Position Paper: COVID-19 and Supporting Black Communities at the End of Life Prepared by the Diversity Advisory Council of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization

Introduction

There was great excitement and expectation with 2020, new lenses, new visions and new hope for a better and a more enlightened society. These feelings were quickly dashed when COVID-19 took center stage in the global world. As of August 17, 2020 the novel Coronavirus has infected more than 5 million Americans with a death toll of nearly 170,000 of our neighbors, family members and friends.1 Additionally, the United States is faced with national and international protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black American man killed while in custody of four policemen in Minneapolis on May 25. While most experienced peaceful protests, in some cities and the nation’s capital these turned to violence, looting, pepper spray, and arrests. It is against this backdrop that NHPCO's Diversity Advisory Council is putting forth this Position Paper on COVID-19 as it affects hospices with emphasis on the care, treatment and management of diverse populations in the present-day society. In addition, the deaths from COVID-19 to date have impacted the lives of Black people and other diverse groups disproportionately, relative to the general population, nationally and internationally. 

The world is seeing severe devastation from the current pandemic. The Diversity Advisory Council in this Position Paper endeavors to help communities at all levels better understand the situation, with emphasis on building trust with the diverse populations relative to patient care and the pain, misery, grief and sorrow caused by this horrible virus.

We must acknowledge the challenges of dying and death: Work at it, work on it and with the affairs of life and living. The work must be done simultaneously, not separately. A better state of affairs will require addressing barriers and/or removing blocks which hamstring society in its impetus to move forward in responding appropriately and effectively. We must not let fear of the past, fear of the present or fear of the future impede our efforts.

This Position Paper will help ethnic communities to put forth and foster a better world in which to live well until you die. As we learn from the past and understand the present, we can move forward in the future with a loving, caring, professional patient/family and community atmosphere. To provide for all people in our global community, it is imperative that we develop strategies related to health, mental health, economics, social care and spirituality.

We cannot, we must not, we shall not and will not lose any ground in relation to what we have achieved in the care of diverse populations in the United States of America.

https://www.nhpco.org/wp-content/uploads/DAC_Position_Paper.pdf