6 minute read
A Purposeful Economic Movement Anchored by Real Estate & Healthcare
By Anthony Oliver, Publisher/Founder
In the late 90’s, Ruthie Brown, a Streetwise newspaper sales team vendor, walked into my office. I could see her struggling to hold back tears. Ruthie had always been our rock, our inspiration, and our joy. This strong black woman, who spent her entire adult life battling homelessness, was now in another the fight for her life, she had advanced late-stage breast cancer. Ruthie died shortly after informing me.
A true Streetwise Story. RIP Ruthie Brown
My mother, Rose, was a single mother for most of my life. She spent all her time striving to get out of poverty. After a long battle with high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease, Rose died at the age of 76. As her primary caretaker, I have direct experience with navigating the healthcare options in my community-- a system that wrote her off as terminal fifteen years prior to her passing. If not for taking her outside our community health options to get better diagnosis, my mother would’ve likely passed much earlier. My mother’s health is my wealth.
True Story. RIP Momma Rose
I honor Ruthie and my mother Rose, both of whom experienced the challenges of not having the financial means for the medical care they needed. I lived their struggle and helplessly felt their pain! I’m compelled to change the narrative in hopes leaving my community better a better place.
Access to good medical care is just as difficult to access to capital (money) for real estate investment in our community. However, we are not powerless. So, I am dedicating the March edition of Lifestyle@TheIntersection to the launch of the “Economic Movement from the Bottom up”. The goal of this movement is for communities to develop a formula for “sustainable” open market tax-supporting small businesses as well as not-for-profit social services. I call it “the economic lifts the social fabric approach,” and it must be delivered in that order!
EMPOWERING THE COMMNUITY FOR BETTER HEALTH CARE!
Like Real Estate, the health care markets represent more than 3 trillion dollars. A 2020 report by McKensey & Company states that poor health costs the US economy an estimated 3.2 trillion dollars. We are spending lots of money and getting sicker. Black and brown communities are NOT getting quality health care despite rising costs of health care. Why are we not demanding better health care option? To me, it’s as serious as the George Floyd or Joeseph Gould protest (killing of a homeless Streetwise vendor in 1995 a very large and successful protest I led). I see clinics closing in large numbers in my community. I’m not sure of what’s happening but I’m sure that our demand for accessible, and affordable quality health care has not diminished! The answers we are seeking begin with our commitment to listen to those on the front lines of taking care of US, namely the nurse practitioners. (Please don’t get me wrong, I have great MD, he reviews, explain, and give me preventative solutions every visit with him. I am grateful for him.)
Nurse practitioners in the US-Market size, according to IBISWorld, is a 53.6B dollar market. Of course, that means a lot of things, but one is for sure these are some very important people within the industry. If we are to strengthen our economics from the bottom up, it would be advantageous to hear what they have to say.
Our March edition features two awesome black female nurse practitioners; one a scientist and one clinical. They’ve agreed to become regular contributors to Lifestyle@The Intersection. Let’s meet Dr. Molly Molly Kachale-Netter, PH.D,MSN,APN. FNP-C. BSN. BSC and Dr. Roxanne Spurlark, DNP. RN. APRN-C.. Both are Advanced Practice Clinicians/ Providers, also called Advanced Practice Family Nurse Practitioners. Dr. Spurlark holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice (clinical), and Dr. Kachale-Netter holds a Doctor of Philosophy (research). They are both nationally certified, with full autonomy to practice family medicine independently to its fullest scope in Illinois. The duo shares a commonality in clinical practice and academics. Due to their nursing background, which is a clinical model that leans towards disease prevention and health protection, their medical practice model is an integration of philosophies, also called functional medicine. This model goes beyond the conventional treatment of diseases as it seeks to understand the root cause of the problem and attempts to address those issues, not just mask symptoms. They augment each other as a duo by bridging the gaps between evidence, clinical practice, and academia. Their multifaceted backgrounds bring a 360 panorama of powerful evidence-based medicine in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era.
Dr. Molly Kachale-Netter will be front and center in this edition. Her current research interest is HIV prevention using chemoprophylaxis (PrEp). Her population of interest is women in underserved communities. She is also interested in incorporating social determinants of health in her work. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged scientific protocols, especially the time it takes to generate and translate evidence into practice and the need for direct community involvement. Trained by scientists at the forefront of the pandemic's mitigation, Dr. Kachale-Netter understands the navigation between rebuilding and preparing for future pandemics in a constantly evolving world. She has published works on HIV prevention, diabetes prevention and management, and Covid-19 pandemic perspectives.
KNOWLEDGE IS THE FIRST STEP IN OUR ECONOMIC MOVEMENT
As the multitrillion dollar healthcare industry continues to evolve, we must empower ourselves to learn about our healthcare system for the present and for our next generation. We MUST think differently about how to invest in our communities to improve access to capital for healthcare and real estate Knowledge is our power. Lifestyle@TheIntersection has officially launched the “ECONOMIC MOVEMENT FROM THE BOTTOM UP”. It’s time to get on board and grow people with our community, so subscribe and advertise now. Together, let’s move to greater levels of self-sufficiency and stability.
Publisher/Founder
Anthony Oliver
L@TI is an independently funded quarterly magazine.
