Blog 2 - Changemakers

 Nathaly Garcia

For our second project assignment, our class had now been assigned a project based on historical as well as modern changemaker's throughout all different timestamps, going all the way back. For this group project, we agreed to work on changemaker's from the 2000s. Once we picked our era, we divided up the work. I took responsibility for creating three slides, and my chosen subject was Dr. Leland R. Kaiser.

For this project it was rather a bit challenging for me to do much research on Dr. Leland, since Dr Leland was not well known for his successes or much known in general he was seen as someone sort of a minor change maker, but one nonetheless with a good heart and goal he was pursuing. 

Dr Leland was someone who before he had these goals, was an author and a professor in the developing field for technology. Dr leland was someone who was passionate when it came to his love for therapeutic environments and the nurturing of the human body and spirit. 

In my slides I had heavily focused on writing about Dr Leland's achievements and his goals that he had set to achieve with his healthcare firm, his progress, inspirations, achievements, motivators, and especially the most important; the teamwork it took to create such a wonderful change in today's society. 

I am glad I was able to present this time compared to the last presentation where I was unfortunately not able to attend. I was a bit nervous at first and had written down a script for myself 30 minutes before class in order to present without having to worry about stuttering or constantly only reading off the powerpoint presentation slide 

“. Leland Had passed by a couple that was a part of a music therapeutic program at a hospital which is what motivated him to work to improve healthcare with the help of the same couple

Dr. Leland didn’t view hospitals as only a place to treat physical symptoms but also a way to search for more than just what a client came in for like minor problems within someone such as a disease or any mental issues, 

He enjoyed the therapeutic environments and the idea that the physical space, and emotional atmosphere, can actively contribute to a patient's recovery. Because he felt in order to heal the body you must also heal the soul and mind

he believed you can tell what a hospital truly cared about by looking at where the hospital spends its money, and if they only treated one issue instead of fighting to treat the minor ones that are overlooked he was urging healthcare systems to practice their stated values

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The Healing Healthcare Association (AHHC) was created because he had believed in "whole-person care," 

Which is an approach that goes beyond just treating a patient's immediate medical wounds but also to heal underlying, overlooked issues. 

To spread this Leland spoke at 13 national conferences as a featured speaker as each conference was sponsored by a different hospital so each one could showcase their own unique method of "healing health care" to build healthier communities.

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Though progress initially felt slow in the beginning, and many of his other team members were concerned that they wouldn’t be able to spread their importance.

 Dr. Leland had remained patient throughout this entire process, reassuring and trusted that it would take a few years for the healthcare industry to truly understand and adapt these visions into an approach to patient care.

His foundational work inspired the first people he worked with to create The C.A.R.E Channel, carrying his ideas from concept to reality by a therapeutic television network which was broadcasted in many hospitals and healthcare facilities. 

This Developed specifically for a hospital settings in attempts to transform stressful hospital environments into a more calm, healing space for some people while the physical body was being treated

His goal became a family legacy after he had passed in January 2019, as his children, Leanne and Kevin Kaiser, continue to actively carry his work forward into the future and share the same passion and continue his legacy. While his mentors and the hospitals inspired lived by his quote “we cannot create what we cannot imagine” “

When it was my turn to speak, the nerves definitely took over a bit. After the presentation I was just glad I was able to get it done with even though I did feel like I was talking as quickly as possible to just get it over with. 

Even though a lot of the actual research and slide was more of a solo thing, since everyone had to pick a different changemaker within the 2000s regardless I managed to be done with my part with a deep appreciation for my group members. Working on this presentation together was a good  experience. We were able to easily organize the layout of our slides and decide on the speaking order with absolutely no problems.

Even when a project requires you to work independently on your own sections, having a reliable group makes all the difference. Nobody dragged anyone else down, everyone pulled their own weight, and we communicated as we all were able to receive a good outcome. 

I'm glad I had chosen to do Dr. Leland R. Kaiser, though he did not have much to look into with, he had an interesting short story to write about and read. Especially helped since I also am very much fascinated with healing the soul with therapeutic environments, whether that involves music, art, or anything of the sort. Dr. Leland's story was about not giving up and having hope in your goals you set for yourself. He had believed in helping others and for me that truly means a lot when it comes down to having to be a changemaker because each changemaker should all have one thing in common and that is to help a community in any way.