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Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast. In this podcast, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders from our nation and from your backyard who are working to improve health.
In episode 61, we interview Emily Polak, senior vice president of partnerships and organizing at Vot-ER. Vot-ER is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to integrate civic engagement into healthcare. They develop tools and programs for every corner of the healthcare system — from private practitioners to medical schools to hospitals.
At Vot-ER, Emily works to help ensure health centers, associations, hospitals, health systems and academic partners have the resources and support they need to weave nonpartisan civic engagement materials into healthcare spaces. Prior to her time at Vot-ER, Emily spent over a decade at Community Catalyst advancing health advocacy work at the local, state and national levels. She holds a master of public policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Wesleyan University.
In this episode, she shares how throughout her career, she’s always held a strong belief that people need access to high-quality, affordable, accessible and equitable healthcare.
“One of the most important ways to do that is by exercising different civic engagement and democratic opportunities, such as voting,” Emily said.
She said she was drawn to her current role after hearing the founder speak about its mission.
“This idea that voting is a social determinant of health — that voting is a political determinant of health — really spoke to me as an opportunity to make sure that everybody — folks who always vote, folks who have never even been registered to vote but are eligible — that they all can have a voice at every direct election, whether it’s local, state or federal,” she said.
In this episode, she also discusses:
- How voting is a social determinant of health
- Vot-ER’s mission and its origin story
- Their Healthy Democracy campaign
- Vot-ER’s civic health fellowship
- Partnering with a variety of healthcare providers
- The importance of voting in all elections
- Ways to engage right now
- What gives her hope
And much more! Listen now, and learn more about how Emily is an innovative leader in healthcare.
Additional resources
Check your voter registration, find your polling location and more at https://vot-er.org/act/.
Also, access the Election Protection hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE.
Please see the Pioneers in Health page on our website for more information on our podcast series and links to other episodes.
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