By Lisa Perry-Gilkes, M.D., Director, African American Health Initiative

On October 15, 2002 and again on October 29, the executive committee of the African American Health Initiative (AAHI) launched a series of community gatherings of Inland Empire and high desert groups involved in African American health issues. The meetings were hosted by Community Hospital of San Bernardino.

The AAHI initiated the series of meetings, called “Breaking Bread & Building Bridges,” to allow these community groups to come together to increase solidarity among key community leaders and individuals and to share information about goals, objectives and missions and also to strategize about effective approaches to improve the health of African Americans in San Bernardino County. They are seeking a way to form an umbrella group that unites all the representatives and obtain funding that will stay in the community with people who are already there doing the work. The meetings also allowed SBCMS to interact in a positive way with people who are involved in activities similar to the community outreach AAHI is doing.

Highlights of the October 15 meeting included discussion with High Desert AIDS director Linda Williams, who created a grassroots support group in her home in 1998 and continues to work alone as she assists AIDS patients. Ms. Williams drives the patients to UCLA Care Center (a 2-hour drive) to receive medical upgrades that are not available to them in the local area. Benita Ramsey is the executive director of UJIMA, which has a program called “Say Sistah” which uses a spiritual approach about educating African American women about AIDS and self-esteem. The program is funded by the CDC and has branches in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Riverside and San Bernardino. Ms. Ramsey feels there are lots of ways for other agencies to partner with UJIMA to make this more effective. Luvina Beckley, Ecclesia Christian Fellowship, reported that Ecclesia has taken on a mission of trying to address health issues from a faith-based and community-based perspective as to how small agencies can really be a part of the whole process. Ecclesia provides various community health programs. Linda Hart, a prevention specialist at Inland Behavior and Health Services, reported that her agency recently opened the Whitney Young Community Clinic. They employ people who live in the community; using them in outreach and to do surveys.

V. Diane Woods, Office of Public Health Practice, Loma Linda University, reported that she has worked with the AAHI for the past year as a research intern doing a comprehensive literature search of what activities and interventions were effective in helping African Americans change behavior and change their health status. An important aspect of the literature is building community infrastructure and capacity. The process of not re-inventing the wheel, of learning from what others have actually done and applying it in your population of people and seeing if this is really going to work. Success is in those communities who have worked together as a collaborative and who are not uncomfortable or territorial.

So eager was the assemblage to continue the momentum of their initial meeting that they held a second meeting on Tuesday, October 29 at Community Hospital. AAHI Project Coordinator Cherry Houston, Ph.D. told attendees that the purpose of the second meeting was to continue discussion on a common goal that can be agreed upon and then to collaborate and move forward.

I welcomed the opportunity to review AAHI’s mission, goals and objectives. I identified the health disparities the AAHI is concentrating on: hypertension/heart disease, HIV/AIDS, prostate and breast cancer, SIDS, organ and tissue donation, sickle cell disease, and access to health care. Members of AAHI believe that the greatest opportunity for reducing health disparities in the African American population lies in the ability to empower individuals to make informed health care decisions and in promoting community-wide prevention, early intervention, and access to health care in a culturally sensitive manner.

There was general agreement that there needs to be an assessment of providers and what they are currently offering. What outcome are they having on the community? Vere Williams suggested that the group has three functions – to seek funds, to provide management expertise, and to create a network, a way for everyone to contact one another.

Dr. Sam Wilson offered to create a resource directory that would identify the organizations currently working in the community. The directory would list the efforts of each group and identify people with specific skills who could assist other groups in the community. Those attending agreed to provide information that would assist in developing the resource directory.

Community Hospital of San Bernardino CEO Bruce Satzger offered to host the third meeting on Tuesday, December 3rd at 6 p.m. in the Solarium Room, Medical Office building, at CHSB. For further information, contact Linda Stratton, Executive Director, SBCMS, Inland Wellness Information Network, AAHI at (909) 825-5090.