Historic Heritage

If we lived in a perfect world - there would be no preconceived notions. No stereotypes or racism. No bigotry or hate. However, this is not the case. Especially in America. The effect of these issues is reflected in the facts regarding the health disparities that our nation faces. These disparities are deeply rooted in our history. A history that has taken the individuals heritage and used it against them. Heritage has become the weapon that our nation has chosen as its Hail Mary. More so than even their skin color, which as we know, also has a very deep dark history for us. Heritage encompasses so much more, than race. It's religion, it's orientation, it's origin, it's language, it's our DNA, it's our culture, it's what has happened to our ancestors and what has been told to us going forward of those experiences.

In the book "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" by Anne Fadiman, The Lee family works to navigate the American health care system at a time when interpreters weren't a thing, much less required as they are now. The Lee family struggles to navigate a system that they are impaired from understanding due to many factors including language, transportation, insurance, and culture. Some of these impairments are due to their historical heritage. An example of this is the family's avoidance of hospitals. Back in Laos Christian charities would set up shop at local hospitals and set up medical aid for the Hmong patients. Although this was technically the reason they were there, in the process they also ended up trying to convert Hmong's into Christianity, which did not approved of shamanism. text ¹ Most Hmong's knew that these Christian charities were present at the hospitals and avoided them at all cost, knowing that the did not approve of their own form of medicine, shamanism. This history that Hmong people had carried over into how they viewed ALL hospitals, leading to avoidance of emergency care. Even of little Lia when she first started having her seizures.

Another example of historical heritage is the fact that the Lee's are Hmong. And the Hmong have a long history of being war torn, displaced, and looked at as less than. Due to their historical heritage they are extremely un-trusting. They are a people of perseverance and have done so by their own accord. And since they've been around and flourished in even the worst circumstances, they have an engrained sense of accomplishment. So much so that science, or medicine, or doctors cannot tell them differently.  In their historical heritage, medicine is rarely taken. And if it is, it is only taken until symptoms subside. The language barrier, health literacy despair and failure of the doctors to ensure that their patients knew exactly what to do all contributed to this health disparity. Their cultural beliefs determined that medicine is not take forever. text ¹ And nothing was ever communicated to the family, otherwise. This left Lia with a disease that was being treated in manner that was subpar, ultimately leading to the family having her taken away. The pain and turmoil, not to mention the health effects it had on the entire family, were insurmountable.

A good reference for the historic heritage phenomena is the Healthy People 2020 website. This website is database of facts, studies, articles, advocacy opportunities and stories about health disparity. It has countless articles and facts about its contributing factors and ways to combat it. It is a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and has various statistics by state, education opportunities and wealth of information available to help healthcare providers expand their knowledge of cultural empathy.

Sources:

1. Fadiman A. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. New York, NY. Farrar, Straus, Giroux; 2012:35,53