Health and Wellness Journal 54th Edition by d-mars.com

Empowering Minority Communities Against Vein Disease

By Dr. Tonie Reincke News Provider

Vein disease, often overlooked in discussions of healthcare disparities, affects individuals across diverse backgrounds. However, within minority communities, there exists a pressing need to address potential gaps in awareness and access to care. This article delves into the symptoms and clinical presentation of vein disease while advocating for proactive health management strategies tailored to minority populations.

Vein disease manifests through an array of symptoms, including leg pain, swelling, varicose veins, tenderness, and fatigue. These symptoms can escalate if left untreated, significantly diminishing one’s quality of life. Moreover, some individuals may not exhibit overt symptoms, underscoring the importance of comprehensive evaluations by healthcare professionals.

At the forefront of addressing healthcare disparities is Reincke Vein Center, located in Sugar Land. Here, a commitment to inclusivity is evident through initiatives like free consultations for new patients and thorough reviews of health insurance benefits before office visits. Additionally, flexible payment plans and self-pay options aim to mitigate financial barriers to care.

Effective communication plays a pivotal role in ensuring equitable healthcare access. Dr. Tonie Reincke, founder of the center, emphasizes personalized care, dedicating time to educate patients about their condition and address any concerns. Moreover, the center boasts a diverse staff proficient in languages commonly spoken by minority communities, facilitating seamless communication and understanding.

Language barriers often exacerbate healthcare disparities. However, Reincke Vein Center’s bilingual staff, fluent in Spanish and Vietnamese, ensures that patients can articulate their symptoms accurately and comprehend treatment options in their native language. This linguistic inclusivity enhances patient-provider interactions, fostering trust and engagement in healthcare decision-making. Beyond individualized care, community outreach and education are integral components of addressing healthcare disparities. Reincke Vein Center actively participates in health fairs, offering free ultrasound scans and disseminating vital information about vein disease. Furthermore, strategic advertising on Spanish and Vietnamese television channels expands outreach efforts, reaching underserved populations directly.

In conclusion, early recognition of vein disease symptoms is imperative for optimal health outcomes, particularly within minority communities where disparities in healthcare access persist. By prioritizing cultural competence, improving health literacy, and dismantling barriers to care, we can create an inclusive healthcare environment where timely diagnosis and treatment are accessible to all. Reincke Vein Center’s unwavering commitment to equitable care exemplifies the broader healthcare community’s efforts to bridge disparities and ensure every individual receives the care they deserve, regardless of background or ethnicity.

DIVERSITY

IS THE SPICE OF Life AT H - E - B

H-E-B’s Supplier Diversity Program works hard to ensure we’re selling goods and utilizing services from a wide variety of Texan businesses. We’re proud that our suppliers are as diverse as the Lone Star State itself.

As a former small business ourselves, we believe in and celebrate the value & strength that working with small businesses, local businesses, and businesses owned by minorities, women, LGBTQ+, Veterans, and disabled Texans brings to both our business and the communities we serve.

TEXAS EXTENDS POSTPARTUM

Medicaid & CHIP Coverage

By d-mars.com News Provider

exas mothers are now eligible for Medicaid, or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), will be able to get postpartum coverage up to a year after childbirth.

TMedicaid covers half of Texas births, but previously coverage expired two months postpartum. Last year, Abbott signed House Bill 12 into law, expanding Medicaid and CHIP postpartum coverage. The extension request was approved last month by the Federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare services.

The State of Texas predicts approximately 137,000 women will benefit from 12-month postpartum coverage in 2025.

“Working with partners in the Texas Legislature last year—including Senator Lois Kolkhorst and Representative Toni Rose—we delivered critical bipartisan legislation to extend postpartum coverage for Texas mothers from two months to one year,” Abbott detailed in a press release. “By extending postpartum Medicaid and CHIP coverage, we will help ensure new mothers and the most vulnerable young Texans receive critical healthcare resources they need to care for their families and thrive.”

Health experts say postpartum care is crucial for mothers recovering after childbirth. Dr. McClain Sampson is a Fellow of Maternal and Reproductive health at the Baker Institute for Public Policy and an Associate Professor at the University of Houston’s Graduate College of Social Work. She said the extension will address a critical part of early motherhood.

“This is really good news,” she said. “The postpartum period, which is considered from right after childbirth, all the way up to 12 months postpartum, a lot of important health things need to be monitored.”

Sampson said medical conditions like postpartum depression can occur from as early as four weeks to 12 months postpartum and lead to postpartum anxiety

and perinatal mood disorders. She said there’s also other health issues that a mother can endure.

“If someone had high blood pressure during pregnancy, she really needs to be made aware of her high blood pressure after pregnancy, “she said. “Also, if somebody went into pregnancy with gestational diabetes, how is that diabetes being treated at two months postpartum, 6 months, 12 months. It’s an important time of health and mental health vulnerability and having insurance coverage for 12 months could possibly really have a significant positive effect for.”

CHIP and Medicaid recipients who were already enrolled into the program while pregnant will have their coverage automatically reinstated for the remainder of their 12-month postpartum period, if they still live in Texas. Women who transitioned from Medicaid or CHIP to Healthy Texas Women after their pregnancy ended and are still within their postpartum period will be transitioned back to full coverage for the remainder of the period.

Sampson said many women do not enroll in Medicaid until their second or third trimester for various reasons like the length of enrollment or lack of providers compared to women with private insurance. Texas, like many other states, has a high mortality rate, and it’s the highest among African American women. “With Medicaid, we have a huge shortage of Medicaid providers, especially in this maternal health space,”

said Sampson. “Even though one in two births are financed by Medicaid, that doesn’t mean we have enough providers to see the share of the volume of women who are on Medicaid. So that’s one reason that it takes some women a long time to get on to Medicaid, because the enrollment process may take one week up to two months.”

Texas is joining other states and the District of Columbia by extending coverage, a years-long fight.

“We are not valuing the health of the woman,” said Sampson. “I really think it’s a matter of value. If we truly valued a woman’s health during pregnancy and postpartum again, these are highly vulnerable times for mental health and physical health issues. Then we would have policies that protect women during these time periods, we would have insurance that is not burdensome to enroll in, we would have enough providers to see people who are on Medicaid and wouldn’t have only one in four women on insurance.”

Sampson recommends women check with their local state Medicaid office to confirm their extended coverage. She said Houston has a local nonprofit called Civic Heart, that helps residents enroll in Medicaid. She works with the nonprofit as well as being the principal Investigator of the Healthy Start Program at UH. “Extending postpartum coverage will help new mothers access needed healthcare services,” said HHS Executive Commissioner Cecile Erwin Young in a press release. “HHSC is proud to continue supporting Texas families.”

Medicaid and CHIP offer several medical services, including:

• Regular medical checkups

• Prescription drugs and vaccines

• Hospital care and services

• X-rays and lab tests

• Vision and hearing care

• Access to medical specialists and mental health care

Source: HoustonPublicMedia.org

HHEALTH, WELLNESS & THE BLACK FAMILY: The Links Address Health Disparities at Expo

By d-mars.com News Provider

ealth among Black families is influenced by various factors, including socioeconomic status, access to health care, systemic racism and cultural attitudes toward health. Addressing disparities requires a multifaceted approach that tackles several barriers in order to promote health education and address social determinants of health. The Links, Incorporated has created community-based initiatives aimed at reducing inequality that can contribute to improving overall health outcomes for Black families.

The organization launched and hosted its second annual Black Family Wellness Expo on Saturday, March 16 at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church to share valuable information that can help everyone — from infants to seniors — live healthier lives. This year’s event featured panelists, fireside breakout sessions, food trucks, kid stations and community collaborative sponsors at the local, regional and national levels. This year’s multi-city events were built upon the organization’s successful inaugural launch last year. While the organization has worked to battle health disparities in the communities where its members have served for decades, March 2023 was the first time that chapters, including those in the Houston area, and Links members worked on the same day coast to coast to address many health disparities and celebrate general wellness in a one-day event within their communities and nationwide.

“This occasion, all chapters in the Houston area, as far east as Beaumont, Texas, we’ve come together to make sure we can educate the Black community and our focus today is the community of African descent,” said Lorraine Winslow, president of the Houston Chapter of The Links, Inc. “As we hear many times on the news about the health disparities in the African American community, we want to raise the awareness about mental health, physical health, diet, and exercise. We’ve had over 66 exhibitors come in today to share their information because we want us to recognize that it’s what we eat, it’s what we drink, it’s our exercise. It’s not just kidney disease. It’s maternal health, it’s housing. it’s jobs. Today, we have representatives from across the Houston area who really have shared the information in all aspects of those types of critical matters.”

In addition to educating communities of African descent about the numerous health disparities impacting them, this year, The Links expanded its efforts to include information related to financial wellness and voter registration and education to ensure communities are equipped and empowered to make informed decisions impacting them at the national, state and local levels.

STARTLING STATISTICS REVEAL THAT:

• Heart disease is the number one killer for all Americans and stroke is also a leading cause of death. The risks for both heart disease and stroke are even higher for Black Americans because they have higher incidences of high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity which are contributing factors (American Heart Association).

• Black Americans have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any racial or ethnic group in the United States when it comes to most types of cancer (American Cancer Society).

• Black Americans between the ages of 1849 are two times as likely to die from heart disease than whites (CDC).

• Black Americans are more than three times as likely as whites to have kidney failure. In addition, the increased rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and heart disease in Black Americans also increase their risk of kidney disease (National Kidney Foundation).

• Blacks are more likely to have Alzheimer’s disease than whites and have a higher familial risk than other groups (Alzheimer’s Association).

• Over 70% of Black Americans die without having a will or other estate planning document in place.

“Getting Black Americans and other people of African descent to advocate for their own health care and financial well-being is more important than ever. And working together, we can change these statistics,” a news release from the organization stated. “Education and information are key to empowering Blacks to fight for their own wellness and the wellness of the communities in which they live, work and play. The right to vote is a critical part of our society, as is educating voters about the issues that matter in their communities. To that end, voter registration and non-partisan voter education are among our core priorities as an organization.”

ABOUT THE LINKS, INCORPORATED

The Links, Incorporated is an international, not-forprofit corporation established in 1946. The membership consists of more than 17,000 professional women of African descent in 299 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and the United Kingdom. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.’s Total Wellness Expo Returns to Houston

By d-mars.com News Provider

The North Harris County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated’s Total Wellness Expo officially returned to the Houston community on Saturday, March 16.

The Treasure Your Health Total Wellness Expo and Community Funfest embodies the sorority’s commitment to total wellness for the community. The theme for this year’s expo, which was hosted at the Fallbrook Church in Spring, was “Discovering the Treasure of Health, Wealth, and Social Awareness.”

“North Harris Alumnae Chapter was chartered to serve the needs in Cypress, Humble, Jersey Village, Spring, and Tomball communities,” said North Harris County Alumnae Chapter President Tricia Mayes Johnson. “However, our goal has always been to impact whatever community we touch.”

This event was the embodiment of the sorority’s Five Point Programmatic Thrust, which is:

• Economic Development

• Educational Development

• International Awareness and Involvement

• Physical and Mental Health

• Political Awareness and Involvement

The organization aims to educate and bring awareness to those things that impact every area people’s lives. Because the focus of the program was on the entire family, the sorority shared information and activities for every member of the household.

In addition to activities, guests received free health screenings, information from financial resources, tips from wellness professionals, food distribution, and more.

ABOUT DELTA SIGMA THETA SORORITY, INC.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was founded on January 13, 1913, by 22 collegiate women at Howard University to promote academic excellence and provide assistance to those in need. The founders of Delta Sigma Theta envisioned an organization committed to sisterhood, scholarship, service, and addressing the social issues of the time. Since its founding, Delta Sigma Theta has become one of the preeminent service-based sororities, with more than 300,000 initiated members and over 1,000 chartered chapters worldwide.

As a sisterhood comprised primarily of Black, college-educated women, the sorority seriously considers the issues impacting the Black community and boldly confronts the challenges of African Americans and, hence, all Americans.

The University

of Houston

continues to grow not just in student population but also in the construction of new buildings such as the John M. O’ Quinn Law Building and Tilman J Fertitta Family College of Medicine.

UH’s facilities growth includes the continuous need to procure a variety of non-construction goods and services, all of which undergirds UH’s recognition as an institutional “Powerhouse.”

Set These 1 DoctorRecomme nde d Health Goals

By d-mars.com News Provider

s it time to hit the reset button on your health and wellness? Not sure where to start? Doctors say you can make the biggest impact with small, incremental tweaks to your routine.

“It is quite common to set big-picture, ambitious health goals,” says Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, M.D., MPH, president of the American Medical Association (AMA). “But the good news is you don’t have to make major changes in one fell swoop; small, positive health choices made right now can have long-lasting effects.”

Want to get started today? Here are the 10 goals the AMA recommends top your list:

1. Get moving. Exercise is essential for your physical and mental health. The American Heart Association recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity activity, or 75 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity activity. Just can’t get to the gym? No problem: start off by going for a family walk, taking the stairs at work or parking a little farther away.

2. Tweak your diet to include more water and less sugar-sweetened beverages. Replace processed foods -- especially those with added sodium and sugar -- with nutritious, whole foods. Stock your fridge and pantry with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, low-fat dairy products, and lean meats and poultry.

By d-mars.com News Provider

uring a conversation with the Winners Circle Group of Texas, Mack Montgomery, and Reggie Barnes, opened up about their childhood experiences and how it cultivated their pathway to not only being business owners but how to be better men throughout their adulthood.

3. A number of respiratory viruses circulating this winter can be serious and even life-threatening. Get up to date on your vaccines to protect yourself and your family. These include the annual flu shot and the updated COVID-19 vaccine for everyone 6 months and older. Vaccines are also available to protect older adults from severe RSV. New tools to protect infants during RSV season include maternal vaccination and monoclonal antibody immunization. If you have questions, speak with your physician and review trusted resources, including getvaccineanswers.org.

4. Get screened. Estimates based on statistical models show that since April 2020, millions of screenings for breast, colorectal and prostate cancer may have been missed due to pandemic-related care disruptions. Check in with your physician. If you’re due for preventive care, tests or screenings, make an appointment. These measures are designed to keep you healthy and help your doctor spot certain conditions before they become more serious.

5. High blood pressure, often referred to as hypertension, can increase your risk of heart attack or stroke, and it affects millions of Americans. Visit ManageYourBP.org to understand what your blood pressure numbers mean and what you can do to get your blood pressure under control.

6. One in three American adults has prediabetes, a condition that can lead to type 2 diabetes if left unmanaged. However, healthy eating and exercise can help delay or even prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes.

supervision. Nonetheless, resilience and determination can also emerge from overcoming these obstacles, which can be valuable traits for entrepreneurship.

Barnes detailed how mentorship had to become a frontrunner in cultivating his leadership skills, having a similar experi ence as his partner.

DID YOU

Raised by single parents, the winning duo openly admitted that while the two-parent nuclear structure of family ties was not a familial construct for them, building a better brand as healthier men was a no-brainer. When asked about how fostering personal development in men can help them become worthy successors in business, Montgomery replied, “My children see me as their superhero, just like many children view their dads. They see me as the strongest and smartest person in the world.” He continued, “The advice they receive from me is like [the] law to them, akin to the Bible. This is something we strive for as parents, especially in a time when father figures are often absent. Unfortunately, many fathers prioritize other activities over spending time with their kids.”

KNOW?

Learn your risk by taking a simple 2-minute self-screening test at DoIHavePrediabetes.org. This resource also features helpful lifestyle tips that can help you reverse prediabetes.

7. If consuming alcohol, drink only in moderation. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans defines that as up to one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men, and only by adults of legal drinking age.

8. Your health care provider can offer resources and guidance for quitting tobacco and nicotine. Declare your home and car smoke-free to eliminate second-hand smoke exposure.

9. Follow your doctor’s instructions when taking prescription drugs – especially opioids. Always store and dispose of medications safely to prevent misuse. Whenever prescribed antibiotics, take them exactly as directed. Not taking the full course can lead to antibiotic resistance, a serious public health problem, and will not make you feel better if you have a virus, such as a cold or flu.

10. Good mental health is part of good overall health. Manage your stress, get sufficient sleep, exercise and seek help from a mental health professional when you need it. For a healthier you, invest in your wellness with these doctor-recommended goals.

Source: StatePoint

can start early, create a nurturing environment befitting for a leader.”

In a world where opportunities are abundant, yet disparities persist, the role of Black fathers in nurturing the next generation of Black business leaders cannot be overstated. The journey toward success for young Black men often comes with unique challenges and

MARK E. DEAN

“It’s crucial that we instil confidence and self-esteem in young Black boys from an early age, ideally from zero to 8 years old. Research has shown that this period is pivotal in shaping a child’s development and without proper support, they may struggle later in life,” Barnes explained.

is one of the top engineers at the International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation. Every time you print something, you can thank him. He made his first mark in the industry in the early 1980s, when he and a colleague developed a system that allowed computers to communicate with printers and other devices.

Statistics from Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship indicted that Black entrepreneurship has been on a rise among Black men in most recent years. However, research has shown that some children raised in single-parent households, regardless of race, may face additional challenges, compared to those raised in two-parent households. While the research didn’t display how that affects business acumen, it did determine that career ambition can be crafted based on how a household is run. These challenges can include economic instability, lack of access to resources, and limited parental time and

“We must move beyond societal stereotypes that suggest success for Black men is limited to careers in entertainment, sports, or music. By providing diverse role models and encouraging exploration of various career paths, we can empower young black men to realize their potential and pursue success in any field they choose.”

Even in pop culture, we’ve seen public resil ience of men stepping up to raise new leaders with confidence, such as newly signed Pittsburgh Steelers QB Russell Wilson, whom Barnes admires. “[Wilson] got belittled on national television, not just in the league but with his personal decisions.”

He continued, “That told me something about Wilson right then and there. I said, ‘Man, the next team that he goes to, I’m going to be cheering for that team 1,000%.’ He has shown the world how you

In all, Dean holds 20 patents, and was honored as one of the “50 Most Important African Americans in Technology” by the California African American Museum in 2000.

However, with the guidance, support, and mentorship of their fathers, these young men can navigate these challenges and emerge as confident, capable, and visionary leaders in the business world. The Winners Circle Group of Texas focused on the crucial role that Black fathers play in grooming their Black sons for business leadership. They emphasized mentorship, instilling values, nurturing resilience, and offering growth opportunities as

“My children see me as their superhero, just like many children view their dads. They see me as the strongest and smartest person in the world.” - Mack Montgomery, Jr.