CARLOS T. CARTER
by Carlos T. Carter, President & CEO, Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh
This month’s focus is on disparities in pain care for cancer patients. This subject is especially important and personal for Carlos.
CARLOS: I’m glad we are talking about this subject. It is so important to bring awareness to it. My father had cancer, twice. He survived colon cancer in his 30s and passed away from lung cancer in his late 50s. It was difficult watching him suffer, but I went to all of his appointments with him to support him and to help advocate for him and with him. When you lose someone close to you, life changes; there’s a gap in your life that you cannot fill. Cancer has impacted my family in a number of ways. I’ve lost a lot of cousins to cancer as well.
What are the factors that increase disparities in cancer for Blacks?
CARLOS: There are many factors. We know that one way that individuals can take charge of their health is to simply live a healthy lifestyle. For many Black people, having access to something as important as healthy food is a struggle. We’ve talked about the food deserts in Pittsburgh many times through this health page and in other ways. Some residents are so isolated and cut off that their only way to get healthy food is to take multiple buses across town. The same can be said about testing centers for preventative care. Just by the nature of jobs that Black people hold, the lack of flexibility to be able to leave work in the middle of the day to go to a doctor’s appointment is not an option. We also must make conscious decisions about our health. When we do have access, we need to make the best choices for our health.
How does racism influence whether Black patients receive pain medication?
CARLOS: Unfortunately, I think it has a lot to do with stereotyping and bias. There’s an ugly stereotype out there that Black people abuse drugs. Doctors may feel reluctant to prescribe opioids based on that bias.
What can we do as a community and as an individual patient to push for change?
CARLOS: We need to be aware that there are biases around prescribing Black people pain medication. Black people need to be better advocates for their own health. We need to elevate our voices, speak up, know and understand what is happening with our bodies. We need more Black doctors—people that look like us and understand what Black people are going through —and practice medicine with that empathy.
We need to promote diversity in health careers and start at young ages bringing Black doctors into Black communities. We need to help children see the value of being a doctor and see doctors that look like them. We need to be more encouraging of pursuing health careers.
On the system-level, there needs to be more training and accountability for doctors regarding disparities and bias as it relates to prescribing pain medicine.
Having access to affordable healthcare and living a healthy lifestyle is so important. We all must do our part to ensure that we break down and remove barriers to care.
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