CHANGING AN INEQUITABLE WORLD: Since the murder of George Floyd, pressure increases to tackle systemic racism in health care.

• Author: Dark, Stephen

In 2002, the Institute of Medicine published "Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care." The book highlighted the significance of race and ethnicity for patients experiencing disparities in health care access. Almost two decades later, when COVID-19 hit Utah, little had changed.

Two weeks into testing at Redwood Health Center, 25 percent of the clinic's patients who had a preferred language other than English tested positive for COVID-19, compared to five percent of Utah's citizens statewide. "We looked at the prevalence of disease and it was higher among our communities of color," says Jose Rodriguez, MD, associate vice president for health equity, diversity, and inclusion at University of Utah Health.

When George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020, the systemic racism underpinning health care disparities emerged as part of the larger fight to change America, including at University of Utah Health.

While many in Utah may claim the state is color-blind, "When you deny you don't have racism, you more or less deny the reality that some people live," says Kolawole S. Okuyemi, chair of the Department of Family Medicine at U of U Health.

Students at the U's School of Medicine (SOM) demanded change, including limits on policing and an increase in the number of students of color to reflect the diversity in society.

In June 2020, Paloma Cabello, MD, associate dean for health equity, diversity, and inclusion at the school, organized a local version of a nationwide protest, White Coats 4 Black Lives. She estimates that more than 100 providers and students, many of color, went down on one knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds.

Through the silence and tears, "I had a feeling of guilt for my own privilege and the urge to do something," Cabello says. The protestors pledged to join SOM students to promote anti-racism in the curriculum, health care system, and community.

Floyd's murder "was a tipping point for many broad initiatives at the university relating to anti-racism," Cabello says, including the formation of an anti-racism commission.

Cabello is on a curriculum group reporting to the commission. "We are now teaching students that being white is not the norm," she says. "You have to know how to identify diseases of people from different backgrounds and skin color. I do think we will have the ability to provide better patient care for everyone, if people are trained and educated in...