Diabetes Awareness Month and the Culture of Health & Wellness in the Black Community
Talk About It Tuesday is a new content initiative from Better to Speak where each month, we focus on a different topic and spend each Tuesday discussing different aspects of that topic on Twitter. The intention is to gain insight from Black-led organizations who are already on the ground doing the work.
Throughout the month of November, we focused on Diabetes Awareness Month, how it impacts the Black community and how we can prevent and manage Type 2 Diabetes as well as prediabetes. We spent World Diabetes Awareness Day, November 14, with Mutima Jackson-Anderson, Founder and Executive Director of the Ruby A. Neeson Diabetes Awareness Foundation, and Dona Harris who is the founder of Great Day Family Connections. The two organizations work together to make diabetes education and support more accessible to individuals, families, and communities throughout Metro-Atlanta.
Tune in to this conversation to learn more about these ladies and their work, and join us as we go in-depth to address some of the institutional and cultural barriers those in the Black community face when it comes to diabetes prevention and management.
Kesi Felton: If both of you could start by introducing yourselves and your positions in the foundation.
Mutima Jackson-Anderson: Okay, well I'm Mutima Jackson-Anderson. I am the founder and executive director of the Ruby A. Neeson Diabetes Awareness Foundation. And we are nonprofit organization we yield comprehensive diabetes education to underserved populations. Our mission is to help people affected by diabetes through community outreach, advocacy, and of course education.
Dona Harris: My name is Dona Harris, and I'm the founder owner Great Day Family Connections. And I'm a partner With Mutima. With her organization. I particularly work with families, bringing families back together at the table with their children and planning activities and goals. But most importantly, making sure that families are aware of the resources in their communities and diabetes is very high among families with various ethnic backgrounds, and the population that I tend to focus on is deaf and hard of hearing. And a lot of times they're not aware of the information or they don't have that access with communication. So my goal is to make sure that there are resources that are available to them and partnerships that are willing to have communication available.
Ruby A. Neeson’s Life and Legacy
MJA: Ruby Anne Neeson was my mother. She passed away from diabetes complications prematurely at 54 years old. She was from Atlanta, she was actually a school teacher and a writer. She was a freelance writer with the Atlanta Inquirer. What shocked me with her diabetes diagnosis is my grandmother also had diabetes and she was a double amputee. I was kind of shocked that my mother-- I'm not saying she didn't take her health seriously, [but] there were some social factors that she really did not focus on like access to healthy foods and things like that. But she was diagnosed in the late the late 90s and she kept it from me for years because of what we dealt with with my grandmother being a double amputee, and some of the complications she experienced. So when I found out, I feel that a lot of the complications had already started to affect her, like her vision. She was also at risk of losing a limb. And that was simply because she did not have either the resources or the education to-- what we say-- fight diabetes. I was her caregiver for about a year and six months, and what I learned was that there was limited resources- with some of the social factors...there was nothing she could do about it. I mentioned access to health care- there was no fitness center...and then she was not as mobile as she needed to be because of the complications. So I said, I wanted to address those issues. How can I help those from a non-clinical perspective because, culturally, we have some issues in our community [as to] why we don't go to the doctor. Either we're too trusting or we don't trust them at all. So that's why I started the organization to see how I could work with to help people from a non-clinical approach.
RANDAF’S Initiatives and SIXTH Annual Taste of Health Wellness Expo
MJA: Well, we have I mentioned amputation. We wanted to really focus on lessening the burden of that because a lot of people, they're losing their feet. If you can't walk, you can't do many things. So we have a foot care initiative called Project Saving Soles. What that is we have comprehensive foot care education. We work with one of the best foot care nurses here in Atlanta. We help them find the right insurance for their condition. I developed a foot care product called Faraja Pedicure, and it's a plant-based foot cream. I would see some of the products on the market that are not natural. So I created one on my own and that helps us to fund the program because we're a nonprofit organization. So that helps with our sustainability. Another program we have is Nutrition for Wellness and that focuses on food insecurity and making sure people have the right foods or know about the right foods- the right seasonal foods for diabetes. We have 12 core programs: We have our diabetes support group and that helps people to understand the emotional, viable, social and financial aspects of diabetes; we have a walking club; we have our prevention program for those who want to prevent diabetes. They may have a few of the complications that may be prediabetic but they have not been diagnosed. So those are some of our main core programs.
KF: You mentioned the Taste of Health Expo, which recently happened a few weeks ago. So could you tell us about that?
MJA: Yes, that was our sixth annual we started in 2014. The Taste of Health Wellness Expo features the diversity of fighting diabetes through nutrition. We have several chefs there that prepared different healthy meals. Some were vegan, some were plant-based, some were regular chefs that just prepared diabetic-friendly foods, we also worked with some of the local businesses and small businesses to give them an opportunity to showcase their products or services they have that may focus on diabetes, we were able to reach a little over 500 people. We would like for our events to be fun, because you can go to an expo and it'd be so cookie cutter. So we partnered with Ashley Stewart and we did a fashion show. And we also, this year, introduced our first nutrition food panel. And we had four chefs and they discussed plant-based eating, seasonal foods, and how to prepare your meals on a budget.
KF: One thing you mentioned earlier was this idea of being a community organization and a lot of your work is centered from a non-clinical perspective. So what would you say is the importance of having those types of support groups for these type of initiatives?
MJA: Well, I am a community health worker, so I'm not a nurse. I feel our program is important because we get to meet people where they are. A lot of times the clinical approach is strictly the science. You go to the hospital and they say, "You're overweight, you're not eating healthy, you've developed diabetes, you need to lose weight, you need to eat healthy," and that's it. They send them home. They focus on your A1C is here, it needs to be here, but your A1C it shows nothing about your environment. So that's what we focus on, their environment. We get to meet them where they are. Some of our program participants do live in food deserts. Their doctor's not really- I'm not saying the doctor is not concerned, but they have so many other patients. They can't focus on, "My patient is in a food desert." Like I mentioned they have culturally- we have an issue with the doctor: either we didn't talk about it in our families, or the Tuskegee experiment, we just don't have a lot of trust in some of the doctors. We focus on the social [aspects], they come to the support groups, they get to learn from other participants, we do fun activities to get the message out. So it's a totally different approach than "I'm going to a nurse for a diabetes workshop," where a lot of people feel it's going to be some type of intervention. It is kind of an intervention, but it's a different approach.
KF: What would you say has been the biggest impact on the people you work, with their health overall or just you know, the strength of the community.
MJA: I'd say the impact is they have been able to change some of their behaviors. They have changed the way they eat, they look at food differently. They've been they've been able to lose weight. They've been able to prevent complications. We had one [program participant], he had an amputation [surgery scheduled]. The doctors they said, "Hey, we're gonna have to take your leg." It started from a toe to a leg, the surgery was already set. We said can we just have like six months, and we had four months. That surgery was cancelled, because he changed his behaviors. He changed the way he ate. Some people don't know there's different types of insulin- there are six types of insulin- and sometimes a doctor will try to give you one that's not really going to work with your lifestyle. If you're a senior, you may be able to take a fast-acting insulin. If you're a truck driver, you might be able to, but if you are retired, you can maybe have something that's more longer acting. So we focus on their condition, what will work well for them, because as I mentioned, the medical industry can be cookie cutter. So we know everyone is different, everybody's situation is different. So I think the biggest impact is that we focus on them individually and help them socially.
Health Advocacy and the Culture of Health & Wellness in the Black community
KF: I'm interested in that because you were mentioning how there's not that personalized health care plan for every single person. From an advocacy perspective, what work can be done a change that?
MJA: First we need coordinated care. A lot of the doctors are not communicating with if you have-- especially with diabetes, because there may be other issues, you may have to see a kidney doctor, you may have to see different doctors. So I think we start advocating for more coordinated care. Also, it's called a multidisciplinary team where you not only you focus on the clinical, but also people like us like a support group, you need your social workers involved. As far as advocacy, we are currently working with Georgians for a Healthy Future to advocate for- it's more insurance matters. But I feel that as an advocacy effort, we need to focus on, as I mentioned, multidisciplinary care, where we involve the community health workers, the social workers in the care with the clinical.
KF: Another intention that I have with this conversation is bringing awareness to people my age, because I'm 21 so like in that young age and and stressing the importance of like having a healthy lifestyle and being aware of your health, because I know I have family history of dia- my grandfather had diabetes, and we have a family history of hypertension. So I think those are things that I don't really consider in my like lifestyle. What advice would you give to people who are who are my age?
DH: Well, I would definitely say- you should know your family health history, We do a family health history workshop, where we look at, we actually go deep and look at old death certificates of relatives to see what they passed away from. Diabetes education should start at an early age, especially when you have a family history. We just had a conversation about aging, healthy aging conversations should start in your teens because that's one thing we're all going to do, we're all going to age. So I think diet is important as a young age, and some of the things that youth could do to take better care of themselves. Again, know your family history.
KF: What has been the biggest impact of this foundation on your work and the things that you and Great Day have been doing?
DH: One of the things, just like Mutima, my family- my father’s side, has a long history of diabetes. And my father is one of 16 and he's the last one, and most of them died from complications of diabetes. But as I mentioned, because I work with families and I have a particular interest within the deaf community, that they don't know. This type of information is not available to them. So to be able to work with Mutima who's willing to say, "Yes, I'm willing to share this with the deaf community, I'm willing to make sure that communication's accessible," is huge, because you're talking about someone your age, most deaf individuals don't know their family history. And they don't know who their grandparents are and what did they die from or uncles or whomever. So that's very important. I grew up knowing my family history, as far as medically, but only on one side of the family. I recently found out about my father's family history. But I grew up with my mother's side, even though I grew up with both my parents, but my father doesn't really talk much about his family. My mother- she talks a lot about her family. So we knew that. But when you look at a population where they don't know and no one's going to ask them much because of that communication barrier, this is a huge endeavor for me.
KF: On the note that you mentioned about accessibility, even like outside of the deaf community, about just [knowing] how to take care of yourself and what good nutrition and good health looks like, how does that impact the work that you do and what discrepancies have you seen through your work?
MJA: Atlanta, unfortunately, we're high on the list, and a lot of the disparities- housing disparities, health care disparities. And we have a lot of communities that don't have the access to health care. We work a lot in the rural communities in North Georgia, and some in South Georgia, but we do most of our rural work in North Georgia. So not being able to have a grocery store with fresh fruits and vegetables, that has been a huge issue. It's been a challenge because we're nonprofit and sometimes you don't have the funding, but we get volunteers to help take them either to the grocery store or bring them fresh fruits and vegetables. We partner with Georgia farmers and we're able to get food from them to give to our program participants. But access to good quality foods- that is an issue here. So that has been a barrier but we've been able to kind of work around that. We partner sometimes with ALDI, if there's anything left over. We show them how you can shop $140 a month on a budget to feed a family of four. So we've tried to overcome a lot of our barriers because there is nothing that we can do about some of the issues, but we can definitely give them some tools or try to see how we could overcome those barriers.
DH: I just want to piggyback on what Mutima said because having chefs show you how to cook is really important. Especially coming from an African American background, sometimes we cook vegetables to death. It's like everything is supposed to be overdone and soft. And, really, you lose all your nutrients in that manner. Having people be able to show you how to take this and make it tasty and maintain nutrients is huge. What she was saying about having the fresh fruits and vegetables and everything, but then also showing people how to cook that's a major endeavor.
MJA: We work with several chefs. One of our chefs' name is Troy [of Taylor Rose Culinary Boutique]. There are some of our seniors who don't have a community garden and he's showing them how to actually grow fresh herbs and vegetables in your apartment. Again, we do try to overcome those barriers. Our cooking classes are a major part of our program because you get to learn about- a lot of people don't know about seasonal fruits and vegetables, why you should buy sweet potatoes in the fall. The chefs have been a major part of overcoming some of those disparities when it comes to food and things like that.
KF: Touching on that base about food, especially in the black community. I think we're really tied to- not just soul food but I think that's a big barrier where people see veganism and plant based eating is like a white people thing, to be honest with you. And I think that's also an important thing to realize. So could you guys speak on that?
MJA: Yeah, I remember we first started that was the thing, "I can't afford to eat healthy." Like, why do you feel that way? We've contacted Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s. It was very shocking when we had a support group in College Park and Whole Foods, they flat out said, "We can't we can't go there, there wouldn't be a need in that community." We have people that feel, "Hey, I can't cook the collard greens without the fat back or the pork." We show them through our cooking classes and- I have the best vegetarian greens recipe and I don't use any meat. So we show them how you can use fresh herbs for your stock, how you can use smoked seasoning to make it taste like your grandmother made, but the way your grandmother made it, that's not healthy. You know, it's not that you have- diabetes [running] in your family, but some of those bad choices that they made with food choices that runs in your family. So we show them, "This is how you prepare it differently." And when they taste it, they love it. We just had- at the Taste of Health Wellness Expo- we had a young lady that did a kale salad demonstration, and she was the hit of the expo. A lot of people never had kale salad, they could not believe there was no meat in the in the kale salad. We do a demonstration, let them taste it and they see, "Well you know, hey, I can eat this It tastes good and it's healthy."
DH: And I think also- just to speak to Mutima was saying about socially and in your environment, it makes a huge difference because my background is I'm a social worker, and I worked at a school so I used to go into homes and see what was there and how the families interacted and so forth. But, socially, we're taught that African American people eat this way and Caucasian people eat this way and Asian people eat this way, and none of them are supposed to mix. If you go into a certain area, you may have your Whole Foods in your Trader Joe’s and things like that. You go into another area and you may have a Kroger but you don't always have those crossing in between, because sometimes we have the mindset that "this is the way I'm supposed to eat and if I eat like this then I'm acting like this type of person," instead of opening your palate to the variety of foods that are available to you. I think that's really important to- when she's having a health expo and exposing people to different types of foods, expose people to growing your own food and being responsible- our grandparents did that. And I think for young people, like your age group, you're more in tune to trying variety, and you're more in tune to eating healthy and nationally because we are kind of moving towards that way. I think that's the word that gets out from your generation saying, "Hey, this is the way it's supposed to be. We're not supposed to be segregated within our food." Because we do that in a lot of areas of our lives for no reason other than "I'm not used to it. I haven't been exposed to it."
MJA: Right. And that happened at Taste of Health. We had one chef, Troy, he made a dish. It was a curry dish with quinoa. And they were like, "I could go to checkers and spend $3 or $4." Like, you can do that here, too, it's the same cost and it's healthier.
KF: Could you speak on the responsibility of, governments and local communities to really ensure that there are proper grocery stores that are properly stocked with healthy foods in their communities?
MJA: I don't know if I can speak on that. I do think- I feel that our government does have a responsibility to ensure we all have adequate access to- not only health care but the tools that we need to be healthier, and I think members of the community... we have to speak up for ourselves. If you notice that there is a McDonald's on every corner but you don't have any healthy restaurants or any place where you can go purchase healthy foods, we have to speak up for ourselves. We have to take ownership of our health. The government has a role but, you know, the government is busy doing government stuff. Even though they should include us with their planning and everything, sometimes we do get left behind and we just have to take ownership of our health and not worry about if the government is going to help us, if they're not going to help us, we have to speak up for ourselves. [There] should not be in certain communities where there are more McDonald's. We had [a] corner store initiative where we see there's no fresh fruits in some of the corner stores, the apples seem rotten or are just not healthy. We have to speak up for ourselves and say "Hey, we cannot take this," because some of the stuff that we do have access to it's literally killing us. Nutrition is the main component to our health and wellness and if you're not getting proper nutrition, then you risk a premature death and diabetes it affects every part of your body from this soul to that sole, your head to your toe. And we have to be mindful of how nutrition plays a role in prevention and definitely preventing some of the complications if you are diagnosed recently with Type 2 Diabetes.
World Diabetes Awareness Day 2019
KF: With today being World Diabetes Awareness Day, do you guys have anything planned?
MJA: The theme for World Diabetes [Awareness Day] is diabetes and protecting your family. Diabetes should be a family conversation because if someone is diagnosed, it's going to affect the entire household. And because there is a hereditary component, we do need to know our history and how we could come together as a family to fight this thing. So, what we're doing today, we're just having a conversation this evening. And I'm spending time with Miss Dona to discuss some initiatives so we can incorporate more conversations with with the family.
Final Thoughts: the effect of stress on physical health and the Importance of taking Ownership of your health journey
MJA: As I mentioned, I think it's important that we take charge of our health, take ownership of your health. I love the doctors in the medical industry. I have high regard for the clinical approach. But the doctors is not going to save you. Again, if I could express anything over and over it will be to take charge of your health take ownership of your we only have this one body. And while we here in this arena of life, we need to take care of ourselves.
DH: Just to piggyback on that. I think sometimes we are taught learned helplessness. "I can't because. I can't because" and, like Mutima says, you have to take ownership. You just can't depend on other people to do things for you, whether you feel like it's owed to you or you feel like it's just beyond you. You have to take ownership for yourself and especially, as she said, for your health. Another thing that she had mentioned about social, I think it's very important that just like when you go into a doctor, we fill out this report asking about your medical history... I think we should have some type of document that includes social history: "Who you living with? What is your environment? Like how close is the nearest store what type of stores in your environment?" Because you go into some neighborhoods and you'll find a package store, you'll find fast food. And you'll find a package store and you'll find fast food and that's...right? Yeah. And so it's not going to change unless you want it to change when you stop saying, "Yeah, I'm not going to participate in this, and this is what we want as a community," then you'll have those changes. So you can't always say the government should, because the government can put it there. But if you don't want it, and if you don't participate, if you don't take care of it, and you don't see it as value, and what's the point?
MJA: Yeah, and I want to mention one thing that I did not mention, because a lot [of] what we do is also associated with mental health, which is a huge, huge component. I always tell my group, "Don't allow other people's crisis to be come your crisis," because we do see that when trying to protect our overall health and wellness- stress. I just wanted to mention that and taking care of yourself whether you've been recently diagnosed you're trying to prevent diabetes- make sure, mentally, that you're okay. Our brain is the strongest energy that we have. And sometimes I see people literally losing their mind over health issues or just life. You have to be able to center yourself and just take good care of your mind, your mental well being. I just had to mention that. This is very important. We see that a lot.
KF: I was gonna say, could you expand on that? Because I think that's also another important point. Not a lot of people think about that and how your mental health effects the rest of your body.
MJA: Stress plays a huge role. Even some research shows that your glucose level can be affected by your stress levels. Life is going to happen. I think any human, because we have a brain, we're all going to have some type of issues that affect us mentally. But it's how you cope with certain things that happen in life. So we have to cope better, especially when dealing with chronic disease and I always tell my program participants, "You cannot stress, and if you're going to stress, we have to cope better." You can't go to- you mentioned the package store, you can't go have a cocktail, because that's not going to help your health, your situation. Stress is a huge part of diabetes and it's very important to not stress because a recent diagnosis of diabetes, that can cause you to be stressed. A lot of people think that's an automatic death sentence, not just with diabetes, but other chronic disease. We really try to show them how to cope better. Because there's good coping and then there's bad coping, and the bad coping definitely affects your health.
KF: What would you say are good coping skills?
MJA: Well, I prefer meditation. I love meditation. It's good to have a support group, speaking with someone... having a wellspring of support is very important. So but I'm always promoting meditation.
DH: I'll say exercise. Exercise releases the endorphins which makes you happy. And so I think exercise is very important and it doesn't have to be going to the gym and working out for hours, it could just be like a walk around the block, a stroll with some friends or whatever. I love outdoor things, so even if you have a picnic, you can have a nice picnic out when the weather is nice, and it doesn't have to be bad food. It can be fresh fruits and fresh vegetables and things like that. Playing with your children is huge, because it's going to give you some exercise, it's going to build relationships that are memorable. But as Mutima says, you don't want to carry other people's stress. Volunteering, especially when you are stressed about what's going on in your life, helping somebody else, to learn how to be productive in another way, helps to reduce your stress, because now you focus on somebody else, but it helps them as well. But as she said, you don't want to carry somebody else's burdens. To be able to help somebody- they have a grandparent program that used to be at Grady where you go in and rock the babies in neonatal- , see that even brought a smile to your face. But things like that, getting engaged in your community and being involved- not necessarily going out on a march because that's stressful- but doing something that's going to benefit somebody later on.
Stay connected to the RUBY A. NEESON DIABETES AWARENESS FOUNDATION
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Facebook: @RubyANeesonDiabetesAwarenessFoundation
Website: www.fightdiabetesnow.org
stay connected to GREAT DAY FAMILY CONNECTIONS
Facebook: @GreatDayFamilyConnections
Website: www.greatdayfamilyconnections.org
