Health Care Workers See Inequality, Medical Bias and Racism When it Comes to Treating the Sickle Cell Community
Unequal treatment in medical care is not new. Studies dating back decades have identified structural inequalities in healthcare, implicit biases that affect both relationships between medical workers and a patient and between patients and the healthcare institution itself.
This racism in medical care is still prevalent today. Just ask people battling sickle cell disease (SCD). So many have seen and felt this bias as they’ve tried to access care for the often-painful and debilitating illness.
The series “Unveiling Sickle Cell: Beyond the Pain” tackles this issue head-on. When Tabatha McGee, the CEO of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia and the host of “Unveiling Sickle Cell” asked registered nurse Latesha Dennard what she thinks is the biggest challenge in servicing the sickle cell community. Unfortunately, her response was not a surprise.
“I'd say one of the biggest challenges is just sometimes their voices aren't heard in spaces where they need help the most, especially in the emergency department, most times, and clients there are looked at as being pain-seeking or not truly in pain, and when you have a chronic condition where your symptoms aren't visible, it can be difficult for people to have true empathy for you and realize that, no, you are in crisis mode right now,” Dennard explained.
McGee dug a little deeper on why Sickle Cell Warriors, those battling SCD, face such a hit or a miss type situation when they seek out care for their condition at hospital emergency rooms.
“I'm going to ask a question. I'm just going to be very direct. Do you feel like it's because we're black? Is that why we're not getting the attention is because we’re Black?” McGee asked.
“Absolutely, it’s because we’re Black,” Dennard agreed. “Medical racism does exist, just for blacks in general, but especially having a chronic disease like sickle cell, where it's, like I said, it's not visible Absolutely I see it. I see it all the time.”
It’s a common theme among those battling SCD. They describe stereotypes and the social stigma of living with the inherited disease. They talk about inferior care at hospitals and clinics when they seek treatment during a painful crisis when the sickle-shaped cells in their bodies have a hard time moving through vital organs.
McGee was able to get straight to the heart of the matter.
“It's really sad that we would be discriminated based on our outer appearance and we would be discriminated based on our race,” she observed.
“I think about all the other chronic diseases that are out there that get so much attention, like cancer. You know, cancer is a chronic, painful disease. When people get cancer, they're getting the care that they need, right?”
McGee pointed out education is the key.
Danina Battle is the Community Health Worker Manager at the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia and a certified hemoglobinopathy educator and counselor. She agreed that education is critical in fighting racism overall and in fighting the stigma over SCD that’s also prevalent within the Black community.
Parents and those living with SCD need to learn all about the disease and its impact, Battle said.
“Just allowing individual space to be open minded, that want to learn is paramount to raising awareness and making sure that the voices of sickle cell individuals are heard,” she added.
Dennard advocates for more provider training.
“I feel like that should be mandatory at hospitals, even providers who are Black themselves. Our patients tell us they don’t always get the best treatment from those who you would think would be most understanding since it primarily affects Black Americans, Blacks in general,” she explained.”
“So education is needed across all races if you're going to be a provider in the space where you're dealing with those who have chronic diseases.”
To learn more about provider training, please contact the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia.
-By Shelby Lin Erdman