News
The Links Health and Wellness Expo will be March 18, 2023
Please for this Health and Wellness Expo
This Health and Wellness Expo is an event that showcases the current advancements in fitness, nutrition, healthy living, psychology, and workplace wellness.
We hope to see you there.
FOUR LOCAL ASHEVILLE WOMEN WIN ROSA PARKS AWARD 2022
February 11, 2022
It is so important to recognize individuals because they have fostered a culture of inclusion in the actual community. They have worked to achieve a just society for the disadvantage.
The 2022 Rosa Parks Award honorees are Kathy Avery, the founder and owner of Avery health education consulting Sophie Dixon, a leader in the Shiloh community, Asheville city council member Antoinette Mosley, and UNCA Professor Dr. Tyese Ruffin.
Tiece Ruffin, Ph.D. – UNCA Professor – Director of Africana Studies and Professor of Africana Studies & Education
Tiece Ruffin received her Ph.D. from Ohio University in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Special Education and cognate in Reading Education. Also, she received a B.S.Ed. and M.Ed. from Ohio University in Special Education, with an emphasis in learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities; and Secondary education, with an emphasis in reading education, respectively.
Dr. Ruffin is a member of the Asheville Chapter of The Links, Incorporated.
THE URBAN NEWSLETTER
February 2022
Links-Newsletter-2-22-CLICK-HERE
PLEASE JOIN US. UPCOMING ON FEBRUARY 18, 2021 AT 7.30PM EST.
Join us in a Zoom Meeting On Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 7.30 PM EST
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89121371103?pwd=RmExRkxPRERuekxlaW5JSFgrWHBCZz09
Meeting ID: 891 2137 1103
Passcode: 026025
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,89121371103#,,,,*026025# US (Washington DC)
+13126266799,,89121371103#,,,,*026025# US (Chicago)
November 29, 2020
A salute to our Vice President Kamala Harris
Road to the Vice Presidency
A short video highlighting the courageous women of color who dared to try even when it appeared impossible, they provided a pathway
for the success of Kamala Harris.
Kamala is the first female to become Vice President, as well as the first woman of color and South Asian descent.
Kamala is standing on the shoulders of those who came before her, Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks, and Shirley Chisolm to name a few.
ORGAN DONOR WEEKEND.NOVEMBER 14-15, 2020
Consider organ and tissue donation. Alert your local DMV of your choice to be a donor. Alert your physician or medical team of your choice.
FACTS:
Today, more than 100,000 Americans await a life-saving organ transplant. Nearly thirty percent (29.5%) of those waiting are people of African descent. Moreover, we face new challenges presented by the current pandemic. Physicians and researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine found that in addition to the lungs, COVID-19 has also been found to cause lasting damage to other organs including the heart and kidneys.
African Americans make up the largest group of minorities in need of an organ transplant. In 2018, African Americans made up 12.7 percent of the national population.
- The number of organ transplants performed on Black/African Americans in 2019 was 25.8 percent of the number of Black/African Americans currently waiting for a transplant. The number of transplants performed on white Americans was 47.6 percent of the number currently waiting.
- While 28.7 percent of the total candidates currently waiting for transplants are Black/African Americans, they comprised 12.5 percent of organ donors in 2019.
- In 2019, 74.5 percent of donor organs from Black/African Americans were from deceased donors.
- Although the total number of white Americans on organ transplant waiting lists is about 1.4 times greater than that of Black/African Americans, the number of candidates waiting for a kidney transplant is almost the same between Black/African Americans and white Americans.
- Black/African Americans have higher rates of diabetes and high blood pressure than the white population. These conditions are known to put patients at risk for organ failures.
| U.S. Transplant Waiting List – Candidates by Race/Ethnicity | |||||
| Organ | All Candidates | # of Black Candidates | Black % of All Candidates | # of White Candidates | White % of All Candidates |
| All Organs | 112,258 | 32,260 | 28.7 | 45,441 | 40.5 |
| Kidney | 94,458 | 30,029 | 31.8 | 33,680 | 35.7 |
| Liver | 12,647 | 932 | 7.4 | 8,497 | 67.2 |
| Heart | 3,686 | 1,034 | 28.1 | 2,140 | 58.1 |
| Lung | 1,309 | 179 | 13.7 | 918 | 70.1 |
Source: HRSA. U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Based on OPTN data as of February 20, 2020.
https://optn.transplant.hrsa.
| Transplants Performed in the U.S. by Recipient Ethnicity, 2019 | ||
| Number | Percentage of Total 2019 Transplants | |
| Black | 6,755 | 21.0 |
| White | 21,248 | 54.5 |
| Total Transplants | 39,718 | 100 |
Source: HRSA. U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Based on OPTN data as of February 20, 2020.
https://optn.transplant.hrsa.
Event to tune it to. Pass it on!
Hosted by Donate Life North Carolina
Online Event
RSVP, save the date, and join our interactive weekend-long North Carolina Statewide Donor Sabbath celebration on Facebook. This is a “post on your own” event where we invite the public to share photos, stories, moments of gratitude, and prayer requests for all those affected by organ, eye, and tissue donation!
Schedule for upcoming event:
Saturday, November 14, 2020
11:00 AM
Heart to Heart Virtual Panel event
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/
October 8 2020
Mrs. Julia Ray, aged 105, was born in 1914 when neither African Americans nor women could vote.
Mrs. Ray clearly believes in the importance of exercising her civic duty, delivering her absentee ballot in-person to her voting precinct.
Mrs. Ray is one of the surviving charter members of the Asheville Chapter of The Links Inc. We are proud to salute her today.
https://ashevillelinksinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mrs-Julia-Ray.mp4
September 27, 2020
The Mountain Area Health Education Center presents the first Asheville African American Health Symposium. This Symposium is designed to create awareness and education within the medical community regarding the current health of African Americans and the implications of centuries of medical oppression.
Our sister Dr. Sharon Kelly West will be presenting during this webinar series.
September 20, 2020
August 23, 2020
What does ‘declaring racism as a public health crisis’ mean?
Racism — the R word — is a word that is not unfamiliar to many, especially those who are African American and living while Black in the South. Nationally, we are all witnessing conversations surrounding reckoning on race. As Wendy Williams would say, “How you doin’?”
Our Link Sister and Chapter Vice President, Dr. Sharon Kelly West addresses this question in a news article in the Asheville Citizen Times.
August 20, 2020
Our Link Sister, Sharon West, PhD, Clinical Ethicist is one of the featured speakers.
October 8, 2020
July 3rd is National #CROWNDay and our National President is excited to join the celebration of Black Hair Independence. Join me at 12:13 EST to discuss “The Power of Sisterhood” a much needed conversation. Don’t miss this! Watch the full conversation at thecrownact.com. #PassTheCROWN #TheCROWNAct
June 21, 2020
Congratulations to our sister Raynetta Waters of the Asheville Chapter for her election to the office of National Nominating Chair at the 42nd National Assembly of the Links Incorporated.
Mrs. Julia Ray, age 105, arriving to cast her absentee ballot in Western North Carolina. She was born before women and African Americans had the right to vote so is well aware of the responsibility of exercising that hard-won right.
Mrs. Ray is one of the Charter Members of the Asheville Chapter of the Links Incorporated and we salute her with much pride.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHOmBV4js_Ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHOmBV4js_E