New Directory Black Resource in Colorado connects patients with specialized health sources; “Someone with that lived experience”

A new resource brings culturally suitable care providers to black coloradans. It is called the Colorado Black Health Resource Directory – a collaboration between Colorado Black Health Collaborative and Connect for Health Colorado. The 108 -page guide is the most extensive source of black health information in Colorado and offers offers for doctors and specialists from Fort Collins to Pueblo.

“It’s all comprehensive,” said Dr. Terri Richardson, co-founder of CBHR. “We’re going to Grave, that’s what we say.”

She recently gathered with a group -black women to celebrate the release of CBHR.

Richardson says that the idea first originated in 2010, a response to requests for information from Zwarte Coloradans who want to make contact with medical care providers who understand their unique concerns. It is now in his fifth edition.

“People said,” Do you know what we could use? A holistic view of health. ” A guide. We didn’t just want to cover the black diaspora.

According to the state of Colorado, 4.18% of our population in 2023 was only black or only Afro -American. It is a population that needs these means, says Richardson.

“Sometimes we feel that we get lost here in Colorado, is only a small percentage of the population, but our health differences are at the top or on the bottom as we always say.”

Bedilu knows the battle all too well. She says finding her current pediatrician, Dr. Sophia Meharena was an answered prayer. “There are things around like a black person who has to explain every day you have to explain. You have to explain things about your culture, the way you speak, all these nuances, like your hair. I think the relationship between doctors and patients is so Holy, intimate and vulnerable and my hope would be that we should not do that in that space, “she said.

“It’s not about being a better doctor,” Meharena explained. “It’s about making contact with your patient in a way the patient is looking for.”

But doctor by doctor, the directory works to make offices more hospitable. “It is very important to have someone with that lived experience. You don’t have to explain to me what it means to be black in America. I already know,” Richardson added.