{"id":3310,"date":"2023-04-03T12:31:31","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T16:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nnpa.org\/education\/?p=3310"},"modified":"2023-06-06T13:10:51","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T17:10:51","slug":"black-women-take-charge-to-fight-for-black-womens-health-despite-persistent-disparities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nnpa.org\/education\/2023\/04\/03\/black-women-take-charge-to-fight-for-black-womens-health-despite-persistent-disparities\/","title":{"rendered":"Black women take charge to fight for Black women\u2019s health despite persistent disparities"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mylika Scatliffe,
\nAFRO Women\u2019s Health Writer<\/p>\n

As we move from Women\u2019s History Month, observed in March, into International Black Women\u2019s History Month, observed in April, the AFRO is honored to highlight women who are making moves on the medical front.<\/p>\n

Women are pillars of their family and the community. This month, we salute the women who are making sure that our daughters, sisters, aunts, mothers and grandmothers are healthy, safe and thriving in every aspect of the world. From addressing disparities in health screenings and diagnosis, to advocating for children in the doctor\u2019s office, Black women play a crucial part in the health of our communities.<\/p>\n

Read below to learn about a few of the country\u2019s top Black sheroes in white coats.<\/p>\n

\"Millicent
Millicent Gorham is CEO of the Alliance for Women\u2019s Health and Prevention.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Millicent Gorham: meet the healthcare advocate on a mission<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cImagine what we can do if we make sure every woman and girl can access high quality, culturally competent health care screening.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2013 Millicent Gorham.<\/p>\n

Millicent Gorham wants every woman and girl to get good medical care.\u00a0 Having served as the executive director of the National Black Nurses Association for 28 years, health care advocacy has been her life\u2019s work. Today she is the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance for Women\u2019s Health and Prevention (AWHP).<\/p>\n

Founded in October 2022, AWHP is a brand new, non-partisan 501 (c)(4) non-profit organization working to ensure all women and girls have access to high quality preventive health care.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen are forgoing crucial screenings for the whole gamut of diseases like breast, colorectal, and cervical cancers and osteoporosis because they can\u2019t afford the out-of-pocket costs. Work and family obligations leave them with limited time to schedule appointments, lack of transportation and sometimes [they] just don\u2019t fully understand the insurance coverage available to them,\u201d said Gorham.<\/p>\n

AWHP\u2019s mission is to advance policy that drives equitable access and prevents the burden and progression of disease to improve the lives and health of all women and girls, according to a press release announcing Gorham\u2019s being named CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure insurance companies understand that preventive care should be covered and to improve access for women who are uninsured and underinsured, making sure they can get it\u00a0 free or at low cost,\u201d said Gorham. \u201cMany physicians are changing their business models and demanding immediate payment for the entire office visit rather than just a co-pay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gorham said Black women also lag behind when it comes to screenings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree out of four women overall receive cervical cancer screenings, but when you break it down it\u2019s about 81 percent of White women being screened, compared to 65 percent of Black women, 66 percent of Asian women and 68 percent of Hispanic women.\u00a0 Seventy two percent of\u00a0 women are getting cervical screenings if recommended by their primary care doctors but only 34 percent of women will get screened if it is not covered by insurance,\u201d Gorham told the AFRO. \u201cUninsured and underinsured women are more likely to take a chance on not getting the screenings if there are financial implications such as having to pay the entire cost of an office visit upfront, even if they are insured.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a big chance to take, with potentially catastrophic results if the early signs of an illness are missed.<\/p>\n

\u201cCOVID-19 highlighted so many health disparities, but even before that they seemed to escalate for women of color. AWHP wants to make sure women and girls are aware of when they should have these screenings and the resources to do so to begin to turn these disparities around,\u201d said Gorham. \u201cWomen are the foundations and pillars of our families and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gorham highlighted that health professionals have noticed an earlier onset for some maladies, typically thought to begin later in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of these diseases are attacking our women at younger and younger ages, when they are most virulent. When we go down, everybody else goes down, so we want to make sure women can stay up to do what we need to for our families, communities, this nation and indeed the world,\u201d said Gorham.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Theodora Pinnock is passionate about helping children on the autism spectrum and the families that care for them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr. Theodora Pinnock develops a plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to develop a tool for providers and professionals <\/em>[so<\/em>] that when they see a Black child with delayed language, atypical sensory issues and repetitive behaviors, <\/em>[they do<\/em>] not wait, delay or make referrals for ADHD or bipolar disorder\u2013 but to refer them for autism spectrum disorder.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2013 Dr. Theodora Pinnock<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Theodora Pinnock has been called to help children with developmental disabilities.<\/p>\n

She is a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at Meharry Medical Group in Nashville, Tn., and this area has always been her passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cDevelopmental and behavioral pediatrics is a pediatric sub-specialty. There are not that many of us in the United States and there are less than 10 of us of color. My best friend growing up was a young lady with Down\u2019s Syndrome, so I always knew this is what I would do. It\u2019s been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember,\u201d said Pinnock.<\/p>\n

As a developmental and behavioral pediatrician, Pinnock was trained in assessing and helping children with developmental disabilities to get the correct services.\u00a0 Women like Pinnock are essential given the strong disparities for Black children and autism.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack children on average are identified as having autism two to three years later than their counterparts of any other race, and often only happens after they have seen an average of six professionals. This delay in identification and referral for treatment only happens with Black children,\u201d said Pinnock.<\/p>\n

\u201cAutism is developmental disability where a child has impairments leading to deficits in social interactions, communication, restrictive interest, repetitive behaviors, and atypical sensory response,\u201d explained Pinnock. \u201cChildren with autism spectrum disorder display symptoms such as delayed speech, rocking, spinning, pacing, sensitivity to loud noises, turning lights and water on and off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pinnock said that it is important to understand how these conditions and their symptoms\u2013 which appear no different in other races\u2013are treated when they arise in the Black community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese behaviors in Black children are attributed to attention deficit hyperactivity, bipolar, or obsessive-compulsive disorders, when they are actually signs of autism spectrum disorder. None of these disorders account for all the symptoms you see with kids with autism,\u201d Pinnock said.<\/p>\n

Pinnock has written articles with colleagues at Vanderbilt to address these disparities.<\/p>\n

She has been researching the differences in how Black families describe their children once they are able to see a medical provider about their symptoms, and how the professionals responded.\u00a0 They also completed some research with the Simons Foundation, who completed a phone survey with 400 Black families where children were identified as having autism.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the survey the families were asked (1) how did the child get identified, (2) if it took several providers to make the identification, (3) what the families told the professionals about their children\u2019s symptoms, and (4) what professionals did in response,\u201d described Pinnock.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, we\u2019re trying to develop a protocol to educate and empower parents to ask\u00a0 providers for the proper referral based on their observations as a parents,\u201d said Pinnock.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nicole Barnett does more than just talk the talk when it comes to fighting depression during and after pregnancy- she\u2019s lived everything she speaks about. Barnett encourages the village around new mothers to be patient and on alert for the warning signs of postpartum depression, which are often more subtle and less extreme than what is portrayed in the media\u2013 but detrimental nonetheless.<\/p>\n

Nicole Barnett: the woman taking on maternal health disparities\u2013 and not backing down\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMaternal mental health conditions are the biggest challenge women face during pregnancy and after childbirth.\u00a0 Black women carry so much and buy into the myth that we should be able to do it all.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n