Health educator Christie VanHorne, president and founder of CVH Consulting, recently presented “The History and Impact of Racism in Public Health and Medicine” at Mount Saint Mary College.
The event was sponsored by the Mount’s School of Nursing, the Mu Epsilon Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, and the Catskill Hudson Area Health Education Center.
VanHorne presented several historical factors that contribute to health disparities and discrimination, going as far back as 1619 and from as recently as last year.
One example VanHorne discussed were sterilization laws, which were first introduced in the late 1900s. These laws were intended for people with mental illnesses, and as time went on, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people were also targeted. In the 1970s, the Indian Health Service along with collaborating physicians performed sterilizations on thousands of Native American women. This was because the insurance payout to the operating physician was considerable, said VanHorne.
“Women were often tricked or didn’t even realize they were getting a hysterectomy,” she explained. “It would often happen when they were in for another procedure.”
VanHorne also discussed a four-decade study by the United States Public Health Service that examined untreated syphilis in Black men. Starting in 1932, about 400 Black men with syphilis were told they were being treated, but they received no such care. The study only came to an end when the public became aware of it through an Associated Press newspaper article in 1972.
These historical factors have led to generational mistrust, said VanHorne, which affects current events like the recent COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is the impact of historical injustices, this breakdown of trust,” she said. “Imagine if your mother or grandmother was a victim or forced sterilization. Imagine that your parent was a victim of the syphilis study. Imagine that you’ve never gone to a doctor that trusts my lived experiences or they don’t prescribe me medication because of the color of my skin. Those are realities.”