Attendees provided feedback on how to enhance ACS’ health equity action.
The National Advisory Council on Health Equity held its quarterly meeting in Atlanta on Nov. 7 to learn more about:
- ACS’ caregiver resources, presented by Rachel Cannady, strategic director, Caregiving, and for the Council to offer ideas on how ACS can reach specific populations with ACS’ resources,
- VOICES of Black women, presented by LaRhonda Jackson, marketing director, Mission Execution, and for the council to share their thoughts on how ACS can be partner with communities who might not see us in their community and beyond ACS’ traditional, new partners to consider connecting with, and
- Efforts to combat inequities faced by adolescent and young adult cancer patients, presented by Maggie Rogers, director, Pediatric, Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Support, and for council members to share their experiences in working with these populations.
Trista Hargrove, director, Media Advocacy, Health Equity, also provided an update on what ACS CAN has been doing to advance health equity at the federal, state, and local levels.
Council background
Since 2018, the National Advisory Council on Health Equity, supported by ACS’ Patient Support Health Equity team and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, serves in an advisory role to ACS with the aim of realizing the organizations’ vision, purpose, and goals for health equity. The council does this by providing ACS and ACS CAN with feedback on how to enhance the organization’s health equity action. The 15 members of the council represent voices, perspectives, and lived experiences from rural, Hispanic/Latino. LGBTQ+, African American/Black, and Native American communities and have expertise in health equity, social determinants of health, and health related social needs; building assets and expanding economic opportunities for disadvantaged populations; community-initiated advocacy; evidence-informed interventions and policies; organizational change; health communication; and indicators and metric.
The council meetings not only help influence ACS’ actions, but they serve as opportunities for the participating members and their organizations to share the work they are doing and to take the lessons from ACS and others council members and apply them to their own action to advance health equity.
More feedback from Nov. 7 gathering
Council members shared how excited they were about ACS investing in the research study to better understand the complex drivers of incidence, mortality, and resilience of cancer and other health conditions among Black women. They also expressed their appreciation for ACS’ caregiver resources, which they said need to be amplified, and the organization’s efforts aimed at supporting adolescent and young adults.
Additional council feedback included:
- They conveyed the importance of making sure the perspectives of people who have the greatest disparities are included in the discussions ACS has in the development and implementation of our work.
- Continue to connect with other peers who are going through their health equity journeys, and
- Health equity is a journey that takes time to do it right; it doesn’t happen overnight.
