On Thursday, Feb. 27, the Department of Health Sciences in partnership with Human Rights and Equity and the Centre for Women\u2019s and Gender Studies will host the second annual Yosif Al-Hasnawi Memorial Lecture: Promoting Racial Justice in Health Care.<\/p>\n
Notisha Massaquoi, former Executive Director of Women\u2019s Health in Women\u2019s Hands and a Lecturer at Ryerson University in the Department of Social Work, will present a talk entitled, \u201cToday We Might Save A Life: Conversations About Racial Equity, Justice and the Canadian Health Care System.\u201d<\/p>\n
Massaquoi, who has facilitated the development of several health organizations and programs for Black communities in Canada, will discuss the disparities in access to health care and successful outcomes for racialized communities in Canada, racism as a barrier in the health care system and how a discussion of racial equity in health care can bring us closer to\u00a0optimal service and quality care.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that racialized people face clear disparities in access to health care in Canada,\u201d says Margot Francis, Associate Professor in the Centre for Women\u2019s and Gender Studies and co-organizer of the event. \u201cWe have to understand in detailed and concrete ways how this happens in order to change it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Francis notes that the lecture series, which is important for both memorializing Al-Hasnawi and encouraging advocacy for justice, is a fitting way to extend his legacy and honour his memory.<\/p>\n
Al-Hasnawi was a first-year Medical Sciences student at Brock who had ambitions of becoming a doctor when, in December of 2017, he intervened on behalf of a stranger being accosted on the street by two other men and was fatally shot in the abdomen. Witnesses described how first responders failed to take the 19-year-old\u2019s injury seriously, accusing him of lying about being shot before transporting him to a distant medical facility rather than a nearby trauma centre better suited to treating gunshot wounds. Two paramedics now face trial for failing to provide the necessaries of life.<\/p>\n
\u201cSupporting this annual lecture in our department is important as it allows us to draw attention to the persistent racism in the health care system and to the broader ways that racism shapes health inequities in Canada,\u201d says Deborah O\u2019Leary, Chair of the Department of Health Sciences. \u201cThrough this lecture, we want to provide opportunities for our students to engage deeply with these issues so that they can contribute to concrete solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zanab Jafry (BSc \u201918), the Brock medical sciences graduate who founded the Yosif Al-Hasnawi Memorial Lecture series, believes the annual lecture \u201chelps fulfill a responsibility to treat anti-racism as necessary curriculum for future medical professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n