LA Wellness Walk (w/ Jhade Barnes)

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They say health this wealth, Well, what's your account looking like. We're going to have a conversation today about a matter that's important near and dear to all of us in the African American community, and that's the health of our African American males. Are you taking care of yourself? And more importantly, do you know your numbers? Did you know that African American men die twelve years earlier than their white counterpart?

Why is that?

Well, we're going to discuss that with our special guests, but first I want to play this video about an event that's happening Saturday, November eleventh at eight am right here in Los Angeles is going to work in an effort of closing the health equity gap.

Take a look, Los Angeles, black men are dying from preventable diseases.

You can be part of the solution. Come out to five.

Zero zero one Obama Boulevard on Saturday, November eleventh at eight am for the African American Male Wellness Walking Run featuring Honorary Chair tr Main Anchrum of the Los Angeles Brown This is a free family event with free health screenings, kids area entertainment, and much more. Visitaawellness dot org and we'll see you on Saturday, November eleventh, Walking to save black Man's lives.

All right, so now let's get ready for this conversation. Get your radio waves, get your podcast waves, just get ready for me.

To welcome our very special guest. We have Jade Barnes.

He is the chairman of the Los Angeles African American Wellness five k Walk Run, which is the health and wellness arm of the African American Mail Well Agency too the National Center for Urban Solutions. So without further ado, please help me welcome mister Jay Bondes.

Good afternoon. It's great to see you. How's it going, Darth.

You know, what's a great day to be alive?

Anytime on this side of the earth is a blessing.

I'm telling you.

And speaking of which, on being on this side of the earth, we got something important to talk about African American males. They are known to die twelve years earlier in their white counterparts.

So the African American Male Wealdness Agency is really tasked on a national level that increase the life expectancy for Black men specifically and their families.

It has always been our theory and our model that.

If we can get the black men healthy, they can then work longer, they can be more fiscally responsible, they can take care of their families, their children, and really be a greater ad to the overall community.

And we launched this awareness campaign about twenty years.

Ago where we were spreading the gospel about just knowing your numbers. Awareness is the key thing. So one note to add about the nine twelve years earlier, these are all from preventable diseases. So that means if you just go to the doctor annually, get a check up. When you start feeling those pains or those aches, it's not just sit down, let's sleep it off, get some ginger ail.

It's like, let's go speak with a physician, actually get.

Some understanding about what's going on inside of our bodies. So what we're gonna do is create the most fun you'll ever have at a doctor's appointment. Next Saturday, on the eleventh, we are going to have DJs out there. We've got the Lovely Dawn Day on the Red Carpet doing live interviews. We've got yoga, we've got sound bass, we've got meditation, we've got men circles so we can just talk. What we found is that black men really need to talk to each other.

We're not crazy. We're just going through eggs and pains.

You know, it seems as though we have gotten to a point when we're kind of used to the ache and pain because for whatever reasons, there's some type of fear or stigma when it comes down to seeing the doctor and I'm raising my hand.

Listen.

I have been known to be guilty of myself to not feel something right in my body and say, oh, I'm gonna sleep it all for or you know, the whole idea ginger rail.

And wait till your stomach cel. But here's the thing.

If you are feeling something in your body, that's your body communicating with you. And when we talk about having a successful relationship, any type of relationship, the key is communication. And it's like, well, if we can't communicate with ourselves, how can we expect to communicate with anything else in our lives? Preach you know, so many people are afraid of knowing. But when you know better, you can do better. And it's time to do better.

We do not have a choice at this point.

We've got to be responsible for ourselves, our bodies, our health and wellness. You know, historically black folks just don't trust the medical profession in general with different experiments. You think about the Skegee and the historical context about the government really just not taking care of us, are really looking after our best interests. There's some issues in terms of just trust and building relationships. We build a rapport

So we're going to be amongst family, people that look like us, that could communicate with us so that.

We can beat us.

Yes, ma'am.

And you know, when we talk about this walk too, another thing that I thought that was so great is that this is a family event. You don't have to worry about going along, because sometimes that can be a little hard, that can be a little tricky.

And let's just say, sometimes we're a bit scared. Look, you don't have to admit it, but it's true.

Sometimes we are apprehensive about going for a checkup, going to talk to somebody because we feel as though it's just us. Well, in this case, you can bring your family, you can bring the kids. There's going to be entertainment, there's going to be vendors. What else can we expect.

Listen, think about a fan of reunion style activity where we're just going to get a little check up while we're there. So you're bounceizers for kids and maybe with some sack races, some sprints, some face painting for the kids. You're gonna have a couple of DJs that'll be rocking out. Of course, our partners with KJLAH and iHeart Radio and Vitamin D with Dawn Day. And I'm missing some folks kb LA passing the Black Pages. If they're black and they care about us, they're gonna be at this event

Okay, And so as we mentioned, this is being brought to us by the African American Male Wellness Agency. Can you tell us a little bit about the organization and why it got started.

Yep.

So the agency started really in a response to figure out why black men weren't going to work. We did a research project and we were finding that black men weren't going to the work because of health issues. So part of it was in order to get your check every week, you had to do a quick physical so to know those numbers, your blood pressure, checking on those and once we started implementing that as the agency, they were showing up, they were getting a check.

So then we said, hey, let's elevate this.

You got all these other organizations who don't focus on us, that do these race for the Cure and five K for this, So we said, we're going to do something for black folks that mirrors these efforts. Where we can bring awareness, we can bring fun that we can bring entertainment and make sure that we're saving our people. And we don't only do this, so it's more than a walk. We have something called a Fire Initiative where we do

What's the strategic plan around that?

How do we build our credit so that we can then purchase a home where we can get more blood folks and homes that have home ownership and equity versus paying.

Rent that can fluctuate from time to time.

So we really try to take a holistic approach when it comes to health and wellness. Again, if we know better, we can do better. And our goal is to educate, provide resources, provide love and a sense of community where you can live longer. There was one other thing don that I missed was our best program in my opinion, It's called Real Men, Real Talk, which is a farbershop style Black men getting together and we're going to shoot the funts of the speak and we talk about what's

That you can make it through whatever adversity that you may be experiencing during the time.

So hold on this, real man, real talk is going to be there on Saturday, November eleven.

So we'll have the small version and we really partner with our group called Black Men Build LA to facilitate our Men's Circle, So very similar setup, but not the official event so to speak. But we're not egotistical. If we've got community partners who have similar programming and resources, we are always looking to partner and collaborate. There's no sense in reinventing the wheel. We can just come together and do the same work to say the same people.

So Black Men Bill LA would.

Be facilitating that conversation on Saturday instead of us.

Well, I love this because you know when you said the whole situation of sitting down having a barber talk, it's like, at some point, I don't know if history did it. You know, sometimes just life be lifeing, but just as well as we've forgotten how to communicate with ourselves. It's like communicate with your brothers and your sisters, communicate with your community. Because you are not alone. We know that we can go farther together. We can be stronger

Absolutely, we'll also have some foot screenings, but to speak to the prostate, the colorectal cancer, those are all things that are I mean, the numbers are off the charts in terms of how biased it is to black folks. So it's important even at a young age. So I think the medical professionals say around forty. I'm encouraging black men around thirty five is when we need to start having those screenings. And what I can tell you because I'm of that age, it is no longer that invasive procedure.

We can take some blood and figure it out versus having to touch on you.

And that's one of the things that I really really want men to know, Like you don't have to get violated to figure that out. Let's draw some blood, Let's have some conversation and do some other ways to figure it out. But like, we can solve this. There's no reason to die early. But we can work together now and figure.

It out and take preventive measures and steps to help out with that.

So I'm curious, Jay, because your passion it runs deep.

You know.

We first got our conversation on the FM DOL and then when I saw it come back around, I said, wait, what's going on? Why are you so passionate about this work?

Last year alone, I lost two of my brothers, my frat brothers, to pancreatic cancer, and one at thirty one in their early sixties.

Thirty years old, yes.

Thirty years old, Like yeah, that took me out. So like this is my guy. We just went on vacation together. We're down in Mexico kicking it, and pancreatic cancer moved extremely fast and it is fatal.

The survival rate is extremely low.

Did he seem as though he was sick?

No? No. We got back from vacation maybe a month or two.

Afterwards, and it's just like, hey, I've been diagnosed. I'm like, well, what does this mean? So of course I'm going and googling and looking it up. And the more and more I read, the more and more my mouth.

Dropped and was like, this isn't good.

So, I mean, he made it a long time in terms of about nine months after diagnosis, but in general, it is extremely fatal, and you.

Know, just get Having those continuous.

Visits and checkings and touch points with your physician will help identify that as well as other things that may exist that we aren't keeping an eye on. And everything's not going to be where you're down and out, where you're feeling bad or you're sluggish, where there's visible signs we need to do some blood work, and a lot of times it's not that much we're talking about the fingerprint,

It's not invasive. The goal is just to get some quick diagnosis.

See some key indicators that say hey, we may need to have further conversations.

Now.

We are super blessed to have partners with the company called Para Suite, as well as a few local physicians that will be there. So after you get your screening numbers, you're then able to review them with a black physician to tell you, hey, maybe we need to change the diet, maybe we need to increase exercise, maybe we need to follow up with your primary care provider to check some levels or do some X rays. But all of this stuff, again, it's free. It gives you the opportunity to increase your

So I can imagine, you know, sometimes people may not have insurance and the first thing that they're afraid about is like, how much is going to cost?

How much is it going to cost for these screenings?

Chain again, this is free. Do you understand? Like that said all year.

All somebody has to do is pull up on Saturday, November eleventh at the Rancho Cianca Park right behind Dorsey High School and find at their numbers.

Pull up, show up, run up, fly up, however you want to get up, but be there, be there.

That all it.

Takes for you is to show up, And you can only wonder is are you willing to.

Show up for yourself? Show up for your life?

Because if it's not for you, what about your family, your legacy. We are so quick to show up to a job or a paycheck, but what if you can't show up for yourself to get to the job. Then the question becomes then watch Because the whole notion that African American males are dying twelve years earlier then their white male counterparts, that's something to have a conversation about.

Absolutely, we've been blessed with the Walter Payton Man the year. When it comes to philanthropic effort, it's a Tremaine anchorum who plays guard for the La Rams.

He is our honorary chair and really driving and.

Supporting us with our engagement when it comes to spreading the words saving black men's lives, make sure that we know our numbers. He's been instrumental in connecting us with community partners and resources to really evangelize you know, the

Event doesn't happen without them. We also are wonderful sponsors.

We can touch on them later, but people who care about us are actually showing up with money, time and resources to say Black men's lives matter, our health matters, our families matter, and this event is really here to make sure that we scream that at the top of our lungs and have a good old time doing it.

I love that, and you know it's the organization. The mission is to increase the life expectancy of African American male and physical health, mental health, financial health, fatherhood and research. For somebody that may be new to this and they're listening to this episode or perhaps e've ben watching us, what does health equity mean?

So health equity means that.

One the availability, the costs and access to care and resources is essentially even for all races and.

Other groups in general.

So making sure that there's no barriers from an education standpoint, is there a black position that is in your neighborhood? Can we get you, know you, representation with people who understand your needs as a black person, and with that, can they speak to you in terms that you understand? Medical terms are like I went to college, I read a lot.

I still look at reports.

I'm like, I don't know what the hell is saying like I need someone to break this down in some stuff that I understand that says, what's the LDL? Well, I don't know what the LDL is, but I know when you say my sugar's high, and I know when you say my pressures up. I can to understand that commonality. And when it comes to quality and equity when it comes to healthcare, communication is one of them, as well as access and making sure that you have representation.

Representation matters. Support matters because you matter. So are you willing to show up for yourself better?

Yet?

How much do you love yourself?

You know, we say we're here for a good time, not a long time. So how are you making this time count in your life? With the greatest asset, which is you, because everything and extension of earth is in existence. Well, if you don't exist, then what's what you say?

That?

You love your family, You say that you want this house, you say you want to travel on this vacation, you say you want to see the world.

You say you got these big dreams.

Well, if you aren't taking care of yourself to ignite those dreams, to live out that life, then what does it all matter? So this is your time to show up for yourself. Saturday, November eleventh, from eight am to twelve pm. Come out so we can support on what it means to close this health equity gap.

And it starts with you.

My brothers, tell a friend, to tell a friend, tell somebody, it's time to love on ourselves.

What would you say?

Have you ever had a health scared day?

No major scarce, knock on woods?

You know I tried not to, you know, I try to stay active. I try to golf, I try to play tennis. I'm out in the yard, door, physical work, and you know, try try to do the things to be responsible.

Now the health. The biggest health scare for me was alcohol.

I loved me some alcohol, you know, and could drink drink, drink. So like last year, December tenth was my last day of drinking alcohol and making.

That change because I wasn't myself anymore. I was no longer the fun.

Drunk and entertaining and a good time. I'm emotional, I'm angry. So when I thought about my mental health and mental wellness and how it was showing up for my fiance at the time, now, my wife, I wasn't the guy that she needed to marry or wanted to marry as a result of my consumption alcohol. So with that, you have to start making some adult decisions and changing your life.

But I am glad that I can be there, I can be present.

I remember things now, not blacking out, but really taking ownership when it comes to that was a big important step when it comes to health and wellness for.

Me, Thank you for choosing yourself.

Ject that's the only person I got.

All the time, we talk about having so many commitments to other things in our lives, and it's like, wait a minute. The longest commitment to whomever is going to be yourself. So why wouldn't you make yourself a priority? You're hearing how people are falling left and right, and to know that all it's about is choosing yourself. And yes, it's going to be uncomfortable, but you asked to grow, didn't you.

You didn't want to say the same, did you.

If you don't like how you're feeling, if you don't like what you're doing, well, here's an opportunity for you.

To show up.

So show up on Saturday, November eleventh, from eight am to twelve pm right here in Los Angeles, California, the African American Male Wellness five K walk one will be happy.

The question is will you? Now you talked.

About some sponsors who are some of the sponsors of this year's walk.

We've been super blessed.

Our major sponsor is going to be Johnson and Johnson who has committed to our agency nationwide. We are in sixteen different cities, so they have a national partnership as well as genin Tech that helps us out tremendously. Again, Heather hud Holly Mitchell are A Health Foundation is also a major sponsor. Probably miss oh Parsuite is another one. Cover California as well as La Care No. Cover California

About open enrollment.

The resources with Cover California, We've got so many different partners that have literally said, hey, this is the cast that we need to stand behind. And again, none of this happens without this cost. It's you know, it's an expense to have an event to have entertainment.

Listen.

We probably spend over one hundred thousand dollars to make this event come to LA and we don't take it over to you know. So far, we're not going downtown to La Lot.

We are in our community next to Dorsey High School.

Were talking Bray and Obama at the Michelle and Barack Obama Sports Complex. We are for the people with the people, and we want to make sure that we win. So we are here. Companies are behind us, and we're going to continue to grow. This is just the first phase of the work that we're doing. I will let the cat out of the bag a little bit, so it will no longer be the African American Male Wellness Walk and Run.

After this event, it will now.

Be the Black Wellness Day that is encompassing men, women and children directly. Now, we did launch a program in Columbus at Houston where we have a program called Uplift Her, which is the equivalent of with the Black Male Walking Run is for men.

So women get screenings.

They are very health specifics, tobamograms and all types of different resources that are specific to women. Having them come together and be able to you know, work through those things. Collectively and have a good time. And sometimes they do the mimosas and maternity conversations and all types of women nuanced stuff. But next year it's gonna be a wellness stage for black folks. Overall, we're gonna have a ton

If you watch football, if you watch football.

And you really really enjoy it, and like people talking about theme music maybe coming on board to help us out and evangelize mental health and wellness across the board. But there's a lot of fun. Pacman Jones that's been on board with us. They're doing a real memorial talkdown in Houston. Anthony Hamilton's been a part, Bubba Wallace, Penny Hardaway, Music, Soul Child across the board. Like when we tell black folks what we're doing, celebrities, entertainers, they say, Hey, there's

We're lying, dancing, we got the Greeks out.

I'm a cue, so we're out, We're strolling, we're hopping around.

You know, it is a good time. So like you know, I may even break out the three sixty booths this year in LA just to add add a little something to it. But listen, think about fun.

Think about fun like you have the best time at your face and a reunion, or cousins hung out on the weekends, you have sleepovers. Think about that when you come to this event. We'll just get your little check up in between. And I've literally had my wife enlist all the church aunties and deaconesses and the most attractive women that we can find. They are gonna be a volunteer. So don't try to swerve them. Talking about you went to a doctor last week last month. We don't play

So I don't like.

Bribing people, but I'm telling you, if you want to do something, this might be the time to find a.

Good man, real good good.

A good man. I don't need help.

Yeah yeah, yeah, good clean man.

Well, I'm telling you if that didn't right there, do it for you. I don't know will what will?

I mean?

It's going to be free. There is no cost. What we did not talk about? How do we register? Do we need to go online? Can we just show up? Do I need to have a group?

What's going on day?

There are a few different ways. The easiest way is to go to LA dot AA Wellness dot org and you can register there. Registration's free.

If you want to register as a group, you click the passion teams.

A passion team is simply a group of two more people walking for a call. So whether that's your brothers, whether that's your family, whether you've lost someone, whether you're part of a Greek organization, whether you're part of a social club, whether you want to do a church, you got a book group, whatever it is, you come out. Y'all want to look alike, wear save t shirts, wear the same color, Come hang out, come walk, take some pictures, get screened, and have a good time.

But the other thing is the event is still free. If you show up.

We're not turning you away, So pull up even if you don't get a chance to register. But there will be some giveaways and some free books, some resources, and people that have told their story and donate the items that we want to hand out. Great opportunity. When you register to get those things, we can call you out or mail you. And then if you care about any of the other services or programs that we're doing throughout the year, this is the way we can get in

To bombard you with stuff. The things just to make you aware about the free resources.

We don't do anything that's ever charged for people, So everything that we do in the community, and the work that we do is free to the community, and it is my job to find sponsors and people to pay for it so it's free.

So this event is all about love. This event is all about love and on yourself. This event is all about when you know better, you can do better, You ready to be better. I'm just saying, as you know, I end the episode each and every time talking about how you are your greatest asset. Are you ready to show yourself as such? Because if your health isn't there,

Would you got to be in good health to do that?

Now?

One thing that I really appreciate that you discussed, Jade, is that you said that this.

Isn't an opportunity for open enrollment. I feel half the.

Time, especially if you are of low income or you just may not know, it can become confusing when it comes down to sign up for health insurance. It can become a confusing about what type of physician that you need. Well, if you pull up, you walk up, you drive up, you get up, this is an opportunity for you to speak to somebody that can answer the questions that you have. So I'm assuming we need some type of identification.

Just show up. Well, take care all of the people of resources that we work with.

Our HIPPOC compliance means they're not going to tell sell or give away your information. But show up to show up again, You're a meeting with the chief medical officer who is a black woman, who will be there live and in person to answer those questions. Not going on the website and trying to figure out what do I click here?

What do I move here? You got it straight from the goats mouth.

She's a boss, she is smart, she is an enjetic, she shines, and she's here to care about our people. They're going to have two different information sessions. When you go to the website, the register, you'll see the full agenda where you want to be, how you positioning yourself. But you'll get all your questions answered. And you know you can get medical insurance and coverage for free the low costs, but.

You have to be taken care of and we're here to do that.

And I've called upon everybody i can to make sure that those resources are here for you. So please don't let me down. Come on out, take advantage of what we're doing.

And make sure that you live longer so that we can win longer.

Listen, you ready to write this book? Are you coming on with an album day? I'm telling you, okay, catch up, pick it up, pick up this information. Make sure you share and you tell this with somebody else if they matter. In fact, share with yourself, look over and review, because

Wants more information.

And guess what the honorary cheer is La Rams Guard Tremaine Ingram. We got community leaders out there, we got music out there, we got fun, we got entertainment, but more importantly, we have the education about your health. So we hope to see you there because you're loving on yourself and you don't have to be afraid j do you because you got people that look just like you, that are trying to get the same answers just like you.

One last thing, follow us on Instagrams. That's where all the hot content comes.

You get all the updates, all the latest news, all the latest.

Information around it.

Plus you get a chance to see some of the folks who are going to be there. You'll hear testimonies about lives that we were impacted. It is very very simple. AA Wellness walk La. Find us on Instagram AA Wellness walk La and we'll follow you back as long as you got good stuff, will like, share, comment, and do all types of good stuff for you.

Give. We are we are the people for the people. Always well Dad.

I commend the work that you're doing. I'm grateful, I'm honored to be a.

Part of it.

You can you continue to share the word.

And spread the word and more importantly be the word because the word is living. And if we don't take care of our health and then what are we are we living? And you know here on Vitamin D we talk about how you are your greatest asset. So if you'd like to be a guest, I encourage you to shoot an email at Vitamin D as down daispeaks dot com.

You can also check us out on all social media at Vitamin D Dawn Day. What do I say? We here for a good time, not a long time, so we gotta.

Make it count.

So pull up on me and if you want to follow me personally, you can find me on all social media at dawn Dais Speaks. Now, before I head out of here, you know I always say I'm in the business of making dreams come true.

Ad damn She'll like, oh, forget about mine.

So until next time, always about you.

You're Gretta, get your vit in Indy, ride with me and get excited about your life.