The health of minority and under-served populations in the region is getting a shot in the arm. The University of South Alabama Center for Healthy Communities has received a $7.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the second-largest grant in USA history.

The funding will enable the center to continue its community-based outreach, research and mentoring programs aimed at improving the wellness of those who might otherwise fall through the cracks of the health care system.

According to Dr. Errol Crook, co-director of the USA Center for Healthy Communities, principal investigator for the grant and chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at the USA College of Medicine, the area to receive the most scrutiny during the research phase of the effort is inner city Mobile because it is “most burdened by excess disease and excess death.” That doesn't mean Baldwin County is going to be ignored, however.

“There are no places that are immune to it (disparity),” Crook said. “At the moment, the population (in Baldwin) will be different than other counties of the region.”

That's because a larger share of the county's population takes advantage of its easy access to health care, including preventative medicine. Some Baldwin residents might not have that option, he said.

“The disparity exists where income is lowest and where education level is lowest,” Crook said, adding those living in remote areas are historically more likely to receive little or no medical attention.

He said, “That's the case in certain parts of the county that are rural, not the recently developed. Will you have to drive 25 to 30 miles to reach a provider and how will that impact?”

Crook cites Baldwin's growing Hispanic population as a group where there is an expanding divide between the health care haves and have-nots. He said, “There are potential language barriers and cultural differences” that prevent them from receiving adequate care.

Those who are here illegally perhaps suffer the most from a lack of medical attention.

“That's a big issue, especially in prenatal health,” Crook said. “There's a fear of going into the health care arena. There is a program targeting that population working out of Providence Hospital (in Mobile. That's one of the groups we're partnered with.”

But, Hispanics aren't the only ones who have a problem. Neither is the issue confined to the African-American population.

Crook said, “The disparity with income, education and rural living is regardless of ethnicity. But there are certain diseases that are likely to occur with worse outcomes in the minority community. In this country, lifespan is going up, but not as much for African-American men and women.” He pointed out Asian women actually have the longest lifespan on average.

Early diagnosis and prevention is more important than ever, Crook said. Heart disease, cancer, kidney disease, HIV/AIDS and violent deaths can be prevented through education.

“We need a lack of fear of the health care system,” he said. “The U.S. health care system is one of the best in the world when it works.”

It's the lack of affordable health insurance that seems to trouble Crook most. He said this is a country that encourages entrepreneurship and small business. Because insurance is such a large expense, those smaller companies often put the cost burden square on the backs of their employees, he noted.

“We hope to study these issues and come up with solutions,” Crook said.

The five-year grant renews an original 2004 grant and establishes USA as a “Center of Excellence Partnerships, Outreach and Research Training in Health Disparities (EXPORT)” by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the NIH.

The grant will continue to involve community groups, health care leaders, and USA faculty, working together to craft effective, culturally sensitive, community-based interventions for minority and underserved groups.

“This sets the foundation for us to establish ourselves as a disparity research center,” Crook said.

The program will also reach into coastal Mississippi and the Florida panhandle. He said, “We're planning to radiate outward, including the rural areas north of us. One of the things we have as a goal is to reach out to populations that have been disenfranchised, and not included in (previous) research.”

The NIH National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities will use the findings from the USA research to aid the development of programs to address health disparities in other communities across the country.

The grant will help the group to focus on enhancing services in non-traditional settings, such as churches, as well as gauging people's satisfaction with their providers. The study involves researchers and business leaders as partners in addressing the needs of these underserved groups. Business involvement is key because health disparities represent an economic strain on the community.