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Patient Perspectives: Discussing Equity in Healthcare Matters

Medically reviewed in December 2021

Health equity in communities starts with representation within the medical field and understanding each individual patient's needs.

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Transcript

00:00
We know that health disparities exist. We're all minority women on this screen. How do we change that narrative? [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:11
What sector should be in charge of changing the narrative of how we paint patients?
00:17
I think there's definitely a lack of representation in so many different ways. I'm young for having rheumatoid arthritis.
00:25
Everybody that's ever heard of that disease, it's usually somebody that they know that's much older.
00:31
There has to be a well-rounded effort. You can't have some parts of a problem be resolved
00:38
and then other parts still continue to make that harder and harder for the rest of the people. I agree with Afshin on that.
00:45
You know, we have to understand the power of collaboration. It's going to be the health care system,
00:51
it's going to be government policy, it's going to be working with our communities and our community leaders, it's going
00:58
to be making sure that we engage our patients and whatever organizations they're involved in.
01:06
It has to be a holistic approach that everyone is an active participant in order to really drive change.
01:15
Just having a system where everybody is involved, starting with doing some educational programs
01:22
within the community of what certain things might look like, what doctors or providers are out there
01:28
that might be able to assist creating a program that will allow that for those who might have those challenges.
01:38
To round us out, if there was a philanthropist that said, I'm going to give you unlimited resources,
01:45
you can create whatever program you want. Have at it, you can do it. What would it be? You know, this boils down to really taking
01:54
the patient as an individual and helping them to navigate throughout the health care
02:03
journey are sort of central-- a centralized repository that helps the patient
02:09
to navigate based on their diagnosis all aspects of their care, that would be like health care utopia.
02:17
I think it would also be really helpful for people with rheumatoid arthritis to have more access to mental health care.
02:23
Therapy is not readily available for a lot of patients who do have chronic illnesses. And rather, therapists that know what that
02:33
means, to be chronically ill. I think being able to feel heard and understood
02:40
would greatly change and improve our quality of lives. I thank you for being vulnerable with us. I thank you for allowing us to learn through your lived life
02:48
experience. And hopefully, because of this conversation, we can shift and shape the way medicine is going to be practiced for generations to come.
02:56
So thank you. [MUSIC PLAYING]

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