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Who Run The World, Allegedly?
20 Plays4 years ago
It's Women's History Month here in the Lounge and well... the title says it all! Join us as we discuss adhesive on the brain, two black women physicians not being supported in the workplace, Joe's ongoing 100 days, and Vaccines 101.
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Let's go.
SNMA Conference Overview
00:00:03
Speaker
I SNMA fam, SNMA fam, we just a month away from the greatest event, the greatest conference on earth. I know y'all ready for it man. The annual medical education conference has been the cornerstone event of the SNMA. Last year,
00:00:18
Speaker
We had over 1,500 participants pulled up, including myself. I had a great, great, great time. And this year, we plan to bring you more engaging workshops, plenary sessions, social and networking opportunities to meet one-on-one with your peers and attend the interactive exhibit fair with pre-med and professional representatives from across the medical education continuum.
00:00:41
Speaker
with tracks for medical students, pre-med students, and fourth years and beyond. You don't want to miss this year's conference. If you missing out, you missing out. I'm telling you, y'all going to miss out. Y'all got to pull up. It don't matter. It's right. Y'all going to see, man. Y'all going to get engaged. So visit the AMAC page on SNMA.org for more info. And I hope to see y'all there. No, I will see y'all there.
Celebrating Women in Medicine
00:01:23
Speaker
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Women's History Month episode of SNMA Presents the Lounge. Whether you're in the student lounge, doctor's lounge, or lounging around at home, get ready to join SNMA for meaningful conversations on topics affecting minorities in medicine and groups that often sit at the margins of healthcare.
00:01:44
Speaker
I'm student Dr. Isabella, and this is Women's Month, so of course we have to come with our favorite or a woman of our choice who we believe has made a huge impact on our society. I have Dr. Alexa Canadian, who was the first black woman neurosurgeon in the United States, and she has done a lot of work. She also did her fellowship in pediatric neurosurgery.
00:02:08
Speaker
So she's been doing the good work of saving babies and their brains and helping to contribute to medicine as a Black person. And I am student Dr. Alderman. What's up, everybody? And my woman of the month, my woman forever, my forever woman in regards to medicine is Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first African-American woman to become a physician in the United States. She persisted and was so perseverant.
00:02:37
Speaker
She graduated medical school in the 1860s, right around the time when the civil civil war was coming into fruition. And oftentimes when you think about our historic figures, I can't even imagine all the pressures, all the racism, all all the dealings and encounters she had as being a woman, being black and integrating that into her practice as a medical provider. So I want to definitely give a shout out to her and being able to just promote our
00:03:07
Speaker
ability and capabilities as black people, as a black community to accomplish and do things despite the challenges and overcome the barriers that we will face and may face.
00:03:23
Speaker
Hey there, this is student Dr. Erica Dingle and today my Woman of the Month is Dr. Susan Taylor. She is founder of the Skin of Color Society and the Skin of Color Society is so innovative for
00:03:40
Speaker
Many of us that are interested in either derm or just in skincare in general, this society was established in 2004 by Dr. Taylor. And its purpose is to promote awareness, excellence within the skin of color for dermatology. That's my lady, innovative all the way.
00:04:02
Speaker
Heard you. So let's get into it. This is my favorite part of the show. It's time to run the list,
Medical Community Events & Highlights
00:04:12
Speaker
right? So as you guys know, for our preclinical students, running the patient list on the wards allows you to address the pressing matters of the day for each patient. So in this segment, we are going to discuss some recent events in medicine affecting our communities and the populations we serve.
00:04:32
Speaker
So let's get into it. Let's go. Y'all. I have a question. Yes ma'am. Do y'all use Gorilla Glue for anything in your home? Girl, I use Gorilla snot. That's the only Gorilla something I acknowledge. I don't know about no Gorilla Glue, but I do know that Gorilla Glue is meant for wigs and should only stay on wigs. However,
00:04:55
Speaker
due to recent events, people have tried it in other forms. Introducing Miss Tessica Brown, who is a young boy from Louisiana. Apparently, she used some Gorilla Glue spray adhesive, which, like I just said earlier, is meant for wigs. And she decided to use it for her slick back. Now, that
00:05:19
Speaker
I, you know, that was just a hard thing to see, to just see another black woman fumble like that. I couldn't bear it, honestly. But it was, I mean, based on what she said, it was an honest mistake. It was her trying to, I guess, experiment or to see what else the glue could be used for. But in turn, she found herself in an emergency room.
00:05:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean that- She had a slick back for sure. The fact that the name Gorilla Glue, like you see Gorilla automatically, I'm like, get a Gorilla, like, and then Glue? What possesses you to even think, like, of doing that? You know what I'm saying? Like, no, no, no slight to her, but just the fact in the name itself, I'll be like, what am I doing here with this? Like, Glue in itself is already crazy to use anyway. You know what I'm saying? I was on the Glue wave early on sniffing that, you know what I mean, in fifth grade.
00:06:17
Speaker
I ain't gonna lie, I was into that. What? Always. But too, well, here's the thing. So Gorilla Glue, there's Gorilla Snot. Like Isabella mentioned, Gorilla Snot is sold at beauty supply stores, probably at your local convenience or grocery stores. But Gorilla Glue is in a whole nother section, y'all. Like my dad uses that for his hardwares in the backyard. I would never think to put it
00:06:46
Speaker
I would just never think to put it in my hair. Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.
00:07:09
Speaker
It's okay. That's crazy. Okay. I'm sorry. After again, everything I just said, that is not meant for your head. That is meant for appliances and to fix items, not your body. Okay. So she was tripping. But I will say though, like, we gotta, we gotta celebrate her though. Cause she did get a GoFundMe and she did receive about $23,000 in the GoFundMe and they donated $20,000. She donated $20,000 to Dr. Michael.
00:07:37
Speaker
Obeng's a nonprofit organization. So she probably table a 3K, but most people wouldn't do that. And then the last time I checked, the actual GoFundMe was actually disabled. So the fact that that happened to- But let's get into what Dr. Obeng actually did for her though, because the man helped her. I know that he helped to remove the glue on her head, but they're acting as if it's something she couldn't, if she just did a little bit more research, she could have easily done. She made a whole like,
00:08:04
Speaker
a show of it. He said he made some special concoction. Apparently he used medical grade adhesive remover aloe vera, olive oil and acetone, three of the four you can find in any beauty supply. However, I don't want to recant and act like he was he didn't help this help her out. Like he did help her out. He very much came to her side. I think when everyone else was kind of making a caricature and a joke out of it.
00:08:28
Speaker
Because that is a serious health issue to just have glue on your head. Like, that's a very, very serious, like, that's a very serious health issue. Right. Right. So like, I don't want to say that he didn't help or he did. I'm just saying that I do think that with a little bit more effort, she could have maybe figured it out. But
00:08:51
Speaker
You know, he was the only one at this point who actually cared enough to do the work to help her out. So I will give Dr. Michael, oh, bang, his due credit for that. And the clout game is going to be crazy, though, honestly. Like, now I know that his plastic surgery, you know, practice is booming right now. Everybody's hitting him up like, yo, I need this and that. So even just the whole maneuver and and kudos to him, like kudos to both of them, because it's looking more so even the money that they've spent or the investment in time they made.
00:09:20
Speaker
across the lifespan is going to behoove them and benefit them in so many different ways. So I really appreciate and admire the ability for them to do that too. Right.
00:09:30
Speaker
Yeah. I'll tell you why I really loved the fact that he helped her out because, um, I think oftentimes in our culture, we, we will cancel somebody so fast for a mishap. Excuse me. And we don't, we really don't know if this young lady made it, did it, did it on purpose or made an honest mistake, right? I will give her the benefit.
00:09:54
Speaker
the doubt. Although I know where Gorilla Glue is located, but it just seemed very, it was like heartwarming to see another black person. Like it was a black doctor. Y'all wasn't, you know, it wasn't a white doctor. I was like, Oh, come to my practice and I'll help you out. Like we saved, the black person saved another black person. And I think
00:10:16
Speaker
being that it was a black man too, that was kind of big because all the talk you hear about, you know, black, I know this might be reaching, but how we've heard black men don't protect black women. And I know this doesn't really correlate, but it kind of does. Like, I feel like, you know, he helped. He helped take a while.
00:10:37
Speaker
added more to that narrative, because we're not going to say the narrative is 100% untrue, but he definitely helped to take away a little bit from that narrative. So I got to give him his props for that. But yeah, I mean, leading on to with Black women and just, you know, making sure that we stay on the side of Black women for the most part, we know that our sis, you know, Tarika kind or sorry, Tessica,
Racial Discrimination in Medicine
00:11:01
Speaker
kind of fumbled a little bit. But for the most part, like you just said, Erica, it could have just been an honest mistake. I'm hoping it was honest mistake. We don't need any more. We don't need any more instances of black women just trying to look like we're trying to chase some type of clout. It's not that serious. So I would just give her the benefit of the doubt. But moving on with that, I want to note Dr. Corey from Kaiser Permanente, as well as Dr. Princess Dinar from Tulane University. They on the other hand have kind of
00:11:28
Speaker
been getting the, I guess, the other side of it, which is no type of support, no kind of, I guess, open mindedness in regards to all the work they've done in their professional careers. And
00:11:44
Speaker
having no one to back them up. I think in the same way that Tessica had Dr. Obang to help her out in this situation. Now we have two doctors who have been in a situation dealing with their professional careers. And just to kind of give a little bit of background to that, with Dr. Corey,
00:12:00
Speaker
She was actually one of the founding faculty at Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, which we know is, I think they just actually opened up this school. It was for this school year 2020 to 2021. This was their first year opening. And she was also the only Black American physician in her role as a
00:12:17
Speaker
first year small group facilitator. So that's basically just like, you know, the doctors who you stay with, who work with like the individual learning teams in medical school. So she had that role. And she was even doing so well that she was even recognized for her accomplishments and had received the email saying she was selected to receive like a faculty rank increase. But then just a few months after that, she had now received another email before she was actually officially promoted, saying that, you know, basically like,
00:12:45
Speaker
Some events had happened. There was a shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin. And also there was the Anthony McLean shooting. And basically the student body at that time was just kind of like trying to figure out any answers or just kind of like, what can we do with these deaths and all the racial inequities? And I guess she gave her own piece to the class and kind of spoke about it and the way that she felt was authentic and emotional and all of that. And the students were even engaged, as she said. But
00:13:13
Speaker
Now she receives this call from the senior associate dean for academic and community affairs at the school, and basically they just suspend her with no warning, no nothing, and they even put her on investigation. And so that's Dr. Corey. I don't know, Erica, if you want to go into Dr. Princess Dinar, but that's her story.
00:13:34
Speaker
Absolutely. It's unfortunate that even as medical doctors, like academia is just not a safe place for people of color. That's, I think, what this kind of demonstrates. And according to WDSU News, which is based in New Orleans, Louisiana, Dr. Princess Dinar, she was removed
00:14:03
Speaker
from her post as a physician at Tulane University School of Medicine, as the director of a residency program, less than five months after she ended up filing a lawsuit. So she was removed from her post.
00:14:22
Speaker
And Tulane ended up giving this, of course, they they give their statement about her suspension, but a little background.
00:14:35
Speaker
Her lawsuit was in reference to, I believe it was, harassment and discrimination. Sorry, discrimination. Yeah, discrimination. So Tulane University alleges that the discrimination started in 2008 when Dr. Dinar interviewed for a directorship. And a specific Dr. Lee Ham, who was then the chair of the internal medicine department,
00:15:05
Speaker
could only make her a co-director, sharing her title with a white program director. And he quote said, I'm afraid that white medical students wouldn't follow or rank favorably a program with a black program director.
00:15:27
Speaker
And of course, this Dr. Ham, he, quote unquote, categorically denies the allegations of racist language made in Dr. Dinar's suit. So again,
00:15:42
Speaker
typical. What do we do about dodging the bullets? Dodging the bullets. And I also want to mention real quick all when this suit, cause we, I know a couple of us went to HBCUs. The suit also claims that this
00:15:58
Speaker
Right. Right. We all did. And I'm sure most of our loungers did as well. The suit also claims that the school has its own system that it uses called Atlas to rank medical students. And the system assigned a low rank to students who attended historically black colleges and universities, according to this lawsuit.
00:16:19
Speaker
The suit also alleges residents in her program, many of who were female minorities, were also given difficult rotation schedules and were deprived of enough hours in certain types of training needed to graduate. Unreal. At Tulane, I know people that go
00:16:38
Speaker
have graduated from Tulane and that rotate through Tulane. I will say this about Dr. Dinar and also Dr. Corey, like shout out to them. It is not, it seems like in medicine it is criminal to be truthful, to be honest, to face racism and put your hands against it and push against it.
00:17:00
Speaker
Despite the confrontation, they still rose to the occasion. They could have backed down. They could have said, you know, my job is on the line. I'm in academia. I want more success. I want to be here. But instead, they chose to pursue a route that most people would not even engender or think of.
00:17:16
Speaker
And I think oftentimes at the interface of medicine, this calls us to come into action as medical students, as residents, as physicians, as attendings. We have to be called to be empowered and then empower other people through our actions, through our words and our wisdom.
00:17:31
Speaker
And they've actually illustrated that. And for me, even being that if I potentially am in that position, now I know the way that I want to maneuver and navigate because I feel like I may do the similar kind of things. Sometimes you're going to be at the behest of your professionalism, and then sometimes you're going to be at the behest of what to do, what is morality, what is the sense of what's right versus what's wrong.
00:17:55
Speaker
And to them, what was right was the actions that they engaged in at that particular moment. And I want to celebrate them and say, yeah, queens, shout out to Dr. Corey. By the way, she's her mother's from Trinidad. So wine your ways, bust a wine. And then from Sierra Leone. So West Africa, shout out to Dr. Corey. Period. That's it. That's it. And then I just want to say with also with Dr. Denar, I actually and I'm really one of those people like I really don't like I will I will I will snitch like I know street guy.
00:18:24
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? I went on IG and I tagged Tulane Med Peace Program. I was like, yo, y'all could kick rocks disrespectfully. You know what I'm saying? Like, I tagged out like, like I'll let it be known. And for me, like even if I'm dealing with any transgressions in residency or even even like as a as a medical student, like I'm very transparent and I'll let things be known directly to the person that's involved and directly on social media. Like the world needs to know that medicine isn't all hee hee ha. It's not as glamorized as it seems. Like we deal with racism. We
00:18:54
Speaker
We deal with people talking stuff. We deal with people saying things that are not appropriate and being a doctor. Being a doctor doesn't excuse you for it. It doesn't stop because now you have the MD after your name. That's actually where everything starts. Now you have to deal with, okay, I've done all this work equivalent to my white peers.
00:19:13
Speaker
But am I okay with sometimes not always receiving that same credit? Am I okay with that? Can I live with that? Because you will have to live with it if push comes to shove. If you really love it, if you really want it, if medicine is really where you want to be, you have to realize that these are realities. And this is clearly Dr. Corey and Dr. Denar's situations are pure examples of that. And I think it also calls attention to where were the colleagues? Where were the people who
00:19:39
Speaker
were with them who were doing the same work that they were doing. Where were they when they needed someone to be there for them? They went M.I.A. They said deuces because at the end of the day, we all want to believe that we're willing to show up and show up for those who need our help. But for the most part, people are really just concerned about themselves and their own check. And I think it just that was also another wake up call to these are the situations that you will find yourself in if you aren't white and male in a profession like this.
00:20:09
Speaker
I think a good question, too, to answer or actually think about and ponder is what would be the scenario if they were men, specifically black
Racial Disparities in Medical Leadership
00:20:17
Speaker
men? Like what? What do you think? What do you guys think in terms of what would have been the actual repercussions or consequences of that?
00:20:26
Speaker
I don't, I personally feel that it would not have turned out in such detriment. They probably would have both had their jobs because they're male. We know, you know, systemically, women, we earn less. I believe actually
00:20:51
Speaker
Um, doctor, uh, I'm sorry. I don't know which one of them I was reading, but one of them actually earned, ended up earning $30,000 less. Um, wow. The, the, yeah, after the whole incident occurred, I just feel like men have it better, whether it's.
00:21:13
Speaker
white men or black or black men. Sorry, but when it comes to women in power, yeah, when it comes to women in power, it just it doesn't always shake out as we want it to. But my other question would have been so our
00:21:31
Speaker
Are black people deterred from applying to residency programs when there's a white, but no, I'm just saying in general, when there's a white residency program director, does that deter me as a black person? Right. So why I don't understand, I don't even understand why that question would come up.
00:21:49
Speaker
I emailed, like, I was looking at, I was looking at Yukon Naraji residency and they had a lot of deals and a lot of diversity. The residency director is a white woman and I didn't look at it like, nah, like, oh yeah, she's white. Like, let me not email her. Let me not establish this connection. You know what I'm saying? So I think, you know, Erica, you make a very valid point. Like most of us, we're not even looking at the racial composition in terms of the residency director. You know what I mean?
00:22:12
Speaker
We're looking at what how can the residency fit with me and can promote what I'm trying to accomplish. You know what I mean? So it's crazy that somebody could say that like the the audacity like, yo, that doctor, like, yo, come see me, come see me. Oh, we're going to throw hands. You need to fade on me. Like, but for real.
00:22:31
Speaker
It's not to Dr. DeNepter and Dr. Corey. Honestly, I don't know y'all, but I truly am inspired. And I really love the work that you guys are doing. And as you'll see, we will have some comments from one of them later on in the episode. But I think it's incredible that people, despite the confrontation and conflicts, that they're able to rise and deal with adversity.
Biden's Presidency and Racial Issues
00:22:59
Speaker
Right. And, you know, I think just moving on to that and moving past that, we know that when it comes to just accountability and seeing how we can push things forward when people have been wronged and we were wronged, we were definitely wronged as a nation overall with Trump in the office. We were very much wrong for the past four years, but now we have reached a we've reached a new era with Biden in office. However, we're still looking at a
00:23:29
Speaker
We're still looking at what the guy's doing right now. We're still monitoring his moves. We're trying to see, okay, is Biden keeping up with what he's been saying during his campaigning, during, you know, all the things he's been chatting about on CNN and all that. And he's still within his 100 days, right? Where he's still, I don't think he's completed it yet, but he's still in that little bubble. And we're, like I said, he's getting side eyes. We're looking at him with,
00:23:56
Speaker
with four eyes actually, I have eyes in the back and the front of my head with this guy. So, we've been monitoring him and I think that so far, I'm trying to keep more of a open mind until those 100 days are completed, but people on the other hand have had other things to say. I don't know how you guys feel about it, but with what he said so far with his student loan,
00:24:20
Speaker
you know, cancellations he's mentioned, he's talked about, first, I heard 50,000, or that's what he said. And then it went down to 10,000. And then it went to just, we're just going to keep the interest rates zero percent. And I think he extended it actually to September 30, 2021. And so with all of these things, though, it sounds like there's some fluctuation. What do you guys think so far in regards to Biden and where he's going right now?
00:24:47
Speaker
Has he experienced madness? What is 10,000 dollars in loans? Like I need that 50K but I'm actually I really feel like we have to hold our leadership accountable from day one. Like I'm not waiting like you have to put the plan
00:25:09
Speaker
in place. Now, he's doing a great job in terms of now, today, the House passed a bill in order for us to get the $400 stimulus check and then help with $300 for unemployment and whatnot for those that are unemployed. But on the other hand, you made a promise to us, you know what I'm saying? And we have to hold you to the standard that you have displayed and illustrated to us. And that standard is not being kept.
00:25:34
Speaker
And it's unfortunate. And shout out to Chuck Schumer. Shout out to AOC. They are in full support of the bill to get that $50,000. But I'm really disgusted because I honestly, capitalism reigns in our society today.
00:25:50
Speaker
to get an actual degree, which oftentimes I ain't gonna lie to you. Like I do not feel like the degree is like, there's never been a time where I was like, my medical school degree was worth $60,000 a year. I've never felt that way. I'm in my gap here right now. I'm learning more reading books than I ever learned from medical school. You know what I mean? And that's free, relatively speaking. You know, books cost $15, $20, depends on what you got.
00:26:16
Speaker
But the fact of the matter is that it's incredible to me that for us to be successful and be in positions where we can empower, we have to pay so much and get so little back. So please like give, give us a love, give us the right energy, like blessings, bring down that 50K, 10K. No, no, no, no. No quiero eso. Quiero 50,000 señor. You know what I'm saying?
00:26:42
Speaker
So, Erica, how do you how do you feel like I know you feeling the energy I'm feeling and there's also some other things as other issues I remember reading the article, a lot of teachers are also upset because Biden promised that standardized testing wasn't going to be a thing in America, moving forward for a lot of our students, you know, because there's also disparities within that realm.
00:27:01
Speaker
but they're continuing to create standardized testing in our country as well for a lot of the students. So a lot of the teachers are feeling type of way, especially him being married to a doctoral of education individual. So Erica, how you feel?
00:27:17
Speaker
Well, I probably am the outlier here.
COVID Relief and Vaccine Rollout
00:27:21
Speaker
I absolutely love Uncle Joe, our president. I've loved him since the Obama administration. I know, listen, after four years of terror,
00:27:33
Speaker
It's fine. After four years of terror with Trump, listen, I was very accepting. I really didn't see any other. Was there a better candidate? No. So I'm just happy he's in office. There is plenty of work to be done, but I will mention the COVID-19 relief package has been approved.
00:27:59
Speaker
Yeah, so thank you. You know what I'm saying? That's one thing. The House of Representatives approved President Biden's $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package, and it includes a number of things. Direct payments worth up to $1,400 per person to families earning less than $200,000 a year.
00:28:22
Speaker
and individuals earning less than $100,000 a year. I'm sure all three of us will be thankful for that $1,400. OK. Watch out for that $1,400. Listen, I don't have children to claim, so I'm excited about any little dollars left on me. For out-of-work Americans, they would get a federal weekly boost of $1,400 through August 29 of this year.
00:28:51
Speaker
Food stamp recipients would see a 15% increase in benefits continuing through September instead of having it expire at the end of June. And then there's $15 billion allocated to the Emergency Injury Disaster Loan Program, which would provide long-term low-interest loans
00:29:11
Speaker
from the Small Business Administration. And obviously, this relief package increases support of the vaccine, all of this according to CNN.com. And I'm just, listen, I'm gonna big him up when he does something well. Y'all could get in his tail about everything else. I think the COVID stuff has been pretty, he's been pretty on with it and or pretty spot on with it. And so if there's anything that I would give him kudos for, it's definitely
00:29:36
Speaker
the COVID-19 issues he's been dealing with. Because listen, people have been getting their vaccines left and right, even though we know there's been a lot of misconceptions. And we know there's been a lot of hesitancies. And I know, Alden, you mentioned you got your first dose so far of the vaccine.
00:29:54
Speaker
Erika, you said you had some of your hesitancies due to just how the way you react to vaccines. I mean, you guys can go into that, but overall, we do have to get into some of these misconceptions, because I think our listeners need to know. Yeah, I mean... Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
00:30:13
Speaker
I was going to say, yes, I did. And shout out to the vaccine rollout program. I think they've done a fairly incredible job in coordinating the efforts and getting the vaccine out. I will say that initially there were problems, especially in New York City. But now things seem to be more successful and be more organized. And when I got my vaccine, they actually, so
00:30:42
Speaker
I actually found out that I could receive the vaccine on the news. I was watching Channel 7, which is a local news station in New York City, and they were like, there's 15,000 slots to get a vaccine at Yankee Stadium. I'm like, oh, Yankee Stadium, the greatest stadium in the world, I got to pull up.
00:30:59
Speaker
And you know, I'm in med school, so I need to get the vaccine and ensure that I'm good. So I went online, signed up, and I pulled up and I got the vaccine. And it was a beautiful thing to behold that not just me, but the lines of people that were there in believing the vaccine and how we could provide them a safe haven.
00:31:18
Speaker
from coronavirus and potentially save their life. But I will say after the vaccine, I did have some initial arm soreness the first time. And I did have some fatigue, but outside of those symptoms, I did not have anything extremely significant to happen. And some people did, of course, and they did say with the vaccine, 60% of people will have some type of mild to moderate symptoms.
00:31:42
Speaker
So I was expecting that. I know that typically the second dose is much worse than the first dose. But I think even in regards to outside of me as an individual, I had to do it because there's people on my block in my street in the streets and they're watching me and they're like, yo, you the future doctor, bro. So what you do and how you move
00:32:01
Speaker
follows along with how we're going to move. And a lot of people that I know are like, oh, I see you. Like now I'm more open. I had people DMing me. I had people commenting like, yo, now I see you moving this way. So now I feel more accepting that I could move the same way that you did in trying to promote and protect my family, myself and my community.
00:32:22
Speaker
So I will say that I'm glad like everything's going great with the vaccine rollout. And I'm really looking forward to, honestly, summer and honestly, you know, moving forward with the future with this. They're doing a great job. I don't know if they'll get the 100 million in 100 days, but think about it. 1.5 million vaccines are distributed every day. That's a lot. So we make them wonders. We make them moves for real.
00:32:47
Speaker
Yeah, I'm glad you got it. I'm definitely a supporter of the vaccine. I do not practice hotel medicine. I did have some concerns just because I know in the past I have suffered from like really heavy reactions with the flu vaccine, for example, like I would be out for the count and I just can't afford to be out for the count when I have exams every
00:33:16
Speaker
two and a half, three weeks. Like two days in the bed is just too long. But my parents have started their vaccinations and I am going to get mine when my semester is done so I can
00:33:31
Speaker
and that's on period because we gonna be out all hot girl summer. Okay. The vaccination will be received before the summer begins. So that's all I can say on my own behalf. As soon as Penn gives me the go, I'm a go and get what I need to get. But I do think it's necessary that we let our listeners know some of these myths I've been hearing. I've been hearing different things, y'all. I've been hearing a lot.
00:33:55
Speaker
And it's understandable, you know, the vaccine kind of low key seemed like it came out of nowhere in a sense. But I think that what it was is that we were so concerned about how do we move out of this pandemic situation that no one was really thinking about. Well, there's people out here working every day trying to make a vaccine.
00:34:14
Speaker
come out as quick as possible so we can get to that point. And so because of that and just the way that it seems like, oh, it just appeared, like people are a little bit hesitant about or they're listening more to the conspiracy theories versus the actual facts from people who have been in the labs working day in and day out trying to get it delivered.
00:34:34
Speaker
Just moving forward from that, some of the common myths people have been saying is, well, like I said, they were developed too fast to be safe, that there weren't enough participants in the clinical trials in order to say that these vaccines are safe. Some people say, oh, well, I already had COVID, so I don't really need to get the vaccine. Or this vaccine, the one I've heard too many times is going to alter my DNA. Listen, listen now, come on now.
00:35:01
Speaker
Come on, like, cuz it's ultimately, you know, I don't know. Like, I know we're scared. I think it's just people. Well, people just, you know, they're uninformed. And I've heard a number of these myths as well. And when you're not educated in this field, and you know, they say like,
00:35:24
Speaker
almost like ignorance is bliss. And it's not to say that people are ignorant. Ignorance is just a lack of knowledge. So I could understand why a person would run with the idea of hearing something related to DNA. Like they can't explain what MLNA is unless you sat through a bio, a micro bio or a class biochemistry genetics. So
00:35:49
Speaker
For people to latch on to these types of misconceptions, I'm trying to give grace where I can, but some of it is excessive. I just think we should be charged, if anything.
00:36:04
Speaker
to continue to educate, especially in the Black community, because we know there's still a heavy mistrust in our community. But I just wanted to explain a little bit more about that DNA alteration thing, just so people kind of know where that could be coming from. Because like you said, you don't know what you don't know, especially if you haven't sat through a class explaining it. But more so, we know that we've had the mRNA vaccines coming out.
00:36:31
Speaker
And people believe that there's a way that the mRNA vaccines could actually kind of integrate with their DNA and kind of change it up. But what they don't know is that actually what mRNA enters into the cell's cytoplasm, it doesn't go into the nucleus, which is where your DNA is, and it's broken down quickly as soon as it enters the cell, and it already delivers that needed vaccine message into the cell's machinery.
00:36:57
Speaker
Just to clarify, there's no way that you can have mRNA be integrated into your DNA. It's not scientifically possible. Moving on with that, there shouldn't be any concerns about DNA alteration with the vaccines.
00:37:14
Speaker
Yeah, going to Erica's point, I think it's important education and informing and enlightening people about what the vaccine is. Like, I can't honestly say that I could choose one or two people that's walking down the block right now and ask them, what is DNA? What does it stand for? What does it represent?
00:37:32
Speaker
in the body, you know what I'm saying? So for me, and I can speak especially in terms of Clubhouse, I've been in rooms where I was the only medical student in there, and they're talking about vaccines, and they're asking me questions, and they're like, yo bro, good looking, now I know more. And I feel like as a community, we have to
00:37:52
Speaker
do more than just stop short of being in the hospital. We have to be out here. We got to be in the nail salons. We got to be in a barbershop. We got to be in the churches. We got to be there to advocate and educate because then people are left to their own devices to think and feel the way they feel, which is normal and we as human. But there's factual
00:38:15
Speaker
enlightenment that needs to go on and we can provide that as physicians, as medical students. So we got to go out there and not just stay to the realm of just medicine. We got to think beyond that and beyond the barriers because obviously there are issues there and there's a confrontation in regards to medical ethics, medical mistrust, and the Black community. I recently started reading this book by Harriet Washington called the Cate Blanche, which is, you know, in French,
00:38:41
Speaker
which means white card. And she was talking about the informed consent and how that's influencing the black community and how people, unfortunately, when we talk about vaccines, how people unfortunately are automatically assumed to be research participants without being asked because they're in a position of endangerment.
00:39:00
Speaker
So there's a lot of things that we have to think about and we have to disentangle in our community. And we have to be there to provide the support and say, hey, I'm just like you. I'm from your block. I'm from your hood. And we could work on this together and build a better tomorrow. Absolutely.
00:39:18
Speaker
Right. And I think that overall, that's just going to come with more, like we all said, more education because the historical mistrust of medicine in the Black community definitely does not come from thin
Bridging Trust in Medical Education
00:39:31
Speaker
air. It comes from a lot of taking advantage of and a lot of abuse of Black bodies, and it very much is
00:39:39
Speaker
But I think that we are at a point now that we can maybe, hopefully, as future Black physicians help to heal and bridge those gaps in knowledge. And so that way we can all be as healthy as we can, no matter what race you are. That's a fact. That's a fact.
00:39:57
Speaker
Well, with that being said, I think that, you know, I love this episode. It was so dope just, you know, talking about vaccines, talking about Biden and what he doing, talking about, you know, the tremendous things in regards to black women in medicine. But I just want to say thank you, SMA fam. Like, I love you. Thanks for tuning in. This is our Women's History Month episode. So whatever woman is in your life, celebrate her today, tomorrow for the future.
00:40:24
Speaker
show her love, encouragement, especially Black women. I appreciate y'all. I was born into this world by a Black woman, and hopefully I will give birth to a Black woman. So thank you, women, for all your accomplishments and everything that you've contributed to medicine, to all arenas of life. And thank you so much, everybody, for tuning in to this episode of SNMA Presents to Lounge. Ya dig? Love ya.
00:40:48
Speaker
Let us know your thoughts about the discussions we had today by emailing us at podcast at SNMA.org. Be sure to follow the SNMA on social media to stay up to date on upcoming events like AMEC. I am registered, did not attend last year. This will be my first conference and I am super excited to attend with everyone. Also,
00:41:14
Speaker
We are looking for some new team members. So if you are interested in joining the podcast team, be sure again to email us at podcast at SNMA.org. Have a happy women's history month. Take care.
00:41:46
Speaker
you