Byline: Kelly Brewington
Aug. 23--Dr. Monica Reed, senior medical officer at Florida Hospital, knows that if she walks into an emergency room, chances are more likely that she will receive inferior health care than someone who is white.
'And heaven forbid I walk in there wearing jeans and a T-shirt,' Reed, who is black, told about 200 Central Florida health-care professionals at a meeting Thursday to discuss disparities in health care for minorities. The summit was sponsored by Florida Hospital.
'There are unconscious opinions, biases and stereotypes that we have, and they play a role in how we treat people,' she said. 'Most of us aren't willing to admit this, but we all have them.'
While economics, access to insurance and cultural nuances all play a role, race alone can make all the difference, said Dr. John Agwunobi, secretary of the Florida Department of Health, who delivered the keynote speech.
Even when minority and white patients have the same economic backgrounds, insurance and disease, and see the same doctor, the minority patient typically doesn't fare as well, he said.
'I bow my head in embarrassment because health care treats people differently,' he said.
The disparities exist regardless of the race of the health-care provider, Agwunobi said.
'This is not about white physicians not treating black patients right,' he said. 'This goes across the board.'
The gap in care is not new, but the group of Central Florida health-care professionals pledged to find solutions, including more access to translators and better training for health-care workers. The group plans to follow up with further meetings.
The problem is apparent with almost every major disease. Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to die from diabetes, heart disease, stroke and AIDS than whites. They also have soaring rates of tuberculosis, infant mortality and teen births.
In addition, minorities are less likely to:
Be placed on waiting lists for kidney transplants, or receive transplants or dialysis.
Receive key diagnostic tests for diabetes, stroke and cancer.
Receive state-of-the-art treatments for HIV.
Be given appropriate heart medications or undergo bypass surgery or angioplasty.
The barriers to health care include costs of doctor visits and prescription drugs; lack of insurance; difficulty finding a doctor; and lack of transportation, according to a 1999 survey of 1,400 people in Orange, Seminole and Osecola counties done by the Winter Park Health Foundation and Community Health Improvement Council.
Beyond those, language and communication barriers have led to misdiagnoses. In addition, some minority patients are reluctant to trust health-care professionals because they think they will be discriminated against.
That lack of trust also is evident in research trials, said Dr. Rebecca Moroose, medical director at Florida Hospital Cancer Institute.
Past discrimination, such as the Tuskegee syphilis experiment -- in which for 40 years the government used black men as guinea pigs to find out the effects of untreated syphilis -- lingers in the minds of some minorities, she said.
As a result, they are less likely to participate in medical studies, which can yield positive results and offer attentive care, she said.
'It's a shame that a huge population is not accessing that,' Moroose said.
Roniece Weaver, executive director for Hebni Nutrition Consultants, which offers health workshops for black women, said she hopes the conference wasn't the end of the discussion and that groups work together.
'Instead of going back to the office and saying, 'That was good; they fed me well,' we should all be coming up with solutions,' she said.
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(c) 2002. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
