Vote for Healthy Communities Initiative Active on Campus
Dr. Allison Augustus-Wallace first learned about the nonpartisan, healthcare-based
civic engagement initiative, Vote for Healthy Communities, through her work and leadership of this initiative with the AAMC’s Group on Women
in Medicine and Science. She knew immediately that she wanted to bring the initiative
to the LSUHSC-NO campus.
“Voting plays a role in health and health plays a role in who votes,” Augustus-Wallace said. “Voting represents our ability to be heard and so it is imperative that if we, as an individual, can speak up through our vote, that we do.”
Augustus-Wallace is a member of both the LSUHSC-NO Faculty Senate and the Chairperson
of the School of Medicine’s multicultural affairs committee, making it easy to present
this information, gather buy-in for participation from these key groups, and champion
this collaboration.
In the months leading up to the presidential election, Drs. Augustus-Wallace and Aimme McCauley, immediate past Faculty Senate President, and other members of the collaboration coordinated a campus voters’ education initiative aligned with the AAMC and Vot-ER non-partisan partnership. Volunteers set up and staffed tables outside of the cafeteria every Friday. Additionally, in affiliation with this initiative, students from both the Schools of Nursing and Dentistry held similar events throughout the fall 2024 semester. Individuals who passed by could find their polling location, check or update their voter registration, request a mail-in ballot, or even register to vote using the materials provided by the Vot-ER non-partisan organization.
“These kinds of initiatives require multiple levels of approvals, from the system
level, the Chancellor, and the general counsel. It was gratifying that this idea was
approved and that our campus community was extremely receptive,” she said.
“'Health is always on the ballot, and voting is a social determinant of health,' as identified by the non-profit/nonpartisan organizations of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Public Health Association (APHA). This ongoing initiative was and remains an extremely important and fulfilling collaborative effort,” Augustus-Wallace said.
Additional information can be accessed via the links: https://www.aamchealthjustice.org/resources/voter-fact-sheet and https://www.aamc.org/career-development/affinity-groups/gwims/toolkit.
The next local election is Saturday, December 7.