Clarence Jones, executive director and community health strategist for the HueMan Partnership, believes in “Public” health “with the big P.”
“We’re trying to identify the issue,” said Jones about HueMan, which is a coalition focused on addressing health disparities. “We’re trying to find out (which) organizations should be helping address those issues. And then we’re providing them with the information that they need in order for them to be able to provide accurate and appropriate information back to the community.”
At Sabathani Community Center, on April 13, Jones was not the only person interested in public health or in combating health care disparities. On that day, Jones, along with many other leaders of health-related organizations and entrepreneurs, attended Sabathani Community Center’s second health fair in south Minneapolis.
At the event, tables were set up in the Community Center’s gym, where various organizations shared information on multiple facets of health – from the importance of receiving a mammogram and how to perform CPR chest compressions to the benefits of yoga and information concerning insurance options. Outside the gym, in other parts of the building that was once Bryant Junior High School there were rooms dedicated to various health interventions, including HIV and diabetes testing, as well as a room where attendees could receive COVID vaccines.
“I like that there’s so many people here,” said Dice Tejeda, a certified yoga coach and life coach. “You have the American Red Cross here, you have the Hope Network. You have UCare. The University of Minnesota is here to help educate health and to promote health within the brown Black communities. We are here to help our people to grow and elevate in more than just the physical. A lot of people think health and wellness is only physical – diabetes, blood pressure, heart issues. It’s more than that. It’s also mental health and emotional health.”
For some at the event, the need to spread awareness and provide resources came from dealing with their own past health issues or interacting with the health issues of loved ones.
“I lost both my parents to cancer three years ago,” said Thomas Noon, a financial analyst at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. At the event, Noon tabled for the Men Matter Too work group for Breast Cancer Gaps Project, an organization that is supported by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota also supports MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity coverage. Noon said the work group focuses on starting conversations in Black families about breast cancer and encouraging Black women to get screened for the disease.
“My mother was a breast cancer survivor, but then when her cancer came back, it was ovarian cancer,” said Noon. “Cancer hit me so close to home (and created) a greater sense of awareness and a need to have these conversations within the family, because it’s so important.” It is especially important to encourage these conversations, Noon said, because Black women experience a breast cancer mortality rate 41% higher than white women.
Kevin L.A. Jenkins was at the event to share his book, which focuses on his experience and recovery from kidney disease. At his table, Jenkins also shared resources, which included healthier, low sodium recipes to prevent kidney disease and high blood pressure.
“We want to be able to teach (people) how to eat better, how to drink more water, how to understand what high blood pressure is, because in my community, that’s what runs, and that’s how I ended up with kidney disease is through high blood pressure,” said Jenkins.”We want to make sure that people are understanding what high blood pressure is and what can we do to deter people from hav(ing) to go through kidney failure.”
During the event, music played, children took part in a double dutch demonstration and Tejeda, with others, demonstrated yoga poses. In a space connected to the gym, WholeSoul Eatery provided catering.
This event is, said various organizers and Sabathani leadership, just another part of the Sabathani Community Center’s long standing commitment to the south Minneapolis community, and to Minneapolis’s Black and African American community.
“Sabathani is a historical institution in south Minneapolis,” said the Rev. Dr. Ora Hokes, who was at the event as a community representative for the Breast Cancer Education Association. Hokes previously worked at Sabathani for 17 years, first as a campaign assistant, then as program manager for a kindergarten readiness program and then as part of a prenatal program.
“It’s one of those that is still standing among African American organization(s). ” said Hokes, adding that “all of these organizations here … they’re from all across the Twin Cities and they have resources that’s really important to address the health disparities of our community.”
Scott Redd, the chief executive officer and president of Sabathani Community Center, remembered coming to the organization as a student athlete at the University of Minnesota.
“What I was so impressed about Sabathani is that their motto is that we do with the community and not to the community,” said Redd. “That really inspired me to want to be a part (of Sabathani’s work).”
For Hokes, the trust that Sabathani has built means it is in a great position for community outreach and to empower members of the community to advocate for themselves in health care spaces.
“One of the things about people of African descent, if it’s a trusted organization or a place of worship, they will come,” said Hokes. “So you hold these type of events at a trusted place so that they can come and they feel welcome and they feel safe. A lot of time, the women share, they go into a clinic and people don’t greet them. They’re not made to feel welcome or the physician – who generally does not look like them – has no idea about their history, what they’re going through, and they don’t develop a relationship because they don’t feel that they really care. So it’s really important for them to get encouragement from outreach like this.”
The organization’s efforts to combat the health disparities faced by those in south Minneapolis will continue on after this health fair.
“We are planning to … be a health hub here,” said Rebekah Floyd, the community health navigator at Sabathani, noting that Sabathani will offer classes for chronic disease management, as well as healthy cooking and exercise, in the future.
Deanna Pistono
Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.
