HEALTH Continued from Page 17
• Healthcare – Charleta B. Tavares, CEO A final report will be issued in June to address PrimaryOne Health, chair longer-term/structural recommendations and plans to concentrate on health inequities PrimaryOne Health is working with our sister health, mental health and substance use among racial and ethnic populations. disorder providers to raise awareness, offer services, educate, and partner to eliminate MHSF Objectives: disparities, improve health outcomes and health equity among our patients, residents • Stop the progression of the disease • Evaluate and document the impact of the and African/Black and communities of color across Franklin, Montgomery, Pickaway disease • Remedy factors that contribute to the spread Counties and throughout Ohio. • Procure resources to prevent a resurgence The COVID-19 Pandemic and the brutal The MHSF four subcommittees and death of George Floyd has unfortunately provided a pivotal point in time to not only chairs: focus on our safety and physical health but • Education and Outreach – Charles Modlin, our emotional, mental and spiritual health. We must prioritize the marginalized and MD Cleveland Clinic, chair • Data and Research – Melba Moore, Ph.D, those who are suffering and bearing the burden of disease, illness and death. We Cincinnati Health Commissioner, chair • Resources – June Taylor, Chief Performance cannot make the changes needed if we do not and Strategy, Western Reserve Area Agency acknowledge that racism and injustice exists on Aging, chair for African/Black and communities of color.
We are all in this – together. We (PrimaryOne Health) are One. Footnotes: Jay Starr – Black Lives Matter Dr. Joy DeGruy https://www.joydegruy. com/post-traumatic-slave-syndrome 3 https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/static/MHSF/ COVID-19-Minority-Health-Strike-Force. pdfhttps://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/ gov/covid-19/healthcare-providers-andlocal-health-districts/Minority-HealthStrike-Force/Minority-Health-Strike-ForceReport 1 2
Charleta B. Tavares is the Chief Executive Officer at PrimaryOne Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) system providing comprehensive primary care, OBGYN, pediatric, vision, dental, behavioral health and specialty care at 10 locations in Central Ohio. The mission is to provide access to services that improve the health status of families including people experiencing financial, social, or cultural barriers to health care. www.primaryonehealth.org.
JIMMY CARTER ON GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTS “TIME FOR RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IS OVER”
PLAINS, Ga. — Former President Jimmy Carter released a statement Wednesday afternoon, addressing the recent killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. Carter said his and his wife Rosalynn’s hearts are with the victims’ families and “all who feel hopeless in the face of pervasive racial discrimination and outright cruelty.” Carter also looked back on his inaugural address as Georgia governor, echoing a message he made almost 50 years ago: “The time for racial discrimination is over.” Rosalynn and I are pained by the tragic racial injustices and consequent backlash across our nation in recent weeks. Our hearts are with the victims’ families and all who feel hopeless in the face of pervasive racial discrimination and outright cruelty. We all must shine a spotlight on the immorality of racial discrimination. But violence, whether spontaneous or consciously incited, is not a solution.
John Amis/AP Photo
diverse. The bonds of our common humanity his wife, Laura, were “anguished by the must overcome the divisiveness of our fears brutal suffocation of George Floyd.” and prejudices. “It remains a shocking failure that many Since leaving the White House in 1981, African Americans, especially young African Rosalynn and I have strived to advance American men, are harassed and threatened human rights in countries around the world. in their own country,” Bush wrote. “It is In this quest, we have seen that silence can a strength when protesters, protected by be as deadly as violence. People of power, responsible law enforcement, march for a privilege, and moral conscience must better future. This tragedy — in a long series stand up and say “no more” to a racially of similar tragedies — raises a long overdue discriminatory police and justice system, question: How do we end systemic racism in immoral economic disparities between our society? whites and blacks, and government actions that undermine our unified democracy. Former President Barack Obama said that We are responsible for creating a world of the death of Floyd “shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in peace and equality for ourselves and future 2020 America.” Obama also wrote a column generations. We need a government as good on Medium and planned to address the as its people, and we are better than this. country in a live stream.
As a white male of the South, I know all too well the impact of segregation and injustice to African Americans. As a politician, I felt a responsibility to bring equity to my state and our country. In my 1971 inaugural address as Georgia’s governor, I said: “The time for racial discrimination is over.” With great sorrow and disappointment, I repeat those words today, nearly five decades later. Dehumanizing people debases us all; Carter’s statement comes a day after former Article from wbstv.com (Atlanta) humanity is beautifully and almost infinitely President George W. Bush said that he and
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