Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Virginia D. Woods, DrPH, MSN, African American Health Institute of San Bernardino County, Inc., P.O. Box 12083, San Bernardino, CA 92423-2083, (951) 201-4364, vwoods@llu.edu, Ancel J. Rogers, MD, FACS, James Wesley Vines Medical Society, 1580 North Waterman Avenue, San Bernardino, CA 92404, James Kyle, MD, MDiv, Office of the Dean, Loma Linda University School of Public Health, Nichol Hall, Room 1700, Loma Linda, CA 92354, and Susanne Montgomery, PhD, MPH, MS, Health Promotion and Education, Loma Linda University School of Public Health, Nichol Hall Room 1511, Loma Linda, CA 92354.

Despite technological enhancements in the U.S., serious health and healthcare inequities and excessive burdens of ill health in Blacks and other minorities persist. For the past 20 years, Blacks in San Bernardino County California die much younger than their White counterparts. Some statistics indicate a 17-year difference. Current, death statistics indicate the average at death for a Black male is 56, and a Black female is 64. During a 3-year countywide community-based participatory research project, data revealed that the mechanisms responsible for disparate death rates are complex. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses indicate, “root causes” are strongly associated with differential health and healthcare treatments, environmental injustices, and direct and indirect consequences of racial discrimination. Aggressive actions are needed to target these root causes of racial and ethnic health disparities. Solutions to date have focused on access to clinical care, insurance, diagnosis, and treatment issues. We created an innovative systems model that changes the health delivery paradigm. This model facilitates capacity building of community stakeholders, Black health professionals, and academicians, and provides a coordinated focused effort toward decreasing health disparities among Blacks and others. The community, private, and academic partnership is a joint venture of the African American Health Institute (community organization), the James Wesley Vines Medical Society and Foundation (an affiliate of the National Medical Association), and public health academicians. This partnership has the potential to ameliorate unequal health delivery and services to Blacks and other ethnic minorities. The presentation will describe this unique community driven partnership.

Learning Objectives:

(1)The participants will learn five critical steps in forming a prevention health system with the Black community, Black physicians, and Black academicians. (
• At the end of the presentations, participants will be able to identify three successful strategies for working with the Black community in decreasing health disparities

Keywords: Health Disparities, African American

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered