Jennifer Sarche MPH

About

Jen Sarché is a writer and public health officer who has worked with the Kaiser Family Foundation and the San Francisco Department of Public Health, among others. She earned degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Recent Posts

The Most Accessible Place on Earth

Personal Perspective: At Disneyland, of all places, it was a pleasure to use my wheelchair. I didn’t feel different, I wasn’t a pain, and I wasn’t embarrassed.

How Can This Work? With Problem-Solving and Optimism

Personal Perspective: Problem-solving got me to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and I danced to great music under a literal rainbow like the happy ending in a children's book.

Grace for the Spoonies Dealing With Chronic Illness

Personal Perspective: When I have to cancel plans because of my invisible disability, the stigma can feel insurmountable. Sometimes it's easier to pretend I'm just flakey.

Good Hope and Bad Hope

Personal Perspective: There must be a line between the good hope that gets me up in the morning and to physical therapy and the bad hope that is unrealistic and can break my heart.

How to Ask for and Receive Help

Personal Perspective: Asking for help is hard, but instead of being ashamed or embarrassed, I feel insanely proud that I have built a community willing and ready to surround me.

Medical Trauma Is Real

The challenges before me as I prepare for this next surgery and the six-months-to-a-year of recovery are huge. But, I am not going to let trauma-brain run my life.

Goal Setting and Chronic Pain

A Personal Perspective: Setting and achieving goals makes me more hopeful about my future, even with chronic pain and chronic illness.

My Dumb Right Hand

A Personal Perspective: It took me months to seek the care I needed because medical trauma took my brain offline. What changed? A visit with my therapist.

An Ode to My Elevator

A Personal Perspective: I'm practicing self-care as I manage living with chronic pain in a building with broken elevators.

A New Label for Me: Dynamic Disability

A Personal Perspective: The label “dynamic disability” allows me to talk openly about what I can and can’t do, to share my experience with others, and to feel less alone.