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Healthcare

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Despite our region's stellar global healthcare and healthcare innovation reputation, we must still underscore a troubling reality: health disparities continue to adversely affect Black Women and families seeking care at our local institutions. 

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And to preempt, these health disparities are not solely related to poverty. Black Women of means, class, and education in Northeast Ohio experience some of the worst healthcare outcomes in the nation when being treated in traditional healthcare systems. 

Healthcare Summary

Black Women in Northeast Ohio need Black healthcare providers.

Bedside Manner + Callousness

The issue of inadequate bedside manner is especially critical when viewed within the broader healthcare crisis affecting Black Women across Northeast Ohio.

 

Cleveland's Black maternal healthcare crisis is characterized by alarmingly high rates of maternal morbidity and reduced life expectancy, particularly across East Side Cleveland neighborhoods, as well as Lorain, Stark, Summit, and Trumbull counties.

 

Anti-Black stereotypes play a significant role in creating a hostile healthcare environment for Black Women, fueling a cycle of disrespect and inequity that permeates each interaction.

Improper Pain Management

Black Women are disproportionately impacted by chronic pain, yet they frequently encounter substantial obstacles in obtaining effective pain management and high-quality care within traditional healthcare systems.

 

This critical issue is characterized by the frequent underestimation and undertreatment of pain experienced by Black patients, highlighting broader systemic gender and racial biases and inequities in medical care.

 

These disparities are the result of individual decisions made by medical providers and teams of healthcare decision-makers, reflecting a culmination of entrenched biases within the system.

Healthcare Themes

56%
of respondents have been spoken down to about their symptoms or health.

40%
said the healthcare staff's body language made them uncomfortable (refused to shake their hand, would not make eye contact).

35%
of respondents' healthcare provider refused to provide treatment or testing

Healthcare Statistics

The marriage of discriminatory healthcare practices and rapidly changing state and federal legal restrictions extend to limiting healthcare access for Black Women; particularly in areas like chronic pain management, prenatal care and abortion services.

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