DIGITAL EQUITY : HEALTHCARE
smartphone , tablet , or computer ? Is the solution in the right language ? Does it address the cultural challenges of any given population or community ? ¶ Medical practitioners are humans , with their own unconscious biases and gaps in training . As a result , patients of color often don ’ t get the care they need . For example , Black women are
243 % more likely to die from child birth complications than White women in the United States , and 71 % more likely to die from cervical cancer . Black Americans have accounted for
14.9 % of COVID-19 deaths . When age is factored in , the mortality rate from COVID-19 among Black Americans is twice that of White Americans , and it is the second-highest in the nation behind Indigenous people . According to Arline Geronimus , a professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health , Black people ’ s
elevated risk of death from infections like COVID-19 is partly caused by ingrained inequities and racism .
— AAH
IT ’ S WITHIN THIS CONTEXT of inequity that
HUED was created . In 2017 , Kimberly Wilson spent six months in and out of a New York City hospital with debilitating pain from uterine fibroids . During that time , she met with four different providers ( all White men ), whose suggestions were either Advil or a hysterectomy . As her frustration , and pain , increased , she became adamant about finding a doctor who understood what she was experiencing . “ Once I found a Black woman provider , the experience was a complete 180 ,” says Wilson .
Making that in-person connection was a challenge . After perusing Zocdoc and other digital-doctor platforms with no success , Wilson relied on her local network in New York to find the closest Black ob-gyn — 200 miles away in Baltimore . From her , Wilson learned that
90 % of Black women develop uterine fibroids by age 50 . She was offered treatment options beyond pain medication or surgery .
“ It was extremely eye-opening that it took getting to my fifth provider to feel as though I was seen and understood ,” she says . The more she spoke to friends and colleagues , the more she realized she was far from alone in her experience .
“ In communities of color , we often find providers through our own networks because of factors such as fear and distrust and this deep-seated resentment from how we ’ ve been treated over the years ,” explains Wilson .
PREVIOUS PAGE : PHOTO ILLUSTRATION PHOTOS BY B . ALYSSA TROFORT ; UNSPLASH ; US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
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