Efforts, Initiatives Seek To Address Health Disparities Among Minorities
The following highlights several efforts, events and grants that seek to address health care disparities among minority communities.
- Dallas: The Asian Breast Health Outreach Project, a program that aims to reduce barriers that prevent Asian women from participating in breast cancer detection and preventive measures, has received a $150,000 grant from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure North Texas affiliate, the Dallas Morning News reports. The grant will be used to fund mammograms for low-income, uninsured or underinsured Asian women in Dallas, Collin and Denton counties (Dallas Morning News, 4/2).
- Greenville, S.C.: The Greenville Hospital System on Saturday will hold its annual Minority Health Summit, which seeks to identify gaps in health care, determine ways to address them and educate the community, the Greenville News reports. Sessions will address such topics as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, HIV/AIDS, healthy soul food, lifestyles and stress management. For the first time, the summit is offering sessions in Spanish (Osby, Greenville News, 3/28).
- Larimer County, Colo.: The Women's Resource Center recently received $90,000 in grants to fund programs that seek to reduce health disparities, the Loveland Reporter-Herald reports. According to the Reporter-Herald, a $15,000 Cancer Cardio-Pulmonary Disease program grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will help continue the agency's reproductive health and cancer detection outreach efforts among Hispanic women. In addition, a two-year $75,000 grant from the Office on Health Disparities will help women facing language, cultural and other barriers access services for breast, ovarian, uterine and cervical health (Bultema, Loveland Reporter-Herald, 4/1).
- Oklahoma City: The Oklahoma Gazette on Wednesday profiled the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic, an urban health center that focuses on promoting healthier lives among the American Indian community. In addition to opening a wellness center, OKCIC also promotes the GetSET program, which is designed to reduce the diabetes incidents among the local American Indian population. As part of the program, participants are assigned a personal trainer who sets goals for improving eating habits and physical activity (Ruckman, Oklahoma Gazette, 4/1).