Archive for the ‘Health/Fitness’ Category
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin to speak at Appalachian’s Dec. 12 commencement
SOURCE Appalachian State University
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin will deliver the commencement address Dec. 12 at Appalachian State University. She will speak on “The Surgeon General’s Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation.”
Benjamin will address graduates of the College of Arts and Science, Reich College of Education and University College at 10 a.m. in the Holmes Convocation Center on campus. She will address graduates of the College of Fine and Applied Arts, College of Health Sciences, Hayes School of Music and Walker College of Business beginning at 2 p.m., also in the Holmes Center.
Deceased NFL Star’s Donated Organs Save 4 Lives
SOURCE: News One
One week before Christmas of 2009, NFL star Chris Henry lost his life after having a domestic spat with his fiancée. As his fiance drove away, Henry, 26, fell off the back of a moving pickup truck and died after suffering brain damage.
However, Henry’s mother, Carolyn Glaspy, has ensured that her son’s legacy will extend beyond the football field.
Moments after doctors told Glaspy that Henry’s injuries were too severe for survival, she decided to donate his organs. The lives of Brian Polk, Donna Arnold, James Benton and Thomas Elliot were saved after receiving Henry’s organs. Polk received a kidney, Benton received a liver, Arnold received a pancreas and a kidney, and Elliot received two lungs.
The touching story was featured on the CBS’ pregame NFL show on Thursday afternoon and brought usual tough guys James Brown and Boomer Esiason to tears.
MSU breast cancer study to focus on young African American women
By Rina Miller, Michigan Radio
Michigan State University scientists are looking at why young African American women and poor women appear to be at greater risk for invasive breast cancer.
Nearly 44,000 American women under 50 are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer each year.
Ellen Velie will lead a five-year study looking at why women from a lower socioeconomic status are at increased risk for tumors with the worst prognosis.
“The things we’re going to be asking about are childhood growth, body size, pubertal development and body size in adulthood as well,” Velie says. “We’ll also ask about physical activity in her lifetime, and then diet in her adult life.”
Women from metropolitan Detroit and Los Angeles County will take part in the research.
© Copyright 2010, Michigan Radio
The First African American Breast Cancer Walk Takes Place This Weekend
By Kim Hudson, KPLR11.com
St. Louis hosts its first walk to bring awareness to breast cancer in the African-American community. St. Louisians are about to make history at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park this weekend as they fight breast cancer. It’s called the “Sista Strut” and it will be the first walk that raises awareness about breast cancer in the African American community. The 5K walk and rally starts at the Missouri history museum. Some might ask why do we need a separate walk for African American breast cancer patients. Internist Dr. Valerie Walker presented statistics from the American Cancer Society – endorsed Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
“The five-year relative survival is lower in African-Americans than in Whites for every stage of diagnosis for nearly every cancer. That means wherever we diagnose it, it is worse for African-Americans and it doesn’t even matter the type of cancer.”
Again, the walk starts at the Missouri History Museum tomorrow morning. Registration starts at 8:30 a.m. and is $17. Proceeds will go to awareness and resources for those diagnosed with breast cancer as well as their friends and families. And, of course, everyone is invited to attend.
Legendary Vocalist Nancy Wilson Among Honorees at California Black Women’s Health Project Gala
SOURCE: Inglewood Today
The California Black Women’s Health Project celebrated and honored “Women Who Dared: Our Legacy & Our Future” during their 16th Anniversary Breakfast Gala. The inspirational, informative and energizing event was held in downtown Los Angeles at the City Club on the 54th floor. The panoramic view parallel the high achievers that were honored and the growing accomplishments of highlighted the California Black Women’s Health Project (CABWHP).
Based in Inglewood, CABWHP is the only statewide organization solely dedicated to improving the health of California’s Black women and girls via education, advocacy and policy. Under the outstanding leadership of executive director Crystal Crawford, the hard working CABWHP staff manages to enhance and empower the lives of women nationally.
The 2010 “Women Who Dared” honorees were Nancy Wilson (legendary vocalist and humanitarian); Gloria Morrow (nationally renowned clinical psychologist and author); and Ann Everett (Director of Nursing for the Watts Healthcare Corporation and lifetime community servant).) The Gala will include tributes in dance, music and spoken word, as well as an update on CABWHP’s groundbreaking advocacy work to improve the physical, mental and emotional health of Black women and girls. Read the rest of this entry »
Del. Cancer Survivor Awarded Citizens Medal
Reported by: Pat Ciarrocchi, CBS3
At The White House Wednesday, Cynthia M. Church of Wilmington, Delaware found herself on stage right next to the President of the United States
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Cynthia is one of 13 winners of the nation’s second highest civilian honor, the 2010 Citizens Medal.
“For 40 years,” President Obama said, “this medal has been given to men and women who have performed exemplary deeds of service for this country or their fellow citizens.”
Cynthia’s service grew out of her own pain.
Read the rest of this entry »
A mile marker for the African American cycling community
By Rupa Shenoy, Minnesota Public Radio
St. Paul, Minn. — Cyclists from across the country were in St. Paul this weekend for what’s believed to be the first event of its kind: an African American-focused bike festival.
Organizers gave away bikes, took people on rides and held demonstrations in Martin Luther King Park, alongside the annual Rondo Days festival. They said cycling could be the cure for many problems in the black community, including the obesity epidemic.
Dominique Dawes, Olympic Gymnast, Co-Chair of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition
// SOURCE: Washington Post
Dominique Dawes didn’t flip out when the White House called asking her to co-chair the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. “After competing in three Olympic Games, I don’t feel pressure,” says the 33-year-old gymnast, also known as “Awesome Dawesome” for her medal-winning ways.
But the Silver Spring, Md., native — who was named to the position two weeks ago, along with her co-chair, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees — knows it won’t be an easy task to whip the nation into shape.
Survivor’s mission: Raise awareness of breast cancer among black women
by Kate Santich, Orlando Sentinel
On Saturday morning, Sherlean Lee will go door to door in an Eatonville neighborhood she doesn’t know trying to talk about something a lot of people don’t want to discuss — breast cancer.
Some doors, she knows, will be closed in her face. At others, women will stand in awkward silence, some defensive, some dismissive.
It won’t deter Lee. She and her small army in pink will keep knocking.
As founder and president of the Sisters Network Orlando, and a breast-cancer survivor herself, she has made it her mission to empower the African-American community through education and emotional support. Early each October, as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month begins, that means a Saturday morning “Gift for Life Block Walk” in a predominantly black neighborhood, where Lee and other Sisters reach out to those who may live in ignorance or fear.
Read the rest of this entry »
Cuisine Noir launches: First food, wine and travel mag for African Americans now online
by Wanda Hennig, Examiner.com
When V. Sheree Williams moved to the San Francisco Bay Area from the American Midwest, she had no idea there was such a thing as culinary travel.
“In fact, the first time I ordered a salad out here (at the Oakland Marriott) and they brought me all this greenery that wasn’t iceberg lettuce, I thought — ‘What is this?’” she laughs.
That was then.
Now, less than a dozen years later, the dynamic young PR and marketing executive has turned into a publisher with a mission. Having seen how her own life opened up as she developed an adventurous and international palate, she’s decided to encourage others to take this journey.
“There are a lot of African Americans — I’d go as far as to say the majority of African Americans — who are exactly like I was. That is, they are typically unadventurous eaters who stick to what they were brought up with and what they know,” she says.
Conference to address black women and HIV/AIDS
by Erin Allday, San Francisco Chronicle
Tony Wafford has taught his three daughters that when they go on a date, they need to be prepared: They carry a credit card, cash for a cab, a cell phone and a condom.
Young black women, he tells them, make up a strikingly disproportionate amount of HIV and AIDS cases in the United States. HIV infection is the leading cause of death for black women ages 25 to 34, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Those aren’t statistics you ignore.
Wafford, director of health and wellness for the National Action Network, the Rev. Al Sharpton’s civil rights group, is the keynote speaker today at an HIV/AIDS conference about how and why black women should protect themselves – from arming themselves with condoms to practicing ways to talk about safe sex with their partners.
“You’ve got to start the conversation,” Wafford said. “You’ve got to talk about condom usage. And if he ain’t feeling condoms, you’ve got to work out your exit strategy – have him take you home.”
From storm-tossed Ala. clinic to top doctor post
by Desiree Hunter, Associated Press
Battered and flooded by Hurricane Katrina, this coastal Alabama fishing village was in wreckage four years ago when Dr. Regina Benjamin began assessing her patients’ needs. Trouble was, her little health clinic had been flooded and they couldn’t come to see her.
So she went to them.
She could be seen “going door-to-door in all that mud and sewer, just a mess from her head to her toes with boots on,” Stan Wright, one of her patients, said Monday, hours after Benjamin was nominated by President Barack Obama to be U.S. surgeon general.
‘Sistas’ spread message about HIV/AIDS awareness
By Eloísa Ruano González, Orlando Sentinel
The “sistas” brought out pompons, sang and danced Saturday to celebrate their one year together. The focus of their festivities might have been taboo and grim for outsiders. After all, they were talking about HIV and AIDS.
But for the Sistas Organizing to Survive — SOS — the rally was a chance to break down myths and educate black women about the realities of HIV and AIDS in their community. More than 50 women who attended the event at the Plaza Theatre in Orlando were urged to get tested and help prevent spread of the disease, which has been a leading cause of death for black women ages 25 to 44 in the state for the past 15 years. Read the rest of this entry »
Obama announces FDA picks, food safety measures
by Darlene Superville, Associated Press
President Barack Obama says the nation’s decades-old food safety system is a “hazard to public health” and in need of an overhaul, starting with the selection of a new head of the federal Food and Drug Administration.
Obama used his weekly radio and video address to announce the nomination of former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg as FDA commissioner, and his choice of Baltimore Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein as her deputy.
The president also said he was creating a Food Safety Working Group to coordinate food safety laws throughout government and advise him on how to update them. Many of these laws, essential to safeguarding the public from disease, haven’t been touched since they were written in the time of President Theodore Roosevelt, he said. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Diva’ has new African-American cookbook
by Jim Vertuno, Star News Online
Angela Shelf Medearis sees big changes in African-American cuisine over the last decade or so.
Changes in attitude – moving away from the old stereotypes about “soul food,” – changes in ingredients and changes in diet have led to healthier meals, said the author of five cookbooks and star of the cooking show “The Kitchen Diva!”
Her latest cookbook, “The New African-American Kitchen,” came out in November and her sixth, “The Kitchen Diva Cooks!” is expected to be published in late 2009. She is also the author of 90 children’s books.
Her goal as a chef and author has been to educate blacks and others about the history of African-American cooking, its roots in African culture and to encourage healthier eating. Read the rest of this entry »
She works to educate high-risk women on HIV prevention
BY MEGHA SATYANARAYANA, Detroit Free Press
Rosie Hayes, 44, has been HIV positive since at least 1996.
Her goal is to make sure other women in high-risk populations don’t find themselves in her situation.
After sharing a small condo with her mother, Hayes and her three children found themselves homeless in 2004. But she discovered Simon House, a Detroit shelter specifically for HIV-positive women and their children.
“I tossed and turned. I’d never lived in a shelter. I’d thought of a cot — it was dirty, there were bugs around,” she said.
But Simon House was clean, and for seven months, she had her own room and bathroom. She left with her children in September 2005 for a new place in Redford Township after reuniting with her husband.
Now a board member at Simon House, Hayes, a recovering addict, speaks about HIV prevention. She recalls her diagnosis day as one of her worst. Read the rest of this entry »
His mission: Breast cancer treatment for black women
by Paige Wiser, Chicago Sun Times
In 2006, the Sinai Urban Health Institute studied the breast cancer mortality rates between African-American and white women in Chicago, and found that the mortality rate for African-American women in Chicago is 68 percent higher than that of white women.
Dr. David Ansell, vice president and chief medical officer for Rush University Medical Center, learned that not only is there a disparity, but it’s the largest reported in the United States. “This is unacceptable,” Ansell says.
He can’t prevent breast cancer, but it’s been his life mission to give African-American women a fighting chance. “Early detection and proper treatment can save lives,” he says. At Rush, he has worked to expand primary care services to the underserved West Side of Chicago. He also devotes his energy to getting black women quality mammograms and access to quality treatment if diagnosed.
“I would like to see universal health care coverage for all Chicagoans and an end to the disgrace of health disparity,” Ansell says.
Clarissa Street Parade honors former doctor Juanita Pitts
by Justina Wang, Democrat and Chronicle
In a little over half a century, Dr. Juanita Pitts has made a life of breaking molds.
Those who know her — and there are many — rattle off the ceiling-shattering titles that have attached themselves to any mention of her name.
The first black woman to run a private medical practice in Rochester.
African American Initiative gears up for Pennies for Many
by Brandi Barhite, The Toledo Free Press
Childhood obesity and economic empowerment are among goals of the United Way African American Initiative.
Money raised through Pennies for Many, a campaign to begin this fall, will go toward those objectives.
Shower to Empower draws 1,000 moms, dads and children
by Gregory Lewis, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
John Cunningham, 19, grew up in Fort Lauderdale pretty much without his father’s guidance.
“He was around when I was a baby,” he said. “I didn’t care when I got older. He calls every now and then. But it doesn’t matter.”
Cunningham had his first child, a boy, when he was 18. His son’s mother, Natsha St. Martin, is pregnant again with a boy due later this month.
Cunningham accompanied St. Martin to a countywide baby Shower to Empower on Friday at Central Broward Regional Park, where more than 1,000 mothers, fathers and children came to learn about family health care and prenatal and infant health.
Local organization takes kids to camp
by Ashley Youngblood
Arkansas Matters
A group of local kids are putting their health concerns on hold for a week of fun at a special camp. This morning, children left for Camp Dream Street in Oklahoma. These kids are battling cancer, hemophilia, sickle cell anemia and other blood related diseases, but for one week, swimming, camping, fishing, and making new friends will take the place of doctor’s visits and blood tests. Members of the organization, 100 Black Men are providing the transportation to the camp. “With gas prices the way they are, we’ve got several requests that we can assist to get the students to camp. This camp is held every year, but this year some of the parents are having a difficult time,” said Eddie White, President of the local chapter of 100 Black Men. 100 Black Men is a world wide organization committed to mentoring, educating, and motivating young people.
Outreach Programs Help African American Breast Cancer Patients
Emory University researchers have developed a two-pronged outreach program that appears to significantly improve early-stage breast cancer detection among African American women. The program, which emphasizes health education and patient support, owes its success in large part to the work of specially-trained Community Health Advocates, who encourage women to get screened for breast cancer, and Patient Navigators, who help women if they’re diagnosed.
“This is an example of a cancer-control intervention that works,” said Otis Brawley, MD, Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society. “It demonstrates that health outreach, combined with changes in hospital programs, make screening more accessible to people.”
‘Beautiful’ campaign comes to Navy Pier
by Frances Moffett
Chicago Defender
The “My Black is Beautiful” four-city tour kicked off at Navy Pier June 14, giving African American women all over the city the royal treatment as they had the chance to partake in makeovers, massages, health screenings, yoga and meditation sessions, and finance workshops.
Since its launch last year, the “My Black is Beautiful” campaign, a brainchild of multinational manufacturer Proctor and Gamble, has taken steps to lead a discussion among Black women about beauty standards in America, self-esteem and race.
“My Black is Beautiful is a movement that will foster positive images that celebrate African American women and empower all women of color to love the skin they are in and embrace their inner and outer beauty,” P&G Multicultural Brand Manager Kisha Mitchell Williams said. The event officially started with an introduction from actress Tasha Smith, who starred in the big screen hits Daddy’s Little Girls and Why Did I Get Married?
“I love my community of Black women, and for me to be able to be a part of the tour to empower them through my testimony and advice and encouragement, I am thankful to God,” Smith told the Defender. She led a panel discussion about race and beauty with panelists Merri Dee; Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell; president and CEO of the National League of Black Women Sandra Finley; 19-year-old filmmaker Kiri Davis; and general and cosmetic dentist Maria Ashley.
A fashion show hosted by WGCI-FM/107.5 followed shortly after, and former editorial director of ESSENCE magazine Susan Taylor then presented the keynote address, urging Black women to take charge of their homes and communities. “Our community is a mess, and it’s a mess because of women,” Taylor told the Defender.
“We have stepped down because we don’t believe in ourselves, and we don’t speak up. We don’t know our power, and we’ve abdicated our authority. But we’re here today to say that you can look good, you can feel good, and that you have everything you need inside of you to put the reigns of your life in your hands.” R&B singers Kindred the Family Soul and Avant later performed live, ending the day’s events on a soulful and upbeat note.
