What is your current profession?  

My role as a Health Educator with the California Health Collaborative is to promote the importance of breast and cervical cancer screenings in nine central valley counties, under the DHCS Every Woman Counts (EWC) Program. I work with schools, community groups (formal and informal), faith-based organizations, non-profits, health care providers, health plans, cancer care providers, and others to ensure that priority populations learn about the importance of early detection screenings. Further, I work with community health workers who are representative of diverse communities, along with registered nurses who directly work with EWC-enrolled providers who conduct the screenings.

From your perspective, what barriers exist in achieving health equity for Black Californians?  

Unfortunately, Black Californians and other underserved and underinsured communities have faced and continue to face barriers that include but are not limited to:

·        Access to health care

·        Access to adequate health insurance

·        Access to transportation

·        Access to disease prevention information

·        Access to health workforce opportunities

Both in your work and with CBHN, how have you been able to prioritize the health of Black Californians?  

The EWC program in California is under the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP), which was established with the Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Prevention Act of 1990. This began to address the high incidence and mortality rates due to breast and cervical cancers in Black, Latino, Native American, and Asian/Pacific Island communities.  These communities were not obtaining early detection screenings due to a lack of access, health insurance, and information about the importance of these two screenings. This resulted in advanced-stage diagnosis with high mortality rates. After thirty-plus years, EWC is still a vital program to assist with these two screenings, and Black communities continue to be a priority population.

About the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program | NBCCEDP | CDC

With CBHN, we collaborated to host a Central Valley meet and greet, which brought together various organizations to meet CBHN leadership, learn about its work, and explore opportunities to collaborate in addressing Black health issues in the Central Valley.

What inspires you to keep doing the work you do?  

Family, friends, and colleagues inspire me to keep doing this work to the best of my ability.

Family, because of the sacrifices my parents made and the life lessons they instilled, and siblings, because they continue to support and challenge me. Friends, for their unwavering encouragement to keep moving toward my goals. Colleagues, for their willingness to work toward the common goal by sharing skills and strategies.

Finally, working with communities to inform them about resources, share knowledge, and opportunities that will help them maintain their health and access to preventative services, provides me the opportunity to serve them.

What's the bravest thing you've ever done? 

This is a tough one.  But I must settle on speaking up, asking questions, and not settling for ‘not doable’ as a final response.

What's the best advice you've ever received? 

Do your research/homework and be prepared. Do not hesitate to say, “I do not have a response for that at the moment, but I will follow up with you.” Never lie.

My parents and mentors instilled respect, truth, and honor toward all.

Question missing from this list: 

Here’s a link to our work: Every Woman Counts Program Homepage