Last month, we took a look at how UProot’s mission has evolved in the past couple of years. One important way to address the social determinants of health is to screen infants and children for many of the conditions that can be easily prevented or treated in childhood.
One of our goals for 2024 is to increase the number of these childhood screenings in Mississippi. There are two tools currently on the table that are helping communities near you to reach this goal: Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visitations (MIECHV) and Medicaid screenings.
Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visitations (MIECHV)
MIECHV is a home-visitation program for families with children up to five years of age. A new program will let families in 16 counties take advantage of free support from trained professionals, if they choose to.
These professionals teach skills like safe sleep for infants, breastfeeding, and can connect families to childhood and postpartum health screenings.
We know that these at-home visits work. They are a proven method for reducing infant and maternal mortality and childhood diseases, and can improve the health of the mother.
MIECHV works on a system where parents take the lead. This system, “parents as teachers” is an evidence-based model for informing parents.
EPSDT provides things like physical exams, immunizations, lab tests and health education. These simple and cost-effective steps make a big difference in health, especially when done for children and adolescents, who are more likely to be covered by Medicaid.
What’s Next?
You or your organization can get involved with these efforts to prevent disease and health problems, and improve our social determinants of health. Help drive signups for MIECHV if you’re in a target county.
See what community health measures work by visiting the “What Works” page, which has fact sheets on many health issues, including obesity and Social Determinants of Health, available online or to be printed out.
You can read our news section to see success stories and if you know of a health improvement in Mississippi, let us know!
UProot Updates
Updates to the State Health Improvement Plan for 2024
Since the inception of UProot, our plan to improve the health of Mississippi has been transparent. Transparency is key to how UProot works. Our partners can’t help improve health without knowing the plan.
Our 2022 State Health Improvement Plan, which we call the SHIP, was the result of years of study and collaboration between the Mississippi Department of Health and more than 70 partners. The SHIP undergoes regular updates, but we’ve remained focused on our two main goals.
The first is battling obesity to prevent and manage chronic disease. Obesity is a root cause of many chronic illnesses. Therefore, it is the role of public health professionals to inform and educate Mississippians about this threat.
The second is to address the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH). SDOH are the conditions and environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age. They affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. SDOH have a major impact on people’s health, well-being, and quality of life.
Each goal in the SHIP is developed by experts in the subject matter, working with appropriate UProot partners.
Priority: Obesity and Chronic Disease
In 2024, we are moving to decrease obesity rates through the reduction of food insecurities. In order to do that, we want to know where food insecurity is happening. Once these areas are identified, we will be able to better investigate the root causes. By sharing that data with policy makers, legislators can make data-driven decisions.
Diet is one part of our first priority. Exercise is another. UProot wants more students to achieve 30 minutes or more of moderate and/or vigorous intensity physical activity daily.
When it comes to Social Determinants of Health, we have added a new focus: increasing access to preventive health services. This means working with Medicaid to get more Mississippians into Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT ) programs. EPSDT provides things like physical exams, immunizations, lab tests and health education. These simple and cost-effective steps make a big difference in health, especially when done for children and adolescents, who are more likely to be covered by Medicaid.
There are also an array of SDOH improvements on the table, mostly involving healthcare providers and insurers. These include:
Increasing the percentage of people under 65 who are insured.
Making telehealth available to more people.
Licensing telehealth services for more providers and for new services.
Health literacy training for healthcare providers.
Getting better health literacy training to more patients.
More intellectual/developmental screening services for children from 9-35 months old.
To track, and increase, the number of organizations providing training that mitigates implicit bias.
Everything we’re doing – new or established – is designed to improve the culture of health in Mississippi. Our goals are here for everyone to see, and find a place to get involved. Together, we can continue to meet our health goals, develop new ones, and reach even further to improve Mississippi’s health.
Galloway Family Farm: Growing More Than Just Food
One of the pillars of our work at UProot (you can read about it in our State Health Improvement Plan) is to tackle Food Insecurity. Food Insecurity is when people do not have enough quality food to ensure their health. This can mean insufficient food, or that the only available food does not provide the variety and nutrition required for good health.
More than just a farm
The Galloway Family Farm grows healthy food, but it’s more than just a farm. It’s also an education center where Tracy Galloway, a third-generation farmer, teaches school groups, church groups, and anyone else who visits. He doesn’t just show how food is grown; he also teaches them how eating better can lead to better health.
Galloway, overlooking sweet potatoes on heavily mulched ground.
“Food does not come from 3 Bs and a C. It doesn’t come from a box, a bag, a bottle or a can. It comes from the earth. People aren’t connected to their food.” Galloway said. It’s a phrase he’s been saying for years, to drive home a message about the connection between good food and good health.
Galloway Family Farms offers regular farm tours they call “Farm Tour and Fellowship,” with fresh herbal tea, seedling sales, and homemade art made from found materials. There are also farm-to-table dinners and camping, and the farm is available for hosting events.
Strength through diversity
Just as the farm grows many crops in case one or more fail, having diverse sources of income and public interest keeps them from becoming dependent on any single source.
There are a lot of crops. Galloway boasts of being able to get 22 ingredients for a salad – including chicken – within 120 feet of his back door. “There’s a lot going on in this one acre.” He said.
Feeding chickens.
By harnessing multiple means of impactful community engagement, Galloway Family Farm is helping create healthier outcomes and improving our state’s health. Click here to learn more about Galloway Family Farm. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram for updates on their work!
We love learning about new local efforts that improve our state’s health. If you have a success story send it to us!
Sun Safety for You and Your Community
School’s out, and so is the sun, all day long. While outdoor activity is important for good health, too much sun exposure can lead to skin cancer. Prevention is a crucial component of a culture of health. Preventing skin cancer requires protection from UV rays all year, not just during the summer. UV rays can reach you on cloudy and cool days, and they reflect off surfaces like water, cement, and sand. There are many ways to protect yourself from the sun, and it’s important to use more than just one.
What You Can Do For Yourself.
Timing: In Mississippi, peak summer sun is usually from 10 AM to 5 PM. Avoid lengthy outdoor activities during this time, and ensure you have extra protection during these hours.
Shade: Shade from trees, umbrellas, tents, or shelters provides a lot of UV protection. Depending on the type of tree or fabric that creates the shade, this can be as effective as a weak or strong sunscreen. It’s important to use sunscreen even when you’re in the shade.
Clothing: While specialty clothing for sun protection does exist, all clothing provides some protection from the sun. Long sleeves and pants protect more than short, and dry clothing protects better than wet. Clothes made from tightly woven fabric offer the best protection. Use cover-ups to protect yourself at the beach or when you frequently go from pool to poolside.
Hat: The wider the rim, the more protection a hat will offer. Hats, rather than caps, have the added benefit of also protecting your ears. If you’re wearing a cap, protect the back of your neck with clothing and/or sunscreen.
Sunglasses: Your eyes are vulnerable to the sun as well! Not only your eyeballs, but the sensitive skin around them. Sunglasses can help.
Sunscreen: Remember the sunscreen! Put on a broad-spectrum sunscreen that filters out UVA and UVB rays and has an SPF of 15 or higher before you go outside. Put a thick layer on all exposed skin. Remember, sunscreen works best when combined with other options.
After a grocery store left Utica, Mississippi, residents organized to address the fact that their community had become a food desert.
Utica: From agricultural haven to food desert
Since the ’90s, the economy and population of Utica have been declining. Schools and plants closed, ending relationships with the local Sunflower grocery store and leaving fewer people to travel into town as customers. Finally, in 2014, the store closed, turning Utica into a food desert. The nearest grocery store was in Clinton, 30 miles away.
In 2023, the Mississippi Free Press interviewed Jean Greene of Utica as part of a story on food deserts. When asked about the grocery store closure, she said, “It was an economic decision… And so the rest of us paid the price for that economic decision.”
Though the grocery store’s closure was the final step to becoming a food desert, it was a shock to long-time Utica residents. Like many towns in Mississippi, Utica has a long history of food production and agricultural education.
Last century, Utica was home to the Utica Institute, founded in 1903 by William H. Holtzclaw, an agriculturalist whose mentor was Booker T. Washington.
Holtzclaw sought to educate African Americans in Mississippi’s “Black Belt” by replicating the Tuskegee educational experience.
The Utica Institute became Utica Junior College, which merged with Hinds Community College in 1982. Until 2014, the town hosted the Hinds County Agricultural High School, part of the Hinds Community College system.
Utica only has a population of around 600. The town didn’t think a large grocer would be willing to come, so they investigated some alternatives.
The town organizes
Enter Sipp Culture, a group founded in Utica to use arts and culture to help the town solve its food crisis. They partnered with the municipal government and started a farm, a community garden, and a farmer’s market.
That was only their first step. They found another partner, the Jackson Hinds Comprehensive Health Center, and launched a program to support rural artists. This action earned them a large grant from One Nation/One Project, an organization that leverages the arts to create healthier people and communities.
“Sipp Culture believes that gathering and sharing local stories is the best way to support safe and thriving communities for the future.”
How did the community come together and start this project?
First, they gathered the community and listened. As demonstrated by Operation Shoestring, listening to the community is vital for any effort towards improving SDOH. Sipp Culture needed to see what the community wanted to do. They made sure that representatives from the culture, agriculture, business, education, and local government sectors were on hand when they held community meetings.
Using those tools, they determined where people were shopping, and what drove their decision to do so. They discovered that people were driving up to an hour just to buy fresh meat and produce.
They then researched models for alternatives to big grocers. Many of the future members of the Utica Food Club had known of or done business with a cooperative grocery in Jackson. Others had used farmer’s markets and community gardens.
Then, they identified the items that people wanted to purchase in bulk. They focused on staple foods, which are easily transported and stored without refrigeration.
Next, they identified vendors who would sell them, and began the task of figuring out where these staple items – and harder-to-store things that would require refrigeration, could be housed. The storage question was helped by their partnership with the municipality, which knew what buildings were suitable for the project – and available.
After that, the group began to exchange information and ideas. They discussed strategies and techniques for storing and transporting food, preserving it and making bulk purchases. They coordinated those purchases, becoming a food-buying club. Food buying clubs are a way for individuals to purchase food at wholesale prices, and then split the purchases up, circumventing a traditional grocer.
While the buying club, farmer’s market, and community garden have all helped to address the food desert in Utica, there is much more to be done. For now, Sipp Culture and the Utica Food Club are researching more and seeking financial and educational support from the FDA, the USDA, and co-op support organizations. Their partnership with One Nation/One Project and the artists supported by Sipp Culture’s Rural Performance Production Lab have shown them the power of these relationships, and now they are seeking out local churches to recruit volunteers and further support.
In 2023, Sipp Culture hosted the international musical youth of OneBeat.
lessons for your community
The lessons learned from the Utica Food Club echo those of the ARK and Operation Shoestring: Teamwork and homework.
Listen to the community.
Identify partners.
Do the research.
Find a model you can emulate.
Every step was driven by community education and the equal exchange of information. Food deserts are a crisis in Mississippi, one that many UProot partners attempt to address.
If you know of someone out there who is working hard to make Mississippi a healthier place, let us know!
Solutions for Food Insecurity Will Take Many Partners: 2023 Mississippi Hunger Summit
The 2023 Mississippi Hunger Summit was an example of Mississippi public health organizations doing what they do best: coming together as partners to address our state’s critical issues.
In October 2023, the University of Mississippi CREW (Community First Research Center for Wellbeing & Creative Achievement) hosted the Mississippi Hunger Summit. Food access was a key component of the summit. As shown in presentations, food insecurity is an issue with effects that affect everything from mental health to education performance to obesity and health outcomes. With so many issues affected, welcoming input from a wide range of partners offers the best opportunity for innovative solutions.
One of the pillars of our work at UProot (you can read about it in our State Health Improvement Plan) is to tackle Food Insecurity. Food Insecurity is when people do not have enough quality food to ensure their health. This can mean insufficient food, or that the only available food does not provide the variety and nutrition required for good health.
Food Insecurity is linked to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, stroke, and dementia. It also has a direct link to obesity. The reason is simple: When good food is hard to come by, families have no choice but to eat poorly. You can measure the accessibility of fresh, wholesome food in an area, and in many places in Mississippi, a lack of this constitutes what is known as a “Food Desert.” The distribution of these areas makes Food Insecurity a classic example of a Social Determinant of Health (SDOH).
Watch a clip from the opening remarks here:
Food Insecurity and Mental Health
Since hunger touches on many aspects of health, there was much to discuss, including the role of hunger and food insecurity on mental health. There are many connections between nutrition and mental health. Some are more obvious, such as the role of blood sugar in alertness or how the brain uses B vitamins and omega acids. Others are less obvious. Scott Hambleton, MD, Medical Director of the Mississippi Health Plan, also discussed the connection between the gut and the brain, a new area of interest that may become a powerful way of understanding mental and physical health that links both to the conditions in a community.
Food Insecurity’s Effects on Children
Children are especially vulnerable to food insecurity. The interplay between mental health, physical health, and the environment is precisely the sort of scenario that the SDOH concept attempts to address.
From Dr. Hambleton’s presentation; “Nourishing the Mind: The Connection Between Nutrition and Mental Health”
Uproot Partners in Action
Several UProot partners attended. The Mississippi Food Network presented information about food pantry resources.
From MS Food Network Presentation
While many people want to help with food insecurity, it takes skill to provide food safely and effectively for many people. These requirements, why they are in place, and what they achieve, were the focus of one of MFN’s presentations.
The 430 agencies that are part of the Mississippi Food Network are a testament to the number of people helping with food insecurity in Mississippi. It’s a big problem, and one a large number of Mississippians are eager to end.
To learn more about how to partner with the Mississippi Food Network, go to their website.
November is National Diabetes Month, which focuses on diabetes prevention. Learning about simple lifestyle and nutrition tips can help manage or even prevent the onset of diabetes for Mississippians. We can all benefit when we educate ourselves about diabetes.
First, the basics: there are two types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes usually develops early in life, due to genetics and the environment. It cannot be prevented. This type is rare: only one in two hundred people has type one diabetes. One in seven Mississippians is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 develops later in life as a response to insulin levels brought on by obesity, a lack of physical activity, and genetics. There are more than twice as many people with diabetes in Mississippi than live in Jackson.
Misunderstandings about diabetes and its dangers persist. You may have heard “diabetes isn’t that bad” from someone who’s had it for years and keeps saying “well, it hasn’t killed me yet.”
Yet diabetes can lead to death, blindness, and amputation. But most insidiously, diabetes makes other health problems harder to treat, from high blood pressure to simple wounds. It dramatically increases your risk of other health conditions such as heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease.
New treatments and techniques are successful at putting type 2 diabetes into remission. These days, type 2 diabetes – the kind that develops later in life – can be put into remission with a regimen of medication, weight loss, and exercise. People are finding freedom. The earlier you start these interventions, the more effective they are, so it’s vital to get regular checkups from a health care provider. The Mississippi State Department of Health offers free blood glucose checks at every county health department. Walk-ins are welcome, or you may call 855‑767‑0170 to schedule an appointment.
A final misconception is that the lifestyle changes that prevent and manage diabetes are too complicated or difficult for the average person to achieve.
While the changes can seem daunting at first, most of them are small, sensible, and available to people at any age. The Mississippi State Department of Health offers free, small group, classes to address the challenges of preventing and managing diabetes. To learn more about these offerings visit www.healthyms.com/diabetes
These changes become a part of our culture when Mississippians come together to support each other in making positive changes. Uproot Mississippi, a collaborative effort between nearly a hundred partner organizations across the state, works to build a culture of health in Mississippi. If you think you need help figuring out which steps are right for you, and how to take them, there are lots of individuals and communities across the state providing homegrown inspiration. Visit www.uprootms.org/ican for more information.
Start Here to Learn Everyday Wellness Tips
We all know what the new school year means for children returning to class, but there are opportunities for Mississippians of all ages to learn, too! From managing chronic diseases to improving your overall health, free classes are available with the latest information. Read on for resources that make everyday wellness easier, and prove that it’s never too late to learn something new, especially when it comes to your health.
Getting Familiar with Chronic Disease
The first step to building any health plan is getting familiar with the health conditions that impact your day-to-day life. Knowing how actions, foods, or lifestyle habits can affect your progress is essential to pin down before taking that first step.
In Mississippi, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity are the most common, and most deadly, chronic diseases for residents. Cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke, is the third leading cause of death for Mississippians. Diabetes affects 1 in 7 Mississippi residents, and is made worse by obesity, which affects 42% of adults in the state. Click here to learn more about these chronic conditions.
Mississippi State Department of Health
From workshops on self-managing chronic disease to preventative health resources, the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) offers a variety of tools that make building healthy habits easier. These resources are free and help take the stress out of taking that first step toward wellness.
Health Management Classes
For those looking for more guidance on making healthier choices, there are free health management classes available. These aren’t bootcamps–they are programs that meet national standards and offer real, sustainable, and actionable ways to improve your day-to-day food and exercise habits. Check out this interactive site map to see what classes are available in your area!
Spread the Word
Sharing this article with someone you know–a neighbor, friend, or family member–not only helps them reach their personal health goals but can have a positive ripple effect on our state’s health. So, spread the word, share resources, and help inspire those in your network to take that first step to building healthier habits.
Ask your doctor about help enrolling in free preventive health classes. Or download this form and bring it to your nearest MSDH health center.
Work Plan Spotlight: What Does Internet Access Have to Do with Health?
Mississippi will receive $1.2 billion from the federal government to expand broadband service to approximately 300,000 unserved locations across the state. This exciting development will create more opportunities for communities to get the care they need, through online health services like telehealth!
Benefits of Telehealth
The 2022 State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP), developed after engaging more than 19,000 residents, public health professionals, and community partners across the state, lists telehealth as a major resource for improving preventative health access in Mississippi.
That’s because telehealth, defined in the SHIP as “the use of technology to deliver personal health information and services”, connects families to resources like telemedicine, online therapy, healthcare resource directories, and health education that make it easy to get care. It’s more effective to prevent a health crisis from occurring than it is to treat it once it’s happened.
Social Determinants of Health
The 2022 SHIP organizes its work into two big categories: reducing obesity & chronic disease and improving social determinants of health. The social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions and environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age.
In rural areas of the state, where residents are more likely to need treatment and preventative care for chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, broadband expansion couldn’t come sooner. Right now, nearly 20% (18.1%) of households in the Mississippi Delta have no access to broadband. As internet access becomes more available, so will telehealth services that work to improve health outcomes in these areas.
Our Goals
As the state closes the digital divide, we will utilize our network and partnerships to provide information on telehealth services as they become more available. Our goal is to increase the use of telehealth by at least 10% in the next five years in order to improve health outcomes in our state. We’re connecting organizations like the Mississippi State Department of Health and the Mississippi Rural Health Association to help make that happen.
Click here to learn more about the latest State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) and how you can help improve our state’s health. Then, show us how you’re improving community health by sending us your success story! Visit https://uprootms.org/contact to get started.
Q&A with T.J. Mayfield
TJ Mayfield, Executive Director of the Mississippi Kidney Foundation
TJ Mayfield, Executive Director of the Mississippi Kidney Foundation, talks about the exciting work happening at the Foundation, and shares tips local organizations can follow to help improve health outcomes for our state. Read on to learn more!
Why is preventing kidney disease so important in Mississippi?
Kidney disease is often called “the silent killer,” because it is not often talked about, even though it is the 9th leading cause of death in the United States. Diabetes, hypertension, and obesity are the three leading causes of kidney failure–and in Mississippi we have high rates of all three.
Oftentimes, people don’t take their kidneys’ health seriously until something bad happens–they fail or you get kidney stones–but it can be too late by that point. That’s why we need to have more open conversations about kidney disease and kidney health, so we can have better health outcomes in Mississippi.
What does the Mississippi Kidney Foundation do to positively impact the state?
At the Mississippi Kidney Foundation, we advocate, educate on kidney disease, and plan special projects with local organizations to improve health outcomes in the state.
Recently, we celebrated World Kidney Day at the Capitol. It was a great event! We reached out to a couple of legislators, even though they’re wrapping up the legislative session, and talked about Medicaid expansion in the state.
In Mississippi, people continue to die from a lack of adequate care. There are people who work, but don’t have health coverage, and as a result postpone vital screening or treatments until they’re already in kidney failure. Expanding Medicaid can help those folks get treated, and can be one way that we can prevent kidney disease in Mississippi.
We also spoke to people about managing their kidney health and about disease prevention. There were so many people willing to share their stories and talk about someone they knew who had kidney failure, whether that person was a friend, family member, or parent. It was inspiring, and really drove home how important this work is.
What projects are you excited about?
I’m really excited about our current project with Jackson State University, the Health Equity Coalition, and the Mississippi State Department of Health.
We’re traveling around the state and educating kids on diabetes, high blood pressure, and other risk factors for kidney disease–and we’re doing it in a different way.
How is this project making a difference? How were you able to get schools on board?
I taught high school for six years, and that experience helped me when working with schools and scheduling events around state testing and so on. I also learned that the number one thing to do is meet the kids where they are. That frames our work with this project–meeting kids where they are and showing them how their food choices can impact their health in the future.
A lot of the students I spoke to drink sugary beverages like Gatorade or CapriSun early in the morning, but don’t think anything of it because they haven’t been told how sugar can impact their health.
It can be difficult for kids to make healthy food decisions, especially when there’s so much marketing dedicated to processed foods. Kids may see their favorite athlete eat or drink things that aren’t very healthy–not realizing that the celebrity is doing that to make money, not as part of their daily routine. So, breaking down how processed foods act on the body, and how to enjoy them in moderation, helps kids build healthy habits.
We’ve already been to two school districts: Coahoma County and East Tallahatchie School District. We have seven more school districts to cover–spanning from North Mississippi to the Central and South regions of the state–and will continue to educate students for another year and a half. From the information gathered during this project, I want to help build a health-based curriculum that all public schools in the state can follow.
How can local organizations get more involved, not only with this project, but with other campaigns in their community?
Organizations can always get involved by using what they already know to help improve their communities.
Sanderson Farms, for example, has helped support our statewide project by donating about 220 pounds of chicken for us to use to cook fresh meals, like grilled chicken and vegetables, for students to enjoy. Sanderson Farms may not have the capacity to talk about healthy eating, but through their donation, they’re helping us show people how to eat healthy, and in turn, improve health outcomes across the state.
We have so many organizations around Mississippi that are working toward the same goals, like lowering diabetes and obesity rates. By collaborating, they can make those efforts go further–and be more effective since they know their communities best. They can also join our project–we welcome any organization that wants to help!
In your opinion, what does it mean to create a culture of health?
For me, to create a culture of health is to have more conversations about health in our communities. We talk about everything–sports, music, family–but it’s almost taboo for a lot of people to talk about their health problems. I think normalizing conversations around health—physical, mental, and emotional health–is very important.
How can communities get involved with the Mississippi Kidney Foundation?
Feel free to email me (tj@kidneyms.org) or Vicki McIntosh (vicki@kidneyms.org). You can also call (601)-981-3611 or reach out to us on our website or on social media.
Any way you can reach out, please do–we’d be happy to have you volunteer! We have a kidney walk coming up in October, and would love volunteers to help us set up, and for people to come out and walk in support of kidney disease prevention.
Is there anything else you’d like to tell our audience?
Take care of your kidneys! Be an advocate for yourself when you go to the doctor. If something feels wrong, have the doctor check. And drink plenty of water, especially now that the weather is getting warmer.
Responses edited for brevity and clarity. Views expressed in interviews published on this site are solely those of the interviewees.
