Social Media's Role in Health Equity Advocacy

Joelle, the medical mythbuster, advocates for using social media to challenge healthcare biases and promote health equity.

### Empowering Change in Healthcare Through Social Media and Advocacy
* 🌍 Joelle Bll, a fourth-year medical student and medical mythbuster, emphasizes the role of social media as a **safe haven for discussing crucial health issues** often overlooked by mainstream media.
* 📱 She highlights how her followers frequently express surprise at the unique content she shares, stating, "**I haven't seen this anywhere else**," showcasing the **importance of these discussions**.
* 🩺 Joelle reflects on her experiences as one of only two Black medical students in her class, prompting her to address the **racial disparities in healthcare education and outcomes**.
* 📊 She cites alarming statistics, such as the fact that **50% of medical students or residents endorse false biological beliefs** about differences between Black and non-Black patients, which **perpetuates harmful stereotypes in medical practice**.
* ⚖ Joelle stresses the need for **diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)** in medicine, arguing that these principles are **essential for understanding and addressing the diverse patient populations** healthcare providers serve.
* 📉 She warns that anti-DEI legislation could severely hinder progress in medical education and patient care, potentially leading to a **regression in healthcare equity and access**.
* 💪 Joelle encourages individuals to **empower themselves with knowledge** when interacting with healthcare providers, believing that **awareness can lead to meaningful change** in addressing systemic issues.
* 🌟 She envisions social media as a platform for **community building and advocacy**, where discussions can lead to **improvements in the healthcare system** and ultimately **save lives**.

I think in the face of any adversity, communities of color have always found solutions. I think for me, social media is one of those places, safe havens. Social media can be a positive change; it can inform masses about really crucial issues that are often overlooked in the media. My followers often are commenting on my videos, saying, I haven't seen this anywhere else. I think that social media can save lives when used in the right way. My name is Joelle Bll. I'm a fourth-year medical student, but I'm better known online as a medical mythbuster for creating content about health equity, the hidden history of medicine, and the ways that healthcare needs to change for communities of color. When I first started medical school, it was a really interesting time. I was thinking a lot about Ahmed Aubrey and Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. All these moments were happening at the same time that I entered my first year of medical school, where myself and one other medical student were the only two black medical students in our school of 200.

students. It made me think a lot about how we were talking about race in the United States and what race meant in the context of being a medical student. I kept hearing in my classes that black people were more likely to have asthma, black people were more likely to get covid, black people were more likely to have diabetes. We never dived into the social or other political ramifications of why that was and the history behind what led to those health disparities to exist. Seeing the lack of diverse medical education in my curriculum made me want to actually take to Tik Tok and Instagram to talk about the things that I wasn't seeing in school. My name is Joelle, the medical mythbuster, and let's talk about racial bias with the alpha feto protein test. And let's talk about racial biases in lung function tests. Let's talk about the racialization of X-ray radiation, the misguided racial correction built into this device, the spirometer, and it assumes that all black and Asian patients have lower lung functioning.

compared to any other race. Up to 93% of cervical cancers are preventable, yet in the United States, Latinos are more likely to be diagnosed with it, and black women are more likely to die from it. What looking back at this history teaches us is how racism becomes embedded and unnoticed until we raise the alarm to practices that make no [Music] sense. So many of my videos, a lot of the comments were from healthcare professionals, doctors, nurses, PAs, saying, I've never heard about this. A study in 2016 was done and actually showed that 50% of medical students or residents endorsed at least one false biological belief about differences between black and non-black patients. And so goes to show how the history of these biases and stereotypes continues till today and can impact the way that patients get care. Because everyone, especially most black people, has had an experience in the hospital where they felt like they weren't listened to, they were ignored, and they want to understand why. There's already legacies and histories of why.

communities of color don't trust the medical system. You can look at so many things that have been done. In 1961, Fanny Lamer went to the hospital for the removal of a small uterine tumor. While under anesthesia, she was given a hysterectomy without her knowledge or consent. This woman sold her body for research on COVID, polio, cancer, and so much more, but her cells were taken without her consent. Dr. Sims practiced genital surgeries on enslaved black women and children without any anesthesia. Our job as physicians needs to be to be able to figure out what should and what shouldn't stand from past beliefs to present beliefs. I think diversity, equity, inclusion is one way that we're able to critically evaluate the systems around us, especially in medicine. Diversity, equity, inclusion is really important because it goes beyond race; it goes to thinking about all aspects of our social identities and how that interacts with the healthcare field. And two, it's necessary just because the patient population we serve is diverse in itself. So often there are

places in medicine where it doesn't make sense to use race, whether that's through an equation that's about kidney functioning or about lung functioning. So, being able to talk about DEI and that lens allows us to critically evaluate why we use race-specific issues. If we're not able to accurately critique why race is included in systems and whether that's harming or helping patients, we're unable to do our job of Do no harm. But there's a considered effort to try and essentially root diversity, equity, inclusion out of medicine, people thinking that's negative in the medical field. If these anti-DEI bills continue to get passed, I think we're going to see less diversity, equity in medicine across the spectrum. I think we're going to see less access to research that's really critically thinking about why we're using race and being able to kind of recorrect that, which has already been difficult to get people to talk about in the first place. We're going to see scholarship programs dry up. We're going to see programs that are investing in

the Next Generation go away. We're going to see students less interested in going into medicine simply because there's not investments into communities that have been overlooked for so long. We're going to be set back to a time where we were not moving medicine forward and actively harming patients. I don't want to scare people away from the Healthcare System, but I want them to know that they have the power and there's information they can have when they get to the doctor so they feel a little bit more confident. When there's awareness, providers, patients, and researchers can actually start tackling the problem. I think when we don't know it's a problem, we don't do anything about it. I think there's just so many opportunities to use social media as this kind of ground for Community to build and create advocacy and hopefully create change. I think especially when it comes to anti-di bills, I think that's the space we're going into. It can be a space to continue to learn, educate, and hopefully talk about how we can

A Medical Mythbuster’s Mission to Improve Health Care | Joel Bervell | TED

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Joelle Bll: Medical Mythbuster and Advocate for Health Equity

Joelle Bll, a fourth-year medical student, uses social media as a platform to address health equity and the hidden history of medicine for communities of color.

Her own experiences as one of two black medical students in a class of 200, coupled with the impact of racial injustices, motivated her to create content that highlights health disparities and the need for diverse medical education.

Through her videos, she aims to raise awareness about racial biases in medical practices and advocate for change in the healthcare system.

The Impact of Racism on Cervical Cancer and Healthcare

Cervical cancer is largely preventable, yet Latinos in the U.

are more likely to be diagnosed, and black women are more likely to die from it.

The history of racism in healthcare has led to biases and stereotypes that persist today, impacting patient care and trust in the medical system.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are crucial in medicine to critically evaluate systems and address the diverse needs of the patient population.

The use of race in medical equations for kidney and lung functioning is being critically evaluated through a DEI lens.

Anti-DEI bills may lead to less diversity and equity in medicine, resulting in reduced access to research and scholarship programs.

Building community and advocacy through social media can create awareness and drive change in addressing these issues.

Efforts are being made to enhance the overall quality of medicine.

Innovations in technology and research are driving advancements in treatment and patient care.

Collaboration among healthcare professionals is crucial for implementing effective changes in the medical field.