Marcos Pesquera: A plan to change health disparities to health equity

After stabilizing the patient, doctors learn that years ago in his home country he was diagnosed as a borderline diabetic. But when he came to the United States, he did not continue medical care because he did not speak English.

At Adventist HealthCare we too often see the effects of disparities in access to health care and health status in minority communities, including African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans, among others.

In Montgomery County, the African-American infant mortality rate is an alarming 17.1 per 1,000 live births, while the rate for whites is 4.5 per 1,000 live births. In Maryland, Latinos are most likely to be uninsured, with nearly 40 percent of the population lacking health insurance. Maryland’s Asian-American women are more likely to die from cervical cancer than other women.

Data indicate that these disparities are not limited to isolated cases, and exist throughout all of our communities. National and state data sources provide a big picture of these gaps in the fabric of our health care system, but at the local level — in our communities — the challenges are deep and ever-present.

Two years ago, in response to these growing challenges, Adventist HealthCare convened a Blue Ribbon Panel of experts, who recommended the creation of the Adventist HealthCare Center on Health Disparities to work with local organizations to improve the level of research, education, and services focused on the elimination of health disparities.

Recently, our new center released a progress report titled, ‘‘Partnering Toward a Healthier Future: Eliminating Health Disparities in Frederick, Montgomery, and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland,” to highlight disparities and local initiatives across a broad range of health categories. We held a roundtable discussion on Nov. 30 with local and state health officers, community organizations and health-care providers. We came together to recognize our individual efforts at eliminating health disparities and to discuss how to merge these efforts through partnerships to improve the health of all segments of our community.

As we begin the difficult task of turning talk into action, we should be guided by several principles.

First, a patient’s experience with the health system is defined by their interaction with their caregiver. If doctors and nurses cannot communicate with their patients or have difficulty understanding patients’ cultural beliefs and practices, then no amount of insurance will help to improve the quality of care. Thus, we believe that improving the ability of health professionals to communicate with patients is critical.

Second, we are blessed that many local organizations are working to eliminate health disparities. Our local leaders should cultivate opportunities to recognize these organizations, to facilitate sharing of best practices, and to create a regional agenda to eliminate health disparities and promote health equity. Our center is ready to help in this effort.

Finally, members of our ever-changing community must become engaged by demanding concrete initiatives from their health-care providers and elected officials.

The task of eliminating health disparities is large, and it will take each of us to reach a future where all of our neighbors enjoy equal access to high-quality health care — a community of health equity.

Marcos Pesquera is executive director of the Rockville-based Adventist HealthCare Center on Health Disparities.