Health Equity
Lack of insurance plays a key role in why black women are more likely to die of breast cancer
Rita Rubin, Forbes, October 17
In a study of approximately 560,000 black and white women under 65 diagnosed with breast cancer, researchers found that insurance status explained more than a third of the black-white gap in breast cancer deaths. “Efforts to focus on equalization of access to care could substantially reduce ethnic/racial disparities in overall survival among nonelderly women diagnosed with breast cancer,” the researchers concluded.
>>> Read the study here.
Black, Latino kids less likely to get early help for developmental delays, study finds
Dr. Tyeese L. Gaines, NBC News, October 18
Black and Latino children with developmental delays are much less likely — 78 percent less — than white children to receive the early intervention services they need. In a recently published study, researchers attempted to figure out why. Some of the reasons they identified included mothers feeling that their children weren’t much different from other children they observed, the belief that children develop in their own time, and feeling overwhelmed with other social and financial stressors.
>>> Read the study here.
Affordable Care Act
On heels of Trump executive order, open enrollment arrives in Connecticut
Alexander Soule, The Hour, October 15
Connecticut’s state health exchange enters November with a tighter window for open enrollment but a widening number of ways for people to get help signing up. This year’s sign-up period runs from Nov. 1 through Dec. 22.
Access to care
Branford school extends student health care hours
Marcia Chambers, Branford Eagle, October 10
The Walsh Intermediate School Based Health Center will be working with Yale-New Haven Hospital to open 45 minutes before school starts in order to extend current service time to meet the needs of families who may have urgent care needs. Making care available on an urgent-care basis before school is expected to prevent extended absenteeism, unattended medical issues, emergency room visits, and missed school time.
From the foundation
What working in a hospice taught me about health equity
Brittney Cavaliere, CTHealth.org, October 16
A few years ago, while working in Washington D.C. in a hospice for homeless men and women dying from AIDS, I met a young black man just one year older than me. We had a lot in common. We both loved Sour Patch Kids, watching football, and meeting people. Despite our commonalities, the differences stood out. He was a young black man, I was a young white woman. He grew up in poverty, I grew up in a working-class home. He was dying from AIDS and I was caring for him the best I could during his final month.