   
 |
|
 Ask Dr. Jana
Lack of Emphasis on Sickle Cell Disease | | | QUESTION | | | Dear Dr. Jana,
Could you please tell me why healthcare providers do not place emphasis on sickle cell disease. I am a registered nurse, a mother of a two-year-old affected by SCD, and founder of Sickle Cell Advocates of the North Shore. It is very disturbing when the emergency room doctor raises his hands and says "Oh, I don't know anything about sickle cell disease." I would like to take a moment and plea to all doctors to help educate the public about SCD. This is no longer the "black people's problem." This is a nationwide problem.— Felicia Moore-Egbe in Lynn, MA | | | ANSWER |
March 12, 2001 | | | Dear Felicia,
While I can't tell you why some healthcare providers simply throw their hands up and say they don't know anything about the care of this disease, I can tell you that there are many healthcare providers very committed to educating, caring for, and improving the lives of children (and adults) living with sickle cell disease. In collaboration with one such group of providers at the Georgia Comprehensive Sickle Center, we have made available to everyone who visits our site a large number of relevant and reliable articles about the disease.
Like you, we feel that sickle cell disease should not be disregarded as just a "black person's problem." In fact, our company's debut into television media was in the form of a documentary called Sickle Cell: The Forgotten Disease. The documentary was produced in partnership with the Discovery Health Channel, aired on February 28th, and hopefully helped people become more educated about sickle cell disease.— by Laura Jana, M.D., F.A.A.P. |
|
| | 
|