With coronavirus cases still on the rise in Philadelphia, a consortium of Black doctors has decided to try to get testing into the hands of the underserved communities most at risk.
Local resident Ala Stanford, M.D., who has a private practice in Jenkintown and operates a medical consulting firm, told whyy.org that her frustration with how the pandemic is already disproportionately affecting the city’s Black community led her to take action.
“In Philadelphia, African-Americans represent 44 percent of the population, but at last check, 52 percent of the deaths,” pediatric surgeon Stanford told whyy.org. “For me, that was unacceptable.”
Stanford launched the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium, an arm of her firm that has gathered a group of physicians and churches in the city’s Black neighborhoods to help get more testing into the communities…fast.
Using testing kits that Stanford and her fellow medical professionals have on hand in their own practices, the doctors are working together to get the tests where they should go to potentially save more lives.
Bravo to Stanford and her team, who are real-life heroes during this time of crisis. Read more about their story here.
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