The following entry was contributed by Dr. John M. Palmer, Executive Director of the Harlem Hospital Center.

February is heart health month and the health of Black and Hispanics in that little village that we call Harlem is not good compared to the health status of whites.  And this is reflected in all of the Harlems across this country.  So first let’s talk about how sick we are and then we will talk about how to get healthy.  Let’s look at some statistics:

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death.  Cigarette smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise, obesity, hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol are all high-risk factors for this condition.

The fact is African Americans and Latinos are more likely to be diagnosed with and die from heart disease than people of other races.  African American adults are 40% more likely to have high blood pressure but 10% less likely than their non-Hispanic White counterparts to have their blood pressure under control.  Over all, Hispanic American adults are 10% less likely to have coronary heart disease than non-Hispanic white adults.  However, Mexican-American women are 20% more likely to have high blood pressure than non-Hispanic White women.  Mexican-American men are more likely to have high cholesterol compared with non-Hispanic white men and non-Hispanic black men.

And the statistics are similar in urban communities throughout the United States.

What can we do about this? 

In Harlem we are doing more than talking the talk, we are walking the walk with a program called “The Harlem Healthy Living Initiative.  A campaign developed to improve the health of the children, adults, seniors and families in the Harlem Community. 

The Healthy Eating/Healthy Living Campaign was designed to educate the community to gain greater control over heart disease and its causes, by increasing access to and the availability of healthier foods, teaching moderation and control over consumption, and increasing physical fitness in the daily routines of Harlem’s residents. 

With this knowledge and increased images of healthier lifestyles, our goal was to change unhealthy learned behaviors to health-focused behaviors that sustain life.

Encouraging Healthy Lifestyles

Once we understand the importance of adopting healthy lifestyles, the question becomes, how can we encourage healthy eating and healthy living habits in our families?

The best strategy is to adopt healthy eating habits ourselves.   Teaching by example is one of our most powerful tools.  Just as we develop unhealthy habits, we can develop healthy habits.  We have to be willing to repeat healthy choices, over and over, until they become our lifestyle.  In most instances, repeated healthy choices will lead to better health. 

Changing Our Minds Is Easy, Changing Our Behaviors Requires Persistence And Practice.

We educated the community to gain greater control over heart diseases, by increasing access to and availability of healthier foods, teaching moderation and control over consumption, and increasing physical fitness in the daily routines of Harlem’s residents. 

With this knowledge and increased images of healthier lifestyles, we sought to effectively change learned behaviors to ones that are more health-focused.

The Harlem Healthy Living Initiative publicized and promoted a healthy diet emphasizing fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts.  They also emphasized the importance of reducing saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, sodium, and added sugar in the foods we eat. 

They also used this opportunity to encourage everyone to incorporate moderate intensity exercise including brisk walking at least five days a week and increasing the activity levels in our daily living including walking up the stairs, playing with children, and dancing. 

We knew community-wide health campaigns worked based on the winning story which emerged from Somerville, Massachusetts.  For example, a three year initiative to promote healthier behaviors around physical activity and nutrition was enormously successful.  The three-day event focused on raising awareness about heart disease and empowering communities to take action in preventing cardiovascular disease. The primary goal was to provide the community with opportunities for increasing health awareness, knowledge, motivation and skills to support change, which lead to healthier lifestyles, habits and behaviors.  And why should the Harlems of the world be any different.  Through, access, education, persistence and practice we’ll have more than enough tools to combat heart disease one Harlem at a time.