Free Live Webinar Today: Educating African American Mothers on the Importance of Newborn Screening

Educating African American Mothers on the Importance of Newborn Screening

Wed, Nov 13, 2013 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST

According to the 2011 Commonwealth Fund’s Child Health Scorecard, Georgia is ranked 43rd for child health among the states and the District of Columbia. Regarding genetic disorders, birth defects, and developmental disabilities, many disparities exist and infant mortality is high. The combination of education and resources to families and promoting clinical linkages, particularly for African American communities, is of critical importance to ensure that babies and toddlers have the best start at life.

On Wednesday, November 13, 2013, the Table for Two Foundation will share insights learned from the development of culturally appropriate educational materials on newborn screening (NBS) for African American mothers and families. Presenters will share lessons learned, key findings, barriers to engagement, and recommendations for dissemination and educational opportunities for minority audiences.

Presenters:

Monica L. Ponder, MS, MSPH
Health Communicator/Community Advocate
Co-Founder, Table for Two Foundation

Sojourner Marable Grimmett, MA
Mommy Blogger/Community Advocate
Co-Founder, Table for Two Foundation

Karla Scipio, RN, BSN
Clinical Nurse Educator/Program Manager
Table for Two Foundation

To register, visit: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5114188475149016578

No More Breast Cancer - One Simple Way To Make A Difference @BreastMilkLab

 

Each year, 19,000 new cases of breast cancer occur among African American women. That’s 19,000 too many. 

According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate of breast cancer for African American women is 77%, compared to white women's rate of 90%. In addition, African American women are more likely to develop breast cancer at a younger age, and we tend to develop more aggressive tumors, which are harder and more expensive to treat.

Enter Dr. Kathleen Arcaro from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She studies breast cancer by studying breastmilk, which is full of breast cells key in figuring out how breast cancer develops. Over the past ten years she's worked to improve our understanding of breast cancer risk, and her findings may lead to new screening, prevention, and treatment strategies. 

The problem? Black women are underrepresented in the research. As a result, findings that work for white women or women with less aggressive forms of breast cancer, don’t work for the majority of black women grappling with the disease. 

To ensure her findings are applicable to women of all races, she has been working to recruit African American women for the Love/Avon Army of Women, a project aiming to recruit one million women to sign up to participate in breast cancer research (if they choose to do so). By signing up, participants will receive an email newsletter with breast cancer research opportunities. Some research is as simple as a questionnaire or a phone interview. 

Having African American women well represented in the breast cancer research is key, for her research and many others.’ So Dr. Arcaro hopes black women will sign up for the Army of Women (and be sure to select “breast milk study” as the referral type to help track the impact). 

You can learn more about Dr. Arcaro’s work, and see if you or other women you know might qualify for one of her studies, at the website of the UMass Breastmilk Lab, and follow the lab on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

The "N" Word: What We Prefer To Be Called

My former boss cornered me in my cubical, looked into my eyes and asked me what I preferred to be called. She is a tall, lanky, pretty white woman whose hair curls in the southern humidity. I hesitated before responding to her question. My childhood facial expressions told on me, moments later when I still hadn’t responded. “Called?” I said. My frown lines deepened in-between my un-plucked naturally shaped brows.

Bashful but determined she whispered in my ear “Black” or “African American?” I could tell that she had summoned up the courage to ask me this very important question. I couldn’t bear to see her sweat any longer and replied, “Either is fine, just don’t call me a Negro.” I flashed my right dimple and smiled. Unexpectedly, she became stiff; while I became confused. “I’m just kidding,” I said and calmed her nervousness. She exhaled from relief.

She was undoubtedly nervous, but in retrospect also brave. Many times people are too afraid to ask questions regarding the touchy subject of “race.” Little did she know that her question lifted the veil of pain from my childhood from being called the wrong name.

Everyone remembers the first time that they were discriminated against. Whether it was because of your race, sex, class, or sexual orientation. My first encounter with racism was when I was five years old at a magical theme park in Anaheim, CA. While crossing the juggle gym, I encountered another child head-on. He was about my age, white, with red freckles and matching hair. Unable to get around me he yelled in my face with an evil snarl, “Move Nigger.” We both knew the history of that word’s pain. I grasped onto the net and held on tightly trying not to brush his shoulder as he crawled pass me. I wanted to defend myself, but was left speechless.

I am a daughter of a former field worker. My mom picked cotton just 45 minutes outside of Atlanta in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. My straightened hair, shaved legs and Master’s degree fool people about my roots. My hardships are no where like my moms and my memories of childhood segregation are not the depictions of “Black” and “White” drinking fountains and bathrooms. However, it is the feeling of subtle and invisible racism that plagues my past.

Being called out of your name at a young age is unbelievably painful and memorable. Truthfully, the terms African American and Black are so interchangeable that most Blacks won’t be offended which term you used to describe them. As long as you don’t refer to them as a Negro or God forbid the N-word.

Children talk about race and the color of their pigmentation, as they hold their arms up to one another’s in comparison. My son will know what’s in a name, in the history and meaning of terms used to describe his ethnicity. He will also have the wisdom, like his mother to educate those that are fearful to ask the questions about race.

Originally published 2/19/2010. 

"Undefeated" Wins Oscar for Best Documentary Feature

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/02/26/2043869/wwu-grad-tj-martin-wins-academy.html#storylink=cpy

Last night’s winners for Best Documentary feature "Undefeated," T. J. Martin, Dan Lindsay and Rich Middlemas brought home the Oscar for their emotional, yet uplifting film chronicling the lives of 17 young 2009 Manassas Tigers’ football players. Making T.J. Martin the first African American to win an Oscar for directing a film. Producers included, Rich Middlemas, Seth Gordon, Ed Cunningham, Glen Zipper and Sean “P Diddy” Combs.

"Undefeated" is set in inner-city Memphis and focuses on a heart of a lion football coach, Bill Courtney and three of the Tiger’s main football players Chavis Daniels, Montrail "Money" Brown and O.C. Brown. Each player comes from uniquely different upbringings, but all have the same desire to win. This film takes you on a emotional rollercoaster watching the lives of these young men, cheering not only for them to win on the field but also off the field.

A moving documentary film, "Undefeated" allows audiences to take an ethnographic look into the lives of underprivileged teens and witness how positive thinking and determination can change the course of history.


Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 113 minutes

Website: http://www.weinsteinco.com/sites/undefeated

Photo credit: JOEL RYAN AP

Rich Middlemas, T. J. Martin and Daniel Lindsay pose with their Oscars for best documentary feature for their work in "Undefeated" during the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.

Macy's Celebrates the 100th Birthday of Romare Bearden in Atlanta

Macy’s and the Romare Bearden foundation invite you to a special evening to celebrate the 100th Birthday of one of America’s foremost 20th Century American Artists. Preview a satellite exhibit of Romare Bearden’s artwork.View watercolors, prints, oil on paper and dramatic black and white Photostats.

During the reception a new generation of jazz musicians will perform Bearden’s music. With any purchase of $50 of more you will receive a complimentary scarf.

For more information, visit the website for Macy’s Celebrates the 100th Birthday of Romare Bearden.

Rappers: Pants on the Ground and Tatted Up

 











The only thing conservative about me is the way that I dress.  That's it.  It's my own personal preference not to show cleavage at work, wear short shorts, and pierce my navel.  I am a fan of self-expression, and have seen it all.

However, as a parent to two young African American boys, I'm not a fan of the recent trends that I’ve seen popping up among some Black artists, who many young African Americans look up to as role models.  The most common trend is sagging pants and the latest trend is getting tattoos on the face. 

To defend my first point of sagging one's pants, last year's American Idol, Larry Platt, became famous for singing “Pants on the Ground” and argued that men should pull up their pants, rather than let them sag.  It seems that since this song hit the airwaves, a lot of men have sagged their pants even lower.  Pants are so low on the ground these days, that you might as well walk in your draws.  


(Quick rant.) "Yes, take them off and walk in your underwear.  I think I would prefer seeing that, than you trying to stumble up the street, while holding your pants.  What is the point in wearing a belt if your pants are way below your waistline and tucked under your butt.  Not to mention if they are skinny jeans." Exhaled. 

Mashaun D. Simon wrote an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution about dress code entitled, "Morehouse dress code seeks to ‘get back to legacy.’"  In the article, he quoted Dr. William Bynum, vice president of the Office of Student Services, as saying, “We know the challenges that young African-American men face.  We know that how a student dresses has nothing to do with what is in their head, but first impressions mean everything.”

There's got to be a limit or intervention with what is and isn't appropriate and what some would deem "cute," "funny," and representing the "streets."  Now, the latest fad is to get "tatted up."  Recently, Atlanta rapper Yung LA had the internet buzzing about his Duck tattoo on his face.  He recorded one hit song, wasn't yet signed to a label and went out and got "tatted up."  Facial tattoos are becoming a fad. 

I'm calling on young Black male artists, sports figures, fathers, and professionals to set the standard for what is and isn't appropriate.  You can wear your pants a certain way and not be seen as Steve Erkel.  I also believe it takes a village to raise a child, and when I see young brothers sagging their pants, I become embarrassed.  I want to pull up their pants for them.  It's not cute or professional.  It’s tacky.  In 2009, Pharrell Williams, the lead singer of N.E.R.D., began removing his tattoos and concealing his body art in order to become more marketable. Recently, Rapper 50 Cent has been quoted in several publications on how ridiculous it is for young people to get tattoos on their faces because they become less attractive to advertisers.

I understand that at ages 15 and 16, you're trying to fit in with what's hot.  I had a Jehri Curl when I was younger, wore different color socks, backwards clothes, and big hoop earrings.  Getting a tattoo on your face is permanent, and it will limit the job opportunities that young folks may receive in the future.  I'd encourage kids to slap a fake tattoo on their faces, just to see what it would look like before getting a permanent one. Please tell your children not to let a fad label them or pigeon hole their success.

Visit my blog Married with Two Boys follow me on Twitter like me on Facebook and connect with me on LinkedIn. 

Photo (Top): http://rapfix.mtv.com
Photo (Yung LA): http://theurbandaily.com

African American Community and Diabetes Town Hall Meeting at Spelman College

On March 15, 2011, Spelman College and Novo Nordisk hosted a Diabetes Town Hall meeting about its impact on the African American Community. According to the American Diabetes Association, 14.7 percent of all African-Americans age 20 years or older have diabetes. Guest speakers included:

• Kendall Simmons, former NFL guard
• A.J. Johnson, actress, fitness expert, founder, The AJ Zone
• Doxie Jordan, associate vice president, Diabetes Sales Southeast, Novo Nordisk
• Dr. Kathi Earles, MD, medical scientific director, Novo Nordisk
• Donna DeCaille, nutritionist, executive consultant, EnVision Nutrition Inc.
• Gail Richardson, diabetic nurse educator
• Dr. Reginald Fowler, Board Certified Internal Medicine

The American Diabetes Association publication, "What Puts Kids at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes," gives helpful tips and reminders for parents: 

Kids with type 2 diabetes often: 

• Are overweight 
• Are not physically active enough
• Have a mom, dad or other close relative who has type 2 diabetes
• Are African American, Latino American, American Indian, Asian American or Pacific Islander

Common Symptoms of type 2 diabetes:

• Very thirsty
• Fell Tired
• Go to the bathroom a lot
• Have blurry vision
• Losing weight without knowing why
• Have dark skin under arms or neck

However, sometimes there are no symptoms of diabetes and people find out when they go to the doctor for their annual check-up. The advice from the panelists and American Diabetes Association for people to lower their chances of getting diabetes include:

• Eat Healthy Foods
• Be Active Every Day
• Stay at a Healthy Diet 

There are more than 26 million Americans living with diabetes. Interested in helping spread the message about diabetes?

Attend and sign-up for the 2011 Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes 5K: 

Saturday, September 24, 2011in Downtown Atlanta

Saturday, October 8, 2011 in Downtown Alpharetta

Contact Rhonda King at 404-320-7100 ext. 3081. Or email rking@diabetes.org.

Beyond Baby Blues: Postpartum Depression and Online Support

The birth of a baby can cause mothers to have mixed emotions about the responsibilities of raising a child. Fear and anxiety can consume women and even lead to depression. Past the "baby blues" stage of crying and sadness, postpartum depression (PPD) is a clinical diagnosed depression; symptoms may include: insomnia, sadness, irritability, and excessive guilt.
Inspiring stories about women who overcome the clinical illness emerge everyday. Kate’s* story is one of them. Through the comfort of support groups and the use of technology, many women are able to heal.

Kate’s Story
The doctor ran the ultrasound in a circular motion around Kate’s pelvic area and up to her belly button. Kate, a thirty-year-old, college-educated African American woman, has long and skinny dread locks that swing past her waist. She turned toward the ultrasound monitor and watched a figure appear on the screen. This was the second time that she and her husband, Daniel waited to hear the sounds of a baby’s heartbeat.

The first time they conceived, resulted in a miscarriage at just nine weeks. A proclaimed “control freak,” Kate had already chosen their child’s name, zapped baby gift registry items, and had written a detailed five page, single-spaced birthing plan. All of that planning was thrown out the window. The loss of their child left them forever changed.

Nearly five months after losing their first child, they were surprised to find out they were five weeks pregnant. She held her breath anticipating the doctor’s results. Kate said, “People were telling me that I was big. Then the doctor said that he heard something else thumping around. I dismissed it. It didn’t cross my mind, because I always thought my older sister would have twins. She is so motherly. No big deal. They got something wrong.”

Kate, sitting patiently, looked at her husband and tried to put him at ease. “I think I hear two heartbeats,” the doctor said. Kate laughed, “My husband became silent, because he knew that they were going to take on more than one life and have an even greater responsibility.” Kate decided to relax with the second pregnancy, because of her history of battling with depression and taking prescribed antidepressant drugs, while in college. She also tried not to be a control freak.

Second Time Around
During pregnancy, she switched medication from Paxil to Prozac, an antidepressant oftentimes prescribed to pregnant women. Definitely not planned, Kate’s water broke at her surprise baby shower. Her healthy identical twin boys were delivered by cesarean at 35 weeks. Kate’s birth plan and vision of natural births were a no-go, because the doctor’s couldn’t hear one of the children’s heartbeats. Once again Kate was crushed.

"It alarmed the doctors. I was laboring just fine and wanted them to follow my birthing plan. I wasn’t the one that earned an MD, but I was the mother and these were my children. Everything in my mind that was supposed to happen naturally did not. One hundred years ago, a woman would have been able to have these babies on her own. I felt like a failure."

At the hospital, Kate also suffered from a bad reaction to the anesthesia. Without her or her husband’s consent, she was taken off of medication. The withdrawal from her medication affected her terribly, both physically and emotionally. Clueless to what transpired, her sister said that she couldn’t stop crying and screaming, “You took my babies! You took my babies!” repeating the phrase over and over again. Because she was not mentally alert, the doctors decided to keep Kate’s newborns in the nursery, located down the hall from her room.

Frustrated from everyone’s glowing reaction to her twins, Kate became even more upset, because the babies were not roomed with her and she had only briefly seen them. Without permission, she snuck out of her room to the nursery. Drowsy and weak, Kate pressed her face and palms against the window where she could see her boys resting in their clear, plastic bassinets. Kate opened the nursery door and unexpectedly sounded an alarm. Nurses rushed to the room, and moments after with some clarification, Kate was allowed to stay and visit for a while. She was instructed shortly after to return to her room. Though heartbroken, Kate said that the doctors were “protecting her babies from her."

Kate and Daniel left the hospital without their boys. Her depression still lingered, and she felt horrible about herself and doubted her ability to be a good mother. Daniel kept telling her that she was “a wonderful mom.” Kate cried every day that her children were not with her.

Hospitalized for Depression
Kate and Daniel’s twin boys came home on November 17th. Her sister was back in town to help them with the newborns. During a regular psychiatric visit, the doctor asked Kate how she felt. She had been having horrible and frightening dreams of hurting or dropping the babies. The doctor asked Kate, “Do you think about hurting yourself? Do you think about hurting the babies?” She replied, “Yes, I think I may throw them down the steps.”

Kate’s sister was in the waiting room watching the babies. Waiting room guests continued to complement the children. The doctor proceeded to ask a question, “Would you be interested in staying at a clinic in order to receive help?” Kate agreed to get help.

The EMTs came to escort Kate from the doctor’s office. Surreal about the entire situation, Kate kissed her boys goodbye. Unfortunately, Kate didn’t know PPD existed. She was also unaware of anyone who had experienced this illness. Kate said, I remember going to the hospital and sitting in this cold waiting room. It felt like a cell. They handed me a manual pump, and I sat there trying to teach myself how to use it. I thought to myself, I should be at home. Instead, I’m in this cold room by myself, in this weird hospital. Had I gotten that bad? When Kate left the hospital a couple days later, her church group brought food to her home, while family continued to visit her. That’s when her support group began. By talking to other women, Kate realized that she wasn’t the only one who suffered for PPD. She also used the Internet to communicate with her siblings. Their emails comforted her. Kate began to slowly heal.

Suffering from Postpartum
Before people knew what PPD was, Ilyene Barsky, LCSW (licensed clinical social worker), and founder of The Center for Postpartum Adjustment, had been counseling, educating, and working with women who suffered from the unnamed illness. A counselor who survived two battles of PPD, Barsky has worked and counseled thousands of women for over 20 years. Talking about her experience Barsky stated, “I had strange symptoms after the birth of my first child. I went through my psychology books, and couldn’t find anything. After suffering from insomnia, I went to a psychiatrist and he gave me antidepressants. That did the trick and quieted the noises in my head. Four years later my daughter was born in 1984, and I experienced the same symptoms.”

Barsky’s first workshop took place in a living room, and soon after, her message extended to hospitals, and social service agencies. Since 1988, Barsky has been a member and affiliated with a nonprofit organization, Postpartum Support International (PSI). The organization’s “mission is to promote awareness, prevention, and treatment of mental health issues related to childbearing in every country worldwide.” Currently, Barsky lectures at large conferences across the country. Barsky stated, “I enjoy working with this population, because it is extremely rewarding.” Her passionate vibe and genuine commitment to help others seeped through the telephone. She said, “It really wasn’t until 2001 that shined a light and woke people up all of a sudden and now there was an interest in PPD. Women started saying, ‘I have this. My mother had this, and my friend has it.’”

Celebrities also started coming out of the closet. Courtney Cox-Arquette, Amanda Peet, and Catherine Tate all reportedly suffered from PPD. Brooke Shields wrote a book, Down Came the Rain revealing her personal experience with the illness. Women were finding comfort in realizing that they were not alone.

Online Support Groups
Kate was fortunate that she had a support group. She also utilized the Internet for support. There are many new mothers that either do not have support, or who are afraid to ask for help. A study published in the Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology journal by the University of Iowa’s psychologist Lisa Segre discovered that African American women and lower-income women suffer at a higher rate from postpartum depression than any other demographic. The study found that “low-income women already coping with financial burden are at an increased risk of suffering from depression after becoming mothers.” According to Segre, "Women who are poor already have a lot of stress, ranging from poor living conditions to concerns about paying the bills. The birth of an infant can represent additional financial and emotional stress, and depression negatively impacts the woman's ability to cope with these already difficult circumstances."

If women cannot find support, then online support groups and other uses of technology (videoconferencing), voice-over-IP (Internet phone), web-based messaging and other Internet communications, can be wonderful resources for women suffering from PPD. If women are unable to find a support group in their area, they can visit an online PPD Support Group. Henry W. Potts’ article, "Online Support Groups: An Overlooked Resource for Patients" suggests, “Online support groups (OSG’s) date back to around1982 and possibly the late seventies. They involve mutual support and information provision (the two are often inseparable). Compared to the use of web sites, research on OSG's has lagged behind; despite the fact they are very numerous. Yahoo! Groups list almost 25,000 support groups, although this may represent only 7,000 active groups. There are many other sources of OSG’s. The aforementioned US survey found that 28% of Internet users had contacted an OSG, a figure that has grown since.”

Barsky agrees, “I think online support groups are very good for women who have barriers to treatment; which may include finances, transportation, child care, and no one in her area that can specialize in this (PPD).”

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. stated in his article, “What to Look for in Quality Online Support Groups” that “the best online support groups are those where the members are actively posting messages to the group on a daily basis and where forum leaders take an active role in helping the community thrive. You'll recognize such a group not only by its high daily activity and membership roster, but also by the positive participation of its leaders or moderators.”

I reached out to women that had experience using online support groups. I posted a question, "Do online support groups help moms cope with PPD?" on Yahoo Answers! and CafeMom web sites in their “Ask a Question” section.

My first email message from StarMom101* read, “They provide a type of social outlet for women. While it may not be as useful as face to face interaction, for some without the resources to travel or those that are a bit more socially reserved, this is a means of helping women cope with the demands of new motherhood.”
MomJoy1028* answered my CafeMom online question, “I joined one here on CafeMom. I think it helped to an extent, just knowing that I wasn't alone helped greatly. My main support came from my family...without my husband; I don't think I'd be here.”

Sam responded to my question in an email:
I'd imagine that it helps those women that don't have access to 'real life' support groups (maybe because they are geographically isolated or because of time constraints), those that don't feel comfortable talking in person about their problems, and it has the potential to bring together a much wider range of experiences than would be possible in small groups offline. Also it can be a lot easier to switch on the computer than get up the motivation to make a doctor's appointment, though through online support women may be encouraged to seek medical help as well.

Another response came in an email from Shoshana Bennett, Ph.D., author of Postpartum Depression for Dummies and co-author of Beyond the Blues: A Guide to Understanding and Treating Prenatal and Postpartum Depression, responded to my email, “Depending upon the quality of the group (monitoring, ground rules, and such), I agree that online groups can be helpful for a variety of reasons. There are also potential disadvantages as well.” Whether women are going online to find support, technology continues to play a key role in communicating and healing by using a virtual format.

A New Day
Kate’s babies are now 18-months old and doing great. She is still taking medication, but her energy and thought processes are a lot different than they were nearly two years ago. Kate stated, "I have to tell myself every day that there is no such thing as a super woman. It’s hard for me to admit, but if I don’t admit it then my family won’t be OK and I won’t be OK. I have to accept that I am not perfect. No one tells you about, all of the things that may happen in life. Don’t feel you’re the only one in the world who had these bad thoughts. It’s OK. Just tell somebody. I’ve had every bad thought, but understanding that confessing your thoughts is not a sin. The sin is in being prideful in thinking that you don’t need help through them. That’s what was big for me. These are normal thoughts. You just need to be open and get help. No one expects you to be super mom and everything will be OK. You need help."

The Mother’s Act proposed by U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Richard Durbin (D-L) in 2006, “aims to eradicate the devastating effects of postpartum depression on American families. The legislation, introduced in the Senate proposes grants to better increase education and access to screenings for new mothers and to increase research into this difficult illness. The bill also proposes grants to health care providers, to facilitate the delivery of healthcare to those suffering from postpartum depression.”

Barsky said it best, when citing the Postpartum Support International mantra, “You are not alone, you are not to blame, and, with help, you will be well.” Women suffering from PPD should reach out to someone they can trust. If family and friends are not available for support, then online support is just a click away.

Published July 2010 in Elephant Journal 
Photo Credit