Paging Dr. David Satcher; America Needs You

 

Dr. David Satcher/AP photo

Paging Dr. David Satcher, the 16th U.S. Surgeon General, former Director of the CDC, Assistant Secretary for HHS, President of Meharry Medical College and humanitarian! Where is he? Can he speak to the public? The public needs to hear from a straight shooter who will not comprise his integrity with 'hypothetical' slight of words while hemming and hawing around the truth. Dr. Satcher's leadership wove honesty, healthcare, and humanity into a tightly threaded cord. He  educated Americans on the importance of the public being totally informed and cared about the welfare of all individuals. 

The times were are in now are unprecedented in our history. And unrepresented times call steady stewardship and medical competency. But there is too much shuckin', jiving, sidestepping, and backtracking from those who are allowing their years of institutional knowledge to be folded up like a lawn chair after a picnic. And, their medical credibility is being used like a toy mouse for a trifling fat cat to dangle before the public. It is disappointing to watch the adults in the room literally sit in the corner hoping for the best while millions of American are being trying to do what is right by staying indoors to keep from spreading the virus. After millions watch exhausting press conferences that give conflicting medical information, the doctors run out night after night trying to explain on the COVID19 cable news cycle what should have been told to the public in layman turns at 5:00pm. Empty non binding phrases that are translated into "see what happened was" and  "what I meant to say" looped into 30 sec sound bites that are stretched well into the next morning round of talk shows. The elevated level of misinformation is proving to be deadly.

Whew! This is too much additional stress on a nation that is already feeling the effects of coronavirus fatigue! This is not to disparaged any doctor in particular. BUT doctors sharing information from a national platform during this pandemic words should carry weight, be truthful, and transparent. Americans need health experts who will not succumb to being political babysitters. Touting the medical expertise of Medical Doctors who are playing MDs for the press corp is medical malpractice at the least and criminal at the most when we see the daily number of deaths increasing in the United States and around the world. At what cost? Monetarily, emotionally and spiritual? The mental toll the pandemic is having on Americans will be felt for generations to come. We cannot allow a virus ratings to drive out a search for cure, compassion, care, and common sense. Public health officials, appointed, hired, or volunteering, must be held accountable for what they are telling the public in the role they are in without giving any agency of the government political covering. And the public and the media should all remind the doctors to do no harm. At this time, the misinformation and half truths are not only taking its toll mentally but is bad medicine being practiced in plain sight.  

Regina Prude and Ella Henderson on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations and leaders who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations and leaders embody "Be the change you want to see in the world".

Throughout 2013, listeners will hear from presidents of organizations who are global change agents. We will also hear from CEOs of social enterprise businesses who are changing communities and college educators who are taking their students out of the classroom and into surrounding neighborhoods to learn and serve others.

Naomi N. Tutu with Regina Prude on the "Leadership Zone" Radio Show

On Saturday, October 26, 2013 tune in to hear from two dynamic women of faith, Regina Prude and Ella Henderson, share about their lives and family legacies. Listen to Ms. Prude share about being a cancer survivor and how she chose her doctor by asking him a question about his belief in his ability to help her. Ms. Prude will discuss the roles faith and prayer have in our lives to heal us even when we are faced with issues that seem hopeless. Ms. Prude will discuss the importance of clinical trials, being an informed patient, and how to advocate for your health. Ms. Regina will also share life lessons learned from her late husband, Dr. Floyd Prude, and the legacy of his ministry that is still impacting her family and others today.

Ella Henderson/Henderson Manor Farm

Ella Henderson will share with the audience how eating healthy is one of the pillars to good healthcare. Listen as she shares about her multi-generational family entrepreneurial enterprise,  Henderson Manor Farm in Marengo County, Alabama. Hear how the Hendersons are leading a movement to help communities and families save time and money by eating garden fresh produce and herbs. Henderson Manor Farm not only produces a wide variety of vegetables but offer nutritional recipes and cooking demonstrations to help families break the cycle of eating processed foods that can be detrimental to their health.

Ms. Henderson will also discuss how families can create land trusts to ensure generational wealth.

Living Your Best Life can be heard on 760AM in the Middle Tennessee Region, on Tune In, streaming live online at UStream.TV, and on military bases on Saturdays from 9:00-10am CST. This show will also air on the HBCU Network.

More About Regina Prude

Genma Holmes welcoming Regina Prude to XM airwaves!

For thirty-six and a half years, Regina Prude was a formal partner in ministry, serving as pastor’s wife at Emmanuel Baptist Church, Beloit, Wisconsin, with her late husband, the Dr. Floyd Prude, Jr., was Senior Pastor. She cherished those three decades of working by his side, offering behind-the-scenes leadership and support for many church ministries.

She is living our her dream to impart the good news of the Gospel…the evangelion in a different way. Technology has opened doors we couldn’t have dreamed about when The Prudes first stepped onto the path of servant leadership.

Regina Prude is a messenger who wants everyone within her reach to know that they can be awesome. And that they can have an authentic, genuinely deep relationship with the great God of the universe.

After living in the Midwest nearly all of her life, Regina Prude now lives in Nashville, TN, surrounded by her daughter, son-in-law, three grandchildren and great-granddaughter.  Her son still lives in Wisconsin but they are never very far apart.

More About Henderson Manor Farm 

The Henderson Manor Farm (HMF) is a family owned farm based originally in Marengo county Alabama. Raised around large families and managing a 10 acre farm, set the tone for great cooks and the love of good and healthy food. In 2000, the Henderson Family saw the need to restore the basics of nutrition to the family dining table. Because families have been conditioned to produce everything as fast as possible, no one has time to sit at the table and enjoy a good healthy meal.   Seeing this as an opportunity to help others, The Henderson Manor Farm began working diligently to empower families to grow and consume chemical-free and non-polluted produce that are needed for their nourishment.

The Henderson Manor Farm Program addresses many concerns for the health of our rural, urban and underserved communities by offering gardening and cooking training/classes for Health Fairs and/or Nutrition Demonstrations. For more information about their programs, click here.

A Special Mother's Day Tribute to Dr. Verla Vaughan on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations, leaders, and volunteers who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations, leaders, and volunteers embody "Be the change you want to see in the world".

On Saturday, May 4, 2013 tune in to hear Dr. Verla M. Vaughan daughters (Kim, Tracey, and Harriet) honor their mother with a special Mother's Day tribute to her life and legacy. Hear the Vaughan girls share about "Mommy" and the lessons she instilled in them by being an example to them and countless others. Hear them talk about Dr. Vaughan; the educator, a servant leader, a community Shero and a friend.

Listen to her daughters talk about their beloved mother's passion for being an advocate for the voiceless and the medically undeserved in the community. Dr. Vaughan's areas of research included HIV, diabetes, geriatrics, and cancer survivorship. Her last study, before her untimely death, was studying elderly African-Americans with diabetes who suffered with depression. Her daughters will share about the number of health care professionals Dr. Vaughan influenced while teaching at Tennessee State University's School of Nursing, through her research, editorials, and numerous lectures given around the country.

The Vaughan sisters will address their mother's battle with cancer and her heart to continue to teach, even as a patient, to medical students and health care professionals. Many of the nurses who cared for Dr. Vaughan were her former students. Because of Dr. Vaughan's strong commitment to community service,  her daughters will share their plans to keep her legacy burning brightly with several projects that will involve community engagement, nursing, education, and patient advocacy.

Join us as we continue to bring people and causes to the airwaves that are "Living and Giving" throughout the year. This show will empower, inspire, and motivate you to live your BEST life while helping others and celebrating the Mothers, Mommies, Moms, Mamas and women role models that are in our lives. 

Living Your Best Life, a radio show that empowers, inspires and motivates one to live their BEST life, can heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also be aired on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network.

More About Dr. Verla Vaughan 

Colleagues and former students of Dr. Verla Marie Williams Vaughan will remember the longtime educator and administrator as an excellent role model, scholar, mentor and a very caring person who pushed her students to achieve at their highest potential.

Vaughan, a tenured professor of Nursing,  died Feb. 23 at age 64, taught at Tennessee State University for more than 36 years over which time she developed a reputation for being devoted to her job and her students.

Dr. Kathy Martin, Associate Dean in the College of Health Sciences and Executive Director of Nursing, with whom Vaughan worked for many years, called the late educator a leader in fostering excellence in education within the nursing profession.

“Throughout her career as a nurse educator, Dr. Vaughan served as a role model, scholar and mentor for nursing students and colleagues across all levels,” Dr. Martin said. “She exemplified the vital role that nurses play in improving the health of others especially in the area of diabetes management and improving health care disparities.”

Dr. Vaughan joined the faculty in the Division of Nursing in the former School of Nursing at TSU in 1977. In addition to teaching, she served in many capacities including coordinator of the RN-BSN degree-completion program, and interim director of the BSN program – all while serving in different nursing capacities at local hospitals.

Dr. Vaughan also served as the chair of the Christine Sharpe Lectureship series, an annual program that provides TSU nursing students and community leaders the opportunity to dialogue and exchange ideas with key nursing leaders from around the country.


Dr. Vaughan, who earned a B.S. degree in Psychology from TSU, received a master’s degree in Nursing from Vanderbilt University, and a Ph.D., also in Nursing, from Texas Woman’s University.

 She was married to Harry L. Vaughan, whom she met while the two were students at TSU. Her children are Sydney Kevin Aldridge, Jr., Tracey Dixon, Kimberly Vaughan and Harriet Wallace. She is also survived by three grandchildren, including Kayla Vaughan, Amber Quarles and Taniya Dixon.

Click to read more about Dr. Verla Vaughan click here.

The Patient Doctor Relationship in the Era of Healthcare Reform

I have been a healthy person most of my life. I try to eat healthy and exercise daily. Try should be stressed. In my late thirties, I was diagnosed with chronic allergies. My doctor informed me that I had become allergic to anything that grew from the ground, bloomed, or had chlorophyll. Being a native Mississippian where farm living was a way of life, I never heard of allergies with killer like symptoms. Who knew beautiful blooms could leave one feeling deathly ill? The more I dismissed the severity of my diagnosis, the sicker I got.

My suddenly hazy, foggy thinking, watery eyed, itchy buzzing ears, hacking coughs that jarred my lungs, nasally headaches, asthmatic breathing bed ridden new world was complicated by my disdain for pill prescribing fifteen minutes per patient doctors.

My odyssey into the world of allergen-free, pollen dodging living included learning the importance communicating with doctors for optimum health success and using the internet effectively to research all I could. I learned, immediately, the internet is a powerful tool for patient advocacy but should never be used to replace seeing a doctor. I also learned the role of the doctor patient relationship is not stressed enough in the medical marketplace. As consumers of services, patients must view their doctors as partners in their healthcare in the era of healthcare reform. As the healthcare industry is being pushed to changing its dinosaur ways of dealing with patients, patients must also be pushed to change how they see the role of their doctors.

Patients must work with their doctors for a healthier more productive lifestyle. Too often, a patient is looking for a “quick fix” and the doctor is limited on time to “fix” the problem. A doctor’s short-on-time-treating-of-symptoms mixed with a patient’s please-help-me-now-with-a-pill thinking can become an endless cycle of returned visits that can leave the root of the medical problem undiagnosed for years. Those return visits add to escalating medical costs. Medical bills are directly related to over 62% of bankruptcies in the United States.*

I became an informed patient not because I wanted to bypass medical school and get an internet doctor’s degree but out of necessity. My finances would not allow multiple visits to a medical doctor without sound solutions. Most importantly, I wanted to get well and not become dependent on endless medication. Being self-employed, 1099s do not have health benefits attached to them. My insurance coverage is for major medical bills. In Tennessee, seeing newcomers to our area slumped over in ERs for allergy ailments is becoming more and more common. My average allergy ER visit cost $4800**. Although $4800 for watery eyes and breathing complications is expensive; it is not considered major medical by most insurance companies.

Whether you are a recent transplant who suffers from allergies or been raised in Tennessee with a reoccurring ache, one must be proactive in getting the best care from your doctor and to maximum your doctor visits for better results. Having a patient centered doctor relationship is essential for that healthcare. An open and transparent relationship with your doctor can also reduce long term medical costs.

My path to becoming an empowered patient was realizing the trees and flowers that triggered my worst allergy symptoms were here to stay. I had to learn to navigate through the spring months when my health was impacted the most. I could not have done so without my doctor’s care. As in any relationship, communication is essential for best practices to be utilized. Learning to share my concerns with my doctor was crucial to my healthcare. Here are a few tips to help avoid pitfalls that may be detrimental to staying healthy and fit. ***

•Write it down. Written notes help the appointment to stay on track and keep one from forgetting vital information.
•Where does it hurt? Share any problems you are having. Do not leave out the ‘bad stuff.’
•Bring your family and personal medical history. Some conditions may be inherited.
•Share stress factors. Are you going through a divorce, new job, loss of income, a troubled teen, or a recent death of a loved one? Stress can affect your health adversely.
•List all medications you are currently taking and dosage.
•Do not forget to share if you are taking supplements. Some supplements should not be taken with certain medications.
•Speak up and ask questions. No question should be considered dumb or off limits. It is your health and your time with your doctor.
•If you do not understand something that has been shared, say so. It is part of relationship building with your doctor.
•Bring a family member or friend with you. Two sets of ears are better than one. They also can recall incidents you might have overlooked or dismissed as not important.
•Follow up with your doctor. The best healthcare plan is not of any good if it does not work for you. Be sure to share with the doctor what is working or not right away.
•Follow through. In order for anything to work, one must work it. Often times a visit to doctor is just that, a visit. Follow the instructions given and take the medications as prescribed. Most doctors remind patients and to eat sensibly whether a patient is ill or not. Often times that advice remains behind in the doctor’s office.

In a healthcare marketplace that is being driven by skyrocketing costs and never ending political debates, we must find ways to not allow the cost of our healthcare to determine how we survive and thrive economically. Doctors who value the patient doctor relationship and patients who seek healthcare professional that value partnerships must become more visible in the marketplace as we strive to become a healthier nation.

*The American Journal of Medicine Vol. XX, No. X Month 2009
**author’s average after three visits in two years
***Familydoctor.org

Published in Mocha Market Magazine

Dr. Harold Freeman and Dr. Lovell Jones on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Now that the SCOTUS has upheld the Affordable Care Act as constitutional, where do we go from here? For many doctors, scientists, educators,and social activist, they will continue to address healthcare issues for the voiceless in our country and around the world. In the United States, the health of our economy is directly tied to health of millions of uninsured Americans in every state of the union. As America tries to recover in the world's financial marketplace, we must address the plight of the medically undeserved in our county, without political talking points, by hearing from individuals whose mission is to fight disparities.

For the next several weeks, Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes will feature many keynotes, panel participants, non-profits, cancer survivors, and students from the 25th Anniversary of the Biennial Symposium on Minorities, the Medically Undeserved and Health Equity. They will address next steps, community engagements, healthcare issues that are persistent and best practices that are helping to eliminate health disparities.

On Saturday, July 14, 2012, we will kick off this series with two forerunners in the fields of medicine, science, education, and research; Dr. Lovell Jones and Dr. Harold P. Freeman. Dr. Lovell Jones is the co-founder of the Intercultural Cancer Council. Dr. Jones was recently awarded The Ruth Kirschstein Diversity in Science Award and was honored this week by the NAACP with the Unsung Hero Award for his work with cancer prevention in the African American community.

Dr. Harold P. Freeman founded and pioneered the concept of patient navigation in 1990 for the purpose of eliminating barriers to timely cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, and supportive care. It has since evolved to include the timely movement of an individual across the entire health care continuum from prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment, and supportive, to end-of-life care. Dr. Freeman is also founding president of the state-of-the-art Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention located in East Harlem.

Living Your Best Life, radio that empowers, inspires, and motivates you to live your BEST life, is heard on 760AM in the Middle Tennessee Region, military bases and lived streamed at Ustream.TV from 9-10AM CST.

More About Dr. Lovell Jones

Director
The Center for Health Equity and Evaluation Research (CHEER),
Office of the Vice President for Cancer Prevention & Population Sciences,
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson)

Director
Reproductive Biology Program
Graduate School for Biomedical Sciences
The University of Texas Health Science Center - Houston

Professor
Department of Health Disparities Research, MD Anderson
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, MD Anderson
Graduate School of Social Works, University of Houston

Other
Chair, Health Disparities Education, Awareness, Research & Training (HDEART) Consortium
Cofounder, Intercultural Cancer Council
Founder, Biennial Symposium Series on Minorities, the Medically Underserved & Cancer
Principal Investigator, SECURE Gulf Coast Consortium

Dr. Jones is the founding co-chair of the Intercultural Cancer Council, the nation’s largest multicultural health policy group focused on minorities, the medically underserved and cancer. He has edited "Minorities & Cancer," one of the few comprehensive textbooks on this subject. He is the founding chair of "Minorities, the Medically Underserved and Cancer," the nation’s largest multicultural conference which provides a forum for exchanging the latest scientific and treatment information. This biennial conference brings together people from all ethnic communities and social strata to share strategies for reducing the incidence of cancer among these populations. Dr. Jones spearheaded regional hearings on cancer and the poor for the American Cancer Society. In 2002, Dr. Jones, along with Dr. Armin Weinberg, the other co-founder of the Intercultural Cancer Council, received the Humanitarian Award from the American Cancer Society.

From 1989 to 1995, Dr. Jones was co-principal investigator of the National Black Leadership Initiative on Cancer, the first major minority outreach project sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. He has served on the board of directors of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Prostate Health Council of the American Foundation for Urologic Diseases. Dr. Jones also served on the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable for Environmental Health Sciences, Research and Medicine and on the Environmental Protection Agency's Scientific Advisory Panel. He currently serves on the Advisory Council for The Benjamin Banneker Institute for Science and Technology and the Partnership for Prevention as well as a number of other national advisory committees.

In 1991, Dr. Jones chaired the Training Session of the Strategic Fact-Finding Meetings on Minority Health and Training in Biomedical Sciences for the Office of the Associate Director for Research on Minority Health (now the National Center on Minority Health & Health Disparities (NCMHD) at the NIH. He also participated in a 1994 review of the activities of the Office of Research on Minority Health at NIH. A co-author of the congressional resolution that designated the third week in April as "National Minority Cancer Awareness Week," Dr. Jones was honored in May 2000 on the floor of the U. S. House of Representatives for his work addressing health disparities among the underserved.

He has served on the Breast Cancer Integration Panel for the Department of Defense and has published over 100 scientific articles on subjects ranging from hormonal carcinogenesis to health policy. His work with estrogen has led to major findings, including the discovery that compounds labeled as weak environmental estrogens may cause adverse effects when exposure occurs during a critical time of development. Because of these results, researchers have begun to rethink when they define environmental estrogens as weak.

In founding the Health Disparities, Education, Awareness, Research & Training (HDEART) Consortium, the efforts are now extending globally. As part of this web page, you will find more information on the effort of HDEART and its attempt to address health disparities utilizing the "Biopsychosocial Model".
Education and Training

Ford Foundation Fellow, Cancer Research Laboratory, University of California at Berkeley
PhD, University of California at Berkeley. Field: Zoology. Emphasis: Endocrinology and Tumor Biology
Postdoctoral Fellow, Reproductive Endocrinology Center, University of California at San Francisco

Research Interests

The relationship between hormones, diet and endocrine-responsive tumors
How natural and environmental estrogenic agents may initiate cancers in hormonally responsive tissue
Dr. Jones’ group published the first report of a cultured, immature, mammary gland cell line with a functioning estrogen receptor. This research may allow scientists to study how breast cancer cells respond to environmental estrogens
For more about Dr. Jones Current Research and more click here.

More About Dr. Harold P. Freeman

Present Positions
President and Founder of the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention and New York

Senior Advisor to the Director of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD
Chief Architect of the American Cancer Society initiative on Cancer in the Poor
Director of Howard University
Diplomat of the American Board of Surgery
Professor of Clinical Surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Fellow of the American College of Surgeons
Medical Director of the Breast Examination Center of Harlem, a program of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, since 1979
Trustee of Howard University Hospital since 1993
Elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1997

Past Positions
Chief of Surgery and President of the Cancer Center at North General Hospital
Founding Director of the National Cancer Institute Center (NCI) to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (2000-2005); also Associate Director of NCI during that time
Served as President and Chief Executive Officer of North General Hospital in New York City
Served as National President of the American Cancer Society, 1988-1989
Served as Chairman of the President's Cancer Panel, having been appointed for four terms, first by President George H. W. Bush in 1991, and by President Clinton in 1994, 1997, and 2000
Served as Director of Surgery at Harlem Hospital Center for 25 years (1974-1999)

Awards & Recognitions
Honorary Doctor of Science degrees have been awarded to Dr. Freeman from Albany Medical College, Niagara University, Adelphi University, and Catholic University of America. He was also awarded the University of California at San Francisco Medal. Other selected awards include: The Mary Lasker Award for Public Service; the Time, Inc. International Health and Medical Media Awards' Lifetime Achievement Award; the American Cancer Society's Medal of Honor; the CDC Foundation's Champion of Prevention Award; the Breast Cancer Research Foundation's "Jill Rose Award," the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Special Recognition Award; the Avon Breast Cancer National Leadership Award; the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer National Foundation's Betty Ford Award; the International Spirit of Life Foundation and the Washington Cancer Institute's Spirit of Life Award; the Mayo Clinic Charles G. Moertel Memorial Lectureship Award; the Association of Community Cancer Centers' Achievement Award; the George Washington University Cancer Institute's Distinguished Public Service Award; the Rudin Prize in Medicine and Health; the Dorothy Height Lifetime Achievement Award; and the First Annual Medical Assembly "Humanitarian Award" at the United Nations Meeting the Global Challenge of Cancer in New York City.

Dr. Freeman was recognized by Black History Makers in 2006 with the Daniel Hale Williams Award. The American Cancer Society established the "Harold P. Freeman Award" in 1990 to recognize his work in dealing with the interrelationships between race, poverty, and cancer. This award is presented annually by American Cancer Society divisions throughout the United States to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the fight against cancer in the poor.

Education
Dr. Freeman received an A.B. degree from the Catholic University of America, and a M.D. degree from the Howard University College of Medicine. At Catholic University, Dr. Freeman received the Harris Award for "Outstanding Scholar, Gentleman, and Athlete," and was later recognized as "Outstanding Alumnus in the Medical Arts" and inducted into the Athlete's Hall of Fame of the University. Additionally, he received the Daniel Hale Williams Award for Outstanding Achievements as Chief Resident at Howard University Hospital.