April is minority health month, a time for raising awareness about the disproportionate burden of premature death and illness in minority populations. It is also a time to encourage action through health education, early detection and control of disease complications.

Dr. Malati K. Harris with Free State Family Medicine, who is a member of Health Equity Advancement Team at LMH Health, said it is good to have a special month to highlight minority health, but that it would be even better for people to be aware of those concerns every day. 

“Aiming to ensure those who are minorities receive equal care and health outcomes as those who are not should become a part of our day-to-day care,” Harris said. “If bringing awareness to a topic to gain broader focus and attention during a specific month is a launching pad for gaining knowledge, then that is great. However, we need to practice equal care and greater listening every day when meeting with patients.”

Harris said that she has had minority patients who’ve experienced racism or mistreatment, or who don’t trust the medical profession. She said we cannot talk about health disparities without first discussing systemic racism. 

In health care and in day-to-day life, people can shy away from discussing and understanding biases and racism. Harris said that in order to build trust with patients, one good step is acknowledging and becoming aware of biases.

“What I try to do in my practice is listen to my patients. Not at a surface level, but at a level of deep understanding to hear what they are saying,” she said. “Many people feel they are not listened to, that someone comes into an exam room with their own agenda and pre-determined diagnosis. This is the reason many Black individuals and other minority groups feel they are dismissed and that their pain is not recognized accurately or is written off as ‘fake.'”

Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health recently released its 2021 health equity report, and Harris said it shows that even in Lawrence, there are disparities. The report, focuses on unpacking the social determinants of health and their root causes, and it suggests that Douglas County still has some work to do on racial equity in health care.

About the report

Sonia Jordan, the director of informatics for Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, said the report is intended to encourage the community to work together to address health issues.  

“Not only will you see the health outcomes in the report, but the key drivers of health as well — things like income, education, housing stability, race and neighborhood safety,” she said. “Looking at the broader systems helps to address positive and negative effects to someone’s health. We can get a glimpse at how different groups have been positively or negatively influenced by the community and its resources.”

Jordan said that when looking at the root causes of systemic issues, it is important to focus not only on creating opportunities for people, but also on breaking down barriers to healthier lifestyles.

“We want to reduce the biggest barriers as much as possible,” Jordan said. “When we can help provide access to low-cost child care, we can help positively impact the family and child. How we can help enhance the opportunity to find a well-paying job is to reduce the barrier of access to transportation or reduce the barrier of safe child care. Then we can help reduce (negative) health outcomes, because we can lower chronic stress that may be due to a bill or other financial issues.”

Jordan also said that although the report focuses on large populations, it’s still important to take a closer look at specific groups of people.

“It is important to us to make sure we carefully look at averages — a lot can hide in averages,” Jordan said. “The majority of the population in Lawrence is white, and this can hide important information if we only look at an average. For example, we have a high average of people in Douglas County with bachelor’s degrees. Well, we have three universities in the county. How does bachelor’s degree achievement differ by racial groups or other populations? Making sure to accurately report the data is key to change.” 

The data

The health equity report can be found on Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health’s website, ldchealth.org. Some of the key statistics from the report include:

• Almost half of the Douglas County households that rent are cost-burdened, meaning that they spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

• One in nine Douglas County residents live with a disability. Nearly half of Douglas County residents over age 75 live with a disability.

• The percentage of infants with low birth weight is statistically higher for mothers identifying as Black compared to those identifying as White, Asian or Hispanic. More than one in eight babies born to Black mothers in the county weighs less than 5.5 lbs.

• As the poverty rate increases in a census tract, life expectancy declines.

“In our community, we can see that health inequities exist,” said Erica Hill, who leads the LMH Health Foundation’s finance and strategic initiatives and is LMH Health’s equity, inclusion and diversity director. “The purpose of this month is to raise awareness about health disparities and health inequities that exist in minority populations, and this report from (Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health) shares data from our community.”

Hill said it’s important to remember what the data in the report signifies.

“The numbers in this report represent people in our community,” she said. “It’s not just a number on a spreadsheet. I appreciate the work of Public Health, and as a community, we should be intentional about addressing these disparities and inequities.”

Time for change

One of the first steps to overcoming biases is education and internal reflection, Harris said. She said that everyone has biases, but that people can take a step forward by realizing what their biases are and being open to changing them.

“Being open to changing your thought process can lead you to be a better physician, community member or friend,” Harris said. “You will make mistakes, and that is OK. People are there to kindly correct you, and after a while it becomes second nature and you correct yourself. It is always important to internally reflect on what you may have grown up hearing and be open to learning and hearing the facts and making changes to your actions.”

— Jessica Thomas is the social media and digital communications specialist for LMH Health, which is a major sponsor of the Journal-World’s Health section.