TORONTO — Blue Ant Media announced today the Smithsonian Channel will have the Canadian broadcast premiere of a new documentary, The Color of Care, produced by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions, on Sunday, May 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
The two-hour documentary “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,” explains a Blue Ant Media press release.
“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 release reads.
Experts interviewed in the documentary include: Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health; Dr. Neel T. Shah, assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School; Dr. Hetty Cunningham, professor of pediatric medicine at Columbia University Medical School; Dr. Ala Stanford, pediatric surgeon and founder of the Black Doctors Covid-19 Consortium; and Dr. Patrice A. Harris, immediate past president of the American Medical Association.
“At the height of the pandemic, I read something that stopped me in my tracks,” said Winfrey, executive producer of The Color of Care, in the press release. “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.”
The Color of Care was produced by Harpo Productions for Smithsonian Channel. In addition to Winfrey, executive producers include Terry Wood, Catherine Cyr, James Blue and Tim Evans. Najma Nuriddin, Kate Bolger and Yance Ford serve as producers. Ford is also the director.
Image provided by Blue Ant Media.
