Every April, we recognize National Minority Health Month, but for many of us, the effects of health disparities aren’t seasonal. They live in our daily experiences, our family histories, our missed appointments, and the silence that surrounds our pain.
This year’s theme, “Advancing Commitments to Eliminate Health Disparities,” is a call to do more than acknowledge the problem. It asks us to care deeply, act boldly, and commit fully.
Before I continue, let me introduce you to someone.
Meet Carla.
Carla was a 41-year-old mother of three living just outside of Phoenix. She worked full-time as a warehouse supervisor and picked up weekend shifts to help keep food on the table. Like many Americans, she didn’t have paid sick leave. Every hour she missed was money lost.
Last year, Carla felt a lump in her breast. She told herself it was nothing. A cyst maybe. Stress. She gave it three months. It didn’t go away.
When she finally made it to a community clinic, she was told she needed a diagnostic mammogram and possibly a biopsy. But without insurance, the cost was more than $800. She left that appointment feeling ashamed, afraid, and invisible.
Months passed before she was able to be seen at a sliding scale facility. By then, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
Carla fought hard. She tried to keep working through chemo. She relied on neighbors to help her with her kids. Her youngest, six years old, started sleeping in Carla’s bed on the nights her hair came out in clumps. Her oldest, sixteen, googled “how to take care of someone with cancer” and tried to be strong.
But Carla didn’t make it to her 42nd birthday.
Her story is fictional and isn’t one you’ll find in the headlines, but it is grounded in truth. Too many families are left behind because care came too late or not at all. Carla’s story is the story of so many women who are denied access, delayed care, and dignity.
The data backs up what our communities have known all along.
According to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation:
“Black women are nearly 40% more likely to die of breast cancer than white women and are twice as likely to be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, the most aggressive subtype.” Source: https://www.bcrf.org/about-breast-cancer/black-women-breast-cancer-disparities/
And when it comes to access, the disparities are just as stark. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports:
“In 2023, 17.9% of Hispanic people and 18.7% of American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people ages 0 to 64 were uninsured, more than two and a half times the rate for white people (6.5%). Asian individuals had the lowest uninsured rate at 5.8%.” Source: https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/
These numbers are not just alarming. They are devastating. They are the result of underinvestment, systemic bias, and decades of silence.
We cannot talk about eliminating disparities without talking about access, trust, and power.
The current administration has taken some meaningful steps. Initiatives like the HHS Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis and expansions in community health centers have brought hope to many. More info: https://www.hhs.gov/maternal-health/index.html
But that hope is fragile. Progress has not been consistent. Medicaid expansion is still incomplete in many states. The cost of care continues to rise. Access to preventative screenings and reproductive health remains under attack. These setbacks fall hardest on those already most vulnerable.
Policy cannot just look good on paper. It must reach the people who need it most. It’s not enough to announce change. We need to live it.
That’s why I created The Advocate’s Table.
We are not waiting to be invited to the conversation. We are creating space ourselves. Because no one should ever have to choose between a mammogram and groceries. Because no child should have to watch their mother suffer, knowing help could have come sooner. Because our lives are not expendable.
We are fighting for equity, not in theory, but in practice. Through advocacy, education, creative mental health tools, and healing communities, we are shifting the narrative and putting power back where it belongs — with the people.
What can you do today?
- Share this message
- Schedule your screenings
- Learn your family health history
- Support organizations fighting for health equity
- Call your legislators and demand better access for all
- Show up not just in April, but every chance you get
We are not statistics. We are survivors. We are families. We are fighters. We are communities full of promise, worthy of protection, investment, and care.
Let Carla’s story move you. Let this month ignite you. Let us all advance the commitment and refuse to let another life be lost to silence or delay.
Health equity is not just about statistics. It’s about justice. It’s about community. It’s about life.
Let this be the moment we decide that equity is not optional. That healing is a right. That stories like Carla’s never have to be told again.
Sources
- Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Black Women and Breast Cancer: The Disparities Are Real. https://www.bcrf.org/about-breast-cancer/black-women-breast-cancer-disparities/
- Kaiser Family Foundation. Key Facts About the Uninsured Population (2023). https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/
- U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. HHS Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis. https://www.hhs.gov/maternal-health/index.html
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