Yale New Haven Hospital’s incoming president said he wants to ensure that Black and brown communities are considered in the process of improving healthcare.
Keith Churchwell cited that goal in an interview with Babz Rawls-Ivy on WNHH FM’s “Love Babz Love Talk” program.
Churchwell is set to assume the role of hospital president on Oct. 5. He will be the hospital’s first Black president.
Rawls-Ivy asked Churchwell about how the health system delegitimizes Black people, as both practitioners and patients.
“My first experience in medicine was as a resident at the Grady Hospital in Atlanta,” responded Churchwell. “I met many people who felt they weren’t represented or taken into account for care.”
One possible way to improve healthcare pathways: Encouraging participation of minority communities in healthcare studies, he said. Because of past abuses and cruelty, these communities are often skeptical.
“Even as money has poured into medical studies over the past 60 – 70 years, people of color have rarely been taken into consideration,” said Churchwell. “Many medical studies only studied the effects of treatments in white men, not even white women. How could this possibly provide a standard of care for the whole population?”
Churchwell proposed two methods to address this inequity: One aimed at organizers of studies, one at potential participants.
First, he said, the importance of racial diversity needs to be emphasized. “From a scientific viewpoint, representing only white men doesn’t make sense,” he added.
Second, he said, “I want people to understand that participating in a study or focus group is meaningful,. It’s an opportunity to improve the quality of healthcare for everyone, including your own children and grandchildren.”
He also said that increased transparency and accountability are needed to regain trust: “We need to explain the benefits and risks, clearly and fairly. People can then make an informed decision.” He cited the Yale Cultural Ambassadors Program, which seeks to increase local participation in community trials.
“Ultimately, people need to feel like they’re part of something larger,” he concluded. “I want to make sure that happens.”
Watch the full interview in the video at the top of the story.
With the long history of using white, average height, able bodied, straight males as a reference for everything from safety, medicine, design, computer programming, etc, it is important to diversify the references and standards applied so that technology and science and healthcare and safety and usage reflects and takes into account lots of human variation. That being said, the long history of exploitation and abuse of minorities and the disabled in the fields of health and medicine and science will be difficult to overcome. Transparency and dignity and verified trust will be necessary to prove to people that their best interests and well being are the first priority of the professionals in those fields.