Topic of Choice 2021

       From 2012-2015, I had the privilege of working alongside my mother at an urgent care clinic she owned and established on the south side of Lansing, MI. Her clinic was located within a predominantly low-income, high crime African American community where more than 90% of the patients were either on Medicaid, Medicare, or did not have any insurance at all. Although I was not medically certified to treat any of the patients, the various observations I made while working the front desk exposed me to the overwhelming health disparities and disadvantages that this patient population were forced to make their reality.     With a population of about 71,000 and approximately 30% of the entire city being on Medicaid, the south side of Lansing has only three physician's offices: Lansing Urgent Care, South Side Medical Center, and my mother's urgent care clinic. Lansing Urgent Care does not take patients with Medicaid meaning they don't treat "poor people." This...

 I think our country is amongst a very pivotal time where conversations about race and ethnicity permeate every facet of our lives. I would like to assume that American health systems are created equal and that everyone who seeks care will be afforded the same treatment and passion they deserve for being human, however, as a Black man in America I know that is not true. As with most major American institutions, healthcare needs to undergo drastic reform before it can truly attest to equality for everyone. There is a very blatant lack of representation of Black health professionals in the United States and it is reflected in the mortality rates of Black Americans across multiple health statistics. The effects can be seen in the overwhelming rate of Blacks who died from COVID as compared to other races or even the alarming high mortality rate of Black mothers who die during pregnancy or while giving birth. According an analysis conducted by NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene...