health disparities

On Dec. 4, Dr. Susan Moore posted a video from her hospital bed in the Indianapolis area. Short of breath and with an oxygen tube in her nose, she said that she was denied proper care while being treated for COVID-19.

Less than three weeks later, she died from the virus. 

Earlier this year, Aime’e Elliott couldn’t keep any solid foods down while pregnant with son Jacion. So the 28-year-old Indianapolis woman called a community group before even considering her doctor.

As a pediatric chief resident at Indiana University’s medical school, Dr. Chaniece Wallace had a list of blessings. This fall, the 30-year-old was interviewing for jobs around the country — and preparing for the birth of her first child. 

When Marion County Health Commissioner Dr. Virginia Caine fell down a flight of stairs recently, a pill to treat her arthritis became a way to cope with the pain. But she forgot her insurance card on a trip to the pharmacy, and the out-of-pocket price of her prescription – $230 – gave Caine sticker shock.

July marked 30 years since President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. And while the U.S. has come far since then, the nation still has a long way to go when it comes to achieving health equity. The current public health crisis of COVID-19 has only exacerbated existing inequities for people with disabilities. 

Indianapolis and other cities across the U.S. have recently been rocked by street demonstrations protesting systemic racism. WFYI’s Terrie Dee and the Indianapolis Recorder’s Oseye Boyd were joined by community leaders to discuss what sparked the protests and possible solutions to those deeply rooted problems.

The flu descended on Connie Gabaldon like a fog, she recalled, clouding her mind and compromising her judgment. It progressed to chest and back pain, the aches perhaps made worse by a fall the 66-year-old had while riding the bus in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Findings from a new study on fast food availability appear to turn previous research on its head.

The question came as a shock to Dorothy Reeves: Would she be willing to donate her husband’s brain for research?

This year’s Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration is in full swing. The event is the Expo organization’s biggest annual fundraiser, which runs through Sunday at the Indiana Convention Center.

By many measures, Hawaii is one of the healthiest states in the union. Yet only Mississippi has a higher rate of flu or pneumonia deaths than the Aloha State.

West Virginia, which is usually among the bottom dwellers in state health rankings, is in the middle of the pack when it comes to deaths related to Alzheimer’s disease.