|
Personal Note from Jackie Wright, W.E.
W.E. extend condolences to the family of Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, The first nurse to serve in Congress and the first Black elected official from Dallas to serve as a U.S. Representative, among other major accomplishments. Her name over the years gave me warm memories of the great Barbara Jordan, what a commanding voice, powerful persona and policy changer.
To hear of Congresswoman Johnson's death was staggering. She looked so great! Then to hear news reports almost immediately that she, a former nurse, died due to an infection after "lying in her feces for an hour" following back surgery, the specter of all the medical inequities that have resulted in early and unnecessary deaths of Black people came to mind.
Why do Black people distrust the medical industry is the underlying question that emerges when the latest medical procedure or a call for participants of color in medical study comes up.
Many Black people just reading a few lines of the news report will immediately fall into remembrance of the egregious United States Public Health Service' 40 Year Study of Untreated Black men and thoughts of Black Lives Matter... Do Black Lives Matter in Medicine?
Hearts stop with gasps for air thinking...was dearly loved Eddie Bernice Johnson's death a case of the casual attitude about Black patients... "Oh, that's just another old Black lady lying there. She's lived a long life. I'll get around to her when I get around to her." Was it racism combined with age discrimination that robbed us of a great life still worth living?
BLACK LIVES MATTER IN MEDICINE
Whether Eddie Bernice John's untimely death was due to racist inequities we all have seen or heard about or just a broken system overwhelmed by lack of adequately trained caring staff, time will tell. As with many recent revelations coming forth..."What is Done in the Dark Will Come To the Light," as Jesus Christ warned in Luke 12:2-3
There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.
HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM
...Called to the forefront of public discourse as your native son-George Floyd cried out for his Mother under the oppression of a knee on his neck on Memorial Day 2020...
BLACK LIVES MATTER IN SCIENCE AND MEDICINE-IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON-by Benjie Coleman 17 August 2021
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/227973/black-lives-matter-science-medicine/
Dr. Stanley Andrisse, an endocrinologist and assistant professor at Howard University College of Medicine, led a virtual audience of over 125 in an important conversation on how racism impacts the careers of Black academics and the tangible and meaningful actions Imperial can make to help combat this issue.
STARTING SOLUTIONS
REDUCING RACIAL DISPARITIES IN HEALTH CARE-HARVARD UNIVERSITY ONLINE
Address racial biases and barriers. Improve equality in health care.
In partnership with the Disparities Solutions Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, this course will help You deliver high-quality health care to all through organizational change.
WHITE COATS FOR BLACK LIVES
https://medicine.uiowa.edu/md/student-support/opportunities-growth/student-organizations/white-coats-black-lives
"White Coats for Black Lives is a national organization led by medical students. The organization was called to action by the Black Lives Matter movement. Medicine represents another system affected by racism, and as such, it is important that we as students of the system acknowledge and address this issue as a public health crisis." From Website
As the minions of racism can be found in any industry, its imperative to be vigilant especially in the medical industry that has a life and death impact. Black people can survive being put off wine trains and possibly having police called on them in Central Park, and the many other daily racial microaggressions, but the medical industry calls for a higher level of vigilance and advocacy, because lives may depend on it.
| 
