A wake-up call to health inequities from nationally recognized expert in health
Dawes is recounting a story from his childhood, attending church with his sleepy brother, Patrick. The preacher’s call to wake up was effective on his young brother, alerting him to the importance of the call. The boys sat up and listened.
On Nov. 17, 2021, the audience, however, are the listeners at a Zoom event, presented by Community Grand Rounds, a collaborative effort between Spectrum Health Lakeland and Berrien Community Foundation.
Lynn Todman, PhD, Vice President Health Equity, Spectrum Health, hosts the event.
Dawes is nationally recognized in health care law and policy, leading many efforts to address health inequities affecting vulnerable and underserved populations in the United States, Todman says as an introduction.
Lynn Todman, PhD, Vice President Health Equity, Spectrum Health, hosted Community Grand Rounds: Political Determinants of Health Inequities.Among his many achievements, Dawes founded and chaired the largest advocacy group focused on developing comprehensive law to restructure the health care system and address inequities. He also helped shape the Affordable Care Act and is the author of two ground-breaking books: Political Determinants of Health and 150 years of Obamacare.
“The point of my story about the preacher’s wake-up call,” Dawes continues, “is that sometimes we all need a wake-up call. This is our fourth awakening in the U.S. on health inequity. The pandemic has been a dark time, a racial and social reckoning.”
Dawes explains how political decisions and public policy create community conditions that harm our nation’s health. He reveals how such decisions and policies result in polluted water and air, unreliable transportation, unsafe neighborhoods, unhealthy food options, low incomes, and other conditions leading to health inequities.
“I believe that we’ve reached a point in our society where the main causes of health inequities are actually one and the same with the main drivers that continue to perpetuate these inequities,” Dawes says. “By that, I’m referencing the political determinants of health. Most individuals are at least vaguely acquainted with the social determinants of health and their role in our day-to-day lives. The conditions where we are born, live, learn, work, play, and pray, are the basis for many of the health inequities that plague our society. However, the social determinants do not tell the whole story and fall short of providing a plan for addressing the inequities.”
The United States is currently ranked 43rd in life expectancy in the world, Dawes reports. Yet we consume more than half of the world’s health care resources. Life expectancy is falling for all Americans, but more so for marginalized populations.
“If we look at only white America, we rank 50th in life expectancy worldwide,” he says. “If we look at Black America, we rank 103rd, but Native American ranking is 143rd.”
To illustrate how health determinants in our society impact individuals, Dawes shares another story—this one about a…
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