Go Red Health Seminar

Annually, NCBW-SNJ Chapter hosts a Go Red for Women event in support of the American Heart Association’s national initiative for Women’s Heart Health Awareness Month. Townships are selected based on state statistics that list the areas with the most densely populated African-American residences with high incidences of obesity, diabetes and renal disease. Seminars are packed with information on metabolic syndrome, heart disease and stroke prevention in an interactive setting. Advocacy resources related to health disparities are provided. Participants are supplied with pertinent information from local healthcare systems.

Think Pink

NCBW-SNJ Chapter partnered with Virtua NJ CEED, a local health care organization/system. NJ CEED received government funding to provide free mammography screening for the underinsured and uninsured. NCBW-SNJ Chapter coordinated the marketing for the event through mailings, social media and personal contacts. NCBW-SNJ provided volunteers the day of the event to help with set-up, registration, and the child activity table.

The goal is to provide free mammographys to underserved women. This is a direct response to the fact African American women are 4 times more likely to die from breast cancer than Caucasian women.

Run, Walk, Stroll – Childhood Obesity Awareness

The goal of the 3K Run/Walk/Stroll is for education and networking opportunities related to childhood obesity awareness. Families, individuals, and walking clubs participate in a morning of fun, interactive learning and movement activities. Local businesses and health organizations provide educational information and health screenings for the group. According to national demographic information, obesity has tripled among adolescents in the past 30 years. Based on the information from the New Jersey state health assessment data, African Americans and Hispanics have the highest percentage of obese high school age youth. The revised Health New Jersey 2020 objective is to reduce the proportion of high school students in grades 9-12 who are obese to 7.8% for the total state population, 8.4% for blacks.

Health Disparities RoundTable

NCBW-SNJ hosted an event to bring together community leaders, advocates and stakeholders to discuss targeted issues that affect the health of vulnerable populations in the southern New Jersey region. An additional program objective was to produce the beginnings of a tangible collaborative blueprint. The event consisted of a panel discussion of well-educated and informed members of the academic community (Rutgers University, Stockton University), medical community (Department of Veterans Affairs), and advocacy community (Planned Parenthood of New Jersey, National Black Nurses Association). The panel provided foundational information and context which informed the participants about health disparity issues that affect black women and girls. There was a rich and powerful question and answer session.