APRIL 27, 2009

KDNC

ISAAC GICHIENGO

MACHARIA WARUINGI, MD, DHA

 

Lack of access to health and human development services is a problem of serious concern among minorities in Lehigh Valley. The purpose of KDNC Lehigh Valley Action Plan is to create possibility for access to health, business, and economic development services among minorities living in Lehigh Valley to increase diversity in business ownership.

Objectives

The two objectives of KDNC Lehigh Valley action plan are:

1.       to facilitate increased ownership of businesses among minorities in Lehigh Valley under the KDNC mission of incubation of mission based enterprise; and

2.       to redress the imbalance  of health care equity by addressing disparities of health arising from lack of access to care among the minorities living in Lehigh Valley.

The Problem

The general problem is that minorities in Lehigh Valley area are under-represented in business presence, and employment. This under-representation leads to lack of access to medical and health care services. The specific problem is that there lacks an organization that can consolidate the work of minorities in Lehigh Valley. The purpose of KDNC Lehigh Valley Action Plan is to create possibility for access to health, business, and economic development services among minorities living in Lehigh Valley to increase diversity in business ownership.

Philosophical Approach

KDNC approach to human development rests on the philosophy that economic development is by far the greatest cause of improvement in health. Economic development is a function of access to business and human support services.

The Question

How can we create an organization that will enable minorities in Lehigh Valley to gain access to business and human support services?

 Business Support Services include such actions as

1.       Business planning service incorporating business research, feasibility analysis, market audit, human resource planning advice, and financial modeling

2.       Business financing advise, service and representation

3.       Market creation and support

4.       Opportunity to do business (learning by doing)

5.       Opportunity to reflect upon business successes and failure (learning by reflecting)

6.       Business evaluation and control services

 

Human Support Services are actions that help to meet human needs including

1.       Human physiological needs incorporating individual and community health services that address health disparities and diseases of major concern to African Americans

2.       Human safety needs incorporating access to housing, security, protection, and immigration services

3.       Human social needs creating a sense of belonging and love incorporating community social amenities such as education, sports and artistic development

4.       Human esteem needs incorporating  recognition and status of minorities in the wider society

5.       Human self-actualization needs establishing the highest possible level of human achievement among minorities available to all and any American.

The KDNC Business Support Service is an incubator model, leading to emergence of minority owned mission based enterprises. The business support service provides opportunity for continual double loop learning about business. The first loop of learning is learning by reflecting and consulting with associates at KDNC, and the second loop is learning in action, by doing business. In this way, KDNC business support service provides continued support to and a safe harbor for minority business owners.

The KDNC Human Support Service addresses human needs by working with government agencies and corporations to create community health actions, social and education services for minorities.

Lehigh Valley

According to the 2000 census, the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MA had a population of 637,958, representing a 7.1 percent decrease from 1990. The state of Pennsylvania’s population increased 3.4 percent during the same period.

The racial composition in 2000 was 89.8 percent white, 3.0 percent black, 7.9 percent of Hispanic origin, 1.6 percent Asian, 4.1 percent of other races, and 1.5 percent of people who reported two or more races.

The number of households was 247,148, and the number of families was 169,596.

The median age of Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MA residents was 38.6 years in 2000. The median age of the state of Pennsylvania’s residents was 38 years.

In 2001, the approval rates for home purchase applications for government one- to four-unit residential mortgages were lowest for low-income applicants and highest for middle-income applicants. Approval rates for conventional one- to four-unit residential mortgages increased by applicant income. Conventional approval rates ranged from 48.6 percent for low-income applicants to 82.0 percent for upper-income applicants, and government approval rates ranged from 77.3 percent for low-income applicants to 88.1 percent for middle-income applicants.

In 2001, refinances of existing mortgages represented over half (56.4 percent) of all HMDA-reportable applications. When sorted by census tract income, approval rates for refinances ranged from 33.5 percent in moderate-income tracts to 60.7 percent in upper-income tracts.

The number of HMDA-reportable applications in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MA increased 43.4 percent from 2000 to 2001, while the number of loans made increased 62.1 percent.

For all HMDA-reportable applications, approval rates for whites were significantly higher than those for blacks and Hispanics for the period from 1999 to 2001. The approval rates for whites, blacks, and Hispanics were 66.1 percent, 43.4 percent, and 53.4 percent, respectively, in 1999; 63.1 percent, 45.1 percent, and 56.5 percent, respectively, in 2000; and 73.3 percent, 55.5 percent, and 62.1 percent, respectively, in 2001.

Minority Health

Health Disparities

Health disparity refers to the differences that occur in health delivery because of race and ethnicity, gender, income or education level, disability, sexual orientation among various demographic groups. Examples of health disparities are low health literacy, unequal treatment for minorities or lack of physicians in rural areas. According to the World Health Organization, disparity is the differences in health. Such differences are not only unnecessary and avoidable but also unfair and unjust. System-related factors involve a degree of choice such as limited health care providers due to insurance, availability, and quality.

Minorities tend to receive lower-quality health care than whites, even when insurance status, income, age, and severity of conditions are comparable. Differences in how heart disease, cancer, and HIV infection in minority patients are treated by physicians may partly contribute to higher mortality rates. More minority health care providers mean more empathetic and culturally competent care, and perhaps increased trust and improved communication between patient and providers. Improving communication between provider and patient improves care.

Health Disparities in Lehigh Valley

Analysis of black/white differences in stroke rate (standardized morbidity), severity, and subtype, and the relative frequencies of five primary risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, myocardial infarction, other heart diseases, and transient ischemic attack ) using the Lehigh Valley Stroke Register showed that blacks had a statistically significant higher, age-adjusted rate of stroke than whites. These observations are consistent with other reports that blacks have a higher frequency of stroke and tend to have more small-vessel cerebrovascular pathology than whites do.

Conclusion

This Action Plan is designed to consolidate the work of minorities in the Lehigh Valley whos well-being has been under-represented. KDNC aspires to provide sustainable road map towards increasing access to health, economic development services, and diversity in business ownership, among minorities in the Lehigh Valley.