^ortlanb (Observer
June 15, 2011
Page 7
Sobering News on Health Care Disparities
Taking control
of our health
According to the Center for Dis
ease Control, African-Americans are
affected by and die from heart dis
ease, diabetes, cancer, HIV and
by J udge G reg M athis
homicide at disproportion
Most, if not all, Afri
ate rates.
can-Americans look at
Our infant death rate
President Barack Obama
among is more than double
as the ultimate symbol of
that of whites. Heart dis
the gains our people have
ease death rates are 40 per
made in the last several
cent higher for African
decades. Yes, there is still
Americans than for whites
work to be done but we are, on the and the death rate for all cancers is
surface, doing better economically 30 percent higher for us than for
and financially than we were just a whites. The death rate from HIV/
few generations ago.
AIDS for African Americans is more
Dig a little deeper, however, and than seven times that for whites,
you’ll find that huge disparities still while the rate of homicide is six times
exist. Health and healthcare are two that for whites.
ofthe areas you’11 find those glaring
Sobering news, indeed.
holes.
Why are we affected at such
alarmingly high rates? There are
many reasons and poverty is among
them. Many African-Americans
have no health insurance and a trip
to doctor is an expense many can’t
afford. For those who do have in
surance the co-pay for a doctor’s
visit is often too high.
Lack of access to healthcare is
another reason. Health clinics in
urban areas have been closing as
local governments have struggled
to balance their budgets. Without a
doctor in their neighborhood, many
don’t have the resources to travel to
seek care.
We can’t let ourselves off the
hook: as a people, we must take
responsibility for the food we eat
and the unhealthy lifestyles we live.
We must learn portion control,
monitor our intake of salt and limit
fatty and fried foods, no matter how
good they taste. We must also incor
porate physical activity into our lives
and practice safe sex. And we must
teach our children to do the same.
To be fair, eating healthily is easier
said than done, especially for those
living in urban cities, surrounded
by food desserts and few grocery
stores that stock healthy, well-priced
item.
The government is doing its part
to help address these and other
issues that lead to health dispari
ties. The Department of Health and
Human Services is providing $100
million in community grants to pro
mote healthier lifestyles and the
CDC, with th eir, Racial and Ethnic
Approaches to Community Health,
is steering funds to local programs
that target blacks and Latinos in an
effort to close these gaps.
The healthcare law President
Obama fought to pass includes pro
visions for programs that work in
underserved communities to pro
vide healthcare and screening; that
law is one ofthe best tools we have
at our disposal.
Our local legislators must work to
ensure the funds provided are uti
lized in the best possible way, while
we must work on a personal level to
take control of our health. It’s im
portant that we stay healthy so that
we may continue to achieve.
Greg Mathis is a former Michi
gan District Court judge and cur
rent syndicated television show
judge.
When 1
Cutting Head
Start violates
our values
by
M arian W right
E delman
The colors were brighter than
any she had seen before. Shapes,
letters, and lots and lots of colors
adorned the walls. Around the room,
children worked together building
high rises with colored blocks and
"reading" colorful picture books.
"I had never seen so much color,"
Angelica Salazar recalls of her first
days as a Head Start preschooler in
Duarte, Calif. She remembers her
discovery of library books and
spending hours curled up on the
reading rug. Head Start provided
her first formal English instruction.
Her parents, who spoke mostly
Spanish, enrolled her in the program
knowing that their little girl would
need to master English to succeed
in school.
Salazar ultimately graduated from
H arvard U n iv e rsity 's John F.
Kennedy School of Government.
She's now a juvenile justice policy
associate at the Children's Defense
Fund where she helps us identify
and change the policies that trap
millions of our nation's children in a
pipeline to prison every
year.
B efore studying at
Harvard, Salazar taught
middle school English in
an impoverished Los An
geles neighborhood as a
Teach for America corps member.
She believes her early childhood
experience in Head Start put her on
the path to academic success and
nourished her commitment to serv
ing others.
In an interview for the National
Head Start Association, her father
relates in Spanish how he never had
the opportunity to finish elemen
tary school. Their family was poor,
and he and his wife could not afford
to pay for preschool. HeadStart was
a godsend for the entire family, help
ing Salazar's immigrant parents be
come more fully integrated into their
community. It allowed her mother to
work outside the home for the first
time while her children received safe,
high-quality care.
Salazar is one among over 20
million Americans for whom Head
Start has given a positive start in life
since 1964. Today, 15.5 million U.S.
children live in poverty, and more
than 20 percent of children under
the age of 5 are poor, including more
than 40 percent of black children
and more than 33 percent of Latino
^ íjü r tla n h Observer
■
children. These are the kids Head
Start is designed to serve.
More than 60 percent of students
and 80 percent of minority students
struggle to perform at grade level in
fourth grade, eighth grade, and their
senior year of high school. Readi
ness to begin kindergarten — espe
cially for poor and minority children
— is more critical than ever. But less
than half of those children eligible
for Head Start and fewer than 3
percent of those eligible for Early
Head Start, a program for infants
and toddlers, are enrolled.
Poor infants are already behind
their higher-income peers in cogni
tive development at nine months
old. The gap gets even wider for 2-
year-olds. By kindergarten, poor
children have to beat the odds to
catch up— and as the testing shows,
many never do. Quality, compre
hensive child development pro
grams are crucial for the physical,
emotional, and educational health
of all children — especially poor
and at-risk children.
Early childhood programs sig
nificantly increase a child's chances
of avoiding the prison pipeline that
Angie now studies as a policy ex
pert, and investments in quality early
education can produce a rate of
return to society significantly higher
than returns on most stock market
investments or traditional economic
development projects.
Congress is debating whether to
slash more than $ 1 billion from Head
Start and to cut several other essen
tial programs for young children.
But that's just the beginning. House
Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's pro
posed budget would dism antle
Medicaid and other lifelines for poor
children. The Wisconsin Republi
can, meanwhile, is pushing for tril
lions of dollars in new tax cuts that
would benefit the richest Ameri
cans and corporations.
Where are our nation's values?
We must stand up for programs that
support the cradle-to-college pipe
line. We simply can't afford to leave
more poor babies, toddlers, and
preschoolers behind.
Marian Wright Edelman is the
president o f Children's Defense
Fund.
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