by Dr. Lawrence Jones II

WASHINGTON, D.C., [July 08, 2025] — Howard University Faculty Practice Plan (HUFPP) and Howard University Hospital (HUH) are proud to announce a groundbreaking partnership with the Dynasty Interactive Screen Community’s (DISC) Health Equity Action Lab (HEAL) that will enhance public access to critical health information and expand health education outreach locally in the DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia) area and on a national level. HEAL is an initiative of DISC Health. This initiative was spearheaded and led by DISC representative Dr. Lawrence Jones II, the National Director of DISC HEAL and the Founder and CEO of Biotechnology Health Management and Care LLC. Howard University Faculty Practice Plan and Howard University Hospital will expand health initiatives and awareness by promoting and distributing preventive health information, as well as news about active aging and healthy lifestyles, impacting the community both on campus and in community clinics. Through this collaboration, HUH and HUFPP will now leverage DISC’s network of more than 800 indoor digital media screens regionally, including access to 500,000 monthly viewers across the Washington, D.C. region alone.

These digital displays are strategically placed in high-traffic community hubs such as restaurants, salons, community centers, and local businesses, making health information more visible and accessible in everyday settings. The DISC platform features multimedia content that is both expert-curated and culturally relevant, covering a wide range of topics, including preventive care, mental health, nutrition, and chronic disease management. With more than four million monthly viewers nationwide, DISC enables Howard’s providers and educators to connect directly with communities and other underserved populations, delivering targeted campaigns, including virtual screenings, video education, and branded health content, helping to strengthen relationships and improve trust with communities that have historically faced barriers to healthcare access. “This partnership represents a bold and transformative step in our mission to close the health equity gap,” said Vincent Orange Jr., CEO of the Howard University Faculty Practice Plan.

Mr. Orange elaborates by stating that “By bringing reliable, expert health content directly into the places where our community gathers, we are not only increasing awareness—we are empowering individuals with the knowledge to make healthier decisions. He further adds that “This collaboration is Howard at its best — leading, educating, and advocating.” “DISC is proud to align with a nationally respected institution like Howard University,” said Dr. Frederick Echols, DISC HEAL team member. Mr. Orange and the DISC HEAL team believe that “Together, we are amplifying trusted voices in healthcare and delivering content that speaks to the lived experiences of the communities we serve. This collaboration allows us to bring meaningful, life-changing health education directly to the people who need it most — where they live, work, and connect.”

By combining Howard’s legacy of care and advocacy with DISC’s dynamic technology, the institutions are advancing a shared vision for a more informed and health-literate society. Together, they are building a future where every community has access to the tools and education needed to lead healthier, more equitable lives.

For media inquiries, contact: PR Manager, Anizia Fulmore Anizia.Fullmore@howard.edu

The Howard University Faculty Practice Plan is a multi-specialty medical group practice serving all community members in the cultural hub of Washington, D.C. The Faculty Practice Plan is committed to the advancement of healthcare and health equality, locally and globally by providing exemplary education, service and research that promotes patient-centered collaborative care and advocates for the elimination of health disparities. The Faculty Practice Plans is dedicated to providing the highest-quality care and experience for every single patient and visitor that enters through its doors.

Howard University Hospital, a private nonprofit institution, is the nation’s only teaching hospital located on the campus of a historically Black university. The hospital is one of the most comprehensive health care facilities in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that offers primary, secondary, and tertiary health care services, and is designated a DC Level 1 Trauma Center. The hospital’s rich tradition of leadership and service offers medical students a superior learning environment and opportunities to observe or participate in ground-breaking clinical and research work with professionals who are changing the face of health care. Together the medical school and the hospital have served as a training ground for many of the nation’s top African American physicians. Washingtonian and Black Enterprise magazines have identified physicians affiliated with the hospital as leaders in a vast range of specialties.

DISC currently powers over 4400 indoor digital screens in high-traffic locations across the US, reaching more than 13.5 million viewers monthly. These screens deliver engaging local news, events, announcements, and advertisements directly to people where they live, work, and relax.

Contact DISC Health today.

#HealthEquity #HowardUniversity #CommunityHealth

Tags: Health Care Communication, Healthcare Experiences

By Dr. Lawrence Jones II

Father’s Day as part of Men’s Health (June) month, is a great reminder to tell the man in your life to go get those eyes checked.

The eye is a doorway to our health evaluation. An optometrist or an ophthalmologist can look into a person’s eye with an ophthalmoscope and the latest medical equipment to view the back of the eyes and detect veins, arteries, and nerves.

Either doctor can tell if a person has diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol), glaucoma, cataracts, and other vision impairments that can lead to blindness. Finding a good doctor that you feel comfortable with is very important.

Optometrists and ophthalmologists often mention that catching and diagnosing certain eye conditions can lead to more favorable outcomes.

People who typically wear prescription glasses often have their eyes examined more than people who do not wear prescription glasses. Having eyes checked annually is not necessarily a goal for people with no prescription eyewear.

Unfortunately, later in life, the majority of people over 60 years old realize that their eye muscles have begun to weaken, and prescription eyeglasse

s are inevitable. I know that this may sound very simplistic; however, getting in the habit of having regular eye checkups and exams starting at least by the time person brings in their 40’s can provide significant benefit and health literacy in our eyes.

An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor (physician)that trained in surgical sight and medical care. Ophthalmologists provide vision services, eye exams, entails correcting cataracts surgically and plastic surgery on eyelids. An optometrist, a doctor of optometry, provides vision services, eye exams, and eyeglass fitting.

Several commercial eyeglass chains provide an eye exam. I would encourage everyone who can take advantage of those eye examinations to do so sooner than later. The exam may catch something you were unaware of, such as having any of the illnesses or conditions that may be silent.

If you’re in that job or profession that requires spending a lot of time driving or in front of a computer screen, it would be good to get an eye exam and the right glasses fitted for you.

On a historical note, in 1838, David K. McDonogh, a 19-year-old slave from New Orleans, enrolled in the College of Physicians and Surgeons (later Columbia University Medical School). Dr. David McDonogh lived to 72 years of age and died in 1893. The McDonough Memorial Hospital opened on West 41st Street in New York City in 1898. Dr. McDonogh was the first African-American eye specialist.

References:

Irisvision(2022). A List of Best Eye Care Tips for Men .A List of Best Eye Care Tips for Men | IrisVision

Jones, A (October 15, 2020).Influential Black Ophthalmologists :A series of firsts: we explore the Black figures who shaped the field. Influential Black Ophthalmologists (theophthalmologist.com)

Koplin, R.S. (October 6, 2016). America’s First African-American Eye Specialist: David K. McDonogh, MD. America’s First African-American Eye Specialist: David K. McDonogh, MD – American Academy of Ophthalmology (aao.org)

Maryland Vision Institute (June 2022). Glaucoma Treatment | Glaucoma Specialist | Glaucoma Surgeon | Ophthalmologist | Prince Frederick MD | Annapolis MD (marylandvisioninstitute.com)

Maryland Vision Institute (June 2022).Cataract Surgery | Cataract Surgeon | Premium Cataract Lens | ORA | LenSx | IOL | Ophthalmologist | Eye Doctor | Hagerstown MD | Frederick MD | Hancock MD (marylandvisioninstitute.com)

Seltman, W. (October 27, 2020). Eye Doctors: Optometrists and Ophthalmologists. Eye Doctors: Optometrist vs Ophthalmologist vs Optician (webmd.com)

Tags: Health Care Communication

Reviewed By Dr. Lawrence Jones II

Recent articles have been published in the Philadelphia Inquirer (April 2024), touching on complications from medical surgeries over the last few years in the news. However, these are cases in which medical equipment is mistakenly left inside a person, and the person develops devastating effects afterward. Although rare, extreme cases happen within hospitals. Ruderman and Gantz (April 3, 2024) reported that there were “203 cases in which patients at 39 Philadelphia-area hospitals received treatment related to a surgical item accidentally left inside their bodies during a procedure, according to an analysis of Pennsylvania hospital billing records from 2017 through 2022.”

When I read this, I paused and thought, “How could this happen?” A few possible reasons, as Kumar and associates report:

1) Failure to count the swabs and surgical items in open surgeries is one of the risk factors.

2) Emergency surgeries can have sudden deviations in the surgery plan or improper swab count.

3) Higher body mass index (heavier weight individuals) is also believed to be a contributing factor due to increased technical difficulty, increased stress to the surgeon, and increased surgically exposed area.

Ruderman and Gantz stress that “while most patients are under anesthesia during surgery, they can still play a crucial role in their own safety. They can familiarize themselves with hospital safety measures to prevent objects from being left behind and discuss the protocols with their surgeon before the procedure. “When medical items get left inside patients, the suffering does not discriminate by age, race or zip code. The Inquirer’s analysis identified 203 affected patients at 39 hospitals in Philadelphia and its four surrounding Pennsylvania counties.”

Ruderman and Gantz cite that “65 of 203 cases occurred at Philadelphia institutions such as the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and smaller suburban facilities, such as independent Doylestown Hospital in Bucks County and Main Line Health’s Paoli Hospital in Chester County.” Dr. Marcus Schabacker, president and CEO of ECRI a national nonprofit focusing on patient safety, notes that 75,000 to 100,000 people in the U.S. die each year from preventable medical errors, including surgical objects mistakenly left in a patient’s body. Dr. Schabacker is an anesthesiologist and intensive care specialist.

The purpose for the review is really for patients and family members to stay engaged with their hospital medical providers. Family members, loved ones and friends need a health advocate during their medical stays and procedures. There are some excellent hospitals and health care facilities around the country and world. People do have to remain alert, the doctor and the patient, because accidents happen. Hopefully more accidents can be caught before they develop into something life threatening. The Narrative Matters!

References:

Kumar GVS, Ramani S, Mahajan A, Jain N, Sequeira R, Thakur M. Imaging of retained surgical items: A pictorial review including new innovations. Indian J Radiol Imaging. 2017 Jul-Sep;27(3):354-361. doi: 10.4103/ijri.IJRI_31_17. PMID: 29089689; PMCID: PMC5644334

Ruderman,W. and Gantz,S. (April 3, 2024). Having surgery? Here’s what patients can ask surgeons to help prevent a particularly harmful error. What hospitals can do to prevent life-threatening surgical errors (inquirer.com)

Ruderman,W., Gantz,S., Purcell,D. (April 3, 2024). LEFT BEHIND

At Philadelphia-area hospitals, surgical teams mistakenly left objects inside patients’ bodies more than 200 times over six years. While rare, the error can cause catastrophic harm.

How Often Do Surgical Instruments Get Left Inside Patients? How Often Do Surgical Instruments Get Left Inside Patients? - Golden Law Office

Photo credit. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/...

Tags: Health Care Communication

By Lawrence Jones,Ph.D.

On January 9, 2023, the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), a labor union of more than 42,000 members, decided to strike in New York. About 7000 nurses have been on strike since yesterday. ABC News ( January 9, 2022) reported that more than 7,000 nurses at two hospitals in New York City went on strike early Monday morning, demanding better working conditions and more staffing. The strike began at 6 a.m. after nurses at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and Mount Sinai Hospital in Harlem disagreed with hospital administration during a bargaining session Sunday night, according to the NYSNA.

Jones (September 18, 2022) reported that 15,000 nurses decided to strike in Minnesota, representing the largest nursing strike in the history of the United States. Unfortunately, nurses are increasingly required to take on more patients for bedside care to compensate for labor shortages. In addition, the high turnover has created gaps in patient care. For years, hospitals in the United States have faced understaffing problems, and the pandemic did not help.

Unfortunately, as Jones (September 18, 2022) reported, patients are more likely to die because of preventable reasons when healthcare providers are overworked. When the 15,000 hospital nurses in Minnesota walked off the job after marking two years without a contract, it signaled a tide of more strikes around the country and the western world. The pandemic exacerbated the already strained healthcare system. Short staffing has reached critical levels to provide the best quality care for many patients.

Another concern that should highlight is that more nurses and healthcare workers have experienced increased violence by violence by demanding patients dealing with understaffed facilities. Jones (September 18, 2022) reported that the number of healthcare workers in the United States still needs to recover to its pre-pandemic levels, down over 37,000 workers compared with February 2020.

The upcoming days, weeks, and months will reveal a lot about the priorities of the healthcare systems and administrations. Prolonged strikes will create a vulnerability in the New York system as time goes by. We hope an agreement comes soon and the facilities will have better staffing and protection against violent patients and visitors on worker safety. Rates of workplace violence in healthcare and social assistance settings have almost doubled since 2010. 

References:

ABCNews (January 9, 2022). More than 7,000 nurses go on strike in this city demanding better pay, more staffing. More than 7,000 nurses go on strike in this city demanding better pay, more staffing (msn.com)

Isidore, C. Yurkevich, V, and Luhby, T (January 9, 2023).7,000 ‘exhausted and burnt out’ NYC nurses walk out. Nurses strike: 7,000 nurses at two New York City hospitals walk out after contract negotiations fail | CNN Business

Jones. L (September 18, 2022). Are Registered Nurses Across America Under Appreciated and Pushed to Their Limits? Are Registered Nurses Across America Under Appreciated and Pushed to Their Limits? - The Narrative Matters

Kaufman, M. (January 9, 2023).Thousands of nurses strike across New York City in push for higher staffing levels. Thousands of nurses strike across New York City in push for higher staffing levels - POLITICO

NYSA (2022). New York State Nurses Association. New York State Nurses Association - InfluenceWatch

Tags: Health Care Communication

by Lawrence Jones, PhD

An aspect of adequate health care will rely on effective communication. Although communication is often interpreted in a contextual form by healthcare providers, verbal and non-verbal communication can directly affect patient health outcomes. Communication can be the source of any problems, and intercultural communication is a topic that does not get talked much about. Health care providers must understand that there is a need for intercultural communication. Black maternity health, low representation of black people in clinical trials, medication over medication among African Americans, and poor nutrition (particularly for the young), to name a few. Childhood obesity has been one of the significant epidemic pandemics for the last four decades, long before the COVID pandemic. Although we live in a very affluent society, there are still discrepancies in our health care system.

Even within the African American communities defined as middle class or upper-middle-class, there are still inadequacies, particularly in the black indigenous and people of color communities in the United States. Verbal and nonverbal health communication in the media and print is essential to reduce barriers that interfere with doctor-patient health care communications and relationships. For instance, patients have to be transparent about their ailments and the side effects of any prescribed medication. Often there are social biases that stem from systemic racial discrimination. Ledford (2019) reveals a study that shows racial disparities exist in health care by statistical algorithms which look at racial inequality objectively.

Neuliep (2000) talks about different types of communication that influence effective communication between people. He mentions a cultural environment, the physical environment, the relational environment, and the perceptual domain. Perhaps communication for direct health care effectiveness, whether face to face or through virtual social platforms, has to consider this. England (1992) mentions that communication is how people influence and persuade others across geographies. England explains that our differences with others are made up of individuals working collectively for the benefit of everyone, not just their own group; through open and honest intercultural communication, people can learn to work.

Neuliep (2000) also mentions that as you communicate with people from different cultures, you retain more. You will know that although your cultures are different, you have much in common as human beings. We just have different ways of achieving them.

References:

England, J.T. (1992) Building Community for the 21rst Century.

ERICDigest.ED347489(online)Available: https://eric.ed.gov/?q=on&pg=68524&id=ED347489

Hall, E. T., & Hall, T. (1959). The silent language (Vol. 948). Anchor books.

Ledford, H. (2019). Millions of black people are affected by racial bias in healthcare algorithms.

Nature, 574(7780), 608-610.

Neuliep, J. W. (2020). Intercultural communication: A contextual approach. Sage Publications

Tags: Health Care Communication