Name: Paige Destin

Social Justice Group: Health: Maternal Death Rate in NYC (C)

Date of Fieldwork: January 8, 2025

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s): Jenna DiMarino, LREI School Nurse

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork:

January 8th, 2025, Agatha and I had a discussion with our school nurse Jenna DiMarino about her experience with racial bias in the health care system. At the beginning of our talk, Jenna mentioned she had worked in the ICU, a place where kids who are very sick go to receive care. I was very suprised to learn that before she was a school nurse, she worked in a hospital and cared for babies right after they were born. When we asked her about her experience with stereotypes among minority women, she said it is common for their pain to not be believed. She stated that this is still a big struggle many people are facing in the healthcare community and that some of her patients have told her this is the first time they felt as if their pain had been believed and properly managed. Towards the end of our conversation, when we had asked her about what she thinks people can do to eliminate racism in the healthcare community, she stated ” I think that it’s just really everyone’s opening up their minds and learning that their experiences are not everyone else’s experience and really listening and learning to everyone and I think that everyone telling their stories is really helpful in the healthcare community. And especially with social media, everyone is able to share their stories very readily.” This talk with Jenna was very impactful to me because it showed me that people feel very emotional when they are respected and listened to. This interview was a great start to learning more about this topic.