Black people are suffering due to the nation-wide ventilator shortage.

Ventilators are necessary to help save the lives of Black people being treated for coronavirus.

Write a letter to ventilator manufacturers to demand they allow hospitals to fix broken ventilators.

Dear John, 

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. 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 

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, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/245818?t=9&akid=42324%2E4731121%2EJviovB
  2. “Early Data Shows African Americans Have Contracted and Died of Coronavirus at an Alarming Rate,” ProPublica, April 3, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/243704?t=11&akid=42324%2E4731121%2EJviovB
  3. “Covid-19 Is Killing Black People Unequally—Don't Be Surprised,” Wired, May 2, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/245819?t=13&akid=42324%2E4731121%2EJviovB
  4. “The racism that's pervaded the US health system for years is even deadlier now,” The Guardian, May 4, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/245820?t=15&akid=42324%2E4731121%2EJviovB
  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,  https://act.colorofchange.org/go/130338?t=17&akid=42324%2E4731121%2EJviovB
  6. “Black mother gives birth to baby in a bathtub after being turned away from hospital,” The Root, September 19, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/186181?t=19&akid=42324%2E4731121%2EJviovB
  7. “Can you get quality health care as a black, disabled person?,” Bedsider, March 22, 2019,  https://act.colorofchange.org/go/245944?t=21&akid=42324%2E4731121%2EJviovB
  8. “Black Woman Dies From Coronavirus After Being Turned Away 4 Times From Hospital She Worked at for Decades,” The Root, April 26, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/245821?t=23&akid=42324%2E4731121%2EJviovB
  9. “The Way We Ration Ventilators Is Biased,” The New York Times, April 15, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/245822?t=25&akid=42324%2E4731121%2EJviovB
  10. “The Hardest Questions Doctors May Face: Who Will Be Saved? Who Won’t?,” The New York Times, March 21, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/245823?t=27&akid=42324%2E4731121%2EJviovB
  11. “Adults with Disabilities: Ethnicity and Race,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, October 25, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/245824?t=29&akid=42324%2E4731121%2EJviovB
  12. “The Hardest Questions Doctors May Face: Who Will Be Saved? Who Won’t?,” The New York Times, March 21, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/245823?t=31&akid=42324%2E4731121%2EJviovB
  13. “Trump calls US the ‘King of Ventilators’ as governors plead for aid,” New York Post, April 19, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/245825?t=33&akid=42324%2E4731121%2EJviovB

Image: Karen Moskowitz, Getty Images via The New York Times

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