Ventilators are necessary to help save the lives of Black people being
treated for coronavirus.
[ [link removed] ][IMG]
Write a letter to ventilator manufacturers to demand they allow
hospitals to fix broken ventilators.
[ [link removed] ][IMG]
Dear John,
[ [link removed] ]WRITE A LETTER to ventilator manufacturers to demand they allow
hospitals to fix broken ventilators!
Ventilator manufacturers Vyaire Medical, GE Healthcare, Medtronic,
Hamilton Medical, and the group that lobbies for them, AdvaMed, still
haven’t taken responsibility for their role in hospitals' inability to fix
broken ventilators.^1 Meanwhile, the COVID-19 (coronavirus) health
pandemic has only become more deadly for Black people.
Our communities are dying from complications due to coronavirus at
disproportionately high rates.^2 Ventilators are a key medical
intervention that can help keep Black people breathing long enough to
fight the virus. Without increased access to ventilators, our friends,
grandparents, children, and spouses will continue to suffer.
It’s time for ventilator companies to step in to help Black, disabled, and
low-income communities get the medical care they need to survive. [ [link removed] ]WRITE
A LETTER to ventilator manufacturers and tell them to let hospitals fix
ventilators.
But the problem isn’t just that ventilators are in short supply. The
current ventilator shortage, and its impacts on Black communities,
replicates and magnifies long-existing racial disparities in medical
care.^3 4 We are routinely denied access to healthcare, no matter how
deadly our symptoms or how severe our pain.^5 6 Those of us who are Black
and disabled are so thoroughly ignored that we face constant challenges
while trying to receive the healthcare we need to live.^7 The coronavirus
is no exception. Michigan mother Deborah Gatewood, for example, passed
away in April after seeking treatment for coronavirus symptoms at the
hospital where she worked for 31 years. She visited that same hospital
four times before she died and was denied care each time. When her
daughter took her to a different hospital, it was too late. She was
unresponsive, she had developed bilateral pneumonia, and her kidneys
failed shortly after.^8
Deborah’s story is not an unfortunate mistake; it reflects a pattern of
racism in medical care that plays into who will and will not receive a
ventilator when needed. Due to the persistent shortage, ventilators are
being rationed in large part by patients’ likelihood of survival.^9 10
This means that our family and friends being treated for coronavirus may
not receive a ventilator, or may be forced to share a ventilator, because
our “chances of survival” are diminished by disabilities or pre-existing
conditions like asthma, heart disease, and diabetes.^11 12 In this world,
a world in which we cannot count on our federal government to purchase
additional life-saving ventilators, and Black people will keep dying daily
because of this, we need companies—like ventilator manufacturers—to step
in.^13
[ [link removed] ]WRITE A LETTER to ventilator manufacturers to demand they step up and
help save as many lives as possible.
Until justice is real,
—Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Jade, Johnny, Amanda, Evan, Imani, Eesha,
Samantha, Jennette, Ciera, Marcus, FolaSade, and the rest of the Color Of
Change team
References:
1. “Broken Ventilators Require Easier Fixes, Black Leaders Demand,”
Bloomberg Law, April 29, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
2. “Early Data Shows African Americans Have Contracted and Died of
Coronavirus at an Alarming Rate,” ProPublica, April 3, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
3. “Covid-19 Is Killing Black People Unequally—Don't Be Surprised,”
Wired, May 2, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
4. “The racism that's pervaded the US health system for years is even
deadlier now,” The Guardian, May 4, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
5. “Kira Johnson spoke 5 languages, raced cars, was daughter in law of
Judge Glenda Hatchett. She still died in childbirth,” The Root, 19
October 2018,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
6. “Black mother gives birth to baby in a bathtub after being turned away
from hospital,” The Root, September 19, 2019,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
7. “Can you get quality health care as a black, disabled person?,”
Bedsider, March 22, 2019,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
8. “Black Woman Dies From Coronavirus After Being Turned Away 4 Times
From Hospital She Worked at for Decades,” The Root, April 26, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
9. “The Way We Ration Ventilators Is Biased,” The New York Times, April
15, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
10. “The Hardest Questions Doctors May Face: Who Will Be Saved? Who
Won’t?,” The New York Times, March 21, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
11. “Adults with Disabilities: Ethnicity and Race,” Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, October 25, 2019,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
12. “The Hardest Questions Doctors May Face: Who Will Be Saved? Who
Won’t?,” The New York Times, March 21, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
13. “Trump calls US the ‘King of Ventilators’ as governors plead for aid,”
New York Post, April 19, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
Image: [ [link removed] ]Karen Moskowitz, Getty Images via The New York Times
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[ [link removed] ]Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black
folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. [ [link removed] ]Help
keep our movement strong.
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