This is part three of “Dismantling Dismissal,” Word in Black’s patient advocacy series, exploring the ways Black Americans navigate the healthcare system and what equity leaders are doing to make healthcare more accessible. Read the series.
In a complicated healthcare system, where do you go for equitable healthcare?
Why this matters: Too many Black women have experienced dismissal of their pain and report negative healthcare experiences. In one survey, 55% of Black women said they had to speak up to get proper care and felt like they were treated with less respect than other patients.
When Black women feel dismissed in healthcare settings, it can lead to worsening healthcare outcomes, looking for different providers, or no longer seeking care altogether, according to a KFF health survey. Currently, only 6% of physicians, 4% of psychologists, and 2% of psychiatrists are Black — but their impact matters.
What the data says: Black women who saw a healthcare provider who shared their racial and ethnic background reported more positive interactions. Even Black women who saw a provider of the same race and ethnicity less than half of the time reported feeling understood and involved in their care.
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What healthcare organizations can do: “I really despise the onus and the burden on patients to have to advocate for themselves in a system that has never really engendered their trust,” said Uché Blackstock, founder of Advancing Health Equity, which engages with healthcare organizations across the country to dismantle racism and eradicate racial health inequities. The organization provides training, consultations, and assessments to organizations to identify practices and policies that can be reformed with equitable approaches.
While it’s important to shift the burden away from patients, Blackstock said patients can prepare questions to ask their healthcare providers, such as:
- What do you think is going on with me?
- What is your plan for me?
- What are symptoms that I should go to the ER for?
- When should I follow up?
When you need therapy: Looking for the right therapist can take time, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Therapy for Black Girls and Therapy for Black Men are two organizations that have built directories of hundreds of Black and culturally competent providers in various cities and states across the country. The easy-to-use directory allows folks to select gender, specialty, insurance, and type of therapy preferences.
When you are a birthing person: Given the high rates of maternal mortality among Black women, finding and accessing proper care can literally mean life or death. The Irth app, founded by Kimberly Seals Allers, allows birthing people to find prenatal, birthing, postpartum, and pediatric reviews of care from other Black and Brown women. Often touted as a Yelp-like platform, it lets birthing people search for doctors and hospital reviews in their community.
When you need access to sexual wellness and reproductive healthcare: Kimbritive is a sex-positive company where Black women can reclaim their sexual wellness and reproductive health. Part of their approach is initiating conversations about healthcare with different leaders in this area, to allow Black women to dive deeper and learn more about pleasure, self-love, and connection. The organization offers guides and workshops through its membership.
When an organization needs help to advance equitable care: Violet, a health equity platform, is building infrastructure for culturally competent care, making it easier for patients to find inclusive providers. The company offers data-driven interventions and partners with digital health platforms and hospital systems.
Where to find culturally competent care: Health in Her Hue, an organization founded by Ashlee Wisdom, is working to bridge the gap for Black women who are looking for Black and Brown providers. The platform connects patients with care providers, articles about specific health conditions, and a community forum.
Wisdom started the organization after her own experience of working in an academic medical center that she described as a “really toxic racist environment.” As a grad student at the time, she was learning about the poor health outcomes Black women face, such as heart disease, maternal mortality, and diabetes.
“I was learning that it wasn’t because there wasn’t anything necessarily wrong with Black women. It’s the social and structural factors that we have to live in, in America,” she said. “I got really angry, and felt like I needed to channel that anger, rage, and energy into something constructive.”
In response, Wisdom built a solution.
It’s not just about connecting Black women with Black doctors; all Black patients should be able to walk into a healthcare setting and receive care that every human and patient deserves, she said. “It’s unfortunate that too often, we only feel safe being seen by providers that look like us, when all doctors take an oath to provide care to all of their patients.” She still makes a point to tell Black women that there are non-Black doctors who are compassionate and provide culturally responsive care.
“Black women deserve to feel seen,” Wisdom said. “We deserve to have our full context taken into account and [be] cared about by our healthcare providers. We also deserve to be heard. We deserve empathy and understanding from our healthcare providers.”