Editor's note:
In his book Closing the Gap: How a Church-Hospital Partnership Is Reducing High Blood Pressure on Chicago's West Side, Josh Neufeld uses the photojournalism format to highlight a recent research article published in the journal Scientific Prevention. The comic is based on the article itself along with additional sources – including Zoom interviews with Elizabeth P. Lynch, Loudon Jenkins, Steve Epting Sr., Theresa Berumen, and Anthony Hixon.
These five people are characters in the comic, which describes an innovative community health worker intervention aimed at lowering blood pressure among congregants at several area churches.
Newfield uses precise colorization techniques for journalistic clarity. The speech balloon quotes for the light pink shaded characters come directly and exactly from their interviews with Newfeld. White speech balloons represent indirect quotations – such as when a key source recalls what someone else said during a community health visit. The text in the yellow caption boxes represents Newfield's own account.
This piece adds to the growing field of graphic medicine, which uses comics as a tool to tell real stories about health care experiences, as well as draw out and discuss complex medical topics.
Neufeld is the creator of several medical comic strips, including “Grafting on the Ball: A True Story of Trusted Messengers,” which won the 2023 GMIC Award for Excellence in Imaging Medicine, Short Form, from the International Imaging Medicine Group.
sources:
“Heart 2 Heart: A pilot study” of a church-based community health worker intervention for African Americans with hypertension. Elizabeth B. Lynch, Christy Tange, Todd Robar, Laura Zimmerman, Jocelyn Williams, Loudon Jenkins, Steve M. Epting, Elizabeth Avery, Tamara Olinger, Theresa Berumen, Maggie Schooler, and Rebecca Wernhoff. Prevention Science, July 2023.
“The Health Status of Blacks in Chicago.” Blair Aikins, Dana Harper, Rachel Paul Brutus, Donna Screwchins and O Simpson. Chicago Department of Public Health, June 2021.
“Partnering with churches to conduct large-scale health screening for an isolated urban community.” Elizabeth B. Lynch, Jocelyn William, Elizabeth Avery, Melissa M. Crane, Brittney Lange Maya, Christy Tangney, Ladon Jenkins, Sheila A. Duggan, Erin E. Emery Tiburcio, and Steve M. Epting. Community Health Journal, February 2020.
“Rationale and Study Design Heart to Heart: A Church-Based Intervention to Lower Blood Pressure in African Americans.” Yolanda Cartwright, Christy Tangney, Todd Robar, Steve M. Epting, Ladon Jenkins, Renetha Gullion, Steve Rothschild, Laura Zimmerman, Elizabeth Avery, Tammy Olinger, Sumihiro Suzuki, and Elizabeth B. Lynch. Contemporary clinical trials, July 2023.
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