There were no men. So Avery Hart, MD, the division chief of general internal medicine and primary care at Cook County Hospital, hired him. Still, if the clinic was going to persuade a reticent population, it had to be user-friendly. They talked to young men, old men, gay and bisexual men, fathers, homeless men, church-going men, addicts and recovering addicts. And we found out, across the board, they did not feel respected in the health care system.
Color is the first thing that is noticed and acknowledged.
I have seen it. They are not being addressed by an appropriate name, sometimes nurses feel intimidated. If someone tells me about a patient and they just discuss his condition, I know he is white. For men living in Woodlawn, it was also a problem that they never saw anyone like them at a clinic. There were no black male doctors.