Living Healthy Partners (LHP): A National Intiative to Combat Minority Health Disparity

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LHP: A credentialed public-private campaign to offer communities across the nation a blueprint to empower existing local entities, including college students, to combine resources in a cost-effective way to create healthier lifestyles and combat minority health disparity.

History and Growth of LHP

Background

Archie Roberts, MD, founded the Living Heart Foundation (LHF), a public charity, in 2001. Shortly thereafter, in 2003, the first organized cardiovascular (CV) screening occurred at the New York Giants training camp in Albany, New York. In 2004, the LHF began its NFL Retired player CV screening program. There are currently about 40 hospital partners around the country and Puerto Rico that have joined the LHF health effort which created the present LHF CV database including over 1,500 retired NFL players. In 2005, Archie Roberts, MD, former NFL player and Andre Collins, former NFL star player and NFL Player Association official, co-founded the Living Healthy Partners (LHP)   The original partners were the LHF, Howard University, Morehouse University and the NFL Players Association. In that initial year, community events were held in Philadelphia at Temple University and in Atlanta at Morehouse University. There was also a dinner meeting and program in Atlanta honoring David Satcher, MD, PhD, a medical school classmate of Dr. Roberts and a former Surgeon General of the United States.

During this early phase, there were town hall meetings and health screening events but no health interventional programs were initiated.


Paradigm Shift

Recent literature and experience show that the way people grow, learn, live and mature contributes significantly to their level of health. While medical technology, new interventions and lifestyle choices make a difference, significant additional change requires education and motivation to implement healthy community systems. Among current events, President Obama’s community health initiatives and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 drive the interest to make a difference in improving minority health needs.

The Current Direction

The LHF will finalize collaborative/partnership relations to create a multidisciplinary approach to improving minority health disparity. The initial working group (2005) will be expanded to include multiple other groups that have common interest in unifying the movement against the forces that influence Minority Health Disparity. The first program will be centered at Winston- Salem State University (WSSU), in the fall of 2009.   The hospital partner will be Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and the Community Care Center near the university campus. 

LIVING HEALTHY PARTNERS (LHP) VISION