I work as a nurse in a teaching hospital. Racial disparities in health care are always theoretically discussed, but I've never been sure of how much outreach or effective intervention is actually done. Not enough is one easy answer.
Causes for the high rate of primary hypertension in black males, for instance, more or less remains a mystery, although studies have suggested "socioenvironmental and psychosocial stress" (IMO this reads; racism, or the inevitable "socioenviromental and psychosocial" outcomes of racism)
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00005748So I was interested and pleased at the role nurses took in their community in this article;
Nurses Work to Improve Health of Newark’s Black Community
Blacks in Essex County, N.J., are almost 1.5 times more likely to die of a stroke or diabetes than Caucasians, reports the Center for Health Statistics of the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. Studies also show there was a 50% increase in the hypertension disparity between blacks and Caucasians older than age 65 in New Jersey from 2001 to 2003 and 2003 to 2005. Nationwide, blacks have a higher rate of peripheral artery disease than any other ethnic group and they have the highest rate of first-time occurrence of deep vein thrombosis.
“The numbers are depressing,” says Gwen Watford-Miller, RN, BSN, former president of the Concerned Black Nurses of Newark. The members of this volunteer organization have been working for more than 30 years in New Jersey’s Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Union counties to improve these statistics and resolve the unmet health needs of the black community.
In cooperation with the National Black Nurses Association, they focus on health initiatives in the community, participate in health fairs, and reach out to churches and schools to educate communities about healthcare issues and improve people’s quality of life."
http://news.nurse.com/article/20090713/NJ02/107130016I don't post here hardly at all, so I'll share with you that nursing is my passion as well as my profession. When we have a health care system that reflects institutionalized racism along very clear statistical lines, I feel that nurses can help make a difference. But how many nurses even know that (or sometimes although I hate to say it, care)there is a National Black Nurses Association for instance?
I've emailed the author to request information about my own community, as well as contacted my union. We'll see what is being done in my "liberal" city
edit; even better
The National Black Nurses Association
http://www.nbna.org/
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