Calendar Intro:
Building Together: Healthy African American Communities |
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Creating healthy communities does take a village. It takes a village of people and programs dedicated to delivering health and wellness messages across America.
This calendar looks at 12 programs designed to empower African Americans to take control of their health. It shares ways all African Americans can begin to change their lives. This could be as simple as getting an annual health screening or stepping out more often to walk with friends. It might mean researching new ideas for healthful cooking or searching the web to learn how long it takes to work off calories through exercise.
Local and national organizations such as the Center for Black Women’s Wellness, American Diabetes Association, 100 Black Men and Colgate-Palmolive Company have created programs that reach directly into African American communities. They seek out cities and neighborhoods that most need help balancing health and ethnic disparities. They educate. They believe. They create impact by uniting people around a common theme.
Top-ranked tennis player and health advocate Arthur Ashe, Jr. believed in community-based intervention. As Dr. Ruth C. Browne, chief executive officer of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health points out in her introduction, this is done by bringing messages to people in places where they congregate such as churches, salons and barbershops, community centers and supermarkets.
Aetna is pleased to present its 28th annual African American History Calendar, celebrating health and wellness across America. The people and programs that you will read about will hopefully inspire and motivate you and those around you. Creating healthy communities is a challenge that we all must address together. To be successful does require a village — we cannot do it alone.
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