As the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated prepares for its Conclave 2025, I had the opportunity to chat with Antonio Martez, the organization’s international vice chair for health and wellness.
We discussed his role, which involves aiding in the development and processes of health-related activities. That includes serving as a liaison to the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.’s health-related, pharmaceutical, and other partners to assist the brotherhood and the communities they serve in educational processes
What Health Initiatives Have Resonated With the Kappa Alpha Psi Brotherhood?
Martez notes that they deliver events through webinars and in person. “We’re a fraternity that has a majority of our brotherhood who are African American. Prostate cancer affects 6 out of 10 Black men, he explains.
“One of the organizations that we have partnered with is ZERO Prostate Cancer,” Martez continues. “With that partnership, we’re aiding and educating the members on the importance of knowing the signs of prostate cancer as well as the information to ask from their primary care physician.”
Martez stressed that for their members to have access to that information and be encouraged to undergo screenings helps them become good stewards of their own health.
One of the other initiatives that had many members of Kappa Alpha Psi Inc. talking is the “Are You Okay?” Program.
“Our 35th Grand Polemarch, Brother Jimmy McMickle, is a former track athlete at the University of Indiana, where we were founded,” Martez said. “And because of his mantra about activity, he had a vision for the program. We partnered with Johnson & Johnson. The program not only focuses on mental health. But it includes the mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being.”
The Fraternity’s “Are You Okay? Facebook’s Group encourages its members to be physically active. Martez noted that they had a Biggest Loser competition underway, leading up to the Conclave, which will take place in Phoenix from July 1st to 6th. “We created a group in which everyone is your accountability partner,” he explains.
But those accountability partnerships mean so much more. “We have our accountability partners, but you know from a physical fitness standpoint, we have in that group as well where brothers have become so vulnerable,” Martez continues.
“That they really get in and talk about what they have going on, and then everyone in the group adds aids as a support system. So, we‘re extremely passionate about it.” Mental health became the gateway to talk about everything.
Martez says another health focus area Kappa Alpha Psi Inc. has focused on during the past few years is kidney disease. “We’ve been full steam ahead concerning kidney disease; we partnered with the American Kidney Fund for the second year in a row for AMKD Day on April 29,” he explained.
Alonzo Mourning attended a previous Kappa Alpha Psi Inc. Conclave to share his personal battle with kidney disease. “We were the first organization that he had the opportunity to come and share his story with.”
Since Black men are overwhelmingly impacted by kidney disease, educating them is critical.
“And not only that, just some of the risk factors that are associated with that are plagued more in the African American communities at large, diabetes can give you issues with your kidneys, and hypertension,” Martez said.
“So those things that impact our communities at a larger rate. It can increase our susceptibility to kidney disease. So again, it’s a domino effect,” Martez continued.
“It’s our job as pillars of the community to educate the communities at large as well as our membership on the importance of any disparity that we can.”
