Dr. Kenji Irie and What Makes Him an Upstander?
My upstander, Dr. Kenji Irie is a retired physician who came from Japan. During and after World War II, many immigrants from Japan were discriminated against and not able to get a well-paid job no matter how hard they worked. In America, everyone has different health insurance. Based on how affluent or poor you are, your health insurance would be different. The more affluent you are, the better the health care you will get, and vice versa. Because these Japanese were not able to make a sufficient amount of money, they weren’t able to get acceptable healthcare. Dr. Irie tried his best always to care for and give all his patients proper medical care even if some were less fortunate than others. He believes that this method of health care does not work and therefore must be changed. Another thing was that sometimes, many of these Japanese patients were not even allowed to be admitted to American hospitals. In downtown LA, there were hospitals and nursing homes built to segregate Japanese patients from others. Dr. Irie also provided medical care for these patients so they could all be healthy and safe.
My upstander, Dr. Kenji Irie is a retired physician who came from Japan. During and after World War II, many immigrants from Japan were discriminated against and not able to get a well-paid job no matter how hard they worked. In America, everyone has different health insurance. Based on how affluent or poor you are, your health insurance would be different. The more affluent you are, the better the health care you will get, and vice versa. Because these Japanese were not able to make a sufficient amount of money, they weren’t able to get acceptable healthcare. Dr. Irie tried his best always to care for and give all his patients proper medical care even if some were less fortunate than others. He believes that this method of health care does not work and therefore must be changed. Another thing was that sometimes, many of these Japanese patients were not even allowed to be admitted to American hospitals. In downtown LA, there were hospitals and nursing homes built to segregate Japanese patients from others. Dr. Irie also provided medical care for these patients so they could all be healthy and safe.
What makes an upstander?
I believe that being an upstander means to try and help solve a problem in your community. To be an upstander you must take action to stand up for others and strive to fix the issues in our world. You don't have to make a grand change to be an upstander. Every movements and actions can lead to big changes. "We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference."
-Nelson Mandela
-Nelson Mandela
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