Black and African American communities are at greater risk for multiple health conditions, a health care disparity highlighted during February’s Black History Month.
Dr. Melody McCloud, founder and medical director of Atlanta Women’s Health Care, said high rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and maternal and infant mortality are just some of the ethnic health disparities Black women face.
McCloud applauds women who give 100% to their churches every week, but wishes they would do the same when it comes to their health.
“We may not take one day a year to go to the doctor and get our checkups done,” McCloud observed. “I try to encourage people to apply the same discipline they have for their spiritual health, to their physical health.”
McCloud is the author of the book, “Black Women’s Wellness: Your ‘I’ve Got This!’ Guide to Health, Sex, and Phenomenal Living.” She pointed out if anything good came out of COVID, it was a recognition of risk factors, and how they affect health and longevity. For example, it is estimated nearly 50,000 Black women lose their lives every year due to cardiovascular disease.
The National Center for Health Statistics said the 2020 maternal mortality rate for Black women was about 55 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to 19 for white women.
McCloud argued the statistic alone should encourage Black women to seek out critical health care, but she cited historical trauma, including the infamous Tuskegee experiment, as a common reason they don’t.
“In post-slavery days, a lot of Black women’s bodies were used to experiment, to teach keep people how to do hysterectomies and things like that,” McCloud explained. “There’s this distrust that has permeated and continues throughout the psyche of the Black community.”
McCloud believes unconscious bias in the medical system also needs to change.
“We need more Black medical professionals,” McCloud stressed. “Because research has shown that Blacks and other minorities do receive better care — and they take it in and abide by it best — when it’s given to them by someone of their own ethnicity.”
Black History Month recognizes the generations of Black and African Americans who struggled with adversity and celebrates their many contributions.
get more stories like this via email
Proposed legislation would exonerate all people tried and convicted during the Connecticut Witch Trials more than 300 years ago. Between 1647 and 1697, some 34 people were indicted on suspicion of witchcraft, and 11 were executed.
Rep. Jane Garibay, D-Windsor, said she drafted the bill after a constituent told her about an ancestor executed in the witch trials, and also heard from relatives of the accusers.
She acknowledged some may feel the state has more pressing priorities, but argued it is about the actions of the past affecting the present.
“You know, I do hear sometimes, like, ‘We have legislation that we have to pass to protect seniors,’ or, ‘We have to do this,’ ” Garibay explained. “Some may see it as not as important, but to these families, it’s really important. And it’s a very simple thing to do. All we’re saying is, ‘We’re sorry this happened to you.’ “
Garibay wants the bill to provide a form of closure to families with relatives who were either the persecutors or those who went to trial. A companion bill in the Senate, sponsored by Sen. Saud Anwar, D-East Hartford, has been referred to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary.
Passing the bill has its own set of challenges, one of which is garnering support.
Beth Caruso, co-founder of the Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project, finds awareness of the long-ago trials has increased in recent years.
She pointed out there are misconceptions about the push for exoneration, one being the people supporting it are stuck in the past and oblivious to current needs.
“Part of this is really for the descendants who are living, here and now,” Caruso contended. “It’s also to make statements about these witch trials, that are still going on all over the world.”
After speaking with descendants, Caruso would like to see a memorial, since most of the accused did not receive proper burials. Last year, Massachusetts passed a bill exonerating the last person accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials.
get more stories like this via email
Social justice advocates have just launched a new public education campaign. It’s called “Just Safe,” and it’s aimed at changing the conversation about crime, especially in the wake of the recent mass shootings.
The group Californians for Safety and Justice has released a commercial, narrated by actress Jennifer Lewis, making the point that safety isn’t just the absence of crime – it is the presence of well-being.
The group’s executive director, Tinisch Hollins, said these shootings and others plague a society that neglects mental health.
“So, the goal of this is to invite conversation about doubling down on investments that lead to well-being,” said Hollins, “like mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, education.”
The campaign applauds efforts to heal communities, such as the announcement last week from the California Victims Compensation board of a $2.5 million grant to open three new trauma recovery center offices in Stockton and Bakersfield.
The state’s 19 trauma recovery centers offer mental health treatment, help with medical expenses, and support groups for victims of violent crime.
While accountability is important for people involved with the justice system, Hollins said she agrees with the state’s efforts in recent years to prioritize rehabilitation over punishment. She called post-incarceration programs that help people re-enter society “a wise investment.”
“Removing barriers, making sure that they have the resources they need when they return home,” said Hollins, “keeps us all safe, prevents more crime from happening, and helps our economy, because we have more folks to be able to play a role.”
She noted that right now, people who’ve paid their debt to society often fail to recover when they face huge obstacles to finding employment and housing, and must comply with onerous legal requirements.
Find out more about the campaign online at ‘JustSafe.org.’
Disclosure: Californians for Safety and Justice contributes to our fund for reporting on Criminal Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
click here.
get more stories like this via email
A new report shows social workers are not being paid equal to similar professions.
The report, from the National Association of Social Workers New York Chapter finds 34% of social workers surveyed are at the same salary they were when they started their job, which on average began one to five years ago.
Many feel this is one piece of a larger puzzle contributing to social workers leaving the field. Report author Olivia Knox – BSW and policy assistant with the NASW’s New York Chapter – said stagnant wages could make people leave the field for something different.
“Only 90 people received a merit increase,” said Knox. “So, if social workers aren’t receiving salary upgrades there’s a huge potential and risk that they’ll leave the profession for a more equitable field.”
She added that this would be alarming given the current state of mental health in the U.S.
According to Mental Health America, 19.86% of adults, or 50 million Americans, are experiencing a mental illness.
Samantha Fletcher – MSW, Ph.D, and Executive Director of the NASW’s New York Chapter – said she feels one challenge to addressing this from a legislative perspective is that social workers are involved in other fields.
But, she said she’s confident this will be handled since part of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State address spoke about allocating funds to mental-health staffing.
Another issue has been the recent cost-of-living increases. Given social workers are often underfunded, it’s causing people to leave the field to find something that can sustain them.
This has particularly been hard on nonprofits, which often help people unable to afford private-practice clinics. Adrienne LoPresti, MSW and executive director of the YES Community Counseling Center, said this trend is leaving a void in care for people who need it most.
“Those that cannot afford and may go toward a nonprofit organizational setting are not getting the care,” said LoPresti, “because everyone is fleeing that setting where those that need cannot afford and those that are supposed to fund, like the government and private practice, are not properly reimbursing.”
LoPresti added that there’s also a lack of a pipeline for graduates to join nonprofit social work since they’re quickly going to positions with higher salaries.
She said she feels educating more people about what social workers do, and how it translates into other areas is needed to help keep people in the field.
Some longtime social workers feel their need for additional education than those in similar professions should be a reason they should earn higher salaries.
Martha Schultz – LCSW and northeast division director with the association’s New York Chapter – said she finds nurses with associate’s degrees are making much more than her, despite her much more rigorous training.
She said she thinks it’s time social workers receive their due.
“The money exists to pay social workers,” said Schultz. “I think we need to be a bit more accountable to institutions that employ social workers to push that the money exists, you’re just finding other ways. You’ve gotten funds from the federal government to pay people. It’s time that we actually pay social workers what they deserve.”
While she said she loves her work and the field she’s in, issues with pay need to be resolved to ensure people aren’t just encouraged to join the field – but incentivize them to stay.
Disclosure: NASW New York State Chapter contributes to our fund for reporting on Environmental Justice, Livable Wages/Working Families, Mental Health, Social Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
click here.
get more stories like this via email
