Manning Baptist Church’s Health Ministry sponsored the Hope for a Healthier Nation Disparities Conference 2015 on February 28, 2015. The conference was held at Brandi’s Banquet Hall, Dillon.
The focus of the conference was to address disparities that exist among specific population groups: African American, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos, and to increase knowledge and awareness of health disparities in Dillon County. Conference speakers were from the Office of Minority Health DHEC in Columbia, SC which included Ms. Jacqlyn Baylis, director and her colleagues, Ms. Johnese Bostic and Mr. Lewis Hicks.
Ms. Johnese Bostic and Mr. Lewis Hicks discussed diabetes, cancer, obesity, stroke, heart disease infant mortality, HIV/aids, and other STD’s in Dillon County and the state of South Carolina.
They gave interesting, but alarming, statistics about the citizens of Dillon County and other South Carolinians. South Carolinians and Dillon County communities have high rates of high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, overweight and obesity, physical inactivity, unhealthy dietary habits. Health promotion activities which aid in the eradication of those health disparities include health education including the benefits of heart healthy nutrition and physical activity for individuals, families and the communitiy. In recognition of the importance of health disparities and in support of the conference, Dillon County Council signed a resolution to place the Hope for a Healthier Nation Health Disparities Conference in the Dillon County history documents on January 28, 2015.
The conference will be an annual event, and the Manning Baptist Church Ministry hopes to educate the community about health disparities and to encourage community leaders, to work together to promote better health practices. The ministry is available to provide health education to churches, organizations, and industry.
In conjunction with the conference, the Legacy of Leadership Awards’ Program took place. The purpose of the Legacy of Leadership Excellence Award is to recognize outstanding individuals who consistently demonstrate leadership excellence in academic, service and professional activities to help improve the quality of life among individuals, families, communities, organizations and the environment for future generations. Leadership Awards were based on the following criteria: Excellence-their work consistently helps others in the community to advance to a higher level of academic, service and professional achievement; Dedication-they go above and beyond expectations to help others succeed; Inspiration-their work inspires others to exceed expectations either academically or professionally; Leadership-they demonstrate clear leadership skills in their position with their students, colleagues, communities and organizations; and Effectiveness- their work has clear, positive results in the academic, service, professional advancement of others.
Recipients of the 2015 Legacy of Leadership Excellence Awards were Mr. Andrew “Deboy” Graves, Former Chairman of Dillon County; Ms. Shauna Hick, MPH, former Director office of Minority Heath SCDHEC; Ms. Suzette McClellan, MPH
