How To Solve and Eliminate Health Disparities

On March 31st, 2010, I had the pleasure to give a presentation to the Multicultural Student Nursing Association at East Carolina University. I was invited by the student President -- Jessica Bland and the nursing faculty.

The title of the presentation was, "How to Solve and and Eliminate Health Disparities." Throughout my talk, I highlighted the conference major themes which were:

• How health disparities affects health care delivery.



• What does health disparities mean to health care providers?



• How we as health care providers better serve health disparities populations in eastern North Carolina

Interesting, I had a number of excellent questions from nursing students and faculty who were passionate about health disparities and truly wanted to find new ways in which nursing professionals can be one of the key health care providers to help solve and eliminate health disparities. As I reinterated throughout my talk, nurses have always and continue to be the key health care providers to eliminating health disparities.

I also mentioned to the audience that one of my key mentors who provided me guidance, encouragement and direction throughout my doctoral training at Wayne State University (1983-1988) was the Founder of Transcultural Nursing -- Dr. Madeleine Leininger. I was fortunate to sit in on several of her classes while going through by doctoral program in Anthropolology at WSU. She was also one of my doctoral advisors and I owe much of my perspective about health and medical care to her.

Here is a picture of Multicultual Nursing Student President Jessica Bland and myself.

New - Ethnic & Rural Health Disparities Modules

The month of March begins the official promotion of my brand new online modules entitled, "Ethnic & Rural Health Disparities: ERHD." The ERHD online course modules are designed to help you understand health issues and improve your skills in working with ethnic and rural health disparity populations in eastern North Carolina, the United States and globally. The overall outcome of this program is to assist professionals in developing culturally competent projects, proposals and policies that are designed specifically for ethnic, rural, multicultural, multiracial, international and global communities around the world. Each module runs for 10 hours each. Overall, this program runs for a total of 160 hours, with options for someone interested in taking individual modules of the program or the entire course.

Online ERHD modules are:

1. Ethnic Health and Health Disparities: Understanding the Health Issues in America - 4 units
2. Global Public Health: Understanding the World's Health Problem - 4 units
3. African American Health: Understanding Their Health Issues - 4 units
4. Medical Anthropology: Understanding Health Issues from a Comprehensive Perspective - 4 units

Here is the link directly to the modules:

http://cpeprograms.ecu.edu/ShowSchedule.awp?~~GROUP~HEALTH~Health,+Wellness,+and+Healthcare

or you can go to the Continuing Professional Education website at:

http://www.ecu.edu/cpe/

Finally, if you want to see my YOU TUBE promotion, here it is: ERHD Modules

After review, let me know what you think about my new ERHD modules! They are for EVERYONE!!

Commentary Cited on "Health Day News" website and "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition."


Recently, I was interviewed by a reporter from Health Day News (http://www.healthday.com/) about the issues of body fat and obesity among African Americans. The interview was based upon a new research study investigating fat content in white and African American adults. Interestingly, this study found high levels of "bad fat" among whites as opposed to African Americans.

I found the study quite interesting and basically agreed with the researchers findings. It made sense. Although we (researchers and the general public) ASSUME that blacks would have higher levels of "bad fat" content than whites since African Americans have HIGHER levels of overweight and obesity in America. What this does say if these results are confirmed by other researchers is that we need to RECOGNIZE THAT SOCIOCULTURAL AND BEHAVIORAL FACTORS PLAY A MORE IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY RATES FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS.

In addition, I challenged the BMI (Body Mass Index) standard categories to evaluate populations as to whether they are overweight or not. I contend that the BMI is not a good measurement for all populations simply because there are SPECIFIC variations in body types for all ethnic and racial populations.

You can check out my commentary at: http://www.healthday.com/printer.asp?AID=634200

After you read it, send me your thoughts a this blog site or at baileye@ecu.edu

Presentation for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health

In September, I was asked to participate in a NHLBI Working Group for Sickle Cell Disease for the purpose of sharing my medical anthropologist expertise to their potential upcoming grant initiatives. Not only did I present but a select number of other renowned professional experts also shared their perspectives.

My presentation was entitled, "Patient and Provider Beliefs and Behaviors with the Culture of Sickle Cell Disease Management." The major theme of my talk highlighted the importance of understanding the cultural adaptations that the individual sickle cell patient and family must make to ensure some type of quality of life for the patient. In addition, the significance of developing culturally competent patient care and research projects is critical for long-term adherence.

If you would like to receive a copy of my presentation, send me an email at: baileye@ecu.edu

• Patient and Provider Beliefs and Behaviors with the Culture of Sickle Cell Disease Management

Overall, it was a true pleasure to RETURN to NIH and talk with a number of high ranking federal public health administrators who are attempting to develop some new public health grant initiatives despite the current constraints placed on most federal Department of Health and Human Services agencies.

Health Disparities Lecture at the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Grand Rounds of Pitt County Memorial Hospital







On Wednesday, July 22nd, I presented a lecture at the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Grand Rounds at Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, North Carolina. I was invited by Dr. Daniel Moore -- Professor & Charman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitaton. The audience consisted of residents and health professionals who worked primarily at PCMH.

The title of my lecture, "How To Solve and Eliminate Health Disparities," accomplished four major objectives:

1. Define Health Disparities


2. Evaluate Current Health Disparities Data


3. Re-examine Health Disparities Data from a Cultural Perspective


4. Provide Solutions to Solve and Eliminate Health Disparities

Although I had spoke more about my field of Medical Anthropology, my previous medical anthropological studies, and the benefits of a medical anthropological approach in clinical settings, I casually inserted more of the health disparities issues into the lecture. By the end of my lecture, I felt that I had combined both topical themes into the lecture for the audience.

By the way, the audience asked a number of excellent, practical and clinically-relevant questions which I truly appreciated!

I want to thank again Dr. Daniel Moore for inviting me to give the lecture as well as Dr. Leonardo Villarosa for scheduling the date of the lecture. Finally, I want to thank all the professionals who took the time out of their very busy schedules to attend this lecture at 8:00am!

On June 5, 2009, I participated in a panel discussion at Duke University in their Health Policy forum entitled, "State of Medicine: Universal Change." I thoroughly enjoyed the interaction and engagement about the current issues of Health Care Reform with my fellow distinguished panelists along with the superb audience.


Some of the topics that we addressed during our panel discussion were as follows:

• What Should Patients Be Concerned About the Most with the New Health Care Reform?



• How Do We Educate Patients?



• What is Our Vision for Health Care Reform

Included in the photo with me were Dr. Christopher Edwards, Dr. Donna Gilleskie and Kunal Mitra (Moderator).

After our panel (Patient-Centered Panel) discussion and a brief break, the next panel (Physician-Centered Panel) addressed many of the similar issues. This session was very lively and informative. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the physicians' and lawyer's expert comments about Health Care Reform.

I also was pleased to hear the opening remarks from the Chancellor for Health Affairs at Duke --Victor J. Dzau, MD. He was very impressive.

In general, the major theme that I received from this professional event organized by medical students at Duke was the following:

• All of us need to get involved in the new Health Care Reform debate!!

Make your voice heard because this Health Care Reform should include all of us.

Medical Anthropology Lecture at Pitt County Memorial Hospital (PCMH)

On May 4th, I presented a lecture at Pathology Grand Rounds forum at Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, North Carolina. I was invited by Dr. Peter Kragel -- Professor & Chair -- of the Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at PCMH to give my lecture to the Pathology Grand Rounds audienc. The audience consisted of primarily health care professionals who primarily worked at or were affiliated with PCMH.

The title of my lecture, "What is Medical Anthropology?" accomplished four major objectives. They were:

1. To describe the field of medical anthropology;



2. To examine the applied clinical strategies of medical anthropology;



3. To analyze the relationship of culture with health care; and



4. To discover how medical anthropology works within the field of medicine.
   

If you want to check out and download my lecture, here it is:

• What is Medical Anthropology? - Presented at PCMH Pathology Grand Rounds

I had an enjoyable time presenting and answering a few questions about my primary field of study -- Medical Anthropology. Interestingly, I highlighted much of my early fieldwork and volunteering experience at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, MI.. I actually volunteered for 4 straight years at Henry Ford Hospital (1984-1988) and thoroughly enjoyed every day that I had the chance to talk to health professionals and particularly all the patients!

Greetings Everyone,

It's spring time and it is an excellent time for community and county organizations to hold special health events for their communities. Well, I was asked to be the Keynote Speaker at a great community event in Wayne County, North Carolina. The event was held at Mount Olive College and it was called the "2009 Wayne Minority Community Empowerment Forum." The theme was "Health, Wealth and Wisdom."

Organized by Wayne County Minority Health Coordinator, Ms Rovonda Freeman with assistance from Brenda Bass (former graduate student in the MPH program at ECU and one of my students) and many other staff & community folks in collaboration with the Health Director -- Mr. James Roosen -- of Wayne County, this one-day event addressed a wide array of serious health and medical issues affecting communities of color in this area. They also had a comedy show at the end of the event! Local celebrities and radio station -- "Q97.7" were there to entertain and interview participants. After my talk, I was interviewed by one of the radio personalities!

The turnout was a complete success. People and families of all ages and background attended this very special inaugural event. Local and state dignitaries were present including North Carolina State Senator Don Davis.

As Keynote Speaker, I was asked to talk about health disparities and how we as individuals and experts can do something about it. My talk was entitled, "How to Solve and Eliminate Health Disparities." I had alot of fun presenting my information to the audience and the audience was outstanding!! I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion and interaction with all the community members. I believe that they responded well to the major themes of my talk which was:

• "Culture"


• "Cultural Competency"

Again, this was a great community event designed to raise awareness of health, social, medical, and cultural issues in the county. These are the type of culturally competent events that makes a difference in the community!! It only takes one community event to move a community into a healthier conscious and healthier pattern!!

POSTER PRESENTATION AT NIH SUMMIT: THE SCIENCE OF ELIMINATING HEALTH DISPARITIES











Greetings Everyone,






During this past week, I participated in the NIH Summit: The Science of Eliminating Health Disparities with a poster presentation highlighting my new online graduate course at East Carolina University -- "Ethnic Health & Health Disparities." The title of my presentation was:

• Using Technology for Teaching Health Disparities

You can download my poster presentation from the link above!

This new online graduate course uses the latest technology to assist health professionals and public health administrators in solving health issues in eastern North Carolina and the United States. Students used the university's Blackboard software to not only hear and view my audio podcast and webcam lectures but they also responded to the discussion board and chatroom sessions online. In addition, culturally competent reports from the National Institutes of Health were also placed online for specific diseased-focused ethnic health and health disparity issues.

The success of this new online course has not only enabled health professionals and public health administrators to acquire new public health skill sets that will assist them in working with and developing culturally competent health programs but it also helped to create a new online 12-credit graduate certificate program in Ethnic Health and Health Disparities at East Carolina University.

Finally, this NIH conference was sponsored and organized by the National Center on Minority Health & Health Disparities (NCMHD). Interestingly, I worked at NCMHD as a Health Scientist Administrator from 2001-2004 and completely enjoyed the opportunity to work with this NIH federal health agency when it first started. In fact, I met several of my former colleagues at the Summit including the Director Dr. John Ruffin. It was a great reunion and they made me feel as though as I was still apart of NCMHD.

Presentation at Harvard University!

Greetings Everyone,

This past weekend, I had the pleasure to be a panelist in one of the sessions of an excellent conference entitled, "The Fourth Annual Kennedy School of Government Black Policy Conference" at Harvard University. I joined two other esteemed panelists in the session called "Campaign to Improve our Health: African Americans and Obesity."

Each panelist spent approximately 10 -15 minutes presenting their research and later we took questions from the audience. During my presentation, I highlighted the major issues related to my 2006 book -- "Food Choice and Obesity in Black America: Creating a New Cultural Diet." I primarily emphasized how culture greatly influences our food choices and that we need to continue developing culturally competent programs such as my New Black Cultural Diet (http://www.newblackculturaldiet/.)

The other panelists included Dr. Shiriki Kumanyika and Dr. Ian Smith. The audience asked a number of excellent questions and it looked like we had a lively interaction during question and answer time.

I have included a photo of the panelists along with our moderator, Dr. C. Frank Igwe and Mr. Sam Sanders - organizer of this panel session and a photo of one of the buildings in the JFK School of Government complex where we presented our session.

All in all, this was the best conference that I was ever apart of. The scholarly environment of Harvard University along with the scholarly professionals who organized this conference made this a ONE OF A KIND CONFERENCE THAT APPRECIATED AND CELEBRATED DIVERSITY!!

Greetings Everyone,

Yesterday, I presented my talk on "Food Choice & Obesity in Black America: Creating a New Cultural Diet" at a community health event in eastern North Carolina. The event was titled, "Working For Healthy Communities," and I was one of the 5 speakers to talk about health and medical issues related to diabetes in the African American community. This event occurred at the Zion Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Pollocksville, North Carolina.

I had alot of fun meeting community members at this event and listenting to the other guest speakers. The church and community made everyone feel very welcome and at home.

In my particular talk, I emphasized how our African American cultural eating traditions and cultural health patterns must be understood and respected while also finding culturally competent strategies to modify these long standing traditions. I believe the community members enjoyed the talk and of course I loved presenting it in a much more "lively" way for the community!

In addition to the presentation, two of my former ECU graduate students and now public health professionals who took my classes were the organizers of this event for Jones County Health Department. Here is our picture along with others of the event.

New Course at ECU - "Ethnic Health & Health Disparities"

I am looking forward to teaching my brand new Distance Education course - Ethnic Health and Health Disparities - MPH 6008-- because it will provide students with graduate training the abilities and knowledge to address national and local ethnic health and health disparities issues.

During the course, students will focus on accomplishing the following objectives:

• Identify and assess the major health issues associated with specific ethnic and health disparity populations in the state and country.
• Describe ethnic health and health disparity issues, including unique and important features.
• Apply principles and strategies derived from public health and medical anthropology toward planning, implementing, and evaluating specific ethnic health and health disparities intervention programs.

Today, I presented my book's topic at East Carolina University for the Office of Institutional Diversity's program entitled, " Intersections of Culture & Health." On the program, there were two other faculty at ECU who presented their research studies highlighting the importance of culture and health.

Although the audience was a bit smaller than anticipated, the questions from the audience were very interesting and intriguing. In fact, I noticed there is still alot of interest in the issue of African American preferred "Body Images" and how this influences whether a person perceives themself as overweight or just "thick," or "full-figured" (maintaining a healthy weight). Indeed, there is a growing interest in the issues of body image and I believe that I will have more to say about this issue next year! (hint, hint).

In the meantime, if you want to hear my thoughts on African American body image, feel free to download my Podcast on my website -- http://www.newblackculturaldiet.com/

It was a delight to present my book's major topics to the audience and it was refreshing to reconnect with the faculty at ECU.

Interview on Journey to Wellness Show with Dr. Mary Harris


A couple of days ago, I completed a telephone interview with Dr. Mary Harris -- host of the CNN Radio Network show called Journey to Wellness. The Journey to Wellness.com show specializes in the production and dissemination of health care information targeted to ethnic minorities. The founder, President & CEO of Journey to Wellness -- Dr. Mary Harris -- states on her website that, "our goal is to inform, inspire, and enable African Americans to take charge of their health."

I wholeheartedly agree with her show and enjoyed the opportunity to share my book -- Food Choice and Obesity in Black America: Creating a New Cultural Diet and the relevant issues of -- The New Black Cultural Diet -- with her audience.

I believe my interview and adjoining article will appear on her website in August. So check out the website and show -- Journey to Wellness (www.journeytowellness.com) and let me know what you think.

As always, send me an email at: administrator@newblackculturaldiet.com or visit all the new happenings with the New Black Cultural Diet at: www.newblackculturaldiet.com

Presenting to the "Pediatric Healthy Weight Forum" at East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine

Earlier today, I presented my book's topic -- "Food Choice and Obesity in Black America: Creating a New Cultural Diet," for the physicians, faculty, interns and health care professionals associated with the Pediatric Healthy Weight Forum at East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine in Greenville, NC.. It has been one year since my book was published (May 2006) and I am still delighted to see the interest in my book's topic!

Although it was a relatively small crowd attending, my talk was on satelite to another campus here in North Carolina. Yet despite the turnout during this summer event, the questions from the audience were very good because it focused on how to implement many of my suggestions from the book to individual African American patients -- particularly kids and adolescents.

My overall suggestion from the several questions highlighted the importance of "taking time to get the input and feedback from your individual patient and working around his/her preferences of body image, food selections, food preparation and exercise/physical fitness." Oftentimes, the perspective of the individual African American patient is slightly different from the health care provider thereby we must be respectful of their beliefs, preferences and sociocultural conditions and attempt to work from that orientation.

As with all of my presentations, I enjoyed the experience and the opportunity to share the major themes of my book to another audience that has great interests in this area of medical and health care as it relates to the African American population.

Presentation at the 2007 NC AHEC Future Leaders in Health Care Conference

It was a delight and pleasure to present as a plenary speaker at NC AHEC Future Leaders Health Conference on May 19th in Durham, North Carolina. The audience consisted of 9th, 10th, 11th & 12th graders who excelled in academics throughout the state of North Carolina and those who have an interest in the health care field. There were over 200 students in the gymnasim of North Carolina Central University this day.

My session was entitled, "Health Promotion and Disease Prevention," so I presented the major themes from my book -- "Food Choice and Obesity in Black America: Creating a New Cultural Diet." The young audience was very receptive to the major themes of my presentation and even the adults assisting the students during this day asked questions and gave their own personal stories about health, fitness, dieting, food preferences and body images. In fact, several adults said that we as African Americans can obviously do more for ourselves when we decide to do for ourselves. I wholeheartedly agreed.

Overall, the event was very positive, the energy was upbeat and I appreciated being apart of this conference at North Carolina Central University. I want to thank the organizers for inviting me early in January to be one of the plenary speakers of this event.

Check out my picture immediately after giving the talk in the gymnasium.

On May 4th, I was invited to be the Keynote Speaker at East Carolina University's Master of Public Health Graduate Recognition Ceremony. The invitation came from the Masters Degree students and I was completely honored and surprised of their invitation. In fact, I was over-joyed yet uncertain as to whether I could deliver the type of speech that they deserved.

Although I initially did not know what "themes" that I wanted to leave the graduates with, it all came clear after a few days of contemplating my speech. My major themes of this Keynote Address were:

• Leadership
• A New Public Health
• Follow Your Dream

Of course, before I highlighted these themes in my Keynote Address, I had to do something out-of the ordinary in a Keynote Address. What did I do? -- well, I brought in a couple of characters that I use in very special situations to express how they feel about a topic. Those characters are actually me -- playing the role of a couple very expressive individuals who have totally different personalities, language, and lifestyles. Fortunately, the students and audience enjoyed the characters and I felt relived!

Congratulations again to the 2007 MPH East Carolina University Masters of Public Health Graduates!

Presentation on the "New Black Cultural Diet" for Journalists meeting at North Carolina A and T - (Greensboro, NC)

Two days ago, I traveled to Greensboro, NC and visited the campus of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. It was my first time at NC A and T and I had a very enjoyable time before, during and after my presentation. I was invited to campus and the Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies to present my book -- "Food Choice and Obesity in Black America: Creating a New Cultural Diet," to a number of renowned journalists across the country in NC A and T's Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies.

I didn't know what to expect with this type of presentation, but it went very well. During and after my presentation, they asked a number of investigative questions and I believed that I answered all of their questions particularly about the New Black Cultural Diet (www.newblackculturaldiet.com). In fact, several of the journalists indicated that they will contact me later for follow-up interviews!

After my presentation, I joined the journalists for an Awards Luncheon entitled, "Vernon Jarrett Medical for Journalistic Excellence." The awards luncheon honored the late Mr. Vernon Jarrett - the nation's most prominent commentator on race relations and African American history. The honorees of this year's award were:

• Mr. Les Payne,
• Mr. Jeff Koinange
• Mr. Byron Pitts

I had a very, very enjoyable time at the luncheon! I felt very much connected to many of the cultural issues highlighted during the awards luncheon. This awards luncheon was well presented and timely because of all the cultural African American issues in the media now!

I also have to give special recognition to the individual responsible for organizing the Awards Luncheon, Directing the Institute for Advance Journalism Studies at NC A and T and for Inviting me to give a talk to the journalists -- Mr. Dewayne Wickman! Thanks!! I also want to thank all of his assistants for helping me to give my talk!

Presentation at The 3rd Annual Jean Mills Health Symposium - Greenville, North Carolina - February 9th, 2007

It was my pleasure to participate in a new annual event associated with East Carolina University and Eastern AHEC entitled -- "The Jean Mills Health Symposium." This was the 3rd annual event which honors the memory of Jean Mills. Keeping the tradition continuing, Mr. Amos T. Mills, III sponsors the event in collaboration with East Carolina University, Pitt Memorial Hospital Foundation and Eastern AHEC. The symposium helps to address current health issues affecting African Americans and Hispanic Populations in eastern North Carolina. The symposium is designed to:

1. Identify current issues in health disparities research;
2. Describe current ECU research evidence in health disparities;
3. Discuss the future directions of health disparities research at ECU;
4. Provide networking opportunities for researchers, practitioners and community who are interested in reducing health disparities; and
5. Apply health disparities research in practice to reduce health disparities and improve health services.

As Mr. Amos Mills, III emphasized in his message to the audience -- "We need to solve the problem of obesity.....because this relates to all of the major chronic health problems affecting the African American population.... it is a human problem."

There were several faculty presenters from East Carolina University including the Keynote Speaker -- Dr. James Johnson -- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In the early afternoon, I gave my presentation during the session entitled, "The Impact of Obesity and Nutrition." This presentation focused on the major cultural health issues related to my book entitled, "Food Choice and Obesity in Black America: Creating a New Cultural Diet." I talked about how African Americans generally perceive health, body image, food, dieting, physical fitness, and exercise. Additionally, I presented my cultural health plan -- The New Black Cultural Diet -- to establish a lifestyle strategy that will be both effective and manageable.

The major objectives of my presentation were to:

1. Provide health disparity data on overweight and obesity issues related to African Americans;
2. Highlight one of my research studies showing the disparity in the African American population;
3. Present qualitative data on African Americans' perspective related to body image, food preferences, and exercise/physical fitness.
4. Engage the audience to view and understand these cultural health issues from the perspective of the African American.

I had a great time presenting to this audience and they were very receptive to the major themes from my book. In fact, several participants shared some very insightful cultural health information on how they are individually modifying and changing their dietary pattern and lifestyle pattern in order to live a better quality of life! This was very rewarding to hear and I enjoyed their participation immensely!

That's the latest from this Medical Anthropologist!! As always, Follow Your Dream!!

Sign Your Purchased Book - "Food Choice and Obesity in Black America"

Greetings Everyone,

Now that my website -- The New Black Cultural Diet -- (www.newblackculturaldiet.com) has been officially launched and press releases have been distributed nationally, I want to make sure that anyone who would like a signed copy of my new book -- "Food Choice and Obesity in Black America: Creating a New Cultural Diet" -- you can contact me through Amazon.com, this blog, or the New Black Cultural Diet website. I will be more than willing to sign your book and send it back to you.

So if anyone would like a signed copy of my book, send me an email (feedback@newblackculturaldiet.com) and I can give you the address where to send the book.

Look forward to signing your purchased book -- "Food Choice and Obesity in Black America: Creating a New Cultural Diet."