St. Luke's Health Explores Houston's Journey Towards Health Equity

HOUSTON (September 27,  2022) - St. Luke’s Health this month launched ExamiNATION, an 8-part video series with production services provided by Houston Public Media, examining Houston’s journey toward health equity. The premiere episode explores the challenges faced by uninsured and underinsured Houstonians, the disparate health outcomes those challenges can create, and the ways our society can address them.

“As a society, we are very good at providing care to the sickest of the sick but we are not well-equipped to deliver services that prevent those problems,” said Doug Lawson, Ph.D., chief executive officer of St. Luke’s Health. “That's where we must work hand in glove with the city and county to ensure that our resources are coordinated and connected in new ways to ensure our communities have access to basic health services.”

Texas is one of just a few states that opted out of expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Millions of Texans do not have health insurance and the life expectancy in some Houston communities is nearly two decades less than others. 

“The question is what type of investments and resources are we going to put into these communities, not just to touch on them, but to be transformational in terms of people's health care, to remove the disparities, the inequities, and bring these communities up," said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. "I am optimistic, but it won't be done overnight. It's going to take years, but you've got to start in an authentic, substantive way right now.”

A new episode of ExamiNATION will publish monthly through June 2023 at stlukeshealth.org/examination.

About St. Luke’s Health

St. Luke’s Health is home to 16 general hospitals covering Houston, Brazos Valley, Brazosport, and Lufkin and includes Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, the research and teaching hospital for Baylor College of Medicine. St. Luke’s Health is also home to the Texas Heart ®Institute (THI), the top ranked heart center in Houston, and the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, a nationally accredited, NCI-designated cancer center. Its integrated network of care includes more than 380 employed and 1,600 clinically aligned network providers, and more than 21,000 employees, providers, interns, and volunteers delivering high value, nationally-ranked quality care within a Christian ministry of healing. St. Luke’s Health is a member of CommonSpirit Health, a national nonprofit, Catholic health system with more than 140 hospitals covering 21 states and delivering care to more than 12.3 million patient visits annually. Learn more at stlukeshealth.org.