Why We Have The Worst Health Outcomes Of All Industrialized Nations with Dr. Charles Modlin, Dr. Leonor Osorio, and Tawny Jones

Jan 15, 2020

Guest

Tawny Jones

Dr. Charles Modlin, a kidney transplant surgeon and executive director of Minority Health at Cleveland Clinic, joins Dr. Leonor Osorio, an internal medicine physician, and Tawny Jones, a pioneer in functional medicine. Together, they tackle the pressing issue of health disparities affecting minority communities. The discussion sheds light on socio-economic barriers, food injustices, and the need for culturally competent care. They propose innovative community health initiatives and stress the importance of empowering individuals to improve their health outcomes.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Health Disparities

Racial disparities in healthcare significantly impact health outcomes for minority communities.
African Americans and Hispanics face increased risks of diabetes, obesity, and other chronic diseases due to various factors, including lack of access and discrimination.

ANECDOTE

Hispanic Healthcare Barriers

Dr. Leonor Osorio highlighted the cultural barriers to healthcare within the Hispanic community, such as prioritizing family over self-care.
Many Hispanics avoid preventative care due to fears of job loss and cultural beliefs about health and healing.

INSIGHT

Distrust in Healthcare

Dr. Charles Modlin discussed the distrust in healthcare among African Americans due to historical events like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment.
This distrust, along with lack of health literacy and culturally insensitive practices, contributes to health disparities.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Nobody wants to name the problem, but let’s call it what it is: social injustice is part of our healthcare system. Black and Hispanic people are far more likely to get sick and die from the 10 leading causes of death due to a range of factors, including lack of access and discrimination in our healthcare system and policies. When you consider that most treatments and drugs are only tested on white males, it’s clear we’re ignoring the unique wellness needs of so many other populations. And the result of these disparities gets passed down through generations. We need to work on solutions now. This week on The Doctor’s Farmacy I sat down with Dr. Charles Modlin, Dr. Leonor Osorio, and Tawny Jones from Cleveland Clinic to talk about these issues and ways to create a new multi-cultural dynamic in healthcare.

Dr. Charles Modlin is a Kidney Transplant Surgeon, Urologist, Executive Director of Minority Health, and the Cleveland Clinic Physician Lead for Public Health. He founded and directs Cleveland Clinic’s Minority Men’s Health Center. Dr. Leonor Osorio has been on staff at Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital practicing Internal medicine since 2001. She was instrumental in the opening of the Lutheran Hospital Hispanic Clinic, which connects patients to Spanish speaking physicians. Tawny Jones is an accomplished Administrator at the Cleveland Clinic who leads clinical operations at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine.

This episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is brought to you by Joovv. I recently I discovered Joovv, a red light therapy device. Red light therapy is a super gentle non-invasive treatment where a device with medical-grade LEDs delivers concentrated light to your skin. It actually helps your cells produce collagen so it improves skin tone and complexion, diminishes signs of aging like wrinkles, and speeds the healing of wounds and scars. To check out the Joovv products for yourself head over to joovv.com/farmacy. Once you’re there, you’ll see a special bonus the Joovv team is giving away to my listeners. Use the code FARMACY at checkout.

Here are more of the details from our interview:

-Racial health disparity statistics and factors driving these disparities (4:37)

-The Tuskegee syphilis experiment how it continues to perpetuate distrust of the healthcare system (12:50)

-The cascading effects of racism, prejudice, stereotyping, and unconscious bias on minority health (15:47)

-Targeted food marketing to minority populations and acknowledging the reality of food injustice (19:53)

-The role of sugar and the sugar industry in driving health disparities (30:32)

-How community-based conversations and initiatives can improve health literacy and outcomes (35:40)

-The importance of prioritizing cultural sensitivity in creating health programs (42:43)

-Economic implications of the healthcare disparities crisis and incentivizing value-based healthcare (55.47)

-Multicultural specialty centers (1:01:06)

-Calling for hospitals and healthcare practitioners to give voice to our national food crisis (1:06:28)