Episode 223: Anti-Racism in Medicine Series – Episode 14 – Race, Place, and Health: Clinician and Community Perspectives

CPSolvers: Anti-Racism in Medicine Series

Episode 14: Race, Place, and Health: Clinician and Community Perspectives

Show Notes by Alec Calac

February 15th, 2022

Summary: This episode highlights how racism manifests in the built environment, and how community and individual-level efforts can mitigate these inequities. This discussion is the second of three planned conversations around the connections between race, place, and health. Our latest episode welcomes first-time guests Dr. Eugenia South, a physician-scientist and Vice Chair for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine, and Noelle Warford, Executive Director of the grassroots organization Urban Tree Connection. Hosted by team members Naomi Fields and LaShyra Nolen,our guests present their community-based work in Pennsylvania and lay bare the connections between race, place, and health.

Episode Learning Objectives:

After listening to this episode, learners will be able to...

1. Understand the historical and present-day role of land dispossession and property rights in determining health along lines of race and place.
2. Learn how advancing individual agency and distributive justice can empower community organizers and initiatives.
3. Understand the factors that promote and inhibit long-term resiliency and sustainability of place-based initiatives.
4. Learn how we can reimagine health by decolonizing wealth and philanthropy in modern society.

Credits

• Written and produced by: Naomi F. Fields, LaShyra Nolen, Rohan Khazanchi, MPH, Michelle Ogunwole, MD, Alec Calac, Victor Lopez Carmen, MPH, Utibe R. Essien, MD, MPH, Jennifer Tsai MD, MEd, Sudarshan Krishnamurthy, Chioma Onuoha, Dereck Paul, MD, MS, Ayana Watkins, Jazzmin Williams
• Hosts: Naomi F. Fields, LaShyra Nolen
• Infographic: Creative Edge Design
• Audio edits: David Hu
• Show notes: Alec Calac
• Guests: Dr. Eugenia South, MD, MSPH, and Noelle Warford, MSW

Time Stamps

00:00 Introduction

05:40 Built environments and structural racism

11:18 Agricultural perspective, land rights, and settler colonialism

15:00 Responsible community engagement and catalyzing individual agency

21:58 Engaging communities outside of the ivory tower

27:00 Scaling up interventions to the community level

32:29 Intervention sustainability

37:18 Decolonizing philanthropy and place-based investments

42:40 Navigating trade-offs and mitigating ethical tensions

49:20 Key takeaways

Episode Takeaways

1. Your “why” has to be clear before you engage in community-based work.

Ms. Warford reminds us that we need strong, sound ideological positions and guiding principles before engaging with the communities around us. She asks to think about what we are doing today to make it easier for people to live in the future. Our ancestors considered our present to be impossible, so how can we use our ideas and experiences to effect positive change in our communities? These movements require action, not passivity.

2. Take time to learn from your patients. Be curious.

Clinicians are incredibly privileged individuals. Dr. South reminds us that it is our great honor to talk to people in an exam room. Our patients are not just a list of problems. They are individuals who interact with environments that affect their health. She encourages us to see beyond these problems, and ask patients about their lives, challenges, and successes. Everything is important. Unfortunately, medical practice does not always allow us to slow down and take this time to listen. But, finding ways to do so can prove illuminating as well as rewarding.

Pearls

Built Environment, Physical Health, and Mental Health

• Dr. South detailed that there are clear physical health benefits associated with place-based interventions, but unfortunately many lots and buildings sit vacant and destitute across the US. There’s also more. When interviewing community members in Philadelphia, she shared that longstanding disinvestments in their communities made them feel “unimportant” and “neglected” by society, which had effects on their mental health.
• The 2021 Build Back Better Act recognized the impact that the built environment has on health, calling for environmental improvements such as planting trees.
• Ms. Warford is the Executive Director of Urban Tree Connection, a grassroots organization in West Philadelphia that uses land-based strategies an...