Portage County Commissioners declare Racism a public health crisis
On Sept 11, the Portage County Commissioners declared racism a public health crisis in the county. The Portage County commissioners followed in the footsteps of six counties in Ohio, along with the Portage County Mental Health and Recovery Board, Kent City Health Department and the Portage County Democratic Party.
“It declares racism a public health crisis. It says that our county is going to work in all the ways that we function as a county to promote equity, whether that be in hiring, purchasing, contracting or the policies that we promote,” Portage County Commissioner, Kathleen Clyde said. “We are also going to support, lift up and amplify organizations that are working to address these disparities and health care between our black and white residents.”
Moved by Commissioner Vicki Kline, the declaration was put into place with a majority of two votes, with one vote abstained.
Commissioner Sabrina Christian-Bennett abstained from the vote and said, “I am going to abstain from this vote because it is not my role as a commissioner to declare a public health crisis. The resolution exceeds the scope and authority given to the board of commissioners under the Ohio revised code.”
The task of a county commissioner involves working with the county’s budget, making decisions of what is the priority for the budget and how to allocate spending in an equitable way.
Whether that be making sure the workforce’s lives and health are treated equally, working with residents in different operations they oversee and that they consider racial equity and inclusion, along with promoting people’s livelihood in the county.
Image provided by Sims.
In June, Summit County declared racism as a public health crisis, being one of the first counties in Ohio to do so. Since June, the county has worked to focus on every department in the county to examine how business is conducted.
“We’re talking about a country that’s founded on systemic and structural racism,” said Veronica Sims, Summit County councilwoman of District 5. “I don’t want people to get the idea that this is a one and done, this is work that has to continue to the permanent dismantling of systems of oppression by racism.”
Racism as a public health crisis sits as an elephant in the room and has been for the entire history of the United States. “George Floyd’s [seven] minutes and 46 seconds was a real turning point because it woke the world and what we realized that these things are happening across the world in some shape, form or fashion,” Sims said.
Geraldine Hayes Nelson, President of the Portage County Chapter of the NAACP, and Judi Hill, President of the Summit County Chapter of NAACP, submitted letters to county commissioners, school districts, and community agencies to declare racism as a public health crisis earlier in the year.
Portage County Chapter of the NAACP.
Photo provided by Hayes Nelson.
“When I say health crisis, it talks about our residents being able to get adequate health care. You look at the disparity in health care practices, who has access and who doesn’t have access,” Hayes Nelson said.
Hayes Nelson continued to talk about the importance of looking at the disparities, whether that be access to healthcare, employment, or income, while also combining what is going on around the nation.
As cited in Clyde’s resolution, “communities of color, working-class residents, and those that suffer from disabilities are more likely to experience poor health outcomes a consequence of their social determinants of health – health inequities stemming from economic stability, education, physical environment, food and access to health care systems.”
According to the resolution, Black residents in Ohio have a lower life expectancy than white residents and are more likely to die prematurely, which would be before the age of 75.
Black residents in Portage County experience higher rates of unemployment and face a higher poverty rate, according to worldpopulationreview.com.
Information retrieved from worldpopulationreview.com Graphic by Sara Crawford
“Our black residents deserve equal access to healthcare in our communities, and it’s disturbing to see that outcomes for black residents are so much worse than white residents on a number of key health indicators,” Clyde said.
Following the National NAACP, the Portage County chapter followed suit, standing behind this declaration, along with the campaign #WeareDoneDying.
“We ask people to begin to look at the overall wellness we’re trying to get,” Hayes Nelson said. “We are done dying, we need for people to begin to look at how do you de-escalate.”
With de-escalating, Hayes Nelson said how everyone has to start taking care of themselves.
An important addition in public health, mental health plays a key role in the public health crisis.
“Your mental health is just as important as your physical health,” said Karyn Kravetz, the associate director of the Mental Health and Recovery Board in Portage County. “I mean they really go hand in hand.”
Image provided by Kravetz.
In the beginning of June, the Mental Health and Recovery Board made the unanimous decision to declare that racism is a public health crisis. Since then, they have reached out to all their service providers to get a better understanding of what their minority representation is.
In addition, they have created a committee to work toward solving these issues. The volunteer-based community members of the Mental Health and Recovery Board pushed to put this declaration into action and to continue work on improving the county.
“We know in Portage County, that there are things that we also need to improve on,” Kravetz said. “We wanted to make that the public commitment.”