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Staff profile: Meet Samantha Hendrickson, business of healthcare reporter

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4 weeks ago

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I am no stranger to hospitals.

I shouldn’t be. I am, after all, The Columbus Dispatch’s new medical business and health care reporter. But my journey navigating complex health care systems started long before I was hired only six weeks ago.

I am painfully midwestern. I grew up in a rural Wisconsin county south of Milwaukee and graduated class of 2021 from the University of Minnesota. You can clearly hear my time in both states when I say anything with a long “O.” If we ever meet, I don’t mind if you laugh, it sounds pretty funny sometimes.

Straight out of college, I spent a year working for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as a breaking news and then housing and real estate reporter. In 2022, I took a job in Columbus, covering the unending antics of the Ohio Statehouse for The Associated Press. Ohio was unfamiliar, but midwestern enough to feel like home.

Samantha Hendrickson: Read my recent coverage

My first three years in journalism have been a shifting mix of beats and cities, but one constant is chronic illness. Like I said, I’m no stranger to hospitals. I’ve spent both childhood and adulthood in and out of doctors’ offices, testing facilities and long pharmacy lines. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to hold a job, let alone graduate high school or even learn to drive.

But with the unfailing determination of my parents to get me the right care, to fight insurance companies and get second opinions, my story didn’t end with my diagnoses. No one’s story should.

Empathy is a vital trait in a truly good journalist. We cannot expect to be entrusted with people’s stories without it. I couldn’t foresee that the worst days of my health journey would make me the journalist I am today, but is has.

It’s instilled in me an empathy that I carry always, for the overlooked chronic illnesses, for the family just trying to do what’s best for their child, for the college student navigating a world in a body that doesn’t seem to want to function right. Just like my trusted spiral notebook and beloved Arteza pens, it’s been with me every step of the way while covering the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis, a historic abortion referendum in Ohio, the rising national rates of incarcerated women and now Columbus’ vast healthcare landscape.

I’ve fallen in love with Columbus these past two years. I adore its contagious energy, kind people and rich food scene. I’ll never say no to catching an opera at the Ohio Theatre, long walks in Goodale Park or any treat from Cherbourg Bakery.

Journalism is, first and foremost, a public service. That’s my favorite part about it. It serves through telling the stories of not the voiceless, but the unheard (yes, there’s a big difference) and delivering those stories to those who need to hear them. I feel lucky to be able to serve a city that I love this way, telling the stories of those impacted by some of the top health systems in not just Ohio, but the country.

I’m no stranger to hospitals, and I hope it stays that way for a while.

Samantha Hendrickson can be reached at shendrickson@dispatch.com.

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