Followed by over a decade of experience working in public health and infectious disease policy programs, civil rights attorney René Bennett embarked on her degree in political science at Chapman University, ultimately graduating in 2005. 

Bennett returned to her alma mater March 9 to speak with Chapman students about manners in which they can address health disparities in the community. Some of these ways include identifying areas of unmet need and advocating for change.

“Coming of age during the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) crisis and seeing the damage done broke me and pushed me to pursue this field,” Bennett said at the event. “What we’ve been doing (to address health disparities) has not been working. It’s your job to push for innovation and what needs to be done.”

Bennett works as director of government affairs at Gilead Sciences, a biotechnical company headquartered in Southern California. She specializes in improving access to healthcare and patient outcomes. 

“Part of my job is going into places where there is a lot of unmet need,” Bennett said. “You do not have to travel to another country to (see) that there are significant disparities.”

Such disparities were highlighted in July 2021 when Orange County Supervisors Andrew Do and Doug Chaffee commissioned the creation of the Orange County Equity Map in collaboration with nonprofit OC Advance.

Alkamalee Jabbar, deputy chief of staff for Doug Chaffee, told The Panther the map was created to address health disparities and achieve an equitable community response to COVID-19.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed communities in Orange County who are more vulnerable to infection, hospitalization, and mortality as a result of pre-existing disparities,” Jabbar told The Panther. “Further, these circumstances have compounded during the pandemic among racial and ethnic minority groups as well as other underserved populations.”

The interactive map visualizes Orange County into 580 census tracts and displays scores from the Social Progress Index — a tool that measures the extent to which residents’ social and environmental needs are met, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Health Indicators and population demographic data like race and household income. 

“No one else in the country has taken the approach we’ve taken here,” Katie Kalvoda, an Advance OC board member, said at an evening event celebrating the release of the map. “If you are a city council member, you can go in and basically identify areas of greatest need and opportunity for growth.”

Data from the Equity Map shows the large quality of life disparities across the county. On a scale of one to 100 measuring access to advanced education, a census tract in La Habra scored the lowest at  3.6. By contrast, a census tract in Irvine scored the highest at 83.2. 

“We noticed that neighborhoods next to one another can be vastly different,” Jabbar said. “By dissecting the data at the neighborhood level, we also know things that we have not traditionally analyzed so intentionally such as childcare deserts, walkability, broadband speed, access to supermarkets, the percentage of disconnected youth and many other indicators.”

Tools like the Orange County Equity Map are critical in identifying and addressing disproportionate access to public health services in a community, according to Bennet, which she emphasized is an essential step in combating racial inequality.

Similarly, disparities can also be seen in categories like public safety and personal freedom. Organizations like Latino Health Access and the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network have been fighting to address these inequities for years.

“For decades, we have had significant health disparities in our communities of color,” Ron Coleman, managing director of policy for the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, told the Voice of OC. “Even before (the) coronavirus, we knew these disparities existed, so we haven’t adequately funded either public health departments or community-based organizations to meet the community needs right before our eyes.”

According to Bennett, historically underserved communities have higher rates of infectious disease as well as chronic, preventable conditions like  HIV, Hepatitis and other sexually transmitted infections.

“Health disparities are symptoms of deeper issues (including) socioeconomic inequity, racism, sexism, insufficient housing, lack of access to education and child care,” Bennett told The Panther. “All of this affects the ability for families and individuals to thrive.”

Health disparities have been exacerbated by COVID-19. Many community organizations and routine care providers shut down amid the pandemic. 

“A lot of the community-based organizations that we worked with really have been overloaded by the pandemic, particularly because of the need,” Coleman told Voice of OC.

In turn, this overload has allowed epidemics that existed before the pandemic to thrive.

“HIV, Hepatitis, substance use and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have increased significantly,” Bennett said. “Overdose deaths have also reached a 20-year high.”

Many people fell out of care because they were not able to get to see their doctors during the pandemic, Bennett told the Panther.

“When health infrastructure stops, it creates a negative effect,” Bennett said at the event. “It's worse in poor communities, because those healthcare systems are still struggling to get back up and running (after the COVID-19 pandemic).”

Nevertheless, resources such as the OC Equity Map offer hope for legislation to address health disparities across the county. Bennett encourages Chapman students to use their passions to address health disparities in their communities and remain hopeful that change is possible.

“Your passion is absolutely applicable to helping your community. Be intellectually curious. Ask questions about why things are the way they are,” Bennett told The Panther. “Things can change.  I see it every day.  The secret is to never give up.”

This is a developing story. Follow The Panther on social media and at www.thepanthernewspaper.org for updates.