Five years post-COVID, racial disparities in health still persist 

The COVID- pandemic shined a light on what multiple of us already knew to be the truth revealed Dr Kevin Gilliam NorthPoint Physical condition and Wellness Center s physiological director Dr Kevin Gilliam Photo credit Uche Iroegbu Credit Uche Iroegbu This truth That there are disparities in wellbeing care and overall wellness based on a variety of factors such as poverty and discrimination As a development of systemic discrimination these disparities can often fall along racial and ethnic lines with non-white populations experiencing poorer healthcare outcomes compared to their white counterparts These inequities were made even more apparent during COVID- Research from the University of Minnesota published in indicated that racial minorities and those who did not speak English in Minnesota were more likely to have severe COVID- which was measured as hospitalization within days of being diagnosed Even when other socioeconomic factors were controlled via zip code people who were not white and non-English speaking were more likely to be hospitalized after contracting COVID- Anthony Stately Ph D executive director and president of the Native American Society Clinic NACC saw firsthand how his locality of Indigenous Americans was disproportionately impacted Anthony Stately Almost from the very beginning we saw significantly higher rates of COVID positivity among Indigenous people within the urban core which is where we serve explained Stately himself a citizen of the Oneida nation of Wisconsin and a descendant of the Great Red Lake and White Earth nations It was true for countless of the tribal communities all across Minnesota as well We saw higher rates of hospitalization and higher rates of mortality very early on For Stately the ability to have conversations about disparities in strength care was in chosen means the major gain that created all other gains But the immediate future of federal funding for robustness care systems is in limbo casting this progress into an uncertain future Responding in public During the pandemic locality outreach was essential District healthcare centers also known as federally qualified medical centers were in a unique position to do this work Jonathan Watson People would say the COVID pandemic unearthed a lot of disparities in the system mentioned Jonathan Watson CEO of the Minnesota Association of Society Wellness Centers We ve known about these disparities for six decades in the state of Minnesota as society healthcare centers This is nothing new to our populations From the get-go when we were founded in as a group of wellbeing centers our model of care has unfailingly been to consult with the locality and develop programs and response to that On the board of directors of each one of these organizations half of the members of that board have to be patients of that physical condition center Accountability to local prevailing conditions is just baked into our DNA Though Minnesota locality vitality centers felt overlooked by the Department of Strength MDH in the early days of the pandemic according to Watson MDH soon realized that these group centers were valuable partners in reaching out to communities In particular noted Watson one in five people in the rural United States gets their primary care from a society soundness center such as Scenic Rivers Wellbeing Services a neighborhood physical condition center with various clinics in northern Minnesota Once they figured out that region robustness centers could get the vaccines out quicker we were the go-to on every call mentioned Kimberly Spates CEO of NorthPoint Fitness and Wellness Center Kimberly Spates At NorthPoint listening to clients led to various changes in operations including drive-up COVID testing and walk-in clinics for COVID vaccines In Minneapolis Phillips society NACC held pop-up testing clinics working with other vitality systems including M Vitality Fairview to meet the demands of their patients They also provided services that while not explicitly related to robustness care have great impact on physical condition and wellbeing such as delivering food and supplies to elders and others unable to leave their homes during the crisis period To allay vaccine hesitancy NACC also inquired society elders to pray over the vaccine when it was delivered We petitioned our elders to pray over that medicine and to ask that medicine to advocacy our fitness and our wellbeing and to do good things in our society explained Stately We thought of the ceremony as a way to help people in our society feel good and trust that the medicine was going to be helpful and not harmful Physical condition care beyond COVID During the pandemic all hands were on deck responding to COVID- The side effect of this care however was that other opportunities for physical condition care were missed or delayed Folks just weren t coming in for routine exams especially those who have hypertension and diabetes announced Spates They just got worse over the pandemic While funding was provided by the federal leadership to address disparities during the pandemic through society outreach commented Dr Gilliam preponderance of it was related specifically to COVID- vaccinations or testing rather than focusing on a more holistic approach to physical condition equity Much of that did not then translate back into supporting non-COVID-based interventions explained Gilliam It still remains to be seen whether or not that same engagement will kind of persist through time Now at NorthPoint Spates says the upward battle is getting people back on a regular schedule of care after pandemic interruptions To this end NorthPoint has extended hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays to accommodate patients and a focus on outreach in schools and communities For Scenic Rivers Wellbeing Services in northern Minnesota transportation and long wait times for services during COVID- also contributed to a lower volume of patients for non-COVID-related wellbeing concerns We saw our volume numbers drop significantly stated Keith Harvey CEO of Scenic Rivers Part of that was people not wanting to come into the clinic but part of it was the way we set up our operation Keith Harvey As an example Harvey spoke about dental services at Scenic Rivers four dental clinics During the pandemic there was a -minute wait between visits in order to sanitize surfaces which affected the number of patients who were able to be seen on a given day going from about - patients to six Though patients started coming back in as the pandemic waned announced Harvey they came in wanting providers to respond to various questions and concerns in a single session The difficulty there is that multiple of the patients are on Medicaid or Medicare where providers are paid a fixed amount per session without regard for the number of concerns addressed As such new investments in fitness equity for Scenic Rivers include efforts to reach out to patients about more consistent ongoing care including through the efforts of region strength workers For NACC the lesson learned from the pandemic has been to understand the importance of fortifying and investing in the healthcare structures and the available tools within communities long term disclosed Stately There s a lot more work that has to go into providing access than just opening the doors Stately disclosed You have to work with the population and build trust You have to show up and be humble be willing to listen and be willing to learn And I think we re in a better place in the present day than we were five years ago but that work is not over especially right now especially within the current times we re in Looking forward To address medical equity disparities need to be discussed and understood What the pandemic provided those at locality physical condition centers have noted was an opportunity for more mainstream recognition of wellbeing disparities Since the pandemic Gilliam believes there is more ability to have honest conversations around these disparities though it is still fairly early to measure the impact of work done during the pandemic on healthcare disparities I do know that people who work actively in the area to combat racial disparities remain undeterred and very motivated to continue to work added Gilliam The disparities themselves have not shifted the reasons they exist have not changed If people are fearful of speaking about problems within their communities due to fear of reprisal added Stately it opens up a tremendous opportunity for external threats or even threats within their own society to create more damage This fear of reprisal is already present in Minnesota s Hispanic and Latino population At NorthPoint says Spates members of this region have expressed concerns about immigration executives accessing their wellness care information We see a lot of folks who seemingly could qualify for Medicare or Medicaid but choose not to participate because they don t want their information being used in a certain way stated Spates We take precautions to ensure that their information is being shared according to HIPAA and all the other guidelines but folks are just afraid Despite this fear along with anticipated losses in federal funding group soundness centers in Minnesota are full steam ahead says Watson Wellness centers have been around for years We provide care to folks that are in our district However they refer to themselves however they present ourselves we serve them This is what we re mandated to do by federal law The post Five years post-COVID racial disparities in wellness still persist appeared first on MinnPost