LOWELL — Members of minority groups and the poor face more disabilities, sickness and early death because of inequities in the health-care system and within communities, the medical director of the Arkansas Minority Health Commission said during a health and wellness symposium Friday.
"Racial and ethnic health disparities are at the core of what we're talking about in this country," Dr. Creshelle Nash told the few dozen audience members attending the symposium.
"In my opinion, the opportunity to be healthy and have access to health care should be a human right, not a privilege."
Nash's talk and a panel discussion that followed were part of a two-day conference titled "Speaking the Truth on Social Issues and Politics in the 21st Century."
The conference was organized by the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site to commemorate the anniversary of the school's desegregation. Site superintendent Robin White said she wanted to implement relevant programs.
Conference attendees also heard panel discussions on politics that included Little Rock Nine member Ernest Green, and remarks by Keith Plessy and Phoebe Ferguson.
Plessy and Ferguson are descendants of Homer Plessy and John Ferguson, parties in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation.
Nash, a primary-care physician and assistant professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said that in Arkansas, blacks die of diseases such as diabetes and cancer at a rate 30 percent higher than whites.
Genetics, individual behaviors, access to health care and socioeconomic factors such as income and education all contribute to the increased mortality rate, she said.
In some neighborhoods heavily populated by the poor and members of minority groups, for example, people may have access to a doctor who can give them medication for diabetes but may not live in walkable neighborhoods that would allow for exercise, Nash said.
Panelist Dr. Al Assad Rasheed, who grew up in a New Orleans housing project, saidthose same neighborhoods may lack grocery stores and healthy food options. Instead, residents of some poor communities get food primarily at convenience stores or fast food restaurants, he said.
Carl Jackson, who grew up poor in Little Rock, said he believes his childhood experiences of hunger and watching abuse in his home had an effect on his mental health.
"My first memory in life of life was being hungry," said Jackson, a panelist who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and HIV as an adult.
Last year, he was featured in a four-part series in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette dealing with the mentally ill and the criminal justice system.
After battling several health problems over the last year, Jackson said he's now feeling much better, and he's working in communities to provide HIV awareness to black youths.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11, 18 on 09/26/2009