A non-profit health organization has recently expanded its mission to help Black women in their struggle against heart disease by opening up a mobile heart center.
Based in Texas, the Black Heart Association is targeting busy areas around the Fort Worth area and is bringing doctor’s “offices” to anyone interested in using a bus. The mobile health center works alongside health officials, such as physician Dr. Carl Middleton from the Progressive Physician Associates health offices, to give people easier access to health screenings free of charge.
“Our goal with the mobile bus is to make sure that we are wherever our people are — that’s at the car wash, the barber shop, the beauty shop, the church,” said the founder of the organization, Tara Robinson, in conversation with “Good Morning America.” “Wherever you are, that’s where the bus can pull up to.”
Robinson created the Black Heart Association after she herself became a victim of heart disease. In just one week, Robinson suffered three heart attacks with the last one almost taking her life.
Invigorated by her experience, she first started helping others with heart disease by volunteering at the American Heart Association. Robinson’s time here opened up her eyes to the racial disparities and the disconnection between Black patients and the medical world, inspiring her to start her own non-profit organization that’s for the people.
“We promote healthy hearts by advocating for people of color, primarily in underserved communities where there is little or no access to health care,” said a statement on the organization’s website.
While the Black Heart Association and its new mobile center are readily available to everyone, the organization is mainly aimed at Black women who are most affected. In a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more commonly known as the CDC, heart disease is the culprit for most of the deaths amongst Black women in the U.S.
They are also more likely to develop heart disease earlier than anyone else as 49% of Black women from age 20 and up already deal with heart issues, according to the American Heart Association. The American Heart Association also reports that there’s a lack of information being given to Black women with only 36% knowing about their increased risk.
Many health problems lead to heart disease, but, for Black women, one of the main reasons is high blood pressure. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, they have a 60% increased chance of developing hypertension as more than half of the Black women in the U.S. population are already diagnosed. Other factors of heart disease include high levels of stress, diabetes, obesity and smoking.
As their reach continues to expand, the Black Heart Association hopes to address these issues and change things.
“Black Heart Association is an organization that strives to be the conduit between the black community and heart health,” said a statement on the organization’s website. “Our mission is to significantly lower the number of Black deaths caused by heart disease and stroke each year.”
