Forum organizers: American healthcare inequities cause needless deaths

With an estimated 50 percent of black Americans suffering from a chronic disease or disability by the time they reach adulthood and with dramatically shorter life expectancies than white Americans, improving the U.S. healthcare system is of primary importance, a group of local business leaders and health experts declared Wednesday night during an on-campus forum.

The forum, organized by Excelsior and Associates in coordination with the Colorado Springs Black Chamber of Commerce, included African-American community leaders as well as representatives of health insurance companies, state, and county health officials. They came to UCCS to discuss inequities in healthcare as well as broad solutions outside of national healthcare reform efforts.

The group was welcomed by Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak and was assisted by Kee Warner, associate vice chancellor for diversity and inclusiveness, Academic Affairs, and Anthony Cordova, director, Multicultural Office for Student Access, Inclusiveness and Community. Shockley-Zalabak told the group she hoped UCCS could play a role in convening groups to discuss important issues and shared that healthcare is an important family issue for many UCCS students.

“I don’t believe there’s enough money in the U.S., China, Russia and Brazil to solve this problem unless you, as a citizen, get involved,” Will Phillips, of Excelsior and Associates, said.

A panel of experts used statistics, anecdotes and experience to draw a picture of an American healthcare system they believe has giant gaps in patient care that are often based on income levels, race and geographic location.

The experts included Dr. Jandel Allen-Davis, vice president of government and external relations, Kaiser Permanente, Kandi Buckland, executive director, El Paso County Department of Public Health, U.S. Army Lt. Col. (retired) Shelia Mitchell, and Dr. Christopher Urbina, executive director and medical director, Colorado Department of Public Health.

“Health care is not enough,” Urbina said. “Nor are community solutions enough. It really has to be ‘and.’”

Urbina said that the U.S. health care system only affects 15 to 20 percent of an individual’s health while genetics accounts for five to 10 percent. The balance is determined by personal choices, environment, employment, education, housing and transportation.

Each of the experts encouraged focus on what they called winnable battles. Urbina advocated ensuring that Colorado residents have clean water, clean air and safe food. He also emphasized concentrating on such problems as oral health, substance abuse, tobacco use, obesity, unintended pregnancies, mental health including suicide prevention, and reducing infections and illnesses through vaccinations.

“Diabetes Type Two is a knife and fork issue,” said Dr. Lasandra Watson, an audience member, during a discussion of encouraging a health care system to focus on disease prevention instead of treatment.

Both Buckland and Allen-Davis talked about current and planned efforts underway by El Paso County and Kaiser Permanente to gather data and implement programs that will help prevent illness, improve access to healthy foods, and make the healthcare system more efficient.

But it was Phillips who put the exclamation point on the discussion and the call to action.

“In the period 1991 to 2000, mortality data concluded that had mortality rates of African Americans been equivalent to whites, we would have saved 880,000 lives,” Phillips said. “The goal has to be to bring these rates even and then move the country to be healthcare leaders in the world.”

— Photos by Tom Hutton