Meet Grayson & Tay
Recently, Grayson asked Tay to join her on this campaign for CHIP, to which Tay humbly replied that he “barely feels qualified, but feels lucky enough to be asked”. Tay and Grayson worked together at Black Dog Salvage here in Roanoke for a number of years and became “locally famous” when Black Dog was featured for 8 years on the international television show, “Salvage Dawgs”. Grayson and Tay have since left Black Dog: Tay to start his business, Lift Arc Studios, a custom fabrication shop in an old machine shop located in downtown Roanoke, and Grayson to raise a family and double down on volunteer work, including being on the CHIP Board of Directors and chair several of their committees.
What strengths did you observe in the family? What did you learn from the family? What were your takeaways?
We had the good fortune to shadow a Family Case Manager (FCM) and Community Health Nurse (CHN) on a home visit with a CHIP mother. The mom has two children enrolled in CHIP and also watches after her nephew. Clearly a loving mother, she had very recently experienced a medical error at her child’s pediatrician and expressed her concerns to the FCM and CHN. Both the manager and nurse validated her feelings and guided her to the best resources for next steps including how to hold the doctors accountable. It was obvious that mom was self-motivated to ensure her daughter would be safe, she just needed helpful information. We were also moved by mom’s desire to find educational resources for her 1 yr old to learn both languages of her heritage. The FCM promised to follow up with recommendations. The tone of the visit was very familial: there was a real bond and trust between the CHIP family and their CHIP care providers. It was an honor to witness such intimacy first hand.
This experience taught us, or rather reinforced our belief, that our medical system is simply not set up for those less privileged to succeed. It is complicated, expensive and like everything involving humans, it is fraught with errors. We were also reminded of our own privileges and our duty to put that privilege to use for the greater good of others in our community. Better said by the civil rights activist, Cesar Chavez, “we cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about the progress and prosperity for our community… Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”
With this renewed inspiration, we hope to pull our collective power for the benefit of our community members being served by CHIP. We thank you for your efforts to help us reach our goal!