An observation re: language, media information distribution & #COVIDー19 vaccinations.

I took a Lyft to work this morning because I was running late.

My Lyft driver was an older Black man who after asking if I was a doctor he asked me about the #COVIDー19 vaccine:
“I heard on the news that they *targeting* Black people to get the vaccine first. Why *target* us?”

He emphasized targeting/target.
We got into a convo about higher covid19 mortality for Black and Latinx populations and the myriad reasons for this.

When we started talking about the vaccine, I learned his concern was about being forced to be a “guinea pig”
His interpretation of “targeting” was to being selected by people with nefarious intentions for experimentation

I offered a reframe: “Black people aren’t guinea pigs. People are considering prioritized us for protection b/c we are most at risk. That’s what they mean.”
He summarized what I just said, the inflection at the end turning his statement into a question: “so they want to give the vaccine to Black people because the Black people are dying the most?”

I said: “exactly that”
He then asked if I would get the vaccine and I told him yes. Our conversation turned to the people we’d both lost to this hellish virus and we shared condolences just as we pulled up to the Farber.
Though I have no idea what this man will ultimately do regarding accepting or refusing a covid19 vaccine - I do know that language is powerful and context dependent.
When I walk through treatments or diagnoses I like to say to the patient: just so I know we’re on the same page and that I’m doing a good job of explaining can you tell me what you understand from what I said?
A lot of information about the vaccine(s) is being fed through the media to laypeople without backgrounds in science or public health.

This isn’t bad per se.

But, who’s making sure important information isn’t lost in translation (or drowned out by misinformation)?
Part of being informed is someone telling you accurate information but the other part -the most important part- involves you understanding the information.
I’m not into predatory persuasive tactics - but I’m all about ensuring people have information so that they can make the best informed decision for themselves and their family.

There’s room for improvement in communication.

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More from @Lachelle_Dawn

23 Dec
Can’t get over Dr. Susan Moore’s death.

It’s on my mind heavy.
Being sick is bad enough - fatigue, pain, shortness of breath. I imagine that to be a member of the majority caste in this country is to be able to just be sick. To be able to focus energy on getting well and maybe (because medical capitalism) how to pay.
There is so much more on the minds of Black patients - considering if the hospital you go to will treat you well (or at all). To have to, in the midst of the emotional and cytokine storm of infection, muster strength to fight for adequate care. To trade rest for diligence.
Read 13 tweets
21 Dec
Morning geriatrics/gerontology thoughts

On #failuretothrive

Last night while researching frailty scores, I vividly remembered being paged at 2am by the paging operator to call a patients family member while I was working in the ICU (back in the day when I did such things 😅)
Things were calm - and I figured a patient family member paging in the middle of the night was probably important - so I called:

“Is this Dr. Weeks?”

“Yes”

“you may not remember me, but I’m ___ you took care of my dad a few months ago and I wanted to talk about his paperwork.”
Now this was curious. This patient died but my mind is a Rolodex of patients I’ve pronounced so I remembered this family well.

“How can I help you?”

“Well I noticed in the admission note you wrote and the discharge summary you listed “failure to thrive” as the chief concern.”
Read 9 tweets
8 Dec
If you need grounding this AM - here’s Ancestor Toni Morrison’s lecture from Portland State, Black Studies Center, May 1975

It’s a classic I revisit often.

Incidentally, her voice is one of the calming voice I’ve ever heard speaking truth to power.

m.soundcloud.com/portland-state…
The whole thing is brilliant but these are a few most brilliant excerpts:

“Who are these people who know our sperm count and but they don’t know our names?”

Looking at researchers who study racial health inequities but don’t know anything about actual communities you study 👀
This part about the fallacy of racial distinctions is major 🔑

“Racism was and is a not only a mark, a public mark, of ignorance. It was and is a monumental fraud” Image
Read 6 tweets
3 Dec
I try to be thoughtful about what I write/say because words matter. I don’t always get it right, but this is a hill I am willing to die on.

*clears throat*

🗣 We don’t need to fix Black people’s mistrust. We need to fix medicine’s lack of trustworthiness.
#COVID19 #CovidVaccine
It isn’t enough to “remember Tuskegee.” The Tuskegee Syphilis Study ran from 1932- 1972. There’s segregation and disregard for humanity happening in the here and now.
40+ years after Tuskegee ended & 50+ years after “whites only” signs came down and hospitals are still segregated spaces! There are hospitals where it is rare to find a Black patient or provider.
Read 19 tweets
3 Dec
Up thinking about this because I had a similar conversation with my mom re: “Black folks aren’t prioritized for anything beneficial any other time”

Where I land is here - I hold no false belief that American Medicine all of a sudden is absolved of a racist past (or present).
Transparency involves being honest abt who/what you are.

So it’s probably less benevolence driving the consideration to prioritize minorities & more interest convergence. Minorities r disproportionately impacted by the virus & are a large portion of essential low wage workforce
It is in the interest of Black people to take a vaccine that could curb community spread of a virus that is killing us AND it is in the interest of a country that wants to get back to “normal” to not have a workforce that isn’t sick/vulnerable & overcrowding hospitals.
Read 5 tweets
8 Nov
Dear America (the non-racist half):
As a trauma survivor I wanted to remind us that we don’t owe kindness, grace, conversation, understanding or respect to abusers. It is not our job to rebuild bridges others burnt.

Saving the souls of abusers is not the victim’s responsibility
It is not to us to placate the half of the country that hates all that isn’t white, cis, male, hetero, protestant, English speaking and able-bodied.

Our primary responsibility is to ourselves - securing our health, safety & freedom.
We, as victims of trauma, having begun the work to save ourselves, do not need to prove our goodness by doubling back to rescue the ones who burned themselves while attempting to torch us.

To suggest that *we* must now “set aside our differences and come together” asks too much.
Read 6 tweets

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