The devastating realities of health disparities are glaring. As knowledge continues to be produced that challenges the status quo upholding these disparities as usual, it becomes harder to ignore the existence of widespread inequality both locally and globally. Differences in health status and access to health care are continually shaped through histories of power and subjugation, privilege, and despair. They manifest along race and ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, and citizenship, primarily in demographics defined through their exclusion from the norm. Often, these forms of social exclusion function to legitimize and normalize health disparities; however, our goal is to end the social structures that prevent people from accessing high-quality and comprehensive care and set in motion action and advocacy that emphasize people’s right to health.
The Health Equity Action Lab (HEAL), an initiative of The ARGUS Community Foundation, focuses on highlighting and creating programmatic solutions to these stark health disparities, both within the U.S. and in the global communities where our readers reside. Our plan is twofold: through media engagement of all stakeholders throughout the care delivery process, we seek to measurably reduce health inequalities in our local and national communities and advance awareness through documenting disparities.
Through elevated awareness and disruptive distribution, HEAL creates actionable goals to overcome individuals’ sociohistorical barriers in seeking care. HEAL engages with the intuitional, social, and political factors perpetuating inequality in our care systems and resolves these issues at every level.
At Home CareMissouri campaign to address geriatric care in the Black community throughout Missouri. Under the leadership of Carla, the home care agency also addresses the shortage of persons of color in the Nursing field, a problem that became unmanageable during the pandemic as they create pathways toward inclusion.
ARGUS HEAL Health Minute, hosted by Dr. Fredrick Echols, is our digital short that addresses health challenges, provides advice, and connects viewers to helpful information to spur healthy outcomes. It is streamed weekly from The ARGUS and its publisher partners.
Dr. Fredrick Echols, M.D. is the Founder and President of Population, Health, and Social Justice. Before his promotion, Dr. Echols served over 15 years in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County’s Health Departments as Health Commissioner, Director of Health, and Director of Communicable Disease, Vector, and Veterinary Programs. In addition, he also served as Chief of Communicable Diseases for the Illinois Department of Public Health and as a Physician for the United StatesNavy. Dr. Frederick Echols is a Boston University School of Medicine and Clark Atlanta University graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Pre-Med. He also has additional training in the Center for Disease Control’s Population Health Training in Place Program.
Dr. Lawrence Jones, Ph.D., is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Biotechnology Health Management and Care LLC in Pikesville, MD. He earned his doctorate from Regent University in the School of Business and Leadership with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Leadership. His doctoral research explored “An Exploratory Quantitative Comparison of Direct Reports’ Perceptions of Entrepreneurial Leadership of Biotechnology Founders Versus Nonbiotechnology Founders.” Dr. Jones leads the ARGUS health editorial team and connects our agency to health stories of interest and professionals in the health space.
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Contact The ARGUS today to share health equity stories, events and community initiatives. st.louis.argus@gmail.com • 314.632.6079
