By Ashley McDonough ·Updated August 5, 2022
When it comes to health and the Black community, many of us can agree we don’t take our health as seriously as we should. Whether lack of checkups, ignoring the signs or homemade remedies passed down throughout generations, our community has created our own coping mechanisms when it comes to our body and health.
Given the times and current pandemics of Covid-19 and Monkeypox, it’s time we get serious about our health and start seeking medical professionals instead of trusting our own instincts.
During the Wealth & Power experience at the 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture, actress & media mogul Lala Anthony & board certified family physician, Dr. Jennifer Caudle sat down to discuss the importance of health awareness, especially within the Black community. Lala who was recently vocal about her own health scare and heart condition shared her sentiments on how she herself, self diagnosed what she thought was taking place within her body and how she let her busy schedule take priority of her own health.
“ I had a heart condition and I definitely ignored it for a while. I just thought like, I needed to rest more, I needed to sleep more, but I was working too hard and not paying attention to any of the signs. Until one day I found myself getting extremely light-headed and had to be rushed to the hospital .” Lala shared.
While Lala luckily caught her condition early on enough, far too often do we completely ignore the signs until it’s too late. Often in our community we self diagnose ourselves into believing what we want to, instead of taking our health seriously getting the proper care we deserve. Dr. Caudle went on to further explain why we should all have primary doctors for health issues that arise and look into building real lasting relationships with our physicians, because it’s one of the most important relationships we’ll ever have.
“Remember that doctor-patient relationship is a relationship, you need to find one that works. Find the doctor and keep looking until you find the right one.” Dr. Caudle shared.
To learn more on health awareness be sure to tap into the full Wealth & Power conversation.
2022 Essence Festival of Culture held in New Orleans, Louisiana – July 1 – 3,2022
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