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Selma recently played host to several organizations who were participating in a prevention of hypertension seminar that addressed barriers that cause persons across the nation to have increased risks for hypertension.

In April, the program’s acronym “EPIPHANY” stands for the equity in prevention and progression of hypertension by addressing barriers to nutrition and physical activity. Representatives from the American Heart Association, University of Alabama-Birmingham and other partners across the country came to the area to not only discuss the success of programs across the country, but also to see what’s happening right here in the Black Belt.

Connection Health based in Birmingham and Rural Elder Care Prevention Center partnered with local churches across the 20 counties of the Black Belt and rural Alabama to implement a health and wellness program.

“We’ve enrolled individuals who don’t have high blood pressure yet they’ve never been diagnosed with high blood pressure, never been on medicine, but their blood pressure is elevated,” Dr. Sh’Nese Holmes said. “They’re involved in a year-and-a-half program where we teach them health and wellness tips and try to address some of those social determinants of health. That may be their ability to eat healthy and exercise. So we try to work with them to address those needs.”

The participants have partnered with peer coaches who can talk through the barriers and encourage them to adopt healthy lifestyles. They are also provided with a high blood pressure monitor so they can track that.

Dr. Carlos Jose Rodriguez, cardiologist from the American Heart Association, said this program is a part of a larger national effort to prevent high blood pressure  in at-risk communities, particularly those who have lower socioeconomic status, specifically areas where there is a high demographic of African Americans.

“Obviously Selma is probably the prime location to kind of see what is going on in the Black Belt,” Rodriguez said. “This is not just a conference, but it’s also a site visit for us to actually see the impact that our efforts are having in the community. We’ve seen how this particular effort has changed lives here in Selma. We’ve already seen the impact through the Tabernacle Praise Church and other church sites have on people’s lives, people who are at risk of developing hypertension.”

Working with churches

Dr. Olugbenga Ogedegbe from NYU said the groups were all brought together through the American Heart Association when they received $20 million to create a Health Equity Research Network to reduce the inequities in hypertension in the African American population.

“I have to say this is my first time in Selma. And of course it’s a historic place, but it also has a lot of the reasons why we’re doing this work,” Ogedegbe said. “So one of those reasons is that people in Selma are a small town. There’s a lot of social determinants of health, like transportation, housing. So lifestyle intervention is very important. We’re in the Bible belt as well. So you can imagine that if we wrap around our counseling services, around the backbone of the community, it makes it so much easier to do the job. So at the Tabernacle, what we’re talking about is the evolution of this program, and what they showed us was how that was tied into changing people’s lives. We got to learn from some of the congregants in the lifestyle programs. They’re engaging in physical activity and their diet. And they have a trainer now for the past three years.”

They also discussed the progress of the program and how they can find partnerships in other communities as well.

“And not just Black communities because ultimately lifestyle intervention is good for all,” Ogedegbe said.