Students, faculty from UK’s health colleges gather to combat healthcare inequality
Only rustling leaves interrupted the stillness in the Jacob Science Building Courtyard where a few hundred UK students, faculty and administrators from the university’s health colleges kneeled and observed an 8-minute, 46-second moment of silence on Friday afternoon.
Savannah Jones, a recent graduate of UK’s College of Health Sciences, took to one knee and prayed for peace.
“Honestly just asking the Lord, just for peace and for a lot of people’s mental health,” Jones said. “Not only for the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, but also for the fear that mothers have when their sons or African-American daughters get pulled over by the cops.”
Like many of those healthcare students and professionals in attendance, Jones came to the protest on UK’s campus not just in response to the recent killings of unarmed Black people at the hands of police, but also to highlight and combat the healthcare inequalities that U.S. minorities face.
Jones, a Black woman, said her mom died from complications brought on by chronic illness and that’s part of the reason she wants to become a health care professional.
“We should be having equality in healthcare and getting the same opportunities and getting the same care and that’s not happening,” she said.
Students, faculty and administrators donned masks and heard speakers from the university’s administration, leaders in the school’s health colleges, and Rev. Donald Gillett II, the executive director of the Kentucky Council of Churches, charged the crowd to love others as they would themselves and to reform health care.
“Life expectancy is a simple yet profound measure of health,” said UK President Eli Capilouto before the moment of silence. “In our Commonwealth and in our country, life expectancy is cut short because of the color of your skin or the zip code where you were born or where you live.”
According to the CDC, life expectancy among Blacks was approximately four years less than the national average in 2017.
“UK Healthcare, our health colleges, this university are dedicated to providing an education underscored by social justice and committed to equal access to education, health and healthcare,” Capilouto said.
Rodolfo Lewy, a child neurology resident who spoke before the socially distanced crowd, said the protest was mainly organized by students and staff in the university’s health colleges. Lewy said he is Latinx, but appears white and has “benefitted from white privilege.” Lewy said he was an ally to minorities and “breaking down the imaginary walls that separate us...”
Lewy said that students, staff and faculty in the health colleges were creating committees and organizations within their colleges to promote achieving healthcare equality.
“We continue not in words but in actions,” Lewy said. “I invite you to action. We are creating a version of the world that has never existed. A world where unity is the only way forward. Be a part of it. We are all allies.”
This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 5:11 PM.