Health and wellness site caters to women of color

(NNPA) - Three savvy health professionals have partnered to launch a health and wellness Web community for women of color. Dr. Nicole Farmer, Erika Evans-Weaver and Karen Cherfils are working to impact the dynamics of health-care communication through their digital media company OurHealth, LLC.

The company has launched www.ourhealthourlives.com, an interactive site geared toward offering women a platform to voice their medical concerns and have their questions answered by medical professionals.

The network features various specialists such a dermatologist, obstetrician/gynecologist, pharmacist, psychologist and a holistic practioner.

"We really feel like what's lacking in what's provided through health information over the Internet - or even health information through the news or even information that is given by a physician to a patient directly - is that it's not often centered around what our cultural needs are," said Farmer, a Washington, D.C.-based internist.

The site is being launched at a time when African-American women are suffering higher rates of mortality due to conditions such as heart disease and breast cancer.

"We call ourselves social entrepreneurs and part of what social entrepreneurs do is that they realize that there is a void and they find ways to fill it. The problem that we need to address is the fact that health disparities exist and we need to reduce them," said Cherfils, a New York-based freelance copy editor who specializes in health-based projects.

According to Farmer, one element that makes their site different is that they recognize the importance of viewing women as health-care consumers.

Part of their mission is encouraging women to realize that they have an active voice in their healthcare and that they have the right to question their physicians.

With that in mind, the site will also offer insight on what women should be looking for in a medical professional and what questions to ask.

"You have to be your own consumer when it comes to your health, otherwise the wrong decision can be made," Farmer stressed.

As a marriage and family therapist, Evans-Weaver is concerned that most of the mental health information that is presented online is mostly Eurocentric.

"A lot of the mental health therapies are so individually-based so coming from a collectivist culture it doesn't really connect well with how we think and interact and engage and relate to one another. So I would like to see more information that speaks to who we are as a culture instead of pathologying our behaviors," Evans-Weaver said.

The founders of OurHealth conducted focus groups and information sessions with women between the ages of 20 and 85, in which participants were asked to give their opinions about their health concerns and to offer feedback on what they hoped to see in a Web site designed specifically for them. An estimated 400 women indicated that they would like to participate in the network.

While their main venue is online, the founders of OurHealth are taking their message directly to the community through a series of health networking events that will be held in Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C.