HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Disparities in health care during the COVID-19 pandemic took center stage during an online event hosted by the Dr. Carter G. Woodson Lyceum at Marshall University.
A panel including Marshall and statewide health care experts and scientists, as well as Marshall President Jerome Gilbert, Head Football Coach Charles Huff and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams spoke late Wednesday afternoon on the issues they have seen and what more needs to be done.
Gilbert said it is everyone’s responsibility and duty to ensure all Americans get quality healthcare, especially at this hour in time.
“We need to be vigilant in educating all people about health disparities and urging individuals with disparities to get tested and to get vaccinated,” Gilbert said.
“I am heartened that other people around the country are also talking about minority health disparities. And what we can do to identify, treat and prevent them now and in the future.”
Trust has long been an issue for minority communities in West Virginia, as detailed by the Charleston Gazette-Mail in January, as minority leaders continued a call for a medical professionals team with minority representation.
Trust in health professionals and the country was one of the three pillars laid out by Huff, an African-American and panelist during the meeting. He said there needs to be education on the virus and vaccine that leads to trust.
“If we don’t trust the people that have been selected to guide us then why did we select them. And if we weren’t apart of the selection process, we should have been,” Huff said.
“We have to trust the healthcare system. We have to trust that the information we are getting from the medical professionals is valid information.”
Huff was vaccinated in January in Charleston as part of a mass vaccination clinic hosted by the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department. He pushed for those to receive a vaccine if they had the opportunity.
His third pillar was dissecting the narrative about the virus and vaccine. He said if dissected properly, people will see the vaccine is going to give this country a chance to save lives and get back to a normal way of life.
Jill Upson, the chair of the Governor’s Commission on Disparities and executive director of the Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs, spoke Thursday about the challenges with earning that trust and what her team of minorities professionals has tried to do.
The state minority health task force, consisting of health care leaders, state lawmakers and faith-based leaders, was formed in May during the pandemic.
She said they met several times a week and reported to state coronavirus czar Clay Marsh, state health officer Ayne Amjad and DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch.
Upson told the virtual crowd in some instances, it became a ‘knockdown, drag-out fight’ to get COVID-19 testing sites in the most underserved communities and to earn trust to test. She noted the task force has gone to square one with messaging on the vaccine to earn trust.
She admitted much more needs done with transportation in underserved communities and the vaccine. Upson said she spoke with FEMA officials this week on looking into solutions that include going into homes and vaccinate people.
She said not everyone can make it to the mass vaccination events.
“There are very elderly patients out there who cannot get to the clinic. There are amputees. Their saying is there is no point in being on a registration list if you call me and I still can’t get there,” Upson said.
The discussion also featured Dr. Leonard White, associate dean of diversity and an assistant professor of medicine at Marshall’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, who joined the faculty in 2013.
Also featured were Dean Joseph Shapiro of Marshall’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and Dr. Lauri Andress of West Virginia University.
Tune in today at 4 pm at https://t.co/1KDIBofng3 to hear @MUSOMWV‘s Drs. Joseph Shapiro & Leonard White, @MarshalluPres, @CoachHuff, Jill Upton, Dr. Lauri Andress and @HuntingtonMayor on a panel discussion on Disparities in Health Care During the Pandemic. #BHM #WoodsonLyceum pic.twitter.com/gj6sKpLjcA
— Marshall School of Medicine (@MUSOMWV) February 10, 2021