First Ladies Health Day is Back

First Ladies Health Day is Back

CHICAGO – The First Ladies Health Day, featuring free health screenings for chronic illnesses, returns to Chicago on Aug. 11 at nearly 10 participating churches. The much-anticipated health day will include back-to-school resources as well as games and giveaways to spotlight the return of these lifesaving health clinics.

The day will also feature a first-ever WNBA Chicago Sky Cares Basketball Camp at Salem Baptist Church, the program’s flagship church located at 752 East 114th Street. Sky Cares coaches will be on-site to lead exercises at the two-hour basketball camp. Everyone who seeks medical tests during the health day at any of the participating churches will be entered into raffles to win tickets to a Sky game.

The First Ladies Health Initiative is in reference to the pastors’ wives who oversee the program in their individual churches. The First Ladies are considered the backbone of their churches and fierce leaders in the fight against health disparities in their communities.

Some of the targeted illnesses include HIV, high blood pressure, diabetes, breast cancer and Alzheimer's. According to the Chicago Department of Public Health, there is a 30-year gap in life expectancy between people living in poor, predominantly African American neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side, as compared to those in more affluent, predominantly white neighborhoods just nine miles away in Chicago’s Loop.

First Ladies National Chairwoman Jamell Meeks, the wife of Salem’s former pastor and past Illinois State Senator James T. Meeks, is one of the founders of the First Ladies Health Initiative and continues to be the program’s most prolific advocate. She stated recently that reinstating the health day is important because although the program was minimized during the COVID crisis, the effects and frequency of chronic illnesses that have plagued underserved communities for decades are ongoing.

“Many individuals in our communities suffer from illnesses that require constant monitoring as well as expert advice and counseling, resources that may not be available for a variety of reasons,” according to Meeks. “The health day is certainly not a replacement for more intense hospital visits and examinations, but our volunteer health providers can certainly move the needle in terms of supplying basic information that we all need to get and stay healthy."

Nearly 10 churches in total, including Salem, are opening their doors to the free health clinics in their communities on Aug. 11.

Other participating churches include: St. John Missionary Baptist Church, 211 East 115th Street; St. Mark United Methodist Church, 8441 South St. Lawrence Street; United Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, 211 North Cicero Avenue; Grace Central Church, 10216 Kitchner Street; Mount Carmel Bible Church, 740 East 42nd Street; and Sunrise Full Gospel Baptist Church, 6159 South Aberdeen Street, Chicago, IL.

The return of the First Ladies Health Day in Chicago will include volunteer health experts, including Aetna, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), CAAN Academy of Nursing, Onyx 360 Wellness Group, Malcolm X College School of Nursing, Guardant Health, American Heart Association, American Red Cross, Cook County Health, Comcast, Equal Hope, Sista Afya Community Mental Wellness and Alzheimer’s Association.

All health tests will be performed free of charge at each church and all results will remain private and confidential.

Church membership is not required to seek health tests at either of the participating churches.

The First Ladies Health Initiative began in Chicago in 2008 and later expanded to include churches in Los Angeles, Cincinnati and Gary, IN. The most recent health clinic was held in 2022 during the First Ladies Health Walk at 3900 South Lake Shore Drive.

The goal of the First Ladies Health Initiative is to empower African Americans, Latinos and other communities of color to proactively take control of their health and wellness. Since 2008 the FLHI and its consortium of 200 churches have screened and educated more than 625,000 people. Additional information on the First Ladies Health Day is available at FirstLadiesHealth.com.

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