Health & Wellness Among the Black Community
Last month was Black History Month and Nuvance Health held a live event through Facebook on Feb. 23 to discuss the importance of health in the Black community. Sarah Colomello, who is the manager of public and community affairs at the Northern Dutchess Hospital, moderated the conversation and was joined by two primary care physicians, Dr. Sadee Forde-Cuffie and Dr. Dorothy Page.
There are some medical conditions that Black people are at higher risk for getting, which makes it very important for them to get checked regularly.
Dr. Forde-Cuffie said that transparency and being upfront with people matters and will make them more likely to keep coming back. “Building trust is one of the most important parts of the patient-physician relationship.” She does this by making sure to follow up on everything she says she’ll do for her patients.
Heart disease is the top medical cause of death among the Black community. In order to prevent it, Dr. Forde-Cuffie stresses the importance of having an annual physical where things like weight and cholesterol are checked. It’s also important for primary care physicians to know the patient’s family history as heart disease can be hereditary.
Cancer is another common cause of death, Dr. Forde-Cuffie says, “It’s really good if we can find cancer before it becomes clinically apparent. So before anyone has any symptoms, before there’s blood in their stool, before any kind of symptom of any type of cancer.” Dr. Page said they like to start screening for breast cancer at 40-years-old unless the patient has a strong family history. In that case, they would get a mammogram earlier in their life as a baseline.
Some of the other potential medical risks for POC to think about are strokes, high blood pressure, diabetes, and kidney disease, which are all in the top ten leading causes of death for Black people. Dr. Page said the only way to prevent these is early screening.
The best way to lower all these risks is eating and drinking right and exercising regularly. It’s recommended to get at least 300 minutes of exercise per week. Reducing carb and red meat intake, and increasing green vegetable intake is crucial.
Another thing Dr. Page said to do daily is, “Drink 32–40 oz of water along with your exercise. It will do a lot to reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.”
Lastly, the physicians discussed the COVID vaccine. Dr. Forde-Cuffie said she always asks her patients about their vaccination status, “So the discussion can go several ways, how I like to approach it is with respect for the person’s thought process. I like to ask why they have or have not had the vaccine.” She then will explain why it is important to be vaccinated. She mentioned this goes back to the patient trusting the physician, because if they hear the information coming from a trusted source, they may be more inclined to get the vaccine.
Both physicians want their community to stay as healthy as possible, Dr. Forde-Cuffie emphasizes, “Show up, be seen, be examined.”
