This film highlights the correlations between socioeconomic status and the health of individuals, specifically in Louisville, Kentucky. Why is it that there seems to be a connection between someones health and which class they belong to and the racial inequalities?
They show through data that we are "shaped by our social conditions, often even more powerful than our genes" (3:50) Even though many are brought up to think that health is always a "personal issue" this shows that it is more of a "social issue" than many people believe it to be. These social issues were defined to be the differences in education, income, housing, and power. The higher the education and income, the higher the life expectancy. The issues of housing and power more have to do with how our bodies respond to stressful environments. These stressful environments can start taking a negative effect at a early age. These negative effects were shown in two different studies showcased in the film. The first showed how the higher levels of cortisol, the hormone produced by stress, has a negative affect on the arteries in the heart of monkies. The second study measured the cortisol levels in individuals and then exposed them to a virus to see how their immune system would react. It was really interesting to see the affects that stress has on the body. While I can not say that I am surprised to hear this, I was a little taken aback by the gravity of its contribution to our health. This would mean that in actively managing stress levels (to the best of ones ability) we can have a positive impact on our overall health.
As Dr. Troutman says "Part of good public health is empowering communities, and I don't think we should shy away from that. And empowering communities means creating those conditions where people become empowered and make the changes they need to control their lives. Power is a public-health issue" (51:03)
Power can be given to the people to take control of their future by offering assistance programs like free or reduced childcare, free or reduced further education, free healthcare. Without these programs in place some people are afraid to make changes in fear of certain monetary assistance/benefits being taken away. Mary for example "I do feel like sometimes things are out of your control because as soon as you try to better yourself-- if I even get a job, you know, then I might lose my medical coverage, and my medical coverage is necessary because I have to have my medications in order to work" (21:47) Without the fear of losing her medical coverage she would be able to better herself and help provide a better life for her family by getting a job.
Income, education, housing, and power are not the only factors that determine health. This film also highlighted the social injustices in today society. An African American male such as Dr. Troutman will have a higher risk of health problems than a Caucasian male counterpart because of the stress caused by racism that unfortunately still exists in today's society.
This film also reminds me of the article we read for last week titled "Thinking About Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Impacts Through a Science-Informed, Early Childhood Lens". A map of the COVID-19 cases in the cities and towns in Rhode Island looks eerily similar to the map of the different districts in Louisville, Kentucky. The cities where there are a higher population of minorities and low income/poverty have the higher rate of infection.
:
Looking at the most recent data the distribution has not changed much.
Here is the most up-to-date Rhode Island COVID-19 Response Data
