1 00:00:01,001 --> 00:00:03,337 - Hello, I'm Oprah Winfrey, 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 3 00:00:03,403 --> 00:00:05,448 and I wonder if something like this has ever happened to you 4 00:00:05,472 --> 00:00:06,874 {\an1}when you're reading the news 5 00:00:06,940 --> 00:00:09,309 and a story just stops you cold. 6 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 7 00:00:09,376 --> 00:00:11,778 Well, that happened to me at the height of the pandemic. 8 00:00:11,845 --> 00:00:15,315 I read about a Black family in Detroit named the Fowlers, 9 00:00:15,382 --> 00:00:17,751 and I have to tell you their harrowing story 10 00:00:17,818 --> 00:00:19,219 would not let me rest. 11 00:00:19,286 --> 00:00:20,787 In fact, it haunted me. 12 00:00:20,854 --> 00:00:24,224 The father, Gary Fowler, worked hard his entire life 13 00:00:24,291 --> 00:00:27,227 to provide for his family, and at 56 years old, 14 00:00:27,294 --> 00:00:30,430 he was working 80 hours a week as a security guard 15 00:00:30,497 --> 00:00:34,368 because his greatest desire was to create a secure, 16 00:00:34,434 --> 00:00:36,603 beautiful life for his loved ones. 17 00:00:36,670 --> 00:00:38,338 He became ill, 18 00:00:38,405 --> 00:00:41,041 started experiencing COVID symptoms. 19 00:00:41,108 --> 00:00:44,211 He went to three different hospitals. 20 00:00:44,278 --> 00:00:46,513 That's right. Three different hospitals. 21 00:00:46,580 --> 00:00:49,383 And here's what stopped me cold. 22 00:00:49,449 --> 00:00:53,520 Each hospital sent him home even though he told them 23 00:00:53,587 --> 00:00:57,090 that he'd put his own father in the hospital for COVID. 24 00:00:57,157 --> 00:00:59,426 Try to imagine yourself or your loved one 25 00:00:59,493 --> 00:01:04,598 going to three different hospitals, asking, 26 00:01:04,665 --> 00:01:06,533 begging for help. 27 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:10,337 Eventually, Mr. Fowler became so tired, 28 00:01:10,404 --> 00:01:13,340 so exhausted, he went home, 29 00:01:13,407 --> 00:01:16,052 {\an1}sat in his favorite recliner, 30 00:01:16,076 --> 00:01:17,945 and that's where he died 31 00:01:18,078 --> 00:01:22,583 because hospitals did not think he was sick enough to treat. 32 00:01:22,649 --> 00:01:27,554 Can you imagine if access to life-saving healthcare for you 33 00:01:27,621 --> 00:01:32,559 or somebody you love depended on the color of their skin? 34 00:01:32,626 --> 00:01:35,395 Well, this devastating story had me wondering 35 00:01:35,462 --> 00:01:39,132 how many other Gary Fowlers are there out there? 36 00:01:39,199 --> 00:01:41,668 Research says there are far too many, 37 00:01:41,735 --> 00:01:45,372 and we need to do something about the larger pandemic 38 00:01:45,439 --> 00:01:47,007 that COVID has exposed, 39 00:01:47,107 --> 00:01:52,312 disparities in our healthcare system that cost lives. 40 00:01:52,379 --> 00:01:54,648 I want this to echo through our culture 41 00:01:54,715 --> 00:01:58,685 and particularly our medical community. 42 00:01:58,752 --> 00:02:00,654 This needs to change. 43 00:02:00,721 --> 00:02:04,057 And my hope, my greatest intention 44 00:02:04,124 --> 00:02:05,359 for this documentary 45 00:02:05,425 --> 00:02:07,427 is for the stories that we tell 46 00:02:07,494 --> 00:02:09,630 and the realities that they represent 47 00:02:09,696 --> 00:02:12,599 to serve not just as a wake-up call 48 00:02:12,666 --> 00:02:17,571 but as a call to do something, a call to action. 49 00:02:17,638 --> 00:02:22,342 This can be changed, and we're the ones to do it. 50 00:02:24,611 --> 00:02:27,314 [ambient background noise] 51 00:02:27,381 --> 00:02:28,882 - The World Health Organization 52 00:02:28,949 --> 00:02:30,984 is holding an emergency meeting right now 53 00:02:31,084 --> 00:02:32,653 out of growing concerns 54 00:02:32,719 --> 00:02:35,489 {\an1} about the deadly coronavirus officially hitting the U.S. 55 00:02:35,556 --> 00:02:37,991 Here's what we know: a Washington State resident 56 00:02:38,091 --> 00:02:40,961 fell ill after returning from Wuhan, China, 57 00:02:41,094 --> 00:02:42,362 where the outbreak began. 58 00:02:42,429 --> 00:02:44,765 - The woman who answered the phone said, 59 00:02:44,831 --> 00:02:48,368 {\an8}"Well, you know, he's really not doing well. 60 00:02:48,435 --> 00:02:53,006 {\an8}He has no appetite, and he's not feeling good." 61 00:02:53,106 --> 00:02:56,310 {\an1}They had no beds in the ICU, 62 00:02:56,376 --> 00:02:59,246 and so he never left the emergency room. 63 00:02:59,313 --> 00:03:02,049 He never really regained consciousness, 64 00:03:02,115 --> 00:03:06,353 and he never left there, and we never saw him again. 65 00:03:06,420 --> 00:03:10,457 He was my brother and my playmate, 66 00:03:10,524 --> 00:03:14,795 my bike riding buddy, my tree climbing... 67 00:03:14,862 --> 00:03:16,196 that was my brother. 68 00:03:16,263 --> 00:03:17,631 [soft dramatic music] 69 00:03:17,698 --> 00:03:19,867 - April 9th, they took him to the hospital. 70 00:03:19,933 --> 00:03:23,637 {\an7}I'd keep calling and calling, just trying to reach somebody 71 00:03:23,704 --> 00:03:26,406 {\an7}to find out what is going on. 72 00:03:26,473 --> 00:03:29,877 {\an8}And the way one of the doctors responded, 73 00:03:29,943 --> 00:03:32,813 it was like, "Well, do you really want him intubated?" 74 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:37,951 I said, "Well, do whatever you can to keep him alive." 75 00:03:38,085 --> 00:03:42,356 It was as though... like he's a ward of the state. 76 00:03:42,422 --> 00:03:44,358 You know, he's on Medicaid and Medicare, 77 00:03:44,424 --> 00:03:47,160 and it's like so what's the concern? 78 00:03:47,227 --> 00:03:50,898 That didn't come out, but it was intimated that way. 79 00:03:50,964 --> 00:03:52,466 [siren wailing] 80 00:03:52,533 --> 00:03:54,801 By the 17th, he was dead. 81 00:03:56,203 --> 00:03:59,239 - He'd be out in a few days, no big deal. 82 00:03:59,306 --> 00:04:01,742 {\an8}We say goodbye, and... 83 00:04:01,808 --> 00:04:03,110 {\an8} ♪ ♪ 84 00:04:03,177 --> 00:04:05,679 {\an8} - The first case of the deadly coronavirus 85 00:04:05,746 --> 00:04:08,549 {\an8} making its way to the U.S. 86 00:04:08,615 --> 00:04:12,853 {\an8}- They put him in a wheelchair, and he just looked at me, 87 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,190 {\an8}and he just said like... 88 00:04:16,256 --> 00:04:17,424 {\an8}"Mel, I want you to know 89 00:04:17,491 --> 00:04:21,128 {\an8}"that I never knew a love like this before. 90 00:04:21,195 --> 00:04:24,665 I love you so much." And I said, "I love you too. 91 00:04:24,731 --> 00:04:26,709 {\an1}"We're gonna get through this. You're gonna get through this. 92 00:04:26,733 --> 00:04:28,635 You're young. You're healthy." 93 00:04:29,736 --> 00:04:31,638 But... 94 00:04:35,075 --> 00:04:38,111 - She was still on the gurney when she coded. 95 00:04:38,178 --> 00:04:40,714 - The daily death tolls... nearly 2,900 people 96 00:04:40,781 --> 00:04:42,482 yesterday alone died of the coronavirus. 97 00:04:42,549 --> 00:04:43,750 That's one every... 98 00:04:43,817 --> 00:04:45,061 - I was talking to family, 99 00:04:45,085 --> 00:04:48,755 and they were describing calling for EMTs 100 00:04:48,822 --> 00:04:51,625 to come pick them up and the EMTs not arriving 101 00:04:51,692 --> 00:04:53,493 {\an8}or the EMTs convincing them 102 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:55,429 {\an8}that they didn't need to go to the hospital 103 00:04:55,495 --> 00:04:57,331 {\an8}or not believing that they were sick. 104 00:04:57,397 --> 00:05:00,067 {\an8}They were describing going to the hospital 105 00:05:00,133 --> 00:05:04,137 {\an8}and being sent home, not being believed that they were ill. 106 00:05:04,204 --> 00:05:05,906 {\an8} - She had called twice. 107 00:05:06,039 --> 00:05:09,743 {\an8}They talked her out of going twice. 108 00:05:09,810 --> 00:05:11,645 {\an8} ♪ ♪ 109 00:05:11,712 --> 00:05:15,048 {\an8}- I was told, "You have COVID, but we can't give you a test 110 00:05:15,115 --> 00:05:17,784 {\an8}"because if we test everybody that come in here, 111 00:05:17,851 --> 00:05:20,153 {\an8}we'd have been ran out of tests two weeks ago." 112 00:05:20,220 --> 00:05:23,323 [siren blaring] 113 00:05:26,593 --> 00:05:28,929 - One of my sons took me to the hospital, 114 00:05:29,062 --> 00:05:30,931 and they turned me away. 115 00:05:31,064 --> 00:05:34,134 - My husband had died, and I never got a phone call. 116 00:05:34,201 --> 00:05:36,103 [siren blaring] 117 00:05:36,170 --> 00:05:39,973 - Americans go from seeing this thing on TV in China 118 00:05:40,073 --> 00:05:42,075 to understanding that it is in their living rooms, 119 00:05:42,109 --> 00:05:43,677 it is in their schools, 120 00:05:43,744 --> 00:05:45,879 and immediately, it becomes clear 121 00:05:45,946 --> 00:05:48,415 to people who understand health disparities 122 00:05:48,482 --> 00:05:51,685 that Black people, Latinos, Native Americans, 123 00:05:51,752 --> 00:05:54,254 that they are gonna be in for a rough ride. 124 00:05:54,321 --> 00:05:59,092 ♪ ♪ 125 00:06:08,769 --> 00:06:11,872 {\an7} [dramatic orchestral music] 126 00:06:11,939 --> 00:06:18,846 {\an8} ♪ ♪ 127 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:39,066 ♪ ♪ 128 00:06:40,300 --> 00:06:43,303 [somber music] 129 00:06:43,370 --> 00:06:50,177 ♪ ♪ 130 00:06:58,785 --> 00:07:00,521 {\an1}- I'm Desha Johnson-Hargrove. 131 00:07:00,587 --> 00:07:03,123 {\an1} Jason Hargrove was my husband. 132 00:07:03,190 --> 00:07:05,025 He was a bus driver 133 00:07:05,058 --> 00:07:08,028 for the Detroit Department of Transportation, 134 00:07:08,061 --> 00:07:11,164 and he absolutely loved what he did 135 00:07:11,231 --> 00:07:13,066 {\an1} for the citizens of Detroit. 136 00:07:13,133 --> 00:07:16,603 He put that blue uniform on every day proudly, 137 00:07:16,670 --> 00:07:19,139 {\an8}you know, leaving the house 4:00 a.m., 138 00:07:19,206 --> 00:07:20,507 {\an8}5:00 a.m., 6:00 a.m., 139 00:07:20,574 --> 00:07:23,377 {\an8}sometimes doing double shifts in a day 140 00:07:23,443 --> 00:07:25,312 for little pay. 141 00:07:25,379 --> 00:07:27,147 {\an1}His service was big for him. 142 00:07:27,214 --> 00:07:30,284 He loved being a provider for his family, 143 00:07:30,350 --> 00:07:32,085 so he did it with pride. 144 00:07:32,152 --> 00:07:35,956 Normal day, I mean, raise our beautiful children. 145 00:07:36,056 --> 00:07:37,224 We have five. 146 00:07:37,291 --> 00:07:40,727 School, work for the both of us, church. 147 00:07:40,794 --> 00:07:44,298 The incident that Jason had 148 00:07:44,364 --> 00:07:47,401 on his bus 149 00:07:47,467 --> 00:07:49,503 this particular day, 150 00:07:49,570 --> 00:07:53,674 he complained about a female passenger 151 00:07:53,740 --> 00:07:56,143 who very carelessly 152 00:07:56,210 --> 00:07:59,479 would just outright cough 153 00:07:59,546 --> 00:08:02,316 repeatedly on the bus. 154 00:08:02,382 --> 00:08:04,051 She was not masked. 155 00:08:04,117 --> 00:08:07,354 She used nothing to cover her face, 156 00:08:07,421 --> 00:08:10,591 and it upset him very much. 157 00:08:10,657 --> 00:08:13,293 Let me go into this video. 158 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:17,030 ♪ ♪ 159 00:08:17,097 --> 00:08:18,565 You know, the crazy part 160 00:08:18,632 --> 00:08:22,603 is I have never... 161 00:08:22,669 --> 00:08:24,938 watched the whole thing. 162 00:08:26,507 --> 00:08:27,574 Okay. 163 00:08:27,641 --> 00:08:31,812 ♪ ♪ 164 00:08:31,879 --> 00:08:34,147 - Hey, look, listen, man. I'm gonna say something. 165 00:08:34,214 --> 00:08:35,682 [clears throat] 166 00:08:38,752 --> 00:08:43,090 This coronavirus [bleep] is for real. 167 00:08:43,156 --> 00:08:47,594 And for you to get on a bus, grown-ass person, 168 00:08:47,661 --> 00:08:50,964 {\an1} and cough four or five times 169 00:08:51,064 --> 00:08:52,566 without covering up your mouth, 170 00:08:52,633 --> 00:08:56,103 and you know we in the midst of a [bleep] crisis... 171 00:08:56,170 --> 00:08:58,272 And they telling you every day what to do! 172 00:08:58,338 --> 00:09:01,875 Cough in your arm, sneeze in some tissue. 173 00:09:02,009 --> 00:09:04,444 That [bleep] don't make no damn sense, 174 00:09:04,511 --> 00:09:06,480 and I mean that. 175 00:09:06,547 --> 00:09:08,315 That was disrespectful. 176 00:09:08,382 --> 00:09:14,188 Disrespectful. I mean, damn, what the hell? 177 00:09:14,254 --> 00:09:15,589 Oh, man. 178 00:09:15,656 --> 00:09:17,357 But yo, I gotta get outta here. 179 00:09:17,424 --> 00:09:20,527 I gotta make this run. 180 00:09:20,594 --> 00:09:22,062 Y'all be safe. 181 00:09:22,129 --> 00:09:24,331 If you ain't got to go out, don't go out. 182 00:09:24,398 --> 00:09:26,600 If you go out, cover up your face, 183 00:09:26,667 --> 00:09:30,170 put some gloves on your hands, please. 184 00:09:30,237 --> 00:09:32,506 And if you see somebody coughing 185 00:09:32,573 --> 00:09:33,841 and they don't cover up, 186 00:09:33,907 --> 00:09:35,475 bust them in the back of the head. 187 00:09:35,542 --> 00:09:38,745 I'm outta here, y'all. I love y'all, peace. 188 00:09:42,115 --> 00:09:45,919 - A couple of days later, his temperature was 101. 189 00:09:48,055 --> 00:09:51,925 I took him immediately to Sinai-Grace Hospital. 190 00:09:52,059 --> 00:09:55,095 They gave him a prescription for cough syrup. 191 00:09:55,162 --> 00:09:57,898 They told him to go on a 14-day quarantine. 192 00:09:57,965 --> 00:09:59,800 They never tested him. 193 00:10:02,236 --> 00:10:06,106 By day four, Jason had extreme chills. 194 00:10:06,173 --> 00:10:08,375 He can't smell. He can't taste. 195 00:10:08,442 --> 00:10:09,610 He's coughing. 196 00:10:09,676 --> 00:10:12,913 He has a fever, and he now has diarrhea. 197 00:10:12,980 --> 00:10:16,483 {\an1}Jason held his hands up to me, 198 00:10:16,550 --> 00:10:19,987 and he said, "Baby, look... 199 00:10:20,053 --> 00:10:21,889 I'm blue." 200 00:10:21,955 --> 00:10:24,358 I take him to Sinai-Grace. 201 00:10:24,424 --> 00:10:27,327 He says, "They listened to my lungs 202 00:10:27,394 --> 00:10:29,930 "and they told me my lungs were clear. 203 00:10:29,997 --> 00:10:33,567 "They told me that my fever wasn't high enough. 204 00:10:33,634 --> 00:10:36,336 "It was only at 99. 205 00:10:36,403 --> 00:10:42,075 "And that the color would come back in my hands." 206 00:10:44,044 --> 00:10:47,114 So if this man is working out in the public every day, 207 00:10:47,181 --> 00:10:50,584 why don't you test him? I didn't understand that. 208 00:10:51,485 --> 00:10:55,822 The next day, he began to cough extremely bad. 209 00:10:55,889 --> 00:10:57,724 He says, "We're gonna go to Sinai, 210 00:10:57,791 --> 00:10:59,960 and I'ma be okay." 211 00:11:00,060 --> 00:11:03,697 My son Darshawn pulls up to the door. 212 00:11:03,764 --> 00:11:06,767 He lets them know that he needs oxygen. 213 00:11:06,834 --> 00:11:08,368 They send a wheelchair out. 214 00:11:08,435 --> 00:11:11,371 They take him in. They won't let him go in. 215 00:11:11,438 --> 00:11:13,440 He's like, "Please, I want to stay with my dad." 216 00:11:13,507 --> 00:11:17,344 They tell him he can't come in. We'll take care of him. 217 00:11:17,411 --> 00:11:22,816 I call... and I call 218 00:11:22,883 --> 00:11:24,218 and I call. 219 00:11:24,284 --> 00:11:26,086 "My husband's been there all night, 220 00:11:26,119 --> 00:11:28,064 {\an1}"and I haven't heard anything. 221 00:11:28,088 --> 00:11:29,957 "Can you have him call me? 222 00:11:30,090 --> 00:11:31,758 At least just have him call me." 223 00:11:31,825 --> 00:11:35,395 And she says, "Well, Mrs. Hargrove, 224 00:11:35,462 --> 00:11:39,099 he can't talk to you because he's on the ventilator." 225 00:11:39,166 --> 00:11:40,734 How could this even happen? 226 00:11:40,801 --> 00:11:44,238 Like, what...[huffs] no calls? 227 00:11:44,304 --> 00:11:49,276 He's been there now for nine, ten hours. 228 00:11:49,343 --> 00:11:50,744 I keep calling. 229 00:11:50,811 --> 00:11:52,546 They tell me as soon as he gets a bed, 230 00:11:52,613 --> 00:11:54,248 they'll give me an update. 231 00:11:54,314 --> 00:11:58,619 Jason has been in Sinai-Grace Hospital now 232 00:11:58,685 --> 00:12:00,087 for two days. 233 00:12:00,153 --> 00:12:02,956 They finally tell me he has a bed 234 00:12:03,056 --> 00:12:05,058 and he now has a nurse assigned, 235 00:12:05,092 --> 00:12:08,128 and they transferred me to the nurse. 236 00:12:08,195 --> 00:12:10,464 Nurse gets on the phone. She introduces herself. 237 00:12:10,531 --> 00:12:12,232 {\an1}She says she's nurse Cheryl. 238 00:12:12,299 --> 00:12:15,869 Any changes in him, she would contact me. 239 00:12:15,936 --> 00:12:18,071 She said she was standing there with him 240 00:12:18,138 --> 00:12:20,049 at the moment, right then, 241 00:12:20,073 --> 00:12:23,944 and she says, "Your husband's looking good." 242 00:12:24,077 --> 00:12:27,314 She says, "I know that sounds a little crazy 243 00:12:27,381 --> 00:12:29,483 because, yes, he's on a ventilator." 244 00:12:29,550 --> 00:12:31,919 She was like, "But everything looks good." 245 00:12:34,688 --> 00:12:39,426 The next day, April 1st, I make the call, 246 00:12:39,493 --> 00:12:42,396 and immediately the first receptionist 247 00:12:42,462 --> 00:12:45,899 tells me they don't have a Jason Hargrove. 248 00:12:47,884 --> 00:12:49,628 - Oh, well they said he's in room duh, duh, duh, 249 00:12:49,652 --> 00:12:51,387 bed duh, duh, duh, duh. 250 00:12:51,454 --> 00:12:52,889 So she says, "Okay, 251 00:12:52,956 --> 00:12:55,258 I'll transfer you to that department." 252 00:12:55,325 --> 00:12:57,894 They transfer me to the department. 253 00:12:57,961 --> 00:13:00,663 I do my spiel. "Hi, Desha Johnson-Hargrove. 254 00:13:00,730 --> 00:13:04,334 {\an1}I'm just calling for an update on my husband, Jason Hargrove." 255 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:07,503 The nurse says, "Mrs. Hargrove, I need you 256 00:13:07,570 --> 00:13:10,440 to call back in 30 minutes. The nurse is busy." 257 00:13:10,506 --> 00:13:11,808 Sure, I will. 258 00:13:11,875 --> 00:13:14,744 So 30 minutes go by. I call back in 30 minutes. 259 00:13:14,811 --> 00:13:17,146 I now have a different receptionist. 260 00:13:17,213 --> 00:13:18,982 "I don't have a Jason Hargrove." 261 00:13:19,048 --> 00:13:21,050 I give him the same spiel of where he is. 262 00:13:21,117 --> 00:13:23,486 He says, "I'll transfer you." They transfer me. 263 00:13:23,553 --> 00:13:25,088 I get the same nurse again 264 00:13:25,154 --> 00:13:28,691 who says "Can you call back in 30 minutes?" 265 00:13:28,758 --> 00:13:32,228 I said, "Absolutely not. I will not call back again. 266 00:13:32,295 --> 00:13:35,832 "I just want an update. I just want an update. 267 00:13:35,899 --> 00:13:37,500 "You've had me call back already. 268 00:13:37,567 --> 00:13:40,203 I just want an update on Jason Hargrove." 269 00:13:40,270 --> 00:13:42,338 The nurse put the phone to the side. 270 00:13:42,405 --> 00:13:45,208 I hear her speaking with someone in the background, 271 00:13:45,275 --> 00:13:49,078 and she's saying, "Bed 11, bed 11." 272 00:13:49,145 --> 00:13:53,516 And they tell her to tell me to call back. 273 00:13:53,583 --> 00:13:55,852 [somber music] 274 00:13:55,919 --> 00:13:58,888 I say again "No." 275 00:13:58,955 --> 00:14:01,858 She says, "Mrs. Hargrove, 276 00:14:01,925 --> 00:14:04,494 I need to let you speak to the doctor." 277 00:14:04,561 --> 00:14:05,995 "Mrs. Hargrove"... 278 00:14:06,062 --> 00:14:12,168 ♪ ♪ 279 00:14:12,235 --> 00:14:14,637 {\an1}"Your husband didn't make it. 280 00:14:14,704 --> 00:14:17,416 Mr. Hargrove has passed." 281 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:22,645 ♪ ♪ 282 00:14:22,712 --> 00:14:24,781 Jason was in the hospital 283 00:14:24,847 --> 00:14:28,284 {\an1} from Sunday till Wednesday. 284 00:14:28,351 --> 00:14:31,521 I never received any information 285 00:14:31,588 --> 00:14:32,856 from the hospital. 286 00:14:32,922 --> 00:14:35,325 If it hadn't been for me calling them, 287 00:14:35,458 --> 00:14:37,560 {\an1}I wouldn't have known anything. 288 00:14:37,627 --> 00:14:40,096 My husband had died. 289 00:14:40,163 --> 00:14:43,600 He has passed away, 290 00:14:43,666 --> 00:14:46,502 {\an1}and I never got a phone call. 291 00:14:47,270 --> 00:14:51,474 They told me April 1st that my husband passed. 292 00:14:51,541 --> 00:14:54,911 When I received the death certificate, 293 00:14:54,978 --> 00:14:57,180 the death certificate in fact told me 294 00:14:57,247 --> 00:15:00,617 Jason Hargrove passed on the 31st. 295 00:15:00,683 --> 00:15:07,323 My husband laid dead... all of those hours. 296 00:15:08,691 --> 00:15:11,561 All of those hours. 297 00:15:11,628 --> 00:15:15,899 A whole day before my call to the hospital 298 00:15:15,965 --> 00:15:19,636 to even find out that he had passed. 299 00:15:21,437 --> 00:15:25,141 Here is a man who loved me. 300 00:15:27,944 --> 00:15:30,179 He did not play about me. 301 00:15:30,246 --> 00:15:34,117 You know, he protected me at all costs. 302 00:15:34,184 --> 00:15:36,428 ♪ ♪ 303 00:15:36,452 --> 00:15:40,490 I'm used to being his wake-up... 304 00:15:42,859 --> 00:15:45,228 And his goodnight. 305 00:15:45,295 --> 00:15:49,766 He was my every day. My every single day. 306 00:15:49,832 --> 00:15:53,636 And to not have him... 307 00:15:55,572 --> 00:15:58,641 Here with me is... 308 00:16:00,410 --> 00:16:03,846 {\an1}It just does not feel right. 309 00:16:03,913 --> 00:16:06,549 It just doesn't. 310 00:16:06,616 --> 00:16:11,521 So Sinai-Grace, as well as the woman who coughed, 311 00:16:11,588 --> 00:16:14,123 shame on you. 312 00:16:14,190 --> 00:16:17,460 [somber music] 313 00:16:17,527 --> 00:16:23,466 ♪ ♪ 314 00:17:36,673 --> 00:17:38,775 {\an8} - The story of public health in America 315 00:17:38,841 --> 00:17:40,877 {\an8}wouldn't make any sense 316 00:17:40,944 --> 00:17:44,881 {\an8}if you didn't understand the story of race in America. 317 00:17:44,948 --> 00:17:47,383 [ambient background noise] 318 00:17:47,450 --> 00:17:50,086 [chatter, clattering] 319 00:17:50,153 --> 00:17:52,222 [somber music] 320 00:17:52,288 --> 00:17:54,257 - The institution of slavery required 321 00:17:54,390 --> 00:17:57,227 putting a value on people's bodies, 322 00:17:57,293 --> 00:18:00,230 and the folks who did that were physicians. 323 00:18:02,398 --> 00:18:03,766 {\an7} They profited on doing that, 324 00:18:03,833 --> 00:18:05,802 {\an8} and they profited 325 00:18:05,869 --> 00:18:08,905 on creating a science as almost a pseudoscience. 326 00:18:08,972 --> 00:18:11,407 {\an1} Even up until the late 1850s, 327 00:18:11,441 --> 00:18:13,476 if you're a Southern physician, 328 00:18:13,543 --> 00:18:15,411 this is like a core competency 329 00:18:15,478 --> 00:18:17,513 to be able to evaluate people's bodies that way. 330 00:18:17,580 --> 00:18:19,883 And when you do that, part of the value 331 00:18:19,949 --> 00:18:22,218 {\an8}is their progeny, so they were also evaluating 332 00:18:22,285 --> 00:18:25,321 {\an7}their reproductive potential. 333 00:18:25,421 --> 00:18:28,291 {\an8} - Everything in our country has been created 334 00:18:28,424 --> 00:18:31,403 {\an8} at a time when slavery was the main driver 335 00:18:31,427 --> 00:18:33,296 {\an8}and the main economic engine of this country, 336 00:18:33,429 --> 00:18:35,331 {\an8}so medicine was as well. 337 00:18:35,431 --> 00:18:38,268 {\an8} - Slave women 338 00:18:38,334 --> 00:18:41,304 {\an8} had surgeries performed on them, 339 00:18:41,437 --> 00:18:43,773 {\an8} obviously without their consent, 340 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:47,577 {\an8}with no anesthesia, where they bled to death. 341 00:18:47,644 --> 00:18:49,712 {\an7}They were permanently scarred 342 00:18:49,779 --> 00:18:52,382 {\an8}so that the surgeon could get it just right 343 00:18:52,415 --> 00:18:54,617 {\an8}before he did it on a white woman. 344 00:18:56,019 --> 00:18:58,955 {\an8}- African-Americans, we have a very long history, 345 00:18:59,022 --> 00:19:02,792 {\an8}a very troubled history with medical experiments. 346 00:19:02,859 --> 00:19:05,895 - There's a surgeon named Marion Sims who is regarded 347 00:19:05,962 --> 00:19:08,498 as the father of modern gynecology as a field, 348 00:19:08,565 --> 00:19:10,300 and most of the surgeries, 349 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:11,768 including some of the instruments 350 00:19:11,834 --> 00:19:14,037 that are named after him today are based on 351 00:19:14,103 --> 00:19:17,407 his experimentation with Black bodies 352 00:19:17,473 --> 00:19:19,976 which he justified based on this idea 353 00:19:20,043 --> 00:19:23,580 that Black people experience pain differently. 354 00:19:23,646 --> 00:19:26,616 - And of course, the Tuskegee experiments 355 00:19:26,683 --> 00:19:29,652 and syphilis being tested on Black people. 356 00:19:29,719 --> 00:19:31,297 - The United States Public Health Service 357 00:19:31,321 --> 00:19:33,590 conducted a study beginning in 1932. 358 00:19:33,656 --> 00:19:36,125 - Voluntary participant in a human experiment 359 00:19:36,192 --> 00:19:38,628 on untreated syphilis. 360 00:19:38,695 --> 00:19:41,407 - Henrietta Lacks... her cells are used 361 00:19:41,431 --> 00:19:43,466 {\an1} for development of all sorts 362 00:19:43,533 --> 00:19:45,902 of different medicines and research, 363 00:19:45,969 --> 00:19:48,037 and she's never even told about this. 364 00:19:48,104 --> 00:19:50,373 [somber orchestral music] 365 00:19:50,406 --> 00:19:52,442 {\an1} There was Holmesburg Prison 366 00:19:52,508 --> 00:19:54,878 where Black men were experimented on 367 00:19:54,944 --> 00:19:56,479 from great scientists 368 00:19:56,546 --> 00:19:59,382 at the University of Pennsylvania. 369 00:19:59,415 --> 00:20:02,051 Black folks, we don't go to the hospital 370 00:20:02,118 --> 00:20:03,686 until we're sick. 371 00:20:03,753 --> 00:20:06,222 Why? Because we don't trust. 372 00:20:06,289 --> 00:20:09,125 Because there was surgery being performed on us 373 00:20:09,192 --> 00:20:11,895 without our consent from the beginning of time. 374 00:20:14,030 --> 00:20:16,132 - When I really got into the details, of course, 375 00:20:16,199 --> 00:20:19,402 {\an8}it was shocking to understand how the institution of slavery 376 00:20:19,435 --> 00:20:21,838 {\an8}and its legacy influenced my field. 377 00:20:21,905 --> 00:20:23,973 For example, 378 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:27,744 most textbooks only have images of white people. 379 00:20:27,810 --> 00:20:30,580 In my field, one of the leading causes of morbidity 380 00:20:30,647 --> 00:20:32,415 {\an1}and even death is hemorrhage, 381 00:20:32,482 --> 00:20:33,750 and the way that you know 382 00:20:33,816 --> 00:20:35,094 that somebody has lost a lot of blood 383 00:20:35,118 --> 00:20:36,486 is that they look pale. 384 00:20:36,553 --> 00:20:39,689 But if they're melanated, it's not totally clear 385 00:20:39,756 --> 00:20:42,458 that they exhibit paleness in the same way. 386 00:20:42,525 --> 00:20:46,496 And so you might be less likely to notice that 387 00:20:46,563 --> 00:20:49,365 in somebody who is not white, 388 00:20:49,432 --> 00:20:50,934 and you might not mean it, 389 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:52,745 but that's just sort of how you've been trained. 390 00:20:52,769 --> 00:20:53,946 You've only been looking at textbooks 391 00:20:53,970 --> 00:20:56,439 with people who are white-skinned. 392 00:20:56,506 --> 00:21:00,143 But I think for many of us, we think of racism 393 00:21:00,210 --> 00:21:04,581 as something that's outside of our present institutions, 394 00:21:04,647 --> 00:21:08,184 especially ones that are rarified like medicine. 395 00:21:08,251 --> 00:21:10,520 {\an8}- Structural racism is pernicious 396 00:21:10,587 --> 00:21:13,857 {\an8}and is pervasive, meaning you can't see the... 397 00:21:13,923 --> 00:21:16,559 {\an8}it's not so obvious, and it's everywhere, right? 398 00:21:16,626 --> 00:21:18,728 {\an1}So it turns out, for instance, 399 00:21:18,795 --> 00:21:21,464 we have a long history in our country of redlining, 400 00:21:21,531 --> 00:21:24,200 {\an1} of not allowing Black people 401 00:21:24,267 --> 00:21:26,202 to live in certain neighborhoods 402 00:21:26,269 --> 00:21:28,438 and really pushing them into other neighborhoods. 403 00:21:28,504 --> 00:21:32,775 ♪ ♪ 404 00:21:32,842 --> 00:21:34,310 {\an1} Which neighborhood you live in 405 00:21:34,410 --> 00:21:36,913 has this profound effect on your health. 406 00:21:38,848 --> 00:21:42,118 - Your healthcare most depends on your zip code. 407 00:21:42,185 --> 00:21:44,420 ♪ ♪ 408 00:21:44,454 --> 00:21:46,556 {\an7}That's the biggest indicator 409 00:21:46,623 --> 00:21:48,558 {\an7}of how long you're gonna live, 410 00:21:48,625 --> 00:21:50,627 {\an8}the quality of healthcare you're gonna have, 411 00:21:50,693 --> 00:21:52,362 what illnesses you'll suffer from. 412 00:21:52,428 --> 00:21:54,197 It's your zip code. 413 00:21:54,264 --> 00:21:56,966 - The air you breathe has this big effect. 414 00:21:57,033 --> 00:21:59,903 Air pollution is not randomly distributed 415 00:21:59,969 --> 00:22:01,738 across every neighborhood and community. 416 00:22:01,804 --> 00:22:04,607 What we know is communities of color, 417 00:22:04,674 --> 00:22:07,210 where they live, there's much, much higher levels 418 00:22:07,277 --> 00:22:08,811 of air pollution. 419 00:22:08,878 --> 00:22:11,915 Bus depots are often placed in those communities. 420 00:22:11,981 --> 00:22:15,051 Factories or things that will emit more air pollution 421 00:22:15,118 --> 00:22:17,854 are often placed into those places. 422 00:22:18,655 --> 00:22:21,891 It's not random. It's not random at all. 423 00:22:21,958 --> 00:22:24,894 It affects respiratory disease, 424 00:22:24,961 --> 00:22:29,065 asthma, and COPD and heart disease. 425 00:22:29,132 --> 00:22:32,235 Just happens somehow that there's more asthma 426 00:22:32,302 --> 00:22:34,470 among Black kids than white kids. 427 00:22:34,537 --> 00:22:35,772 Huh, we don't know why. 428 00:22:35,838 --> 00:22:37,707 {\an1}Well, we do know why actually. 429 00:22:49,986 --> 00:22:52,655 {\an8}- So how do you explain that, America? 430 00:22:52,722 --> 00:22:54,791 {\an8}I would say, "How do you explain that?" 431 00:22:54,858 --> 00:22:58,561 {\an8} - Health care facilities in neighborhoods 432 00:22:58,628 --> 00:23:01,564 {\an8}that are poor may not have the resources 433 00:23:01,631 --> 00:23:04,434 {\an8}that they need to have 434 00:23:04,500 --> 00:23:07,871 {\an8}MRI scans and CT scans, 435 00:23:07,937 --> 00:23:10,840 and so for these many reasons, 436 00:23:10,907 --> 00:23:15,945 we came into COVID with such health inequities. 437 00:23:18,481 --> 00:23:19,949 {\an1}- My father's engineering ring. 438 00:23:20,016 --> 00:23:21,718 So this is like the last piece of him 439 00:23:21,784 --> 00:23:23,453 {\an1}that I actually really have. 440 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:26,856 They were asking him to okay the trucks, 441 00:23:26,923 --> 00:23:28,992 the weight of the truck limits to go over the bridge 442 00:23:29,058 --> 00:23:32,295 to come to bring COVID products over like masks, sanitizer, 443 00:23:32,362 --> 00:23:34,864 {\an8}and stuff for the hospitals, and he had to be there. 444 00:23:34,931 --> 00:23:37,000 {\an8}He felt like, "Nah, this is what... this is my job. 445 00:23:37,066 --> 00:23:38,601 {\an8}"I'm an essential worker. 446 00:23:38,668 --> 00:23:39,979 {\an8}You can't tell me to be..." you know, 447 00:23:40,003 --> 00:23:41,380 {\an8}and that's what he'd tell my stepmother. 448 00:23:41,404 --> 00:23:42,648 "You can't tell me to stay home. 449 00:23:42,672 --> 00:23:44,073 {\an1}"You're gonna tell the governor 450 00:23:44,140 --> 00:23:45,918 "that I'm staying home because you told me to stay home? 451 00:23:45,942 --> 00:23:48,411 I'm an essential worker. I have to be at work." 452 00:23:49,479 --> 00:23:50,647 So he didn't even make it, 453 00:23:50,713 --> 00:23:52,048 like, after he hit the hospital. 454 00:23:52,115 --> 00:23:55,818 Not even 24 hours, him being in the hospital. 455 00:23:55,885 --> 00:23:58,488 He passed the next following day. 456 00:24:00,056 --> 00:24:02,759 - If you think about who are the essential workers 457 00:24:02,825 --> 00:24:04,670 who we said despite the fact that things are terrible, 458 00:24:04,694 --> 00:24:06,162 you still need to go in, 459 00:24:06,229 --> 00:24:08,264 they were disproportionately Black and Latinos, 460 00:24:08,331 --> 00:24:10,967 but let's talk particularly Black Americans. 461 00:24:11,034 --> 00:24:13,236 They didn't have the luxury of zooming in from home 462 00:24:13,303 --> 00:24:14,437 for their work. 463 00:24:14,504 --> 00:24:15,972 They were in the subways. 464 00:24:16,039 --> 00:24:19,642 They were going to work at the height of the pandemic. 465 00:24:19,709 --> 00:24:21,945 - COVID-19 divided the world into people 466 00:24:22,011 --> 00:24:24,747 who could protect themselves and people who could not, 467 00:24:24,814 --> 00:24:27,183 and that was not just true across geopolitical borders. 468 00:24:27,250 --> 00:24:29,652 It was true within neighborhood blocks, 469 00:24:29,719 --> 00:24:32,755 and that was based on what people do for a living 470 00:24:32,822 --> 00:24:36,125 and whether or not they were valued 471 00:24:36,192 --> 00:24:38,461 {\an1}in terms of being protected, 472 00:24:38,494 --> 00:24:43,066 {\an1}and it was based on the housing 473 00:24:43,132 --> 00:24:46,002 that they have access to and how crowded they were. 474 00:24:46,069 --> 00:24:48,238 It was very dependent in New York 475 00:24:48,304 --> 00:24:51,574 on how much they relied on public transportation 476 00:24:51,641 --> 00:24:54,777 to get the basic things that they need like food, 477 00:24:54,844 --> 00:24:59,048 and it was based on how they have always been treated 478 00:24:59,115 --> 00:25:02,285 by American medicine. 479 00:25:02,418 --> 00:25:05,288 {\an8} ♪ ♪ 480 00:25:05,421 --> 00:25:07,957 {\an8} - The Institute of Medicine came out with a report 481 00:25:08,024 --> 00:25:12,228 {\an8} looking at systemic inequalities in medicine. 482 00:25:12,295 --> 00:25:13,997 {\an7} They described the many ways 483 00:25:14,063 --> 00:25:17,066 {\an8}that individual racism can come into play. 484 00:25:17,133 --> 00:25:20,537 {\an8}Pain management, coronary artery bypass, 485 00:25:20,603 --> 00:25:22,071 {\an7}graft surgeries not being done, 486 00:25:22,138 --> 00:25:24,140 {\an8}curative lung cancer surgeries not being done, 487 00:25:24,207 --> 00:25:27,844 {\an8}mammographies not being done... Like just all down the line. 488 00:25:27,911 --> 00:25:30,680 {\an8}- We may need to use the term unconscious more. 489 00:25:30,747 --> 00:25:33,917 {\an8}They are not even known to the person 490 00:25:33,983 --> 00:25:36,886 {\an8}that is exhibiting these issues. 491 00:25:44,894 --> 00:25:47,373 - My approach to getting individual doctors 492 00:25:47,397 --> 00:25:49,032 to make change is... 493 00:25:49,098 --> 00:25:51,301 I always tell people, "Look at your own data." 494 00:25:51,401 --> 00:25:54,304 {\an8}You think that all your patients care about... 495 00:25:54,404 --> 00:25:56,406 {\an8}you know, think that they're getting good care, 496 00:25:56,472 --> 00:25:57,840 {\an8}being treated with respect. 497 00:25:57,907 --> 00:25:59,576 Do a survey of all your patients. 498 00:25:59,642 --> 00:26:02,078 Ask them if they all feel respected. 499 00:26:02,145 --> 00:26:03,880 Ask them if they all feel heard. 500 00:26:03,947 --> 00:26:07,584 Ask them and look at that data broken down by race 501 00:26:07,650 --> 00:26:09,986 and see if there are some people in your panel 502 00:26:10,053 --> 00:26:14,858 who may not feel as respected, as heard, 503 00:26:14,924 --> 00:26:17,861 as cared for as you think you're trying to do. 504 00:26:17,927 --> 00:26:19,696 And I'll say, I understand. I understand. 505 00:26:19,762 --> 00:26:21,140 You don't feel like you're a racist. 506 00:26:21,164 --> 00:26:22,966 I don't feel like I'm a racist. 507 00:26:23,032 --> 00:26:25,068 I feel like I treat everybody the same. 508 00:26:25,134 --> 00:26:26,769 We all do. 509 00:26:26,836 --> 00:26:29,939 So explain to me why there's such different outcomes. 510 00:26:30,006 --> 00:26:31,741 Most doctors and nurses, if you ask them, 511 00:26:31,808 --> 00:26:33,452 of course, they're gonna tell you they're not racist. 512 00:26:33,476 --> 00:26:35,221 Of course, they're gonna tell you they don't stereotype. 513 00:26:35,245 --> 00:26:37,814 And I think most of them actually believe that. 514 00:26:37,881 --> 00:26:41,751 Then you look at the data, and you begin to unpack it. 515 00:26:41,818 --> 00:26:44,087 Look at it nationally. Look at it locally. 516 00:26:44,153 --> 00:26:46,189 And then you can tell stories with it 517 00:26:46,256 --> 00:26:48,157 that help you move the ball forward. 518 00:26:48,224 --> 00:26:50,059 {\an8}- There's a very, very fine line 519 00:26:50,126 --> 00:26:52,128 {\an8}between what we celebrate as clinical intuition 520 00:26:52,195 --> 00:26:55,632 {\an8}and what can be effectively racism. 521 00:27:03,773 --> 00:27:05,708 We actually have quantitative algorithms... 522 00:27:08,745 --> 00:27:12,048 That determine treatment based on race. 523 00:27:12,115 --> 00:27:14,417 Those kinds of algorithms that sort people 524 00:27:14,484 --> 00:27:15,752 based on their needs 525 00:27:15,818 --> 00:27:17,220 can actually be a really good thing, 526 00:27:17,287 --> 00:27:19,622 and not only in terms of providing good care, 527 00:27:19,689 --> 00:27:21,124 but in terms of holding 528 00:27:21,191 --> 00:27:22,692 the healthcare system accountable, 529 00:27:22,759 --> 00:27:24,570 because at the end of the day, we have to have a definition 530 00:27:24,594 --> 00:27:27,063 of what good quality care looks like. 531 00:27:30,934 --> 00:27:32,769 {\an1} Part of what makes medicine, 532 00:27:32,835 --> 00:27:34,537 and American medicine in particular, 533 00:27:34,604 --> 00:27:36,105 something to be proud of, 534 00:27:36,172 --> 00:27:39,142 but all of our math that we use to predict 535 00:27:39,209 --> 00:27:42,278 how people are gonna do is based on the past, 536 00:27:42,345 --> 00:27:46,916 and if the past circumstances are based on racism 537 00:27:46,983 --> 00:27:49,619 or based on things that are not right 538 00:27:49,686 --> 00:27:51,187 or things that could be improved, 539 00:27:51,254 --> 00:27:52,898 what we ended up doing through those algorithms 540 00:27:52,922 --> 00:27:55,959 is perpetuating those very differences. 541 00:27:56,025 --> 00:27:58,161 Black people are quantitatively 542 00:27:58,228 --> 00:28:01,998 less likely to get treatments that they might need 543 00:28:02,065 --> 00:28:04,667 because this calculation affects everything 544 00:28:04,734 --> 00:28:06,245 from how you dose drugs to whether or not 545 00:28:06,269 --> 00:28:07,829 you're eligible for a kidney transplant. 546 00:28:07,871 --> 00:28:09,906 - I think what is clear in the data... 547 00:28:09,973 --> 00:28:12,242 {\an1}if we just stick to the data... 548 00:28:12,308 --> 00:28:15,745 is there are two groups whose health outcomes 549 00:28:15,812 --> 00:28:18,147 consistently are among the worst, 550 00:28:18,214 --> 00:28:20,617 and they are Blacks and they're Native Americans. 551 00:28:20,683 --> 00:28:23,686 And Native Americans are a very small group of Americans, 552 00:28:23,753 --> 00:28:25,889 and so in most national studies, 553 00:28:25,955 --> 00:28:27,724 they don't end up... They just don't have 554 00:28:27,790 --> 00:28:29,759 {\an1}a lot of people in those data, 555 00:28:29,826 --> 00:28:32,228 and so they tend not to get the same focus. 556 00:28:32,295 --> 00:28:34,297 And so you end up with the group 557 00:28:34,430 --> 00:28:36,566 that really ends up having pretty poor outcomes 558 00:28:36,633 --> 00:28:40,203 across every stage of life, and that's Black Americans. 559 00:28:40,270 --> 00:28:47,176 ♪ ♪ 560 00:28:50,780 --> 00:28:52,114 - She wasn't worried. 561 00:28:52,181 --> 00:28:54,150 She said, "Let me go to the hospital 562 00:28:54,216 --> 00:28:57,787 and get this breathing right, and I'll be right back." 563 00:28:57,853 --> 00:29:00,856 {\an8}And she deteriorates. I think it was a Sunday. 564 00:29:00,923 --> 00:29:03,059 {\an8}And she deteriorated, like, so fast. 565 00:29:03,125 --> 00:29:05,661 {\an8}By, like, Tuesday, she was on the ventilator. 566 00:29:05,728 --> 00:29:10,933 You know, Thursday, kidney failure. 567 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:13,002 {\an1}Friday swelling of the brain, 568 00:29:13,069 --> 00:29:16,272 and she just fought for the next four weeks. 569 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,176 {\an8}- My husband was calling saying, 570 00:29:20,242 --> 00:29:22,211 {\an8}"They dismissing me out the hospital." 571 00:29:22,278 --> 00:29:24,547 {\an8}I'm like, "Dismissing you out the hospital?" 572 00:29:24,613 --> 00:29:26,282 {\an8}He said, "Yeah." 573 00:29:26,349 --> 00:29:28,327 {\an1}I said, "Well, why would they dismiss you out the hospital? 574 00:29:28,351 --> 00:29:31,253 Are you feeling better?" "No." 575 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:33,122 We picked him up. 576 00:29:33,189 --> 00:29:36,192 He was so weak, he couldn't even get out the wheelchair, 577 00:29:36,258 --> 00:29:38,094 {\an1}and the guy wouldn't help him, 578 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:41,797 so I had to get out, help him get in the car, 579 00:29:41,864 --> 00:29:43,766 and bring him back home. 580 00:29:43,833 --> 00:29:45,334 He was weaker going home 581 00:29:45,401 --> 00:29:48,004 than he was when I brought him to the hospital. 582 00:29:49,538 --> 00:29:50,940 So Tuesday I said, 583 00:29:51,007 --> 00:29:53,542 "Well, now we just gonna have to go back to a hospital." 584 00:29:53,609 --> 00:29:56,946 And he went on the ventilator sometime that Wednesday night. 585 00:30:00,783 --> 00:30:02,184 And that was the last conversation 586 00:30:02,251 --> 00:30:04,553 {\an1}that we got a chance to have. 587 00:30:05,955 --> 00:30:08,290 They lost him. 588 00:30:08,891 --> 00:30:12,428 Yeah. My heart is just torn. 589 00:30:14,664 --> 00:30:16,899 {\an1}I never been alone, you know? 590 00:30:16,932 --> 00:30:19,702 So all of this is... 591 00:30:19,769 --> 00:30:22,805 excuse me... very new to me. 592 00:30:22,905 --> 00:30:24,040 Uh... 593 00:30:28,010 --> 00:30:30,889 - Racism disguises itself as medicine 594 00:30:30,913 --> 00:30:33,892 when you don't give the same care 595 00:30:33,916 --> 00:30:35,918 to your Black patient that you would want 596 00:30:35,951 --> 00:30:37,620 for your mother, for your sister, 597 00:30:37,687 --> 00:30:39,155 for your husband. 598 00:30:39,221 --> 00:30:40,823 {\an1}When you don't take the time 599 00:30:40,923 --> 00:30:43,726 {\an8}to explain a complex procedure to them 600 00:30:43,793 --> 00:30:46,095 {\an8}because you believe 601 00:30:46,162 --> 00:30:49,131 {\an8}that they, "A," can't afford the operation, 602 00:30:49,198 --> 00:30:52,101 they, B, don't understand the complexities, 603 00:30:52,168 --> 00:30:55,037 and they, three, won't follow the postoperative care, 604 00:30:55,104 --> 00:30:57,440 so you don't even offer it as an option. 605 00:30:57,506 --> 00:31:00,409 Whereas the white patient you've explained 606 00:31:00,476 --> 00:31:02,912 option A, B, C, 607 00:31:02,978 --> 00:31:05,348 maybe even something experimental. 608 00:31:05,414 --> 00:31:07,750 But you don't take the time to explain it 609 00:31:07,883 --> 00:31:11,320 to your Black patient, and that is evidence-based. 610 00:31:11,387 --> 00:31:13,522 That's proven, and the institutes of medicine 611 00:31:13,589 --> 00:31:17,293 say that white doctors spend less time 612 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:20,229 explaining complex procedures to Black patients. 613 00:31:20,296 --> 00:31:22,431 Why? 'Cause we're not smart enough? 614 00:31:22,498 --> 00:31:23,966 You think we're not gonna get it. 615 00:31:24,033 --> 00:31:25,668 You think we won't agree to doing it, 616 00:31:25,735 --> 00:31:29,038 so why waste my time explaining it to you? 617 00:31:29,105 --> 00:31:31,140 - There are two main therapies for people 618 00:31:31,207 --> 00:31:32,808 {\an1}with advanced kidney failure. 619 00:31:32,908 --> 00:31:34,276 {\an8}They can go on hemodialysis 620 00:31:34,343 --> 00:31:36,023 {\an8}where they get dialysis three times a week, 621 00:31:36,078 --> 00:31:38,314 {\an8}or they can get a kidney transplant. 622 00:31:38,381 --> 00:31:40,783 {\an8}Kidney transplant is superior. It's much, much better. 623 00:31:40,916 --> 00:31:42,451 {\an1}Obviously more painful upfront, 624 00:31:42,518 --> 00:31:44,020 but once you get the transplant, 625 00:31:44,086 --> 00:31:45,955 you can essentially live a normal life. 626 00:31:46,022 --> 00:31:48,190 What we know is that Black people 627 00:31:48,257 --> 00:31:49,592 are much less likely 628 00:31:49,659 --> 00:31:52,094 to get a kidney transplant than white people. 629 00:31:52,161 --> 00:31:53,696 So the question is why. 630 00:31:53,763 --> 00:31:56,232 When you do surveys of those doctors and say, 631 00:31:56,298 --> 00:31:58,276 you know, "Why do you make the decisions that you do?" 632 00:31:58,300 --> 00:32:00,436 They say, "Well, I make it based on my assumption 633 00:32:00,503 --> 00:32:02,481 "of who can go through a transplant and get through, 634 00:32:02,505 --> 00:32:04,240 "'cause it's a difficult process 635 00:32:04,306 --> 00:32:05,875 to go through, a kidney transplant." 636 00:32:05,941 --> 00:32:07,610 So again, that's that assumption. 637 00:32:07,677 --> 00:32:09,412 The doctors are assuming 638 00:32:09,478 --> 00:32:11,390 that it's going to be harder for that Black patient 639 00:32:11,414 --> 00:32:13,416 to make it all the way through the process, 640 00:32:13,482 --> 00:32:15,685 and so, therefore, they're less likely to refer. 641 00:32:15,751 --> 00:32:19,922 But what we know from the data and from the evidence 642 00:32:19,989 --> 00:32:23,092 {\an1}is that physicians and nurses 643 00:32:23,159 --> 00:32:25,428 treat people differently based on their race. 644 00:32:25,494 --> 00:32:32,401 ♪ ♪ 645 00:32:36,906 --> 00:32:39,342 - My name is Cheryl Jean Fowler. 646 00:32:39,408 --> 00:32:42,278 I live in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan. 647 00:32:42,345 --> 00:32:46,615 {\an8}My husband, Gary Fowler, died from COVID. 648 00:32:46,682 --> 00:32:48,017 {\an7}- My name is Keith Gambrell. 649 00:32:48,084 --> 00:32:50,653 {\an8}I'm 33 years old, I'm from Detroit, Michigan, 650 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,456 {\an8}and Gary Larnell Fowler was my father. 651 00:32:53,522 --> 00:32:56,726 When I was seven years old at a 4th of July party 652 00:32:56,859 --> 00:32:59,261 that his brother Greg was having, 653 00:32:59,328 --> 00:33:01,197 my mom's best friend, her name's Ng, 654 00:33:01,263 --> 00:33:04,567 she invited my mom and me to go with her to a party, 655 00:33:04,633 --> 00:33:08,704 and as we are coming into the apartment complex, 656 00:33:08,771 --> 00:33:11,607 my dad and his brother are playing football, 657 00:33:11,674 --> 00:33:13,876 and my mom's best friend goes, "There he goes, Cheryl. 658 00:33:13,909 --> 00:33:15,053 That's who I was talking about." 659 00:33:15,077 --> 00:33:16,312 Points to my dad. 660 00:33:16,379 --> 00:33:18,314 She was like, "He's all right. He's cute." 661 00:33:18,381 --> 00:33:19,982 - At first, I didn't think he's my type. 662 00:33:20,049 --> 00:33:24,587 {\an1} Like, I have a type, but his personality is what did it. 663 00:33:24,654 --> 00:33:25,988 [chuckles] 664 00:33:26,055 --> 00:33:28,924 Big heart, didn't see wrong in anyone. 665 00:33:28,991 --> 00:33:32,928 My first date was... he had two kids, I had two kids, 666 00:33:32,995 --> 00:33:36,499 so my kids and his kids, we went out on a dinner date. 667 00:33:36,565 --> 00:33:41,070 We were the package deal, so our kids went with us, 668 00:33:41,137 --> 00:33:43,372 and ever since then, we've been together. 669 00:33:43,439 --> 00:33:47,009 {\an1} We got married April 21, 1999. 670 00:33:47,076 --> 00:33:49,845 - Me being a rebellious little seven-year-old that I was, 671 00:33:49,879 --> 00:33:52,882 "Like, this guy is trying to take my mom from me," you know? 672 00:33:52,948 --> 00:33:54,483 That's what I'm thinking as a kid. 673 00:33:54,550 --> 00:33:56,218 He's trying to take my mom from me, 674 00:33:56,285 --> 00:33:58,454 but he was a blessing, you know? 675 00:33:58,521 --> 00:34:00,489 He taught me how to work. 676 00:34:00,556 --> 00:34:02,134 He taught me what it was to take care of a family, 677 00:34:02,158 --> 00:34:03,759 how to be independent, 678 00:34:03,859 --> 00:34:06,128 how to not depend on anyone to take care of you 679 00:34:06,195 --> 00:34:07,763 but yourself, how to be truthful, 680 00:34:07,863 --> 00:34:09,908 how to treat your friends that you call your friends, 681 00:34:09,932 --> 00:34:12,034 and how you should be treated as a man in life. 682 00:34:12,101 --> 00:34:14,503 - My husband worked 80 hours a week 683 00:34:14,570 --> 00:34:17,506 to take care of his family. He was a workaholic. 684 00:34:17,573 --> 00:34:19,308 That's what everybody called him. 685 00:34:19,375 --> 00:34:20,943 Where's Mr. Workaholic? 686 00:34:21,010 --> 00:34:22,411 - He'll leave 6:00 in the morning. 687 00:34:22,478 --> 00:34:24,447 Wouldn't get back home till 6:00 Tuesday morning. 688 00:34:24,513 --> 00:34:27,550 So he did that for a while 689 00:34:27,616 --> 00:34:29,861 just to make sure his family was in a safe area, 690 00:34:29,885 --> 00:34:32,421 that they didn't have to worry about coming out the house, 691 00:34:32,488 --> 00:34:34,690 someone trying to take stuff from him, 692 00:34:34,757 --> 00:34:36,468 or leaving the house and coming back, someone breaking in. 693 00:34:36,492 --> 00:34:38,427 My dad worked his ass off to make sure 694 00:34:38,494 --> 00:34:41,530 that his family didn't need and want for anything. 695 00:34:41,597 --> 00:34:43,265 {\an1}- We went everywhere together. 696 00:34:43,332 --> 00:34:45,010 My husband couldn't drive 'cause my husband 697 00:34:45,034 --> 00:34:47,903 has a problem with his feet from his diabetes, 698 00:34:47,937 --> 00:34:49,672 so I was the driver. 699 00:34:50,940 --> 00:34:53,843 His father lived 20 minutes away from us. 700 00:34:53,909 --> 00:34:56,746 They would talk every day. They would see each other. 701 00:34:56,846 --> 00:35:01,050 They had him and his twin at 18, 702 00:35:01,117 --> 00:35:03,285 so they grew up together. 703 00:35:06,155 --> 00:35:08,124 - My grandfather started to feel sick 704 00:35:08,190 --> 00:35:11,527 {\an1}the week of March 20th, 2020, 705 00:35:11,594 --> 00:35:16,465 but March 23, 2020, my aunt Shelly, she called me. 706 00:35:16,532 --> 00:35:18,076 She goes, "I can't get ahold of anybody, 707 00:35:18,100 --> 00:35:19,878 "but Grandpa needs some Gatorade, chicken noodle soup, 708 00:35:19,902 --> 00:35:21,279 "and I think your mom and your dad's 709 00:35:21,303 --> 00:35:22,605 "on their way over there, 710 00:35:22,672 --> 00:35:24,373 but can you just go check on Grandpa?" 711 00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:26,075 My dad lets us in. 712 00:35:26,142 --> 00:35:28,778 Soon as he gets in the house, he's upstairs with Grandpa. 713 00:35:28,878 --> 00:35:30,680 And I scream upstairs. 714 00:35:30,746 --> 00:35:32,348 I go, "Grandpa, how you feeling?" 715 00:35:32,415 --> 00:35:34,359 He goes, "I'm okay, baby boy. I got the stomach flu. 716 00:35:34,383 --> 00:35:36,252 I'll be okay." 717 00:35:36,319 --> 00:35:39,355 {\an1} 10:45 that night, my brother Garrett gets home from work. 718 00:35:39,422 --> 00:35:42,091 Calls me, tells me that he just found Grandpa 719 00:35:42,158 --> 00:35:44,994 passed out on the bathroom floor. 720 00:35:45,061 --> 00:35:46,696 {\an1} I get there as fast as I can. 721 00:35:46,762 --> 00:35:48,173 I go, "Grandpa, let's go to the hospital 722 00:35:48,197 --> 00:35:49,565 to get you checked out." 723 00:35:49,632 --> 00:35:50,909 And he's like, "No, I'm not going to the hospital. 724 00:35:50,933 --> 00:35:52,733 If I go to the hospital, I'm not coming home." 725 00:35:52,835 --> 00:35:53,979 So I go, "Grandpa, don't say that," like, 726 00:35:54,003 --> 00:35:55,414 "Do me a favor and go to the hospital. 727 00:35:55,438 --> 00:35:56,548 "I'll cook you whatever you want, 728 00:35:56,572 --> 00:35:57,816 {\an1}you know, when you get home." 729 00:35:57,840 --> 00:35:59,351 He goes, "All right, baby boy, let's go." 730 00:35:59,375 --> 00:36:00,886 So I go downstairs to talk to my brother Garrett 731 00:36:00,910 --> 00:36:02,144 in the kitchen. 732 00:36:02,211 --> 00:36:03,522 My grandfather's coming down the stairs 733 00:36:03,546 --> 00:36:04,690 {\an1} on a stretcher with the EMS. 734 00:36:04,714 --> 00:36:06,682 One's in front. One's behind. 735 00:36:06,749 --> 00:36:08,617 I go, "Grandpa, see you when you get home. 736 00:36:08,684 --> 00:36:10,186 I love you." 737 00:36:10,252 --> 00:36:12,588 He goes, "I'll see you, baby boy. 738 00:36:12,655 --> 00:36:14,190 I love you too." 739 00:36:14,256 --> 00:36:16,058 [voice breaking] And, um... 740 00:36:16,125 --> 00:36:19,061 [somber music] 741 00:36:19,128 --> 00:36:23,366 ♪ ♪ 742 00:36:23,432 --> 00:36:25,844 Aunt Shelly calls us two days later, 743 00:36:25,868 --> 00:36:28,504 {\an1}tells us that Grandpa tested positive for the coronavirus 744 00:36:28,571 --> 00:36:30,639 {\an1}and my dad, my mom, and myself 745 00:36:30,706 --> 00:36:32,308 need to try to find a way to get tested. 746 00:36:32,375 --> 00:36:33,509 So I go tell Aunt Shelly... 747 00:36:33,576 --> 00:36:35,044 I go, "It doesn't work like that." 748 00:36:35,111 --> 00:36:37,713 Like, they're not just giving out tests to random people 749 00:36:37,780 --> 00:36:40,249 who think they have the virus for some reason. 750 00:36:40,316 --> 00:36:42,585 You guys are shutting schools, corporations, 751 00:36:42,652 --> 00:36:46,022 everything down to protect certain people, 752 00:36:46,088 --> 00:36:48,758 but yet and still you're telling people to go home. 753 00:36:48,891 --> 00:36:50,326 Like, it makes no sense. 754 00:36:50,393 --> 00:36:52,128 The day she tells us to get tested, 755 00:36:52,194 --> 00:36:54,930 this is also the day after he talks to his doctor. 756 00:36:54,997 --> 00:36:56,532 April 1st. 757 00:36:56,599 --> 00:37:00,536 "Diagnoses are fever of unknown origin, fatigue, 758 00:37:00,603 --> 00:37:04,473 nausea and vomiting, nasal congestions." 759 00:37:04,540 --> 00:37:07,843 All the signs for COVID-19, and he couldn't get a test. 760 00:37:07,877 --> 00:37:09,612 It's about 3:00. I'm looking at my dad. 761 00:37:09,679 --> 00:37:11,356 He just looks tired. You know, he looks winded, 762 00:37:11,380 --> 00:37:13,149 and I go, "Dad, you okay?" 763 00:37:13,215 --> 00:37:14,750 He goes, "It's just the bronchitis," 764 00:37:14,850 --> 00:37:16,228 but he's coughing as he's talking to me. 765 00:37:16,252 --> 00:37:17,620 So I go, "You want to go 766 00:37:17,687 --> 00:37:19,288 "to the hospital to get checked out, man? 767 00:37:19,355 --> 00:37:21,533 "'Cause I believe you guys could possibly have the virus 768 00:37:21,557 --> 00:37:22,834 since you were around Grandpa." 769 00:37:22,858 --> 00:37:25,528 So we go to Beaumont. My dad goes in. 770 00:37:25,594 --> 00:37:28,840 He's there probably two hours. Comes back out. 771 00:37:28,864 --> 00:37:31,734 His discharge papers says that he has bronchitis, okay? 772 00:37:31,867 --> 00:37:34,537 But to go home and come back to the hospital 773 00:37:34,603 --> 00:37:36,848 if you really need medical assistance. 774 00:37:36,872 --> 00:37:38,974 Beaumont is in one of the richest cities 775 00:37:39,041 --> 00:37:40,710 in the United States. 776 00:37:40,776 --> 00:37:42,576 I think they honestly looked at this Black man 777 00:37:42,611 --> 00:37:44,146 {\an1}and said that "Oh, you're fine. 778 00:37:44,213 --> 00:37:46,582 You're just overthinking what you see on TV," you know? 779 00:37:46,649 --> 00:37:47,950 Like, it doesn't work like that. 780 00:37:48,017 --> 00:37:49,251 It doesn't work like that. 781 00:37:49,318 --> 00:37:51,220 He heard that more than one time. 782 00:37:51,287 --> 00:37:55,691 March 30th, I call my mom. Now they both have fevers. 783 00:37:55,825 --> 00:37:58,260 She has a lower fever of 100 this day, 784 00:37:58,327 --> 00:38:01,030 but my dad's fever is 101. 785 00:38:01,097 --> 00:38:04,166 So now we're on our way to Detroit Receiving, 786 00:38:04,233 --> 00:38:07,036 which is in Detroit, Michigan. Have a quarantine. 787 00:38:07,103 --> 00:38:09,071 The nurses are outside with the heart monitor, 788 00:38:09,138 --> 00:38:12,208 the thermometer before you can even go into the hospital. 789 00:38:12,274 --> 00:38:13,542 My dad gets out. 790 00:38:13,609 --> 00:38:15,511 He walks up to the nurse, 791 00:38:15,578 --> 00:38:17,046 and he tells her that his father 792 00:38:17,113 --> 00:38:19,825 is in Henry Ford hospital on a ventilator due to COVID. 793 00:38:19,849 --> 00:38:25,021 He's experiencing diarrhea, a high temperature, dry cough, 794 00:38:25,087 --> 00:38:28,758 stuffy nose, headache... All the symptoms that's on TV 795 00:38:28,858 --> 00:38:30,893 that they're telling people to look out for. 796 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,462 My dad's telling this nurse that he has these symptoms. 797 00:38:33,529 --> 00:38:35,631 The nurse looks at my father and tell him, 798 00:38:35,698 --> 00:38:38,234 "Oh, sir, you're better off going to Henry Ford Hospital 799 00:38:38,300 --> 00:38:41,871 because they're more equipped to handle the COVID situation." 800 00:38:41,904 --> 00:38:44,206 I don't know what their reasoning was to tell my dad 801 00:38:44,273 --> 00:38:48,177 to leave a hospital to go to a different hospital. 802 00:38:48,244 --> 00:38:50,479 {\an1} We took my dad to Henry Ford 803 00:38:50,546 --> 00:38:52,882 after being turned away from Detroit Receiving. 804 00:38:54,850 --> 00:38:57,453 The nurse checks him out. She lets him in. 805 00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:00,556 {\an1} So we're thinking our dad's about to get help this time. 806 00:39:00,623 --> 00:39:02,158 This is my dad's discharge papers 807 00:39:02,224 --> 00:39:04,760 for the same day, March 30, 2020 808 00:39:04,827 --> 00:39:07,396 from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. 809 00:39:07,463 --> 00:39:09,598 "Please follow the instructions below. 810 00:39:09,665 --> 00:39:11,934 "Testing for COVID-19 is very limited. 811 00:39:12,001 --> 00:39:15,671 It has been restricted to those who are severely ill." 812 00:39:17,106 --> 00:39:19,175 "In the future, you may be able to get tested. 813 00:39:19,241 --> 00:39:20,676 "For the next two weeks, 814 00:39:20,743 --> 00:39:23,779 "you need to behave as if you have COVID-19. 815 00:39:23,846 --> 00:39:25,314 {\an1} "Quarantine, isolate yourself, 816 00:39:25,381 --> 00:39:29,185 "wear a face mask when you are around other people, 817 00:39:29,251 --> 00:39:30,753 "clean your hands often, 818 00:39:30,820 --> 00:39:33,556 "avoid sharing personal household items, 819 00:39:33,622 --> 00:39:36,625 "clean all high-touch surfaces every day, 820 00:39:36,692 --> 00:39:39,028 monitor your symptoms." 821 00:39:39,095 --> 00:39:41,630 My dad was crying in the passenger seat 822 00:39:41,697 --> 00:39:43,666 'cause he said they were gonna let him die. 823 00:39:43,733 --> 00:39:45,034 They won't help him. 824 00:39:45,101 --> 00:39:47,436 He said he was done going to hospitals. 825 00:39:47,503 --> 00:39:50,373 Said he would just take care of it itself. 826 00:39:51,607 --> 00:39:54,010 - Came back home. Getting weaker. 827 00:39:54,076 --> 00:39:56,145 Sat in his recliner. 828 00:39:57,947 --> 00:40:00,916 The boys take... helping him get to the bathroom, 829 00:40:00,983 --> 00:40:02,952 taking him showers. 830 00:40:03,019 --> 00:40:06,555 He said he... after that, he wasn't going back anymore 831 00:40:06,622 --> 00:40:08,691 'cause he's tired of getting turned away. 832 00:40:08,758 --> 00:40:10,059 So I told him call the doctor, 833 00:40:10,126 --> 00:40:13,396 see if she can get him in the hospital. 834 00:40:13,462 --> 00:40:16,132 And she told him there was no beds available. 835 00:40:18,734 --> 00:40:20,970 Then she wanted to see him the next day. 836 00:40:21,037 --> 00:40:26,509 - April 6, 11:45 p.m., I talked to my dad. 837 00:40:26,575 --> 00:40:28,511 He calls me. He goes, "You know..." 838 00:40:31,614 --> 00:40:34,383 {\an1}He goes, "Grandpa just died." 839 00:40:34,450 --> 00:40:36,452 I go, "How are you doing, Dad?" 840 00:40:36,519 --> 00:40:38,454 He goes, "I'm just tired, son." 841 00:40:38,521 --> 00:40:40,022 {\an1}- And I asked him was he okay? 842 00:40:40,089 --> 00:40:43,659 He said, "Yeah, I'm okay," like he was asleep. 843 00:40:43,726 --> 00:40:46,905 - I go to sleep. My phone rings. 844 00:40:46,929 --> 00:40:49,498 It's about 7:35. 845 00:40:49,565 --> 00:40:51,701 {\an1}My brother Troy screaming like, 846 00:40:51,767 --> 00:40:53,469 "Daddy won't wake up. Daddy won't wake up." 847 00:40:53,536 --> 00:40:54,880 I'm like, "What do you mean he won't wake up? 848 00:40:54,904 --> 00:40:56,348 Like, wake him up," you know what I'm saying? 849 00:40:56,372 --> 00:41:00,042 "Like, wake him up." He's like, "Nah, man, he gone." 850 00:41:01,744 --> 00:41:04,113 It's like, "What do you mean he gone, bro?" 851 00:41:04,180 --> 00:41:07,516 He was like, "Daddy gone, man. He's gone." 852 00:41:08,250 --> 00:41:10,586 I stay 20 minutes away from my parents. 853 00:41:10,653 --> 00:41:12,488 I get to their house in eight minutes 854 00:41:12,555 --> 00:41:14,957 'cause I'm just flying down 8 Mile. 855 00:41:15,024 --> 00:41:16,959 Like, if the police were to pull me over, 856 00:41:17,026 --> 00:41:18,894 you're coming with me to my parents' house 857 00:41:18,928 --> 00:41:20,372 'cause I'm not stopping for anything. 858 00:41:20,396 --> 00:41:21,931 I gotta get to my dad. 859 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:27,169 {\an1} Go in the house, go upstairs. 860 00:41:27,236 --> 00:41:29,105 My dad is sitting in his recliner chair 861 00:41:29,171 --> 00:41:30,506 next to the bed 862 00:41:30,573 --> 00:41:33,609 my mom and him slept in it for... forever. 863 00:41:33,676 --> 00:41:35,311 He looks asleep, but he's just blue. 864 00:41:35,378 --> 00:41:37,813 You know, he's just not moving. He's not there. 865 00:41:37,913 --> 00:41:39,782 {\an1}So when I seen him like that, 866 00:41:39,915 --> 00:41:41,755 I didn't, like, remember walking out the house. 867 00:41:41,817 --> 00:41:45,454 I just wound up back in my car, you know? 868 00:41:45,521 --> 00:41:47,356 Like, my dad's gone. 869 00:41:47,423 --> 00:41:49,191 I know the reason that he's gone... 870 00:41:49,258 --> 00:41:50,693 {\an1}because he couldn't get help. 871 00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:52,337 You know, like my dad didn't just die out of nowhere. 872 00:41:52,361 --> 00:41:53,863 He's 56. 873 00:41:55,965 --> 00:41:58,934 {\an1}So I called my son, Carmine. 874 00:41:59,001 --> 00:42:02,905 I tell him, like, "Pops... Papa's gone, buddy. 875 00:42:02,972 --> 00:42:04,774 Went to heaven." 876 00:42:04,874 --> 00:42:06,909 And he just broke down over the phone. 877 00:42:06,976 --> 00:42:09,011 I'm just sitting in my car crying. 878 00:42:09,078 --> 00:42:10,856 - When they came and hooked him up to the machine 879 00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:13,916 or whatever they do, they said that he was already gone. 880 00:42:13,983 --> 00:42:16,085 So I asked them if they gonna take him 881 00:42:16,152 --> 00:42:18,654 and they said, "No, you have to call 882 00:42:18,721 --> 00:42:20,489 "the funeral home to come get him 883 00:42:20,556 --> 00:42:21,891 'cause we not taking him." 884 00:42:21,924 --> 00:42:25,361 My husband sat in the house for seven hours. 885 00:42:25,428 --> 00:42:27,873 {\an1}- Police were being assholes. 886 00:42:27,897 --> 00:42:30,299 They were more concerned about my car, 887 00:42:30,366 --> 00:42:32,034 where it came from, 888 00:42:32,101 --> 00:42:35,104 than my dad being up here sleeping... dead in the chair. 889 00:42:35,171 --> 00:42:38,884 Dad had a cup of phlegm that was mixed with blood 890 00:42:38,908 --> 00:42:41,977 next to him that he had to the right in his recliner, 891 00:42:42,044 --> 00:42:44,914 but underneath the cup was a letter. 892 00:42:44,981 --> 00:42:47,450 "Heart rate irregular, oxygen levels low." 893 00:42:47,516 --> 00:42:50,419 And then it has his doctor's name, which is Jackie. 894 00:42:50,486 --> 00:42:52,321 It was like a cry for help. 895 00:42:52,388 --> 00:42:55,124 ♪ ♪ 896 00:42:55,191 --> 00:42:57,860 I go upstairs. I talk to him. 897 00:42:57,893 --> 00:42:59,595 I sat with him. I prayed with him. 898 00:42:59,662 --> 00:43:01,897 Told him we would take care of Mom 899 00:43:01,964 --> 00:43:03,499 and we'll take care of the house. 900 00:43:03,566 --> 00:43:05,768 We're going to put everything you taught us to use. 901 00:43:05,868 --> 00:43:11,007 Going to make you proud. I miss your phone calls. 902 00:43:12,408 --> 00:43:15,277 I miss your laugh. 903 00:43:15,344 --> 00:43:17,880 I miss our conversations. 904 00:43:17,947 --> 00:43:22,885 I miss your advice to me. I just miss you, man. 905 00:43:25,554 --> 00:43:28,591 {\an1}- I have a great relationship with my healthcare provider. 906 00:43:28,658 --> 00:43:30,359 You may have a great relationship 907 00:43:30,426 --> 00:43:32,028 {\an1}with your healthcare provider. 908 00:43:32,094 --> 00:43:34,430 But what about the millions of Americans 909 00:43:34,497 --> 00:43:39,502 whose experience is different from mine and from yours? 910 00:43:39,568 --> 00:43:40,736 {\an1}Yes, all of us make mistakes, 911 00:43:40,803 --> 00:43:43,372 but when mistakes become a pattern, 912 00:43:43,439 --> 00:43:45,441 {\an1}we all need to pay attention, 913 00:43:45,508 --> 00:43:48,744 especially when lives are at stake. 914 00:43:48,811 --> 00:43:50,846 Health disparities were identified 915 00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:54,517 as a crisis in healthcare way back in 2003. 916 00:43:54,583 --> 00:43:56,585 That's 19 years ago. 917 00:43:56,652 --> 00:43:58,954 So little has changed since then. 918 00:43:59,021 --> 00:44:01,057 Our healthcare system is made up of 919 00:44:01,123 --> 00:44:05,294 so many caring individuals. We all know this. 920 00:44:05,361 --> 00:44:07,863 But the history of unequal treatment 921 00:44:07,897 --> 00:44:12,468 based on a patient's race cannot be denied. 922 00:44:12,535 --> 00:44:14,846 We have so much in common, 923 00:44:14,870 --> 00:44:18,274 and yet people of color are treated differently 924 00:44:18,341 --> 00:44:22,878 by a healthcare system that promises to do no harm. 925 00:44:22,912 --> 00:44:25,748 {\an1}Sadly, it happens every day. 926 00:44:25,881 --> 00:44:28,284 Let's listen to the people behind the numbers. 927 00:44:28,351 --> 00:44:31,921 Let's get to know the life stories that show us 928 00:44:31,988 --> 00:44:35,324 what it means to live with health disparities. 929 00:44:35,391 --> 00:44:38,227 They have so much to teach us. Think about this. 930 00:44:38,294 --> 00:44:40,896 What if each encounter with the healthcare system 931 00:44:40,930 --> 00:44:45,201 began with a recognition of our shared humanity? 932 00:44:45,267 --> 00:44:47,403 What if you saw yourself in that person? 933 00:44:47,470 --> 00:44:49,739 You saw your mother? You saw your sister? 934 00:44:49,839 --> 00:44:51,407 You saw your father? 935 00:44:51,474 --> 00:44:55,244 {\an1}What if treating every patient as we would want to be treated: 936 00:44:55,311 --> 00:44:57,146 what if that would actually happen? 937 00:44:57,213 --> 00:44:59,348 {\an1}It would lead to massive change 938 00:44:59,415 --> 00:45:03,185 and improving the lives of so many. 939 00:45:03,252 --> 00:45:08,024 We're fighting the impact of decades of mistreatment, 940 00:45:08,090 --> 00:45:12,762 but we are the ones who get to decide to do better. 941 00:45:12,862 --> 00:45:15,031 We can do better. 942 00:45:15,097 --> 00:45:19,368 So let's make the choice to be better and do better. 943 00:45:19,435 --> 00:45:24,940 Our future together. I know we can do it. 944 00:46:09,452 --> 00:46:11,187 - It's Black people. It's people of color. 945 00:46:11,253 --> 00:46:13,832 It's Latinos who are saying "The things that you're 946 00:46:13,856 --> 00:46:16,192 "telling us to do we physically cannot do. 947 00:46:16,258 --> 00:46:17,493 {\an1} We cannot stop going to work 948 00:46:17,560 --> 00:46:19,729 because we have to pay our bills. 949 00:46:19,862 --> 00:46:22,064 - When he was at the hospital, he comes and tells me, 950 00:46:22,131 --> 00:46:25,468 {\an8}"Sidney, they sent me over to this room 951 00:46:25,534 --> 00:46:29,305 {\an8}"and everybody was... They wearing a hood, 952 00:46:29,372 --> 00:46:33,642 {\an8}"wearing, like, long gloves, wearing plastic covers. 953 00:46:33,709 --> 00:46:36,212 "And they call me up and told me, 954 00:46:36,278 --> 00:46:38,347 'Go clean in that room. He's gotta go. 955 00:46:38,414 --> 00:46:39,982 Gotta be ready for the next patient.'" 956 00:46:40,049 --> 00:46:41,717 {\an1}They didn't tell them anything. 957 00:46:41,784 --> 00:46:44,720 They just pretty much threw him there. 958 00:46:44,787 --> 00:46:46,889 So like on your own. 959 00:46:46,956 --> 00:46:48,357 That's probably where he got sick. 960 00:46:48,424 --> 00:46:51,827 The doctor went into his room and told him 961 00:46:51,894 --> 00:46:54,363 that he was gonna die from COVID. 962 00:46:54,430 --> 00:46:55,831 [sniffles] 963 00:46:55,898 --> 00:46:57,967 There was nothing he can do about it. 964 00:46:58,034 --> 00:47:00,169 Then I called my dad, and I told him. 965 00:47:00,236 --> 00:47:04,507 He goes, "I'm gonna do everything I can 966 00:47:04,573 --> 00:47:07,009 to get you out safe." 967 00:47:09,311 --> 00:47:12,448 Then I started calling everybody I could, 968 00:47:12,515 --> 00:47:15,951 to the people, to the doctors I know personally. 969 00:47:16,018 --> 00:47:18,254 And he goes to me... 970 00:47:18,321 --> 00:47:22,258 he goes like, "Sidney, no. I'm not coming out of this." 971 00:47:22,325 --> 00:47:25,895 Says, "I'm giving up. I'm tired. 972 00:47:27,730 --> 00:47:29,298 "I am just..." 973 00:47:29,365 --> 00:47:33,302 He goes, "Just, this is it. I'm not coming out of this." 974 00:47:34,870 --> 00:47:38,140 From that point, I didn't... I never saw him again. 975 00:47:38,708 --> 00:47:42,878 If they would have told my dad at the clinic where he worked 976 00:47:42,912 --> 00:47:48,150 to wear a mask, to wear gloves, he would be here now. 977 00:47:52,062 --> 00:47:54,498 {\an8} - Someone in his job had COVID, and so he was like, 978 00:47:54,565 --> 00:47:57,301 {\an7}"I just know that I got it." 979 00:47:57,368 --> 00:48:00,271 And we were on the line, on hold for, like, six hours, 980 00:48:00,337 --> 00:48:03,274 and we just couldn't get through. 981 00:48:03,340 --> 00:48:05,142 We would go to the emergency room. 982 00:48:05,209 --> 00:48:07,111 {\an1}They would send us back home. 983 00:48:07,178 --> 00:48:09,346 Then he got really, really sick, 984 00:48:09,413 --> 00:48:11,549 and I had to rush him back to the emergency room. 985 00:48:11,615 --> 00:48:12,983 {\an1}The nurse wouldn't let me in, 986 00:48:13,050 --> 00:48:16,053 and they put him in a wheelchair, 987 00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:20,191 and he just looked at me and he just said like... 988 00:48:22,126 --> 00:48:25,229 "Mel, I want you to know that I never knew a love 989 00:48:25,296 --> 00:48:28,732 like this before. I love you so much." 990 00:48:28,799 --> 00:48:30,911 {\an1}And I said, "I love you too. We're gonna get through this. 991 00:48:30,935 --> 00:48:32,369 {\an1}"You're gonna get through this. 992 00:48:32,436 --> 00:48:34,805 You're young. You're healthy." 993 00:48:34,872 --> 00:48:36,407 But... 994 00:48:36,473 --> 00:48:39,443 [somber music] 995 00:48:44,248 --> 00:48:46,917 {\an7}We've known literally forever. 996 00:48:46,984 --> 00:48:50,354 {\an8} - We get the striking moment where Anthony Fauci says 997 00:48:50,421 --> 00:48:53,357 {\an8} "We've known literally forever that Black people 998 00:48:53,424 --> 00:48:57,094 {\an8}"have a higher rate of diabetes, of obesity, 999 00:48:57,161 --> 00:48:58,963 {\an8}"of asthma, of all the different things 1000 00:48:59,029 --> 00:49:01,065 {\an8}that make the coronavirus especially deadly." 1001 00:49:01,131 --> 00:49:03,234 {\an8}- When you look at the predisposing conditions 1002 00:49:03,300 --> 00:49:06,437 {\an8}that lead to a bad outcome with coronavirus, 1003 00:49:06,504 --> 00:49:09,073 {\an8}the things that get people into ICUs, 1004 00:49:09,139 --> 00:49:12,009 {\an8}that require intubation and often lead to death, 1005 00:49:12,076 --> 00:49:14,979 {\an8}they adjust those very co-morbidities that are, 1006 00:49:15,045 --> 00:49:17,615 {\an8}unfortunately, disproportionately prevalent 1007 00:49:17,748 --> 00:49:19,483 {\an8}in the African-American population. 1008 00:49:19,550 --> 00:49:21,552 {\an8}So we're very concerned about that. 1009 00:49:21,619 --> 00:49:22,820 {\an8}It's very sad. 1010 00:49:22,887 --> 00:49:24,598 {\an8}There's nothing we can do about it right now 1011 00:49:24,622 --> 00:49:26,657 {\an8}except to try and give them the best possible care 1012 00:49:26,757 --> 00:49:28,993 {\an7}to avoid those complications. 1013 00:49:29,059 --> 00:49:31,061 - And Dr Fauci's words underscores 1014 00:49:31,128 --> 00:49:33,063 {\an1}what America was dealing with. 1015 00:49:33,130 --> 00:49:34,774 It was that we couldn't change our society. 1016 00:49:34,798 --> 00:49:36,967 We couldn't go back and give Black people 1017 00:49:37,034 --> 00:49:38,836 better access to healthcare retroactively. 1018 00:49:38,903 --> 00:49:41,438 And even though some people thought it was callous 1019 00:49:41,505 --> 00:49:44,308 {\an1}for Dr. Fauci to say "There's literally nothing we can do. 1020 00:49:44,375 --> 00:49:46,310 We've known about this forever," he was right. 1021 00:49:48,846 --> 00:49:52,550 {\an8} We know that a lot of Americans are gonna die, 1022 00:49:52,616 --> 00:49:54,194 {\an8} and we know that a lot of those Americans 1023 00:49:54,218 --> 00:49:57,288 {\an8} are gonna disproportionately be Black people. 1024 00:49:57,354 --> 00:49:59,590 {\an8} This is not a coincidence. 1025 00:49:59,723 --> 00:50:02,459 {\an8} ♪ ♪ 1026 00:50:02,526 --> 00:50:06,730 {\an8}- So at every single step, longstanding systemic racism 1027 00:50:06,797 --> 00:50:09,633 of where people live, what kind of jobs they have, 1028 00:50:09,733 --> 00:50:11,333 what kind of doctors they have access to, 1029 00:50:11,368 --> 00:50:13,337 what kind of hospitals they have access to 1030 00:50:13,404 --> 00:50:16,740 just chipped away and chipped away 1031 00:50:16,807 --> 00:50:20,444 at what we first thought was going to be equal effects 1032 00:50:20,511 --> 00:50:22,479 {\an1}on white and Black communities. 1033 00:50:22,546 --> 00:50:24,648 And what we saw at the end was not a small difference 1034 00:50:24,748 --> 00:50:26,183 but a huge one. 1035 00:50:26,250 --> 00:50:29,086 These large gaps, much, much higher likelihood 1036 00:50:29,153 --> 00:50:31,889 of getting infected, getting sick and dying. 1037 00:50:31,956 --> 00:50:34,291 Still true today. 1038 00:50:34,358 --> 00:50:35,735 I think the frontline doctors and nurses 1039 00:50:35,759 --> 00:50:37,061 have done a heroic job. 1040 00:50:37,127 --> 00:50:39,363 I don't think the blame is there. 1041 00:50:39,430 --> 00:50:42,633 But the healthcare system should have been much, much 1042 00:50:42,766 --> 00:50:44,935 more prepared for this and should've seen this coming, 1043 00:50:45,002 --> 00:50:48,239 and that didn't happen. 1044 00:50:48,305 --> 00:50:50,941 We often say, "Oh, that's just biology. 1045 00:50:51,008 --> 00:50:53,911 So much easier to just explain it as biology. 1046 00:50:53,978 --> 00:50:57,281 We've taken these effects of longstanding racism 1047 00:50:57,348 --> 00:50:59,583 {\an8}and we've almost created a biology around it. 1048 00:50:59,717 --> 00:51:01,352 {\an8}Around lung function 1049 00:51:01,418 --> 00:51:03,821 {\an8}we somehow think that there are differences in lung function 1050 00:51:03,888 --> 00:51:06,266 {\an8}between white and Black people, and the most classic of which 1051 00:51:06,290 --> 00:51:08,359 is around pain thresholds and this idea 1052 00:51:08,425 --> 00:51:10,704 that Black patients have higher pain thresholds, 1053 00:51:10,728 --> 00:51:13,531 which is really an idea straight out of slavery 1054 00:51:13,597 --> 00:51:17,735 {\an1}and still continues to affect the way doctors think today. 1055 00:51:17,801 --> 00:51:19,970 And so if you take something like hypertension, 1056 00:51:20,037 --> 00:51:22,306 which again, we just sort of, you know, 1057 00:51:22,373 --> 00:51:24,441 in passing make the remark, "Oh, yeah. 1058 00:51:24,508 --> 00:51:26,253 "Black patients are more likely to have hypertension 1059 00:51:26,277 --> 00:51:28,746 than white patients." What's that about? 1060 00:51:28,779 --> 00:51:31,582 What's going on there? How did that happen? 1061 00:51:31,649 --> 00:51:35,386 - You know, but there are some days 1062 00:51:35,452 --> 00:51:37,188 I miss that phone call. 1063 00:51:37,254 --> 00:51:39,990 {\an8}There are some days I wish 1064 00:51:40,057 --> 00:51:42,593 {\an8}that I could just drive to his apartment 1065 00:51:42,660 --> 00:51:44,361 {\an8}and be like, "Poppy, did you eat? 1066 00:51:44,428 --> 00:51:46,997 {\an8}Let's go get something to eat," you know? 1067 00:51:47,064 --> 00:51:48,766 {\an8}"Could you cook some food and can you 1068 00:51:48,799 --> 00:51:50,835 {\an8}make some fish?" [laughs] 1069 00:51:50,901 --> 00:51:52,136 {\an8}You know? 1070 00:51:52,203 --> 00:51:53,504 {\an8}- When we first got married 1071 00:51:53,571 --> 00:51:55,906 {\an8}and we were living in an apartment, 1072 00:51:55,973 --> 00:51:58,275 and I would be so happy when he came home, you know, 1073 00:51:58,342 --> 00:52:00,211 and what have you. 1074 00:52:00,277 --> 00:52:01,721 And I used to wash his feet, you know? 1075 00:52:01,745 --> 00:52:03,747 [laughs] 1076 00:52:03,814 --> 00:52:05,349 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 1077 00:52:05,416 --> 00:52:08,118 I used to love hearing him come home 1078 00:52:08,185 --> 00:52:11,255 and knowing we was there together. 1079 00:52:11,322 --> 00:52:12,623 And that's my Billy. 1080 00:52:12,723 --> 00:52:15,426 That's my Billy. I don't look at this. 1081 00:52:15,492 --> 00:52:16,536 I don't open this book and look at this, 1082 00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:18,195 but that's him. That's him. 1083 00:52:18,262 --> 00:52:21,532 That's Billy. That's my Billy. 1084 00:52:21,599 --> 00:52:24,301 ♪ ♪ 1085 00:52:24,368 --> 00:52:26,713 {\an8} - 42% of African American adults 1086 00:52:26,737 --> 00:52:29,907 {\an8}over the age of 20 also suffer from hypertension. 1087 00:52:29,974 --> 00:52:34,879 {\an8}28.7% of non-Hispanic white adults suffer from that. 1088 00:52:41,886 --> 00:52:43,187 So what you see is 1089 00:52:43,254 --> 00:52:45,189 consistently when you look at diabetes, 1090 00:52:45,256 --> 00:52:46,500 when you look at having a child, 1091 00:52:46,524 --> 00:52:47,791 when you look at asthma, 1092 00:52:47,858 --> 00:52:49,493 when you look at living your life 1093 00:52:49,560 --> 00:52:52,696 that African Americans have a harder time at living healthy 1094 00:52:52,730 --> 00:52:56,834 and at being able to have access to health. 1095 00:52:57,568 --> 00:53:00,571 - A Black baby during slavery was 1.6 times 1096 00:53:00,704 --> 00:53:03,240 more likely to die as a white baby, 1097 00:53:03,307 --> 00:53:05,910 and today they're twice as likely to die. 1098 00:53:05,976 --> 00:53:08,379 ♪ ♪ 1099 00:53:08,445 --> 00:53:10,581 A Black mother in the United States 1100 00:53:10,714 --> 00:53:11,992 is three to four times more likely 1101 00:53:12,016 --> 00:53:14,451 to die in childbirth. 1102 00:53:15,219 --> 00:53:18,889 Three to four times more likely to die. 1103 00:53:18,956 --> 00:53:21,892 It is absolutely damning and immoral 1104 00:53:21,959 --> 00:53:25,162 {\an1}that even as life expectancy 1105 00:53:25,229 --> 00:53:28,365 {\an8}has gone up over the last century, 1106 00:53:28,432 --> 00:53:30,301 {\an8}Black Americans are lagging behind 1107 00:53:30,367 --> 00:53:34,714 {\an8}by five to seven years of meaningful life, 1108 00:53:34,738 --> 00:53:39,009 that infants are consistently twice as likely to die 1109 00:53:39,076 --> 00:53:40,644 if they're Black. 1110 00:53:40,744 --> 00:53:43,280 I think the time is part of what's so damning. 1111 00:53:43,347 --> 00:53:44,748 It's not just the disparities now. 1112 00:53:44,815 --> 00:53:46,650 It's that that disparity has been there, 1113 00:53:46,750 --> 00:53:49,620 and in spite of all the societal progress 1114 00:53:49,753 --> 00:53:51,789 that modern technology's gotten us, 1115 00:53:51,856 --> 00:53:56,760 all of the material comforts we have, that that gap 1116 00:53:56,827 --> 00:54:00,397 meaning racism, has not gone away. 1117 00:54:34,865 --> 00:54:36,433 - We have to look at this in the face 1118 00:54:36,500 --> 00:54:38,836 and say Black people are under some real stress 1119 00:54:38,903 --> 00:54:40,171 when it comes to racism. 1120 00:54:40,237 --> 00:54:43,073 The coronavirus was like a heat-seeking missile, 1121 00:54:43,140 --> 00:54:44,842 and Black people 1122 00:54:44,909 --> 00:54:47,411 and communities that had been neglected 1123 00:54:47,478 --> 00:54:50,548 were exactly where it found its target. 1124 00:55:02,760 --> 00:55:05,329 {\an8} - My name is Cassandra Rollins. 1125 00:55:05,396 --> 00:55:07,531 {\an7}I'm from Jackson, Mississippi, 1126 00:55:07,598 --> 00:55:10,501 {\an8}and I'm a prior substitute teacher. 1127 00:55:10,568 --> 00:55:14,572 I have four children, 1128 00:55:14,705 --> 00:55:16,874 {\an1} two in heaven and two here. 1129 00:55:16,941 --> 00:55:19,710 My oldest is Shalondra Rollins. 1130 00:55:19,743 --> 00:55:23,214 My second oldest Sherrie Rollins. 1131 00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:29,553 ♪ ♪ 1132 00:55:29,620 --> 00:55:33,490 My third oldest is Tabitha Rollins, 1133 00:55:33,557 --> 00:55:35,993 and my youngest is Tyler Ali... 1134 00:55:37,528 --> 00:55:39,263 Who is deceased. 1135 00:55:39,330 --> 00:55:41,832 My oldest and my youngest is deceased. 1136 00:55:43,300 --> 00:55:47,171 Shalondra was a teacher... assistant teacher. 1137 00:55:47,238 --> 00:55:49,206 They put her with the special needs children, 1138 00:55:49,273 --> 00:55:52,376 and she just blossomed, and the kids loved her. 1139 00:55:52,443 --> 00:55:54,311 The staff loved her. 1140 00:55:54,378 --> 00:55:57,681 Children period was just her passion. 1141 00:55:57,748 --> 00:56:01,085 - Shalondra was the ultimate older sister. 1142 00:56:01,151 --> 00:56:02,686 So supportive. 1143 00:56:02,720 --> 00:56:05,823 {\an8}She would fuss, but anything we call for her, 1144 00:56:05,890 --> 00:56:07,424 {\an8}she was gonna do. 1145 00:56:07,491 --> 00:56:09,527 {\an7}Any party you needed help with, 1146 00:56:09,593 --> 00:56:12,429 {\an8}if you need anybody to go to the store with you, 1147 00:56:12,496 --> 00:56:14,331 if you needed anything, 1148 00:56:14,398 --> 00:56:16,867 she was always gonna be there to help. 1149 00:56:33,517 --> 00:56:35,886 - Shalondra started feeling sick. 1150 00:56:35,953 --> 00:56:37,388 It was in March, 1151 00:56:37,454 --> 00:56:40,324 and she kept saying my sinus is bothering me. 1152 00:56:40,391 --> 00:56:43,527 Then she kept saying my head hurting, 1153 00:56:43,594 --> 00:56:46,530 and she would say she had the chills. 1154 00:56:46,597 --> 00:56:48,566 I said, "Shalondra, that ain't no sinus." 1155 00:56:48,632 --> 00:56:50,467 I said, "You need to go to the doctor." 1156 00:56:50,534 --> 00:56:53,537 {\an8}- She went to see her doctor, and they told her 1157 00:56:53,671 --> 00:56:55,706 {\an8}that she had the flu. 1158 00:56:55,773 --> 00:56:57,708 {\an8}Told her to go home and self-quarantine 1159 00:56:57,775 --> 00:57:02,046 {\an8}and gave her some antibiotics, and that was it. 1160 00:57:02,112 --> 00:57:03,814 {\an1}- I said, "How you feeling?" 1161 00:57:03,881 --> 00:57:07,151 She said, "I feel okay. Just a little winded." 1162 00:57:07,218 --> 00:57:10,688 - Tuesday morning, April 7th, and she complained 1163 00:57:10,721 --> 00:57:13,023 that she couldn't catch her breath. 1164 00:57:13,090 --> 00:57:15,025 {\an8}I had heard a loud sound 1165 00:57:15,092 --> 00:57:17,995 {\an8}like something was falling in the bedroom. 1166 00:57:18,062 --> 00:57:21,675 So I ran in and opened the shower door, 1167 00:57:21,699 --> 00:57:23,677 and she was on the floor. 1168 00:57:23,701 --> 00:57:28,539 Her body was in-between the shower 1169 00:57:28,606 --> 00:57:30,241 and the tub and the door, 1170 00:57:30,307 --> 00:57:32,385 and I didn't want to hit her in the head with the door, 1171 00:57:32,409 --> 00:57:35,713 so I kind of just nudged her until I can get the door open, 1172 00:57:35,779 --> 00:57:38,115 and she was just there fighting for breath. 1173 00:57:38,182 --> 00:57:41,185 - I didn't know whether she was... fell out unconscious 1174 00:57:41,252 --> 00:57:44,088 {\an1}or what it was, so I panicked. 1175 00:57:44,154 --> 00:57:45,866 I started screaming and hollering and praying 1176 00:57:45,890 --> 00:57:47,458 and asking God please not again. 1177 00:57:47,525 --> 00:57:49,026 Don't take my child. 1178 00:57:49,093 --> 00:57:52,530 - Her daughter came in, and I gave her my phone, 1179 00:57:52,596 --> 00:57:54,131 and I said dial 911. 1180 00:57:54,198 --> 00:57:56,100 ♪ ♪ 1181 00:57:56,167 --> 00:57:58,335 If it's to the point to where someone calls 911 1182 00:57:58,402 --> 00:58:00,070 and the ambulance is dispatched, 1183 00:58:00,137 --> 00:58:01,338 that's an emergency. 1184 00:58:01,405 --> 00:58:02,883 I don't care how minute you feel it is, 1185 00:58:02,907 --> 00:58:04,842 what the... what the operator told you prior 1186 00:58:04,909 --> 00:58:06,744 to you going... Getting on the scene. 1187 00:58:06,810 --> 00:58:08,879 We were called, so it's an emergency, 1188 00:58:08,946 --> 00:58:11,916 and I feel like it should be treated as such. 1189 00:58:11,982 --> 00:58:14,585 - There were no lights on or anything. 1190 00:58:14,652 --> 00:58:16,987 - I know they had to mask up and everything, 1191 00:58:17,054 --> 00:58:19,023 but there's ways you put on a mask. 1192 00:58:19,089 --> 00:58:21,192 You put on a mask quick or you... 1193 00:58:23,661 --> 00:58:26,664 - Took them forever to get the gurney in, 1194 00:58:26,730 --> 00:58:28,632 {\an1}and she was just laying there. 1195 00:58:28,699 --> 00:58:29,810 And I was like, "Just calm down. 1196 00:58:29,834 --> 00:58:31,101 I was trying to fan her. 1197 00:58:31,168 --> 00:58:32,913 She kept saying she was hot and she was cold, 1198 00:58:32,937 --> 00:58:35,039 but the entire time she was alert. 1199 00:58:35,105 --> 00:58:38,342 They didn't even get her off the floor. 1200 00:58:38,409 --> 00:58:39,910 {\an1}They told her fiancé to do it. 1201 00:58:39,977 --> 00:58:42,046 He had to get her off the floor, 1202 00:58:42,112 --> 00:58:44,715 put her in the chair, and push her to them. 1203 00:58:44,782 --> 00:58:46,517 {\an1}- Nobody gave her any oxygen. 1204 00:58:46,584 --> 00:58:48,485 She was clearly struggling for breath. 1205 00:58:48,552 --> 00:58:50,120 No one gave her oxygen. 1206 00:58:50,187 --> 00:58:51,698 - They said they were waiting on her medicine. 1207 00:58:51,722 --> 00:58:53,057 We gave them the medicine. 1208 00:58:53,123 --> 00:58:55,893 They still sat in... in her living room for a moment 1209 00:58:55,960 --> 00:58:57,928 before they even wheeled her out. 1210 00:58:57,995 --> 00:58:59,539 - They stood outside and had a conversation 1211 00:58:59,563 --> 00:59:01,565 after she was put into the ambulance. 1212 00:59:01,632 --> 00:59:03,133 - They just were so "lackadais-y." 1213 00:59:03,200 --> 00:59:05,803 Like, "Oh, okay. She'll be all right." 1214 00:59:05,870 --> 00:59:07,738 It was just the fear in my sister's eyes, 1215 00:59:07,771 --> 00:59:10,741 {\an1}and she's such a strong person. 1216 00:59:10,774 --> 00:59:14,278 Like, I never... I wanted a big brother, 1217 00:59:14,345 --> 00:59:15,779 but I never needed one 1218 00:59:15,846 --> 00:59:18,749 'cause my sister was my friend, my protector, everything, 1219 00:59:18,782 --> 00:59:23,420 so to see her scared was just like... it broke me. 1220 00:59:23,487 --> 00:59:27,358 I called and asked to speak to the triage nurse. 1221 00:59:27,424 --> 00:59:30,227 She was getting all my sister's information, 1222 00:59:30,294 --> 00:59:32,830 so in my mind, she needs the information 1223 00:59:32,897 --> 00:59:35,533 because they're already working on my sister. 1224 00:59:36,901 --> 00:59:40,137 15 minutes after that, the chaplain called me. 1225 00:59:40,204 --> 00:59:41,338 When it was a chaplain, 1226 00:59:41,405 --> 00:59:43,750 I knew it was... It wasn't anything good. 1227 00:59:43,774 --> 00:59:47,845 And as soon as he said it, I dropped the phone. 1228 00:59:47,912 --> 00:59:50,781 - I didn't know that when I was handing her that bag 1229 00:59:50,848 --> 00:59:52,416 {\an1}in the back of the ambulance 1230 00:59:52,483 --> 00:59:53,851 that that would be the last time 1231 00:59:53,918 --> 00:59:55,886 that I would see her. 1232 00:59:55,953 --> 00:59:58,355 To be honest with you, when I gave her that bag, 1233 00:59:58,422 --> 01:00:00,858 I expected for her to be home in a couple of hours. 1234 01:00:00,925 --> 01:00:04,028 - When I finally gathered myself 1235 01:00:04,094 --> 01:00:06,764 and I could talk, I called the chaplain back. 1236 01:00:06,831 --> 01:00:11,101 And it was almost like he wanted me to know 1237 01:00:11,168 --> 01:00:13,871 that they didn't do anything wrong 1238 01:00:13,938 --> 01:00:16,207 because he kept saying 1239 01:00:16,273 --> 01:00:18,309 "She was the only patient they were working on. 1240 01:00:18,375 --> 01:00:20,720 "The ER wasn't busy. 1241 01:00:20,744 --> 01:00:22,379 They did everything they could." 1242 01:00:22,446 --> 01:00:24,724 And my intuition was like, 1243 01:00:24,748 --> 01:00:26,350 I think he's trying to appease me 1244 01:00:26,417 --> 01:00:29,286 so that I won't ask any more questions, 1245 01:00:29,353 --> 01:00:32,056 but I needed to know what happened to my sister 1246 01:00:32,122 --> 01:00:34,491 because nobody was there for her. 1247 01:00:34,558 --> 01:00:38,128 And that's when I found out that she was still on a gurney 1248 01:00:38,195 --> 01:00:39,630 when she coded. 1249 01:00:39,763 --> 01:00:42,299 The autopsy, we didn't ask about 1250 01:00:42,366 --> 01:00:45,636 maybe until two days later. 1251 01:00:45,769 --> 01:00:49,874 {\an1}The autopsy lab was too full and that we couldn't get it. 1252 01:00:49,940 --> 01:00:51,475 They have nowhere in Mississippi 1253 01:00:51,542 --> 01:00:53,611 they could do an autopsy. 1254 01:00:53,711 --> 01:00:56,080 And once I started getting conflicting stories 1255 01:00:56,146 --> 01:00:58,315 from the chaplain and the nurse 1256 01:00:58,382 --> 01:00:59,817 and then the charge nurse, 1257 01:00:59,884 --> 01:01:02,019 I wanted to know what they were hiding, 1258 01:01:02,086 --> 01:01:04,321 but they stopped responding every time 1259 01:01:04,388 --> 01:01:07,157 I would leave a message. They wouldn't call me back. 1260 01:01:07,224 --> 01:01:10,294 If she was not Black, and if she didn't... if she had 1261 01:01:10,361 --> 01:01:14,598 the... I guess the good insurance is what I'll call it, 1262 01:01:14,732 --> 01:01:16,066 she would've been in the hospital 1263 01:01:16,133 --> 01:01:18,736 with the best equipment, with the best things. 1264 01:01:18,769 --> 01:01:20,871 Or even if she was... If she wasn't Black, 1265 01:01:20,938 --> 01:01:23,073 I guarantee you she wouldn't have been sitting out 1266 01:01:23,140 --> 01:01:27,978 on a gurney in a hospital with a known COVID diagnosis. 1267 01:01:28,045 --> 01:01:30,648 - I don't know whether it's Black women 1268 01:01:30,748 --> 01:01:34,652 or just the whole Black population, 1269 01:01:34,752 --> 01:01:39,490 {\an1}but they treat you different. 1270 01:01:39,557 --> 01:01:42,259 I can honestly say in Mississippi and Jackson 1271 01:01:42,326 --> 01:01:43,627 when you have insurance 1272 01:01:43,761 --> 01:01:45,162 and when you don't have insurance, 1273 01:01:45,229 --> 01:01:47,131 you're gonna get better treatment. 1274 01:01:47,198 --> 01:01:50,868 If you go to the hospital with no insurance 1275 01:01:50,935 --> 01:01:54,271 {\an1}and you're complaining of pain, 1276 01:01:54,338 --> 01:01:57,141 they're just gonna give you some pain medicine 1277 01:01:57,208 --> 01:01:58,809 and guess at it, 1278 01:01:58,876 --> 01:02:00,744 but if you go to the hospital with pain 1279 01:02:00,811 --> 01:02:02,413 and you got insurance, 1280 01:02:02,479 --> 01:02:05,816 they're gonna run tests to see where that pain coming from. 1281 01:02:05,883 --> 01:02:08,953 So yes, we are treated different. 1282 01:02:09,019 --> 01:02:10,888 And I've been on both sides of the coin. 1283 01:02:10,955 --> 01:02:13,290 I've not had insurance, and I've had insurance, 1284 01:02:13,357 --> 01:02:16,093 and I notice the difference in the treatment. 1285 01:02:16,160 --> 01:02:19,096 This family has suffered a tremendous loss... 1286 01:02:22,233 --> 01:02:25,135 At the hand of negligence of other people. 1287 01:02:25,202 --> 01:02:28,806 Peoples in authority from the government, 1288 01:02:28,873 --> 01:02:32,376 to the ambulance, to the hospital. 1289 01:02:33,978 --> 01:02:36,213 The people that's supposed to protect us. 1290 01:02:37,815 --> 01:02:40,784 - Without my foundation, I feel like 1291 01:02:40,851 --> 01:02:45,222 {\an1}I'm just... I'm just on a bridge, 1292 01:02:45,289 --> 01:02:48,959 and it could fall at any moment, 1293 01:02:49,026 --> 01:02:53,230 and I don't know when something else gonna fall. 1294 01:02:54,865 --> 01:02:57,768 I live in fear of who's the next person. 1295 01:02:57,835 --> 01:03:04,875 ♪ ♪ 1296 01:03:04,942 --> 01:03:09,246 - Right now, I feel how I felt that day. 1297 01:03:09,313 --> 01:03:12,716 ♪ ♪ 1298 01:03:12,783 --> 01:03:14,051 - If she was white, 1299 01:03:14,118 --> 01:03:16,220 they wouldn't have made us help get her up. 1300 01:03:16,287 --> 01:03:19,056 They would have been at the house quick. 1301 01:03:19,123 --> 01:03:22,092 They would have had sirens on when they came 1302 01:03:22,159 --> 01:03:24,628 because the community that she live in 1303 01:03:24,728 --> 01:03:25,939 is majority Black, so they are... 1304 01:03:25,963 --> 01:03:27,798 {\an1}in my mind, they already knew 1305 01:03:27,865 --> 01:03:29,505 they were going to a Black person's house. 1306 01:03:29,567 --> 01:03:31,836 That's why there was no sense of urgency 1307 01:03:31,902 --> 01:03:34,004 or this is somebody's life, 1308 01:03:34,071 --> 01:03:36,473 'cause I don't think our life matters to them. 1309 01:04:43,307 --> 01:04:45,976 {\an8}- Medicine is made up of some things 1310 01:04:46,043 --> 01:04:47,320 {\an8}that everybody kind of thinks of 1311 01:04:47,344 --> 01:04:48,722 {\an8}when they think medicine, right? 1312 01:04:48,746 --> 01:04:51,215 {\an8}Doctors and nurses and clinics and hospitals. 1313 01:04:51,282 --> 01:04:53,551 {\an8}But of course, there's a lot more to it than just that. 1314 01:04:53,684 --> 01:04:55,328 {\an8} There's the labs where you get your tests. 1315 01:04:55,352 --> 01:04:57,922 There's the X-ray machine places. 1316 01:04:57,988 --> 01:04:59,490 There are the insurance companies 1317 01:04:59,557 --> 01:05:01,557 that actually pay, and they'll pay for some things 1318 01:05:01,592 --> 01:05:03,093 but not others. 1319 01:05:03,160 --> 01:05:04,800 There's government agencies that regulate 1320 01:05:04,862 --> 01:05:07,064 and oversee all of this. 1321 01:05:07,131 --> 01:05:09,266 The products that... like the medicines, 1322 01:05:09,333 --> 01:05:10,901 {\an1} the pharmaceutical companies, 1323 01:05:10,968 --> 01:05:12,679 the companies that will make devices. 1324 01:05:12,703 --> 01:05:14,071 You get a hip replacement, 1325 01:05:14,138 --> 01:05:15,906 somebody's got to make that hip. 1326 01:05:15,973 --> 01:05:17,575 The electronic records, for instance, 1327 01:05:17,708 --> 01:05:21,345 where your doctor types in his or her notes. 1328 01:05:21,412 --> 01:05:24,415 It's a super complicated system. 1329 01:05:24,481 --> 01:05:26,884 Millions and millions of people involved. 1330 01:05:26,951 --> 01:05:29,320 Trillions of dollars. 1331 01:05:29,386 --> 01:05:31,722 Hard to kind of wrap it all into one group, 1332 01:05:31,789 --> 01:05:33,858 but it's... They're all influential, 1333 01:05:33,924 --> 01:05:36,093 and they all end up having an impact 1334 01:05:36,160 --> 01:05:40,130 on what care you get when you go see that doctor. 1335 01:05:40,197 --> 01:05:43,567 - There are a number, though, of perverse incentives 1336 01:05:43,634 --> 01:05:46,003 in American healthcare. 1337 01:05:46,070 --> 01:05:47,571 Large numbers of Americans 1338 01:05:47,638 --> 01:05:49,607 are using public health insurance 1339 01:05:49,740 --> 01:05:51,442 and even more will in the near future. 1340 01:05:51,509 --> 01:05:54,879 And Medicaid pays hospital less 1341 01:05:54,945 --> 01:05:57,081 than commercial insurance does. 1342 01:05:57,147 --> 01:05:59,250 And people of color, Black people, 1343 01:05:59,316 --> 01:06:01,118 {\an8}Latinx people or immigrants 1344 01:06:01,185 --> 01:06:04,321 {\an8}are much more likely to use public insurance. 1345 01:06:04,388 --> 01:06:06,156 {\an8}That affects the care that they get. 1346 01:06:06,223 --> 01:06:08,134 We have one of the most expensive healthcare systems 1347 01:06:08,158 --> 01:06:10,361 in the world, and we get some of the worst results. 1348 01:06:13,422 --> 01:06:17,226 - What it's like trying to access care 1349 01:06:17,292 --> 01:06:20,028 as a Black person in America... 1350 01:06:22,631 --> 01:06:26,068 {\an8}It's like climbing a wall that's slicked with grease. 1351 01:06:27,936 --> 01:06:31,673 I am from Philadelphia, born in north Philadelphia. 1352 01:06:31,740 --> 01:06:34,610 North Philly is one of the poorest parts 1353 01:06:34,676 --> 01:06:36,445 of Philadelphia. 1354 01:06:36,512 --> 01:06:40,983 The city has given me so much of my toughness, 1355 01:06:41,049 --> 01:06:43,619 so much of my ability to tell the truth, 1356 01:06:43,685 --> 01:06:45,654 mean what you say, say what you mean. 1357 01:06:48,157 --> 01:06:51,026 I am deeply troubled this morning 1358 01:06:51,093 --> 01:06:52,995 with the number of coronavirus cases 1359 01:06:53,062 --> 01:06:55,898 and deaths increasing substantially 1360 01:06:55,964 --> 01:06:59,601 and more profoundly in African-American communities 1361 01:06:59,668 --> 01:07:03,172 in Philadelphia, in Michigan, and Detroit, 1362 01:07:03,238 --> 01:07:08,143 in California, in New Orleans, everywhere. 1363 01:07:08,210 --> 01:07:10,646 There was a lack of government action 1364 01:07:10,712 --> 01:07:14,083 in Philadelphia, so I took action. 1365 01:07:16,552 --> 01:07:18,187 I got all my Black doctor friends 1366 01:07:18,253 --> 01:07:19,655 together from all over. 1367 01:07:19,722 --> 01:07:21,824 - Dr. Pierre Chanson. - Dr. Wardlaw. 1368 01:07:21,957 --> 01:07:23,459 - And we put out a video 1369 01:07:23,525 --> 01:07:26,028 saying how you could prevent transmission, 1370 01:07:26,095 --> 01:07:28,130 how you could keep yourselves safe. 1371 01:07:28,197 --> 01:07:30,699 - Stay 6 feet away. - Wear a mask. 1372 01:07:30,766 --> 01:07:33,602 - And then I decided to go a step further 1373 01:07:33,669 --> 01:07:36,739 and started the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium. 1374 01:07:36,805 --> 01:07:39,708 [indistinct chatter] 1375 01:07:41,643 --> 01:07:45,681 I thought really hard about the name Black Doctors, 1376 01:07:45,748 --> 01:07:47,649 and I was very intentional 1377 01:07:47,716 --> 01:07:52,521 because I know that Black people don't trust 1378 01:07:52,588 --> 01:07:57,393 the medical establishment, have never trusted. 1379 01:07:57,459 --> 01:07:59,561 Greg, you guys wanna move... 1380 01:07:59,628 --> 01:08:01,463 you guys wanna move the vans as well? 1381 01:08:01,530 --> 01:08:02,974 We know that Black doctors 1382 01:08:02,998 --> 01:08:05,100 have better outcomes with Black patients. 1383 01:08:05,167 --> 01:08:08,637 {\an1}I need a crew that's gonna come with me, and we're gonna walk. 1384 01:08:08,704 --> 01:08:11,940 No one was getting paid at all. 1385 01:08:11,974 --> 01:08:13,242 {\an1} Every person that showed up 1386 01:08:13,308 --> 01:08:16,245 and worked 8 or 12 hours a day, 1387 01:08:16,311 --> 01:08:19,281 they were there because they wanted to be there. 1388 01:08:19,348 --> 01:08:22,251 They exposed themselves when one in four person 1389 01:08:22,317 --> 01:08:24,953 in Philadelphia had coronavirus. 1390 01:08:24,987 --> 01:08:27,823 When Black people were dying at a rate greater 1391 01:08:27,956 --> 01:08:29,691 {\an1} than everyone else, here I had 1392 01:08:29,758 --> 01:08:32,961 these Black and some White medical students, 1393 01:08:32,995 --> 01:08:35,798 {\an1} Black nurses, Black doctors, 1394 01:08:35,864 --> 01:08:40,135 in essence putting their lives in harm's way 1395 01:08:40,202 --> 01:08:42,871 to take care of the Black community. 1396 01:08:42,971 --> 01:08:44,973 That's what people felt. 1397 01:08:45,007 --> 01:08:47,952 [soft dramatic music] 1398 01:08:47,976 --> 01:08:54,750 ♪ ♪ 1399 01:08:54,817 --> 01:08:57,252 - This is literally the very first meeting place 1400 01:08:57,319 --> 01:08:59,388 of the doctors and nurses 1401 01:08:59,455 --> 01:09:01,323 {\an8}who stepped in when the city of Philadelphia 1402 01:09:01,390 --> 01:09:03,968 {\an8}and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania were derelict 1403 01:09:03,992 --> 01:09:07,396 {\an8}and caught flat-footed during the coronavirus pandemic. 1404 01:09:07,463 --> 01:09:08,897 - There you go. - Okay. 1405 01:09:08,997 --> 01:09:10,432 You're good. 1406 01:09:10,499 --> 01:09:12,701 - People show up at the Black church 1407 01:09:12,768 --> 01:09:14,848 and in particular, this church because they trust us. 1408 01:09:14,937 --> 01:09:19,007 We're 137 years old. This is not our first rodeo. 1409 01:09:19,074 --> 01:09:22,211 {\an1}We've been through this before. We've been through negligence. 1410 01:09:22,277 --> 01:09:24,646 We've been through people despising us. 1411 01:09:24,713 --> 01:09:26,215 And so, this is another opportunity 1412 01:09:26,281 --> 01:09:29,218 {\an1} for the church to stand tall. 1413 01:09:29,284 --> 01:09:31,019 {\an1}- You said just a COVID test. 1414 01:09:31,086 --> 01:09:32,788 - Just a COVID test. - All right then. 1415 01:09:32,855 --> 01:09:35,124 - The disparities that my congregation faces 1416 01:09:35,190 --> 01:09:37,526 every single day is sin. 1417 01:09:37,593 --> 01:09:40,162 There's really no other way to talk about it. 1418 01:09:40,229 --> 01:09:43,031 ♪ ♪ 1419 01:09:43,098 --> 01:09:46,802 What Ala does is not a form of ministry. 1420 01:09:46,869 --> 01:09:48,170 It is ministry. 1421 01:09:48,237 --> 01:09:51,774 {\an1}It is truly the Jesus elements, 1422 01:09:51,840 --> 01:09:53,342 the red-letter Bibles, 1423 01:09:53,409 --> 01:09:57,846 the stuff Jesus said and did... Feed, touch, help, visit. 1424 01:09:57,980 --> 01:09:59,882 That's what she is. That's what she does. 1425 01:09:59,982 --> 01:10:03,852 - Results are right now back in about 48 hours, okay? 1426 01:10:03,986 --> 01:10:05,654 We call everyone who's... 1427 01:10:05,721 --> 01:10:10,125 - If America wants to survive, if it wants to be redeemed, 1428 01:10:10,192 --> 01:10:12,361 if it wants to exist, 1429 01:10:12,428 --> 01:10:15,697 it is going to have to handle some of the realities 1430 01:10:15,764 --> 01:10:17,599 facing people who have found themselves 1431 01:10:17,666 --> 01:10:20,369 at the bottom of the proverbial well forever. 1432 01:10:20,436 --> 01:10:22,237 It's an existential threat, 1433 01:10:22,304 --> 01:10:24,973 this kind of disparity in a country. 1434 01:10:25,040 --> 01:10:28,077 And I think a lot of the people who politically think 1435 01:10:28,143 --> 01:10:31,246 that this is a Black or brown or an urban problem 1436 01:10:31,313 --> 01:10:34,483 are just involved in malignant neglect. 1437 01:10:34,550 --> 01:10:36,318 This is no longer benign neglect. 1438 01:10:36,385 --> 01:10:38,520 This is malignant neglect. 1439 01:10:38,587 --> 01:10:40,856 - I can tell you honestly, I was not expecting... 1440 01:10:40,956 --> 01:10:43,625 So now to be able to be out there 1441 01:10:43,692 --> 01:10:47,796 and be the voice and be their champion and say, 1442 01:10:47,863 --> 01:10:52,835 "I got you" and mean it, it fills me up. 1443 01:10:55,237 --> 01:10:57,806 All the sacrifice for all the elders 1444 01:10:57,873 --> 01:11:01,110 and all the ancestors that came before me allowed me 1445 01:11:01,176 --> 01:11:05,781 to be poised to do exactly what I'm doing for us 1446 01:11:05,848 --> 01:11:07,182 because we need it 1447 01:11:07,249 --> 01:11:09,852 and because others weren't there to give it to us 1448 01:11:09,985 --> 01:11:13,522 the way we needed it with the quickness that we need it, 1449 01:11:13,589 --> 01:11:17,192 and little old me from North Philly 1450 01:11:17,259 --> 01:11:19,928 was able to get it done. That feels good. 1451 01:11:21,130 --> 01:11:23,665 It makes me angry 1452 01:11:23,732 --> 01:11:27,970 {\an1}that, in any other situation, 1453 01:11:28,036 --> 01:11:29,805 {\an1}a group that's hurting the most 1454 01:11:29,938 --> 01:11:32,408 is the one that gets the resources, 1455 01:11:32,474 --> 01:11:34,410 is the one that should be primary 1456 01:11:34,476 --> 01:11:37,746 {\an8}for the resource allocation, and yet again, 1457 01:11:37,813 --> 01:11:41,817 {\an8}another example of us not being first on the list. 1458 01:11:41,950 --> 01:11:44,286 I'm tired of not being first on the list. 1459 01:11:44,353 --> 01:11:48,590 {\an1}So that makes me sad and angry. 1460 01:11:48,657 --> 01:11:52,227 But I turned that anger and those emotions 1461 01:11:52,294 --> 01:11:55,964 into more positive work to drive it forward for us, 1462 01:11:55,998 --> 01:11:59,468 and that feels phenomenal. 1463 01:12:02,604 --> 01:12:05,040 - No one number can get at the fact 1464 01:12:05,107 --> 01:12:08,544 that we have an empathy gap when it comes to Black people 1465 01:12:08,610 --> 01:12:10,712 and White people and healthcare. 1466 01:12:10,779 --> 01:12:12,915 {\an8}So you can look at all the different numbers, 1467 01:12:12,981 --> 01:12:15,617 {\an8}but when you think about the fact that when you show up 1468 01:12:15,684 --> 01:12:18,721 {\an8}as an African-American person to a hospital 1469 01:12:18,787 --> 01:12:22,624 that the doctors don't see you as equally human, 1470 01:12:22,691 --> 01:12:24,626 and they don't take you as seriously 1471 01:12:24,693 --> 01:12:27,930 just because of the brownness in your skin, 1472 01:12:27,996 --> 01:12:30,499 that, to me, is the thing that is the saddest, 1473 01:12:30,566 --> 01:12:33,368 and it is a thing that we should all focus on 1474 01:12:33,435 --> 01:12:35,104 and try to fix. 1475 01:12:35,170 --> 01:12:39,942 - This idea of doing no harm that we have in medicine... 1476 01:12:39,975 --> 01:12:41,477 {\an8}COVID-19 1477 01:12:41,543 --> 01:12:43,188 {\an8}and the Black Lives Matter movement, I think 1478 01:12:43,212 --> 01:12:45,948 {\an7}have made it incredibly clear 1479 01:12:46,014 --> 01:12:47,716 {\an8}to many people 1480 01:12:47,783 --> 01:12:50,486 that doing no harm is not enough. 1481 01:12:50,552 --> 01:12:54,289 It's not enough to do no harm. You have to act. 1482 01:12:54,356 --> 01:12:56,258 {\an1} [dramatic orchestral music] 1483 01:12:56,325 --> 01:12:57,726 - Every once in a while, 1484 01:12:57,793 --> 01:13:02,831 there's a moment when massive progress is possible. 1485 01:13:02,965 --> 01:13:04,533 ♪ ♪ 1486 01:13:04,600 --> 01:13:06,135 I think this is one of those moments. 1487 01:13:06,201 --> 01:13:08,137 I think COVID-19 1488 01:13:08,203 --> 01:13:11,073 is that moment that says 1489 01:13:11,140 --> 01:13:13,142 we actually can do a lot in the next generation. 1490 01:13:13,208 --> 01:13:15,911 {\an1} We don't have to wait five. 1491 01:13:16,378 --> 01:13:19,782 But it's not gonna just naturally happen on its own. 1492 01:13:19,915 --> 01:13:21,917 all: Black lives matter! Black lives matter! 1493 01:13:21,950 --> 01:13:24,052 - White Coats for Black Lives is a response 1494 01:13:24,119 --> 01:13:26,221 to the outcry from the community, 1495 01:13:26,288 --> 01:13:29,458 the George Floyd murder on top of a lot of other events 1496 01:13:29,525 --> 01:13:31,093 that were deeply painful. 1497 01:13:31,160 --> 01:13:33,028 all: Black lives matter! Black lives matter! 1498 01:13:33,095 --> 01:13:35,297 - COVID-19 in concert 1499 01:13:35,364 --> 01:13:37,132 with the Black Lives Matter movement, 1500 01:13:37,199 --> 01:13:41,070 the protests and the activism that pushed the nation 1501 01:13:41,136 --> 01:13:45,941 to face these systemic inequities, 1502 01:13:45,974 --> 01:13:47,342 has changed the way that people 1503 01:13:47,409 --> 01:13:49,044 {\an1} are looking at medicine now. 1504 01:13:49,111 --> 01:13:52,714 The young people are the most activated 1505 01:13:52,781 --> 01:13:56,685 and the most passionate about taking it on themselves. 1506 01:13:58,187 --> 01:14:00,689 - I'm pretty optimistic about the future 1507 01:14:00,756 --> 01:14:02,324 because of the medical students 1508 01:14:02,391 --> 01:14:03,826 and resident trainees. 1509 01:14:03,959 --> 01:14:07,196 They fundamentally seem to understand issues 1510 01:14:07,262 --> 01:14:08,964 around systemic racism, 1511 01:14:08,997 --> 01:14:10,899 how that affects health and healthcare. 1512 01:14:10,966 --> 01:14:13,168 {\an1} It feels different right now. 1513 01:14:13,235 --> 01:14:14,903 I mean, the American Medical Association 1514 01:14:14,937 --> 01:14:17,039 has just introduced a series of legislation 1515 01:14:17,106 --> 01:14:19,007 really talking about racial justice 1516 01:14:19,074 --> 01:14:21,210 as a fundamental part of being a doctor. 1517 01:14:21,276 --> 01:14:24,713 {\an8}- Our policy as racism as a public health threat 1518 01:14:24,780 --> 01:14:27,249 {\an8}acknowledges that harm has been caused 1519 01:14:27,316 --> 01:14:30,185 {\an7}by racism and unconscious bias. 1520 01:14:30,252 --> 01:14:32,755 {\an7} - We are so proud at the AMA 1521 01:14:32,821 --> 01:14:34,957 {\an8} of our Center for Health Equity. 1522 01:14:35,023 --> 01:14:37,960 {\an8}We want to meet the needs and the challenges 1523 01:14:38,026 --> 01:14:41,730 {\an8}regarding health equity or the lack thereof. 1524 01:14:41,797 --> 01:14:43,365 - I think the national conversation 1525 01:14:43,432 --> 01:14:44,967 does give me a lot of hope 1526 01:14:45,033 --> 01:14:46,835 because it has a lot of substance. 1527 01:14:46,935 --> 01:14:49,037 Black maternal health specifically 1528 01:14:49,104 --> 01:14:51,940 is being platformed by the White House by, 1529 01:14:52,007 --> 01:14:55,077 you know, a half-Black, half-Indian vice president. 1530 01:14:55,144 --> 01:14:58,347 I thought that was such a powerful, watershed moment. 1531 01:14:58,414 --> 01:15:00,582 - We're very glad to have this opportunity 1532 01:15:00,649 --> 01:15:03,118 to talk about such an important priority 1533 01:15:03,185 --> 01:15:06,021 for the Biden-Harris administration, 1534 01:15:06,088 --> 01:15:10,459 and that is addressing the unacceptably high rate 1535 01:15:10,526 --> 01:15:14,029 of Black maternal mortality in this country. 1536 01:15:15,998 --> 01:15:19,301 - If I were to describe the ideal 1537 01:15:19,368 --> 01:15:21,904 institutional medicine, 1538 01:15:21,937 --> 01:15:24,206 everybody would have the same insurance 1539 01:15:24,273 --> 01:15:28,510 {\an1}and the same access to doctors. 1540 01:15:28,577 --> 01:15:30,813 {\an1}People would be able to choose 1541 01:15:30,913 --> 01:15:32,681 where they wanted to get their healthcare, 1542 01:15:32,748 --> 01:15:35,084 and that choice would not be predicated 1543 01:15:35,150 --> 01:15:38,654 on what insurance they have, where they lived, 1544 01:15:38,721 --> 01:15:44,760 and there would be vastly more doctors of color. 1545 01:15:44,827 --> 01:15:48,964 - A system that's truly equitable is not a system 1546 01:15:49,031 --> 01:15:50,699 that delivers the same care to everybody 1547 01:15:50,766 --> 01:15:52,735 'cause not everybody has the same needs. 1548 01:15:52,801 --> 01:15:55,170 {\an8}So a system that's truly equitable 1549 01:15:55,237 --> 01:15:57,573 {\an8}takes people's needs and preferences 1550 01:15:57,639 --> 01:16:01,443 {\an8}and their backgrounds and values into account, 1551 01:16:01,510 --> 01:16:03,145 not through stereotypes 1552 01:16:03,212 --> 01:16:05,681 of here's what I think your values are, 1553 01:16:05,748 --> 01:16:07,683 or here's what I think you need, 1554 01:16:07,750 --> 01:16:09,551 but with a deep engagement of people 1555 01:16:09,618 --> 01:16:11,253 of what's going on in their lives 1556 01:16:11,320 --> 01:16:13,856 and what do they really need to be better 1557 01:16:13,922 --> 01:16:16,091 in terms of their health. 1558 01:16:16,959 --> 01:16:19,094 - In an ideal world, 1559 01:16:19,161 --> 01:16:21,697 what care would look like for Black people 1560 01:16:21,764 --> 01:16:24,133 is that when you walked in a room, 1561 01:16:24,199 --> 01:16:26,802 someone would be happy to see you. 1562 01:16:29,605 --> 01:16:32,207 {\an8}Someone would look at you and sit down. 1563 01:16:33,909 --> 01:16:36,211 {\an8}Someone would ask you about your day. 1564 01:16:38,080 --> 01:16:41,150 - My husband's name is Rolando Aravena. 1565 01:16:41,216 --> 01:16:43,218 - My father's name was James Glenn. 1566 01:16:43,285 --> 01:16:45,421 - My dad is Eddie Jermaine, Sr. 1567 01:16:45,487 --> 01:16:48,791 - My little sister is named Monica Willette Simmons. 1568 01:16:48,857 --> 01:16:50,726 - My dad's name is Jacques LaBelle Toussaint. 1569 01:16:50,793 --> 01:16:53,429 - My father Jack Culbert Senat. 1570 01:16:53,495 --> 01:16:56,265 {\an8}My cousin Jack Toussaint. 1571 01:16:56,331 --> 01:16:59,368 {\an8}My uncle Jocelyn Jean. 1572 01:16:59,435 --> 01:17:02,471 - I feel like there's a sense of urgency of action now, 1573 01:17:02,538 --> 01:17:06,341 and really, it's over the next six months, year, 1574 01:17:06,408 --> 01:17:10,212 two years that we gotta start seeing real change. 1575 01:17:10,279 --> 01:17:12,247 - I lost two cousins, 1576 01:17:12,314 --> 01:17:16,151 {\an8}Mr. Adolphus Moss and Mr. Charles Page. 1577 01:17:16,218 --> 01:17:20,022 {\an8}Two great servants, citizens of Sumter County. 1578 01:17:20,089 --> 01:17:23,759 {\an8}- My father's name was Lucius Ewan. 1579 01:17:23,826 --> 01:17:26,562 This is one of my favorite pictures because I think 1580 01:17:26,628 --> 01:17:32,367 it really exemplifies his peaceful and gentle spirit. 1581 01:17:32,434 --> 01:17:34,503 [somber orchestral music] 1582 01:17:34,570 --> 01:17:41,310 ♪ ♪ 1583 01:17:43,045 --> 01:17:44,513 - We've got to seize this moment. 1584 01:17:44,580 --> 01:17:47,616 We've got to do the things that we've been talking about 1585 01:17:47,683 --> 01:17:49,852 to build an equitable health system, 1586 01:17:49,985 --> 01:17:52,054 and we got to get going 1587 01:17:52,121 --> 01:17:58,694 because moments of opportunity pass if you don't take them. 1588 01:18:17,513 --> 01:18:20,115 - It is my fervent hope 1589 01:18:20,182 --> 01:18:24,953 that this film helped to open your heart a little bit 1590 01:18:25,020 --> 01:18:29,258 and the way you see health disparities, 1591 01:18:29,324 --> 01:18:31,960 because the crisis is far bigger than COVID. 1592 01:18:31,994 --> 01:18:34,696 Acknowledging and understanding the problem 1593 01:18:34,763 --> 01:18:37,966 is a life-saving, essential first step. 1594 01:18:38,033 --> 01:18:40,135 And if you're moved by the stories that you heard 1595 01:18:40,202 --> 01:18:44,039 and you care about your community, our community, 1596 01:18:44,106 --> 01:18:46,308 I warmly welcome you to join us. 1597 01:18:46,375 --> 01:18:49,878 Please visit thecolorofcare.org for more information 1598 01:18:49,978 --> 01:18:53,282 on how you can help because change is possible, 1599 01:18:53,348 --> 01:18:56,518 and we're the ones to make change happen. 1600 01:18:56,585 --> 01:18:58,754 I appreciate you watching. 1601 01:19:00,989 --> 01:19:08,097 ♪ ♪