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HSCI Awarded SCHA 2001 Vanguard Award

MUSC was the 2001 recipient of the South Carolina Health Association Vanguard Award for Leadership in Community Health Improvement. This prestigious award is presented to an institution that demonstrates leadership through identifying community needs and establishes true community partnerships to address those needs. The Healthy South Carolina Initiative represented that commitment.



HSCI Reaches and Exceeds Its Objectives

The Healthy South Carolina Initiative exceeded its goals and objectives as seen in the outcomes below. This $11 million project has already resulted in more than $14 million in ongoing and new programs for vulnerable populations, while providing service learning experiences for hundreds of students, public education, and patient care.



MUSC Wins AAMC Public Service Award, 2001

MUSC College of Medicine has won The Outstanding Community Service Award from AAMC. The award recognizes broad-based community-academic collaborations linked to the education of medical students and to a program of research. A day-long site visit was conducted in September and the winner was announced in early November.

 

 

Health - e - AME: A Faith-based Physical Activity Initiative for African Americans in South Carolina

Issue:

African Americans suffer disproportionately from cardiovascular disease and diabetes. An important risk factor for the development of these diseases is lack of sufficient physical activity which contributes to overweight and obesity. Rates of participation in physical activity of at least moderate intensity are lower among African Americans than among non-Hispanic Caucasians, especially for African American women.

Although relatively few physical activity interventions have been done with African American adults, some important components of successful interventions have been identified. In particular, programs that are culturally tailored, contain strategies for reinforcement and social support, and involve community churches appear promising. Unfortunately, most of the physical activity initiatives that have been previously evaluated with African Americans have focused on small urban or rural populations and have largely excluded men.

Response:

Researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina and the Arnold School of Public Health at USC are involved in a participatory project with 608 AME churches across the state to increase moderate level physical activity among African Americans. The strategies for increasing physical activity will be developed in collaboration with AME church members and implemented in churches that choose to participate in the program. Strategies are likely to include education about physical activity, reinforcement, social support, and training in activities of interest to the church, such as Praise Aerobics (moving to gospel music) and walking clubs.

The specific aim of the project are numerous and include the following:

  • Increase interest and readiness related to participation in physical activity;
  • Increase overall amount of physical activity by at least 15%; and
  • Sustain interest and participation in physical activity beyond the time period of the research project.

This project will provide valuable information about strategies for involving churches in efforts to increase physical activity among African American men and women.

For more information about this research project, contact Marilyn Laken, Ph.D., R.N., Director of Special Initiatives at lakenm@musc.edu.

 

 

Project EXPORT

A health and economic crisis facing African American South Carolinians is being addressed by a joint project of the South Carolina State University in Orangeburg and the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

The schools will launch a multi-pronged attack on metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that include obesity, elevated blood pressure and lipid abnormalities. Individuals with metabolic syndrome are at risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and some cancers. The syndrome is growing in epidemic proportions nationally and particularly in South Carolina and its African American communities.

Funded by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, two five-year grants, totaling $5.9 million to the two institutions, will support Project EXPORT (Center of Excellence in Partnership for Community Outreach, Research on Health Disparities and Training).

"As the state's leading academic health center and the top minority-serving institution, together, we have unique capabilities and special strengths to provide innovative programs to address the crisis" said SC State's James Walker, Ph.D., Co-Principal Investigator and Center Co-Director, and MUSC's Sabra Slaughter, Ph. D., Principal Investigator.

An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association published just last month stated that 40 percent of African American women are obese, and more than 80 percent are overweight. In addition numerous recent studies have shown that obesity is affecting children and teens in growing numbers.

It is estimated that 47 million Americans have metabolic syndrome, according to Brent Egan, M.D., Research Co-Director. And it increases as a function of age. It is being seen earlier in life, as more children are becoming obese. "We're now seeing diabetes and hypertension in teenagers," said Egan.

The health impact of the obesity epidemic will not be fully felt for the next 10 to 20 years, as there is a lag time from the development of metabolic syndrome until the development of the related medical conditions such as diabetes or hypertension. "The magnitude of the problem will be overwhelming if nothing is done about it," said Egan. "The mean age in the US is increasing rapidly, with an expected addition of about 35 million people over the age of 60 in 20 years and 2 million fewer people ages 30 to 50 to pay the tax to support the health problems of these groups. It is not just a health issue, but a major economic time bomb."

Project EXPORT will foster a grass roots approach to health promotion and disease prevention through emphasis on establishing healthy lifestyles earlier in life. The outreach core of the project will design community centered educational programs that promote healthy lifestyle changes and primary prevention strategies by encouraging citizens to disseminate as well as receive health information. "We will concentrate our efforts in a 16-county region of central South Carolina where we already have an affiliated group of extension offices in each county to assist with the project," said Walker. Programs will be taken to churches, beauty and barbershops, local boys' and girls' clubs, 4-H clubs, senior centers and other places where citizens congregate.

The research core of the program will be centered at the new Clinical Research Unit at South Carolina State. Nutritional intervention research will be emphasized with students and faculty from SC State's nursing school conducting the research protocols. MUSC faculty will assist in the initiation, design and evaluation of the research projects.

The training core of the program will be responsible for designing and implementing strategies to increase the number of African American health professionals engaged in health disparities research. There will be integration with several existing successful training programs. Additionally some 70 to 100 existing MUSC National Institute of Health grants are eligible for up to seven supplements each for the purpose of minority student development. These have been severely underutilized, and the project will open up a variety of training opportunities for minority high school and college students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty. The EXPORT plan is to more fully utilize these supplements and produce a cadre of future scientists interested in research into disparities in health care.