By Fern Gillespie
When Brooklyn healthcare advocate Divinah “Dee” Bailey went to a specialist because of kidney ailments, she was shocked by the doctor’s response. “I was in crisis. I thought I was dealing with my kidney ailment. When they sent me for my clearance for a kidney transplant, I wound up having to get a triple heart bypass because my heart was blocked. I could’ve had a massive heart attack,” she told Our Time Press.

“We are not paying attention to our bodies.”
As a veteran high-profile healthcare advocate, she was stunned by her health crisis. For 2025, Bailey has made it her mission to tell people to pay attention to their health problems and to regularly see a doctor beyond getting annual check-ups. “There’s still not a concentrated effort of making people understand they have got to go and see a doctor and not wait until your body goes in a crisis mode,” she explained.

“Since COVID, people get on the phone with the doctor. Most times, he’s never seen you before. That means he’s not touching you. He’s not anywhere near you. He doesn’t know what shape you’re in. And before you’ve hung up the phone, he’s written a prescription and sent it to your drugstore. Healthcare has been taken down the road so fast. Then when you get in crisis, people want to self-help. They want to take care of themselves.”

Bailey is the founder of Watchful Eye, which works with local, state, and national elected officials on HIV and AIDS as it relates to communities of color. Her advocacy background includes being the New York State Affiliate Director of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDs and the Executive Director of the New York City Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. In addition, she is the Chief of Operations of African-American Clergy & Elected Officials, holding a major program on AIDS in the Black community at Medgar Evers College on February 7, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

“I’ve dealt with HIV and AIDS, the discrimination and the misunderstanding about the disease itself. There’s still no cure for HIV. We still have over 100,000 people right here in New York City that are living with the virus. That means they could have the potential of spreading it,” she said. “We’ve done such a great job in terms of medication and everything else, but it’s still a spreadable disease. It could still be killing people.”

Although the television commercials promote living a longer, productive life with HIV and AIDS medications, Bailey stresses that there is still no cure for the disease. “People are still having unprotected sex. People are still trading needles. People are still living in the same kinds of behavior,” she said. “There are almost 2,000 new cases of HIV every year. And nobody is saying a word.”

The Watchful Eye is an instrumental partner in HIV and AIDS prevention and awareness through education. The Red Ribbon Revitalize Campaign features eight-foot-tall red ribbon banners on Fulton Street, New York Avene, Medgar Evers College, and Brookdale Hospital. “It’s an eight-foot red ribbon that hangs proudly,” she said. “It says to everyone that HIV and AIDS are not over. Get tested and know your status.”

This work with HIV and AIDS education secured Bailey as a healthcare community leader during the COVID crisis. “When COVID came, people were just like they were back in the 1980s — saying, ‘What is this? It’s killing people. People are dying,’” she said. “The first thing they did was to tap into people like myself and other AIDS advocates. Because we had dealt with the people saying, “What is this kind? “We don’t understand what this is.”

In 2023, Bailey had a successful heart bypass operation and a kidney transplant within months of each other. Her schoolteacher’s son was the kidney donor. “Governor Hochul calls me “a walking miracle,” she said.

“In 2025, I want to make healthcare a common conversation again and get back to basic healthcare education,” she said. “If you are the family leader, and you’re in a health crisis, what will happen? What’s the plan for your family?,”

“We have to go back to the basics. That’s understanding your yearly check-up. The different specialties for doctors,” she said. “It’s important to love ourselves. And in loving ourselves, changing our behaviors so you can live a good healthy life.”