Linda Villarose & Danielle N. Lee: How two journalists have impacted the medical field
Living in a world with a 24-hour news cycle, we are continually taking in new information. The flow of news can enlighten our medical practices as we learn more about the world around us. However, when this information always comes from the same sources, we can become less aware of what is happening outside of our own community. We begin to lose touch with people who aren't the focus of those sources and begin to treat all patients the same. Having journalists from diverse backgrounds allows the stories of others to be shared. Black journalists are an essential part of the medical community because they give us access to the minds and experiences of people who likely wouldn't receive the attention.
“Journalists aren’t just here to give us more information. Sometimes their prescience in various communities is what we need to see ourselves there too.”
Linda Villarose is an author and journalist who has written extensively about the health issues Black women face. Her book Body & Soul: The Black Women's Guide to Physical Health and Emotional Well-Being was written in 1994. Without her contribution, some Black women would have never felt they had a safe space to understand their bodies and emotions as she explained reproductive health, spirituality, and raising kids. More recently, Villarosa wrote on medical myths featured in The New York Times about how Black people's enslavement has impacted the way medical professionals interact and diagnose them. She also spoke on how Covid-19 has impacted Black communities. With her ability to share her own experiences and those of others, she's able to use her voice to help inform medical professionals.
Journalists aren't just here to give us more information. Sometimes their prescience in various communities is what we need to see ourselves there too. Danielle N. Lee is an assistant professor of biology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville where she teaches several courses. While she doesn't use her knowledge to be a medical writer, she does use her love of STEM and her platform to bring diversity to the disciplines. Lee believes making this knowledge more accessible is a path to helping others and wants to make it understandable to general audiences. That's the reason why she founded the National Science and Technology News Service. This media advocacy group helped increase interest in STEM and science recent coverage in Black communities. Even now, she continues to use Twitter as a tool to reach more people about these subjects.
Both women offer the medical community something different. One validates Black women about their health experiences, speaks on the Covid-19 crisis happening worldwide, and has challenged medical professionals to check in on their own biases when treating patients. The other wants to bring science to a community that has been dismissed and ignored for many years. While neither are practitioners, they do what is needed, speak up often about the issues impacting their communities. As nurses, we should seek to learn more about the people and subjects we don't completely relate with to help brogan our understanding. We are capable of bringing forth a new awareness and supporting the hard work of these journalists.