September 29, 2006
Community Organizations Dedicated to Reducing Health Disparity
The Akron Beacon Journal recently profiled a few community organizations that work to reduce health disparities.
In the Brother to Brother program, for instance, coordinator Ronald Brown takes his message of prostate-cancer screening and early detection wherever men -- and particularly men of color -- can be found.
He goes to health fairs, workplaces and churches, offering a blood test to screen for the cancer, which kills black men at more than twice the rate it kills white men. At times, he offers the opportunity for men to get a rectal exam by a doctor.
Diane Wofsey, nurse coordinator of the hospital's Breast Care Center, began the Greater Stark County chapter of the ANGEL Network in the summer of 2005. ANGEL stands for African-American Women Nurturing and Giving Each Other Life.
The program's volunteers, or ``angels,'' are black women who share the message with other black women that they need to get yearly mammograms starting at age 40, so that if breast cancer develops, it can be detected early and potentially cured.
Church Based
At Phillips Chapel C.M.E. Church in Akron, churchgoer Gladys Werts has organized programs to promote health, including a line-dancing class, a walking club and presentations on eating well.
Roxanne LeGrair, a 53-year-old church member, taught the line-dancing classes and said others at the church seem more energetic and confident as a result.
You can read the full Beacon Journal story here.
You can also read more about some of the work done by breast cancer survivors in Northern Ohio over at The Northern Ohio Breast Cancer Coalition Fund.
Send news items related to health disparities to ReduceDisparity(AT)case.edu
Posted by David Porter at 10:05 AM
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Category: Health Disparities; Health Inequities
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