 I'm Sharon Thomas Yarbrough host of Sister Power. Today Sister Power has the distinct pleasure of having a conversation with Dr. James McCoy. Dr. McCoy is a rheumatologist and is affiliated with the VA medical clinic and a member of the National Medical Association. The National Medical Association annual convention and scientific assembly is acclaimed as the nation's foremost forum on medical science and African-American health. Each year, African-American physicians and other health professionals from across the country convene to participate in the scholarly exchange of medical advances, discuss health policy, priorities, and to share experiences through networking opportunities. The program opens in Honolulu, Hawaii on Saturday, July 27th with special sessions, workshops, and official opening and continues through Wednesday, July 31st at the Hawaii Convention Center. Dr. McCoy, welcome to Sister Power. Thank you. Thank you for coming at the very last minute. I will appreciate that so much. And I am so excited about the National Medical Association coming to Hawaii. But before we start chatting about NMA, give us a little background about you. I will start just with my medical part. I have been in medicine for like 40 years. And how I got interested in medicine is basically two things. The health care of my family. My father died when I was 10 years old. I didn't think that he was being treated appropriately or we were being cared for. But that was the way it was in South Carolina and North Carolina at that time. A lot of disparity in health care with African Americans. So I watched my mom be the nurse and the doctor. At that time, the doctors would do a house call, meaning that we didn't have money to pay, you don't have Medicaid, and that kind of thing like we have today. So the doctors didn't come out. So if you have money, you have to take your loved ones in and then they will see. So he didn't get great care. And when he passed away, and the health care of the community was really bad as well, it came to me when I was trying to make a decision, what can I make a difference in? And medicine care. And then, after college, you have to put your applications in. And I only put my application into three universities. Duke, my Harry, and Howard. But I wanted to go to Duke, I'm not Duke, but I wanted to go to my Harry and Howard because all my life it was just African Americans and those were two African American hospitals. So I had an interview with both and I was told that they didn't have adequate scholarship money for me because you need a full ride. At that time, a full ride was you need everything. And we can give you a partial scholarship, but we can't. So I said, okay. So then I went to Duke and the wonderful doctor that interviewed me, he said, why do you want to go to medical school? And just out of my mouth, I said because I hated white doctors. And he looked at me and his face turned red and he says, I say that again, I said because I hated white doctors. He says this is a predominantly white school, all of the doctors are white, pretty much the patients that you will see white and you want to come here and that's what you say, you're going to have to help me to understand this. I said, I'm from the south. I see the kind of health care being given to blacks. And more so, my dad that he didn't get that kind of scholarship. And he said, I don't want to go to medical school with blacks. And more so, my dad that he didn't get that kind of care. And I saw him being totally paralyzed, head of stroke, totally paralyzed, okay, from neck down and they only really care was basically my mom. And when I, no one could help me to understand, why is it that the doctors don't come and do house work. We didn't have the money to pay for health care for my mom. So when you're seeing that kind of care, and you are thinking that the doctors were responsible for that, then you develop maybe hatred is a hard word, but then you develop the dislike for that. Okay, but you know, we chatted about this earlier and we're going to come back and talk about that. We talked about why there just almost no African American physicians here in Hawaii, a very few, but we'll come back and talk more about your story because you are a rheumatologist and we'll talk about your work. Let's talk about the National Medical Association. Tell us a little bit about the National NMA. Well, NMA is an awesome organization and you did excellent in explaining what we do. But this is the thing. NMA was founded in 1895. You may want to know, well, okay, there's another organization that is called AMA American Medical Association. So why would African Americans have to create their own organization? The reason simply discrimination because we weren't allowed to join AMA, that's the white counterpart, so we did put together our own organization. And that discrimination really continued from the AMA all the way up to, I would say, the 1960s. But interestingly, the first African American physician in 1981 became president of AMA. A black man? A black man. Became president of AMA? Around 1991. 1991. Yes, Dr. Bresto from California. Now, wait, I tell you this. In 2008, the president of the American Medical Association came to the NMA convention and apologized for their contribution of racism, discrimination, disparity in health when it comes to African Americans. That was 2008. And now, you moved to 2019. The first African American female became the 174th president in 2019. And that was a little better than a month ago. So things have been changing. And we do have now members of the NMA on certain key committees with the American Medical Association. And we're trying to work forward. They're contributing what they can to make a difference in health. But basically, that's our entire mission, is make sure there's parity in health care for African Americans, and make sure we're educating the physicians where they can take care, do the best of care, give the best of care, not only just to African Americans, but to all people, and particularly those that don't get the kind of health care that they need. Oh, wow. That's very interesting. And I did not know all of that information. I'm sure our viewers are just amazed on the information that you're giving us why NMA started, which, you know, I can understand that. What does membership in the NMA offer physicians? The membership, number one, is the voice. It's the voice for African American physicians. There are a lot of political things that you need an organization to go to the White House. I've been to the White House and we're talking to senators and representatives about different issues and make sure they understand the needs. And that's very, very important. So we're the voice for physicians, and not only physicians, but we're the voice for the patients that we're cared for as well. So education is a big part. And being able to go and make our presence known on the Hill or to the White House and make sure when there are things that come out that African Americans seem to be, you know, pushed back, then we speak. That's good to know. You know, my sister was a nurse and my grandmother was a nurse. And I found even today you have to be your own advocate for your health care. My husband is, we're dealing with a health care issue right now. And I think people should know that do your homework, speak up to the doctor. And I think that someone should accompany someone when they go into an office business, especially if it's a serious health issue. Well, I agree with that. Sometimes when you have somebody accompanying you, and you are hearing things that kind of set you back and you have stress, you don't think and hear clearly because your mind is focused on this or that. And that's why it's good to have somebody there that can help you. Even, okay, I'm not at Kaiser now. I'm not at the VA. I'm not at Triple Army Medical Center. But I still have patients who go to these facilities that call me, well, what do you think about this? What do you think about this? This is what the doctor is saying. What should take on it? I don't understand this. And when I finish, I'm so happy you took the time to do that because I didn't, we didn't have that when I was growing up. Nobody to share anything. It was like a quick prescription and a pill. And like my brother, one of my brother, cancer. And my sister would call about the kind of pain that he was having. And she would say, he's just drinking up his pills. And they don't swallow in the south. They drink the pill. So I said, well, what pill does he's on? Now, he has one of the worst cancer, but he was on ibuprofen, which is a very mild joint pain medication, where others are in stronger medication for the pain. Now, no one explained what that was. So the key is, it gives me honor to be able, when people call me to help them to under, I'm not their doctor, but to help them to understand what's going on, what the treatment, and I give them a list of questions. When you go back to see your doctor, these are the things you should ask. Well, that's good to know. And when we come back, we'll talk further about the National Medical Association. Hello. I'm from Hawaii, Tink Tech, Japan. Hello, I'm from Hawaii, and I'm a host of the National Medical Association. Every week, on Monday and Monday, we have a lot of people from Hawaii, who are active in Japan, and we have a guest show. Please come and watch. Aloha, this is Scott Perry, and I'm the host of Let's Talk Hawaii at Tink Tech, Hawaii. In this show, we're going to be speaking in English and Japanese, and I'm going to use my 30 years of experience to help many Japanese viewers improve their English skills, as well as learning many interesting things about Hawaii. You can catch my show every other Tuesday, 3 p.m. Hawaii time. See you then. Welcome back to Sister Power, and we have our special guest here, Dr. James McCoy, and we're talking about the National Medical Association. NMA is coming to Honolulu as Hawaii Convention Center. And before we went to break, we were talking about the NMA and why NMA started and how it evolved, which is great information. So let's talk about some of the planning highlights for NMA. You've been a member for how long? I've been a member for about 40 years. 40 years? Oh, my goodness. Are you one of the speakers this year? Yes. For which session? This is on family medicine. Family medicine. I've sort of spoken to most of the sessions one way or another. Generally, this is a wonderful part about conventions by the NMA. You go to a lot of conventions. You have a central drive. And usually, let's say if I go to a pain clinic, that's what you deal with. When you go to an NMA conference, you've got all different sections in every aspect of medicine. You've got OBGYN. You've got orthopedics. You've got rheumatology. You've got family medicine. You've got psychiatry, neurology. I can go on and on and on. You've got all of these different sections that you don't get at most of the other. And that's what is really great about a conference by the NMA. I know NMA comes to Honolulu every five years. Every five years, this is the fifth. And the very first one was 1998. That was the first conference here in Honolulu. That was also the same year that we started our chapter here, the Hawaiian Aloha Society of the National Medical Association. That's what you are president of. How many members? We have active members. We have 10. When we started it in Hawaii back in 1998, we had about 35 doctors in Hawaii, 1998. And to think about that, you get a turnover because of the military, because a lot of these doctors are in the military. So as they got a little older, some stayed here, still practice, and then they wanted to move back to the mainland. Some moved back as far as job. All right. Well, I've always had a wonderful time at the NMA. And I'm not a physician, of course. But the sessions, the workshops, the people that you meet, the networking opportunities, Dr. Harry has a reception. And I was going to say, Dr. Harry Medical College and Morehouse School of Medicine reception, that's on Sunday, July 28th. But I want to talk about Dr. McCoy, NMA Council on Concerns of Women Physicians, Service Award, that will happen Sunday, July 29th. Who did you nominate and why? Dr. Kimberly Kelly. Dr. Kimberly R. Kelly. Now, the reason I nominated her, because she met every requirement to have that award. And not only she's an awesome anesthesiologist, she just loves people. She loves patients. A lot of times when we talk, like I kind of see myself in her, she sees herself in me, because I do some natural alternative medicine as well. But the way she does it is just really beautiful to see her do that. And I went to one retreat with her, and it is so awesome seeing how people change. And so she met all of the criteria, and I nominated her with pleasure. I'm so excited about this. She's a dear friend of mine, and I've been working with Dr. Kelly. And I want the audience to know that her award is Sunday, July 28th at the Hawaii Convention Center, 12 noon with lunch. There will be a VIP meet and greet guest, special guest speaker at 11.15 prior to the awards luncheon. And I think the last time that NMA was here, Donna Brazil was the special guest speaker, and she just rocked the house. It was wonderful. I just look forward. I think that every physician, or anyone who's involved in the healthcare industry, that's the place to be. July 27th through July 31st. Am I correct? It's there. So also they have the pace setter luncheon, which I'm excited about. What I love about the NMA, they reached out to Honolulu to find out who's whom, since you're a member. And the pace setter luncheon is Monday, July 29th, 12 noon to 3 p.m. at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. And the panelist is your friend and mine, will be Judge Sandra Sims. She's retired, but she's the first African-American judge here in Hawaii in Honolulu. And the second one is Marcia McFadden, the first African-American newspaper publisher in Hawaii and city editor of the Honolulu advertiser. And guess who is the moderator? Sharon Thomas Yarbrough. So I am so excited. So why should doctors attend the 115th NMA convention? Number one, when it comes to education, we do it big time. With the latest information that we need to take care of our patient. So there's so much that gets into the news, so much research is being done, some research is great, others not. You have to learn, okay, how do I dissect all of this information to make a difference in the lives of my patient? And NMA helps us to be able to do that. They present the latest information, okay? For example, I am talking about opioids. Now, you've heard so much about opioids over the past, obviously four to five years, okay? Addiction deaths, so much. So I will be talking about the opioid epidemic in this era. So how are we going to treat patients with pain, okay? And especially those with cancer pain. What other things can we do? What about natural treatments? What about acupuncture? What about massage and et cetera? Is there any evidence that they work? Any use for those? Since now, there's been a big drop in the use of opioids. So that's a topic that I will be doing. So this is state-of-the-art medicine for taking care of our patients. Then it's a fun, a very fun, like you were mentioning, a very fun, because they're, convention because there's so much is going on, okay? And like I said, I've been going to NMA for 40 years and I've enjoyed, I've only missed in the 40 years three times and that was because of illness. Ooh, okay, well you look mighty healthy and well today. So the Council, the Council on Concerns of Women's Physicians, they are offering a pre-medical student scholarship award. Now how are we going to get the word out and where do we go so the applicants can apply to this worthy scholarship? Well basically, it is about contacting schools with a third year, fourth year student who's interested in medicine. We call them pre-med or pre-medical students. They know this is what I want to do and what we do in NMA, especially the concerns for women, medical doctors that are women, we want to give. We all have received them some way or the other. So when we go to different cities, we give for example, just like we have what we call camp, come back to your question, camp zing. Where we take children and we take them all around to the tourist places in Hawaii. So then they have different events of their own at night but there are some educational components there as well. We have walk a mile with a chow and with that, that part is free and you have all kinds of fun things for them, the education of things, they get a backpack, a full of goodies and basically what we're doing is introducing NMA and black doctors to the community. These are community kids that are being invited. So with the scholarship, it's a great opportunity to introduce ourselves. A lot of people don't know who we are when we go to these states or when NMA go to these various places, that's what we want to do. So we offer the scholarship and that's what we're looking to do. Yes, it takes talking to the different schools, see what students that they have that we can get them to fill out the application so we can make a decision and give to them. Well, thank you so much Dr. James McCoy for this information about the National Medical Association and again we want to invite all of the physicians to please come out to the Hawaii Convention Center and it starts July 27th through July 31st. Again, on behalf of Think Tech, Hawaii and Sister Power, thank you for spending your afternoon with us. Oceans of Aloha Peace and Love. Thank you. Thank you.