Roslyn Y. Daniels, founder and CEO of Black Health Matters, spoke with the Amsterdam News for a Q&A about the Black Health Matters Summit and Expo, the status of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the overall health and well-being of the Black community. The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
AmNews: Why is the Black Health Matters Summit and Expo so important?
Daniels: It is important to meet people where they are. The Black Health Matters Summit and Expo is unlike any other type of patient education event. It combines the best of Black culture. We have education, we have screenings, we have networking, we have fitness, we have music, we have fun, and we feel that’s the best package to help educate Black folks. Often, we feel so disenfranchised from the medical establishment and we don’t want to do it the way everybody else has done it, so we’re creating a new model that is very engaging, that’s unique. People come away literally transformed and have more courage to tackle more health issues or health information than ever before because we’re bringing the community together. When you have that foundation, you feel that anything is possible.
AmNews: What do you have planned for the 2024 Summit?
Daniels: We have as a host Malik Yoba, who disclosed recently in our promo that he’s had a
heart condition. Everybody needs a testimony, so we can talk about that he’s of the age of our audience and I think that will be compelling. We have Cynthia Bailey, who is part of the “Real Housewives” franchise and a big fibroids awareness advocate. She likes to use that platform to speak about why we need to be aware and how we can be misdiagnosed. We have key community partners—Memorial Sloan Kettering and Mount Sinai Hospital will be there, providing screenings, which are incredibly important. We have the New York Black Nurses Association, who are going to teach CPR training, which is something where Black folks don’t get enough training. People can have conversations with them about some of their health concerns.
Between the screenings; the resources from the city of New York, whether it be mental health testing, Medicaid, Medicare; and more, it’s going to be a great mix of information and resources.
AmNews: Can you tell the AmNews readers about how you became so devoted to Black health issues?
Daniels: I had this wonderful relationship with my grandmother and I lost her when I was 17. She went to the hospital and died three days later, so even though she was so beloved, my family didn’t know she was sick, her spouse didn’t know she was sick; she was probably living with pain, discomfort, fear, anxiety, everything, but chose not to share. I think people back then—we’re talking about the ’70s—were pretty much stoic about their health situations, so when she expired, my parents were in the room, so was I, and they were huddled and crying…and that wasn’t going to help my grandmother. It didn’t help her and it wouldn’t help anybody else, so I saw then that there was something bigger than them, than me, than the love I had for my grandmother. I just didn’t think it was right, and I found that maybe the hospital she was in wasn’t as up to par as you would find in a suburban setting.
All of these things were breadcrumbs. Now this is my life’s work, because through policy, we can see change. I launched Black Health Matters to be the North Star for the thousands of people who passively thought health was attainable but didn’t quite know what to do. Health literacy is the bedrock, is the foundation for healthy living, and there are people who don’t understand the fundamentals.
If you’re not drinking water, if you’re not reducing stress, if you’re not sleeping, if you’re not eating nutritious foods, if you’re not exercising, you won’t have the same outcomes as someone who does these things. There are so many things that we can build as a part of our everyday practice that are going to help us be healthier. We want to make sure people understand the fundamentals and then grow with their health as they age. That’s what our website does: It provides that type of information.
AmNews: What lessons have we learned as Black community over the last few years during the COVID-19 Pandemic?Daniels: Black bodies just don’t do well in this society. Our life expectancy is much lower than our white counterparts. Black women die in childbirth at a greater rate than they do in certain countries in Africa. What [COVID-19] did was reaffirm that disparities exist from all perspectives, so pharmaceutical companies started to include more diversity types of initiatives within their overall organizations. I think it was a very dark moment in our society, but it helped to leapfrog people in understanding that [they] can’t take [their] health for granted and that [they] have to do something and be more focused about [their] health.