美国国家公共电台 NPR--A Black church in Louisiana aims to educate people on how to be healthy

A Black church in Louisiana aims to educate people on how to be healthy

Transcript¹

A new study looks at whether placing health care workers in churches can help eliminate health disparities that disproportionately affect Black communities in the South.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Despite all the deaths from COVID in recent years, something else kills more people in the United States. Heart disease remains² this country's leading cause of death, according to the CDC. So some doctors plan to team up with churches to bring medical services to people who need them most. Gulf³ States Newsroom health reporter Shalina Chatlani went to church.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing) He's got the whole world in his hands. He's got the whole world in his hands.

SHALINA CHATLANI, BYLINE⁴: It's daily mass at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Marrero, La., just outside of New Orleans. Louisiana, alongside its neighbors Alabama and Mississippi, have some of the highest rates of heart disease in the nation, and Black residents are more likely than white residents to experience high blood pressure. At this predominantly Black church, parishioners are aware of the statistics because a lot of people here have either experienced a serious health condition or know someone who has.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP AND SIDNEY SPEAKS: I confess to almighty⁵ God, and to you my brothers and sisters...

CHATLANI: When people stood up for prayer requests, nearly all of them were about a child who is sick or a friend in the hospital. Parishioner Octavia Fennidy remembers growing up not having access to a lot of healthy food. She has diabetes⁶ and has survived cancer twice. When she goes to the doctor, she says there's often judgment⁷ and a lack of cultural sensitivity in the medical field.

OCTAVIA FENNIDY: I feel like the doctor does not take as much time with me as they do with maybe a Caucasian patient. So I don't feel like I get the right treatment. So why go?

CHATLANI: There are also practical issues like lack of insurance.

FENNIDY: Am I going to get the medicine or am I going to buy my groceries? I have to eat. So that's where we see a lot of the disparities come in.

CHATLANI: She's a longtime member of the church's health ministry⁸, which has been around for a few decades. The goal is to educate people on how to be healthy. They have health fairs where people learn about exercise and diet. These types of events have helped some parishioners find out they had conditions like kidney disease. That's why Tulane University doctors and public health researchers are launching a study to team up with churches like St. Joseph. Cardiologist Dr. Keith C.Ferdinand is helping⁹ lead Tulane's CHERISH program, which will place community health workers and nurses in about four dozen churches across the greater New Orleans area to treat hypertension and reduce risk of heart disease within Black communities. This model has worked in the past.

KEITH C FERDINAND: Probably one of the best shown examples was the Los Angeles barbershop study.

FENNIDY: The barbershop study's results were published in 2018. It placed pharmacists within dozens of salons¹⁰. It created a safe space for Black men to monitor their blood pressure and get prescription¹¹ medicine. And the result was that the majority of participants were able to significantly lower their blood pressure after talking to their barbers. Ferdinand says communities of color need alternatives to the hospital, like a church.

FERDINAND: If you can see patients in a comfortable, community-based environment, that may be superior to having the patient come into the hospital clinic for services.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Amen.

CHATLANI: Back at St. Joseph, Father Sidney Speaks agrees - this is a great place to monitor health.

SIDNEY SPEAKS: Because it's always been a major center of community life, a center of the life of the person, the center of the family.

CHATLANI: For example, St. Joseph has been the site of a successful vaccination¹² campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SPEAKS: If I'm coming to church where I'm going to be spiritually made well, well, then, that would be a place where I could be made well physically¹³.

CHATLANI: Speaks says he's looking forward to seeing both his parishioners and nurses come through the church doors later this year.

For NPR News, I'm Shalina Chatlani in Marrero.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 almighty   

adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的

参考例句：

• Those rebels did not really challenge Gods almighty power.这些叛徒没有对上帝的全能力量表示怀疑。
• It's almighty cold outside.外面冷得要命。

6 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

7 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

8 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 salons   

n.（营业性质的）店( salon的名词复数 )；厅；沙龙（旧时在上流社会女主人家的例行聚会或聚会场所）；（大宅中的）客厅

参考例句：

• He used to attend to his literary salons. 他过去常常去参加他的文学沙龙。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Conspiracy theories about Jewish financiers were the talk of Paris salons. 犹太金融家阴谋论成为巴黎沙龙的话题。 来自互联网

11 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

12 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

13 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。