Caswell Evans: the church can play a role in promoting minority health

By Brian Fitzgerald

On Sundays, the main attraction at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, Calif. -- after religious services, of course -- is a free spaghetti dinner. However, worshippers also get an added bonus: basic medical services.

A mobile clinic in the church parking lot is operated by the Health and Faith Coalition of Greater Los Angeles, which was founded by Caswell Evans. Worshippers can be immunized, screened for hypertension and HIV, and receive training on how to spot prostate cancer symptoms.

Preventive medicine is Evans' passion, and he knows how important a role the clergy can play in promoting health in minority neighborhoods. "We know that faith is a presence and a force in these communities," he said at a BU/City of Boston-sponsored forum at the New Covenant Church in Mattapan April 12. "We have shown that using faith and religion as a vehicle to promote public health in a community really works. Linking up and working in partnership with faith-based organizations is critical."

Evans, the executive editor and project director of the first U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Oral Health -- which is expected to be released next month -- recently spent four days at the BU Medical Campus to participate in a visiting professorship designed to highlight preventive medicine and minority health issues. From April 11 to April 14 he made five presentations, including a lecture at the weekly School of Public Health Forum, where he explained the political process involved in developing such prevention initiatives.

Evans also participated in a panel discussion, entitled New Strategies for Improving Birth Outcomes, based on his experience in reducing infant mortality through the Great Beginnings for Black Babies campaign he founded in L.A. The program, which teaches African-American women about the importance of prenatal care, brings mobile clinics to shopping malls to treat as many women as possible. "By thinking outside the box and using innovative methods in reaching out to women of all colors, we were able to improve and increase their prenatal care, and thus reduce infant mortality," he said.

Caswell Evans Photo by Brooks/Glogau Photographers

Schools were another setting in which Evans saw potential to get medical care to low-income residents. He pointed out that in the 1990s, vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles and pertussis, were found increasingly among adults. These "well child" clinics were part of his effort to use familiar local institutions to administer care to people before they became candidates for hospital emergency room visits. "The idea is to treat them where they live," he said.

Perhaps his emphasis on bringing medical care to patients -- instead of vice versa -- stems from childhood memories of his physician grandfather making house calls in Harlem. Evans remembers him taking calls from patients at all hours -- except from 5 to 6 p.m. "My grandmother, his nurse, insisted in no uncertain terms that he had to eat dinner at five," he explained. "And as soon as dinner was over, my grandfather would be off, visiting patients and taking their calls throughout the night."

Evans related his experiences with a group of high school students at BUSM's Instructional Building on April 13. The students, from the Boston Area Health Education Center Enrichment Program for Minorities, along with teens from the Boston School Department's Health Careers Academy, heard Evans emphasize the need to start thinking about their health careers now. "Set yourself on the path that will provide you with opportunities, and then take advantage of them," he said.

Evans, who received a doctor of dental surgery degree from Columbia University's School of Dental and Oral Surgery and a master's in public health from the University of Michigan, has also served as president of the American Public Health Association. He spent 12 years as director of public health services for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

"We are extremely fortunate to have Caswell Evans on this campus," said Robert Meenan, dean of BU's School of Public Health. "He has substantial experience as a clinician in dental medicine, and lots of experience as a public health officer. To hear his stories from the front lines of public health is valuable for both students and faculty."

And his recollections were undoubtedly inspirational to the Boston High School students at the New Covenant Baptist Church. "If you remain focused and committed, you can succeed at anything," he told them.