February is Black History Month and it's also National Heart Awareness Month, Doctor Daniel Hale Williams embodies both months focuses. Williams was a pioneering Black heart surgeon at a time when technological discoveries were revolutionizing the practice of medicine.
In 1893, he became the first physician to successfully perform open heart surgery by entering the chest cavity of a young Black male stabbing victim James Cornish and repaired his heart sac; Cornish went on to live another fifty years after the surgery.
Williams was also responsible for early advancements in the accessibility of health care to urban Blacks in Chicago, opening Provident Hospital the first interracial hospital in the United States, in 1891. Provident not only improved health care for Black citizens, but also provided training and staff opportunities for young Black men and women interested in pursuing a vocation in the medical field.
Doctor Daniel Hale Williams graduated from Northwestern University University Feinberg School of Medicine in 1883 and 135 years later according to the American Medical Association only 2.5 percent of all medical school applicants are African American males. In 1978, 1,410 Black men applied to medical school and 542 ended up enrolling. In 2014, both those numbers were down 1,337 applied and 515 enrolled. Every other minority group including Asians and Hispanics saw growth in applicants; there was also an uptick in applications by Black women.
I wonder if Doctor Williams thought when he performed the the first open heart surgery in 1893 that a 125 years later that African-Americans would lead the US in heart disease rates and their rates would be one of the highest in the world.
According to 2013 data from the American Heart Association 48% of Black women 20 and older have heart disease, while 44% of Black men 20 and older have heart disease. Black women have a 31% death rate from heart disease while Black men have a 34% death rate. Before age 50 Blacks heart rate failure rate is 20 times higher than that of whites. Heart disease deaths kills more Blacks than all of the other 9 top ten killer diseases of Blacks combined.
A study (2003 – 2007) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham shows Black men and women are more likely to die of a heart attack or heart failure than whites in the United States. Every year during the study, 4 in 1,000 Black men died from heart disease, on average, compared to 1.9 of 1,000 white men, the researchers found. Among women, 2 in 1,000 Blacks died of heart disease each year, compared to 1 in 1,000 whites.
Williams was also responsible for early advancements in the accessibility of health care to urban Blacks in Chicago, opening Provident Hospital the first interracial hospital in the United States, in 1891. Provident not only improved health care for Black citizens, but also provided training and staff opportunities for young Black men and women interested in pursuing a vocation in the medical field.
Doctor Daniel Hale Williams graduated from Northwestern University University Feinberg School of Medicine in 1883 and 135 years later according to the American Medical Association only 2.5 percent of all medical school applicants are African American males. In 1978, 1,410 Black men applied to medical school and 542 ended up enrolling. In 2014, both those numbers were down 1,337 applied and 515 enrolled. Every other minority group including Asians and Hispanics saw growth in applicants; there was also an uptick in applications by Black women.
I wonder if Doctor Williams thought when he performed the the first open heart surgery in 1893 that a 125 years later that African-Americans would lead the US in heart disease rates and their rates would be one of the highest in the world.
According to 2013 data from the American Heart Association 48% of Black women 20 and older have heart disease, while 44% of Black men 20 and older have heart disease. Black women have a 31% death rate from heart disease while Black men have a 34% death rate. Before age 50 Blacks heart rate failure rate is 20 times higher than that of whites. Heart disease deaths kills more Blacks than all of the other 9 top ten killer diseases of Blacks combined.
A study (2003 – 2007) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham shows Black men and women are more likely to die of a heart attack or heart failure than whites in the United States. Every year during the study, 4 in 1,000 Black men died from heart disease, on average, compared to 1.9 of 1,000 white men, the researchers found. Among women, 2 in 1,000 Blacks died of heart disease each year, compared to 1 in 1,000 whites.
Moreover I wonder if Doctor Williams would have thought that 125 years later that Blacks with heart disease would be discriminated against in getting open heart surgery a procedure he pioneered.
Research has shown Black heart attack patients are far less likely than whites to undergo common and potentially life-saving procedure known as cardiac catheterization. Blacks were less likely to have their surgery done under urgent, emergent, or salvage conditions, less likely their surgery done following an acute myocardial infarction.
A study that appeared in the March issue of Journal of the National Medical Association, researchers compared the rates of cardiac catheterization in about 585,000 white, 51,000 black, and 32,000 Hispanic people treated for heart attack in U.S. hospitals from 1995-2001. Researchers found cardiac catheterization rates were higher for whites than Blacks for all years examined, while rates among Hispanics approached that of whites during the study period.
The great Black historian John Henrik Clarke stated that: "History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are, but more importantly what they must be."
Research has shown Black heart attack patients are far less likely than whites to undergo common and potentially life-saving procedure known as cardiac catheterization. Blacks were less likely to have their surgery done under urgent, emergent, or salvage conditions, less likely their surgery done following an acute myocardial infarction.
A study that appeared in the March issue of Journal of the National Medical Association, researchers compared the rates of cardiac catheterization in about 585,000 white, 51,000 black, and 32,000 Hispanic people treated for heart attack in U.S. hospitals from 1995-2001. Researchers found cardiac catheterization rates were higher for whites than Blacks for all years examined, while rates among Hispanics approached that of whites during the study period.
The great Black historian John Henrik Clarke stated that: "History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are, but more importantly what they must be."
Thus our historical clock tells us that our high rates of heart disease and racism in heart health care requires that we have to put in some internal (self-care) and external (advocacy) heart-based work!
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