One positive takeaway from the COVID-19 pandemic is that it brought attention to issues of health care equity, said Chastity M. Washington, MPH, CHES, director at the Center for Cancer Health Equity, The University of Ohio Comprehensive Cancer Center, James Cancer Hospital.

Washington presented on Cancer Health Equity in the COVID-19 Era at 

. In an interview with Oncology Nursing News®, Washington discussed how the pandemic brought public awareness to health disparities and how she hopes to see the momentum for change continue in the post-COVID era.

“People saw, in real time almost, the impacts of these health disparities.When you saw those COVID-19 numbers going up everyday on the news, on social media, and the stories about how it affects Black and brown people more than others. That, along with other things throughout the pandemic year, has really gone a long way to sort of support our efforts in health disparities. There’s been a lot of movements, a lot of change, within the health care institution and other places, there’s been diversity and equity work that has been taking place.

“So there’s been a spotlight on that, and a lot of resources and efforts put toward that, so I think that is one positive, as well as the expansion of telemedicine abilities and things we can bill for. I think those were good things out of this horrible pandemic and I hope they will keep those telemedicine expansions and that the momentum around diversity equity and health disparity work will continue.”

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The director at the Center for Cancer Health Equity, The University of Ohio Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses how the pandemic put a spotlight on issues of equity within the health care system. 


Expert Says Pandemic Put a ‘Lens’ on Health Disparities for People Outside the Medical Field

Providers can address health disparities even with the recent surge of the Delta variant of COVID-19, said Chastity M. Washington, MPH, CHES, director at the Center for Cancer Health Equity, The University of Ohio Comprehensive Cancer Center, James Cancer Hospital.

. In an interview with Oncology Nursing News®, Washington discussed approaching cancer-related health disparities in disadvantaged communities throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“What we can try to do is get ahead of that. Encouraging people to get back in for screenings, encouraging HPV vaccination–which took a hit during the pandemic, as well. Those rates dropped incredibly during a several month period of time. We also are making efforts to, sort of, encourage people to get, not only the school vaccines that kids need, but the HPV vaccine, as well. Now that things are opening back up,[saying] ‘go back in and get your checkup, get your vaccines.’ [And] making a concerted effort in those communities. We do the generic campaigns, but then also doing specific campaigns in those communities and populations, and then going to the community when we can.”

“If I'm worried about being evicted, or I don't have food on the table, my health kind of falls down lower on that sort of hierarchy of needs. So, when you have someone that connects you to those other resources, and you kind of don't have to worry about those things as much, then you can kind of focus on your health needs. So, it's a lot of work. And a lot of it is outside of the scope of actually physically going to a clinician or your physical health. It's [about] those social determinants and making sure all those things are taken care of.”

The director at the Center for Cancer Health Equity, The University of Ohio Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses improving preventative screenings in underprivileged communities.


Providers Can Improve Cancer Screenings in Disadvantaged Communities

Providers can address vaccine hesitancy by not being judgemental about concerns people may have, explained Chastity M. Washington, MPH, CHES, director at the Center for Cancer Health Equity, The University of Ohio Comprehensive Cancer Center, James Cancer Hospital.

Washington presented on Cancer Health Equity in the COVID-19 Era at 

. In an interview with Oncology Nursing News®, Washington discussed vaccine hesitancy, particularly in BIPOC communities, and how clinicians can effectively address those concerns.

She shared that “if people know someone who has had the vaccine and been okay, or they’ve experienced someone who has had COVID-19, unfortunately, and had a negative outcome, that sort of encourages them, but traditionally in some of these communities there’s medical distrust…[and] that plays a part [in the hesitancy].

“[With] a lot of the media attention around the vaccine, while it's great to get that information out, if you’re a lay person, you may not understand all of that information,” she noted. “So, we’ve heard things about there being a microchip in the vaccine, which I think stemmed from one of the ingredients, [which] being a lipid, had the word nano in it, so people thought nanochips, nanotech, etc. [But], just ensuring people that that is not what is in the vaccine, that the vaccine is safe, answering questions without being judgemental about the things that they believe about the vaccine, is [all] very important. [And] having those role models [who] have had the vaccine who look like them or are from their communities who haven’t had any negative effects, I think that’s important. We’ve done a lot of that here, by promoting a lot of our staff who are from different communities, showing them getting the vaccine, getting them answers, answering questions, doing things virtually through things like facebook live.”

According to Washington, “really answering questions, and showing them people who have had [the vaccine] and been okay, and explaining the difference between different vaccines and explaining that messenger RNA has been around for a while” can have a tremendous impact.

Answering questions without judgement and showcasing community members who have received the COVID-19 vaccine without negative outcomes can help alleiviate vaccine-related fears and concerns in BIPOC patients with cancer. 

 Addressing COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy In BIPOC Patients with Cancer

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected patients with cancer, explained Chastity M. Washington, MPH, CHES, director at the Center for Cancer Health Equity, The University of Ohio Comprehensive Cancer Center, James Cancer Hospital.

. In an interview with Oncology Nursing News®, Washington provided a brief introduction to how the pandemic specifically affected different populations of patients with cancer.

Her presentation at the meeting highlighted “the impacts of the pandemic, on those disparities, on the social determinacies of health on the health care system itself, the differences we’ve seen in cancer patients with covid, the impact of some of the preventative things related to cancers, such as screenings, there were delays in getting preventative screenings, there were delay in diagnostics, there was also a brief period of time when some of the clinical trials were shut down. So, how all those things impact cancer patients in general, but then also how they have sort of an extra impact those vulnerable minority, economically disadvantaged populations that we serve.”

“There were delays in getting preventative screenings, there were delay in diagnostics, there was also a brief period of time when some of the clinical trials were shut down.”

Chastity M. Washington, MPH, CHES

Articles

Expert Says Pandemic Put a ‘Lens’ on Health Disparities for People Outside the Medical Field

Providers Can Improve Cancer Screenings in Disadvantaged Communities

Addressing COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy In BIPOC Patients with Cancer

The COVID-19 Pandemic Disproportionately Affects Patients with Cancer