By age 45, Keith Hartgrove had undergone emergency surgery for a quadruple bypass. His story, chronicled in the documentary The Angry Heart: The Impact of Racism on Heart Disease Among African Americans, aired at HSPH on June 5 as part of a training about racism and health disparities sponsored by the Cherishing Our Hearts and Souls Coalition (COHS). The five-year-old coalition educates communities, providers, and public policy makers about the intersection of racism and health. The Program to Eliminate Health Disparities at HSPH is the central coordinating organization for COHS.
The training took place during the sixth biannual partners meeting of the Center for Healthy Options and Innovative Community Empowerment (CHOICE), a joint initiative between HSPH and Florida A&M University in Gadsden County, Florida. VISIONS, Inc., facilitated the workshop.
Participants leaned forward in their seats as they watched the film, sometimes thumping fists on tables in adamant agreement as Hartgrove and public health professionals in the film discussed a gap between African Americans and whites in rates of heart disease and in the quality of health care delivered to patients.
"Not only do we die in greater numbers proportionately, but we also die at younger ages," said Paula Johnson, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, in the film. A number of studies have sought "to figure out...is it socioeconomic status, is it risk factors? It's probably some combination, but no one can explain away the total difference by looking at those factors."
After the screening, COHS Director Brian K. Gibbs explained that, "COHS and CHOICE recognize that experiences with racism are significant sources of stress and ill health among African-Americans." Gibbs, an HSPH senior research scientist, added that, "By sponsoring events like this, we aim to empower people of color to make a stronger commitment to their health and, in doing so, diminish the impact of racism as well as create a personal agency to address related injustices by putting the issues on the table for everyone to see."
Participants at the event debriefed following the screening in smaller, confidential break-out sessions. Facilitators invited their groups to talk openly about feelings and thoughts that arose during the film, and to air issues such as subtle racism they experience in their workplace or community, and what stressors they may experience that they were unaware of before watching the documentary.
"This kind of training offers participants tools and confidence to label racism, focus on the institutional issues, and counter its negative impact," agreed Deborah Prothrow-Stith, associate dean for faculty development and professor of public health practice at HSPH. "This can help those who are mistreated minimize the negative consequences on their health."
Applause erupted when participants shared the commitments they had made in their break-out sessions: from remaining active in the coalition, to engaging in more cross-race conversations about racism, to getting more students involved in the issue.
"Trainings like this can turn providers, practitioners, and others in positions of influence and power into allies," Prothrow-Stith said, "working to recognize and eliminate the systemic manifestations of racism."
—EM
Copyright, 2009, President and Fellows of Harvard College
