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Hospital Holds Wellness Festival ; Sheehan Memorial Offers Family Fun

Posted on: Sunday, 17 July 2005, 09:00 CDT

Residents in the neighborhoods around Humboldt Parkway and Best Street suffer from diabetes at a rate three times the Western New York average.

In other East Side neighborhoods, the infant mortality rate is higher than in some developing countries.

And in the 14204 ZIP code on the East Side, the hypertension rate is close to five times the Western New York average, said Sheila K. Kee, chief executive officer at Sheehan Memorial Hospital.

That's why the hospital at 425 Michigan Ave. is holding its first festival focused on wellness and preventive health. The Family Fun Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday on the hospital grounds.

"This is a coming out party to let people know about our new focus on the community and personal wellness," Kee said. "As Sheehan shifts from acute care to preventive health, I'm hoping we can help make a positive impact on the disparate health statistics for the City of Buffalo, and for African-Americans especially."

Part of the reason for the disparities is that African-Americans - - as a group -- often fail to make healthy lifestyle choices, including eating a balanced diet, getting regular exercise, not smoking and moderating alcohol consumption, Kee said.

To make matters worse, she added, environmental hazards tend to be concentrated in poor and minority communities.

Hospitals and clinics can do more to change the statistics, Kee said, by making sure health care is sensitive to cultural differences and delivered with the patient in mind.

She also noted that few clinics have public health educators who can sit down and talk with patients about their illness and how to stay healthy.

"We're trying to take a different approach to all this. We're trying to get people to go to the doctor when they're feeling well," Kee said. "The whole theme of the event is wellness. (It) was planned as a way to help the Buffalo community begin thinking in terms of wellness and to learn to live well, be well and stay well."

Sheehan is moving toward fiscal stability after filing for bankruptcy last year.

Today, the hospital's finances are better, but there's still some work to be done at the facility, which closed its emergency and operating rooms last year. It now offers preventive health services ranging from family and pediatric care to gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedics and post-surgical care, as well as a low-cost prescription program and wellness workshops.

"Our current year budget for 2005 is balanced. We're paying our vendors within 30 days, and we have enough cash to keep operations going," Kee said. "What we're working on now is a reorganization plan to submit to bankruptcy court so we can get out of bankruptcy and move ahead."

Saturday's event begins with a Healthy Kids Fun Run for children. The Alafia Theater Project will perform a play at noon on health disparities and what it's like to be sick and not have health insurance. Judging for the "Eat Healthy . . . Be Healthy Cook-Off" begins at 1 p.m.

Other activities Saturday include a run for adults around the 8.7- acre hospital grounds, Healthy Lifestyles Panel Painting, karaoke, games and a 3 p.m. performance by the Colored Musicians Club All- Star Band.

Sheehan staff will offer routine health screenings throughout the day.

For entry forms or more information, call 848-2121.

e-mail: dswilliams@buffnews.com

Source: Buffalo News

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