Sherrill Jackson is a 21-year breast cancer survivor. Shermane Winters-Wofford is a two-time stroke victim. Isadore Wayne and Mellve Shahid are coping successfully with prostate cancer.
All four are known for sending uplifting messages to black communities, dispelling myths about their illnesses and encouraging people to take advantage of medical screenings and other programs that can save lives.
Jackson is founder of the Breakfast Club, which educates the public about breast cancer. Winters-Wofford is one of a dozen people chosen last year to speak with community groups on behalf of the National Heart Association’s Go Red campaign against heart disease-related conditions among women. Wayne and Shahid founded the Empowerment Network, which seeks to combat the high incidence of prostate cancer among black men in St. Louis.
Researchers credit some of the work by these and other individuals and community groups, along with institutional policies, for helping the region make progress in reducing death rates from three chronic medical conditions: diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Progress was measured by changes in death rates for the three conditions between 2000 and 2010, based on goals set by the federal Healthy People program.
Information on the changing death rates is contained in the last in a series of briefs from a report called “For the Sake of All,” funded by a grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health. Authors of this final brief are Bettina F. Drake, an assistant professor of surgery at the School of Medicine at Washington University; and Keith Elder, chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy at Saint Louis University.
The two scholars noted that blacks in the region are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases and related complications, but they also found a glimmer of hope in the data.
“The health of African Americans in St. Louis has improved over the last 10 years, but there is still much work to be done,” the researchers say, noting that the region and state had met the federal Healthy People benchmark of reducing the heart death rate by at least 20 percent between 2000 and 2010. The rate dropped by 24 percent each for blacks and whites in St. Louis, and it dipped more for blacks than for whites in St. Louis County and across Missouri.
Drake said the death-rate reductions mean “something is happening. That’s why I say community-based activities are important.”
Community groups she praised included the Breakfast Club and the Empowerment Network.
Jackson, president and founder of the Breakfast Club, recalled that she was 46 when diagnosed with breast cancer. Now, she said, “the thing that I am seeing is that younger African-American women are being diagnosed with specific types of breast cancer that are difficult to treat.”
A certified pediatric nurse practitioner, Jackson said she used to think there would be less of a need for groups like hers over time. “But even in 2013, there is still a lack of education,” she said. “There are still women who are afraid to talk about breast cancer.”
While the Breakfast Club started in 1997, the Empowerment Network is much younger, beginning about six years ago through a meeting between Wayne and Shahid. It hosts about 60 events a year aimed at encouraging more men to make use of testing and screening for early detection of prostate cancer.
Winters-Wofford, the two-time stroke survivor, said that education continues to be important, adding that many unhealthy habits among blacks stem from culture. “All we have to start doing now is taking little bitty steps to make lifestyle changes,” she said.
The scholars point to research that says that one-third of all deaths nationally are due to three behaviors: smoking, lack of exercise and poor nutrition.
“Each of these can increase your risk of developing many chronic diseases,” according to the brief.
The scholars says it’s in the region’s interest to reduce chronic diseases for many reasons, including the impact of illnesses on the economy. In 2011 alone, the region’s cost for hospital care for diabetes, heart disease and cancer was $1.1 billion.
The report says the region should pay more attention to chronic disease prevention and management and invest in new or existing recreation centers, parks and places for exercise and play.
Other strategies, according to the report, should include luring stores that sell healthy foods into communities that are considered food deserts. In addition, the report advises that the region take health issues into account in decisions made by business leaders, policy makers and community organizations.
Elder said, “We need to increase our effort, enhance what we are doing through community partnerships with hospitals and public health agencies, and continue the effort through appropriate funding.”
Edited for length and reprinted with permission from stlbeacon.org.
