Welcome to the 502: Cultivating Health Equity in Louisville
by Leen Abozaid, MS, M2, Tala Maya, BS, M3, Gopika Gopan, BS, BA, M2 & Michaela Reinhart, MS, M3
In Louisville, the neighborhood where you are born can predict how long you will live. According to the Healthcare Equity Report by the Louisville Metro Center for Health Equity, residents in different areas of the city experience a life expectancy gap of approximately 15 years. In the city’ s Northwest core, where most residents are Black, life expectancy is just 65 years, while in the mostly white neighborhoods of the East End, it climbs past 80 years. These differences are not accidents of biology or chance. They are health disparities: avoidable and unjust discrepancies in health outcomes. These differences are largely rooted in structural and systemic drivers of health, which influence social determinants including socioeconomic status, housing, education and access to health care.
Striving toward health equity means ensuring that all of us, regardless of background or zip code, have a fair and just opportunity to live our healthiest lives. Louisville’ s racial and economic divides highlight disparities, while Kentucky ranks below national averages on key health measures. For a group of medical students at the University of Louisville, the statistics found in Louisville’ s 2017 Health Equity Report were impossible to ignore. In 2020, they came together to form Grow502, a student-led organization designed to transform data into action and to bridge the gap between medicine and community.
Against this backdrop, Grow502 takes on urgent importance, mobilizing students and community members to confront these systemic gaps and reimagine a healthier, more equitable future for our city. The organization made a strong start, but like many student and community initiatives, its activities slowed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges of virtual learning, social distancing and shifting priorities made it difficult to carry forward
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