Black Women’s Health
Program Teaching Advocacy to Young Women 18-24

 Staff and board members from the California Black Women’s Health Project pose for a picture.

By: Vanessa Abner

Say It Loud! Staff 

The California Black Women’s Health Project (CABWHP), a nonprofit organization that champions for Black women’s
mental and reproductive health is holding a nine month health advocate training initiative.
The training will be held at their North La Brea and Inglewood site Tuesday evenings for young women ages 18-24 interested in lobbying for health public policy.
The program stemmed out of a Black Women’s health imperative founded by the National Black Women’s Health Program and was officially identified as an advocate
training course in 2002.
“The program is designed for Black women with little to no advocacy information and the young women that we are training will become the next group of health policy advocates,” said Chief Executive
Officer for CABWHP, Crystal Crawford, Esq.
The training program focuses
on everything from mental and emotional wellness to self-esteem and empowerment.
Trainees will foster around a skill-building focus to learn about organization an activism at a grass root level.
“We cover legislative and budget processes, mental and reproductive justice as well as environmental factors such as violence,” Crawford said.
The Advocate Training Program (ATP) is centered on two focuses: a health approach
and a policy advocate
approach. The health approach is centered around holistic health such as mental
and reproductive health.
In contrast, the policy advocate
approach focuses on community
and governmental outreach
such as attending town hall meetings or understanding violence and why more Black women don’t reach out for help.
“The stigma behind Black women and violence, for example,
have become normalized,”
Crawford said, “the focus is on the continuum of when a woman would want to seek counseling.”
Moreover, CABWHP has become a statewide organization
offering an ATP in Oakland
as well as in Sacramento.
“We work in LA, the bay area and Sacramento because we needed to bridge the gap statewide
and provide advocacy on the same page,” Crawford said.
Overall, CABWHP hopes to accrue an incremental roll out with the use of smart and intentional activism.
“Part of policy advocacy
is how do you inform policy makers and address the issues,” Crawford said.
For more information about CABWHP contact Adrienne Bausley at (310) 412-1828 ext 15 or visit www.cabwhp.org

Walking the Walk for AIDS

Roche holds its annual Global Employee AIDS Walk to help raise money for AIDS organizations. 

(NewsUSA) - UNAIDS estimates that more than 37 million adults and 2 million children are infected with HIV worldwide. The AIDS epidemic has hit the hardest in sub-Saharan Africa, where 75 percent of the women ages 15 to 24 are infected.
   Closer to home, 40,000 people per year in the U.S. are infected, more than half of whom are African-American women. The latter group by itself accounts for 72 percent of all new HIV diagnoses in women.
   In the face of these overwhelming statistics, what can be done? Some corporations are making a difference with contributions to charities supporting the cause and helping in other ways.
   For example, Roche, a pharmaceutical company that developed the HIV protease inhibitors Invirase and Viracept, has not filed any patents for its medicines - including those for HIV/AIDS - in the least-developed nations and sub-Saharan Africa. This means that these countries, which are devastated by the epidemic, can manufacture and sell cheap, generic versions of the drugs without waiting for the patents to expire.
   The company also is dedicated to increasing awareness of the illnesses.
   “Roche is committed to driving social responsibility programs that increase awareness and combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the local and international level,” said George Abercrombie, president and CEO, Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., the U.S. pharmaceuticals headquarters of Roche.
   Beyond this, Roche and its employees are working more directly to address the problem through the company’s annual Global Employee AIDS Walk in observance of World AIDS Day.
   Roche employees have been participating in the walk for more than two years. In December 2005, more than 11,000 employees from 85 affiliates in 42 countries walked to raise funds for AIDS organizations. The money raised through their pledges was matched by the company.
    Some of the funds are distributed to local HIV/AIDS organizations. In New Jersey, for example, funds will go to the NJ AIDS Partnership. The rest goes to children in Malawi, Africa, who have been orphaned by AIDS. The money goes to buy everything from food and clean water to shelter, books and sewing machines.
   HIV is spread by sexual contact with an infected person, by sharing needles or syringes with someone who is infected or - less commonly - through transfusions of infected blood. Babies of HIV-infected women may become infected before or during birth or through breast feeding.
   For more information on HIV and AIDS, call (800) 458-5231 or visit www.cdc.gov/ hiv/pubs/facts/transmission.htm or www.thebody.com.

Nevada Black Nurses Slam Dunk Men’s Health  

The Southern Nevada Black Nurses Association will be hosting its 6th Annual Men’s Health Program. The event Slam Dunk For Health “Rescue The Stallions-Keep Them Fit For Generations,” will be taking place Saturday, April 5, 2008. The sports-themed program will be held at the Doolittle Community Center.
   Slam Dunk For Health will feature health consultations, presentations, as well as screenings and panel discussions. One panel open just for the guys will discuss the Male Ego and Health. There is also a panel titled Our Role in Rescuing the Stallion for the ladies.
   Other organizations that help organize this year’s health program include. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, Daughters of Isis Ophir Court # 201, Abbott Laboratories, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Las Vegas Chapter or Links, Inc, and the 100 Black Men of Las Vegas, Inc.

Slam Dunk For Health. Doolittle Community Center, 1950 N. “J” St., Las Vegas, NV 89106. Sat, April l5, 2008. 10a.m.-5p.m., (free). INFO: (702) 968-1638 or snbna@aol.com.
 -SAHARRA WHITE

Say It Loud! Be Proud. The San Fernando Valley's Black Newspaper. _______________________________________________

Stanford’s Packard Forms Partnership With Hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa 

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 13-- For better or for worse,
you don’t usually get to pick your siblings. That’s why Lucile Packard
Children’s Hospital at Stanford is excited to announce the formation of a
formal “twinning” relationship with Red Cross War Memorial Children’s
Hospital -- the only freestanding children’s hospital in sub-Saharan
Africa.
   Three nurse administrators from Red Cross Children’s are visiting
Packard Children’s through Monday (17) to formalize the twinning, a term
chosen to reflect an atmosphere of mutual collaboration and sharing, and
plan for an ongoing nurse exchange project between the two institutions.
   The partnership represents an international effort to reduce nurses
migrating out of developing countries by fostering professional development
opportunities, enhancing job satisfaction and supporting clinical care of
children in South Africa. It’s a two-way street, however, as Packard
Children’s expects to learn much from its sibling in the southern
hemisphere.
   “We live in a society that’s very rich in resources,” said Sandra
Staveski, NP, a pediatric cardiac intensive care nurse practitioner at
Packard Children’s. “This is a chance not only to give back, but also to
learn.” Staveski initiated the relationship more than two years ago after a
medical mission to India with Packard Children’s pediatric cardiac surgeon
V. Mohan Reddy, MD.
   Keeping good nurses and other medical professionals in South Africa is
difficult for a number of reasons: relatively low pay as compared to
developed countries, difficult social issues and concerns about crime and
safety. “There are lots of compelling reasons to leave,” said Staveski.
“But most really love Africa and would stay if they could.” At Packard
Children’s, nursing retention has been a focus of ongoing efforts and has
an overall turnover rate of 5% annually, a low to moderate rate compared to
the national average.
   The twinning relationship is sponsored by a grant from the medical
technology company Medtronic to Children’s HeartLink, an international
medical nonprofit organization formed to prevent and treat heart disease
among children in the developing world. Red Cross Children’s selected
Packard Children’s over Birmingham Children’s Hospital in the United
Kingdom. Both had expressed an interest in a partnership.
  “Packard Children’s was an excellent choice for this project because of
their previous experience volunteering with Children’s HeartLink on a
number of missions. Also important was Sandy’s knowledge of the
organization, her wealth of experience at the bedside and commitment to
nursing practice and education,” said Andreas Tsakistos, the international
programs coordinator for Children’s HeartLink. Since 2006, Staveski and
several of her nursing colleagues have traveled to Red Cross Children’s
five times to both learn and teach.
   “This will be a partnership where we grow together and learn together,”
agreed Pam Wells, Packard Children’s vice president of patient care
services and chief nursing officer. “The energy and excitement that people
express upon hearing about this opportunity is phenomenal.”
   “The people at Red Cross do wonderful work in an environment that is
not as resource-rich as ours. And they’re doing it with passion,” said
Staveski. She cited a simple and innovative solution devised by Red Cross
nurses that relies on foot pumps and pipe cleaners to solve what would be
an unthinkable situation in the U.S.: the need to discharge a child with a
tracheostomy into townships.
   “It’s amazing what a dedicated group of people like those at Red Cross
Children’s can do,” said Staveski. “Helping them retain more nurses and
train other hospitals in the area could make a significant and lasting
difference in their world.”

Say It Loud! Be Proud. The San Fernando Valley's Black Newspaper. _______________________________________________

Five Reasons Why California's Healthcare Reform is a Sham

 Tammy Johnson
New America Media, News Analysis

OAKLAND, Calif. -- After a year of false starts and rejections, Governor Schwarzenegger and state legislative leaders have produced a bill that they claim will provide healthcare for all Californians, ABX1-1. This bill has been heralded as groundbreaking, comprehensive healthcare reform. Now that the bill awaits approval by the State Senate and funding from California voters via a ballot initiative, advocates of the bill are putting on a full court press. State leaders, long-time health advocates and pundits tell us that it’s now or never, when it comes to making healthcare reform happen. With a $14 billion state budget deficit shadowing the effort, communities of color are being told to get on board and ignore concerns about how the policy will actually affect them. But with people of color making up 75 percent of the state’s uninsured, the question that should be posed is: Is this a saviour or a sham? For at least five good reasons, I fear that it is the latter.

    1. The universal coverage in ABX1-1 may not include you. The bill’s authors claim that ABX1-1 covers 3.7 million uninsured Californians. What we know for sure is that if you are not a full time worker you are not covered. If you are an undocumented immigrant you are not covered. And if you are too poor to afford the (unregulated) premiums and don’t qualify for “hardship” consideration, then you have the “right to be uninsured.” Guess who that will be?

    2. ABX1-1 gambles with the healthcare of our children. While theoretically it expands coverage to all children, even undocumented, in reality this provision is merely an enticement that is unlikely to materialize. The political jockeying by the feds over the funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) makes the timing and amount of funding dicey at best. This is no small thing since public health programs insure 2.6 million children of color in California. It is estimated that over the next five years, California will need an increase of $6.7 to $8.1 billion to cover 800,000 uninsured children. Meanwhile, 25 California counties are poised to lose coverage over the next two years due to the lack of SCHIP funding.

    3. Much like the Massachusetts plan, ABX1-1 requires individuals buy insurance. Among adults between the ages of 18-64, over one third of Latinos, 22 percent of American Indians, 17 percent of Asians, and 15 percent of blacks lack health insurance coverage. If the parents of those kids have a job, they will be required to pay unregulated premiums, co-pays and other out of pocket expenses. Even within the state purchasing pool there are neither caps on premiums nor floors for coverage. And with the unemployment rate increasing, significantly so for communities of color, it is shortsighted to focus solely on providing healthcare coverage for workers.

    4. ABX1-1 doesn’t do enough to address the concerns of communities of color. Some who advocate for those communities have done an excellent job of ensuring that key provisions, race specific data collection and support of community clinics, are included in the bill. But the grey areas regarding implementation and accountability would directly impact the quality of care that people receive. For instance, it is assumed that seasonal and temporary workers, who are not covered by the bill, will still be able to access healthcare through the expansion of public programs. But that’s a major assumption considering Gov. Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal includes cuts to the tune of 1 billion dollars for these very same programs. We know from experience that when it comes to race and policymaking, leaving loose ends to sort themselves out later is a recipe for disaster for our communities.

    5. ABX1-1 sets up the principle of universal healthcare for failure. Communities of color have seen good intentions turned into bad outcomes before. Look at what has happened to public education. In the 1990s the state provided money to reduce its class sizes in the primary grades. But schools that served predominately students of color didn’t have the additional classroom space needed in order to take advantage of the policy. The unintended effect was to create a mass flight of qualified teachers from urban poor schools to suburban schools. This left schools that serve mainly students of color with a glut of emergency-permitted, and under qualified teachers. Today, students of color are worse off. Now imagine the frustration that could be created by having the illusion of universal health coverage without quality care? Will people be happy having the insurance companies or state boards choose their doctor and hospital? It’s a certain setup for failure.

    What is important is not that “the year of healthcare reform” is symbolically redeemed by the passage of this legislation and the subsequent ballot measure. What is essential is that healthcare reform is done right. And that is something to think about when people say that we can fix the shortcomings of the bill later. Decades of experience has taught us that when it comes to issues of racial equity, good intentions do not necessarily produce outcomes that benefit everyone, especially communities of color. Solutions to our healthcare crisis exist. ABX1-1 is not one of them.

Say It Loud! Be Proud. The San Fernando Valley's Black Newspaper. _______________________________________________

 No Medicine For The Pain

Blacks, Hispanics and Other Groups Less Likely to Get Strong 

Pain Medications in Hospital Emergency Departments
 

    Blacks and Hispanics who go to hospital emergency departments in pain are significantly less likely than whites to get pain-relieving opioid drugs, according to a new study funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

 

    The study, which analyzed treatments for more than 150,000 pain-related visits to U.S. hospitals between 1993 and 2005, found 23 percent of blacks and 24 percent of Hispanics received opioids compared with 31 percent of whites. Twenty-eight percent of Asians and other groups received opioids.
 

    "This study provides a particularly compelling reminder that treatment disparities persist among racial and ethnic groups," said Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., director of the HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. "We have a lot of work to do before high-quality health care is available to everyone."

 

    The study, Trends in Opioid Prescribing by Race/Ethnicity for Patients Seeking Care in US Emergency Departments, was published in the January 2 issue of JAMA. The research was funded by AHRQ and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.
 

    "Minority health disparities are an urgent problem in this country," noted Nora Volkow, M.D., director of the NIDA, "and should be addressed through efforts to educate physicians, reduce stigma and promote cultural competence across all health care settings."
 

    Opioids are narcotic pain medications used to treat patients with moderate to severe pain. The new study analyzed the use of several commonly prescribed opioids, including hydrocodone, meperidine, morphine, codeine and oxycodone.    

 

    Among patients in pain in emergency departments, the use of opioids increased from 23 percent in 1993 to 37 percent in 2005. That trend accelerated in 2001 when The Joint Commission, which accredits health care organizations, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs initiated campaigns to improve the quality of pain control in hospitals. The new study is the first to measure opioid prescribing trends since those efforts.
 

    The study is based on data compiled by the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which is administered by the U.S. Census Bureau. Study authors, led by University of California-San Francisco researcher Mark J. Pletcher, M.D., M.P.H., analyzed 374,891 emergency department visits over 13 years. Of those visits, 156,729, or 42 percent, were related to pain. Among the study findings:

   -- While the use of opioids increased overall between 1993 and 2005,
the differences in use between racial and ethnic groups did not diminish.
In 2005, the last year of the survey, 40 percent of whites in pain received
opioids; 32 percent of all others received the drugs.
 
  -- Differences in prescribing between whites and non-whites were
greater among people with the worst pain. Among patients in severe pain,
opioids were prescribed to 52 percent of whites, 42 percent of Hispanics
and 39 percent of blacks.

    -- Blacks were prescribed opioids at lower rates than other groups for
almost every type of pain-related emergency department visit, including
back pain (33 percent for blacks versus 48 percent for whites), headache
(22 percent versus 35 percent) and abdominal pain (20 percent versus 32
percent).

    -- Opioids were prescribed less often for blacks than whites for kidney
stones (56 percent to 72 percent) and long bone fractures (45 percent to 52
percent).

    -- Non-opioid pain relievers, such as acetaminophen (sold as Tylenol),
were prescribed more for non-whites (36 percent) than whites (26 percent).

    -- Opioid prescribing rates were particularly low for black and
Hispanic children; blacks in government-owned, non-federal hospitals;
uninsured patients; and among all non-white patients in hospitals in the
Northeast.

    The study did not conclude why non-whites were less likely to receive opioids, but suggested racial and/or ethnic bias as a significant factor.
 "Causes of disparities in medical care, however, are complex, and simple racial/ethnic bias is unlikely to fully explain the problem," the study noted. Race and ethnicity influence all aspects of the relationship between patients and clinicians, including how patients communicate pain to doctors, what kinds of treatment are requested and how medicals staffs respond, the study said. Authors said that new strategies are needed to address pain management in emergency departments, perhaps including changes to pain treatment regimens or educating  

Say It Loud! Be Proud. The San Fernando Valley's Black Newspaper. ______________________________________