National Minority Health Month

National Minority Health Month

Dr. Booker T. Washington, back in 1915 first proposed the origination of what was to become Minority Health Month. Dr. Washington understood the importance of health equality for all. He also, recognized that there were health disparities between different communities. His proposal was called ‘National Negro Health Week.” Which morphed into National Minority Health Month which focuses on the importance of equal health for all peoples. Dr. Washington saw that across age groups in minority community’s health conditions were more prevalent, outcomes were direr, and that there were negative health commonalties inside communities.

In this article Genesis Home Care, LLC’s focus is to highlight the importance of minding our health. My father died at the early age of 53. He lived a life of not tending to his health, had a very unhealthy diet, smoked over a pack of cigarettes a day, consumed large amounts of alcohol daily and rarely went to the doctor and when he did go you knew he was really in pain. His lifestyle wasn’t the best, and he died from a heart attack, but my father had other modalities going on at the same time.

When he died I remember an older Nigerian friend/mentor of mine was bereaving with me although he never met my father. He told me something I would never forget: “James, when we are young our bodies take care of us, but as we become adults we must take care of our bodies.” Now although there are rules to the exception and rarely do we find absolutes in anything, hopefully you can see the silver lining in his statement. What he was saying, and I heard it loud and clear, was that we must respect our body.

We must have an understanding of healthy food, implement proper routine exercising and watch our lifestyle choices, we must have annual physical/medical assessments performed with our doctor. I’m not saying any or all of these if done will prevent some unfortunate diagnosis or prognosis. It will help. Either by boosting your immune system, fighting off disease states, or giving you early detection of a condition.

I would recommend that we all discover what are the health issues that are dominant in our community, remembering to consider the mind body and soul. Don’t get tunnel vision only on the common things such as high blood pressure or diabetes alone, but include your mental health, your stress levels, your spiritual well-being.

When was the last time you visited a doctor? Was it precipitated by a pain, or something unusual appearing? Please, consider picking a date on the calendar- make an appointment to have a medical assessment- and do it for no reason other than you are curious about how your body is doing. I will end on this request. Don’t let your treatment on your car be better than the treatment you give to yourself.

For a further list of minority health information click on these cdc.gov links below:

https://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/

https://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/CHDIReport.html

https://www.cdc.gov/tribal/
https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/aahealth/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/hispanic-health/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/women/

https://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/migrantfarmworkers/index.html

https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/dcpc/resources/features/cancerhealthdisparities/
https://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/strategies2016/index.html

You can also go to these links to find out more information on a variety of things from health fares, to released study’s, job opportunity and even scholarship awards.

https://www.nimhd.nih.gov
https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/

Disclaimer: This article is intended as a friendly reminder with recommendations. It is not medical advice, direction or prescription of any sort. Please refer to professional services for any health-related questions, concerns and relief.