Healthcare Access

Our project examines the complex issue of healthcare access in North Carolina, exploring how structural barriers undermine individuals’ ability to receive timely, high-quality care. Across the state, from urban centers to rural communities like Dunn, residents face serious challenges due to limited public transportation, scarce medical infrastructure, and high rates of uninsured or underinsured individuals. Economic constraints play a major role; many families struggle with rising healthcare costs, and even those with insurance often face prohibitive co-pays and fees. These financial pressures force difficult trade-offs between essential needs such as food, housing, and medical care.

Beyond economics, cultural and linguistic barriers further complicate access. In communities where English isn’t the primary language, miscommunications and cultural disconnects can reduce trust between patients and providers, making individuals less likely to seek care. This is worsened by a legacy of systemic racism and exploitation that has fostered long-standing mistrust among minority groups toward medical institutions. Such mistrust negatively impacts engagement and adherence to treatment, worsening health outcomes. Policy limitations, like inadequate insurance coverage and restrictive eligibility for public programs, deepen these disparities.

Our Blue Group Playlist brings together diverse voices whose experiences reveal the real-life impact of these barriers. Sabra Jane Hammond, a physician assistant at CommWell Health, describes how fear and prohibitive costs cause undocumented patients to delay urgent care. Tammy Blackman, an X-ray technician in Goldsboro, discusses how stigma and communication issues in Latino communities reduce trust in the healthcare system. Nurse Stephanie Atkinson highlights how historical exploitation deepens mistrust among older Black men, especially around transportation and awareness of sliding-scale services.

Ruth McKeithan, an African American nurse’s aide born in 1956, recalls growing up on a tobacco farm with her grandmother, sharing memories shaped by resilience, racial discrimination, and traditional healing. Jeffrey Balfrey, a manufacturing manager born in 1954, reflects on doctor turnover, segregated care, and his concerns over processed food, religious ethics, and insurance access in Stanly County. Susan Villnave shares how geographic isolation and high costs worsen chronic conditions like diabetes and mental health issues in Dunn. Retired physician George Gould emphasizes the resourcefulness required of rural doctors and the importance of strong patient-provider relationships.

Finally, Kesha Neely and Kenneth Cook share personal stories about the trade-offs people in under-resourced communities face. Neely, navigating insurance gaps, prioritized her child’s health over her own. Cook, a working-class man with a religious background, describes delaying essential care and relying on community support when insurance fell through. Both stories reflect the emotional and financial toll of navigating a fragmented system.

Together, these narratives form a compelling story that captures the multifaceted nature of healthcare inaccessibility in North Carolina and call attention to the urgent need for policy reform, community engagement, and empathetic care. Our project uses these voices to explore the systemic and personal dimensions of healthcare access in the American South, pointing to potential pathways toward a more equitable system.