Inequities are addressed from different perspectives including workplaces and schools. However, the largest sector in society with the most inequity is healthcare. Health inequities are formerly defined as differences in health status or in the distribution of health resources between different populations. This is broadly associated with low-income populations including those that are predominantly Latinx/Chicanx and/or Black/African American.
Many reasons could facilitate this finding, but the direct truth is that these communities do not receive the care that is essential, equitable, and comfortable for their needs. As a Chicana raised in Echo Park-Silverlake, an urban neighborhood in the heart of transit Los Angeles, I could abide to this finding as there are not many primary care physicians or healthcare facilities that are easily accessible. Many people, including my own relatives, wait months to receive a healthcare appointment as compared to private medical offices in different social settings that can easily receive care.
Improving health equity
COVID-19 has changed the structure of healthcare, both for better and worse, but the idea of accessible care to low-income societies is still a barrier in healthcare. Part of my aspiration to continue my education in graduate school to receive an M.S. in Environmental Health comes from my understanding of the way in which different social settings impact human health through different paraben or chemical exposures.
Using my STEM Internship to make a difference
As an intern for MiOra, I am developing my analytical and research skills that are essential to tracking the differences in people’s behavior with respect to environmental exposures. In addition, contributing to developing a manuscript for MiOra’s Closing the Disparities in Cancer project has also enriched my learning of other public health-associated skills with respect to human health and different biological approaches that identify molecular and cellular reasons to a concern.
Kelsey Mercado, BS, Molecular and Cellular Biology w/ minor in Public Health, California State University Los Angeles, 2024
