Making a Difference

For the last few months I have been working with a group on understanding the barriers to breast cancer screening in BIPOC communities. As we wrap up our work and start disseminating results I am reflecting on the thing that stood out to me the most: fear as a barrier. There is fear of the mammogram itself (it hurts… does it cause cancer?), the fear of what it might discover and how that will change lives, and the fear of entering the healthcare setting. This last fear is particularly disquieting, and the hardest to change. Too many people have faced prejudice and stigma in their healthcare experiences.

Most healthcare providers would deny holding any kind of prejudice, but that is not what we project to patients. What are the solutions? Creating a healthcare workforce that reflects the communities we serve is the ideal, but that is a long way from becoming a reality. In the meantime, we need to work on ourselves; we need to look at how we educate students entering healthcare professions. We need to be the change. Healthcare providers need to get out in the community, rub shoulders with people who do not look with us - see their humanity - learn to love who they are. We need to study the history of discrimination and prejudice in healthcare so that we can understand why people are afraid of us. We need to empower our patients, not intimidate them.

There is a lot of work to be done. This is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Make the most of it by educating yourself and becoming part of the solution.

#breastcancerawareness #breastcancerdisparity