Leadership | 10.28.20
Black Doctors Work to Make Coronavirus Testing More Equitable
by Kaiser Health News
Kaiser Health News (10/13/20) Feldman, Nina
When Dr. Ala Stanford noticed media reports about the disproportionate rate of COVID-19 infections among Black people, she started recruiting volunteers among physicians, nurses, and medical students to her network, dubbed the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium. She obtained coronavirus testing kits and used personal savings and donations from a GoFundMe campaign to serve patients in church parking lots and street corners. Stanford, a pediatric surgeon in Philadelphia, eventually brought the group under the umbrella of a nonprofit group she already operated to mentor young people. The consortium also conducts antibody tests. After its first few months, the consortium attracted the attention of Philadelphia municipal leaders, who provided about $1 million in funding to the group. The regional transportation authority hired the group to test its front-line transit workers each week. Stanford is now working with Philadelphia's health commissioner to create a rotating schedule under with each of the city's health systems would offer free testing one day per week.
Read the full story from Kaiser Health News.