Oct. 30--NEW HAVEN -- The Yale Medical School has agreed to incorporate a film made by a local artist on disparities in health care tied to racism, as well as workshops that address the issue, into educational curricula for its students.
The announcement was made Wednesday before a viewing of "The Deadliest Disease in America," an hour-long film produced and directed by Crystal Emery, a New Haven native and professional in the entertainment industry for the past three decades.
Dr. Forrester Lee, a professor of cardiology and an assistant dean at the medical school, said the film is a good way to restart a discussion on race in America that hasn't advanced much since the civil rights gains of the 1960s.
The film follows individuals who have experienced poor treatment or medical outcomes tied to race, while incorporating historical accounts of such things as the sterilization of large numbers of Puerto Rican women starting in the 1950s and the Tuskegee experiment, where 399 black men in a government funded experiment were never treated for syphilis.
Doctors, patients, legislators and activists comment throughout the film with present-day examples of racism and proposed solutions in what the filmmakers describe as a kind of "Greek chorus."
Emery, who suffers from Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome, a genetic disorder in which the nerves of the feet and hands gradually atrophy, was not only the director of the film, but one of the individuals featured.
In it she describes her bureaucratic battle for continuing physical therapy, which she lost for half a year, despite the testimony of health care professionals that her condition would worsen without it.
Lee, addressing the audience at the Educational Center for the Arts, said when he was a student people were willing to discuss problems of racism, but in the past 10 to 20-years there is an uneasiness about it.
He said America is living under the illusion that it has overcome prejudice, "but the problem persists." Lee said the film "crystalized" the need to get back to an exchange that can address the biases of patients, as well as doctors.
Emery, 47, who is confined to a wheelchair, urged the many medical professionals in the audience to speak up if they see instances of poor treatment of people or if patients are not properly informed of their options. "Every time you turn away, you become part of the problem. Think about how you can make a difference," she said. "I think ordinary people do extraordinary things."
The film has also been entered into the Sundance Film Festival, but Emery won't know until December if it has been accepted.
She said fundraisers and discussions will continue around the nation. The film and workshops are being promoted by URU The Right to Be, Inc.
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