Roughly 70 members of the Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Public Health communities, clad in traditional white lab coats, lay down in front of the medical school for four a half minutes today after assembling at noon. <\/p>\n
The demonstration was part of the nationwide protests against the shooting of Michael Brown and choking of Eric Garner at the hands of police earlier this year. But this demonstration, part of White Coat Die-Ins held at medical schools across the country, also emphasizedthe effect of systemic racial inequalities on health outcomes for minorities. <\/p>\n
This is not just a political issue, said Jessica Minor MED 22 GRD 22, the student who organized the event. This is a public health issue. And, above all, this is a human rights issue. <\/p>\n
We talk about mortality, and we talk about risk, Minor continued. Being black is a risk. Its something we cant deny, and its what this movement is asserting. <\/p>\n
The nationwide White Coat Die-In was set to occur at 12 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, but students chose to move it to midday, when people are out for their lunch break, to increase the protests visibility, Minor said. <\/p>\n
Robert Rock MED 17, who joined the die-in, said that it is important that future healthcare providers are trained and cognizant of how systemic racism can play out in patient-provider interactions and create health disparities. Among those disparities, he said, are the differences in cancer diagnosis rates between minority and non-minority patients. <\/p>\n
If you step back fromthat explicit event [the shooting of Michael Brown] and look atthe situation in verycongested urban areas where minorities live, its very much a health issue, Rock said. <\/p>\n
Ignacio Cerdena MED 18, who participated in the die-in, added that simply living in intensely policed areas can result in post-traumatic stress disorder-like symptoms, which can be passed on for generations. <\/p>\n
While the attendees of the demonstration came from a mix of minority and non-minority backgrounds, several participants noted that their experiences growing up motivated their interest in pursuing healthcare as a career, allowing them to tackle the nations discrepancies in access to healthcare. <\/p>\n
Herbert Castillo Valladeres MED 18, who helped organize the event, emigrated to the United States from Guatemala at 11 years old, and grew up in an extremely diverse Los Angeles neighborhood. He said he was happy to see that the die-in attracted students of all backgrounds and ethnicities. <\/p>\n
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Wearing lab coats, medical students die-in<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Roughly 70 members of the Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Public Health communities, clad in traditional white lab coats, lay down in front of the medical school for four a half minutes today after assembling at noon. The demonstration was part of the nationwide protests against the shooting of Michael Brown and choking of Eric Garner at the hands of police earlier this year Continue reading