H E A L I N G ▫ A R T S
Dear beloved one,
I am writing with a note to you, daughter or son of a mother.
If the mother experience you’ve had in this life has been a perfect one, this letter is not for you.
This letter is for those with a mother wound. A mother loss, mother pain. Mother scars.
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In addition to the studies and reports below, I lift up the lived experiences of Black women, experiences which have often already confirmed for us what the studies and articles report.
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Let’s get into these updates!
U.S. Government Issues Guidance Prohibiting the Practice of Performing Sensitive/Intimate Examinations Without Consent
In a huge milestone for patient consent, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance requiring medical providers to obtain patient’s written consent before any intimate examinations, particularly if they are done on patients under anesthesia. Yale University bioethics researchers found that Black patients are four times more likely than white patients to report having received unconsented pelvic or prostate exams.
“Informed consent includes the right to refuse consent for sensitive examinations conducted for teaching purposes and the right to refuse to consent to any previously unagreed examinations to treatment while under anesthesia,” noted the letter.
A study of patient portal responses indicates discrimination in healthcare
A new study found that when patients belong to minority racial and ethnic groups, their patient portal messages to their provider were de-prioritized; they were less likely to receive a physician response and more likely to receive a response from a nurse.
Continue ReadingHi! Thanks for being here.
Below is a selection of the latest research and updates related to Black women’s health. Just as important as these studies and reports are the lived experiences of Black women, which are valid evidence in and of themselves. These studies often confirm what we already know, because we are living and experiencing it.
At the 2024 Miami Breast Cancer Conference this month, radiation oncologist Dr. Reshma Jagsi presented on disparities in breast cancer treatment for Black women. Noting that Black women in the U.S. have a death rate from breast cancer that is 40% higher than that of white women, she detailed how these disparities might come from specific racial disparities in care and treatment, such as Black women’s likelihood of receiving less efficient and more toxic radiotherapy treatment regimens. “In order to respect human dignity, we cannot allow these disparities to persist,” Jagsi said.
A health equity software program called Truity has been designed to help combat bias, institutionalized racism, and the resulting inequities in patient care. It’s used in real time by physicians, helping to guide their decisions in patient care and treatment. Mayo Clinic and Morehouse School of Medicine are among the institutions beginning to use the platform.
Continue ReadingYour calling has already found you.
I was meeting with my spiritual director recently and I said, “I feel like my calling chose me – like: it has me; I don’t have it.” I was describing the experience of feeling carried by something larger than myself, for a greater purpose (which is a huge blessing, by the way), and not having ultimate control in that process.
I’ve been thinking about that ever since, how I’ve come far enough now in life to understand that our vocations and callings are not something we have to struggle to figure out. I think we’re born into a purpose and that just by living our lives authentically, we can walk our way right into it, discover that we’re part of something larger, have been placed here for a specific and worthwhile reason for being.
A lot of the time we resist, insistent on trying to accomplish the way of our own choosing. I’m sure that sometimes the two are in alignment – what we want for our life’s mission and what life wants of us – but other times, and especially if our path is not meant to be a traditional one, not the way of the crowd, we try and go another way. The way our culture, parents, peer group, or schooling dictates for us. From the time we’re born, voices are constantly shouting “This is who you are.” Part of our life journey is to discover who we really are, what we have been created for, and what life wants to create for and through us. Then to have the courage to say to the world at some point, “This is who I am.”
Here’s the latest selection of research and updates related to Black women’s health:
The Commonwealth Fund has released the results of a study on discrimination against patients in health care settings. It shows that nearly half of all health care workers have witnessed this discrimination; workers at healthcare facilities with mostly Black or Latino patients witness discrimination at higher rates; and half of healthcare workers say racism against patients is a major problem. The report includes recommendations for change.
A study in Psychoneuroendocrinology indicates that pregnant patients with higher cortisol levels also had higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression – and these higher cortisol levels were also linked to higher levels of unpredicted birth complications during pregnancy and in the early postpartum period. This has implications for the maternal mortality crisis disproportionately impacting Black women in the United States.
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