The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) held its 26th Annual Legislative Conference September 16-18, 1999. At the invitation of Congresswoman Donna Christian Christensen, my family and I attended the weekend of activities.
My husband, Dr. Simon Jones-Hendrickson participated in the economic and health sessions. My 17-year-old daughter, Nesha, and I attended the health sessions.
The Health Braintrust, chaired by our Congresswoman, focused on mental health
issues. My daughter intended only to attend a few sessions. However, each session was so full of content interesting to all age groups that she remained the entire day.
Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher started with a call to action to eliminate disparities in health status among racial and ethnic groups by 2010. Meri Danquah, author of "Willow Weep for Me", moved the audience to tears with her autobiographical excerpt of her fight with depression and her inability to get insurance as a result of her diagnosis of clinical depression. Dr. Alan Herman, a South African living in America, startled the audience by relating that the younger the age of first pregnancy, all impregnated by adult males, the greater the risk of smoking, drinking and drug abuse; the greater the risk of premature births; and the greater the expenditure of dollars per pregnancy. His cry was characterized by the title of the panel— "Our Children, Our Treasure: Beginning at the Beginning."
Dr. Gilbert Parks, Chair of the National Medical Association Board of Trustees, who practices psychiatry in Topeka, Kansas, spoke of his wife. She had Rheumatic Fever at age 13. She spent many days in the hospital between ages 13 to 24 when her Penicillin was finally stopped. When her girlfriends were hospitalized, she would send him to see them. She refused to go. One year ago she fell and tore the tendons in her shoulder.
For five months, neither he nor any other physician could convince her to go to the hospital to get the needed surgery. During the five months, she developed diabetes, which was never evident before.
Dr. Parks is sure that the manifestation of the diabetes is the result of the stress related to having to consider going into the hospital. Dr. Parks clearly demonstrated with the story of his wife the inter-relationship between the oneness of body and mind. The mental stress of hospitalizations resulted in the manifestation of her Diabetes.
Dr. Marilyn Gaston, Assistant Surgeon General, who has dedicated her life to
improving primary care for children, explained that we have the most expensive health care system, yet we have 43 million citizens without health coverage, 700 mental health shortage areas, 2,500 primary care shortage areas and 500 dental health shortage areas. She pointed out that less than 1 percent of our trillion-dollar health budget goes to prevention. Startling statistics as they are, only 50 percent of persons with mental disorders seek help and when they do, they do so with primary care providers, not mental health professionals. Her plea was to integrate mental health into primary health care services for all studies show when you do both the patients who seek primary care improve their mental health, and the patients who seek mental health services improve their general health.
After hypertension and diabetes, depression is the third most common illness.
Many of the speakers described the redesign of the health care landscape by
developing a comprehensive health care model that deals with the stigma and emphasizes the strengths of the institutions that presently exist.
Dr. Lucille Perez, associate director for Medical and Clinical Affairs in the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, captured the hearts of all present with a moving video of
"One Song, Many Voices: Believing in one world, treat me with dignity—my race, my religion, my nationality—help me to celebrate my humanity."
My daughter, Nesha, admitted at the conclusion of the Health Braintrust conference that she now understood why physicians work so hard. She understood that when we start with truth, the truth of stresses, the truth of relationships, the truth of our health care system, that we can start the journey to real change that leads to wellness.
But I cannot finish this report without mentioning that she was also impressed by the opportunity for her brother, Marcus, and herself to visit the White House, and her best
friend, Kristen and herself to have the opportunity to personally meet President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, The Reverend Jesse Jackson and the three soldiers whose freedom from Kosovo he won. She also met Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and the list goes on.
It is clear that our Congresswoman, Dr. Donna Christian Christensen will continue to build bridges for the year 2000 and beyond.