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Category: 
Print > Single Topic Coverage by a Team > Northeast

Title of entry: 
For Sickle Cell Patients, The Struggle Continues

Issue or Publication date:
July/August and November/December

Publication name: 
Specialty Pharmacy Continuum

Publishing/parent company: 
McMahon Group

View Website home page:
www.specialtypharmacycontinuum.com

About the Publication:

Description of the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:

Before you can appreciate the importance of these 2 stories, you must understand some facts about sickle cell disease (SCD), which affects about 100,000 Americans, mostly Blacks. About 1:365 Black infants born in the U.S. have SCD. People with SCD have mishappened red blood cells, which become hard and sticky and clog blood flow causing severe pain (SCD pain crises), infection, chest pain and stroke. Patients live in constant pain, but during a pain crisis, the pain is unbearable. But they often do not get the help they need because of the color of their skin. ER specialists think they are seeking drugs and that discrimination almost killed Kevin Wake. While living in Chicago, Mr. Wake had a “silent” stroke that affected the part of his brain controlling speech. The ER staff was told he was a Black male suffering a drug overdose or intoxication by the EMTs. Kevin’s story inspired a follow-up later in 2022 about the need for better treatments and therapies (New Therapies and Better Access Urgently Needed for Sickle Cell Patients). Just as patients are subject to disparities in care, SCD has trouble getting research dollars. The National Institutes of Health spent 11 times more for CF—which primarily occurs in white people—research than for SCD research, and a study found similar funding disparities from national foundations. These stories show that disparities in care can be life threatening and are powerful reminders that preconceived ideas about patients should never be admitted to the hospital.

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