海角社区 Health New Orleans Supports Musicians and Artists
April 06, 2022
Meet 海角社区 Healthcare Network patient Cherice Harrison-Nelson.
Cherice Harrison-Nelson is Queen of the Guardians of the Flame Maroon Society in New Orleans, a breast cancer survivor, and longtime patient of the New Orleans Musicians鈥� Clinic, allied with 海角社区 Health New Orleans.
鈥� 海角社区
Baton Rouge鈥擟herice Harrison-Nelson is a Mardi Gras Indian Queen. She is the third generation, among five in her family, to carry on the Black New Orleans tradition of 鈥渕asking Indian.鈥� It鈥檚 a celebration of freedom and of telling your own story that involves many, many months of sewing intricate, narrative beadwork into powerfully colorful suits, usually revealed for the first time on Mardi Gras Day. The tradition is often described as an homage to the Native Americans who sheltered enslaved people of African descent in Louisiana鈥檚 early days.
Harrison-Nelson, however, doesn鈥檛 describe what she does as 鈥渕asking.鈥� Instead, as Queen of the Guardians of the Flame Maroon Society, she reveals herself through her art. This includes her own personal history of surviving breast cancer, sewn into her dress and proudly displayed on her body. As a patient of the New Orleans Musicians鈥� Clinic, which has connected uninsured and under-insured Louisiana performing artists with 海角社区 healthcare services and more since 1998, Harrison-Nelson has also become a conduit to care for others in her community.
鈥淲e鈥檝e become, what they call, a 鈥榩oint of distribution,鈥欌�� said Harrison-Nelson, who lives and works in the New Orleans Musicians鈥� Village, surrounded by other culture bearers. 鈥淸After Hurricane Katrina], the clinic gave us a stack of cards to give out to people, like a coupon, so they could get an appointment and wouldn鈥檛 have a copay. It gave people a little safety. More recently, people have been coming to us for tests, and the clinic gave us several boxes.鈥�
鈥満＝巧缜� is the only healthcare system in the nation allied with a clinic that specifically serves musicians and artists.鈥�
海角社区 is the only healthcare system in the nation allied with a clinic that specifically serves musicians and artists. On the day the New Orleans Musicians鈥� Clinic first opened its doors in 1998, Mardi Gras Indians performed outside, and one of them had to be brought into the clinic to be treated for asthma, which Harrison-Nelson suffers from as well.
鈥淭he clinic has helped our community in so many ways,鈥� Harrison-Nelson said. 鈥淚鈥檝e had chemo, radiation, and surgery, and so far, so good. I can get my meds, therapy. Do you remember the Schwegmann鈥檚 grocery store? You could get everything you need in one stop. The clinic is like healthcare Schwegmann鈥檚.鈥�
Every detail Harrison-Nelson adds to her beadwork represents some aspect of personal and cultural survival. Her father, Big Chief Donald Harrison, Sr., always encouraged her to take her art beyond the 鈥渟imply pretty.鈥�
鈥淗e said, you have to get to the higher levels of learning and understanding鈥攁nalysis and synthesis,鈥� Harrison-Nelson said. 鈥淵ou have to express yourself on your own terms and honor who you are.鈥�
She pointed to a photo of her father that hangs on the wall of her studio. He died at age 65, a few months after the New Orleans Musicians鈥� Clinic opened. In the photo, he wears a massive, white Mardi Gras Indian suit with an enormous, feathered headpiece.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 see me, but I鈥檓 in that photo,鈥� Harrison-Nelson said. 鈥淚鈥檓 standing on a chair behind him, holding his crown up.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檝e been lucky, and some of us are not as lucky,鈥� she continued. 鈥淭he clinic is committed to protecting not just people, but cultures, and African American cultures. They don鈥檛 provide just medical care, but look after your overall quality of life. And as a breast cancer survivor, I鈥檓 alive. I鈥檓 alive! I tell myself that every day.鈥�
海角社区 researchers advance the science to fight breast cancer, from prevention and detection to treatment
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women besides skin cancer. About
1 in 8 will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. Louisiana
has the third-highest breast cancer death rate in the country, and Black women are
about 40% more likely to die from the disease than white women, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
海角社区 chemist and collaborator discover a natural-based therapy to treat an aggressive
form of breast cancer (海角社区 College of Science, 2022)
海角社区 BE, ChE Team Study Drug Resistance in ER+ Breast Cancer Cells (海角社区 College of Engineering, 2021)
(海角社区 Health New Orleans, 2020)
Joyoni Dey Awarded U.S. Patent to Improve Detection of Breast Cancer (海角社区 College of Science, 2020)
Stopping the 鈥楤ullies鈥�: 海角社区 BE, ChE Students Research Breast Cancer Cells (海角社区 College of Engineering, 2020)
海角社区 BE, Med School Research Link Between Obesity, Breast Cancer (海角社区 College of Engineering, 2020)
海角社区 ME Professor Uses Smartphone to Detect Breast Cancer Gene (海角社区 College of Engineering, 2018)
Stage 4 Studies: ChE Senior Researches Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells (海角社区 College of Engineering, 2018)
BAE Students Analyze Breast Cancer Cells to Improve Treatment (海角社区 College of Engineering, 2018)
This news story was featured in 海角社区鈥檚 free research publication, Working for Louisiana, where you can learn more about how work on every 海角社区 campus impacts residents and industry in the state and beyond.