Aug. 3 event highlights disparities in health care for people of color
Staff Reports | Digital Free Press
Old Town Scottsdale is the landmark location for screenings of the Harpo production, “The Color of Care” at Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West,” beginning 2 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 3.
Along with the screening of the film, a panelist presentation and discussion on the disparities between healthcare services for African Americans compared to their white counterparts is available free of charge for those who want to attend.
The venue is Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West, 3830 N. Marshall Way. To register for the event, go here.
The documentary was originally aired on the Smithsonian Channel uncovering evidence of substandard healthcare for people of color, according to a press release.
The “Color of Care” documentary chronicles how people of color suffer from systemically substandard healthcare. COVID-19 exposed what they have long understood and lived: they do not receive the same level of care, the release states.
Produced by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions and directed by Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning director Yance Ford, the film traces the origins of racial health disparities to practices that began during slavery and continue today. Using moving personal testimony, expert interviews and disturbing data, the film reveals the impact of racism on health, serving as an urgent warning of what must be done to save lives.
Prior to the screening of the documentary, three local guest panelists will provide insights into issues facing Arizona healthcare institutions. Following the documentary presentation, a Q&A session will begin.
Panelists on ‘The Color of Care’ are:
*Jen Urso, is a multidisciplinary artist creating works that utilize public interventions, performance, drawing, mapping and technology to honor a sensitive approach to our environment and community that respects the unseen and unspoken. Her work typically takes place in the public via occupation, immersion and discovery. Featured at Western Spirit is Urso’s “Remarkable Presence,” an immersive art installation AR experience that includes thousands of small paper suitcases representing the total number of COVID-19-related deaths in Arizona.
*Todd Bailey, a local Arizonan and community member, returned to the Valley after a 30-year career in show-business to care for his aging family that was impacted by COVID-19. In his second career, Mr. Bailey works as special projects coordinator at the Arizona Historical Society, which is currently housing the COVID memorial quilt.
*Michael Yudell, Ph.D., who serves as vice dean & professor of ASU’s College of Health Solutions, is a public health ethicist and award-winning historian whose work focuses on the history and ethics of genomics, the history of the race concept, and the history and ethics of autism research. Dr. Yudell received his PhD and MPH from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, an MPhil in U.S. History from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, and his BA in History and Soviet and Eastern European Studies from Tufts University. During graduate school, Michael was also a Graduate Researcher in the Molecular Biology Laboratory at the American Museum of Natural History and a Health Policy Analyst at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
