2007 Minority Health Summit Overview

The Florida Department of Health (DOH) Office of Minority Health (OMH) 2007 Minority Health Disparities Summit's theme was "Addressing Health Disparities: Moving Beyond Hope to Action." The summit focused on the 2007 initiative from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health that empowers communities to take action and develop a common agenda to end health disparities.

OMH collaborated with DOH Women's Health Team to bring the 2007 Governor's Conference on Women's Health and 2007 Minority Health Disparities Summit to the Embassy Suites/Tampa Convention Center during the same week (May 14-18, 2007). OMH offered two health disparity sessions on May 16 in the areas of breast and cervical cancer and prenatal care as part of its pre-summit activities at the Women's Health Conference. The OMH pre-summit activities will also included a lunch featuring Byllye Avery, founder of the Avery Institute for Social Change.

Summary of 2007 Minority Health Disparities Summit

Summit Objectives:

Explore science, policy, education, program, planning, and implementation, and evaluation to enhance public health strategies to decrease and/or eliminate health disparities.
Increase knowledge and awareness of successful, cost effective, public and private health disparities programs in areas of Infant Mortality, Diabetes, Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Immunization, Oral Health, Cardiovascular Health, Mental Health and Women’s Health.
Present innovative strategies to increase health disparities awareness and prevention.
Provide opportunities for skill building, information-sharing and networking.
Present research findings and statistics related to the current status of racial and ethnic health disparities and recommendations of solutions.
Download the 2007 Minority Health Disparities Summit Program Booklet (PDF, 1.43MB)

Audience: The 2007 Minority Health Disparities Summit brought together a wide range of local, state, federal and territorial governmental agencies and private-sector partners. Attendees included:

Closing the Gap and State Partnership Grant Program grantees;
Federal, state and local public health professionals;
Affiliated health professional associations;
Health professional associations;
Health management organizations;
Physicians, nurses, nutritionists, dietitians, pharmacists, and health educators;
Academic and research staffs from educational institutions; and
Minority health advocates and community leaders.

Partnering State and County Agencies: The following state government agencies provided speakers, information and resources for the 2007 Minority Health Disparities Summit: Agency for Health Care Administration, Brevard County Health Department, Florida Department of Education, Florida Department of Elder Affairs, Florida Department of Health Bureau of HIV/AIDS, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Hillsborough County Health Department, Orange County Health Department and Miami-Dade County Health Department.

Summit Speakers: Featured plenary speakers included U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Assistant Secretary of Minority Health Garth Graham, M.D., M.P.H.; Commonwealth Fund Senior Program Officer Anne Beal, M.D., M.P.H.; Harvard School of Public Health Director of Public Health Practices Deborah Prothrow-Stith, M.D.; and Award-winning actress, singer and producer, Sheryl Lee Ralph, who is also the celebrity spokesperson for the National Minority AIDS Council.

Breakout Sessions:

View session descriptions from the 2007 Summit by clicking on each breakout session title

Challenges and Barriers to Improve the Health of Migrant Populations	Leadership and Health Disparities: A Legislative Perspective
Diversifying of Health Care Professions	Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Racial and Ethnic Populations
Enhancing Racial and Ethnic Data: Collecting Data in Diverse Populations	Oral Health on Total Health
Health Disparities Among Elderly Minority Populations	Partnerships at the State and Community Levels
Health Disparities in Florida’s Younger Generation	Program Sustainability
“It Takes a Village:” The Collaborative-Community Approach to Closing the Health Gap	Racism in Health and Health Inequalities
Social Transformation

Minority Health Town Hall Meeting - Town Hall Meeting Flyer (PDF, 373 KB)
OMH gathered community input on health issues that impact racial and ethnic populations in Florida at its Minority Health Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, May 16th. The town hall meeting was held at First Baptist Church of College Hill, which is located at 3838 N. 29th Street in Tampa, Fla. This meeting was facilitated by the Reducing Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Advisory Committee. Legislators, community leaders and Summit participants discussed the current health status of minority populations in Florida and formulated methods to reducing the health gaps.

This meeting was free and open to the public. Food was donated by Jerk Hut Jamaican, Inc., located at 1406 E. Fowler Ave. in Tampa. Beverages were provided by Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Inc. OMH thanks the Tampa Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.), Community Health Advocacy Partnership, Inc. (C.H.A.P.) and First Baptist Church of College Hill, along with our food and beverage sponsors, for contributing to this event.

Hip Hop Aerobics Provided by Scott S. of the SAK Foundation
Scott S. of the SAK Foundation provided early morning hip hop aerobics each morning of the 2007 Minority Health Disparities Summit. He got those muscles burning and participants' hearts pumping before they learned how to be an active participant in Florida's efforts to eliminate health disparities. For more information view Scott's promotional pages. (PDF, 615 KB)

Poster Presentations
Poster presentations were displayed and discussed the 2007 Minority Health Disparities Summit. Poster topics included: adult and child immunizations, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, maternal and infant mortality, or oral health care. Other areas of interest presented were mental health, access to quality care, cultural competency, minorities in health care professions, culturally and linguistically appropriate services, health literacy and bias and prejudices in the health care system. Organizations with projects that showed promising practices, successful and new projects, innovative research, and collaborative partnerships in reducing health disparities were also encouraged to submit poster presentations.

Name	Organization	Poster Title
Dr. Wayne Westhoff	President, Fundacion Familia Sana Inc.	Ama tu Corazon: Promoting cardiovascular health through the use of a promotora model
Dr. Wayne Westhoff	President, Fundacion Familia Sana Inc.	Reducing health disparities by developing a University and Non-Profit Partnership
Jill Parker	Florida Department of Health (DOH) Refugee Program	Refugee Health Status and Health Care Utilization Project Program
Karen Smithson	Hold Out The Lifeline	Project Moses: Churches Work to Reduce SIDS and Sleep Related Deaths
Leesa Gibson	Florida Dept. of Health Bureau of HIV/AIDS	Silence is Death: The Crisis of HIV/AIDS in Florida's Black Communities
Robin Nagel	Jefferson County Health Department (CHD) & Environment Health	La Buena VIDA: A Promotora Approach to Diabetes Prevention in the Latino Community
Mary Ellen Sagatys	Manatee CHD	Manatee County Closing the Gap (CTG)- Diabetes Education Program
Selina Rahman	Florida A&M University (FAMU)	Social and Environment Risk Factors for Hypertension in Minorities: FAMU-Harvard Project CHOICE Research Study
Sally Weerts	University of North Florida (UNF)	Improvement in Body Weight as a Risk Factor for CVD, DM, and Infant Mortality in African American Women
Beverly White	Creative Health Ministries	Lowering Risk for Diabetes through Creative Health Ministries
Simone Daniels	Hillsborough CHD	Getting Into Life-Saving Business: Using Hairstylists and Church Members to Increase Awareness of Cardiovascular Disease Among Blacks
Cynthia Selleck	University of South Florida Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program	UFS's Pre-Medical Summer Enrichment Program: A Collaborative Partnership that Works
Julie Gray Burns	Alachua County Healthy Start	Breaking Barriers to Quality Care: Spanish Language Childbirth Classes for Pregnant Women
Helen Curtis	Putnam CHD	CTG: Putnam County Health Department Diabetes CSI Program
Angelica Soberon	Florida State University (FSU) COM	Community Obesity Education and Screening: Mobile Health Units to Combat Obesity
Erin Hess	Hardee CHD	Diabetes Party
Dr. Lori Westpal	DOH	Differences in Risk Perceptions and Tobacco Use by Race/Ethnicity
Rhonda Brown	The Magnolia Project	The Magnolia Project Reducing Infant Mortality through Pre/interconceptional Health
Barbara Cottrell	FSU College of Nursing	Racial Disparity in Vaginal Douching Practices among University Women in North Florida
Katie Wehr/Debbie Honnen Northeast	Healthy Start Coalition St. Johns CHD	The Westside WILDflower Project: An Initiative to Reduce Black Infant Mortality in St. Johns County
Julio Jimenez	Ponce School of Medicine, Puerto Rico	The Voices of HIV Felt-Stigma: A call for reduction of health disparities
Julio Jimenez	Ponce School of Medicine, Puerto Rico	Clinical Psychology Services in General Hospitals: Stepping towards the eradication of Mental Health Disparities in Puerto Rico
Holly McPhail	FSU	Cultural Competency and the Florida Refugee Health Program
Patricia Waddington	Lee CHD	Healthy Body Healthy Soul Best Practice in Collaboration
Theda McPheron-Keel	Wind Hollow Foundation	Native Vision Tobacco Coalition: Community-Based Participatory to Address Urban America
Peggie Burgess	Center for Change Inc.	The Renee's Dream Project…. Colon Cancer Education and Outreach
Hossein Farsad	Palm Beach CHD	Racial and Ethnic disparities in childhood obesity in Palm Beach County, Florida
Jaime Corvin	Fundacion Familia Sana, Inc.	Eres la Defendorsa de tu Salud: Empowering Female Farm Workers through Breast Cancer Education, Screening, and Mammography
Marieva Puig	Ponce School of Medicine, Pureto Rico	Addressing Cancer Health Disparities among Hispanics: Outreach Efforts for the Partnership between H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Ponce School of Medicine
Ashley Reynolds	Jacksonville University	Self-Efficacy, Stage of change and Medication Adherence in HIV Disease
Maritza Novoa-Hadley	H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute	Addressing Cancer Genetics Disparities among Hispanics: Evaluation and Adaptation of instruments to Assess Knowledge, Attitudes, and Cultural Factors Related to Cancer Genetics for Low Income Hispanic Women
Esther Tellechea	EMS Resources Inc.	25 Mitos/25 Realidades
Ansley Mora	Gulf coast South AHEC	Newton Breast Cancer Awareness Program
Angela Loynes	FAMU Department of Psychology	Contributions of Cultural Values and Racial Identity to Psychological Distress and Use of Mental Health Treatment Services
Dr. Juanita Gaston	FAMU	Exploring the Spatial Distribution of Breast Cancer Incidence by Stage at Diagnosis: Race and Socioeconomic Factors 1999-2001
Lloyd Seaman	Duval CHD	Enhancing Access to STD Care for Adolescent Minorities
Angelica Soberon	FSU COM	Patient Education and Health Screening among Migrant Farm Workers in Rural Northwest Florida
Jamie Burns	FAMU	Has increased Awareness of Black Men Who Have Sex with Other Men, Changed the Perceived Susceptibility to HIV in Black Women?
Manuel Rodriguez	Broward CHD	Evaluation of the Impact of HIV Prevention Messages: Social Marketing for Men Who Have Sex with Men

Summit Stats

430 Attendees
43 Exhibitors and Vendors
32 Poster Presentations
Over $38,000 Collected in Revenue

13 Breakout Sessions
6 Plenary Sessions
More than 450 hours of Continuing Education Credits Awarded to Attendees

If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the footage from the 2007 Minority Health Disparities Summit, please contact the Office of Minority Health at MinorityHealth@doh.state.fl.us.

Sponsors
The 2007 Minority Health Disparities Summit was sponsored by the following organizations:





If you are interested in being a part of the 2008 Minority Health Disparities Summit, please contact Summit Coordinator Thometta Cozart at MinorityHealth@doh.state.fl.us or (850) 245-4941. Return to Top

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