- 2 days ago
A discussion at Essence Festival that looks at the current crisis and systemic racism involved in Black women’s health and where do we go from here to effect change, reset the narrative and close the health opportunity gap.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Good. Well, good afternoon, everyone. I'm Mickey Taylor, Editor-at-Large Essence Magazine,
00:07and honored to join you for this time of purpose and celebrating Essence 55. How many of you
00:13all know this is our 55th anniversary? Hands? Yeah, yeah, we are celebrating Essence 55.
00:21And I'm excited to talk with civil rights health advocate and founder of the Samaritan Health
00:27Project Inc., Dr. Sandra Bruce Nichols is what I'm trying to say, and to talk about the crisis
00:34of black women's health now. Where do we go from here? How do we reset the narrative and
00:40own the lives that we deserve? Dr. Nichols, it's such an honor to be with you today, and
00:46thank you for joining us here at Essence Festival and to talk about the power of us and what we
00:53need to do to move forward and be as healthy as we should be. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
01:00you, Mickey Taylor. Can you hear me okay? Fantastic. You know, I've begun to think about what do
01:07you say to women who have been following Essence's magazine for years and years and years. In fact,
01:13I believe I received the magazine in my CREO when I was born, right? And in addition to that,
01:21to really beginning to understand who we are, and in my case, whose I am. I begin to think about
01:33other women who spent quality time talking about themselves and trying to make us someone of some
01:42importance. Women like Sojourner Truth, who stood up in the midst of white men and asked the question,
01:52ain't I a woman? And she went down the list of telling them what that meant for her. Women like
01:58our own, as we've known within our generation, Maya Angelou, who talks about being a phenomenal woman
02:07and how that means. If you think about it, it talked about in one case, the hard work, the women
02:14that have to do all of these things. And then Maya came along and said, but in addition to being able
02:21to bring home the bacon, cook it up in the pan, I'm also a beautiful woman, which we know Essence has
02:28spent many of his years under the leadership of Mickey Taylor, beginning to put those pieces together.
02:34But today, we still lack a challenge in making us whole women. Because in spite of all those
02:43magnificent things, we are still women who don't care for ourselves. Can I get amen to that one?
02:53Yeah. We are women who put our child first. We are women who put our man first. We are women who put
03:04our mama first. And sometime even the cat or dog eat before you do. Right? And so I am so honored to be here
03:12today. So honored because I get to sit next to Mickey Taylor. And it is, in fact, it's an unspeakable honor.
03:21Let's just call it what it is, to share this stage with her. A trailblazer and the voice for women of color.
03:29She has influenced all of us through her writings, through her motivational speak, and through her
03:34television appearance. And I don't know about you, I'm still looking for why she has not aged.
03:40Right?
03:41And so I'm so excited to be here to talk about the health care, to talk about the generations to come,
03:47and to talk about these things, to help us all walk taller, to help us to shine brighter, and live louder in our truth. And our truth is, we're not there yet, ladies. But let's talk about how we can make this a movement, not just a conversation. Thank you, Mickey.
04:08I like that, Dr. Nicholson. Thank you. You know, we've come so far. When I walked through the doors in 1980 at Essence Magazine, and becoming Beauty and Cover Director, really talking to us about being our most empowered selves.
04:24We've come a long way, but there are some misperceptions. And that's what I wanted to ask you first today.
04:31What are some of the most harmful narratives around black women's health that are essential for us to call out?
04:39Mickey, every aspect of a black woman's health is essential to call out. Let's start with cardiac disease, hypertension, diabetes. Are you listening to me, ladies?
04:51Hypertension, type 1 and type 2. Excuse me, hypertension, diabetes, type 1 and type 2.
04:58And if you don't have it, keep watching yourself. We are having to call out fibroid tumors. Do you even know what a fibroid tumor is?
05:08We're calling out breast cancer. We get breast cancer the same number of times, the number of incidents occur in black women as it does in white women.
05:19But here's the problem. When you and I get breast cancer, you die of it. Right?
05:25You die of breast cancer. We're talking about cervical cancer.
05:33Women, you die of it. Too many of our sisters, mamas, nieces and nieces have died of breast cancer.
05:42And yes, men have died of it as well.
05:44And so when we talk about women's health, I particularly am concerned about mental health.
05:50I don't know about your mental health as of the last year, but mine has taken a major toll.
05:56As we look at what's occurring, and hold that word in your mind, look at what's occurring, we're here to talk about a movement.
06:04How do we do something about this?
06:06Dr. Nichols, when we talk about challenges and crisis, you have your own crisis.
06:14In fact, you died three times, not one, two, three times, and you had a heart transplant.
06:22And one of the things that stood out to me is that you were a recipient of a heart transplant within two weeks.
06:29But the average wait for a heart transplant for a black woman is how long?
06:34It's eight years.
06:36Did you all hear that?
06:37Eight years.
06:38So my question is, how has navigating the health care system shaped your view of what black women need right now and what needs to be advocated for?
06:50Nikki is so correct.
06:51I sit before you as a miracle.
06:55I died one for the Father.
06:58Come on with me.
06:59One for the Son.
07:01And one for the Holy Ghost.
07:03Amen.
07:04And was very surprised that I died.
07:10Right?
07:11Shocked.
07:12And so as I went through that experience, in fact, not only did I die, but I felt on my curling iron, still trying to be beautiful, right?
07:21And have a six-inch burn, which I still have the scar today, on my left hip that went all the way through the bone.
07:30Okay?
07:31But I'm a physician.
07:33Yes, I am.
07:34But I know better.
07:35Yes, I do.
07:36I did not have hypertension.
07:38I've never been what you would call to be obese, but you would say that we as black women, yet we have those things that other people may say make us look like, well, large hips, small waist, etc.
07:50And so as I went through that initiative, the first thing that I did when I awakened from death was to scream at my daughter and ask her, please give me my phone.
08:07And like most daughters, she started screaming back, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, my husband ran in, all the doctors, all the nurses ran in, and I kept screaming at the top of my voice, where is my phone?
08:25Well, well, she knew I wasn't calling for Jesus, because I didn't need a phone to call on Jesus, right?
08:32I wanted to call my job.
08:36I had missed the meeting.
08:39How many of you as women see the importance of everybody else but yourself?
08:44Can I get a hand raised?
08:47Everybody else for yourself, even when you're awakened from death.
08:51Okay?
08:51And so I happened to be someone who worked in corporate America in a large insurance company whom I called my boss and said, I need help.
09:06Now, that wasn't the phone call I was trying to call at first and call them, the two weeks later.
09:10The phone call I was trying to call was to tell my team I was fine, we had an emergency, and that within a couple of weeks I'll get back in touch with them.
09:19And I never told them I was the emergency.
09:23And so, as I went through that process, I finally called my boss and said, I need help.
09:31I need a heart transplant, because my ejection fraction is less than 10.
09:38Does anybody here know what a normal ejection fraction is?
09:40What is it?
09:41Over 50 is a normal ejection fraction, and I could not even go to the bathroom at that point, right?
09:52And so, after I called him, and people recognized I was, quote, Dr. Nichols, things got to moving pretty fast.
10:02So, what I'm saying to you, I was privileged.
10:05And not privileged in the wrong way.
10:08And so, they did all of this work, and God, in my humble opinion, allowed for me to get a blood clot in one of my legs.
10:17And when I got that blood clot, and the fact that I was someone, they were looking to see how they can help, because what I did, where I work, who was my boss, I got moved to the top of the list.
10:29So, within two weeks, I received a heart transplant.
10:37And that, and that experience, it brought me about to make sure I had the Samaritan Health Project in place.
10:44God made it very clear to me during those three deaths that I experienced.
10:48One was when I died the first time.
10:50The second is when they took my heart out of my chest.
10:54The third was a week later, after I thought I was stable, they had to come in, they had to do a biopsy of my heart.
11:03During that biopsy, there was blood collecting in the sac around your heart.
11:09That sac is one that keeps the heart very tight.
11:13And so, within minutes, I would have been dead for my third time had they not rushed me to the hospital.
11:19And so, women, we must be able to look at ourselves, not from what all we do, but what all we need to do to care for myself.
11:29It was strictly stress that killed me.
11:33I took one too many breaths that I didn't have.
11:37Powerful. Powerful.
11:40So, you got a heart transplant in two weeks.
11:44And I have to ask, because you used the word miracle, what role does implicit bias play in health care outcomes for black women?
11:54Oh, Mickey, where do I start?
11:56We only have a few, about 30 minutes total.
11:59If I had not been the person who I was at the facility I was taking care of,
12:07in fact, it was a facility that I had an appointment to go see the CEO.
12:14And two days later, they transferred me over in an ambulance from my local community hospital.
12:19If I had been just another woman, there might have been some additional movements.
12:25I was stable.
12:26You know, I would wake.
12:28I was no longer on the ventilator.
12:29I was on 10 to 15 drifts.
12:33I would wake up and someone communicate with my family, although there were some mental challenges.
12:39I could not count from 100 backwards and had no clue that I couldn't count from 100 backwards
12:45because they had told my family not to react, right?
12:48And so I probably would have gone ahead and gotten on a machine that's used for people like me.
12:58And I might have been on that machine for approximately whatever number of years
13:05until they thought I was important enough to be brought up to that.
13:09And see, that's why black women average time to get a heart is eight years.
13:15White females, it's less than that.
13:18White male, even less than that.
13:21And unfortunately for our black brothers, particularly those at the VA hospital, it's longer than the eight years.
13:27So many people die waiting to get a heart or kidney transplant.
13:33And that's not because they may or may not be available.
13:36They're being rationed out to the most valuable person.
13:40And guess what?
13:43People who look like us are not as valuable as others.
13:48That is powerful.
13:49That, wow, we're here in 2025 and just hearing you say that is chilling.
13:56So obviously the system needs a lot of work.
14:00How do we make sure that black women get the care they need right now?
14:05What kind of conversations do we need to have with our health care providers?
14:09Mickey, I wouldn't even start with the provider.
14:13I would start with me, M-E.
14:17Why?
14:18Provider has 15 minutes to give you a few comments.
14:21And unfortunately, most of our black providers in particular who serve our community,
14:29who are paid less money for that spot to get you and you and you and me in,
14:36is really trying to get that conversation done in five to ten minutes or so,
14:42so that he or she can get more black people in to save their lives.
14:48And so I would say look at the woman in the mirror.
14:52Because you hold the cards to make a difference.
14:56How do you hold the card?
14:58I would ask the question, how much do you love yourself?
15:03Can you get up and take that baby on a walk who won't go to sleep instead of just standing there
15:08trying to get them to respond, to be quiet?
15:13Because now you're walking.
15:15Can you figure out how to turn that light out at midnight,
15:19although you're restless and can't sleep, and get some rest?
15:23Can you figure out how you can be more efficient in doing your job and pushing back, folks?
15:31I'd die because I never pushed back.
15:33Everyone would say, give it to Mikey.
15:36She'll do it, right?
15:38And Mikey, thinking I'm the most important person in the world, did those things.
15:43In every job I have, I've always exceeded my own expectation.
15:48And so when I say to you, start with the person in the mirror.
15:53Begin to look at what you're eating.
15:55Do I love fried chicken?
15:56Absolutely.
15:56But do I eat fried chicken every day?
16:01Absolutely not.
16:02Look at your nutrition.
16:04Take care of your blood pressure.
16:06Get your medications on time.
16:08And every now and then, hand that baby to daddy, sister, brother, somebody, and say,
16:12I'm going in to my prayer closet just to make sure I'm okay.
16:17So yes, bring your best self out of that closet to your doctor and say to him or her,
16:24here are the things I need to work on.
16:27And I need, if you don't have the time for your nurse or your social worker, somebody to
16:32sit down with me and help me understand, how do I change the narrative?
16:38That's powerful.
16:39And I love that, you know, as you move across this country, you are encouraging us to take
16:45agency over our health and our lives.
16:48And as we hold the system accountable, you know, I look at how we're underrepresented in
16:54clinical trials and research studies and how we don't, we're not empowered with the kind
17:00of knowledge that we should have to take better care of ourselves.
17:05What's your take on the reason behind this?
17:07Because I know you're fighting on both sides.
17:09You're fighting for us and with us and against the system.
17:13Correct.
17:13One of the things that we have in place now that Mickey's talking about is my non-profit
17:18organization called the Samaritan Health Project.
17:22It is community-driven, community-led, and community-focused.
17:27It is rooted in dignity.
17:30It is built through partnership.
17:33And it's scaled for an impact across individual communities.
17:38We just started this initiative.
17:40We began it in Little Rock, Arkansas, where it's just where I'm from, y'all.
17:46Right?
17:46And in Little Rock, where I was raised in the East End Project.
17:52Very thankful for that experience, that life, and that opportunity.
17:56In none of these things that cared for us as women, we were perceived to be mean, aggressive,
18:03innocent, and nasty, and many of us as women, we will find that the men would decide that
18:12that was just a little too much of them.
18:14Not stopping to think about what all your mama, your wife, your sister have gone through to
18:21get here.
18:22There has just not been a space.
18:24And so as I've gone through all of this, Mickey, I began to look at how do we, as groups of
18:30women, begin with just small groups and community, one person, one street, one city, one state
18:39at a time.
18:40Why to start at that lower level?
18:42Because we know there is nothing for us at the level of the state or the nation any longer.
18:48And if we don't take care of back our health care, who will?
18:53Can someone tell me who will do that?
18:57Nobody.
18:58So I have to also ask, what are policy makers and health care companies in America missing
19:05concerning our health?
19:08I just, you know, because I really want to arm us with everything that we can, and that's
19:14the journalist in me, because I want us to be empowered through and through.
19:18I don't want us to feel that our voices aren't heard, that we aren't seen.
19:23So I want us to know what they're missing so we know what we need to say and do.
19:28What are policy makers and health care companies in America missing?
19:32Great question, Mickey, but I've got to remind that we've got to see ourselves first.
19:37Because if you don't see yourself, you will not advocate for what you need.
19:42Just two days ago, I believe, that big, beautiful bill that took away your health care, and am I
19:54talking about just those who are on Medicaid or receiving SNAP or Medicare?
19:58No.
19:59Now, your private job, due to this big, beautiful health care, if you notice the job market,
20:06is dropping.
20:08Your ability to have health care through your job is dropping because, first of all, you're
20:15being laid off.
20:17Second of all, the highest office in these United States have set, it's not necessary to get
20:23people health insurance, so guess who's going to be the first person, they'll figure out
20:27a way to take you off the private health insurance.
20:31Thirdly, many of you may not appreciate ACA, but ACA gave health insurance to everyone who
20:41needed it.
20:43Some cases it'll cost, some cases not.
20:46When I had my massive heart attack and had my transplant, I did not know if I had to go
20:52on COBRA.
20:54Now, COBRA, through your company, costs what your bills are.
20:59My husband and I are not quite as young as we look, thank you, but what I noted with that
21:06was, if I went on COBRA and had to pay for the medications I needed for my heart transplant,
21:13and my husband has had cancers, he's in remission, and paid for his medication, COBRA per month
21:19would have been in excess of $18,000 to $25,000 a month.
21:25Obamacare, not ACA, Obamacare took care of that.
21:30And now, all of that is gone.
21:34And so my question for us is, we've kind of set up around, and I almost wonder if we shouldn't
21:39have had this event in Washington, D.C., and had a march with just half a million people
21:44who sit here, but we keep talking and talking and talking, and what we need to do now is
21:51begin to engage those policy makers, not only the one in your state, but the ones in Washington,
22:00D.C.
22:00I don't know if I can tell you that the elections are going to be fair.
22:06I don't know if I can tell you if they're going to be stolen, but 500,000 people standing
22:13in their states and standing in Washington, D.C., they can't kill us all, right?
22:20Becomes a massive movement.
22:22And so I say to you from a policy perspective, there is no policy for health care at this point,
22:28yeah, we all are going to be affected by it.
22:30No matter what your financial status is, we all are going to be impacted.
22:36Just as a physician, I would have had to find $25,000 while I was trying to recover from
22:42a heart transplant, right?
22:44So those are the challenges that we have to deal with.
22:46And we must, we must spend our time beginning to engage.
22:54We must organize ourselves.
22:55There is no more time for talking.
22:59The time is now.
23:01The moment is now.
23:04And if you leave Essence Festival without an action or connection to your community or
23:09connection to make sure your next generation has something in place, shame on all of us.
23:17I heard that.
23:19I heard that.
23:20I know that you are turning your prayers into transformation, as we say, in the fight to
23:29bring the support of others on board in the work that needs to happen in the community.
23:34What has been most illuminating to you and what has grown you the most in this fight?
23:41Oh, my gracious.
23:42It's probably the knee pain, because I'm a knee-praying woman.
23:47So that has grown me quite a bit.
23:51Every morning I wake up and say to myself, when will there be no more people dying in silence?
23:59When will there be no more children hungry?
24:04You know, last week, my husband and I were watching the news, and ASPCA came on about animals,
24:13particularly about dogs.
24:14And they were the most pitiful-looking dogs I had ever seen in my life.
24:19And I said to myself, gosh, I wish I could buy $19 to, or should I take my $19 and send it to this program?
24:27Because these dogs are being abused.
24:31They are not eating.
24:34They are staying in homes with no light.
24:36They are not receiving their medication because they're trying to buy, and someone is trying to buy pharmacy medication.
24:46They're not receiving what they need from a medication.
24:49Huh.
24:50That sounds like the people I know.
24:54Are we now dogs?
24:57Do we need to engage with asking people for $19 a month?
25:03And the bigger question is, will it be given to us?
25:07And so it's so essential at this point, Mickey.
25:11When I wake up every morning, what I see, maybe are the eyes of those dogs, but my heart see the children in the community.
25:22Right?
25:23We must, we have to make a difference.
25:28Yes, indeed.
25:29Dr. Nichols, my final question, and I thank you so much for pouring into us today and sharing these insights.
25:36I know that you're going back to the Hill, back to D.C. with this fight, and you're relentless in this fight to make a difference for us.
25:47What would you advise the current administration to do when it comes to health equity and black women's health?
25:55First of all, if you don't respect or admire or not interested in black women's health, there is an economic side of this.
26:06If you recall, and this may be a little painful, they may not have put our black slaves in the best setting, but they made sure they had a roof over their head and cover.
26:23They made sure they made sure they made sure they had food to eat, and don't let one of them get hurt from the beatings they received.
26:30Because they brought in the veterinarian, the veterinarian, to make sure those wounds were cared for.
26:40Why?
26:41The economics.
26:44If this country continues to do the things it does, we will not have healthy people, whether you're pink, black, purple, or orange, in order to make us a great nation.
26:56Again, we will not be able to compete on the national level in order to make sure that we can build the systems, manage the GDT, being able to really compete with those countries that we work with today.
27:17And so my question to you is, in looking at this whole piece, if you're not valued because you're human, and if we're seeing a push toward us going back to the times and the days when we were great again out in the fields, out picking cotton, and by the way, I am not that woman.
27:40I am not that woman that would have been out there picking cotton to make sure that you could stand here and know what I've done it for my daughter either.
27:48I would have taken the cotton ball and found a way to cut my risk.
27:52Okay?
27:53Now, why?
27:54I'm not that woman.
27:57I was not raised thinking about the future.
28:00But here's the thing that you need to think about.
28:02Those people who did that did a significant job for each and every one of us.
28:11And I cringe sometimes when people make the comment that we've been through this before.
28:17No, we have not.
28:19I can tell you today, my daughter could not walk in the shoes that I walk in.
28:25My daughter could not take the criticism and the little endewendos that she gets on her job.
28:31And although she knows better than to quit at 34 years old, by the way, I wouldn't have even crossed, it would not have crossed my mind.
28:41So what I'm saying to you as we end this, Mickey, is that there's an economic reason.
28:47That's good to at least tell other people.
28:51But most important, black women are not only beautiful, but go back to Sojournal Truth as I started.
29:00Ain't I a woman?
29:02Black women are phenomenal women, but we are the whole package.
29:08From sunup to sundown, we're putting our entire spirit, our attitude, our lives on the line
29:15to make sure, brothers, you are okay.
29:18And you might find that to be stressful.
29:20You might find that to be mean.
29:23But your mamas did the same thing.
29:26And so I say to all of us, it is time.
29:29It is more than time for the movement.
29:32It is more than time for us to look at the mirror and say, I am worthy.
29:38I am phenomenal, y'all.
29:40I don't care what you think, how thick my lips are.
29:43I am beautiful.
29:45Yeah.
29:46And Mickey, just one thing that I usually leave most of these things with is a simple
29:51story.
29:51I hope you got a second for this.
29:53You know where I'm going.
29:54There was a social worker who decided to go to Africa because they couldn't believe the
30:01togetherness of those individuals in Africa.
30:04They could not believe that African children would work together and hang together and do
30:09the things that they do together.
30:10And so they went over and they set up a test.
30:13And by the way, we don't do this for ourselves in this country.
30:17Set up a test.
30:18And they brought this humongous bowl of fruit to an area of Africa that people didn't get
30:24much fruit.
30:25And they pulled together four or five children and they said to them, whoever gets to this
30:31bowl first gets to keep this fruit for themselves.
30:35And the man took his gun because he wanted to be scientific and he shot it in the air and
30:42they took off running at three.
30:44One.
30:45Two.
30:49Three.
30:50Bam.
30:51Every last one of those kids took off like speed.
30:55And the person who won, who got there first, stopped at the bowl, would not touch it, would
31:02not go to the line to say that he had won.
31:07He waited on his other three young kids who were running with them.
31:12And they joined hand and walked across that line together.
31:17And what they say about this is, I am because we are.
31:23Oh, that's powerful.
31:24I am because we are.
31:28And it's so important for each and every one to recognize today.
31:31I sit here because of my ancestors.
31:34I'm here to make the comments I'm making because of you.
31:37I am because we are.
31:40And I like to add, we are because he is.
31:46Amen.
31:47Let's give it up for Dr. Sandra Bruce Nichols.
31:5035 years of visionary service in health care.
31:53Dr. Nichols, thank you for talking with us about the state of black women's health.
31:58All right, Essence, are you all ready?
32:01All right.
32:02Next panel is coming up.
32:03Thank you so much.
32:34Bye.
32:35Bye.
32:35Bye.
32:36Bye.
32:36Bye.
32:36Bye.
32:36Bye.
Comments