News

This year’s theme is “Hear Indigenous Voices: Uniting Bold Voices of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians/Other Pacific Islanders.” The rate of HIV and AIDS in the American Indian and Alaska Native population is significant, and stigma and fear can keep people from seeking help. Getting tested is the first step in protecting health and stopping the spread of the virus to others. HIV/AIDS testing is free at all IHS facilities

The IHS National HIV/AIDS Program (HIV/AIDS) coordinates and promotes HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment activities specific to Indians as part of a comprehensive public health approach. In addition to providing medical care to eligible beneficiaries, the IHS also serves as a public health system. The goals of the HIV/AIDS Program are to prevent further spread of HIV and improve health outcomes for those already living with HIV and AIDS. 

• identifying new approaches to implement effective prevention interventions;
• developing HIV prevention and care standards and performance measures;
• reducing and preventing new infections by communicating public health messages on the importance of knowing personal HIV status;
• increasing routine HIV screening;
• increasing access to care and improving health outcomes for people living with HIV and AIDS;
• developing policies and procedures to sustain preventative successes including confidentiality concerns;
• utilizing media to expand access to information about testing, stigma prevention, and HIV education for health care providers and AI/AN people; and
• providing technical assistance to Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations regarding these HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs.

Read more on IHS.gov.

Tiffany Hall was attending North Carolina Central University in 1995 when she received some devastating news. Candice, an 18-year old college student and close family friend, had killed herself.

“We saw her all the time. [She’d ask] ‘What’s your momma cooking?’ She’d come down and have dinner with us or after school,” Hall said. “We always hung out.”

In the years since, stories like Candice’s have become all too common.

According to a recent report from NC Child, the rate of suicide among black teenagers has grown to more than twice that of whites. That’s despite the fact that blacks of all ages are still less likely to commit suicide than whites of all ages – although that gap is narrowing. 

Since 2001, the rate of suicide among African-American male teenagers has increased by 60 percent; for African-American females it has increased by 182 percent, according to a report in the Journal of Community Health.

“If we don’t get a handle on the increase in suicide among African Americans, I can foresee a time when (the overall rate of) African Americans can surpass those of whites,” said Victor Armstrong, a board member at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “I think part of it is because, in the African-American community, we have not accepted it yet as our issue.”

Between 2015 and 2017, North Carolina was one of the top 10 states with the greatest number of black teen suicides. Reasons for suicide vary, but untreated trauma is one of the main causes.

“Let’s say that a student was bullied in middle school and he starts suffering from depression,” explained Valerie Merriweather, a Mental Health Promotions Specialist at North Carolina Central University. “If that goes untreated, then he’s actually at increased risk of suicide, so by the time he gets to college he’s even more at risk and more vulnerable, given all the stresses that students are under in college.”

Brittnee Morgan is a junior at NCCU and also the founder of an annual event called “Break the Stigma.” Morgan specifically designed it to bring the issues of mental illness and the rising suicide rate for black teens to the group it was most affecting.

Like so many others trying to address the problem, Morgan’s life has been touched by suicide. Her grandfather killed himself in 1992. Morgan said her mother was often teased by other black people because of it.  

“Since it was such a negative view on her family, if that happened to my mom, imagine how many students that happens to and they don’t speak up,” Morgan said. “So I figured, why not be the voice for them?”

This year’s “Break The Stigma” event at NCCU had food and games – as well as conversations aimed at teaching students to see signs of depression in their peers. It also alerted students to the support network and mental health resources available to them on campus. “I think this is a nice event to bring awareness without making it so serious,” said sophomore Jailyn Smith,  who attended with her friends. “It’s a way for us to have fun and fellowship with each other and still have suicide awareness. So I feel hopeful that this event can lead to a change or a different outlook on suicide prevention.”

Read more on the WUNC.org.

45,390 American adults died from suicide in 2017, including 6,139 U.S. Veterans. The nation is understandably grieving with each suicide, prompting our collective and tireless pursuit of evidence-based clinical interventions and expansion of community prevention strategies to reach each Veteran.

As part of recent efforts to support Veterans in crisis, VA is using artificial intelligence (AI) systems capabilities leveraged by customer feedback industry best practices in partnership with Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, Medallia, and Halfaker to detect and respond to Veterans in crisis.

Starting in fall 2017, VA began digitally collecting customer feedback from Veterans receiving VA services and VA digital properties in the Veterans Signals (VSignals) program. Since then, Veterans have responded with more than 4.2 million surveys, including more than 1.6 million free-text comments. This feedback is accessible to VA employees across the country for action, often prompting customer service efforts and influencing VA decision making.

Veteran feedback is also used to measure trust in VA; as of November 5, 2019, Veterans measured Veterans Health Administration Outpatient Care trust at 87.8%. A recent Partnership for Public Service study credited VA for its mature customer experience data program an essential indicator to VA’s customer experience improvements.

The artificial intelligence systems capabilities developed by the Veterans Experience Office (VEO) searches through Veteran survey responses in real-time and highlights Veterans that may be in crisis. Crisis alerts are routed to the VA National Call Center for Homeless Veterans (NCCHV), Veteran Crisis Line (VCL), or other various VA offices that can offer assistance. This system has already engaged and led to early intervention for more than 1,400 Veterans in need to provide them assistance within minutes of the alert.

VA is listening to Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors – and taking action. VA is committed to providing assistance to Veterans who may be in need of support. It’s our hope that Veterans will continue to seek assistance using all the resources made available to them, both in their local communities and nationally through the VA. As this program continues to grow, VA is optimistic that technology like this will elevate efforts to support and assist the Veterans in crisis across the country.

Read more on VA.gov.

In order to highlight pockets of excellence across the country, the NNED selects a partner organization to highlight once a month. Greenhope Services for Women Inc., has been selected as the Partner of the Month for March in celebration of National Women’s History Month.

Greenhope was established in 1975 in a convent that was transformed into a comprehensive residential treatment program for formerly incarcerated women. Over the years, it has developed formal relationships with the criminal justice system and has expanded its work to include services for women on parole and those referred by the courts as an alternative to incarceration (ATI).
Located in East Harlem, Greenhope’s commitment to providing quality services to predominantly poor African American and Latina ex-offenders has made it a leader in working with women to address the problems that lead to a life of drugs and crime. It is one of the few woman-centered facilities operating in New York State, which serves both parolees and ATI clients.

To date, Greenhope has helped over 4,000 women reclaim their lives, reunite with their families and rebuild their communities.

Some of the programs and services that are currently offered:

• Community Based Residential Program (CBRP) – The Community Based Residential Program is designed for parolee women needing substance abuse residential services. The population is primarily composed of women just released from New York State prison. It is an intensive six-month program. Clients are expected to attend and participate in substance abuse education and counseling, vocational and educational groups, parenting skills development workshops, empowerment groups, and recreational activities.
• Residential Stabilization Program (RSP)– The Residential Stabilization Program is a three-month program for women parolees who are usually already in the community and are currently in crisis situations such as domestic violence, loss or lack of housing, etc. Services may extend to four months only with the approval of the Division of Parole. Clients are assessed for services and are referred accordingly. Clients are expected to attend and participate in substance abuse education and counseling, vocational and educational groups, parenting skills development workshops, empowerment groups, and recreational activities.
• Residential Alternative to Incarceration Program (RATI) – The Residential ATI program is designed for women requiring in-patient substance abuse services. Clients are referred from New York City drug treatment, family and supreme courts. They are mandated to participate and complete all treatment stipulations set by Greenhope and the courts. Clients receive court advocacy services to assist in gaining probation and/or dismissal of their convictions. |
• Outpatient Aftercare – The outpatient program serves women on parole, women referred as an alternative to incarceration and women from the community requiring substance abuse services. These women may or may not have participated in Greenhope’s residential and/or day treatment programs. Some clients may have parole and/or court stipulations that they participate in aftercare outpatient services.
• Family Development – The Family Development program is designed to meet the multiple and complex needs of mothers who are chemically dependent and are mandated to treatment as a condition of public assistance eligibility and those re-entering society after incarceration. This program is designed to prevent children from being placed in or returned to foster care, to prevent relapse, and to assist mothers in achieving self-sufficiency.
• Vocational and Educational Services – Greenhope provides a vocational assessment, counseling, evaluation, academic support, GED preparation, vocational workshops, job training, and job placement for all clients.

Learn more about Greenhope Services for Women Inc. and their mission to help women involved in the criminal justice system, who also have a substance abuse addiction, to reclaim and rebuild their lives, in the State of New York.

View a list of previous NNED Partners of the Month.

University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center studies show Native Hawaiian and African American smokers have a higher risk of acquiring lung cancer than smokers of other ethnic/racial groups.

The study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that for the same amount of smoking, Native Hawaiians and African Americans have twice the risk of getting lung cancer than Japanese Americans and Latinos, with the risk of Caucasian smokers being intermediate. This new analysis of almost 5,000 cases in the Multi-ethnic Cohort Study shows major differences in the risk of lung cancer among smokers from various ethnic/racial groups.

The findings also suggest that the higher risk of lung cancer for African American smokers and lower risk for Japanese American smokers are due to differences in smoking intensity (the amount of nicotine and tobacco carcinogens inhaled from each cigarette). However, the increased risk for Native Hawaiian smokers remains unexplained.

“It is still not clear why these striking ethnic disparities exist in the risk of lung cancer,” said Loic Le Marchand, principal investigator and UH Cancer Center epidemiologist. “By better understanding differences in the way people smoke and the biological changes that lead to lung cancer, we hope to help reduce ethnic/racial disparities in the occurrence of this deadly disease.”

In Hawai‘i, Native Hawaiians have the highest rate of lung cancer compared to other ethnic groups. In 2016, Hawai‘i State Department of Health statistics reported an overall smoking rate in Hawai‘i of 14 percent; however, 27 percent of Native Hawaiians were smokers.

“Native Hawaiians should particularly be advised to not start smoking or to quit if they are still smoking. We know that smoking is a major cause of lung cancer in all populations and that avoiding smoking lowers one’s risk of lung cancer substantially. Smoking causes 90 percent of all lung cancers and increases the risk of many other types of cancer and chronic conditions,” said Le Marchand.

In order to understand the ethnic/racial disparities linked to lung cancer, UH Cancer Center researchers have initiated a new study and seek to recruit 300 volunteers of Japanese, Caucasian or Hawaiian ancestry who are current cigarette smokers. The objectives are to identify biomarkers in blood and urine that are associated with lung cancer risk and to improve understanding of the mechanisms underlying the risk.

Read more on Khon2.com.

It’s no secret that African Americans – particularly teens – are committing suicide at record levels.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide rates have increased by 30 percent since 1999 and nearly 45,000 lives were lost to suicide in 2016 alone.

A June 2019 study conducted by the Journal of Community Health revealed that suicide deaths among black females aged 13 to 19 rose 182 percent between 2001 and 2017, while the rate among black teen males rose 60 percent during that same period.

From 2015 to 2017, 52 percent of black teen males who died from suicide used firearms, a method with a fatality rate of nearly 90 percent. Another 34 percent used strangulation or suffocation, which has a fatality rate of about 60 percent.

Among the 204 black teen females who died by suicide from 2015 to 2017, 56 percent used strangulation or suffocation and 21 percent used firearms, according to the study.

Experts and others have tried to determine why African Americans increasingly are choosing to end their lives. Theories have run the gamut – from the lack of strong father-figures to racism and social media and even the increase in black wealth.

Whatever the reason, the CDC said it’s important to note that suicidal thoughts or behaviors are both damaging and dangerous and should be treated as a psychiatric emergency.

CDC officials also caution that those who have suicidal thoughts should understand that it doesn’t make one weak or flawed.

“Why are we killing ourselves? The lack of treatment of mental illness is the key factor to why suicide is on the rise in the black community,” said Clarence McFerren, a mental health advocate and author who admits to previously having suicidal thoughts as a teenager.

“Throughout my life, I’ve been faced with difficult situations which festered into five mental illness diagnosis – ADHD, PTSD, severe depression, bipolar tendencies and anxieties – and I did not understand what was going on until I took the steps to get help,” McFerren said. Famed Beverly Hills family and relationship psychotherapist and author Dr. Fran Walfish said she’s treated hundreds of thousands of children and teens each year and recently she’s seen the number of troubled teenagers who are cutters and dealing with suicidal thoughts, feelings, ideas, plans, and even attempts of suicide.

“The irony is the more black success that someone sees in various industries could make a person start to wonder about what’s wrong with themselves. Depression and lack of fulfillment can cause people in a rich country to consider suicide … when there’s a huge gap between one’s expectations and their reality, life can seem miserable,” Darné said.

Read more on TheCharlottePost.com.