The Desert Healthcare District and Foundation, is doing their part to address this critical need
By Dee Jae Cox
There are few things more terrifying than a woman in treatment for invasive breast cancer, hearing that her insurance will not approve coverage for the 30 rounds of radiation that the doctor recommends. She must either settle for 15 or crowd-fund to cover the remaining costs. A pregnant woman who has been told that her child will not survive delivery and the sepsis from the dying fetus in her body may kill her, but the doctors can’t do an abortion because of laws passed by legislators in their state. Or the woman who has been raped and beaten, but has no medical insurance or any means of paying for treatment. (1 in 5 women in America, will be raped in her lifetime.)
Compared to women in other high-income countries, American women have long had obstacles in accessing the health care they need. Americans spend more money on health care than other advanced countries, but research frequently finds that Americans avoid seeking health care or do not receive the extent of life saving treatments they need, because of the prohibitive healthcare costs.
In America, the rate of death for women of reproductive age is on the rise. Women are 50% more likely to die in childbirth due to restrictions in reproductive care, than they were 30 years ago. And Black women are 3 to 4 times more likely to die than white women.
Women in the United States don’t live as long as women in other high-income countries, largely due to the fact that progress on many women’s health measures has stalled or reversed. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, (OECD) was established in 1961, as an intergovernmental organization to promote polices that improve economic and social well-being. Of the 38 countries that are members, the U.S. ranks 33 in women’s life expectancy.
Women were already poorly represented in medical research before the 1970s, but progress in researching drugs and medical devices in women was further set back in 1977, when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) created a policy to exclude women in clinical trials. It was not until 1993, that the U.S. Congress passed a law requiring the inclusion of women in clinical research.
Outside of Cancer, only 1-2% of health research investments are dedicated to women’s health care research. A 2024 analysis of common medical interventions found that 64% had a lower effectiveness on women, as result of excluding women in research.
Significant cuts to the Affordable Care Act by the current administration and healthcare restrictions or misinformation, (based on ideology rather than science,) continues to place the lives of women living in America in danger.
What do we need?
-More medical research that includes women.
-Medical decisions made by doctors, rather than legislatures and insurance companies.
-And Organizations such as Desert Healthcare District and Foundation. (www.dhcd.org) Their slogan, “Advancing Community Wellness in the Coachella Valley,” symbolizes the community efforts being made to provide healthcare to not only homeless or low income, but for women facing economic challenges with medical care in particular.
Desert Healthcare’s mission is to advance community wellness in the Coachella Valley. A major part of this outreach is the mobile medical clinic program that was launched in 2022. (They have recently added a second mobile unit to their service.) These mobile units are equipped with private exam rooms, as well as state of the art medical equipment that allows medical professionals to perform on site medical care in various locations throughout the desert region.
On Saturday, February 21st from 9am to 4pm, Desert Healthcare will bring their medical mobile unit to Esperanza Park, – 30600 San Diego Dr., Cathedral City, Ca. And February 27/28th, at Empire Polo Grounds, 81-800 Avenue 51, Indio, Ca., in order to provide a “Women’s Wellness Clinic,” offering free Mammograms and Pap Smears.
These are two critical health services for women that can save lives.
Pre-scheduling is required. Call 760-567-1212 in order to schedule your free mammogram or pap smear.
Medical care is not a luxury, it is a necessity.
