- Today, we still struggle with some of the problems from years past, recognizing that your ZIP code can determine your life expectancy.

And so, we still have some opportunity for change.

- But white doctors weren't gonna take care of you, so where do you go?

I mean, that's a struggle.

(gentle music fading) (lighthearted guitar music) Dr. Lucius Austin, being a Black doctor in the Black community, he achieved something in a time that seemed unachievable.

Now, think about it for a minute.

Being born around 1878 or something, having the vision of being a doctor.

Reconstruction had just ended.

You know, the Civil War hadn't been that far back.

So, to be able to have that mindset and say, "I'm going to achieve this, I'm going to do this work, and I'm going to do it in a Black community."

(upbeat rhythmic music) He delivered my brother.

Matter of fact, my mother tells the story, she was having the baby, they were at the office.

And he was getting in there, and said "Okay miss, we might have these babies today."

And his wife was there, and they started to do everything.

And he said, "Oh my goodness, go get some extra help, we got two babies."

They didn't know she was having twins.

And so they got the twins out, (laughing happily) and everybody came out okay.

But those days, it wasn't that easy to predict that.

She didn't know.

(birds chirping happily) - Dr. Hackett was the first Black physician in Phoenix, and Dr. Alston was the first Black physician in Mesa, Arizona.

And both of them came to Arizona and developed their medical practices at a time when Blacks couldn't receive care in the majority institutions.

You know, Dr. Hackett starting a Black hospital, and Dr. Alston starting a community center and other areas of development around his office.

It really gave people the role model that says, you know, "We as Black people can do some really great things, including improving the health of our community."

And I think it was important to show other young people that they could also have a career in medicine.

They were cornerstones and pillars of the Black community, providing care when oftentimes other people couldn't receive care.

They also provided care to Hispanics, Native Americans, and also some whites who either wanted reduced cost care or who had diseases such as perhaps sexually transmitted diseases, where they didn't feel comfortable going to white doctors.

(birds chirping in background) - And one thing about Dr. Alston people always leave outta the story, he was the first African American Doctor allowed to practice in Mesa.

And that changes the narrative.

I think it's highly relevant that we recognize the accomplishment of what he did at the time when he was living.

I know that people really cared about him.

I know they really loved him, he was a big part of the community.

(birds chirping in background) - Arizona's my home, and growing up here was unique in that I didn't often see other Black families.

I didn't have Black neighbors.

My parents worked really hard to make sure that I still felt, and learned, and had appreciation for Black culture.

When I left here and went to college in Atlanta, Georgia, at Spelman College, it was the most empowering experience.

And then later, after years of medical school and additional training, being able to choose to come back home to practice my career.

(gentle uplifting music) - So I came to Arizona back in 1989, and I came specifically to work for Mayo Clinic here in Arizona, which was about a year and 1/2 old at that time.

I had finished my training in Minnesota, at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, after having spent nine years at Howard University.

And I loved the Mayo system but didn't wanna stay in Minnesota, so I decided to try Arizona.

I had gone to school in a historically Black university setting, Howard University.

So, I had done undergrad medical school and three years of training there.

And so, it really was a sense of community, a sense of where you felt that you could be yourself no matter what.

And so coming to Arizona was different because the Black population here was very small.

(birds chirping happily) - Thinking about the health of the Black community today, I'm cautious to make any broad generalizations, recognizing that we all come from different circumstances and have access to different resources.

And so, we still have some opportunity for change.

And that really starts with exposing people to healthy food, healthy lifestyles, improving our education system here.

We know there's a direct correlation with education and health, and so we have some opportunities for improvement in that regard.

- So when you look at the fact that the life expectancy of Blacks is less than any other group, that's of concern.

When you look at the fact that the chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, other diseases, are higher in the Black community, that's of concern.

Many of the things that have been undiagnosed in the past, in Blacks today, were even more undiagnosed back in the early 1900s.

So, there's historically been a lot of lack of trust within the healthcare system.

Most people point to the Tuskegee experiment, where Blacks were intentionally infected with syphilis and then not given treatment to understand the natural history of syphilis.

Often I think about in today's society, we label people as "non-compliant."

And that's a term that's used in the medical profession meaning that, "They didn't do what I told them to do, so they're not compliant with medical directions."

What that often comes down to is a lack of trust in this system.

And if you don't trust those who are taking care of you, and you don't trust that they're trying to understand what are your barriers to being compliant, that non-compliance will continue.

So some of it's lack of trust, some of it may be lack of resources, some of it may be the time spent explaining to a patient why they should take care of themselves in a particular way.

(hopeful string music fading) - There are so many layers to what has led to the mistrust of healthcare professionals from the Black community.

And the Tuskegee experiment is just one.

But for years, birthed from slavery, the Black body has been dishonored, and people have treated Black humans as other.

And so when we talk about experimentation, it goes far before the Tuskegee experiment.

The health conditions that Black Americans suffer from disproportionately are no different in Arizona than they are in other states across the US.

(gentle piano music) Our challenge ends up being, in some cases, access.

Access to healthcare, quality healthcare, that we can trust, access to early detection and screening.

Which ultimately, causes us to have delay to diagnosis, at which time often the medical illness is much farther along or more difficult to control.

The Tuskegee experiment gets a lot of mention, especially in the era of COVID, and when there were rapid advances being made and clinical trials going on to really propel bringing the vaccine to the forefront, and the recognition that Black and brown communities were suffering and dying at disproportionate rates compared to others from COVID-19.

- We need continued emphasis on trying to bring down these health disparities within the Black community, including funding for research to understand why these disparities, and intervention in the communities so that we can partner with communities to help address these health disparities.

I think you change it in a number of ways.

One is education of the community about what has changed since the Tuskegee days.

The other very big thing is increasing the number of Black physicians in this country.

(crowd cheering happily) - My husband is a physician.

He and I recognize that there are some gaps in our matriculation that we intended to fill and wanted to fill.

And so, we created what we wished we'd always had, and that's in our nonprofit called Elevate Med.

We wanna elevate medicine to a place where the workforce really reflects the population.

And so we've created scholarships, and mentorship, and leadership development, and financial wellness education, for medical students from underrepresented backgrounds, recognizing that they need support.

We wanted to give these students mentors who look like them, who are doing what they wanna do, to help them on their path toward excellence.

- You know, I think Arizona is a good place for people to live.

I think we have many of the same problems that exist across the country.

And it does worry me that some of the racial divide that's occurring elsewhere in the country happens here, and it seems to be getting worse, not better.

And I think Arizona is just kind of a microcosm of what's happening within the United States.

Hopefully over time, it will get better.

You know, I pray every day that's going to get better, and time will tell that.

But, more needs to be done.

(gentle hopeful music fading) (gentle hopeful music continues) (gentle hopeful music fading)