SHAKER LIFE | WINTER 2017 33 Reaching Out After launching the Men’s Minority Health Center, Modlin was discouraged to find that he had few patients. But among those who did show up was Cleveland author George Fraser, who’s also founder of FraserNet, the largest African-American networking organization in the country. “I opened the door and he was sitting there,” says Modlin. Soon, Modlin was working with Fraser and other area organizations, including the United Pastors Network, to get the message out. “I spend a lot of time in the community and it’s led to increasing trust to the point where many of these organizations are now encouraging people to come in,” says Modlin. That also includes to the annual Minority Men’s Health Fair, which last year attracted upwards of 2,000 attendees (this year, it’s on April 27). It’s open to everyone and offers up to 35 different free health screenings. “A lot of these conditions – hypertension, diabetes – oftentimes don’t have any symptoms. If you don’t get screened, you are not going to know you have it,” says Modlin. Up next for Modlin is ensuring that the Clinic is what he calls a Multicultural Health Center of Excellence. “We’d like to establish specialty areas of expertise in each institute to address health disparities,” he says. The Clinic’s Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute recently launched a program to help address the higher rates of colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, and liver disease among minorities. Indeed, the urgency to correct health disparities has never been greater, says Modlin, noting that by 2050, the U.S. will be a majority minority country. “If more of the population is minority, then more of the population is going to be experiencing health disparities,” says Modlin. “There is a lot of work still to be done.” Photo courtesy of Willie McAllister Photo courtesy of Yu Kwan Lee
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