April 2013 - National Minority Health and Disparities Month

Welcome to April’s Expand Your Expertise. April is filled with monthly health observances. Some of the month long observances include National Alcohol Awareness Month, National Cancer Control Month, National Child Abuse Prevention Month, National Donate Life Month, and National Humor Month. The weekly health observances of April include but are not limited to National Public Health Week April 1-7, National Week of the Ocean April 7-13, National Library Week April 14-20, and National Volunteer Week April 21-27. A few of April’s daily health observances are the National Day of Hope on April 3^rd, World Health Day on April 7^th, and National Healthcare Decisions Day on April 16^th.

Our focus for Expand Your Expertise is National Minority Health and Disparities Month sponsored by the Office of Minority Health Resource Center. The Office of Minority Health (OMH) was created in 1986 and is dedicated to improving the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through developing health policies and programs that will help eliminate health disparities. (Office of Minority Health, 2013). “OMH programs address disease prevention, health promotion, risk reduction, healthy lifestyle choices, use of healthcare services, and barriers to healthcare.” (Office of Minority Health, 2013). It is through partnerships with communities and organizations in the public and private sectors the OMH focuses on eliminating health disparities, national planning to identify priorities and coordinated responses. (Office of Minority Health, 2013). “The purpose of the National Partnership of Actions to End Health Disparities (NPA) is to improve nationwide cohesion and coordination of strategies and actions to eliminate health disparities and achieve health equity.” (Office of Minority Health, 2013). The five goals of NPA are to increase awareness, leadership strength on every level, improved health and healthcare, improved cultural and linguistic competency, lastly data availability, and coordination, utilization and diffusion of research and evaluation of outcomes. (Office of Minority Health, 2013). Reference: Office of Minority Health. (2013). About OMH. Retrieved online. March 31, 2013. www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov

Henderson-Hughes Health Partners (H3P) mission is aligned with the practice of the Office of Minority Health. The more people we help obtain a better understanding of health and healthcare through the services at H3P, the end result will be more people with better healthier lives. It is no coincidence that our open house is during Public Health Week for we are a champion of Public Health. Our motto is knowledge that leads to healthy lives and it is through our various partnerships and our own healthcare knowledge that we will help others achieve the healthy lives they deserve and seek.

VHHughes