Black Heart Association’s founder, Tara Robinson, experienced a range of common heart disease symptoms in the months leading up to her first heart attack. But every visit to the doctor’s office and hospital ended the same way – with doctors dismissing her symptoms and recommending she simply reduce her stress levels. It wasn’t until Robinson’s third heart attack that doctors realized she had a 99% blockage in her main artery. During her lengthy recovery, Tara learned that her experience with the healthcare system – an experience that could have left her dead – is all too common within Black communities. This realization led her to establish the Black Heart Association (BHA) in 2017 with a mission to significantly lower the number of Black deaths caused by heart disease and stroke each year by bridging the gap between Black communities and proper screening and healthcare.
BHA provides heart health education, screenings, and healthcare for Black communities in North Texas that experience disparities in heart health outcomes due to limited access to affordable, high-quality care. BHA’s heart-focused health services aim to meet three goals:
Black Heart Association's mission is to significantly lower the number of Black deaths caused by heart disease and stroke each year by bridging the gap between Black communities, proper screening, and health care.
Although 80% of heart diseases are preventable (American Heart Association, 2018), they remain the leading cause of death in the United States (Murphy et al., 2018).
The impact of heart disease is also significant in Texas. Heart disease causes more deaths in Texas than any other health issue, and adults living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have some of the highest rates of heart-related death in Texas (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention [CDC], 2019).
Throughout the U.S., Black adults face significant inequities that lead to worse heart health outcomes. Black adults have the highest rate of heart disease and related death of all racial/ethnic groups (Wall et al., 2018). In the North Texas counties BHA serves, Black adults suffer higher rates of heart disease and have a heart disease-related death rate that is 14% higher than White residents and more than double the rates in Hispanic/Latinx communities (CDC, 2021).
A significant contributing factor to the poor heart health outcomes Black adults experience is limited access to quality medical care. Black adults are the most likely to be uninsured or underinsured (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2021), which greatly limits medical care access and affordability. In Texas, the percentage of Black non-elderly adults who are uninsured or underinsured is 75% higher than the rate for White non-elderly adults (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2021). Black patients are also less likely to visit medical care providers – even when insured – often due to bias and discrimination they have experienced within the healthcare system in the past (Muncan, 2018).
Equity is central to the BHA purpose: to save Black lives by providing access to healthcare resources and advocacy for healthy heart lifestyles.
Organization name
Black Heart Association
Causes
Community Improvement, Health Care, Racial Equity
Operating Budget
$250,000 - $499,999
Counties Served
Dallas, Tarrant
BIPOC Serving
Black or African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latinx, Native American, Other
BIPOC Leadership
Both the Executive Director/CEO and Board Chair
Equity Statement
Equity Statement
Address
1029 Kaylie St