In the 1990s, medical research linking disease with obesity and lack of exercise led to health initiatives directed at communities of color. Beverly Propes used her connection with churches, health providers, and insurers to begin her journey helping those in Minneapolis live longer, healthier lives.
Propes was born in St. Paul but grew up in Minneapolis, graduating from Minneapolis Central High School. She obtained her master’s in nursing at the University of Los Angeles. When she returned to Minneapolis, she became part of a group led by Minnesota Health Commissioner Sister Mary Ashton focusing on heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
Propes asked her pastor at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church if they could have a health ministry. He agreed. She began by taking the blood pressure of members and having conversations about medications, symptoms, and annual health exams. Many of the families she saw had a history of diabetes and cancer.
For many people in the community surrounding the church, getting medical attention meant a bus ride or a long walk to NorthPoint Health & Wellness, one of the few health providers in the community. When their new church was constructed at 3355 North 4th Street, a small clinic was included. It provided a scaled-down version of the services NorthPoint offered.
Various healthcare providers offered educational workshops, and besides the health checks, Propes gave CPR and AED training. She became a member of NorthPoint’s board as they began to look specifically at health disparities in North Minneapolis. With a degree in public health, “I said cardiovascular disease is very much like the umbrella of some of the other conditions that are affecting our community.”
Diabetes became the focal point because many families in the community had relatives who had “sugah.” “A lot of time the ‘sugah’ wasn’t shared,” Propes said. “It was like, ‘I shouldn’t eat today,’ or ‘I don’t feel well.’ So, all the symptoms of the stages of diabetes were hidden.”
This was an opportunity to educate people on avoiding refined sugar. Propes taught families how the cardiovascular system is linked to every organ in the body. “The heart is the main source,” she explains. “If there is something not working in the heart the way it’s supposed to, then the rest of the flow of the blood is reduced.”
This reduction can lead to a heart attack or stroke. Nutrition and water help the circulatory system to nourish the organs. When blood flow is restricted, “The liver in and of itself is one of the main filters of our blood, and once it gets too much sugar…then your blood sugar goes up and the symptoms of diabetes are most apparent.”
For more than 25 years the American Heart Association and the American Association of Diabetes distributed pamphlets through United Way and other organizations explaining disease risk and prevention, but the information was not focused on the communities most affected. The information often didn’t make it to communities of color, leaving them uneducated on ways of controlling and preventing illness. Knowing your glucose level, particularly for those 55 and over, is key, Propes teaches.
Lab work that indicates pre-diabetes is an opportunity to make changes: reducing sugar intake, eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, exercising, drinking more water, and reading labels for salt, sugar, and fat content. She joined efforts with other churches to sponsor health fairs.
The largest was at Juneteenth where organizations had the opportunity to educate approximately 5,000 during its first-year celebration. Community members were encouraged to develop a list of concerns for their annual visit.
“In today’s medicine, if you don’t identify what your problem is, the doctor doesn’t have a lot of time to help you figure out what he needs to do or what medicines they need to give you to make you better.”
Yet disparities persist: “In our city, we are still trying to raise our level of understanding to reduce the health disparities in our children, in our aunts and uncles, in our grandparents.” Propes says. “Because of those chronic conditions, they did not have the immunity when COVID hit. And COVID is still here. It didn’t go anywhere.”
Propes is proud that her church was the first to vaccinate its members. A positive is the current push for being more health conscious. Just 20 years ago, events didn’t always offer bottles of water, now a staple.
For decades, Blue Cross Blue Shield was almost a monopoly when it came to employer-sponsored health insurance. The addition of Allina, United Health Care, UCare, and others created a system more responsive to health disparities by increasing education, hours of service, and locations of providers. Currently,
Propes meets with church members offering services, including referrals to different clinics. “I keep telling people I’m retired, and that doesn’t work,” she says. She dedicates one day a week as a licensed school nurse at Best Academy, an Afrocentric school. She is also involved with Volunteers of America on a project relating to dementia, which is also linked to cardiovascular disease.
She advocates for annual exams and obtaining health insurance, which most everyone can participate in thanks to Obama, Propes says. She also wants people to realize that at any age they can make lifestyle changes to increase their chances of staying healthy, “and live as long as my uncle [Richard Mann], who was 106.”
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