Since 2017, the Kentucky Department for Public Health has been working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to collect self-reported information about maternal behaviors, attitudes, and experiences around the time of pregnancy through the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). PRAMS was developed in 1987 and is now […]
Health Equity
Updates on a Year of Progress: The Healthcare Equity Advisory Committee Convenes for Signee Roundtable
The racial justice movement in the Summer of 2020 marked a monumental shift in how organizations understood, approached, and addressed health equity. As society grappled with the realities of a long-standing history of racism, discrimination, and brutality against Black Americans, organizations and individuals reevaluated their own role in its perpetuation, […]
Removing the Blinders on Racism in Healthcare
I recently had two contrasting experiences in the same day related to racism in healthcare that I haven’t been able get out of my mind. First thing in the morning, I received a copy of a commentary piece in the Wall Street Journal, Tell Your Doctor Your Symptoms, Not Your […]
Healthcare Equity Advisory Committee Releases “Principles of Advancing Healthcare Equity in Greater Louisville”
Eliminating racism in healthcare is necessary to eliminate disparate health outcomes in our community. Healthcare leaders and advocates from across Louisville have coalesced around eight principles to advance healthcare equity. Formed through a partnership between the Kentuckiana Health Collaborative, Have a Heart Clinic, and the Kentucky Nurses Association, the Healthcare […]
Correcting Race-Based Medicine in Chronic Kidney Disease
In the United States, 15% of the population is estimated to have chronic kidney disease (CKD). In Kentucky, CKD is the 8th leading cause of death, and in 2019, the CKD morality rates among the Black population was 26.4 deaths per 100,00 compared to 22.2 deaths per 100,000 for the […]
Kentuckiana Health Collaborative Launches Healthcare Equity Advisory Committee and Learning Series
In the United States, significant racial disparities exist for health outcomes and life expectancy. Many of these disparities can be linked to the political and social structures and values that exist in our country that have long-rooted histories of racism. These structures and values result in disparities around health-promoting resources such as food, income, housing, environmental quality, and more. Our […]
Reflecting on a Year of Beginnings and Endings on the Anniversary of Breonna Taylor’s Death
A year ago today, Breonna Taylor’s life ended, when she was killed in her Louisville home; the same day I left to travel to my mom’s to begin the end of her life as she knew it. Two days before that, the WHO organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic […]
Acknowledging Racial Disparities in Cardiovascular Care during American Heart Month
(Note: This blog post was written by Michael Imburgia, MD, Cardiologist and Founder of Have a Heart Clinic. Have a Heart Clinic provides free cardiovascular care to those at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. February is American Heart Month, and as awareness is raised about preventing heart […]
Data Transparency Needed to Address Racial Disparities in Coronavirus Outcomes
As KHC staff put together our COVID-19 data dashboard looking at the regional Kentuckiana view of the spread of the virus, one of the factors we wanted to include how rates might differ between races. The problem was: we couldn’t get that information. We know that generally speaking, there are […]
