Disease crosses borders. Disease lacks discrimination between races…or so I believed until yesterday. Something is very wrong and we must fix it.

Early detection of some diseases, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) for one is a key to survival. Early detection for Colorectal Cancer is another. Recent statistics show a health care gap giving blacks late diagnosis for Colorectal Cancer thus raising their death rate.

“… the disparities identified in their study may be due to differences in the quality of health care. Compared to whites, blacks underwent less colorectal cancer screening and their cancer was detected at more advanced stages…”

Bishop Larry Robertson of the Emmanuel Apostolic Church in Bremerton should consider adding an `adult Wellness Health Clinic to the planned community center.
Bishop Larry Robertson said the first phase of the project will provide recreation and education room for organizations trying to improve individual and family well-being.

(A `youth wellness center is already being planned for Bremerton Mayor, Patty Lent’s huge scale community center on the east side)

Read more of Steven Gardner’s article… http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/mar/04/downtown-community-center-to-be-named-for/#ixzz0yZxGJspU and
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/aug/29/mayor-unveils-preliminary-plan-for-former-junior/

In this country today, how is it possible that health care isn’t color blind and gender blind?

“Researchers analyzed national colorectal cancer death rates between 1960 and 2005. During that time, there was a 54 percent reduction in deaths among white women and only a 14 percent reduction among black women.

The disparity was even more striking among men. While the death rate for white men decreased 39 percent, the death rate for black men increased 28 percent, the researchers reported.

The study also found that black patients had worse rates of stage-specific survival and life expectancy. For example, in the 1970s, the life expectancy for a 60-year-old white man with localized colorectal cancer was 1.01 years more than for a black man the same age. By the 2000s, that gap had increased to 2.7 years …

Soneji and colleagues said the disparities identified in their study may be due to differences in the quality of health care. Compared to whites, blacks underwent less Bremerton Mayor, Patty Lent, screening and their cancer was detected at more advanced stages.

The study was released online Aug. 19 in advance of publication in the October print issue of the American Journal of Public Health.”

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_102589.html (*this news item will not be available after 11/23/2010)

More later…. Sharon O’Hara