Expansion on the Frontier with Crystal Chanel
Years ago, my pastor’s wife told a group of ladies at the women’s retreat how God allowed her to beat cancer. Steadfast in her spiritual beliefs, shortly after being diagnosed, she started self-treating by praying, “I walk in divine health” daily. Years later when I found myself facing a medical scare of my own, I too decreed and declared, “I walk in divine health,” almost daily for about six or seven years before God cured me too. To know me intimately is to know that I am forever grateful to God for healing me and prolonging my life.
Nonetheless hindsight cleared the debris allowing me to see clearly how health equity, i.e. information, resources and diversity, could have made my journey with a life depreciating disease much easier. My mother, Natalie Fraser, has worked in healthcare for over thirty-five years, and has a firsthand account of the issues minorities face due to racial biases that are woven into the American medical system. “I have seen it from an employee and a patient perspective. Black women in particular are not always given strong enough pain medication by White doctors and medical professionals as we are stereotyped as being able to handle pain better than our White counterparts, both male and female.”
This is why when COVID-19 first hit and the country was made to quarantine, my focus was on the young, Jamaican born chiropractor, Dr. Christopher Maylor. We met as co-workers in 2015. A year later, he opened Core Health Chiropractic & Wellness, and I joined the Core Health team as a marketer/business developer. This gave me a front row seat to witness his tenacity and grit over the years. So when the Coronavirus forced many of my clients to close their doors, I was encouraged when Dr. Maylor told his staff and community partners like lawyers and doctors, “I want my patients to know where Core Health stands when times get tough. We can’t give up now, nor can we afford to lose focus.” He even sent a letter informing his staff and community partners of his new COVID-19 safety measures and later hours to better accommodate current and new patients.
Despite being a newlywed and a father to a brand-new baby girl, Dr. Maylor never closed his doors. He leaned in, implementing precautions to keep his patients safe while inadvertently putting his dedication to minority health on full display. The timing was perfect as minority health, both mental and physical, continues to infiltrate our everyday conversations more than ever. In fact, I was at brunch in downtown Portland, Oregon, one of the whitest cities in America, writing this piece when I connected with Ty who also shared strong opinions about healthcare inequality in Black and Brown communities. According to Ty Allen, a Black female drug recovery case manager, “[…] we never had a chance.” Having never met before, Ty and I matter of fact discussed how enslaved Africans living in America relied on herbal knowledge and seeds to provide medical care for themselves and even their masters. We also recognized that racism coupled with centuries of systemic oppression naturally led Black people to mistrust the American healthcare system. Ultimately, we both concluded that the 1980’s crack epidemic plays one of the biggest roles in healthcare disparities we see today amongst Black people. Our matriarchs learned to act as “primary care physicians.” The issue is, this type at home pastor or grandma-driven medical care is no longer working. In fact, it is now counterproductive.
Thankfully, in 2001, April was established as National Minority Health Awareness Month (NMHA) bringing much needed awareness to healthcare disparities that continue to affect our communities at disproportionate rates. Campaigns like NMHA allow us to normalize professional primary care providers, annual doctor’s visits and age-mandated medical check-ups. Now, I could be somewhat partial in saying this, but Dr. Maylor is another great step in the right direction. Chiropractic care is great for those looking for alternative care that embraces movement over medicine. Additionally, chiropractic care addresses body pain from both injury or stress. However, you choose to focus on mental health, let’s agree to choose to have a little more focus on minority healthcare both, collectively and individually.
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