Jacksonville's deep-rooted health disparities can impact lifetimes. A 'concerted effort' needed to fix it

'Race and ZIP codes should not be the biggest determinant of how long a person will live'

Beth Reese Cravey

Florida Times-Union

Shonette Barbee visits the Mayo Clinic campus in Jacksonville where she underwent heart transplant surgery in February after a lifetime of misdiagnoses. She believes many of her doctors did not take her complaints seriously because she was Black.

As a child, Shonette Barbee often complained about her "heart hurting."

Tests were run to no avail.

Over the next 30 or so years, one doctor said she might have a heart murmur, while others attributed her worsening weakness to stress because she was pregnant or later because she was a working mother with small children.