History

Carolinas Association for Community Health Equity  - CACHE

Health Care Disparities in the U.S.

In the United States, access to health care cannot be taken for granted.  Quality health care is even less guaranteed for a growing number of citizens in our communities.  Despite monumental advances in technology and the proliferation of pharmaceuticals that decrease death and disability, a large and ever growing segment of the population continues to suffer from many treatable and curable diseases.

Published Scientific Health Care Data

Health disparities are real.  The American Journal of Public Health reported in December 2004 that 886,000 more African Americans died between 1991 and 2000 as a result of unequal healthcare compared to Caucasian Americans.  Latino Americans, Asian Americans, and American Indians show similar and often worse outcome statistics.

Minorities suffer chronic illnesses in disproportionately greater percentages than their majority counterparts.  Their illnesses include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, asthma, cancer, stroke, end-stage kidney disease, which requires extensive dialysis treatment.

Published scientific data confirms that women are often treated differently than men in the healthcare system.  More recent medical literature implies that racial and ethnic minorities may not receive the same treatment as the majority of the population.

Senior citizens are also victims of healthcare disparities.  Minority populations are faced not only with the intrinsic human paranoia about disease, but also with barriers of literacy and language, social and cultural practices, and the pressures of understanding a complex healthcare system.  Given these facts, it is easy to see how large populations remain underserved or not served at all.

Sources of Health Care Disparities

The sources of the disparities, rooted in historic and contemporary inequities, involve many participants at several levels.  These participants include health systems’ administrative processes and bureaucracies, health care professionals, and patients.  The important issue of health care disparity cannot be ignored or diminished.

Unequal health care presents ethical problems of injustice.  Equally important though, if unchecked, disparities in the growing minority populations will become problems of the whole community, affecting the very fabric of our society.

North Carolina Appoints a Community Health Administrator

In 2000, North Carolina’s health director deemed the elimination of health disparities a critical issue. In an effort to address health disparity problems in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, the director of the Mecklenburg County Health Department created the position of Community Health Administrator.

The current Community Health Administrator, Cheryl Emanuel, led a series of community think tank dialogues.  These dialogues brought together various representatives from health groups, minority organizations, universities, community and faith-based organizations, as well as the private sector.

Educational Collaborative for the Elimination of Health Disparities in Mecklenburg County.

In June 2004 a leadership symposium initiated by the Mecklenburg County Health Department-in cooperation with Johnson C. Smith University, Pfeiffer University, and UNC Charlotte, was held to address health disparity issues in the Charlotte Mecklenburg and the surrounding communities.

Uniquely, our Educational Collaborative sought a constituency base and heard many concerned voices about healthcare disparities within Mecklenburg County.

In October 2004, the Educational Collaborative for the Elimination of Health Disparities hosted a successful health summit, “Our Health, Our Priority, Our Policy,” to raise awareness, prioritize solutions, and formulate an agenda for policy development.  Over 300 at risk citizens, community leaders, and public officials attended.

Independent Initiatives

Also in October 2004, Drs. Yele Aluko and Jerome Williams, Jr., members of the Charlotte Medical Society, were involved in an independent and parallel initiative to address health disparities in the community targeting at-risk populations.  Apparent to the participants was that empowering patients through education was instrumental in reducing health disparities.

Partnering with Presbyterian Healthcare System, Carolinas Healthcare System, the Charlotte Medical Society, the Mecklenburg County Medical Society, and several other corporate supporters, this initiative resulted in the inauguration of a series of annual minority health symposiums evaluating health care disparities for minority populations. More than 600 concerned citizens, public officials, health care providers, and corporate leaders attended this inaugural conference.

CACHE emerges

The organizers of these separate yet similar conferences realized that both initiatives had commonality of vision and purpose, with a primary goal of eliminating health disparities in Mecklenburg County. A coalescence of these independent efforts resulted in the formation of the Carolinas Association for Community Health Equity - CACHE.

The strength of this effort is the unprecedented commitment by individuals and organizations partnering for the greater good of all constituents in Mecklenburg County. The collaboration includes local and state governments, health professionals, institutions of higher learning, community associations, faith based groups, and other public and private health related organizations.

Purpose

CACHE, a 501(c)3, strives to be a leading partnership-based organization for achieving community health equity in the Carolinas.  Our mission is to create collaborative partnerships focused on improving health by eliminating health disparities that affect racial, ethnic, and other at-risk populations.

CACHE is divided into four councils;

• Council to improve access to health care

• Council to improve quality of care

• Council to improve cultural and linguistic competency

• Council to promote education and research

CACHE invites all individuals and supportive organizations regardless of race, color, gender, or religion to participate in eliminating health care disparities in Mecklenburg County.