‘Your History, Your Heart, Your Health’ Targets African Americans and Heart Disease!
Heart disease and its devastating affects on the African American community is the focus of ‘Your History, Your Heart, Your Health,’ an event hosted by the Global Wellness Project (GWP), Wednesday, February 8th, 7-8:30 p.m., at Arise Christian Center, 6949 C La Tijera Blvd. in Los Angeles. GWP Executive Director Angela de Joseph said the program, specifically scheduled to coincide with both Black History Month and American Heart Month, is an interactive workshop that features a film screening, testimonials and a discussion with a panel of health and fitness experts led by the founder of the Association of Black Cardiologists, Dr. Richard A. Williams.
“African Americans are disproportionately affected by heart disease in two critical ways,” said Dr. Williams, who is the author of nine books including, The Heart of the Matter.
“First, we have more of it than anyone else, and second, we receive a lower standard of care when we have it. These reasons are the basis of healthcare disparities.”
Statistics show that although African Americans are 12% of the US population, they suffer more than double (26%) the number of heart disease deaths each year. Studies show most of these are preventable. Some of the risk factors include obesity, uncontrolled high blood pressure, un-managed diabetes and smoking, all of which, studies show, require simple changes in behavior.
“One of the goals of the event is for families to learn how their family history can affect their health,” said de Joseph. “We also wanted to produce an event that would be informative, entertaining and motivating.”
Discussion topics will include: controlling blood pressure, lowering cholesterol, preventing heart attacks/strokes and managing weight. The Global Wellness Project (GWP) is a non-profit media company with a mandate to develop health education tools across multi-media platforms. It consists of a team of concerned professionals from film, television, fitness and medicine with a commitment to bring an end to health disparities in the African American community.
The primary goal of GWP is to improve health and healthcare outcomes for racial and ethnic minority communities by utilizing film, television and new media to educate, motivate and promote healthy behaviors that will, in turn, save lives. The organization promotes policies, programs, and practices that address health, social, economic, environmental and other factors which impact health. Minorities experience higher rates of illness and death from health conditions such as heart disease, stroke, specific cancers, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, asthma, hepatitis B, and obesity.
GWP is currently producing a four-part series of documentaries called State of Emergency: Tackling Black Men’s Health in response to the alarming statistics pertaining to the health issues plaguing African American men nationwide.
For more information: www.globalwellnessproject.org or email info@globalwellnessproject.org.
Angela de Joseph is a former associate beauty editor at Essence magazine. She is also a businesswoman who has launched several successful businesses including the Green-Wonders Hair Care line, de Joseph, who is also a certified personal trainer and sports nutritionist.
Dr. Richard A. Williams is the Founding President and CEO of The Minority Health Institute, Inc.; a board-certified cardiologist and the Founding President of the Association of Black Cardiologists. In addition, earlier in his medical career, Dr. Williams founded the Central Recruitment Council of Boston Hospitals. He is the author of “The Textbook of Black-Related Diseases,” McGraw-Hill, 1975, which sits on the shelves of libraries and medical schools around the world, as well as “The Athlete and Heart Disease: Diagnosis, Evaluation and Management” and “Humane Medicine: A New Paradigm in Medical Education and Health Care Delivery,” Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1999, among several other highly regarded instructive medical texts.
