Page 14 - Buzz Magazine - Issue No 2 Winter 2021 | University of Rochester

take heart

HOW HAS COVID-19 AFFECTED We also are looking to engage
THE WAYS YOU ENGAGE WITH alumni from the National Football
THE COMMUNITY? League to help with some of our
The biopsychosocial approach programs. Community members
is more important than ever, love interacting with them. Those
especially now with COVID-19. who are influential in the
We see so many people resistant community are in an ideal
to vaccination. In the medical position to help deliver health-
community, we must ask ourselves related messaging that will help
why and what we can do to help improve people’s lives.
break down that resistance. For
me, that means building trust with WHAT DO YOU THINK IS
people. It also means delivering THE BIGGEST BARRIER TO
information in ways—and in GOOD HEART HEALTH?
places—that resonate with them. Access. Yes, many people have
Right now, too many people are doctors and insurance. My father
turning to the internet and they had both, but he didn’t have
are getting a lot of misinformation. the right kind of access nor was
information delivered to him in
WHAT ARE SOME PROGRAMS ways that would really inform him
THAT ARE WORKING WELL? how to take better action. When
Through the CCI we run programs his legs got so swollen he couldn’t
such as Walk with a Doc, Shop walk, he listened to a friend—not
with a Doc, and a variety of a doctor—who told him to put
“meducation” community education leeches on his legs to reduce
activities that focus on self- the swelling. Remember that the
care and deliver cardiovascular biopsychosocial approach is key.
screenings. For instance, we work If you know your patients,
with faith-based leaders through genuinely care about them, and
our “medevangelism” program. they trust you, then they are all in.

BLACK ALUMNI Help us foster a network for

Unite. NETWORK personal and professional
Engage. connection and provide a sense
Empower.
UNIVERSI T Y OF ROCHESTER of community for alumni of color.