| The elderly minorities in DeKalb County, Georgia (African Americans) are faced with inability to access quality healthcare. There have been no studies done on this group of minorities. Although several studies on similar minority groups have influenced this study; this group of minority faces disenfranchisement with healthcare access. Healthcare access and quality for minority groups have been highly debated over the last few decades. Studies have shown that minorities are at higher risks of low or no access to healthcare than their White counterparts. This is so for many reasons: low socioeconomic status, lack of healthcare education, fear of retaliation, cultural incompetence of the healthcare system, and lack of or low epidemiological studies done on African Americans due to past failures. All these factors coupled with a system that is more financially centered than it is patient centered, sparked an interest in carrying out this study. This study took on an open-ended questioning phenomenological approach to thoroughly understand the phenomena from the seniors viewpoint. Ten participants were interviewed from two cities in DeKalb County, one city with residents who are more affluent, and the other city with residents who are less privileged. One common factor was that all participants were African American, aged 65 and above. All participants faced similar issues with quality access to healthcare, due to financial restrictions. Finally, all participants acknowledged that change need to happen, change that will reduce cost and provide greater access. Recommendations are presented based on the need to eliminate fiscal restrictions. |
