National Minority Health Month Spotlights Work in Communities

“One of the strategies that’s really important is for the communities to be engaged in a meaningful respectful way. The community needs to see the translation of what they want in the work that’s being done.” - Cheryl Boyce, former Executive Director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health

Cheryl Boyce, who served for 24 years as the Executive Director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health highlighted the theme of National Minority Health Month – Bridging Health Equity Across Communities – during an April 12 Twitter Town Hall. The #Bridge2Health Town Hall was coordinated by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH). Throughout April, OMH has been promoting community-based efforts to improve health and health care for all Americans.

The Town Hall, moderated by Dr. Yanira Cruz, President and CEO of the National Hispanic Council on Aging, featured interviews with Boyce and five other leaders who are working to improve the health and lives of racial and ethnic minority populations in their communities. Other Town Hall guests included:

• Lauren Vague, of national nonprofit UpLift Solutions, who talked about the Fresh Food Financing Fund, a program in which it partners with the Southeast Regional Health Equity Council, supported by OMH, to bring small community grocery stores that provide fresh food into underserved communities in the southeast.
• Sela Panapasa, Ph.D., a research scientist at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research and a pioneer in using data to close gaps in health disparities among populations and in communities that have been overlooked for far too long.
• Jeffrey Caballero, M.P.H., executive director of the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations, which has developed an innovative tool to help payers better understand factors outside of health care, such as where we live, learn, work and worship, that contribute to patient outcomes.
• Brandon Frechette, a member of the Menominee Nation and an OMH Health Equity Change Maker, who is leading efforts to address disparities in at-risk Tribal youth through the Menominee Youth Empowerment Program at the College of Menominee Nation in Keshena, WI.
• Paula Papanak, Ph.D., M.P.T., LAT, ATC, FACSM, a researcher at Marquette University, who leads an OMH-funded grant project that promotes healthy behavioral change and academic success among youth in some of the most challenging communities in the Milwaukee area.

Their work is vital and is just a snapshot of what is happening in communities throughout the country to address disparities in health. This National Minority Health Month, OMH salutes everyone working within their communities to achieve health equity, including our Town Hall participants.
If you missed the #Bridge2Health Town Hall, you can view their stories on the OMH website.