When is health equitable? Here’s one definition. It’s when everyone, everywhere can be as healthy as possible regardless of where they come from, what they look like, or what language they speak. An important part of getting there begins with a deeper understanding of the challenges — sometimes universal, and sometimes unique — that individuals from historically underserved communities face. And there is perhaps no better way to do this than through hearing stories directly from those affected.
An Evolving Collaboration with StoryCorps Continues Sharing Impactful Stories
Amgen and StoryCorps have collaborated since 2016 to raise awareness through storytelling. This collaboration has provided a platform for patients and their families, advocates and healthcare providers to share compelling and often emotional stories about their experiences.
The Every Patient Counts, Every Story Matters: Health Equity Series is the next chapter in Amgen’s ongoing work with the non-profit organization StoryCorps.
The impact of hearing others’ stories is clear – 91% of people polled after listening to a StoryCorps conversation say it helped them better understand the experiences of people who are different from them.1 The intent of this new initiative is to broaden understanding and awareness of the real-life impact of health disparities and to highlight experiences where patient empowerment, community care, support systems and health education resources have made comprehensive care and better outcomes more accessible.
Providing a Unique Platform to Share Diverse Health Experiences
For this initiative, Amgen and StoryCorps are inviting people who have been impacted by heart disease, asthma, psoriasis and lung cancer to participate in and record a one-on-one conversation with someone close to them about how they’ve supported each other. This could include speaking with a family member, friend, healthcare worker, member of a community support team or an organization they connected with during a time when they felt that certain aspects of their identity (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, gender) or access to resources impacted the quality of healthcare they received.
With participant approval, conversations will be archived at the Library of Congress, becoming part of American history, and select audio stories will be produced and amplified through an Amgen social media series.
Founded in 2003, StoryCorps has given people of all backgrounds and beliefs, in thousands of towns and cities in all 50 states, the chance to record interviews about their lives. For more information on StoryCorps, visit StoryCorps.org.
To hear stories from previous initiatives with StoryCorps, visit Amgen’s Every Patient Counts, Every Story Matters playlist on YouTube and follow Amgen on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn to stay up to date on this initiative.
Amgen is working with or supporting more than 70 organizations through cross-sector collaborations, public-private partnerships and advocacy relations programs. Visit this page to learn more: Amgen Patient Advocacy and Strategic Alliances.
- StoryCorps. StoryCorps Annual Report 2020. Retrieved from https://storycorpsorg-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/StoryCorps_Annual_Report_2020_Final_V4-613a1ba454dad-613a1ba454dae.pdf.
