{"id":6257,"date":"2022-09-22T13:00:37","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T13:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=6257"},"modified":"2022-09-22T13:03:29","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T13:03:29","slug":"st-pauls-saturday-womens-day-breakfast-and-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/22\/st-pauls-saturday-womens-day-breakfast-and-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Paul\u2019s Saturday Women\u2019s Day Breakfast and Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_6259\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6259\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6259\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sisters1-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sisters1-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sisters1-370x244.jpg 370w, https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sisters1.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6259\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sister Fisher, Sister Gayle, Pastor Willis, First Lady Willis and Sister Simmons-Walston<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em><strong>By Dawn Scotland<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>The Truth Reporter<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church held its first \u201cAlive and Well Women\u2019s Conference\u201d Saturday September 18. The program, which is a part of their annual Women&#8217;s Day Celebration, featured five esteemed female panelists across various disciplines who discussed the issues facing the wellbeing of women today.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want women to have wisdom and knowledge concerning the various aspects of their lives to help them have a <em>better <\/em>life, is what we\u2019re working towards\u2026\u201d, said Women\u2019s Day Chairperson Yvonne Gayle. \u201cAll of the topics are most important for the women of today. That\u2019s why we chose this [them].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She spoke on the present anxiety in society today.&#8221; We want to be able to prepare our women for these different difficulties and vicissitudes of life that they encounter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gayle expressed the importance \u201cwe have a high suicidal rate in our community, we have much and <em>too much <\/em>domestic violence [and] we need to educate ourselves concerning those particular topics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sister Daisy Fisher, Women&#8217;s Day co-chairperson, provided the welcome. Followed by Sister Lenora Barry who served as facilitator for the event. \u201cWe need to recognize that in this community and everywhere we go &#8211; we can make a difference if we choose to make a difference,\u201d remarked Barry .<\/p>\n<p>The theme for the event was \u201cCaring for Your Whole Self: Focusing on Wellness,\u201d Attendees enjoyed a complimentary continental breakfast preceding the presentation.\u00a0 Guest presentations included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cWellness and Women\u201d &#8211; Dr. Meiuttenun Brown, MD<\/li>\n<li>\u201cDisparities in Women&#8217;s Health and Infant Mortality\u201d &#8211; Kimberly Toles<\/li>\n<li>\u201cMental Health in our Minority Communities and Churches\u201d &#8211; Sonya Quinn<\/li>\n<li>\u201cDomestic Violence\u201d &#8211; Kimberly Sanders<\/li>\n<li>\u201cBlack Maternal Caucus\u201d &#8211; State Representative Paula Hicks-Hudson<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6261 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sisters-300x192.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"192\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sisters-300x192.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sisters-370x237.jpg 370w, https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sisters.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>The women at St. Paul addressed these issues in hopes of shining God\u2019s light, educating its membership and the community.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Brown is a graduate of Spelman College with a bachelor of science degree in biology\/pre-medicine, the University of South Carolina with a masters of Public Health and a medical degree from Morehouse School of Medicine<\/p>\n<p>She is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and she has practiced in Detroit as a National Health Corps Scholar working in an urban, underserved area after residency. She moved to Toledo after her service with the Corps and has also worked in home care as a general practitioner.<\/p>\n<p>Kimberly Toles is the Minority Health Program Coordinator for the Toledo Lucas County Office of Minority Health, Toledo Lucas County Health Department. She earned a master\u2019s degree in Clinical Mental Health from the University of Toledo, served 20 years as a forensic counselor with the Lucas County Sheriff\u2019s Office, is a certified suicide instructor and a certified chemical dependency counselor.<\/p>\n<p>Sonya Quinn is the Community Engagement Coordinator for NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and has over 10 years working in the mental health field. She is a native Toledoan and attended the University of Toledo earning a bachelor\u2019s degree in Business Administration. She is the chairperson for NAMI\u2019s African American Leadership and Latino Leadership Initiative, an executive committee member for the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition, a member of the Trauma Informed Care Advisory Board and a member of the Toledo Minority Health Advisory Board.<\/p>\n<p>Kimberly Sanders is a long-time health care coordinator and domestic violence advocate. She earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from Lourdes University and a master\u2019s in Human Development and Family Studies from Spring Arbor University. Most of her professional career has been in higher education, educating health care professionals, most recently working with woman and children experiencing domestic violence.<\/p>\n<p>Each woman spoke for 10 minutes addressing important health issues of concern for the African-American community, particularly issues impacting women.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Brown, obstetrician, provided and defined for the group the Six Dimension of Woman\u2019s Wellness: physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, occupation and social, stating, \u201cWellness deals with the whole being for a better quality of life\u2026 if we are no good we are no good to anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Kimberly Toles provided the mission for her office, to \u201cadvocate for black and brown people in order to find out why we are so disproportionately disadvantaged when it comes to things like health, insurance, housing, education &#8211; anything that we can name &#8211; we want to get out and raise that awareness.\u201d She and her colleague presented statistics and figures on the different disparities affecting black women. \u201cA lot of time what you don\u2019t know &#8211; you don\u2019t know you don\u2019t know,\u201d stated Toles.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want women to know \u2013 we have a right, you can ask,\u201d said Toles, emphasizing the duty of Black women to press for answers concerning their health and that of their babies. \u201cBabies die disproportionately [in the Black community] because we don\u2019t go to the doctor, we don\u2019t get treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Toles spoke of the need to find about the resources available to women and families, the need to find out about the secrets that are kept from them due to systemic racism.<\/p>\n<p>Mental health, said Quinn, is \u201cthat subject we just don\u2019t want to talk about \u2026 but we need to erase the stigma. Our mental health needs to be cared for just like our physical health.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Quinn informed her audience of about 50 women that having a mental health issue or problem does not \u201cdefine who you are \u2026 does not stop you from being who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sanders, speaking on the subject of domestic violence, stated: \u201cDomestic violence is all about power but not just about physical power \u2013 it\u2019s also about emotional, verbal and financial power.\u201d Sanders offered her audience a number of suggestions about working with those who are victims of domestic violence suggesting that they avoid the straightforward accusation: \u201cWhy don\u2019t you just move out?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Be indirect, express concern, suggest alternatives to their present situation, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Hicks-Hudson spoke of the \u201cBlack Maternal Caucus,\u201d the goal of elevating the Black maternal health caucus within the legislature to find policy solutions to improve health outcomes and eliminate disparities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe hypocrisy of some of my colleagues is so real,\u201d said Hicks-Hudson of the failure within the state legislature to address issues of concern to maternal health, especially black maternal health.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Toledo, we are one of the worst areas on maternal health, particularly black maternal health; infant mortality in Lucas County is at the bottom of the list and race is a primary factor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hicks-Hudson told her listeners that so much of what happens in Columbus happens fairly quietly compared to the news out of Washington, but as far as many issues, such as health issues, what happens on the state level is so much more important to the average household. Therefore, she urged her audience to vote, to encourage others to vote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important what happens on the federal level, but Columbus is the real deal \u2026 exercise and eat right, but also vote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The entire presentation can be viewed on St. Paul\u2019s facebook page.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Dawn Scotland The Truth Reporter St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church held its first \u201cAlive and Well Women\u2019s Conference\u201d Saturday September 18. The program, which is a part of their annual Women&#8217;s Day Celebration, featured five esteemed female panelists across various disciplines who discussed the issues facing the wellbeing of women today. \u201cWe want women [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[140],"class_list":["post-6257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6257"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6262,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6257\/revisions\/6262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6257"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=6257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}