News Gina Jones-Wilson, president of the Upper Hammonds Plains Community Development Association and community coordinator for the vaccine clinic held in Upper Hammonds Plains, says it’s a long-overdue development. “We are effected by so many diseases on a higher scale than most, so in order for the health system to address our needs, they need that data,” she told The Coast. In the US, we know that 41 percent of Black people have high blood pressure, compared to just 27 percent of white folks. There are no such stats in Canada, but Jones-Wilson says high blood pressure and diabetes are more common in Black communities. She says when community groups get together, sometimes the conversation turns to health problems, and the group realizes the same issues are effecting everyone in the room or are present in their family history. It’s about five or six of those diseases that were in every Black community here in Nova Scotia, says Jones-Wilson.
A second town hall gave information on vaccines and allowed members of the ANS community to ask questions. “There is a lot of misinformation about the vaccine, and so with that in mind, we put on the town hall,” says doctor David Haase, a retired infectious diseases and internal medicine physician, and past co-president of HAAC. “Recognizing that for the Black communities mistrust is not just the vaccine, it’s much broader, it’s embedded in systemic racism and the way that our population has been treated or mistreated over the years.” Haase and doctors faced questions about everything from whether the vaccine contained microchips to whether it would alter someone’s DNA. “We had doctor Gaynor Watson-Creed, the deputy chief medical officer of health, give a very nice talk about the vaccine as well and go through the different vaccines,” he tells The Coast in a Zoom call.
Working Group Will Support Race-Based Data Collection Initiative
April 14, 2021 - 1:07 PM
The Nova Scotia government has established a community-based working group to support the collection of race-based data in the health system.
Collecting and interpreting race-based health data will help the government identify and address inequities in health care and better serve racialized people by collaborating on community-level programs and initiatives.
“We know that race is one of the factors that affects people’s access to care. Collecting this data will help us better understand what Nova Scotia’s diverse populations need to be healthy,” said Premier Iain Rankin. “Communities have asked for this, and we will continue to work with them to address barriers and promote equity in health care.”
N S holds first vaccine clinic in African Nova Scotian community cbc.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cbc.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
HALIFAX The vaccine rollout hit another milestone in Nova Scotia with the very first community vaccination clinic for African Nova Scotians. As African Nova Scotians, you know there s been disparities in health services so this is a defining moment. I m excited about this, said Rev. Andrea Anderson. The clinic was held at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Upper Hammonds Plains on Thursday. We know that people in the Black community are vulnerable to COVID-19 and the adverse effects of the virus and so it s important to bring the vaccine to the community for access, said Dr. David Haase. One of the biggest barriers is the mistrust that people in the Black community have had over the years in terms of the medical system and so along comes this vaccine and the mistrust and the misinformation about the vaccine has made it even more difficult, he said.