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 being a liaison to the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.’s health-related, pharmaceutical, and other partners that assist in the process of educating their brotherhood and the communities they serve.
What Health Initiatives Have Resonated With the Kappa Alpha Psi Brothers
Martez notes that events are delivered through webinars and in person. “We’re a fraternity that has a majority of our brotherhood that is 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 noted 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 OK?” Program. “Our 35th Grand Polemarch, Brother Jimmy McMickle, 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. It not only talks about mental health. But it includes the mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being.”
The Fraternity’s “Are You OK? Facebook Group, they encourage their members to be physically active. When I interviewed Martez, they had a Biggest Loser competition underway leading up to the Conclave 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 year 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.”
