Items

2021-02-01

Just 5 percent of vaccinations have gone to Black Americans, despite equity efforts

An article discussing how racial disparities can be viewed in regards to Black communities and the coronavirus.

2021-02-05

Across The South, COVID-19 Vaccine Sites Missing From Black And Hispanic Neighborhoods

An article and short podcast discussing how difficult it is to get vaccinated in Black neighborhoods, mostly due to lack of vaccinations and locations.

2021-02-28

Building Trust in the Vaccine

When I was pregnant and going to birthing classes, I learned the terrifying rates of mortality for Black women giving birth. The numbers were horrifying, so there is no wonder to me why a high percentage of Black Americans do not plan on getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The American healthcare system has failed them. But a group of Black doctors are standing up to tell their communities that not taking the vaccine is to risk their life, and they deserve better. This video, shared to NowThisNews on twitter, describes what the doctors' message is and why it is so important. Black lives do matter, which is why these doctors are urging everyone to get the vaccine. The video states that more Black Americans have died from COVID than any other ethnic group. Hopefully, the vaccine will stop these deaths.

2021-02-22

Black history and the COVID-19 pandemic

This post tags an article titled "The Black Plague" which states that according to the Reuters report African Americans are more likely to die from Covid-19 than any other group in the U.S.. The article goes further in to explain the synopsis of affected and deaths of certain states but it importantly states that black people are more likely to have pre-existing health conditions that weaken their immune systems causing them to be easily infected. Though this is one reason why; other reasons including, as stated in the article "Trumpanian Malfeseance" is another major cause. With the testing locations around the U.S having major breakpoints, it was noted that zipcodes of higher-income families had the closest and many available sights of getting tested compared to zip codes with low-income families. Further studies showed that out of these lower-income locations, the majority was filled by black people. This limited the opportunity for black people to get tested and explains how the pandemic is affecting black people.

2021-02-05

Reducing Jail Sentences for Inmates with Preexisting Health Conditions

The study conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice (BCJ) found that prisons, jails, and detention facilities are rushing to make an effort to release unnecessarily incarcerated people to improve healthcare and conditions of confinement for the remaining inmate population. As part of a larger project to end mass incarceration, the BCJ analyzed the unique health challenges posed by the inmate population both 65 and older, as well as those with preexisting medical conditions. "Brennan Center Recommendation: Elderly and sick people and those incarcerated for parole violations should be released or recommended for release under compassionate release provisions or another authority. Barring that, prison officials should use their discretion to transfer people to community corrections options."

2020-09-10

Mental Health Care Was Severely Inequitable, Then Came the Coronavirus Crisis

This article describes how the Covid-19 pandemic has compounded the mental health disparity in the United States. As the title suggests, those suffering from mental illness already did not receive equitable treatment; the pandemic has widened this inequality through a variety of issues, chiefly, disruption of service that was already minimal.

2021-01-23

Change of Life A Friends Story!

I realized the seriousness of the pandemic when I began an exercise program on February 6, 2020. There was not much noise being made about the pandemic yet. I got my nails and hair done on February 11-12, 2020. I would realize now that this would be the last time since I have done this in a year. As the pandemic progressed things were places shutting down and I left my exercise program on February 28, 2020. I early voted on March 2, 2020, and wore a mask. Saw my dentist on March 4, 2020, and got my hair done one last time. By May, I went practically to my doctors and my general physician via telehealth, and then finally I realized this was very serious. People I know began to test positive for Covid. One of these people came into direct contact with me so as a result I went and got a Covid Test as a safety precaution. I found out it was negative. I began to not leave the house now due to the rising cases in my community in Florida. In August cases began to surge even more as people returned to school since summer was over. The holidays came in December and the numbers continued to grow and caused me to not leave the house anymore. This has been a terrible year of isolation and has caused me to lose many dear friends due to the pandemics of isolationism and people's change in attitudes. I am blessed to have a great spouse and a home with a bed to sleep in. I got vaccinated in January 2021. While this brings hope I have to figure out what I am to do and how to move forward as a result of the ongoing pandemic while I have to still maintain safety protocols. I hope the end is in sight due to there now being federal government oversight.

2020-08-16

Nurse Meme

This is a meme that was sent around the COVID unity among the nurses that my sister shared with me. I thought it was a funny way the nurses make the best of their situation and try to laugh whenever they can.

2020-10-20

A Day In The Life Of COVID-19

The main reason why I chose this piece of media is that I wanted to learn more about the daily life of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers. With both of my parents working in a healthcare setting, with my father as a nurse and my mother as a receptionist, it is important for me to understand what my parents deal with. I find this video to be extremely useful in becoming more aware of how government facilities are adapting to the virus, the daily life of healthcare workers and it gives me an overview of what I can possibly be doing in the future as a career. One precautionary action that the government has taken is an increase in virtual contact in order to prevent physical contact. In the vlog, Doctor Mike explains his hospital’s new “virtual patient visits”. This exhibits the government’s underlying guidelines (The CDC) about preventing the spread of the virus by limiting person to person contact.

2020-10-19

A Government Against It's People

Finding any type of media that will accurately show what little the government has done and the lack of support the people of America have is unbelievably easy. In fact, I had a hard time choosing between which cartoon illustration was better. I knew our government wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t until Donald Trump being elected and the coronavirus pandemic hitting our homes did I realize how terrible things really are. These cartoons depicted so well how our government has harmed us more than helped us. The dangerous lies told by our own president and how the government won't take responsibility. When corona made its way to the U.S it was deemed unserious. On March 11th, 2020, President Trump said, “The vast majority of Americans, the risk is very, very low.” At that time there were 1,105 cases and 33 deaths documented in the U.S. The next day my highschool as well as every other school within the country closed down as an “extra week of spring break” due to the virus. This “break” soon became eight months and in the U.S alone there are now 8,128,524 ( plus 47,035 new) cases with 218,986 ( plus 475 new) deaths . The scare became real, people started stocking up leaving nothing for anyone else. We have almost 15 people in our home, it took my mom multiple trips to different stores in order to get the necessities for our family. You would think when a pandemic is spreading throughout people in the country you were placed in position to protect you’d address the problem seriously and work hard to find a solution. All Trump and our government has done was ignore the citizens deaths and provide false hope. What we did get was our president being sarcastic and telling us to inject lysol into our lungs. The citizen’s of America have seen other countries rise in numbers of coronavirus with us and then watch their governments actually handle the situation causing their numbers to decline while our numbers are still shooting through the roof. The panic of this virus does not even cross the mind of those who are rich, the group that our current president only cares about. They didn’t have to worry about medical bills in a country where the president doesn’t believe free healthcare is a human right because they know they are important in his eyes. At the end of this virus, it will be the stories from the one percent belittling the destruction of this virus rather than those who have actually suffered. America is running on ignorance right now. Our own president and government is not concerned with the health of the country. It is the government's job to protect and provide for its people, whether it be an outside threat or a threat within the country. When I look at those cartoons of Donald Trump and the coronavirus, it makes me remember how badly I want our country to actually function the way it is intended to.

2020-07-14

Access restrictions during Victoria's second wave, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne

A regular entrance to the hospital is closed and covered with posters with public health messages and information on access restrictions in response to Victoria's second wave of infections in July 2020.

2020-04-15

Bay Area health care workers want more transparency about on-the-job coronavirus exposure

In 2020, there are a lot of secrets that are being kept from health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health workers have emphasized that they want to be immediately notified when they have come in contact with the coronavirus by patients, so they are able to get tested and stay safe away from others. However, many of them have not been notified- and that resulted them into testing positive for the coronavirus. This is extremely important to talk about because without health care workers, the pandemic would be much more out of control than how it is now. They put their lives at risk to help patients who have the coronavirus. If more and more workers are in the dark to whether a patient they have worked with has COVID, then there were be less health care workers available at hospitals for assistance.

2020-06-13

Lovelace Hospital's Secret Coronavirus Policy

Lovelace Women’s Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico implemented a secretive policy that racially profiled Native American mothers. As expecting mothers who “looked” Native were admitted into the hospital, staff would compare their area codes to a list of zip codes belonging to Native lands such as Reservations or Pueblos. After being identified as “a person under investigation for COVID-19”, mothers were often misled or were forced into signing a wavier that gave permission for hospital staff to remove the newborns from their parents after birth. The families were only reunited once the pending coronavirus test results came back negative. Test results took up to three days to come in, thus leaving the mothers in fear and uncertainty about the wellbeing of their child. Lovelace, Native American, mothers, healthcare, newborns, separation, New Mexico indepth, ProPublica, racial profiling, New Mexico

2020-06-30

Surgery During a World Wide Pandemic

I was a competitive gymnast for ten years. I suffered many severe injuries during my time there but I never thought the injuries would continue after I quit. In 2019 I found out I had a labral tear in my right hip joint. Turns out the tear was most likely caused by my underlying hip dysplasia but the surgery to fix that it way scarier, so we went with the “easier” one. Surgery on its own is terrifying but during a pandemic is even worse. I was given a cancelation slot and had less than 24 hours to get a COVID test. The test had to be negative for me to get my surgery. We found out two hours before my surgery that it was a go. I was lucky because I am still a minor which means my mom could stay with me through pre-op. The whole time I had to wear two masks with all the tubes going under the mask. There were a crazy amount of precautions when I was actually in the hospital and after. I was very strange because there were so many people but it also felt so empty. Not only was the surgery hard but post-op has been even worse. Going through physical therapy following major surgery is hard enough but in a mask and on crutches is worse. Overall I am very lucky for my surgery but major medical procedures during a pandemic made everything take longer and make it much, much scarier.

2020-09-08

Disconnect from our Core Values

This assignment is part of the American Studies classes at California High School in San Ramon, California.

2020-06-09

Finding Opportunity in Midst of Tragedy

When I left San Francisco in March (due to USF closing), I knew I was coming back for the summer. I thought maybe I would find a nice research position at the school once things calmed down. However as CO-19 progressed I quickly realized that my goal of getting a research job was nearly impossible as almost every position had a hiring freeze. I returned to San Francisco on the last day of May to move into my apartment and begin a tedious job hunt. I applied to around 20 jobs at UCSF, the only place I could see hiring for in-person research. Unfortunately I never heard back. Saddened by the lack of job offers I quickly became consumed by self-doubt. How will I ever get into medical school if even entry level research doesn't want me? How will I set myself apart? Over the next week I decided to broaden my job search to not just research but different healthcare positions. Even positions I wasn't qualified for, but willing to learn. At that point I had applied to twenty-five more jobs and almost immediately started hearing back...from ALL of them. This past summer I held three jobs. One as a dental surgery assistant, one as a clinic and research intern at the Stone Research Foundation, and one as a receptionist at an orthodontic practice. These positions I could have never have gotten under normal circumstances. With a combined total of almost 60 hours a week dedicated to work I can say I have learned so much and am proud to be a part of the health care field. While this summer was one of the most difficult, it lit a fire under my butt. It taught me that there is always another way to get where you want to be in life as long as you don't give up and keep trying.

2020-08-24

Everybody has a plan until they don't

I am finally returning to college, but certainly not under the circumstances I anticipated. I am already adjusting from a different major, but could have never imagined the added stress that this pandemic has brought. My family works in healthcare, so I considered myself generally aware of virology and therefore healthy practices to keep myself safe. However, I had no idea the measures that needed to be taken to ensure minimal spread. This is especially true of a college campus, which I haven't found myself on in several years. There is absolutely no reason to politicize this, we are all in this together.

2020-07-20

Bay Area Seniors Left Behind by Telehealth

Many seniors are unable to access online health services due to lack of internet, computer, and/or computer skills. With the lockdown, many seniors are lonely and feeling isolated within their homes, unable to even access needed medical care via telehealth.

04/22/2020

Basil Darras Oral History 2020/04/22

This is part of the MHH project under the guidance of Professor Parsons

06/02/2020

Christopher Colwell Oral History 2020/06/02

Interview with Dr Christopher Colwell, Chief of Emergency Medicine at Zuckerberg, San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center by interviewer Christina Lefebvre. Dr. Colwell speaks about the changes in his daily work activity and the obstacles of hospitals to respond to protests and a pandemic. He also shares his thoughts on how the pandemic has altered the practices and routines of medical facilities to maintain safety for patients and healthcare workers.

2020-07-09

Wichita's Healthcare Heroes

This banner honors the work performed by the doctors, nurses, and staff of the west Wichita Wesley Medical Center Emergency Room at 13th and Tyler Road. Signs like these proved fairly common across the city, therefore adding to the wide variety of expressions of gratitude displayed across the world for those in the medical professions who have dealt with COVID-19's harsh reality. Nonetheless, at the time this photograph was taken, Sedgwick County announced that its hospital space and ICU availability was beginning to encounter greater stress. After a hasty re-opening and a lack of political will to enforce and maintain mitigation measures, COVID-19 cases surged across the state, with patients from the county and surrounding rural areas lacking direct access to medical facilities being brought to Wichita-area hospitals for treatment.

2020-06-03

Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston, COVID Resources

Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston offer resources for legal, medical, unemployment, housing, and economic support on their COVID response webpage . This document is in English and the site also offers translations in Spanish, Mandarin, and Vietnamese. While the world shut down for the pandemic, ICE continued to detain and deport immigrants here in the US, and the Black Lives Matter movement's response to police brutality sparked a number of arrests. Boston's Lawyers for Civil Rights organization has continued to offer legal support for those in need and has kept a running page of legal updates.

2020-06-08

Is the United States Doing Ok?

This meme highlights a feeling that I, and many friends and colleagues, are going through: what the heck is the US doing right now? We seem to have given up on trying to handle coronavirus. While that is bad by itself, at the same time we also seem to be in the middle of a racial reckoning that is directly tied into the pandemic. Questions of healthcare, liberties, and the ability to peacefully gather are all coming to the forefront as the average citizen tries to make sense of this all.

2020-06-11

Renfrew paramedics 'shocked' after discovering non-medical masks in supply

News story about non-medical masks discovered amongst the supply provided to Renfrew County paramedics and the resulting need for extensive Covid-19 testing of paramedics and those who had used the ambulance service during the period when the masks were in circulation. The incident serves as an example of the trust that equipment, even when it is available, will protect workers and the public being broken.

2020-05-20

African Americans and COVID-19

The uploaded picture is African Americans waiting in line for distributions of food and mask in New York. It is just one of the many pictures and art forms describing the disproportions effects of COVID-19 on communities of color. It has been stated that people of color are becoming infected and dying of COVID-19 at high rates than those that are white. It is important to be made aware of this as it could be the result of systematic racism that is embedded in the access to healthcare and resources as well as the living conditions compared to white folks.

2020-04-30

CBD: How New Well-being Enterprises Capitalize on your Anxiety

"Ten years ago the only public displays of cannabis related usage would have been PSA’s warning against its harmful effects or perhaps a subway advertisement looking for people who are willing to participate in a study for addiction." This article describes CBD and cannabis use for health issues and concerns within NYC and was written by a senior journalism student following a beat developed and thought about in terms of the "local" in a journalism course at Pratt Institute that was upended by the pandemic.

2020-04-23

Responding to a Story of Rape and Abortion in Mexico (Rewire News)

"Sixteen-year-old Patricia discovered she was pregnant after a taxi driver in her city of Guadalajara in Jalisco, Mexico, raped her." This article is responding to an article from Rewire News on a story of rape and abortion in Mexico, and was written by a senior journalism student following a beat developed and thought about in terms of the "local" in a journalism course at Pratt Institute that was upended by the pandemic.

2020-05-26

Inmates claim their symptoms are ignored

In prison social distancing is impossible. Once covid enters a prison many become infected quickly. Inmates are saying their efforts to obtain medical care are being ignored and families are not being notified when their inmates become ill. Instead they are only being notified once their inmate has died from the virus.

2020-05-29

A Personal Touch

Medical workers attach photographs of themselves to the outside of their PPE in an effort to provide a little more humanity when caring for their patients.

2020-03-24

Extreme Measures

Medical staff moves a patient in an isolation bed into a room during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020-03-31

Hard Times for Hospitals Too

As elective surgeries are being cancelled to prioritize usage of PPE and in an effort to minimize the exposure to, and spread of, COVID-19, many hospitals are facing financial difficulties as a result of canceling these elective, and often high dollar, surgeries and procedures.

2020-05-29

Not So Emergency Rooms

Doctors are seeing an increase in death and severe complications from otherwise treatable diseases as people are waiting until it is too late before seeking treatment, out of fear from catching COVID-19.

2020-04-07

Vacant Waiting Rooms

Waiting rooms across the country, like this Emergency Room at West Virginia's Veterans Affairs hospital, are a common sight amid the COVID-19 pandemic as people opt to not seek treatment for fear of contracting COVID-19.

2020-04-13

Covid-19: Rural kura makes sanitiser, face shields for Ngāti Porou health workers

"Staff at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Waiu o Ngāti Porou, from tiny Ruatōria on the East Coast, are supplying protective gear to frontline health workers fighting Covid-19 in their rohe."

03/20/2020

My Iso door sign

Having been sent a text message from the Department of Health I was ordered to self isolate as I was considered a close contact of someone I was seated near on a plane. It was a scary time. We hadn’t had any lockdown measures. It was a few days after we had been told to not shake hands etc. I had sinusitis at the time. The Dept if Health Tasmania called me every day to monitor I hadn’t left the house and also ask me about my health. As I had symptoms of sinusitis that correspond with COVID-19, I had two swab tests on these 14 days of isolation. Both returned negative.

05/18/2020

Community Says Thank You to Local Healthcare Workers, First Responders, and Essential Workers Through Signs

The local community of Blanchard, Oklahoma offers their gratitude to the local healthcare workers, first responders, and essential workers through thank you signs. These signs were spotted in front of dozens of locations including businesses, churches, homes, and even government offices. The collage only represents a selection of three that were of a different design. Personal story submitted for the #ruralvoices collection. Contributed by Clinton P. Roberts, curatorial intern for Arizona State University, HST 580.

2020-04-04

Resiliency

Healthcare workers are trained and resilient in the face of this pandemic —- we love our jobs. Morning time preparing to head out to care for people. My wife and I (healthcare providers) participating in a “Resiliency Video”

2020-05-01

Protestors in Cars at Socially Distanced May Day Protest, New Orleans, LA

Cars and bikes line up in a parking lot for a protest organized by the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance. In observance of May Day, the international workers' rights holiday, New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance organized a socially-distanced protest that included bikes and cars. The protestors' demands included free healthcare and testing for hospitality workers, hazard pay and access to protective gear, housing as a human right, freeing incarcerated people, and unemployment assistance through the end of 2020.

2020-05-01

Signage from New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance May Day Protest, New Orleans, LA

May Day protestors hold a sign of Uncle Sam reading "I want you to die for the economy." In observance of May Day, the international workers' rights holiday, New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance organized a socially-distanced protest that included bikes and cars. The protestors' demands included free healthcare and testing for hospitality workers, hazard pay and access to protective gear, housing as a human right, freeing incarcerated people, and unemployment assistance through the end of 2020.

2020-04-13

REL What's in the "Health Kits" allocated by the Chinese Embassy?

The Chinese Embassy is allocating 500,000 "health kits" to overseas Chinese students. Each "health kit" contains 20 disposable medical masks, 2 KN95 masks, disinfection wipes, 2 Lianhua Qingwen Capsules, and a handbook. The capsule in the "health kits" is a Chinese medicine that has an inhibitory effect on respiratory infection and it works for infected persons with mild symptoms. The Chinese government provides epidemic prevention materials for overseas Chinese students to protect their health and safety.

2020-04-25

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