Health and wellness in the Black community is a focus in AJC’s Black History Month series

Sickle cell advocate Blaze Eppinger has started a petition seeking better care for adult patients.National Institutes of Health guides state medical personnel “rapidly initiate analgesic therapy within 30 minutes of triage or within 60 minutes of registration.”.Eppinger says adult sufferers usually wait hours for pain medication.Sickle cell gets its name from red blood cells being shaped like crescent moons, or sickles, instead of being round.These cells block blood flow and oxygen, causing pain in the chest, joints and bones