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Sophia Cassim
So you want to talk about healthcare? Let’s do it.
One of the biggest issues within healthcare is the lack of access and attention it provides for communities who are mostly made up of minorities. While we may not have realized the drastic differences, the current pandemic we are in certainly opened many eyes to the disparities. The systemic health and social inequities that have been an issue for so long has proven to be a main factor of minority groups having an increased chance of getting COVID-19. When we look in the hospitals, the hospitalization rates are the highest for these minority groups especially for American Indians and Alaskan Natives. The death rates are unproportionally higher for black Americans and in a recent study done by an AIDS research nonprofit, counties with higher populations of black residents accounted for 52% of the virus diagnoses and 58% of the deaths.
So why is this? It stems from the prolonging living, working, health, and social inequities minorities have faced in their communities. This pandemic showed how these groups can become isolated from necessary resources to help prevent the virus which results in a higher risk of being infected. The densely populated living conditions that are very commonly seen in minority communities makes it hard to practice social distancing and the reliance of public transportation only makes these groups more vulnerable to the virus. Inadequate working conditions and the lack of good health insurance or simply one at all are yet additional ways they are being exposed without any protection. With African Americans having higher rates of chronic conditions at earlier ages and higher death rates, these underlying medical conditions put them more at risk with few resources to go to for help. The underlying causes of these conditions are the social and economic differences between black and white communities. Many forget the importance of health education as it can save the lives of many by promoting these diseases which can lead to prevention and protection. The healthcare system itself contains many issues that put minority groups in a difficult position. For example, according to the Center for Medicare Advocacy, language difficulties were reported numerous times between physicians and their patients resulting in a lack of care they received and increased risks of misdiagnosis. The cost of healthcare is another challenge these communities face; with the inability to pay for a premium healthcare or insurance, they don’t get the protection and safety their counterparts experience.
So how can we try to change this? Well we won’t be able to fix it overnight but there ways we can reduce the rates and help protect minority groups from this pandemic and future incidents. One of the solutions a John Hopkins Medical article suggests is to adjust the messaging of Covid-19 so it can reach these communities by presenting it in different languages and encouraging them to seek medical attention if needed. Another solution is to secure testing for people of color since they may not be referred for testing as much. We need to make the testing easily accessible by providing transportation or setting up sites in community hotspots so they can be ensured to receive a test. Data being broken down by ethnicity and race is also a very important step because it can display who is being affected the most which can lead to more testing sites and resources for that specific area. Most importantly, we have to remember that it’s not easy for everyone to just simply stay at home and wait for the pandemic to die down. There are tons of people putting their lives at risk everyday because they need that paycheck to bring home food or they can’t afford the luxury of not working. If this pandemic has taught us anything it’s that it will take the effort of everyone to not only slow down the pandemic but to help those who don’t have the same means as we might have. The healthcare system is something we ignore or forget because we assume that everyone is in the same situation as us but, when we look at the data and turn on the news we must acknowledge the serious obstacles minority communities are forced to deal with. So what can you do to help? Open your eyes to the real world and look beyond your own proximity. Change can only happen when we put our minds to it and come together.
Bibliography
Coronavirus in African Americans and Other People of Color. (2020, April 20). Retrieved July 23, 2020, from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid19-racial-disparities
COVID-19 in Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups. (2020, June 25). Retrieved July 23, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/racial-ethnic-minorities.html
Kaur, H. (2020, May 09). The coronavirus pandemic is hitting black and brown Americans especially hard on all fronts. Retrieved July 23, 2020, from https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/08/us/coronavirus-pandemic-race-impact-trnd/index.html
Nania, R. (2020, May 8). Higher COVID-19 Incidence in Minority Communities. Retrieved July 23, 2020, from https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2020/minority-communities-covid-19.html
Racial and Ethnic Health Care Disparities. (2017, July 27). Retrieved July 23, 2020, from https://medicareadvocacy.org/medicare-info/health-care-disparities/