Inspiration & Values

What is Upstreamism?

Imagine walking along a river and noticing people are caught in the current and drowning!

You think to yourself, "What’s causing all this?" and walk farther up to discover there are no guardrails preventing passerby from slipping into the water. Would you stop after pulling people out of the river, or build a barrier to prevent future drowning accidents?

These two choices represent competing approaches to healthcare: downstream and upstream care. Downstream care means pulling patients out of the water, and treating individuals and their symptoms reactively. Upstream healthcare means building barricades to stop people from drifting out in the first place proactively. This analogy reflects the need to address the root causes of illness in a community.

The philosophy of upstream healthcare is founded upon the question, "How can we prevent this problem from happening again?” At SCOPE Patient Health Advocates, we aim to provide resources for a variety of factors such as housing, food insecurity, mental health, and transportation that, if neglected, can lead to downstream disease.

Check out Dr. Rishi Manchada's Ted Talk on "What Makes Us Sick? Look Upstream" to learn more!

Our Values

01 Act with empathy and respect.

We strive to treat everyone with empathy and respect. This goes for everyone we encounter: patients, physicians, and one another. This means keeping an open mind, listening to others without judgment, and working collaboratively to solve problems.

02 Work to empower and educate.

Our work aims to empower families with the information and support needed to live healthy lives. Through our services, we actively listen to our patient’s stories, provide them with resources, and work with their doctors to meet their needs. We also seek to educate ourselves and foster a supportive community on campus.

03 Research and innovate.

We strive to improve ourselves, our services, and our resources. We rely on data to evaluate and expand our resource database, patient intake process, and resource delivery methods. Our team constantly seeks to identify problems and implement unique solutions.

04 Collaborate and communicate.

We believe that working collaboratively yields better results than working alone. Our success and continual growth depends upon the collective passion, energy, and contributions from all our members. We combine our shared skill sets and knowledge to serve our patients and implement long-term, meaningful changes.