CEL EBR ATE
BLACK Bakersfield
HISTORY MONTH
News Observer Volume 48 Number 22
Serving Kern County for Over 48 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
In The Spotlight: With BenEece J. Davis-Phillips Celebrating Black History Month
BenEece J. Davis-Phillips is a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP-C) in Kern County. (Courtesy Photo)
Darlene L. Williams Contributing Writer BAKERSFIELD, CA—BenEece J. Davis-Phillips is a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP-C) in Kern County. She is among a small percentage of Black females who make up the total sum in this particular medical field. Davis-Phillips may be the only African American female in Bakersfield who owns the company she practices in. At the time of this article, the Bakersfield News Observer (BNO) could not locate any other such practice privately owned and operated by a black female. Statistics show, “The most common ethnicity of Family Nurse Practitioners is White (76.5%), followed by Asian (8.5%) and Black or African American (6.6%)”. Within the 6.6 percent of Black or African American practitioners—“shines” BenEece J. Davis-Phillips. In recognition of Black History Month and the significant impact that African American men and women have had on American history and culture, Davis-Phillips joins the expansive stage with her commendable contribution to society and black heritage. The Bakersfield News Observer (BNO) applauds and shares her story in this week’s special segment of, IN THE SPOTLIGHT. The BNO compiled a series of questions for a Q & A to gain knowledge of who she is and the profession she serves in. BNO: What is your name and age (if you don’t mind sharing?) A: BenEece J. Davis-Phillips, FNP-C. I’ll be 62 on February 18th. BNO: What is the name of your company/practice? A: PHILLIPS HEALTHCARE A NURSE PRACTITIONER-LED NURSING CORPORATION There are so many health disparities experienced by people of color. This was part of my motivation for opening a clinic. I think by providing more access to the community, the very community in which I grew up, I could help lessen these disparities. BNO: How many years has your business been in operation? A: 1 1/2 YEARS, We offer Primary Care, Direct Primary
Care, IV Hydration and NutrientTherapy—for energy, for health, dehydration, muscle overuse, hair skin and nails, handover help, and migraines. Many of our drips may be helpful for chronic conditions. BNO: How are you adjusting to the pandemic and how has it impacted your business? A: We are adjusting very well. We follow CDC guidelines to keep patients safe and in good health. We offer COVID vaccines and COVID testing at the clinic. We also have a plan to minimize exposure to COVID to our patients and staff by reducing wait time spent in the waiting room. This is consistent with our primary care goals to get or keep you healthy and promote wellness and prevention of disease. BNO: Do you believe in dreams? Why or Why not? A: Yes. I believe in dreams. So many books speak of dreams and what they mean. I’ve read somewhere that we forget about 95% of our dreams pretty soon upon awakening. I love dreams because they allow us to look at things that we have never considered for ourselves, of things that scare us to death, and of things that just don’t make any sense to us. It allows us to think about the possibilities we can experience in life. These may evolve into a drive, a will to do something that we may have not otherwise considered. A dream, in part, was the genesis of Phillips Healthcare. When an opportunity presented itself, I jumped at it to fulfill that dream of being able to make health-related decisions that would be positively impactful for our community. BNO: Who do “You” say that you are? A: I am an encourager--a cheerleader. I want people to feel encouraged, and empowered in their lives. I have been told also that I am a seer, that I can see into the future and then walk that vision back to the now and follow the path to the future. In the clinic, I try to do the same thing. What are the goals of the patient for the future? Where is the patient now? What type of bridge do we need to construct to ferry the patient from illness to wellness. Many believe wellness to be the complete absence of disease. I believe that health is to control disease and push off its less than pleasant effects way off into the future so Continued on page A11
White House Praises California Model; Says
Equity Is Critical in COVID Fight Aldon Thomas Stiles California Black Media Last week Dr. Cameron Webb, the White House COVID-19 Response Team’s Senior Policy Advisor for Equity, discussed with California Black Media (CBM) the importance of fairness in the country’s fight against COVID. He complimented California’s pandemic response model. “There has been a great model in California, which has always been a leader in some of these equitable initiatives,” Webb said. He praised the work of Deputy Director for the California Department of Public Heath’s (CDPH) Office of Health Equity Dr. Rohan C. Radhakrishna. “Some of the work they’ve been doing on data collection in California had them tracking [COVID-19] across demographics in preparing to respond to the need. Without having the data, without knowing what the problems are, you can’t find the solution.” Webb said. California was among the first states to start tracking racial
data to determine why the disease, based on early infection patterns, was disproportionately impacting Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans. Although the rate of infections by race narrowed over time, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and California Department of Health data still show higher COVID death rates for African Americans than the general population. The COVID-19 death rate is 15% higher for Black Californians than the statewide average. Nationally African Americans, who account for 12 % of the country’s population, they make up about 14% of COVID-19 related deaths. According to Webb, inequity in health care is one of the many challenges that need to be addressed as the country pushes to end the pandemic. “Just to address it head on, we have an inequitable health care system,” Webb told CBM. “We have a health care system that does not serve all communities in a way that’s fair and that is rooted in systemic and structural dynamics that are themselves inequitable. We have inequitable risk factors, social
risk, within communities.” Webb said that the racial disparities that Americans have been struggling with during the COVID-19 pandemic continues to expose deeper, systemic problems. “COVID-19 really just highlights those inherent inequities and it makes it much more urgent, I would say, for some folks to find a strategy and solution,” Webb said. During our interview, Webb provided an update on the state of the Black community during this pandemic. “If you go back to 2021, back in late August, you actually saw that the rate of cases in the Black community was lower than the rate of cases in the White community,” Webb said. “And that was all through September, all through October, and through most of November until the very end of November when Omicron started to surge. That’s when we saw the case rate jump up again in Black communities to be where it is now which is at 1.6 times the White case rate,” he pointed out.
Continued on page A2
New Program Offers $10,000 for Doing Community Service
Edward Henderson California Black Media On Jan. 18, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new $146 million work service program for college students that offers $10,000 stipends for college expenses to more than 6,000 students who participate in local community projects. The effort called “Californians for All College Corps” requires students enrolled in the program to complete 450 hours of community service over the course of the school year to receive the funding. “This is about forming stronger connections. Things that have more meaning tend to things that are beyond yourself,” said Gov. Newsom at the kickoff of the event, which was streamed live on Zoom. “You find a sense of self by finding a sense of responsibility and service to others,” the Governor said. Josh Fryday, who serves as California’s Chief Service Officer, moderated the kickoff of the “College Corps” program. In 2019, Newsom appointed Fryday, a U.S. Navy Vet and former Mayor of Navato, to “lead service, volunteer and civic engagement efforts throughout California.” “We see this program as what I like to call a win-win, winContinued on page A2
Take One!
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
Ex-AME Zion Church Leaders Charged with $14 Million Fraud
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – A former bishop and lay leader of an historically African American church have been charged with defrauding California congregations by mortgaging their properties in order to obtain $14 million in loans they used for personal expenses, authorities said Tuesday. A federal indictment unsealed Tuesday accuses Staccato Powell, 62, of Wake Forest, North Carolina, and Sheila Quintana, 67, of Vallejo, California, of conspiracy and wire fraud, with Powell also charged with mail fraud, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of California said in a statement. The two were arrested Tuesday and appeared in courts in North Carolina and Sacramento, California, prosecutors said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether they had attorneys to speak on their behalf. Powell was elected in 2016 as a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, which traces its history to 1796 and has about 1.4 million members, authorities said. He headed western U.S. congregations but was disrobed in a church trial last year after officials concluded he had mishandled funds. The indictment said Powell and Quintana set up Western Episcopal District, Inc., and used the entity to illegally obtain grant deeds to properties owned by congregations in Oakland, San Jose, Palo Alto and Los Angeles. The congregations had little or no mortgage debt until the pair, without permission, used their real estate as collateral to obtain more than $14 million in highinterest loans, prosecutors said. Some congregations that had paid off mortgages years earlier ended up saddled with debt, prosecutors said. Powell and Quintana then diverted money for their personal benefit, including retiring a mortgage on Powell’s North Carolina home, buying real estate there, and making cash payments to Quintana’s spouse, prosecutors said. Western Episcopal District, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 and listed among its assets 11 churches in California, Arizona and Colorado, authorities said.
UCLA Switches All Classes to Remote Because of Threats
LOS ANGELES (AP) – University of California, Los Angeles, officials ordered all classes to be held remotely on Tuesday due to threats, the school said. UCLA took the step a day after students returned to in-person instruction and said the move was made out of an abundance of caution. “UCLA Police Department is aware of a concerning email and posting sent to some members of the UCLA community today and actively engaged with out-of-state law enforcement and federal agencies,’’ the university said in a series of overnight social media posts. Michel Moore, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, said Tuesday that the individual who made the threats is believed to be in Colorado. Law enforcement and UCLA have not yet named the person. “At this point we believe the campus is safe,’’ Moore said during a meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners. The FBI’s Los Angeles field office is working with UCLA “to assess the situation,” FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller told The Associated Press. The Los Angeles Times reported that it obtained emails that were sent to students and faculty showing that authorities are investigating a former UCLA lecturer who allegedly sent a video referencing a mass shooting and an 800-page manifesto with threats against individuals in the philosophy department. UCLA’s postings did not confirm the details of the Times’ report but said: “Out-of-state law enforcement has confirmed the person who made threats to UCLA is under observation & not in CA. Classes will remain remote today.’’ Bill Kisliuk, the university’s director of media relations, did not address a series of detailed questions emailed to him by the AP but said he would reach out “when we have more.’’ It was not clear when that might be. The university on social media posted telephone numbers for students, faculty and staff seeking counseling. Considered one of the top public universities in the country, UCLA is located in the affluent Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. The university has more than 31,000 undergraduate students and 14,000 graduate students. UCLA’s threats appear to be unrelated to bomb threats made Monday – one day before the start of Black History Month – to at least a half-dozen historically Black universities in five states and the District of Columbia, Eimiller said.
Black University in St. Louis Closes After Bomb Threat
(Shutterstock Photo)
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis closed Tuesday after the historically Black school received a bomb threat, university officials announced. The threat comes as several other historically Black universities across the country reported bomb threats Tuesday, the first day of Black History month. At least six historically Black universities also reported bomb threats on Monday. Harris-Stowe officials said in a news release that all facilities were closed “out of an abundance of caution’’ while law enforcement agencies search the campus. Employees and commuter students were told not to report to campus. The university said it is making plans to provide meals for residential students. “We are working with the proper authorities to thoroughly investigate this potential threat,’’ the university said. “The safety of our campus community is paramount, and we are taking every step, in conjunction with campus safety, law enforcement and the FBI to ensure the wellbeing of our community.’’