Chico News and Review Best of Chico Nominee for Best Activist, Ashley-Michelle Papon
Activism around healthcare access and justice came early for Ashley-Michelle Papon. How early? The Kansas City native offers up the story of spending her earliest years living under the veil of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and the crisis of receiving healthcare access with her life in the hands of strangers.
“Because two of our siblings had died of SIDS before my twin brother and I were born, it obviously existed as the foremost concern in the minds of the medical team that delivered us,” she explains. “Conventional wisdom insisted SIDS did not run in families, which is all the pretext the insurance company needed to refuse to cover in-home monitoring after our discharge from the NICU. We know now that isn’t true, and that SIDS rates actually run about six times higher in siblings from native indigenous families. The insurance carrier figured it would be cheaper to risk a wrongful death lawsuit than to save our lives. The medical team countered by refusing to release us, so the insurance carrier ended up having to foot the bill for our long-term hospital care instead.”
The story, Papon acknowledges, is as fascinating as it is sobering–not only for the close brush with death that a different decision might have delivered, but the way it shaped her present.
“As far back as I can remember, I had an obsession with the randomized unfairness of it all–why did the stars align so perfectly that the same medical team that could not save our siblings managed to save us?” she asked. “The answer, at least partially, is that they had learned how to navigate the system to preserve our access to care. All we had to do was survive, which is no small feat when you are born nearly two months early. So in that vein, I can honestly say I have been actively fighting for justice my entire life.”
No longer bearing much of a resemblance to the fragile newborn she once was, Papon has forged a reputation for being a thoughtful advocate for others, striving to mirror the qualities she admired in the medical team who saved her life many years ago—namely, the steadfast commitment to justice through education, advocacy, and outreach.
“Ashley-Michelle is a vibrant and tenacious activist by nature, always willing to jump into a challenge with empathy and a depth of commitment that is admirable,” Maddison Heffley said. “She brings people together to get things done.”
Papon’s resume encompasses work on behalf of more than a dozen nonprofit organizations, including the Hunger Trolley, Stonewall Alliance Center of Chico, Safe Space Winter Shelter, Stand Up for Chico, and Outreach to Outcomes. A survivor of sex trafficking, she credits her most significant growth to serving as a member of the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) Speakers Bureau.
“Most of my professional life has employed my skills as a writer and public speaker, and somewhere along the way, I began to use those same skills to amplify my own story to help others,” Papon said. “Remarkably, I found the freedom to heal through the gift of activism.”
Papon’s exceptional contributions have earned her significant recognition, most recently as a co-recipient of the Intercultural Community Leadership Award of 2023 by the Multicultural Community Collaboration Committee of California State University – Chico.
“I think of a therapist of mine, who shared that he decided on his vocation after being prompted to consider what he wanted his epitaph to read,” Papon said. “I know what I want mine to say: that I was a force for justice.”
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