There are myriad ways for the healthcare industry to better address racism and inequities, officials said last Friday.

Plenty of reports have noted the need to address disparities, but the healthcare industry has overall “failed to act,” said Aunt Martha's Health and Wellness Center CEO Raul Garza, who moderated a panel hosted by the Institute of Medicine of Chicago.

“The racial and ethnic disparities that we’ve seen so clearly over the past year, and made clear by the COVID-19 pandemic, really show the disproportionality and the impact of the pandemic on communities of color,” Garza said. “And this, I believe, is a direct result of the pre-pandemic realities that are really driven by this legacy of structural discrimination that has limited access to health and wealth for people of color.” See the full article here. 

This article first appeared in the Health News Illinois daily email newsletter. 

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