This week’s AmeriCorps profile will start off a little differently, because the organization that Kat Lieder works for, the Gesundheit! Institute, was unfamiliar to me. I’ll let her introduce you: “The Gesundheit Institute was founded by Patch Adams, who is still the executive director.
“It has a mission of providing a model of a way that health care can be delivered, with fun, and [for] free, and sort of a holistic approach: intimacy between a doctor and patient in a positive way, so that the doctor is not the expert, and the patient being the non-expert. It’s more like, ‘Let’s sit down and talk together for four hours, and as I get to know you, I’ll be able to talk more with you about your problems.'”
Her position is also a bit unusual because, unlike most of the rest of her AmeriCorps colleagues at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, Lieder is a resource for more than the local organization. She’s on-call to help Gesundheit! folks (who are either volunteers or part-time employees) in Washington state, Virginia, West Virginia, and Georgia, among other places.
“I’m that person who is connected to everybody and who is available 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, to be contacted by email or phone,” Lieder explained. “I’m sort of trying to help Gesundheit set up ways to utilize their communications so that can continue to happen after [her one-year position ends].”
Lieder, a Carbondale native who graduated with a degree in Theater and South Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago this past spring, didn’t take an especially direct route to her current job, but she hopes to return to those roots next year. “I was doing theater in Chicago and was finding it just not fulfilling, and I started applying for AmeriCorps positions and this was one of them,” she said. “I’m currently applying for graduate programs in performance studies, where I would be doing Indian street theater, so I will be using it again.”
She had applied for a couple of other positions at the UC-IMC, and while those didn’t work out, she made an impression on Susan Parenti, one of her current supervisors, in the process. They discussed the Gesundheit! position, and Lieder warmed to the idea.
“A lot of what I’m interested in is communication, both internally and externally…” she noted. “My experience in theater is that of a production manager, and the job of a production manager, really, is to know everyone and everything that’s going on, all the time. You problem-solve before problems come up, and right now Gesundheit! doesn’t have someone like that, who’s keyed into all the aspects of the organization, just because there is no single location.” So, much of what she’ll be doing over the next year will be providing that backbone to the organization.
The open structure of the organization has been a change of pace for Lieder. “I’m someone who’s used to working with a lot more structure, so I’m still learning how to create my own structure,” she said.
“My supervisors do not work full time for Gesundheit!, so I’m the only full-time employee here for Gesundheit!. Which means, sometimes, I can’t access them for a day or two. I have to figure out how to do what I need to do in that time. That is something I’m still learning, and I think it’s a really good skill to have. While it’s a challenge, I think it’s a good challenge.”
Working closely with her fellow AmeriCorps at the UC-IMC has been beneficial for Lieder. “I love working with the other AmeriCorps volunteers. I can’t imagine how Nicole [Pion, who’s worked at the UC-IMC since last fall] did it with one other person last year. It’s really wonderful at the end of the day for one of us to say, ‘I need a drink.’ Or, ‘I need to talk about this thing I was doing today.’ And we’ll walk over to Crane Alley and hang out.”
She’s also fitting into the local community, both because of its location midway between her parents (in Carbondale) and her boyfriend (in Chicago) and also due to C-U’s culture of social activism. She added, “I graduated from college feeling like I’d really lost touch with how to organize a community, and how to be a part of a community outside of a college campus. Champaign-Urbana has a really strong, socially-active community, and that’s really great to be a part of.”
Kat Lieder is growing into her position with the Gesundheit! Institute, and her optimism and persistence will certainly serve her well in the coming year.
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This article is part of a series profiling the UC-IMC’s AmeriCorps volunteers. Previous entries include: