First Ladies Health Luncheon
On October 27th the Black AIDS Institute participated in the Second Annual First Ladies Health Luncheon at the Beverly Wilshire.
Sponsored by Walgreens and produced by the Danielle Ashley Group, the event brought together more than 100 first ladies of area churches with medical experts outlining strategies to eliminate health disparities in their neighborhoods. The luncheon was emceed by Stephanie Elam of NBC-4. Actress Sherri Shepherd, co-host of "The View," delivered the keynote address about her life with diabetes as well as interviewed professionals, patients and caregivers in the fields of HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, Hepatitis C and heart disease.
The First Ladies Health Initiative is chaired nationally by Dr. Betty Price of Crenshaw Christian Center, and locally by Evelyn Perkins of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church and Yvette Williams, previously of Brookins Community A.M.E. Church. The two-part annual campaign begins with the luncheon and culminates with a citywide health-screening day six months later.
The day was filled with beautiful First Ladies in their best attire networking and fellowshipping around health issues that affect Black communities at disproportionate rates. Experts were interviewed by Sherri Shepherd “The View”-style on topics such as Alzheimers, Heart Disease, Hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS, of course.
Experts represented L.A. county Public Health, Cedars Sinai Hospital, HealthCare Partners, Alzheimer’s Association, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and the Black AIDS Institute. The event was wonderful, and as mentioned by Sherri, “This is so important because our people are dying and struggling from these issues, and they don’t even know information about them.”
More than 30 churches in the metropolitan area, including locations in Hawthorne, Compton and Pasadena, simultaneously held free medical screenings during the inaugural Los Angeles health day in May. Health care experts reported that nearly 10,000 various screenings were performed. The First Ladies Health Initiative is now active in Chicago and Los Angeles, and will be hitting Atlanta in 2013. More information on the First Ladies Health Initiative is available at FirstLadiesHealth.com.