Author: McLaren Flint
Studies show income, race, and education could impact access to potentially life-saving health care. A team of McLaren Flint family medicine doctors is working to change that.
April is National Minority Health Month (NMHM), a time to raise awareness about the importance of improving the health of racial and ethnic minority communities and reducing health disparities. This includes the disproportionate burden of premature death and illness among African American, Asian, and Hispanic populations, and encouraging action through health education, early detection, and control of disease complications.
These disparities can include language barriers, low healthcare literacy, and socioeconomic impact, which may lead to obstacles in obtaining proper medical care. Distrust in the overall healthcare system can also lead to people not seeking care, which has increased with the amount of misinformation on the internet.
“The most important aspect of addressing these barriers is to get these populations to seek medical care to improve overall quality of life and increase life expectancy,” said Dr. Anoop Pokhrel, family medicine resident at the McLaren Flint Family Medicine Residency Program.
Decades of data show that these minority groups are most at risk because they are not seeking healthcare at all or regularly.
“Common health disparities that we see in African Americans are higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, stroke, and kidney disease, along with increased rates in maternal and infant mortality,” said Dr. Pokhrel. “Asian populations have increased risk of type 2 diabetes at lower BMI’s and higher osteoporosis rates in older women. The Hispanic population is at a higher risk of diabetes, obesity, and liver disease, with higher cervical cancer rates.”
Because McLaren Flint is a teaching hospital and the faculty physicians and residents are very active in the community, they have introduced unique programs at the McLaren Flint Family Medicine Clinic with health disparities in mind. These include comprehensive diabetes services, physicians who can make home visits, dental health assessments for pediatric patients, lifestyle medicine to help patients reduce their medication requirements, and a walk-in clinic offering same-day appointments.
The clinical team is also diverse. In addition to the family medicine doctors, there is a board-certified OB/GYN, a women’s health nurse, geriatricians, a lactation consultant, and behavioral medicine specialists.
“Community education and outreach programs like the clinic’s diabetes education class can help break down complex topics like diabetes in an easier-to-understand format that patients can take and implement into their daily lives immediately,” said Dr. Pokhrel. “I feel strongly that continuing to train new physicians on the current disparities will help the next generation of doctors to be better equipped to handle the challenges that may arise.”
The McLaren Flint Family Medicine Residency Clinic welcomes new patients. For more information, visit our website here.