The African American Health Program has released a new video in its campaign to urge the African American community to get tested for COVID-19.
The new video features county resident and Vietnam War veteran Dr. Raphael Gray, who sees a parallel between that war and the current pandemic.
“The coronavirus has the same effect,” he said. “It does not discriminate against the lives that it has taken.”
He also asks viewers to wear a mask and get vaccinated.
The video is the third in a series supporting the “Don’t Stress, Take the Test” campaign. Like the first two released in March, it was produced for AAHP by the Silver Spring-based Fit Fathers Foundation’s, whose mission is to help men with nutrition and other health issues.
The organization also is a partner with the Department of Health and Human Services, “specifically to help the Black and African American residents in the county utilize more of the free COVID-19 resources that they are offering, because traditionally, we have not been doing so,” founder & executive director Kimatni Rawlins said at the time of the first release.
The data demonstrate that the Black community is more at risk from contracting and dying from the virus, so AAHP has set up a series of free testing sites around the county and began offering testing in November.
By visiting a site and taking a free test, clients also receive a bag of groceries, a COVID-19 swag box with masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, digital thermometer and more, along with an opportunity to preregister for the county’s vaccine program.
Photo courtesy Fit Fathers