Advantage Health Now Executive Director and owner Alicia Coulter was the special guest of the ‘Amplify Your Voice’ Zoom event, where she discussed subjects such as maternal and Black mortality, prevention medicine, healthcare management and solutions to navigate the healthcare system.
Coulter’s career took her on a path of healthcare within smaller communities as well as hospitals, hospice and managed care organizations.
“She’s become so passionate about the matter that she feels as she becomes emotional when she presents topics like these,” said Sergio Grimaldi, student life coordinator and the host of the Zoom event.
“The Black community’s mistrust in the healthcare system is earned,” Coulter said.
“The countless experiments on Black bodies that helped develop modern medicine coupled with the maltreatment in the current healthcare system is beyond disgusting which fielded the community’s response to the current pandemic” Coulter said.
Coulter explained how she feels that our healthcare system is inherently racist, and how many have had to face deadly consequences as a result of this.
Coulter talked about a story from 1951 of a 31-year-old African American woman who sought treatment for cervical cancer. Instead of getting treated appropriately, she was used, without her full knowledge, to experiment on cures for other diseases, such as polio and other cancers, which ultimately lead to her death.
“Dr. Eric Betzig, Dr. Stefan W. Hell and Dr. William E. Moerner was awarded in the year 2014 for research of her cells,” Coulter said.
Soon after awarding the doctors with Nobel Prizes, John Hopkins apologized for using her cells for research.
Coulter discussed how history has impacted the healthcare system today, as there are many false beliefs that Black people can handle more pain. This also contributes to how they are more likely to have low quality medical insurance.
“Black people are more likely to have diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure,” Coulter said.
Coulter emphasizes how awareness in healthcare is important because Black communities are historically marginalized in the healthcare system.
However, Coulter believes there are solutions to help against racism in the healthcare system. Some of those include ways of developing new systems of education within the healthcare system and helping put the medical system on track to being trustworthy.
Coulter hopes she can continue to spread awareness by navigating the difficulties of a healthcare system that she believes is built on oppression.