Alexa Chronister is the Founder and President of Fight Like A Warrior, a non-profit organization working to unite, empower, and advocate for those battling chronic health conditions around the world.
Alexa is a chronic illness patient living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome an inherited disorder of connective tissue with several clinical forms characterized especially by extremely flexible joints, elastic skin, and excessive bruising. She recently completed a senior thesis focused on disease advocacy and graduated with a degree in public policy. She plans to attend law school and pursue a career in health policy.
As a chronic illness Patient Navigating her wellbeing through COVID-19 her call to action is to help protect vulnerable patient populations #ProtectTheVulnerable
Learn from Alexa:
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How she advocates for her community 2:11
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Systemic failures in healthcare negatively impacting patient experience 3:33
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How to facilitate patient voices 4:57
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Including young voices in healthcare 5:47
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Improving healthcare post-COVID19 6:55
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Bias in medicine 8:23
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“Self-isolation during the coronavirus pandemic is really important not only to protect individuals and communities but especially those from vulnerable populations. If only those from vulnerable populations self isolate it’s not going to stop the spread of COVID19”
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“Treat Patients as individuals. Give patients the tools they need to be informed and engaged in their care. That comes from having a patient and physician that wants to do that. Also, we cannot accomplish patient-clinician relationship without addressing existing bias in medicine. ”
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“To fight like a warrior is to live every day with purpose and passion and to not let illness completely take over your life. Illness is incredibly challenging. Everyone has a complete spectrum of ways that illness can impact their life but continuing to see the good in every day, celebrating the successes whether they are incredibly small or big is incredibly important. ”