Doctors say race, zip code could affect your life expectancy
by: April Thompson
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — WREG investigators are looking into the illnesses affecting so many in the Mid-South, the toll they are taking, and the fight to turn the tide.
All this week, we have been taking an in-depth look at the things in our lives that are wreaking havoc on our health and in many instances, killing us.
Talk to anyone who has spent a good deal of time in Memphis and you will likely hear our city has plenty to offer, from entertainment to the history to the food. But underneath, there is also something else, a health crisis.
The Shelby County Health Department found Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke as the top reasons for death in Shelby County.
The findings are echoed by Methodist Le Bonheur Hospital Chief Academic Officer Dr. Robin Womeodu.
“When you look at heart disease and stroke, certainly they have similar co-morbidities, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, high cholesterol,” said Dr. Womeodu.
She says the conditions are interconnected and in many cases are impacted by life choices and where you live.
“If you look at data from our own health department, you can see that there are zip codes in our community that are certainly at a higher risk for these conditions. In fact, you can go from a certain community, you can go ten miles in this community from certain zip codes to another zip code and gain ten years of life,” she said.
According to Health Department data, zip codes in Frayser and Bartlett have fewer grocery options and face higher food insecurities – 87.1 and 99.2 on a national scale of 100.
That’s compared to areas like Arlington and Germantown which have a lower food insecurity rate of 23.1 and 5.8.
But it’s not just geography impacting health, race also plays a big part.
A higher rate of African American women in Shelby County are getting breast cancer and dying from it compared to Caucasian women.
West Cancer Center and Research Institute and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center are trying to figure out why. They were recently awarded a $1.6 million grant to study factors affecting breast cancer outcomes among African-American women in the Mid-South.
“Part of it might be education. Some patients feel something in their breast and do not at least have the wherewithal to say, oh, this may be cancer. Let me go to my physician early. Instead, they wait until it’s too late to get in. And so it’s education. Then we will announce sort of education measures in the community that would hopefully close that gap,” said Dr. Greg Vidal, who is leading a breast cancer study at West Cancer Center.
But, doctors say to turn around any stats, it will take a willingness on the part of the individual to make a change.
So, two years ago, as a result of their needs assessment, Methodist started a Healthier 901 Initiative, putting the focus on doing something that can directly impact the deadly health conditions affecting people in Shelby County — losing weight.
“That’s what leads to you having the stroke, the heart attack, and at risk for cancer, those metabolic changes that you have with obesity,” said Dr. Womeodu.
They set a goal, lose 1 million pounds over three years. The movement is catching on.
Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ has members picking up the challenge and exercising together.
“I tell them all the time, you don’t have to run a marathon, but just move. Again, get those movements your body knows you don’t typically do,” said Macal Tuggle Brown, the Church Director of Health and Wellness at Pentecostal Temple.
Many are seeing life-changing benefits.
Debra Davis, 71, says it’s been a big motivator in her losing 132 pounds and being able to reduce her Type Two Diabetes medication.
“I was on insulin four times a day with an A1C of 17. Blood sugar reading 382. Now I am insulin-free,” said Davis. “That’s through health, learning how to eat, modifying your healthy diet, getting something you can live with. It gives me motivation, and every step that I’ve made, every bit of improvement, it motivates me to do more.”
Pentecostal Temple’s Bishop Charles Patterson says bringing this challenge to his congregation was a no-brainer.
“So it is the will of God for us to lead healthy lives to concentrate on the maintenance of the temple of God, which is our natural body. And so it is important, I believe, that the church put forth an effort to push health initiatives in our communities. I believe that a healthy community is vital to the overall success of our community,” said Bishop Patterson. “We’ve instituted exercise classes that would reach people at different levels. We’ve got chair exercises for our senior members. And then we’ve got exercise classes for our youth. So what we tried to do was create a plan where we would eliminate whatever excuses people would have.”
Individuals are also using Healthier 901 as a way to stay motivated.
Jimmy Scott spends plenty of time at the YMCA in Cordova. After a health scare, he upped his walking and jogging.
“In 2022 I had a scare with my knee and the root cause was too much weight,” said Scott.
He says Healthier 901 was the push to get him back on track.
“Since I started in September, roughly 18 pounds from September, to June, and now. So, it’s been a big, big win,” he says.
Doctors say it doesn’t take much to make a life-saving change.
“None of what we are talking about is very easy, or we would have done it already, right? Increasing your activity, changing your diet. Those things are difficult to do but doable. I think we have to embrace the fact that these conditions are preventable. And then what do you do as an individual and collectively to prevent them,” said Dr. Womeodu.
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