All Children Deserve The Best Possible Healthcare

I am keenly aware that children thrive when they can relate to positive adult role models who see and understand them. This builds a strong sense of belonging, a belief that their emotional and physical needs will be met, and a sense of empowerment. I have always felt strongly that all children deserve the best possible healthcare, and that it should be provided in a welcoming, dignified environment that takes into consideration the wellbeing and the experience of the whole family. 

This has been one of the main goals of my philanthropic work, and so it was with great excitement that we witnessed the launch of BLOOM: The Black Baby Equity Clinic at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland last month! LSP Family Foundation is so proud to support interventions that disrupt inequitable social determinants of health. We love to seed the brave work of social entrepreneur physician-scientists like Dr. Dayna Long, founder of BLOOM, and her co-leader, Dr. Javay Ross.  Through this important clinic, Dr. Long and Dr. Ross are addressing the pediatric needs of Black families, and studying the impact of holistic, racially concordant care as an intervention.   

Everyone deserves to feel seen and heard at their physician’s office. In the United States, Black people are dramatically more likely to report being dismissed or unfairly treated, because of their race, by health care professionals. Studies show that, in contrast to White patients, Black patients experience poorer communication, less information giving, and less participation in decision making in their health care. A 2020 Kaiser Family Foundation study found that 5% of White participants reported being unfairly treated because of race or ethnicity in the medical system, while 20% of Black respondents experienced racially unfair treatment. Aside from the mental health toll, the physical outcomes can be disastrous. We know that Black people have the highest rate of infant and maternal mortality in the U.S., and at birth, Black babies automatically have a shorter life expectancy.    

But there is hope! According to research conducted by The Association of American Medical Colleges, when Black adult patients are cared for by Black physicians, there is an improvement in communication, trust, and patient compliance with medical advice. BLOOM: The Black Baby Equity Project is employing this strategy in pediatrics, and providing a holistic, trauma-informed approach to healthcare. Black children have appointments with Black pediatricians, patient navigators, lactation professionals, and mental health providers, ensuring racially concordant care.  Dr. Javay Ross explained “My patients stick with me because they feel a connection that goes beyond what I learned in medical school. That’s why I am so passionate about this opportunity. It will maximize my ability to connect with patients and increase equity from the start.” 

BLOOM’s work is expansive; providers are trained to engage patients in discussion about their experiences with trauma and its impact on their wellbeing. Patients and caregivers receive resilience building support in the form of traditional and newer mental health modalities, helping ward against multi-generational trauma and toxic stress. In addition, Bloom uses inter-disciplinary approaches to health care for their patients, ensuring providers collaborate to create a customized patient-centered approach that will ensure the best possible health outcomes. Patients are referred to UCSF and other partner services that address the housing, food, legal, financial, and employment needs of the family, and BLOOM Clinic mothers receive lactation support and post-partum nutrition support on site or in their homes.  Patients and their households are engaged in the design, implementation, and evaluation of the Clinic. In addition, the full power of the University of California Health System is leveraged to nurture and care for patients, and their caregivers, at the Bloom Clinic.  Dr. Dayna Long describes this effort as a “way to leverage evidence-based and culturally informed strategies to improve the health of Black babies.” 

I believe that children develop more fully and lead healthy lives when they feel seen, heard, and cared for. It is with great hope and excitement that BLOOM has been launched, and we cannot wait to see how patients’ and their families’ lives are transformed.