Page TitleAfrican American Community Health Forum
Health interconnections
Health interconnections
| Former Wisconsin Minority Health Officer Denise Carty responds to the health chapter in the State of Black Madison report |
mentioned such as criminal justice, economic opportunity, education, housing, political influence, all of these key priorities within the African American
community here in Madison,” Carty asserted. “I would submit to you — of course health care is within the report as well — but all of these areas are intimately
related to health.”
For example, Carty talked about the impact of education and economic opportunity on health. “All that we have known through many, many years of
study, is that whether or not you eat a lot, you don’t eat a lot, you drink, you exercise, regardless of all of these behaviors, the more education one has and the
more income or the more economic opportunity, guess what, you tend to be healthier,” Carty said. “There are exceptions, right. We all have an uncle who
smoked tobacco for 60 years and lived to be 100 and was strong as a horse, right? There are always exceptions, but keep in mind that some of these broad
social areas like enhanced education and economic opportunity in and of themselves can boost health. One thing we can think about is that if Madison was to
make a tremendous investment in greater educational opportunities, stronger economic opportunities for African Americans, we would probably go
tremendously far into improving health in addition to all of the other behaviors that you are going to be learning about today.”
While American society is often a data-driven, statistics-oriented society, Carty emphasized that the African American community needed to decide for
itself what its health priorities are. The statistics are only part of the story. For instance, in talking about low birth weight babies, Carty emphasized the
importance of considering many factors when analyzing the problem. “Sometimes I think about the entire life-course of a woman, not just during pregnancy,
the stresses that she might have to undergo, the stress of while ‘living while Black,’” Carty said. “That can impact health and pregnancy. We could probably look
a little bit more at those conditions. Something that has always intrigued me when we talk about pregnancy and babies and some of the disparities like low
birth rate and infant mortality, does anyone talk about the father? Why is it we talk just about the women and the babies? Where is the father in this? What role
do men have to play in the health of women before, during and after pregnancy? And what do they contribute to infants? Our charge here is to think about
some of those issues much more broadly. These are some of the stories beyond the statistics.”
Carty used the case of asthma to emphasize to the audience that African Americans have to learn about and combat the things that are under their
control. “We don’t know if asthma can always be entirely prevented,” Carty admitted. “When one has a diagnosis of asthma, it can’t be cured, but it can
absolutely be controlled. Many people have accepted asthma in our community. People use an inhaler 3-5 times a week. That’s not normal. If you have to use
the inhaler 2-3 times, it’s an indicator that the asthma is not under control and shouldn’t be accepted, the same thing like going to the emergency
room.
Asthma attacks should be controlled and avoided with really good medication and health care. But because of a number of interrelated problems,
particularly within the Black community, asthma isn’t really controlled. Triggers in the household like dust mites are something that the African American
Health Network had a big program on several years ago. The household environment as well as the external environment has a lot to do with asthma. We really
need to come to grips in addressing some of those things in order to reduce the disparities from this condition.”
Carty also mentioned other health conditions that African Americans can be empowered to do something about. “Some of the names like gonorrhea and
Chlamydia, are more than just minor irritants when one has a sexually transmitted disease,” Carty said. “It’s a big health problem. It’s beyond an itch and a sore.
Chlamydia and gonorrhea for women, if they go untreated, can cause pelvic inflammatory disease. It gives real bad abdominal pain because the infection is
growing in the lower abdomen. It can be treated, but if it goes too far undetected, it can cause scarring in the fallopian tubes and that can lead to the inability
to have children. We’re talking about a major health problem. We need to be aware of that and talk to our children about that.”
And then, getting back to her initial remarks, Carty talked about the impact of employment and education on people’s access to health care. “I looked at
the statistics and about 25 percent of African Americans in Madison don’t have health insurance,” Carty remarked. “In the general population, those without
health insurance is only nine percent. That’s a big gap. Well I don’t care how rich you are, you could be Bill Gates, most people have health insurance
connected to their job. Health insurance is very expensive. Health care in this country is very expensive. So most people have the benefit of health insurance
through their job. Guess what, if you don’t have a job, you don’t have health insurance. Or you might have a job that doesn’t provide health insurance. Or they
will say ‘Sure, you can have health insurance at $600 per month.’ Who can afford that? It is a real liability when there are a number of barriers, job related or
otherwise, to getting health insurance. At the forum today, we need to think about how we can help each other navigate the system. Some people can actually
qualify for the insurance and other benefits, but they just don’t know. Some people seem to know where all the good stuff is. And there are other people who
just don’t know. We need to empower ourselves with the knowledge and education in terms of safety nets and how we can benefit from insurance and making
health care more affordable for everyone.”
However, even if people do have access to health care through health insurance, there is no guarantee that they will be able equitable treatment. “I don’t
know what the actual incidence is in the city of Madison, but in general, one example of inequality is if an African American shows up to the emergency room
with a broken arm and leg, they have looked at the medical records and they have seen that African Americans more than other groups, are less likely to
receive pain medication,” Carty revealed. “I never broke my leg or arm, but I hear it is pretty painful. African Americans tend not to receive the strong
medications. Another example is that heart attack and stroke are very significant issues in the Black community, in general, throughout the country. Well there
are some great medications that they can offer you when you present to a hospital to break up the clots. They’ve looked at the medical records and Blacks tend
not to receive those types of lifesaving medications as much. That’s an example of health care that is not equal and it is based upon race. These could be
extreme examples, something that might hit more closely to home for some people. It’s just that when you do go to a clinic, how are you treated? Are you
treated with respect? Do people communicate with you well? Those are also areas of potential inequality in health care that we should address.”
The rate of suicide in the African American community is very disturbing to Carty. While suicide is commonly thought of in terms of quick actions to take
ones life, Carty also talked about long, drawn-out forms of suicide. “Excessive drinking, overeating, risky behaviors and sexual behaviors might lead to death, but
people just don’t care,” Carty said. “They don’t care about themselves and they don’t care about their partners. They have no hope for the future. For me, that’s
a way to look at suicide that doesn’t show up as suicide. These self-inflicted behaviors can lead to chronic diseases and poor quality of life overall.”
Carty ended her remarks by urging the audience to look at issues surrounding health disparities in a positive manner so that the African American
community feels empowered to do something about it and not look upon the health of Black Madison as a hopeless situation. “To the extent that we can — I’m
thinking optimistically — we have problems, but let’s look upon them as priorities,” Carty said. “Instead of disparity, substitute priority. It’s a priority we need to
address, not a problem. If we choose to frame a disparity as a priority that we wish to address, I think that really becomes a wonderful opportunity to focus on our
strengths and our actions in terms of improving our health.”
community here in Madison,” Carty asserted. “I would submit to you — of course health care is within the report as well — but all of these areas are intimately
related to health.”
For example, Carty talked about the impact of education and economic opportunity on health. “All that we have known through many, many years of
study, is that whether or not you eat a lot, you don’t eat a lot, you drink, you exercise, regardless of all of these behaviors, the more education one has and the
more income or the more economic opportunity, guess what, you tend to be healthier,” Carty said. “There are exceptions, right. We all have an uncle who
smoked tobacco for 60 years and lived to be 100 and was strong as a horse, right? There are always exceptions, but keep in mind that some of these broad
social areas like enhanced education and economic opportunity in and of themselves can boost health. One thing we can think about is that if Madison was to
make a tremendous investment in greater educational opportunities, stronger economic opportunities for African Americans, we would probably go
tremendously far into improving health in addition to all of the other behaviors that you are going to be learning about today.”
While American society is often a data-driven, statistics-oriented society, Carty emphasized that the African American community needed to decide for
itself what its health priorities are. The statistics are only part of the story. For instance, in talking about low birth weight babies, Carty emphasized the
importance of considering many factors when analyzing the problem. “Sometimes I think about the entire life-course of a woman, not just during pregnancy,
the stresses that she might have to undergo, the stress of while ‘living while Black,’” Carty said. “That can impact health and pregnancy. We could probably look
a little bit more at those conditions. Something that has always intrigued me when we talk about pregnancy and babies and some of the disparities like low
birth rate and infant mortality, does anyone talk about the father? Why is it we talk just about the women and the babies? Where is the father in this? What role
do men have to play in the health of women before, during and after pregnancy? And what do they contribute to infants? Our charge here is to think about
some of those issues much more broadly. These are some of the stories beyond the statistics.”
Carty used the case of asthma to emphasize to the audience that African Americans have to learn about and combat the things that are under their
control. “We don’t know if asthma can always be entirely prevented,” Carty admitted. “When one has a diagnosis of asthma, it can’t be cured, but it can
absolutely be controlled. Many people have accepted asthma in our community. People use an inhaler 3-5 times a week. That’s not normal. If you have to use
the inhaler 2-3 times, it’s an indicator that the asthma is not under control and shouldn’t be accepted, the same thing like going to the emergency
room.
Asthma attacks should be controlled and avoided with really good medication and health care. But because of a number of interrelated problems,
particularly within the Black community, asthma isn’t really controlled. Triggers in the household like dust mites are something that the African American
Health Network had a big program on several years ago. The household environment as well as the external environment has a lot to do with asthma. We really
need to come to grips in addressing some of those things in order to reduce the disparities from this condition.”
Carty also mentioned other health conditions that African Americans can be empowered to do something about. “Some of the names like gonorrhea and
Chlamydia, are more than just minor irritants when one has a sexually transmitted disease,” Carty said. “It’s a big health problem. It’s beyond an itch and a sore.
Chlamydia and gonorrhea for women, if they go untreated, can cause pelvic inflammatory disease. It gives real bad abdominal pain because the infection is
growing in the lower abdomen. It can be treated, but if it goes too far undetected, it can cause scarring in the fallopian tubes and that can lead to the inability
to have children. We’re talking about a major health problem. We need to be aware of that and talk to our children about that.”
And then, getting back to her initial remarks, Carty talked about the impact of employment and education on people’s access to health care. “I looked at
the statistics and about 25 percent of African Americans in Madison don’t have health insurance,” Carty remarked. “In the general population, those without
health insurance is only nine percent. That’s a big gap. Well I don’t care how rich you are, you could be Bill Gates, most people have health insurance
connected to their job. Health insurance is very expensive. Health care in this country is very expensive. So most people have the benefit of health insurance
through their job. Guess what, if you don’t have a job, you don’t have health insurance. Or you might have a job that doesn’t provide health insurance. Or they
will say ‘Sure, you can have health insurance at $600 per month.’ Who can afford that? It is a real liability when there are a number of barriers, job related or
otherwise, to getting health insurance. At the forum today, we need to think about how we can help each other navigate the system. Some people can actually
qualify for the insurance and other benefits, but they just don’t know. Some people seem to know where all the good stuff is. And there are other people who
just don’t know. We need to empower ourselves with the knowledge and education in terms of safety nets and how we can benefit from insurance and making
health care more affordable for everyone.”
However, even if people do have access to health care through health insurance, there is no guarantee that they will be able equitable treatment. “I don’t
know what the actual incidence is in the city of Madison, but in general, one example of inequality is if an African American shows up to the emergency room
with a broken arm and leg, they have looked at the medical records and they have seen that African Americans more than other groups, are less likely to
receive pain medication,” Carty revealed. “I never broke my leg or arm, but I hear it is pretty painful. African Americans tend not to receive the strong
medications. Another example is that heart attack and stroke are very significant issues in the Black community, in general, throughout the country. Well there
are some great medications that they can offer you when you present to a hospital to break up the clots. They’ve looked at the medical records and Blacks tend
not to receive those types of lifesaving medications as much. That’s an example of health care that is not equal and it is based upon race. These could be
extreme examples, something that might hit more closely to home for some people. It’s just that when you do go to a clinic, how are you treated? Are you
treated with respect? Do people communicate with you well? Those are also areas of potential inequality in health care that we should address.”
The rate of suicide in the African American community is very disturbing to Carty. While suicide is commonly thought of in terms of quick actions to take
ones life, Carty also talked about long, drawn-out forms of suicide. “Excessive drinking, overeating, risky behaviors and sexual behaviors might lead to death, but
people just don’t care,” Carty said. “They don’t care about themselves and they don’t care about their partners. They have no hope for the future. For me, that’s
a way to look at suicide that doesn’t show up as suicide. These self-inflicted behaviors can lead to chronic diseases and poor quality of life overall.”
Carty ended her remarks by urging the audience to look at issues surrounding health disparities in a positive manner so that the African American
community feels empowered to do something about it and not look upon the health of Black Madison as a hopeless situation. “To the extent that we can — I’m
thinking optimistically — we have problems, but let’s look upon them as priorities,” Carty said. “Instead of disparity, substitute priority. It’s a priority we need to
address, not a problem. If we choose to frame a disparity as a priority that we wish to address, I think that really becomes a wonderful opportunity to focus on our
strengths and our actions in terms of improving our health.”
By Jonathan Gramling
Part 1 of 2
Earlier this year, the State of Black Madison Coalition, an association of African American non-profits
and service clubs, issued The State of Black Madison 2008: Before the Tipping Point, which detailed the
issues that needed to be addressed by the African American community — and the Madison community as a
whole — in order for African Americans to enjoy a quality of life on a par with other Madisonians. One of the
subsections dealt with health.
On November 15, the African American Health Network sponsored the African American Health Network
to respond to the challenges laid forth in the State of Black Madison. Approximately 50 people gathered at
Golda’s Club on Madison’s far west side to discuss the report’s findings and the explore other health topics.
Leading off the forum was an address by Denise Carty, former minority health officer for the state of Wisconsin
and currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan. Carty noted that while the report had been
divided into different topics, that all of the subsections were inter-related. “The other things that were
Part 1 of 2
Earlier this year, the State of Black Madison Coalition, an association of African American non-profits
and service clubs, issued The State of Black Madison 2008: Before the Tipping Point, which detailed the
issues that needed to be addressed by the African American community — and the Madison community as a
whole — in order for African Americans to enjoy a quality of life on a par with other Madisonians. One of the
subsections dealt with health.
On November 15, the African American Health Network sponsored the African American Health Network
to respond to the challenges laid forth in the State of Black Madison. Approximately 50 people gathered at
Golda’s Club on Madison’s far west side to discuss the report’s findings and the explore other health topics.
Leading off the forum was an address by Denise Carty, former minority health officer for the state of Wisconsin
and currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan. Carty noted that while the report had been
divided into different topics, that all of the subsections were inter-related. “The other things that were
