The First Ladies Health Initiative presented by Walgreens was launched in 2008 in Chicago. The fifth annual citywide health day made its way to sunny Los Angeles this month and was a resounding success. Pastors’ wives opened their churches to provide free health screenings to members of their congregation and surrounding community.
The weekend kicked off with a press conference at Crenshaw Christian Center, one of nearly 30 Los Angeles-area churches that participated in the event.
During the citywide day of giving, participants had the opportunity to take a variety of tests ranging from cholesterol, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, hypertension, breast and hepatitis C screening to Alzheimer’s. At each location, a Walgreens pharmacist was on-site to test blood pressure.
Some churches conducted parades and block parties to get as many people as possible to, “Know Your Status.”
On hand was John Gremer, Walgreen’s director of community affairs, who has worked tirelessly to ensure the success of the health initiative each year since its inception. “Heart disease is the No. 1 killer among African Americans and one of the most preventable of all chronic illnesses. This partnership with the AHA and ASA will allow the First Ladies program to continue its outreach to monitor the health of congregants of participating churches in the hopes that one day we will see a major shift in these regrettable findings,” he said.
Rolling out traveled to over six churches to get a firsthand look at what was going on simultaneously all over the city. The first stop was Antioch Church of Long Beach with Pastor Wayne Chaney and first first lady Myesha Chaney. You might remember this family from their feature on Bravo TV’s “Preachers of L.A.” We also visited City of Refuge with world-renowned Bishop Noel Jones, whose church has over 17,000 members. Other stops included: Metropolitan Baptist Church, First African Methodist Episocal Church, and Founders Church of Spiritual Loving.
Be on the look out Orange County, California, because the First Ladies Health Day is coming your way May 22, 2016.
Check out photos below:
