As I discussed with the Health IT social media community while at HIMSS this year, my healthcare career spans back to when I was 15 years old. I worked as a peer health educator at North County Health Services in San Marcos, California. This was a great job. I took it as my early mission to educate other teenagers on how to stay safe and healthy. Those early experiences still fuel my Health IT fire today.
One of the yearly events that I took part in that touched my soul was when our local city hall sponsored the AIDS Quilt Names Project. If you are not familiar, the AIDS Quilt project pays homage to those that have lost their fight with AIDS. Family and friends of those that have passed on are able to create a memorial panel, which is added to the quilt. The movement started back in 1987 when a small group thought up a way to document these lives so that they would not be forgotten. Today the quilt has more than 48,000 3×6 foot memorial panels. The quilt covers an area of 1.3 million square feet and weighs in at 54 tons.
I recommend taking the opportunity to view the quilt in person. However, I was really touched when I leared that Microsoft has created an online, fully digitized, version of the AIDS Quilt. I know that Health IT makes a difference on a daily basis, but sometimes it is poignant examples like this that really help me realize how our journey as Health IT nerds comes full circle.
