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At the corner of the 2600 block of Morris Street Saturday, the Vare Recreation Center hosted an afternoon of free Thanksgiving food, vaccinations, health screens including rapid Hep C and HIV tests, flu shots and entertainment, all made possible by a collaboration between the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School’s Management 100 class and the local organization, BEBASHI. Teams formed in the class choose a nonprofit to work with and create an event or raise money and awareness for the group.
BEBASHI, which stands for Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual Health Issues, paid a visit to Wharton’s MGMT 100 class to pitch their missions and goals earlier this fall.
“Two of our biggest thrusts are hunger relief and sexual health,” Gary Bell, BEBASHI’s executive director, said, with two goals wrapped into the umbrella of sexual health.
Breast health, via cancer awareness and mammogram assistance, and HIV prevention and protection were two of the three primary aims addressed downstairs in the gymnasium, while assembly line dinner was served upstairs.
“We wanted to get people tested and wanted to feed people,” Bell said. “Especially around the holidays, food is a good chance to get people together to eat but at the same time to get some health screens.”
Boston Canary, a North Philly resident who quit his job as a store leader with Target to join BEBASHI’s staff as a prevention specialist, was administering HIV tests.
“I quit because this is my passion,” the he said.
Canary tested about 20 volunteers and stressed the value of HIV education.
“There are four ways to get HIV, and touching and hugging is not how you can get it,” Canary explained, sharing one of the biggest misconceptions about the virus. “The four ways are blood [and IV drug use], semen, breast milk and vaginal secretions.”
Bell is no stranger to the idea that both sexually active teens and adults often don’t know they’re at risk.
“It comes down, quite often, to the perception of risk,” Bell posited. “If you know very little about HIV because you don’t take the time to learn about it, and you know what you’ve heard and maybe you’ve heard it’s a gay white disease or something that drug users get, if I’m none of the above, am I really at risk?”
Absolutely. Some facts from table tents about HIV were presented in the dining hall upstairs: “1.1 million Americans are infected with HIV,” “Every 9.5 minutes, one person in the US is infected with HIV,” “50,000 Americans are diagnosed with HIV every year,” and “African Americans account for 46 percent of the current HIV cases.”
Lauren Tankersly, Bebashi’s program assistant, was checking in on one of the tables in the gymnasium that was dispensing condoms, courting voter registration and informing visitors of their patient navigator program, a program that guides care-seekers to affordable health care and clinics. The University of Pennsylvania’s dental school had already left after giving out all of its tooth brushes, but Walgreens was on hand to provide free flu shots, and a private nurse helped patients to test their blood pressure and get their height and weight measured.
One of BEBASHI’s programs, Bosom Buddies, helps women to their mammogram appointment, whether it’s their first or they’re just nervous. Giavoni Gethers, a resident of Southwest Philly and a work-study volunteer, explained: “If she’s afraid or nervous, we go with that person through the whole journey.”
BEBASHI provided quick facts about breast cancer prevention that state that one in eight women is diagnosed with breast cancer, that risk elevates with age and inheritance and that despite doctors recommending breast exams once a month, only 53 percent of women 40 and older report having a mammogram within the last year.
Vince Meo was on hand as a Walgreens representative to administer flu shots. The resident of the 2500 block of South Darien Street, raised at Ninth and Shunk streets, said the flow of immunization seekers was “steady.” Last year was a bad year and with flu season coming on strong, avoiding influenza helps families stay healthy.
“It’s a really good preventative effort and you never know when it’s coming,” Meo said.
Influenza is contagious and spreads every winter, typically between the months of October and May. It can be spread through coughing, sneezing, and close contact. Symptoms come on quickly (fever, sore throat, aches and fatigue, cough, headache, and runny/stuffy noses) and last several days.
Upstairs, The Philly Reggae Band, a five-piece force, hailing from all over Philadelphia and New Jersey, soundtracked plate-building efforts consisting of turkey, string beans, macaroni and cheese, rice and gravy, rolls and Bundt cake.
“We ranked BEBASHI as number one, and we ended up getting them,” 18-year-old Amanda Martinez, one of the MGMT 100 students, explained.
The Maryland native’s eyes were opened by the experience.
The level of need in Grays Ferry is, presumably, significantly greater than her native Chesapeake state’s Montgomery County.
BEBASHI’s Bell noted the worth in targeting this section of Philadelphia.
“This area is one we’ve kind of targeted because it is underserved,” he explained. “With programs like ours, we’re hoping to find one or two sites here, to find a community partner, like a substance abuse treatment center or maybe a church, so we can have a more consistent presence here.”
Martinez learned perhaps as much as some locals discerned about their health on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s a little bit of a wake-up call,” she said.
Visit BEBASHI at bebashi.org or call 215-769-3561.
Contact Staff Writer Bill Chenevert at bchenevert@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
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