4 minute read
Your Experience with Coronavirus (COVID-19) Matters
BY CLAUDELLE PARCHMENT, PHD
As the world watches with bated breath, looking at the slow and steady march of Coronavirus (COVID-19) across fragile human bodies, we pause, only for a moment to acknowledge a public health infrastructure that is overwhelmed in what it was designed to do—to prevent emerging infectious diseases from marshalling through and negatively impacting the population. This shortcoming is more evident in the African American community and the more recent “voluntary” and refugee diasporic populations, such as those from east Africa or the Caribbean, where the plight of disparity in health, illness, and health care is ever present, and is only acknowledged when their stories found plastered across the news or on social media. COVID-19 has highlighted and magnified the plight of the diasporic population’s health, access to, and use of health care, even though many health professionals were keenly aware, yet have little to no solution to address the disparity. The issue is further compounded by misconceptions that circulated
throughout the community about the origin of COVID-19, its transmission, and the risks associated with it among other confounding factors, thus leading to the disproportionality of the African diaspora affected by COVID-19.
The African diaspora is now keenly aware that those misconceptions are not true and are empowered to embrace the fight to preserve life. The African diaspora has to now work twice as hard to change the narrative about COVID-19 circulating through the community, through the use of storytelling and shared experiences. The Diasporic population has not been asked to share their stories through the normal channels, but the diaspora can change this narrative by collectively sharing their stories with each other as it relates to COVID-19. It’s time to shed the stigma and shame surrounding illnesses, that keeps the diaspora in a stupor of fear that prevents the community from speaking
about their experiences with illnesses, and by extension, with COVID-19, that is ravishing both the young and old alike. The diasporic population can speak openly and candidly to friends and families about what the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 look like for both those who have contracted the virus as well as those who are knowledgeable through health care training about the signs and symptoms. This promotes a shared experience that binds the community together. They can also discuss the challenges faced in accessing care, or even navigating the health care system in order to obtain testing for COVID-19. This helps those who are struggling with this issue to know that they are not alone, simultaneously validating the concerns they may have.
Talking about the fears of contracting the virus and not being able to care for the ones we love, is just as personal for many individuals as it may be for you. Talk to each other
about the challenges of practicing social distancing, while living in a multi-generational household and what that looks like for you and your family. Openly discuss the stress of being in a sandwich generation, where you provide care for your elderly parents and your children, simultaneously working at a job where your chance of contracting COVID19 increases exponentially. This may bring solace to those who are in the same position and promote advocacy for change. Talk to each other about how the crippling impact of the fear you have for your life is inadvertently impacting the children in your care, and how these beloved children are dealing with the new normal that sometimes increases their own levels of fear, anxiety, and other psychosocial stressors. Express the emotions, thoughts, and feelings about death of the ones we hold so dear, and the process of grief that now envelopes you, while trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy.
Share with others the ways you have coped and improve your physical and mental health so that in turn you can care for each other. The diaspora can talk about the creative ways that each individual can draw on their ancestral past to help through this trying time. It is through the shared stories that we realized that we are not alone in the fight against COVID-19, or any other emerging infection or chronic disease. It is through these shared stories that light emanates throughout this tunnel called COVID-19. You should never be afraid to share your story—your experience with Coronavirus (COVID19) matters. It is through shared stories that we heal and become renewed.
Claudelle Parchment, PhD, is a recent graduate of Walden University.
