The American Heart Association is raising awareness about the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in the Black community.
The organization put together a new event called CommuniTEA Conversation at the Everson Museum to celebrate Black History Month, while providing lifesaving information.
Studies show about 59 percent of Non-Hispanic Black Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease, and that group has the highest incidence of cardiac arrest outside of the hospital.
AHA Community Impact Director Brittany Taylor said it’s a great time to take action.
"Our health is not just something that pops up inside of our bodies,” Taylor said. “There are so many things in our environment that impact our health, and by recognizing that, we're able to make changes."
The event featured artistic performances and panel discussions with local Black health leaders.
Dr. Tashika Gomez, DNP, PNP-C, is a pediatric nurse practitioner and the owner of Hippity Hop Peds house call service. She said a healthy lifestyle starts at a young age, and she’s trying to tackle barriers to health care access.
"A lot of parents don't have transportation, childcare,” she said. “You can't bring multiple children to the offices at times. So this is basically really helpful to parents who don't have those things. And they can still get quality care for their children."
Dr. Simone Seward, DrPH, MPH, who researches health disparities in communities of color, said systemic changes also need to be made to help change the statistics.
"You get the recommendation of, 'Oh, you need to eat healthy,' or 'You need to be more physically active,’” she said. “That might not be as easy to do for people or community members who live in a food desert, where their closest access point is a corner store that sells sodas."
Still, the experts said there are small changes anyone can make to improve heart health. Awareness can be a big part of that, so the American Heart Association has launched a “check it challenge” that encourages people to monitor their blood pressure twice a month.
