With a family history of high blood pressure and diabetes, Sherika Nicole Thomas wanted to get checked out to see where her health stood.
“I’m just trying to make sure it doesn’t get passed onto me or my kids,” said Thomas, who has 1-year-old and 2-year-old daughters.
On Feb. 21, she got the opportunity to have her health assessed through a partnership with her church and Tanner Health System’s Get Healthy, Live Well, which hosted an educational health event at Overcomers Christian Center in Villa Rica. The event was part of a series of health events being held at local African-American churches in Carroll, Haralson and Heard counties to help raise awareness of health disparities by focusing on healthy living.
“Cancer, diabetes and heart disease is threatening the health of African Americans at a disproportionate rate,” said Mahaya Clark, a community outreach coordinator for Get Healthy, Live Well. “Partnerships between local churches and healthcare providers can help reduce the impact of health disparities for African Americans.”
So far, seven African American churches have held health events with Get Healthy, Live Well. The Feb. 21 event included clinical assessments, health coaching and raffle prizes. Twenty-eight people attended the event in Villa Rica at the church, which is led by Pastor Richard D. Dobbs.
“If we have an opportunity as a church to help our parishioners get better — not just in health, but in finance, relationships and so forth — I want to try to take advantage of it if at all possible,” said Dobbs. “When [Tanner] offered this, I thought it would be a great program to get people more informed.”
He believes if people get information on how to live a healthier lifestyle, they can make better decisions.
“If you’re exposed to different opportunities and exposed to different things, it can broaden you and make you better,” said Dobbs. “But it can help the people around you get better as well. My goal is to see people get better.”
And Thomas feels better after learning about the importance of keeping up with her five key health indicators — blood pressure, blood sugar, body mass index (BMI), cholesterol and weight. She learned that knowing these numbers can improve her health. It can also control or prevent diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
“As far as blood sugar and high cholesterol, I learned that it’s important to keep an eye on your numbers,” said Thomas. “If they get high make sure you seek immediate attention. Don’t sit there and ignore it.”
Latricia Griggs also decided to get checked out and see how her health was doing.
“I have high cholesterol and I have to work to get it down,” said Griggs, who plans to start exercising to lower her cholesterol.
The events being held at African-American churches are part of Get Healthy, Live Well’s longer-term effort to assess health and promote wellness. Get Healthy, Live Well is working to promote a healthy lifestyle and prevent chronic disease for residents of west Georgia by decreasing health disparities, eliminating tobacco use, improving nutrition, increasing physical activity and reducing obesity rates. The initiative is accomplishing this through a variety of evidence-based programs that include education on chronic disease self-management.
Get Healthy, Live Well believes in the value of working to educate community members on healthy living and ways to take little steps that can have a large, positive impact on individual health. The initiative is funded by a Partnerships to Improve Community Health grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More information is available online at www.GetHealthyLiveWell.org and on Facebook.