Local advocates will hold the workshop from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the eFactory in downtown Springfield with a focus on health disparities in the Black community. Community leaders like Mayor Ken McClure and Dr. Nancy Yoon of the Springfield Greene-County Health Department will speak at the event.
The Center for Disease Control finds that Black Americans are twice as likely to die from heart disease as white Americans. The CDC also finds Black Americans are likelier to develop chronic diseases like cancer at younger ages than their white counterparts.
Melesha Bailey, spokesperson for the SpringMo Black Wellness Initiative, says the workshop will kick off a longer campaign to help Black residents of Springfield achieve the same health outcomes through access to healthcare and resources.
“We want to lessen the effects of them by talking about education, the resources that Springfield has, and to be able to decrease some of the effects of diabetes and high blood pressure and strokes and cancer that affect our community in such a profound way,” Bailey told KSMU.
Registration closed after the event reached its full capacity. Bailey says the initiative hopes to hold a larger two-day conference on Black health in Springfield next year.
