Beneath the skin
Imagine you wake up one morning with a fever, runny nose, and a cough. You decide to take a trip to an Urgent Care facility. Setting up an appointment at the front desk and filling out paperwork, you begin feeling anxious as your mind races to predict which illness or disease you’ll be diagnosed with. Turning in your paperwork, you anxiously sit and wait for your name to be called, tracing patterns on the wood door in the waiting room with your eyes, attempting to calm your nerves. A whole hour passes before a Medical Assistant opens the door and calls your name, and you cautiously follow them down hallways lined with gray linoleum tiles and bordered by empty white walls.
Reaching an empty room plastered with laminated posters advising you to maintain a balanced diet, wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, and cover your mouth when coughing and complimented by a peeling examination table fitted with a thin sheet of paper, you carefully edge yourself onto the table and wait for a knock from a Doctor. Once a Doctor arrives, you begin explaining your symptoms,
noticing that the Doctor seems to be half-listening, half-daydreaming as you vent your frustrations. When you finish, the Doctor clears their throat before telling you that there’s nothing they can do. Shocked at their response, you question them, after all, how could a Doctor not know a way to remedy a common cold? The Doctor’s position doesn’t budge, however, and you storm out of the clinic, feeling confused, lost, and frustrated. After all, if a Doctor won’t hear your concerns and help your situation, who will?
This story is all-too-familiar for countless Black Americans in our country. It is a story shared by LaTanya Nobles, whose story eerily mirrors the hypothetical Doctors' Appointment. About a year ago, LaTanya (46) began having a severe eczema outbreak and began seeing a Dermatologist, who was white. She was diagnosed and prescribed treatment, however after a few monthly doses she began to experience adverse side effects. Her eyes became red with irritation, and it became difficult for her to cook, drive, or do anything that required visual focus. When she met with her Dermatologist to discuss other possible treatments, she was told that there was nothing more her Dermatologist could do or prescribe. Following this incident, she began to look for other physicians, eventually finding
a black Dermatologist whose practice is over an hour away from our house. Despite the extensive travel and wait time for this physician, my mother sees this doctor to this day because the treatment that this doctor prescribes works for her skin. This is a common experience shared by many Black Americans. Many non-black doctors often have little experience with darker skin tones, and the treatment that darker-toned patients receive is often of less quality, resulting in an inefficient situation for both physician and patient. Both parties end up wasting time because they’re essentially left with trying out or “testing” different medications. When I interviewed LaTanya about her experience, she told me that when her Dermatologist “tested” different medications on her skin, she felt like she “[was] not being treated like a human,” but as a “zoo animal,” she felt like she had to “research the things [she was] feeling and come up with [her own] diagnoses prior to [her] appointment in order to be treated equally and as a human.”
In a similar vein, Kela McClure, a 47-year-old social worker from Houston, Texas, had a similar experience. When she visited a Gynecologist for a routine appointment, her Doctor made crude remarks about her body during her checkup. Shawn Morand, a 48-year-old teacher from Canton, Michigan, spoke to me about the negative side effects of the medication she received from her Dermatologist, who was not familiar with the effects that the prescribed medication would have on darker-toned patients. When I asked these women about the impact that these experiences had on their mental well-being, they all mentioned feeling stressed, anxious, and even nauseous at the thought of visiting the Doctor’s office again. These women aren’t alone in their experiences, either: a study conducted by the
Pew Research Center: 2–in which Black adults were asked a series of questions about their healthcare experience–found that 56% of Black adults involved in the study have had at least one negative experience with the healthcare system, while a large majority of Black Women reported sharing at least 1 of 7 experiences that were asked about directly in the study.
The common thread between all of these women’s experiences can be summed up in one word: Racism. America’s Healthcare system was built on the dangerous myth that Black bodies are somehow inherently different that White bodies. Throughout history, experiments have been conducted in the interest of investigating and proving this myth. One example of this kind of experiment is the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study of the 1930s. In this experiment, scientists examined the progression of untreated syphilis (a sexually transmitted infection causing sores, rashes, and organ failure at later stages) under the false assumption Black Americans naturally caught the infection at a higher rate than Whites because Blacks belonged to a “syphilis-soaked race” and thus developed a different
version of the infection altogether. In the final stages of this experiment, scientists discovered that one of their test subjects, Henrietta Lacks, would prove to be an extraordinary case. They discovered that Lacks’ blood contained “magical cells” that were so exceptional that scientists believed Lacks was immortal. In truth, the “magical cells” in Lacks’ bloodstream were cancer cells from a tumor in her cervix, but the fact that scientists ruled Lacks “immortal” led to Doctor’s mistreating her illness, choosing to harvest her tumor cells instead of prescribing remedies. Lacks died from untreated cervical cancer, and after her death, scientists named her cells “HeLa.” Studies done on HeLa cells transformed Medicine. Scientists used HeLa cells to perfect the polio vaccine and develop gene mapping and vitro fertilization. Though Lacks died penniless, her cells are copied and sold to this day for thousands.
The Tuskegee Syphilis study is one of thousands of similar experiments conducted during the 20th century. These experiments fed into the harmful notion that Black Americans (who are Black patients) were inherently different from White Americans (White patients), and thus need to be treated differently. This belief is built into America’s healthcare system, kept alive through generations of
physicians and is why so many Black Americans have unsatisfactory trips to the Doctor’s office in the 21st century.
Recently, many organizations have been created to combat this notion and ensure that Black patients are treated equally in the healthcare system. Community health workers (CHWs) work with patients locally to lessen the disparity between Black and White patients by coordinating with physicians in the realm of compliance, prevention, and early diagnosis. They also provide social support for minority
patients. However there are only around 60,000 CHWs employed in our nation, and until the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010, they were not even recognized as essential members of the fighting force against healthcare disparities in America. The Department of Health and Human Services in Michigan employed an eighteen-member subcommittee consisting of CHWs and past CHWs that began
convening in January of 2023. This committee will build on the core principles of community service, improving the coordinating efforts and community engagement strategies of CHWs throughout the nation, as well as assisting Medicaid and other efforts by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). Similarly, MiCHWA (Michigan Community Health Workers
Alliance) assists the efforts of CHWs in our state. Those interested can join MiCHWA’s groundbreaking progress towards ending racism and racial bias in America’s healthcare system by becoming a member of the MiCHWA coalition, gaining access to jobs, volunteer opportunities, and more that assist CHWs may follow this link.
Reaching an empty room plastered with laminated posters advising you to maintain a balanced diet, wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, and cover your mouth when coughing and complimented by a peeling examination table fitted with a thin sheet of paper, you carefully edge yourself onto the table and wait for a knock from a Doctor. Once a Doctor arrives, you begin explaining your symptoms,
noticing that the Doctor seems to be half-listening, half-daydreaming as you vent your frustrations. When you finish, the Doctor clears their throat before telling you that there’s nothing they can do. Shocked at their response, you question them, after all, how could a Doctor not know a way to remedy a common cold? The Doctor’s position doesn’t budge, however, and you storm out of the clinic, feeling confused, lost, and frustrated. After all, if a Doctor won’t hear your concerns and help your situation, who will?
This story is all-too-familiar for countless Black Americans in our country. It is a story shared by LaTanya Nobles, whose story eerily mirrors the hypothetical Doctors' Appointment. About a year ago, LaTanya (46) began having a severe eczema outbreak and began seeing a Dermatologist, who was white. She was diagnosed and prescribed treatment, however after a few monthly doses she began to experience adverse side effects. Her eyes became red with irritation, and it became difficult for her to cook, drive, or do anything that required visual focus. When she met with her Dermatologist to discuss other possible treatments, she was told that there was nothing more her Dermatologist could do or prescribe. Following this incident, she began to look for other physicians, eventually finding
a black Dermatologist whose practice is over an hour away from our house. Despite the extensive travel and wait time for this physician, my mother sees this doctor to this day because the treatment that this doctor prescribes works for her skin. This is a common experience shared by many Black Americans. Many non-black doctors often have little experience with darker skin tones, and the treatment that darker-toned patients receive is often of less quality, resulting in an inefficient situation for both physician and patient. Both parties end up wasting time because they’re essentially left with trying out or “testing” different medications. When I interviewed LaTanya about her experience, she told me that when her Dermatologist “tested” different medications on her skin, she felt like she “[was] not being treated like a human,” but as a “zoo animal,” she felt like she had to “research the things [she was] feeling and come up with [her own] diagnoses prior to [her] appointment in order to be treated equally and as a human.”
In a similar vein, Kela McClure, a 47-year-old social worker from Houston, Texas, had a similar experience. When she visited a Gynecologist for a routine appointment, her Doctor made crude remarks about her body during her checkup. Shawn Morand, a 48-year-old teacher from Canton, Michigan, spoke to me about the negative side effects of the medication she received from her Dermatologist, who was not familiar with the effects that the prescribed medication would have on darker-toned patients. When I asked these women about the impact that these experiences had on their mental well-being, they all mentioned feeling stressed, anxious, and even nauseous at the thought of visiting the Doctor’s office again. These women aren’t alone in their experiences, either: a study conducted by the
Pew Research Center: 2–in which Black adults were asked a series of questions about their healthcare experience–found that 56% of Black adults involved in the study have had at least one negative experience with the healthcare system, while a large majority of Black Women reported sharing at least 1 of 7 experiences that were asked about directly in the study.
The common thread between all of these women’s experiences can be summed up in one word: Racism. America’s Healthcare system was built on the dangerous myth that Black bodies are somehow inherently different that White bodies. Throughout history, experiments have been conducted in the interest of investigating and proving this myth. One example of this kind of experiment is the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study of the 1930s. In this experiment, scientists examined the progression of untreated syphilis (a sexually transmitted infection causing sores, rashes, and organ failure at later stages) under the false assumption Black Americans naturally caught the infection at a higher rate than Whites because Blacks belonged to a “syphilis-soaked race” and thus developed a different
version of the infection altogether. In the final stages of this experiment, scientists discovered that one of their test subjects, Henrietta Lacks, would prove to be an extraordinary case. They discovered that Lacks’ blood contained “magical cells” that were so exceptional that scientists believed Lacks was immortal. In truth, the “magical cells” in Lacks’ bloodstream were cancer cells from a tumor in her cervix, but the fact that scientists ruled Lacks “immortal” led to Doctor’s mistreating her illness, choosing to harvest her tumor cells instead of prescribing remedies. Lacks died from untreated cervical cancer, and after her death, scientists named her cells “HeLa.” Studies done on HeLa cells transformed Medicine. Scientists used HeLa cells to perfect the polio vaccine and develop gene mapping and vitro fertilization. Though Lacks died penniless, her cells are copied and sold to this day for thousands.
The Tuskegee Syphilis study is one of thousands of similar experiments conducted during the 20th century. These experiments fed into the harmful notion that Black Americans (who are Black patients) were inherently different from White Americans (White patients), and thus need to be treated differently. This belief is built into America’s healthcare system, kept alive through generations of
physicians and is why so many Black Americans have unsatisfactory trips to the Doctor’s office in the 21st century.
Recently, many organizations have been created to combat this notion and ensure that Black patients are treated equally in the healthcare system. Community health workers (CHWs) work with patients locally to lessen the disparity between Black and White patients by coordinating with physicians in the realm of compliance, prevention, and early diagnosis. They also provide social support for minority
patients. However there are only around 60,000 CHWs employed in our nation, and until the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010, they were not even recognized as essential members of the fighting force against healthcare disparities in America. The Department of Health and Human Services in Michigan employed an eighteen-member subcommittee consisting of CHWs and past CHWs that began
convening in January of 2023. This committee will build on the core principles of community service, improving the coordinating efforts and community engagement strategies of CHWs throughout the nation, as well as assisting Medicaid and other efforts by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). Similarly, MiCHWA (Michigan Community Health Workers
Alliance) assists the efforts of CHWs in our state. Those interested can join MiCHWA’s groundbreaking progress towards ending racism and racial bias in America’s healthcare system by becoming a member of the MiCHWA coalition, gaining access to jobs, volunteer opportunities, and more that assist CHWs may follow this link.