Now Included is shaping the future of Black health through community, advocation, and more.
It’s no secret that the Black community has been underrepresented and unjustly treated by our country’s health industry for centuries and are more likely to go undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, undertreated, not believed or offered less advanced treatment options than white counterparts. These inequities inspired Tiffany Whitlow, star of OWN’s Love and Marriage and founder of biotech company Acclinate, to create Now Included, a new online community focused on empowering, educating and shaping the future of Black health communities.
Along with her co-founder, Del Smith, she launched the innovative website as a digital resource and safe space for candid discourse, exclusively among other Black people. The site, which is made up of thousands of users spanning multiple states, empowers users to exchange medical insights, excellent doctors, and valuable information amongst each other to help to make better informed decisions about their health and treatment options. Topics span from the importance of looking into unknown family medical histories, to navigating misdiagnoses, to searching for the right doctors and the right treatment and much more.
Whitlow hopes that the site will serve as a safe space to serve as a catalyst for conversations we typical don’t discuss with family or feel comfortable speaking with doctors about.
“Within the Black community, we know how hesitant or fearful our family members, friends, loved ones and colleagues may be of the health care systems. We’re often hesitant to seek education or treatment. I fundamentally believe in changing the status quo," shares Whitlow. "We want to change medical systems and how our community finds, discovers and takes advantage of ways to improve and maintain their health. We are dedicated to the Black community, those of us who are often marginalized, forgotten or treated as if they don’t matter.”
Through community, personal journeys, advocation, and more, Now Included is holding space for paving the way for better healthcare and options for Black people nationwide.
