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Looking better
More research is needed. Hardeman and Chantarat believe their study is the first to link over-policing to a higher risk of preterm births. Recent papers call for exploration into what types of police interactions—if not all—impact health.
The Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity at the University of Minnesota is looking to fill the gap. The college founded this research hub in February 2021 following civil unrest throughout Minneapolis. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota provided a $5 million donation, which then-President and CEO Dr. Craig Samitt called an investment to “advance health equity and dismantle racism from the structure and fabric of our society.”
Hardeman, an associate professor at the U of M, leads the center, which is laying the groundwork for studying structural racism in healthcare. Historically, clinicians have looked to race as a risk factor, Chantarat said. Antiracist research posits that racism, not race, is the fundamental cause of health inequities.
In a New England Journal of Medicine article on the role of healthcare institutions in combating disparities associated with policing, Hardeman wrote: “We argue that police brutality is a social determinant of health, although it has not received sufficient attention from the public health community.” She calls for public health surveillance of police violence and additional funding for research to better understand the experiences and health needs of people confronted by police brutality.
Responding to nonviolent crime
Health systems can serve as alternative public safety options and provide services that help prevent situations that could devolve into police encounters, such as drug use or mental health crises.
Healthcare organizations can deploy response teams for mental and behavioral health services that don’t involve law enforcement personnel. They can also partner with violence prevention groups to better integrate with communities where tensions with police officers deter people from calling 911. By giving people options for whom to contact in emergencies, healthcare entities can limit the number of people who otherwise may avoid the healthcare system.
Preventive services such as needle-exchange programs, safe drug consumption sites, housing support, doula and midwife services, and other community partnerships are also needed, Reclaim the Block’s Smith said. Those programs—and all others across the healthcare system—should be staffed by workers who represent the diversity of their communities.
“There’s a lot of different ways that we can create harm reduction within the medical industry and within healthcare,” Smith said. “Healthcare has the innate ability to not be punitive and actually look at a person for who they are and treat them for all the aspects of what they’re experiencing, given their circumstances or environment.”
Other research shows that distrust in the police translates to distrust in healthcare. Undocumented immigrants may not seek hospital care if the police are present, fearing the focus may shift from their medical needs to their legal status, for example. In addition, Black patients may not trust white doctors due to racialized violence they’ve experienced with police.
“As we saw with George Floyd, not only was his life a loss, but a good family suffered a lot. He suffered a lot, and we all get pulled down by that,” Parker said. “When things like that happen, and you have a general violation of trust in the community, that spills over into everything. Not just policing, but education and into healthcare. Because you see that this happened over here, and this person’s life was so blatantly taken.”
Another recent incident underscores why the area’s Black residents may find the healthcare system and government services difficult to trust. In March, the Star Tribune published a photograph depicting the deputy chief of the county emergency medical services agency and two paramedics employed by Hennepin Healthcare, the local safety-net health system, in blackface.
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