Dr. Uche Blackstock is the founder of the consulting firm Advancing Health Equity. Provided by Uche Blackstock
When Dr. Uche Blackstock left her academic medical faculty position four years ago, she had no way of knowing that she was making a life-or-death decision. After years of enduring racism and sexism in her toxic work environment, she had had enough and decided to prioritize her own mental health and well-being.
Following the release of her debut memoir, Legacy: Black doctor reflects on racism in healthcare” also critically examines the intersection of racism and medicine, and Blackstock is grateful that she chose it.
“It was the best decision I ever made and I never forget that I was one of the lucky ones who was able to find a way out,” she said about a week after Dr. Antoinette's suicide. I recently posted on X (old Twitter). Bonnie,” Candia Bailey, vice president for student affairs at Lincoln University. “We just want to be able to do the work we love for our communities in a way that feels authentic to us, where we can speak out about systemic inequities without fear of retaliation. Actually, I feel like we're asking for too much.'' So we just create our own space. ”
When Blackstock founded her consultancy, Advancing Health Equity, in 2019, she said she wanted to address racism in health care by partnering with health care providers to diversify hiring and combat racial health inequities. It's exactly the same thing we did as a way to abolish it. Since black women make up less than 3% of U.S. physicians (despite blacks making up 13% of the U.S. population), Blackstock said she wants more black doctors to We recognize that training is only part of the solution.
“I would like to see more black doctors, because that would help solve the problem,” she said in a video interview. luck. “But the other factor is that non-Black physicians also need to be able to adequately and competently care for Black people.”
This culturally appropriate care is an important skill that Blackstock learned directly from her mother, Dr. Dale Gloria Blackstock. Together with Uche's twin sister, Oni, the trio became the first black mother-daughter legacy from Harvard Medical School. Tragically, their mother passed away from acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at the age of 47. This experience opened Uche's eyes to the many different ways that systemic racism plays a significant (and often deadly) role in the lives of Black Americans.
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Studies have shown that people living in low-income areas, like the one where Uche's mother grew up, have higher exposure to toxic environmental pollutants and can have higher rates of cancer. ing. Moreover, as Blackstock writes, heritageCancer diagnoses for Black patients are often delayed due to “a lack of access to health care and a lack of high-quality, culturally responsive care.”
“Often when we hear some very grim and grim statistics about Black communities and health, it creates this assumption that there is something wrong with us,” she says. “We need people to understand how systemic racism behaves and how it impacts our communities through these acts.”
In a country where black men have the shortest life expectancy. With Black women more likely to die during childbirth than any other group, and Black infants having the highest infant mortality rate, Blackstock is committed to highlighting the deep inequities that exist in the U.S. health care system. We are working. But she makes it clear that it is not the responsibility of black people to solve problems that we did not create.
“Sometimes I think people are more likely to notice interpersonal racism, such as when someone is vilified as a racist or treated unfairly because they are black.” she says. “It's quite another to see how our own federally authorized and created policies have led to racial health inequities. Once you can connect the dots, It’s very difficult to erase that.”
In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that social determinants of health, such as housing, education, and employment, are “key drivers of health disparities within communities of color, placing people within these groups at risk for poor health.” He admits that “the situation is getting higher”. ”
And because Blackstock is calling out not just white doctors and medical professionals, but also elected officials, non-Black allies, medical institutions, medical schools, and academic medical centers, we need to address issues that we did not create. We shouldn't rely solely on these communities to solve problems. Re-evaluating the processes and procedures that led to these injustices.
“It's not just about writing a prescription. It's not about telling someone to exercise. Because how can you exercise if you don't have green space in your neighborhood, if you don't have a safe place to exercise in your neighborhood?” Blackstock asks. “Doctors need to understand the context in which their patients live, play, pray, and exist. They need to understand it all.”
