Years ago I did a home visit for a middle school student who cared for her grandmother. When I arrived, she was also caring for her cousin who was 2 years old. Her cousin was missing his hands and feet. At some point, the mother arrived and shared the story of how her son lost his limbs. She shared he was sick, and she went to several er’s and was turned away and accused of abusing her son as his limbs were black and blue. Eventually her son was received at a hospital, and was eventually diagnosed treated for an infection, eventually resulting in the loss of limbs. I always wondered if this mother was taken seriously at the 1st hospital, and her son received the appropriate treatment in a timely manor, would he still have his hands and feet. This experience demonstrated to me people may have a difference experience when seeking medical care based on unconscious biases people have.
HV Triad 5: Making things right, here and now
Access During Pandemic
During the pandemic, there continues to be a gap in access between “the Coast” and “the Glades”. When the began to offer COVID-19 testing at the Ballpark and Delray, it was almost 4-6 weeks later until testing was available in the Glades. Now with the vaccines, the same thing is happening again with Glades not being given “access” because we don’t have a Publix in our community.
Changed Systems
I came from very humble beginnings growing up in the hard of Boynton Beach. I experienced all the risk factors many young black men in similar communities face each day (Single parent household, juvenile delinquency, teen parent). The odds were stacked against me and I was able to maneuver through the systems and barriers and graduate high school and college. In spite of my success, graduating college and becoming a success story for the Department of Juvenile Justice, I was unable to gain employment with the agency because of my juvenile record. There were inequities in their systems which prevented individuals like myself from being a part of the agency. They have made changes and modifications to their process to allow individuals with backgrounds the opportunity to work for the agency considering they are of good moral character.