This Spring, Smithsonian Channel’s original documentary The Color of Care (1×120’), produced by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions, chronicles how people of colour suffer from systemically substandard healthcare in the United States and how COVID-19 exposed the tragic consequences of these inequities. Using moving testimony from those who lost loved ones to COVID-19 and frontline medical workers in overwhelmed hospitals, expert interviews and powerful data, the film exposes the devastating toll of racism that is embedded in the healthcare system. The Color of Care includes interviews with Dr. Ashish K. Jha, Dean at Brown University; Dr. Neel T. Shah, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics Gynecology & Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School; Dr. Hetty Cunningham, Professor of Pediatric Medicine at Columbia University Medicine School; Dr. Ala Stanford, Pediatric Surgeon and Founder of Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium; and Dr. Patrice A. Harris, immediate past President at American Medical Association. The Canadian broadcast premiere of The Color of Care airs Sunday, May 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel in Canada.
“At the height of the pandemic, I read something that stopped me in my tracks,” says Oprah Winfrey, Executive Producer. “I read a story about Gary Fowler, a Black man that died in his home because no hospital would treat him despite his COVID-19 symptoms. As we continued to hear how the racial disparities in our country were exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic, I felt something needed to be done. This film is my way of doing something, with the intention that the stories we share serve as both a warning and foster a deeper understanding of what changes need to take place to better serve us all.”
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The Color of Care is produced by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions for Smithsonian Channel. Executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, Terry Wood, Catherine Cyr., James Blue and Tim Evans. Najma Nurridin, Kate Bolger and Yance Ford serve as Producers and Yance Ford is the Director.
