Advocating for a healthier future

Project spurs law student to focus on rehab and recovery access vs. incarceration

Working with the public defender’s office gives me an outlet to help people suffering from addiction legally as well as through the lens of public health.

–AUSTIN STEWART

Tulsa’s music, art, sport and culinary scene combined with its commitment to community service makes the city one of the best places to build dreams. However, many issues, from health to law to education, impact Tulsa residents. The Tulsa Albert Schweitzer Fellowship — a 12-month health leadership program — addresses some of these issues by focusing on Oklahoma’s health disparities.

Each year, 10-15 applicants are selected through a competitive process from a wide range of graduate and professional degree programs at Tulsa-area universities including The University of Tulsa, University of Oklahoma-Tulsa, Oklahoma State University-Tulsa, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences and Langston University. The fellowship is housed at The University of Tulsa’s Oxley College of Health Sciences and is one of 13 sites across the country.

Austin Stewart, a law student in his final semester, is one of two fellows from The University of Tulsa serving their community for the Tulsa Albert Schweitzer Fellowship’s 2022-23 term. An advocate for recovery resources, Stewart’s project is designed to connect individuals charged with low-level drug offenses with the recovery resources that are available in the Tulsa area.

Defending the public

The Schweitzer Fellowship has given Stewart the opportunity to serve and develop his leadership abilities in unimaginable ways, he says.

“The fellowship has helped me combine the skills I was learning in law school with my passions for criminal justice reform and public health,” Stewart said.

Prior to the fellowship, Stewart interned at the public defender’s offices in Topeka, Kansas, and in Tulsa during his first two years of law school.

“Something felt different after I completed these internships,” Stewart said, “Having loved ones who have suffered deeply from addiction and seeing their struggles was my catalyst. I wanted to work alongside people who were on the front lines of this work.”

The Tulsa County Public Defender’s Office, Stewart’s current project site, provides legal counsel to any person in the county who is charged with a crime, regardless of that person’s ability to pay. Public defenders are court-appointed defense attorneys for impoverished clients; the Public Defender’s Office defends 80% of all people charged with a crime in Tulsa and the surrounding area. This means that team is a firsthand witness to the devastation caused by the war on drugs.

Recover and rebuild

In the world of public defense, Stewart claims there is a growing movement to approach a client’s case holistically. This kind of defense work advocates for a client’s legal case as well as their other needs such as health care, housing and employment.

“Working with the public defender’s office gives me an outlet to help people suffering from addiction legally as well as through the lens of public health,” Stewart stated.

Through his involvement with the Tulsa County Public Defender’s Office, Stewart attends proceedings at the courthouse, jail and various prisons. These meetings allow Stewart to find and interview men and women either charged with or serving time for drug crimes, which allows Stewart to develop a personalized recovery plan that’s often contained in the participant’s broader re-entry program. For participants serving prison time, these plans are included as part of a presentation before the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole board.

Stewart’s goal is to ensure that participants of his project are set up for success upon their release from custody or supervision and to acknowledge and fulfill their needs for rehabilitation and recovery.

Fewer incriminations, more options

When it comes to implementing policies that effectively address addiction-riddled populations without relying on criminal penalties to assuage the problem, Stewart has a few methods to offer: “Allocating time and community funds away from the prosecution of drug crimes and toward treatment programs is a more cost-effective way of addressing the issue of addiction.”

Stewart also maintained that treatment is more effective than law enforcement and that tasking police officers with arresting addicts does little to improve the public safety interests of the community.

“We already ask our police officers to do everything from dog catching to solving murder,” he said, “Additionally, invasive policing practices are expensive and have led to increased rates of children growing up with a parent in prison while doing little to decrease rates of substance abuse.”

Most of all, the kind of work that Stewart is involved with requires understanding and

kindness.

“People who are suffering from addiction have a disease,” he said, “and this disease strips so much away from their lives until there is little left of the person they once were before their addiction. These people need a bed in a hospital, not in a prison cell.”

Stewart is set to take the bar exam in July, after which he hopes to work as a public defender.

“My Albert Schweitzer project has given me vital experience with representing clients charged with drug crimes both in a legal and rehabilitative manner” Stewart said, “as well as the opportunity to learn how to advocate holistically for my future clients’ needs.”

Albert Schweitzer

Fellowship Tulsa, 2022-23 Fellows

Catherine Browne

The University of Tulsa Oxley College of Health Sciences

Project Site: Tulsa Dream Center

Camilo Simancas

The University of Tulsa Collins College of Business

Project Site: Will Rogers College High School, Tulsa Public Schools

Austin Stewart

The University of Tulsa College Of Law

Project Site: Tulsa County Public Defender’s Office

Mohamad Akel (BS ’20)

OU-TU School of Community Medicine

Project Site: Islamic Society of Tulsa

Lana Mnajjed (BS ’21)

OU-TU School of Community Medicine

Project Site: Islamic Society of Tulsa

Alec Camacho

OU-TU School of Community Medicine

Project Site: Sequoia Elementary, Tulsa Public Schools

Andrew Wilburn

OU-TU School of Community Medicine

Project Site: Sequoia Elementary, Tulsa Public Schools

Natalie Frech

University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

Project Site: Lindsey House

Deseree Jones

Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences

Project Site: Phoenix Rising Alternative School

Paul Delgado

Oklahoma State University College of Medicine

Project Site: Uma Center of Tulsa

Sadie Schiffmacher

Oklahoma State University College of Medicine

Project Site: Cherokee Elementary School in Tahlequah

Shaelyn Ward

Oklahoma State University College of Medicine

Project Site: Cherokee Elementary School in Tahlequah

Empowering vulnerable populations

DNP student seeks to improve wellness through education

Catherine Browne is a doctoral candidate in the nurse anesthesia program at The University of Tulsa. She expects to graduate in May 2024 – but not before completing her project that addresses chronic disease and hypertension management and prevention with clients at the Tulsa Dream Center’s Good Samaritan Clinic with the Tulsa Albert Schweitzer Fellowship.

Located in North Tulsa, the Tulsa Dream Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in an area afflicted by poverty, a lack of resources and income disparity. The center focuses on addressing critical needs that include economic empowerment, educational advancement, health and wellness, and character and leadership.

Having been on the receiving end, Browne knows that her work makes people feel seen.

“Many times, those with a lack of resources, a language barrier and no support are overlooked,” Browne said. “Giving back to my community allows me to show those less fortunate that they also matter.”

Medication education

Browne’s fellowship focuses on providing educational resources to those living with chronic hypertension. Many of her patients are on one to three types of blood pressure medications.

“The goal is to provide information on implementing a healthy diet and exercise and to educate participants on how to manage the stressors of living with hypertension, accurately obtain blood pressure at home and bring all these aspects together to have some quality of life.”

The reasons why these health issues are prevalent in North Tulsa can be traced all the way back to the Tulsa Race Massacre, a destructive event that resulted in lasting racial alienation and a lack of basic resources in the area.

“Data has shown that North Tulsa residents experience more deaths from heart and lung diseases, diabetes, cancer and lower life expectancy,” Browne said, “and they experience these health issues three times more than the national average. It is very alarming.”

Browne’s contributions often have a lasting impact on her patients as adequate education may not be provided when patients begin new medications.

“Sometimes they’re under the impression that their medication will automatically fix their problem. I remedy this by helping patients understand how taking their prescribed medication is congruent with exercising and eating healthy foods.”

Other at-risk communities could easily benefit from Browne’s approach.

“Educational resources will always be beneficial to the public because it reiterates the promotion of a healthy lifestyle,” she said.

Entrepreneurial nursing

Once Browne completes her schooling, she hopes to begin her career as a nurse anesthetist at a Level 1 trauma medical center.

“The environment will allow me to obtain exceptional hands-on experience to make me a great CRNA that can provide quality care to the sickest of the sick,” said Browne, who would eventually like to become a nurse anesthetist entrepreneur to provide pain management resources to those living with chronic pain.

Browne added that the work she is doing at the Tulsa Dream Center and with the Schweitzer Fellowship has built her confidence in speaking with diverse patient populations and providing individualized care. Browne has surpassed her comfort level in leadership and social skills and is successfully providing safe and cost-efficient care and resources for those who might have never learned otherwise.