Chapter 21: Welcoming Minority and Ethnic Patients to MD Anderson
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Description
In this Chapter Dr. Pollock explains that African-American and Middle Eastern patients can wonder whether they are truly welcome in a “majority institution” such as MD Anderson. Dr. Pollock tells some anecdotes to show how he has tried to welcome minority patients and further the institutional mission of serving all patients equally
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Identifier
PollokRE_03_20121119-C21
Publication Date
11-19-2012
Publisher
The Making Cancer History® Voices Oral History Collection, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Raphael Pollock, MD, Oral History Interview, November 19, 2012
Topics Covered
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - Institutional Mission and Values Building/Transforming the InstitutionGender, Race, Ethnicity, ReligionThe MD Anderson EthosInstitutional Mission and ValuesMD Anderson Culture The MD Anderson Brand, ReputationUnderstanding the InstitutionProfessional Practice The Professional at WorkProfessional Values, Ethics, PurposeCritical Perspectives on MD Anderson
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Disciplines
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Oncology | Oral History
Transcript
Raphael Pollock, MD:
I’m tremendously, and remain tremendously, impressed with what the immigrant generation from 1880-1920 that came to this country—the Pole, the Italians, the Jews, the Germans, the Irish—how they were able to buck tremendous prejudice. We can’t even conceive of how bad it was and what they were able to accomplish. Not that I believe in everything that Israel, for example, has done or is doing, but when I visit and actually spend extended periods of time, I’m tremendously impressed with what has been accomplished over the course of a seventy-year period of time by a group of people who were absolutely persecuted and homeless and literally not wanted anywhere in the world. So seeing how people cope with these situations and how they do what they did I think in some ways has made me a more sensitive and caring cancer physician. It’s a different type of coping that I’m trying to help people with, but it’s a coping nonetheless. And in a way, to come back to the question how does my heritage participate, it’s how I can contribute in small ways. I particularly enjoy—I have a number of patients who are middle-class African Americans, and I particularly enjoy—not saying something negative about any other ethnic group—but I particularly enjoy engaging a group such as this which comes to a place like MD Anderson, which is certainly a majority institution, with many, many concerns—this is not a stereotype—but many, many concerns about what will actually happen and will their specific needs be met. And trying to break the obvious potential barriers of race and make it very, very clear that you are absolutely welcome here, that you will get absolutely the same level of care. You get my cell number just like everyone else, and I’ll be very upset if you had a problem and you didn’t call me. And the sense of relief that comes back from a group of people that, frankly, in our society have not necessarily had the same access to excellent care, and to see that you’re going to get everything that I can do on your behalf, there is a remarkable sense of gratitude that comes back. And again, it speaks to my desire to connect with anyone whom I can help and to give of myself—to be able to do so. A stray observation.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
It’s a great story. Actually I had never—no one has ever mentioned a specific group, like African Americans, having the sense that they might not be welcome here, so that’s interesting that you commented on that. I hadn’t been aware that that was a problem that MD Anderson was dealing with.
Raphael Pollock, MD:
I think there are some concerns in some individuals about whether they will be treated as they hope to be treated. And in fairness, that’s not unique to African-American patients; that’s true of many patients. Because, this is a very intimidating institution from the outside, and it’s that much more intimidating if you don’t see a lot of people who look like you do, I guess is the most blunt way of putting it. But the process cuts across lots of different boundaries. I remember many years ago I had a patient who was from the Middle East, and we never spent any time talking about where they were from or where I was from or their background or my background or anything. We took care of the daughter of this family, and everything worked out very, very well. And afterwards, the patient sent me this really beautiful Passover Seder plate. They had gone, obviously, to the extent of finding out that I was Jewish. They thought that that would be something that I would appreciate. And it turned out they were Palestinian. I didn’t even know, and it made it that much more poignant to me that who we were in our respective non-illness lives was not relevant to this more fundamental interaction.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
And it even erased—
Raphael Pollock, MD:
Yeah. Yeah. So those are the types of things that do more than make your day; it makes your month.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah, that’s a wonderful story.
Raphael Pollock, MD:
And it’s a really—I mean—yes, I’m sure it can happen somewhere else, but this is where I was when it happened to me, and I’m so grateful that I was exposed to that.
Recommended Citation
Pollock, Raphael E. MD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 21: Welcoming Minority and Ethnic Patients to MD Anderson" (2012). Interview Chapters. 1333.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1333
Conditions Governing Access
Open
