and Breanna Lathrop, COO for Good Samaritan Health Center.

THEY SAY: “Good health care alone is not the end but rather a means of highlighting and addressing social determinants of health.”

THE BIG IDEA: Jesus’ ministry brought healing through dismantling systems of oppression and overturning social norms that prevented people from living healthy lives. We can do the same in our communities through addressing social determinants that facilitate healing in under-resourced neighborhoods.

THE PROGRESSION:
Part 1, “How We Get Sick,” is nine chapters long and examines different factors influencing health in the city: poverty, employment and social status, food insecurity and nutrition, education and child development, environmental factors, access to health care and rebuilding.
Part 2, “How We Get Well,” also is nine chapters. They explore a new approach to re-envisioning health care, home and poverty.

“Healthier communities are possible, but only when we understand what is making them sick and only when we are willing to reconceptualize health and our role in it.”

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Veronica Squires and Breanna Lathrop
Veronica Squires and Breanna Lathrop

Veronica Squires is chief administrative officer at The Good Samaritan Health Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where she leads fundraising strategy and development efforts. She is a certified CCDA practitioner and serves on the advisory board for the Georgia Charitable Care Network.

Breanna Lathrop is chief operating officer and a family nurse practitioner for Good Samaritan Health Center in Atlanta, Georgia. 

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