COVID-19 has been devastating to the black community.   More than half of the in-hospital deaths due to cover -19 are African Americans.  Most recently, the FDA granted emergency approval for the COVID 19 vaccine.  To date 2.8 million people have been vaccinated.  ⁣

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According to a recent kaiser family foundation survey, only 50% of black Americans compared with 65% of white Americans would definitely or probably get the COVID -19 vaccine. Hesitancy to consider vaccination is attributed to historic injustices and ongoing systemic racism that has eroded the trust in communities of color.⁣

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Getting the COVID-19 vaccine is your choice.  We hope that you can make a well informed decision after listening to this episode.

In 2015, African-American women made up more than 61% of new HIV infections.  13- 24 year olds are the most rapid rising age group with new HIV cases in America.    Among other reasons, social determinants of health like poverty, unequal access to health care, lack of education, stigma, and racism are linked to these health disparities.  On this episode, Dr. Mirnouve joins us for the conversation.  She is an internal medicine Physician with special interest in health disparities and HIV.⁣

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*This episode was created in 2019 and never published because we were clueless about editing.  However, we have managed to clean it up some and drop this gem we have been hanging on to for so long.  Our audio and interview style have definitely evolved since then*. ⁣

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 Do Enjoy!

On this episode we invite Thamicha Isaac to the Mic!⁣

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Thamicha Isaac is an openly positive HIV Activist and founder of Miizmicha’s World Empowerment. Thamicha is passionate about reducing the stigma surrounding HIV and empowers individuals living with HIV. She spends her time bringing awareness and HIV education to communities worldwide. ⁣

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In honor of World AIDS day, Thamicha joins us to talk about her experience living with HIV and how she uses her story to inspire others.

On this episode, we invite Toshia to share her story. At the age of 29, Toshia was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. With no family history of breast cancer, this diagnosis came as a surprise. Several years later Toshia is cancer free! She is married, is a mother and is using her story to raise breast cancer awareness in the community.

Approximately 4.2 percent of men and women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer at some point during their lifetime.  ⁣

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African-Americans are more likely to develop colorectal cancer at a younger age and to be at a more advanced stage when diagnosed.  According to the National Cancer Institute, even when African-Americans are diagnosed with early stage disease, they have significantly worse survival rates.⁣

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On this episode, Dr. Akwi Asombang, an Interventional Gastroenterologist , joins us to discuss colon cancer in our community.

Have you checked in with yourself lately?  Life is difficult right now, but we are all in this together.  Join us as we pause, check our pulse and discuss wellness.

We often need to hear the stories of other women to know that we are not alone; to know that there is hope. And in sharing her story, Donna is helping to break the taboo around Infertility in our community. Listen to her journey with infertility and how In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) helped her conceive.

Discrimination on the basis of race represents a form of chronic psychological stress that historically has disproportionately affected blacks and contributes to the high mortality rates they face. Failure to confront racism within the medical profession has implications for the patients we serve.  On this episode we share our own experiences as physicians of color and talk about how racism is woven in our healthcare system.

Among COVID-19 deaths for which race and ethnicity data were available, death rates among Black/African Americans and Hispanic/Latinos were substantially higher than that of white or Asian persons.  The reasons are multifactorial. On this episode, we have Guest Physician and Public Health worker Dr. Mirnouve Dumond join us in the conversation.  We discuss contributing factors such as living conditions, pre existing medical conditions, racism, stigma and more.