One Heart Health Supports Black Lives Matter
July 2020 – The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the hometown of our organization, has had a profound impact on people around the world, including the members of the One Heart Health team. We grieve with the community and are outraged for this senseless loss of life, and for the continued suffering and death of Black people. We recognize that George Floyd’s murder and the police brutality that both led to it and was laid bare during the ensuing demonstrations are the direct result of systemic racism and rooted inequality.
These deep-seated issues have been a part of our country since its formation by design. They permeate every aspect of life in the United States including the healthcare industry. Black people have less access to care, receive lower quality care, and suffer from higher rates of disease and death. The neglect of the health and well-being of Black people has been further demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic. These racial disparities also exist in the diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart diseases (CHDs).
CHDs affect children indiscriminately – eighteen of every 1,000 babies are born with CHD, regardless of their race, the place they are born, or the income of their family. However, the lack of access to CHD care disproportionately impacts the Black community; the infant mortality rate in the United States due to CHD for African-American infants is 36 percent higher than it is for white infants. [1] In addition, inequality in life expectancy has been increasing, not decreasing in the US, race is a main associating factor. [2]
We support the Black Lives Matter movement, and we call on other people working in the healthcare industry to take immediate and decisive action to improve access to and quality of care for Black people. We must recognize that there are problems in every healthcare organization that stem from systemic racism, and that equity in care is inseparable from quality of care. We must provide universal access to care and we must address the underlying issues that result in higher rates of disease and death for Black people.
One Heart Health is committed to identifying opportunities to better engage Black voices in our work. We want to collaborate with other nonprofit organizations to support our local Black communities. We have convened a working group to integrate Black voices in our technology development, research, screening programs and other healthcare work. We will continue to seek input and support and provide updates on our progresses to support Black lives.
Signed,
Quan Ni, Executive Director of One Heart Health
Luke Goetzke, Director of Technology Development of One Heart Health
Karen Baumgaertner, Development Director of One Heart Health
[1] Collins JW Jr, Soskolne G, Rankin KM, Ibrahim A, Matoba N. African- American: White Disparity in Infant Mortality due to Congenital Heart Disease. J Pediatr. 2017 Feb;181:131-136
[2] Dwyer-Lindgren L, Bertozzi-Villa A, Stubbs RW, Morozoff C, Mackenbach JP, van Lenthe FJ, Mokdad AH, Murray CJL. Inequalities in Life Expectancy Among US Counties, 1980 to 2014: Tempo
