Soulful Survivors, a Tulsa support group for Black women who are grappling with a breast cancer diagnosis or have survived one, are encouraging women to get checked.
The group meets monthly at Rudisill Regional Library but expanded their call at the late March Black Family Wellness Expo.
Soulful Survivors was one of several vendors to attend the expo hosted by the Tulsa chapter of The Links, Incorporated. Held at Tulsa Community College’s Northeast Campus, people could get health screenings and learn about resources on topics like maternal mortality, healthy eating, mental health and Alzheimer’s.
Dr. Runako Whittaker, a member of The Links, operates Westview Pediatric Care serving north Tulsa. She told The Eagle the organization intentionally brought together a wide range of resources to help people with their physical, social and financial health.
“This expo was a way to bring all of those entities together and give the community an opportunity to visit face-to-face outside of an office or a medical facility to access these resources,” she said.
When Saundra McClelland faced her initial diagnosis in 2006, support groups for Black women battling cancer were scarce.
Since she started the Tulsa-based group more than 15 years ago, it’s grown from seven to about 50 members.
McClelland, who now serves as president of Soulful Survivors, said she considers cancer to be “in the rearview mirror.” But she feels for other women who are battling with several rounds of chemotherapy.
“Sometimes they’ve lost their hair and sometimes they’ve lost their will,” she said.
In the U.S., breast cancer is the deadliest form of cancer for all women, but it is especially dangerous for Black women. Data from the American Cancer Society shows although African Americans have a 5% lower incident rate compared to white women, they are over 40% more likely to die from it.
There are many contributing factors to those outcomes, like a prevalence of late-stage diagnoses.
Fear leads many women to avoid going to the doctor even when they’ve found something out of the ordinary, McClelland said.
“You found a lump? Girl, you better go see about that,” she said.
She also encourages families to be more transparent with each other about their medical history so people are better informed about their genetic risks for health conditions.
Clinicians play an important role in assuaging people’s fears, Whittaker said, but they must be intentional about building better relationships with the people they serve.
“Particularly when we’re talking about the African American community, unfortunately, the medical community has not been very kind,” she said. “Right now, the medical community is really having to regain the trust of the community and that just happens one conversation at a time.”
As for Soulful Survivors, new members are welcome at the next meeting set for April 21 at Rudisill.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify McClelland’s diagnosis was in 2006.
