Jazmin Graham
Just as the COVID-19 pandemic exposed cracks and disparities in many facets of society — including health care, governments, education and more — long COVID continues to disproportionately disrupt the lives of certain people.
These disparities demand the attention of social work change agents, along with the inability or unwillingness of our government leaders to pass long COVID legislation, the lack of long COVID clinics, and the need for advocacy and education related to workplace accommodations, paid sick and family leave and expanded disability benefits.
Today our guest, Jazmin Graham, LCSW, tells us what she knows. She will describe her own experience with long COVID, educate us about what long COVID is (and isn’t), and discuss the implications for social work practice, social action and interventions.
Jazmin Graham, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Work supervisor. She serves as a patient and family advisory council and inclusion coordinator at Texas Oncology. With 12 years of experience as a social worker, Jazmin has spent most of her tenure working in medical social work. Her passion is working with geriatric clients who struggle with end-of-life issues and life transitions, as well as guiding clients to support systems to ensure they have the resources needed to obtain or maintain good quality of life.
Show Notes
Cite this podcast – Sobota, P. (Host). (2023, Sep 19). Long COVID and the Implications for Social Work (No. 320)[Audio podcast episode]. In inSocialWork. University at Buffalo School of Social Work.
https://www.insocialwork.org/long-covid-and-the-implications-for-social-work/
Why is the Govt not understanding the implications of long Covid and why people don’t imagine the damage to their health if they don’t mask ?
I enjoyed reading your script. This is an area of work that is desperately needed. I am more than pleased to know that you have a passion for the work. My God bless your pursuits.
I am an LCSW and I have had long Covid now for almost four months. As a private practitioner, I am very fortunate to be able to provide Telehealth and modify my client schedule. I am greatly impacted financially(I will have half the income this year as last)and have been unable to drive or walk much, focus, organize, am physically often not knowing how I will manage day to day. It just is unfortunate that Drs, medical staff and patients in hospital waiting areas and exam rooms, besides, stores, etc are not masking. And there is no comprehensive care in the “standard” areas of medicine, as this impacts many systems in the body and specialists handle typically only one system.
As a PA who seriously contemplating a move to social work, this interview really gave me so many more reasons to make that move. I love medicine and have been in it for over 24 years, but even before COVID, time pressures and financial pressures have called the shots, so to speak. This podcast was a breath of reality and reminds us that the medical system is broken (and was so before COVID). Hopefully, we can find our way to systems that prioritize humans over revenue.