PRESS ROOM

Developing Diversity in Healthcare
Interview conducted by Convey/Copper Services

To say Valda Ford’s background in the healthcare industry is extensive is an understatement. She has done it all from managing a successful nursing career, to founding a cardiac, stroke and rehabilitation clinic to founding a clinic to restore eyesight in Asia and Africa. It’s clear from talking to Valda that her passion is to focus on how to help patients who have a hard time helping themselves.

Press Releases & Posts

Valda Boyd Ford Named Outstanding Woman in Business by Triad Business Journal
Triad Business Journal (April 2016)

Valda Boyd Ford is CEO of the Center for Human Diversity in High Point. Ford has launched and run four entrepreneurial ventures grounded in her ability to recognize and address cultural challenges, disparities and vulnerabilities. Her work has taken her across the globe, from Saudi Arabia to the Caribbean, where she launched a cardiac, stroke and physical rehabilitation center. Read more

Valda Boyd Ford Featured in O.Henry Magazine
O.Henry (March 2014)

When it comes to the workings of the Human Body, Valda Ford knows what she’s talking about. Ditto romance. So, it was natural for Ford, a registered nurse who does dinner programs for people who want to add zest to their sex lives, to branch into writing novels. And that’s how SINS: Secrets & Lies, a self-published 94-page paperback quickie, was born recently. Read more

Triad Author Publishes New Book: Sins, Secrets and Lies Volume 1
Sex Is Not for Sissies (September 2013)

The creator of the Center for Human Diversity and the seminar Sex is Not for Sissies! is now a newly-published author. Valda Ford, who is from High Point, has written her first fiction book entitled Sins, Secrets and Lies Volume 1. The book is the story of a woman who thinks she is ready for marriage to the richest man in the state. Everything is going well until a childhood friend, who used to be a crush, shows up … Read more

New Community Goal: Become Culturally Competent
High Point Enterprise (March 2012), By Tom Blount

A couple of encounters last week spurred me to think more deeply about how much the area has evolved since 2000 now that we’re two months into the second year of the second decade of the 21st century. The first was a visit (along with perhaps a score of folks representing the High Point Community Foundation) to Oak Hill Elementary School. Principal Patrice Faison and Volunteer-in-Chief Gina Jacobs welcomed us …Read more

Extended Families Are Making a Comeback
USA Today (November 2011), By Sharon Jayson

This Thanksgiving, many families are closer — really closer — than they’ve been in years. An increasing number of extended families across the USA are under the same roof, living together either permanently or temporarily. Sometimes these arrangements are multigenerational, with adult children, grandchildren or an elderly parent sharing quarters. In other cases, an extended family bunks together, with siblings, cousins, nieces or nephews sharing space. The reasons are economic, social and demographic. Read more

Valda Ford is Passionate about Diversity
Today’s Omaha Woman (July 2008), By Wendy Townley

Since working as a critical care nurse in Saudi Arabia, Valda Boyd Ford has spent much of her life understanding the differences between cultures. Growing up in segregated North Carolina, Valda believed she had precious few opportunities as a young African American girl. But time spent working alongside her mother in a beauty salon introduced Valda to a safe environment where she discovered futures beyond … Read more

Ford Leaving UMNC to Lead Center for Human Diversity
UNMC News (June 2007), By Tom O’Connor

When Valda Boyd Ford was appointed director of the UNMC Community and Multicultural Affairs Department in 2001, she brought with her a small, little-known diversity planning entity called the Center for Human Diversity (CHD). Today, in no small measure due to Ford’s national and international stature as a speaker and diversity consultant, the CHD is a global resource center for diversity research, management and … Read more

Boyd-Ford Among Nebraska Women of Distinction
UNMC News (September 2006), By Walter Brooks

Valda Boyd-Ford, UNMC director of Community and Multicultural Affairs, recently was honored as one of the three 2006 Nebraska Women of Distinction. The Nebraska Commission on the Status of Women presented the award Aug. 25 at the State Capitol Rotunda. Nebraska First Lady Sally Ganem, wife of Gov. Dave Heineman, presented the awards. Read more

Articles

Finding Your Personal Fragrance
By Valda Boyd Ford, Founder, Sex Is Not for Sissies
Guilford Woman Magazine

Women have long been told that they should be overly concerned about their fragrance, uh … odor, uh … smell. From the time of my youth, I remember my great-grandmother telling me that ladies did not sweat — they glisten, and that only boys should smell like small (or large) dogs after playing outside … Read more

The Art of Subtle Flirtation
By Valda Boyd Ford, Founder, Sex Is Not for Sissies
Guilford Woman Magazine

I’ve been told on my occasions that I fail to notice when men are flirting with me. That may be true, but it seems there is sometimes a “disconnect” in when I am interested and when someone is interested in me … Read more

Love at Any Age
By Valda Boyd Ford, Founder, Sex Is Not for Sissies
Guilford Woman Magazine

One of the things I often here is, “Where are all the men (or women)?!” It sometimes seems that as we get older, finding the right man or woman is difficult. Finding a new friend, companion, lover or life partner may seem particularly difficult after the loss of a loved one … Read more

Curing the Paralysis of Political Correctness: Were NPR’s Williams and White House Press Vet Thomas Guilty of Poor Common Sense — Or Is Our Culture Just Overly Sensitive?
By Valda Boyd Ford, CEO, Center for Human Diversity

Our world today is awash with incidents where a casual comment, remark or question can invoke profound misunderstandings and consequences. High-profile examples include the firing of Juan Williams from NPR for a statement he made about being anxious when he sees people in traditional Muslim garb on airplanes, and the dismissal of White House press corps veteran Helen Thomas for comments she made about Israel’s occupation of Palestine. One doesn’t have to be in the public eye to be affected by the fallout of violating … Read more

Health Systems and Health Promotion Programs – the Necessity of Cultural Competence: An Ethical Analysis
By Valda Ford & Beth Furlong

Health promotion programs in global health systems need to incorporate culturally competent care and provide linguistic access. This article describes the challenges in one country, the United States, and reports on research studies, which articulate the current gaps in meeting the above goals. Health care providers are bound by both legal and ethical standards to provide such care. Legal standards are cited. Regardless of legal standards, health care providers are also bound ethically to provide such care. Read more