Making A Difference One ‘Healthy Monday’ At A Time

The Healthy Monday Initiative Tackles Diabetes and Smoking In Harlem

The rates of people suffering from preventable illnesses caused by type two diabetes and smoking cessation are reaching epic proportions.

These serious health problems are especially getting out of control in urban areas, such as Harlem , where resources and overall governmental support tend to be limited. However, there is hope in attempts to combat these startling preventable issues – the Healthy Monday initiative.

The Healthy Monday initiative started in 2005 as a collaboration between Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Syracuse Newhouse School of Public Communications. According to the Healthy Monday website, the ultimate goal of their project is “to end chronic preventable disease in the U.S. by offering people and organizations a weekly prompt to start and sustain healthy behaviors, intentions, actions and initiatives.”

According to Healthy Monday’s Community Outreach Manager, Michael A. Hernandez, the basic strategy behind Healthy Monday is, “to get people to take one day out of their week, particularly Monday since it’s the beginning of the week for most people, and devote that day to a healthier lifestyle, whether that be eating healthier, not smoking, or anything else. The idea is, they’ll want to continue doing so for the other days of the week, and if they can’t, they always have the opportunity of starting over again on the next Monday.” It’s this simple strategy that has resonated with many people, community organizations, and universities across the country.

Healthy Monday’s debut campaign was called Meatless Monday, and was an overwhelming success in all of its targeted markets. Today, it has grown into an international movement with celebrities, restaurants, schools, cities and countries joining together to cut out meat once a week for their health and the health of the planet. With its early success in primarily rural and suburban areas and universities, Healthy Monday has recently started to focus on more underdeveloped and impoverished urban areas. One of these chosen areas is the Harlem section of New York City.

…an estimate of 12.6% of Central Harlem residents and 15.1% in East Harlem residents have been told they have diabetes…

It’s easy to see why Harlem has become a primary concern and target for the Healthy Monday non-profit organization. According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, an estimate of 12.6% of Central Harlem residents and 15.1% in East Harlem residents have been told they have diabetes (NYC Community Health Survey, 2009). These Harlem neighborhoods are above the citywide average of 9.7% (NYC Community Health Survey, 2009). With the rates on the increase and little being done to raise awareness and support for the matter, Healthy Monday decided to step up to the plate.

Hernandez reveals, “Smoking, diabetes, and cancer rates are increasingly high in areas that consist primarily of people of color. There is a disproportionate amount of people inflicted by preventable illnesses and death in both the Black and Hispanic communities.” With Harlem being home to both huge Black and Hispanic communities, Healthy Monday knew its targeted demographics, but also needed and called upon the help of community support to aid their efforts.

One of Healthy Monday’s partners for raising awareness for diabetes and smoking cessation in Harlem has been The City College. Together, the two organizations have held weekly health awareness events every Monday on The City College’s campus . It is important to note that The City College has a large population of Black and Hispanic students. 24.1% of students are Black and 32.3% are Hispanic, while only 23.8% are White (“Current CUNY Data Book – Race/Ethnicity”, 2010). With students traveling from all areas of the city, many from other underdeveloped areas of New York City, this gives Healthy Monday an opportunity to not only get to their target demographics, but potentially spread awareness to other parts of the city that they haven’t been as active in.

Healthy Monday has a proven track record of working with students and universities to use their resources to raise awareness of health problems. In fact, at The City College, Healthy Monday has taken their initiative directly to students to execute it. In the fall of 2010, Healthy Monday began working with a select class of students from The City College’s Public Relations & Advertising undergraduate program. The students were broken up into teams and each team was asked to create an integrated marketing communications plan for Healthy Monday and execute it on campus and, if possible, within the general Harlem community. Of this unique proposition, Dmitry Ivanov, member of the Health4U Communications team said, “We think it’s really creative and smart for Healthy Monday to get students involved in executing a campaign on The City College campus for them. No one knows the general student body better than the students themselves. It makes sense that Healthy Monday would want to tap into that.”

Healthy Monday is always looking for bold new ways to promote their agenda. Will they ever reach their goal of eliminating chronic preventable diseases in the U.S.? No one knows. However, with the rate of chronic preventable diseases on the rise, particularly in underdeveloped urban areas like Harlem, it certainly doesn’t hurt to at least try — which Healthy Monday has no problem doing.

Free Healthy Monday event to be hosted at The City College’s  North Academic Center (NAC) Ballroom on Monday December 6, 2010 from 12 Noon-2PM. Light food and refreshments will be served. Also enter a special raffle at the event for a chance to win a FREE Nintendo Wii!

By Alvin Bhuggoo