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Alyssa Castro: Who are you and what is it that you do?
My name is Sandra K. Davis. Currently, I am a consultant with health care. I still do this kind of work and I still do policy work for health care. I’m still very involved in seeing that the law is understood, the Affordable Care Act is understood by the communities that we live in.
Alyssa: How long have you been working in health care?
Dr. Sandra Davis: I started in health care in 1978. I just enjoy it. There is much to do. I keep doing what little I can to be impactful in the area of health care.
Alyssa: Where are you originally from?
Dr. Davis: I was born in New Orleans, Lousiana but I was raised in the central valley, schooling in Sacramento. I’ve lived in Stockton since my famous 1986 comment until now. I taught along the corridor here and I was really active with the Affordable Care Act, wanting to see to it that the Central Valley had information, sort of the grassroots pieces of that.
Alyssa: Talking about the Affordable Care Act, how will the ACA specifically affect African-American women?
Dr. Davis: In the area of preventive health there will be access to preventive health. Screenings and follow up check-ups will be accessible for the women. That, we think, will improve the status of health in the community. That they’re not going to the doctor so late into whatever the health care factor is, if it’s breast cancer if it’s colorectal, if it’s diabetes, heart disease, a stroke and etcetera. We think that if they got preventive and early care that we can get some of these disparities resolved in the next decade or two. It’s date uncertain when these issues will be resolved but I like to set goals, so I say the next decade or the next two. For your writing it’s really date uncertain.
Alyssa: You spoke on how when maybe an older African-American woman would approach a health care place the proper way to address her would be “Miss,” why aren’t things like that recognized amongst people in the health care field?
Dr. Davis: Because the contemporary way of being informal is really the majority way, we’re talking about a minority of people. In this particular minority population, the respect of formality is the best. Another practice ought to be, “do I have permission to call you by your first name?” So that’s an education item. I don’t think everybody knows that naturally. I think it’s generational and I don’t think all the generations necessarily know the history behind that, how slaves were treated or how in the ‘60’s in the Jim Crow times, people were not called by their name they were called “boy” or something like that. So in order for the women and men of the community to invite people to show respect for them, call me by my first and last name as a manner of respect. We talked today about all of this respecting one another and we would add that too, it is one of the criteria used for showing respect.
Alyssa: Another generational thing I’m interested in, you have young people that are entering the world of taking care of themselves and taking care of their own Medi-Cal cards and approaching the doctor’s office for the first time. How would you suggest that young people overcome those micro-engagements of discrimination and disrespect you were talking about?
Dr. Davis: When it’s time to go on your own to your first appointment, so to speak, I would say prepare a little bit. In your lexicon or young adult lexicon, I would say Google it. So that the preparation could have some information that says what kinds of questions might be asked and what amount of time might be spent on a first appointment and that sort of thing. For the young person who is working, they might want to know what the costs are going to be and how do I find that out up front versus getting in there or having it told to me and I knew nothing about it. It’s all about preparation on that one if it’s a first time.
Alyssa: Would you know of any resources to direct a young person here in the central valley or resources specifically for African-American young people here in the central valley?
Dr. Davis: Resources for African-Americans, if it is for health, I would start at the largest health agency in town to ask where are the clinics located, etcetera. For social support, mental health support, etcetera, it’s fine to do the various agencies that are identified for those services. I always say start at the County hospital, start at the largest health facility in town. They have people in place to answer those kinds of questions. That’s what I would say in terms of an immediate resource and then we would have to branch out to look for specific resources for the young adult.
Alyssa: You talked a lot about barriers that people have to overcome to access health care like transportation and things like that. Are there any words of encouragement you have for young people to not be so discouraged to go back to their respective doctors?
Dr. Davis: Hopefully with this collaborative they’re going to be coming up with some ideas to facilitate that transportation piece. My words of encouragement would be to keep going back, keep your creative hat on, your endurance, your will to keep going. Your health will be the most important thing for you when you get older. So you want to keep your health and you do that through persistence and we hope that the health system will be improved one day where it wont take persistence, where it will be much easier to navigate. Keep going!
Save the Date: Upcoming African American Health Conference November 2013
