Tag: Healthcare

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Health Summit To Address Disparities in Black Healthcare

Participants asking questions at a previous Color of My Pain event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania last year.

Two Memphis natives have partnered with doctors of color from around the country to improve health disparities facing the community, while also educating and empowering African Americans to advocate for themselves in healthcare.

Mike Mosby, executive director of local nonprofit Raising the Bar, and Dr. Jonathan Goree, a pain medicine anesthesiologist who leads the North American Neuromodulation Society’s (NANS) diversity committee and serves as the director of the chronic pain division at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), have teamed up to host the Color of My Pain community health summit on September 28 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Riverside Baptist Church, located at 3590 South Third Street.

Mosby and Goree have a friendship that dates back to their childhood and are hoping this free event will not just inform African Americans on pain management, but will increase conversations on the “crisis” that disproportionately affects Black people.

Goree conducts research, with one of his focuses being in the delivery of “cutting-edge chronic pain care” to different communities. “Ten or 15 years ago when somebody was hurting, we gave them opioids,” Goree said. “That caused a lot of problems and destroyed a lot of communities, including minority communities. Just because we have an opioid crisis and we’re trying to prescribe less medication, that doesn’t mean that people aren’t still in pain. We have to know how to treat pain.” 

Goree also studies how decisions made during this crisis affect minority communities. Goree said you can argue that minority communities were under-treated to begin with, and restrictions affect them even more. 

He went on to say that his work is to challenge these inequities in hopes of making everyone’s care equal. Goree noted that most of these disparities aren’t intentional, but there needs to be an understanding about where those deficits are and how he and his medical community can work to remedy them.

This issue is personal for Mosby, as he and his wife experienced the loss of their infant child as a result of healthcare providers failing to properly assess their needs. According to Mosby, his  wife went to the hospital after experiencing pain during her pregnancy. Doctors turned her away, and she later had their child in the restroom of their home and almost hemorrhaged to death. 

“The whole traumatic experience is forever going to be a imprint in my mind,” Mosby said. “When my wife started going to different groups, it was like so many of us had experienced lack of care.”

He went on to speak about how other people in his family, such as his mother and aunt, have visited with doctors who weren’t people of color and noticed that they often left with many  of their questions not being answered. 

“Unfortunately it’s not a too uncommon story,” Goree said. “A lot of it has to do with the power dynamic. When you go to the doctor, we often see the doctor as a position of authority. Sometimes in disadvantaged communities, the position with the physician is often paternalistic. It’s normally a man of a different race — we don’t feel comfortable asking questions because we don’t have the knowledge or the information.”

Mosby and his wife now have a son who will turn one in October. He said this time around their care was tailored to his wife’s needs with her support and medical team being composed of doctors of color. He said after seeing the changes, he’s “locked in for sure” on encouraging others to know their options and how to tailor their care for their needs.

“Our hope is to be the organization that people will say in the young folk’s term ‘the plug,’” Mosby said. “People have questions, and people are very comfortable when they’re in their own skin and their environment.”

Goree added that they want to flip the power dynamic so people feel comfortable asking questions and having conversations they’ve always wanted to have. He said part of this is bringing that comfort to them in a setting where they find solace.

“A lot of minority communities are comfortable in their place of worship,” Goree said. “They’re not comfortable in a hospital, they’re not comfortable in the doctor’s office. They’re comfortable in the place they go every Sunday where they are empowered by a higher power to get the help that they need.”

The community health summit is free to the public. Those interested can register for the event via Eventbrite.

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News News Blog News Feature

Greater Memphis Chamber, YMCA, and WeCare TLC to Open Primary Healthcare Centers in 2024

Photo credit: Greater Memphis Chamber, WeCare tlc, and YMCA

The YMCAs of Memphis and the Mid-South will house primary healthcare centers in the upcoming year. Chamber Benefits Inc., a subsidiary of the Greater Memphis Chamber, the YMCA, and WeCare tlc said that they plan to open the centers starting in 2024, targeting markets in Whitehaven, Downtown Memphis, and Cordova, and plan to open “the first two centers after enrolling a total of 6,000 lives in the program, including dependents.”

“The goal of the program is to expand access to healthcare for businesses and individuals, especially in areas of Memphis where affordable primary care options are needed the most,” said the organizations in a joint statement.

“Now in the rear-view mirror of the pandemic, we understand that access to quality equitable healthcare is even more punctuated,” said Ted Townsend, president and CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber. “The need for an offering like this throughout our community is absolutely critical and vital.”

Townsend said that not only are they focused on a healthy economy, but a healthy community as a whole. Through partnerships with the YMCA and WeCare, Townsend said that they are continually looking for ways to create advantages for businesses, specifically small-owned.

Through the ChamberCare Health Centers,businesses of all sizes can enroll their employees in the program for $40 per month per employee, said partners. Individuals may also enroll for $40 per month, and dependents are included at no extra charge.

The centers will be operated by WeCare tlc, a second-generation, family-owned and Tennessee-certified Woman Business Enterprise company.” Townsend explained that they pride themselves on working with all kinds of businesses, especially those minority or women-owned. Raegan Le Douaron, CEO and owner of WeCare tlc, said that the company itself was born out of the need for small business owners to control their healthcare costs.

“This program is something that employers pay for, but the employees do not,” said Le Douaron. “Full primary care is offered to the employees and their dependents on their health plan at no cost to the employees.” 

Le Douaron also honed in on the regional impact of their partnership. “We’ve always known that if you can have one employer on their health plan, [then] that’s terrific. The real value is when you compound that over an entire region,” she said.

According to partners, the centers will be approximately 2,500-square-feet, and will have full-time staff, primary care physicians, and health coaches. Townsend said that they want these health centers located “all across Memphis and the Mid-South,” which is why he said their partnership with the YMCA is so critical.

“They have the existing infrastructure with their YMCA centers across the community,” said Townsend. He explained that this increases access to a “neighborhood amenity,” and is a major step in accessibility to healthcare, by expanding primary care access in “low-income neighborhoods.” 

Jerry Martin, president and CEO of the YMCA of Memphis & the Mid-South said that not only does this community partnership provide more access to healthcare, but it also has the “potential to create lasting change in our communities health and wellness.”

“This potential partnership perfectly aligns with our mission and will serve a crucial need in our communities and enables the Y to broaden our services to continue to help families and individuals to thrive in their health & wellness journeys,” said Martin.

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Opinion The Last Word

Doctors and Dollars

Good health and good healthcare is a privilege. (Photo: National Cancer Institute)

This past Wednesday, I experienced a parenting milestone that I’ve been dreading ever since I became pregnant: my child’s first emergency room visit.

All things considered, it could have been a lot worse. My son came out of the hospital the same night he went in (well, technically the next morning, at 1 a.m.). He didn’t have to be admitted, his life wasn’t at risk, there were no broken bones. Every single staff member we encountered at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital treated us with compassion and care. But I’m still left shaken at the thought that he is old enough now to most likely remember the whole thing. After all, some of my earliest memories are from the emergency room.

My first tryst with the emergency room occurred after I tripped over a crack in the sidewalk outside of Snowden Elementary and went face-first down some concrete stairs. Every childhood picture from the immediate years after that little tumble caused my older brother to remark, “You look like a hockey player.” He’s not wrong.

But the trip to the hospital that keeps coming to mind since last Wednesday night happened later that same year. Like my son, I was four years old. Also like him, I went because of an ear infection that had morphed into a more serious issue. The similarities end there. My son’s ear infection was coupled with a virus. Mine caused my eardrum to rupture. “Explode” is the word the doctors used, and that always stuck with me, probably because of the dramatic flair.

What I remember from that night is that my dad didn’t take me to the hospital right away. Four-year-old me begged to go as we walked together through the house, my dad holding me and humming, desperate to alleviate my pain, but hesitant to make the 30-minute drive to the emergency room in the middle of the night. It was about 4 a.m. when he finally called my grandmother to accompany us. He was new to the area and needed directions (this was before the internet, MapQuest, or GPS).

Growing up, I never truly understood my dad’s reluctance until I became a parent myself. The sheer logistical nightmare of taking a child even to their own pediatrician is enough to make you want to be certain. I can’t tell you how many times my son and I have gone to his doctor’s office only to find out that he essentially had a cold. It’s hard to know what to do when your kid is too young to articulate what’s wrong.

There’s another reason I can now sympathize with my dad’s plight. Every time I’ve been to the emergency room as an adult, it has been preceded by a drawn-out attempt to avoid the ordeal at all costs. At all costs. Every time, that’s what makes me stall, despite the pain (I’ve been to ER three times for kidney stones. The pain is no joke.). I know friends and family members who have done the same. The cost of an emergency room visit, even with health insurance, has made me delay even when in the worst pain of my life. My child’s trip to Le Bonheur was the first time I didn’t hesitate when faced with going to the hospital.

While I will be forever grateful for the wonderful care my son received from every doctor and nurse involved in his stay, the reality has been brought home to me, for the millionth time since becoming a mother: Good health is a privilege. The stark reality is that money is deeply entwined with my son’s, and every child’s, healthcare.

He needed blood work, a urinalysis, and an IV. I am highly aware that for many parents, these things would be beyond their budgetary capabilities. Heck, if it weren’t for my ex-husband’s great insurance, they all would have been beyond my budgetary capabilities. It is almost impossible to articulate the mixed feelings of deep relief that my son was provided for and the unrelenting guilt that so many children are left by the wayside.

It is almost impossible to articulate the deep confusion and crushing sadness that so many people can write off universal healthcare where children are involved. Even without my own personal experiences weighing medical cost vs. medical need, I have never understood this sort of thinking. I don’t think I ever will.

Coco June is a Memphian, mother, and the Flyer’s theater columnist.

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News Blog

University of Memphis Researchers Awarded Key Patents

The University of Memphis’ Office of Technology Transfer, housed out of the Division of Research & Innovation, received word that a number of patents submitted have been allowed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as internationally in Australia, Japan, and China.

Dipankar Dasgupta, a professor in Computer Science at the U of M and director of the Center for Information Assurance, was the lead designer on the patent, with assistance from Roy Arunava, Ghosh Debasis, and Kumar Nag Abhijit.

The patent, which is for “Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication System with Multi-User Permission Strategy to Access Sensitive Information,” allows admin users the ability to give different permissions to other users based on their positions in a network. The goal of this system is to allow companies and government entities more control when handling sensitive data.

“Classified data breach and sensitive information leakage continues to be a major concern,” says Dasgupta. “We need a robust auditing mechanism of such information access, and the novelty of this innovation lies in combining adaptive multi-factor authentication to verify identity of the user and permission-based user access to sensitive information, providing end-to-end non-repudiated accountability in cyber systems.” 

The University of Memphis and SweetBio Inc. also received patent allowances from Australia and Japan, and an issued patent from China for their work in tissue regeneration. The patent for “Compositions and Methods for Enhancing Healing and Regeneration of Bone and Soft Tissue” lists Gary Bowlin, a professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Isaac Rodriguez, a former postdoctoral fellow in Biomedical Engineering and co-founder and chief science officer at SweetBio Inc., as the named inventors.

The patent outlines a technique in which soft and hard tissue could be regenerated using polymer, honey, and a synthetic filler. The invention is currently being commercialized by SweetBio, Inc. for wound-care applications.

“Honey has been used for millennia as a topical, short term, yet slightly messy material to treat wounds,” Says Rodriguez “These newly granted patents push the boundaries of how honey can be used for tissue regeneration both outside and inside the body.” 

More information on these patents as well as other work done by the Office of Technology Transfer can be found at the University of Memphis’ website.

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Opinion The Last Word

To Those Who Can’t Stay Home

CREDIT: Courtney Hedger | Unsplash

As I write this from my couch, nearly a year into working from home due to the pandemic, I am experiencing both burnout and gratitude.

On the one hand, working from the confines of my 750-square-foot rental home, I feel — quite literally — boxed in. The days bleed together as I change from one pair of pajamas to another, staring at a laptop, eyes glazed over, with little actual human interaction or external stimuli. Digital documents, emails, Slack exchanges — everything and everyone has morphed into nothing more than words on a screen. If it weren’t for deadlines and production days and the physical calendar on the kitchen wall where I scrawl notes and reminders, I’d likely lose track of which day was which all together. And I’ll admit that I have on more than one occasion in recent weeks.

Courtney Hedger | Unsplash

Outings are minimal. Necessary items can be ordered online for delivery or pickup. Like clockwork, the mailman arrives, my dogs bark loudly to alert of his presence, and the [insert whatever random thing was purchased] is here without me having to get into my car or brush my hair or speak to another person. The only traffic jams I’ve experienced in a year are the pile-ups that often happen in the small hallway where my three dachshunds scurry under foot to race to their food bowls at breakfast and dinner. They help me keep track of the hours with their internal clocks. But what day is it again? When did I last shower? What’s the point?

It starts to feel a little doom-and-gloom when you realize how the days bend into one another, especially in winter. Those neighborhood walks I so enjoyed in warmer weather apparently kept me sane, or at least somewhat content. The sunshine, the sights and sounds … Now it’s gray and wet and cold, and when will it be spring again? What month is it?

Now on to the gratitude. I am hyper-aware of how privileged I am to have had the opportunity to navigate these hazy, dazed work-from-home days, within the virus-free walls of my tiny house. So many — including the delivery drivers who’ve kept our pantries stocked, our gifts en route to their recipients, our non-essential purchases on our porches — have known no such luxury. So many — including my sister, a single mother of two who is working her way toward an assistant manager position at a local grocery store — can not simply stay home and have the world come to them. The kids must go to school or daycare. Bills must be paid, gas in the car, food on the table. The show must go on, the slog continues, and those who have kept the gears in motion on the outside have had to live their lives the same as they did pre-pandemic. Except while wearing masks eight hours a day. Except while potentially exposing themselves to a deadly virus. There’s an entire segment of our population that does not have a choice.

I want to take a moment to salute every single essential worker. From restaurants to retail, from healthcare to warehouse workers — we see you. I hope with every fiber of my being that each of you stays healthy while you’re out there risking your lives for our Amazon orders and cheeseburgers. I hope that you do not take the virus home to an immune-compromised family member or loved one. I hope that while you’re out there making sure the ships still sail that the people you encounter are showing gratitude and respect. You deserve more recognition than I can give you. The world as we know it could — and likely would — collapse if not for your continued efforts. And I know those efforts are made out of necessity. Thank you for keeping the shelves stocked, preparing food for us, caring for the sick, and delivering whatever it is we think we need while we’re stuck at home.

As I write this, it’s a Thursday afternoon. I’m in a robe and houseshoes. My dogs are piled up around me napping. I am safe. I am healthy. I am grateful.

Shara Clark is managing editor of the Flyer.

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News News Blog

Local Groups Weigh In on the Biden Administration

CHOICES’ Comprehensive Care Center

As the Biden Administration begins the long process of unifying the country, local nonprofits are gearing up for the work that needs to be done.

“We’re cautiously hopeful, you know,” says Commute Options program manager Sylvia Crum.

“I don’t know how long it’ll take for it to really start becoming apparent of what impact we will get to see right here in Memphis, but I’m really pleased that the administration is putting climate change on the forefront and saying, ‘We’ve got to do something to address this.’”

Commute Options, a nonprofit that works to promote alternative commuting methods within the city of Memphis, launched a bike commuting training program late last year. The program, which teaches Memphians how to commute through the city using biking or public transportation, is the first of many planned moves by the organization in 2021.

“We’ve been gathering a very lovely group of volunteers who are so excited to think about how we could help — in a safe and socially distanced way — encourage people who might want to try bicycling for transportation and show off the ability to do that.”

The nonprofit health advocate CHOICES has also begun the year strong. Its new comprehensive care center, which opened last fall, has been accepting patients throughout the pandemic, increasing volume in the latter half of 2020. The new center has allowed the group to expand to prenatal care and birth, something that director of external affairs Katy Leopard calls the “last piece of the puzzle”.

“As CHOICES, we wanted to be able to help people no matter what their choices were around a pregnancy. And so, it really makes sense that people needed to have more autonomy and how they give birth and the birth process,” says Leopard. “Having an out-of-hospital birth center environment that’s led by midwives, where people giving birth have more autonomy and choice, was really important to us. It wasn’t available in Memphis or anywhere near us, so we really felt like our community needed that.”

Just City executive director Josh Spickler says that while not much has changed for the organization with the new administration, they are still feeling the effects of the Trump administration.

“For the most part, our issues are pretty local,” he says. “A couple of exceptions would be that at the end of the last administration, there was a rush to execute five or six people. Federal executions had been on hold for years and years, and the Trump administration brought them back knowing that the Biden administration was going to have to work to stop them again.”

“I would hope that the death penalty becomes an issue, at the congressional level,” he adds. “We just don’t have the resources locally, but that’s one thing that I would hope would change because the state of Tennessee has really shown no interest in doing anything.”

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Opinion The Last Word

The Rant

CREDIT: Neneo | Dreamstime.com

Neneo | Dreamstime.com

Pope Francis

Although I am not a Catholic, I survived Catholic school, where I learned a thing or two about a pope or two. So, I can say with all sincerity that the new pope is dope. My papal-span is like an arc, beginning with Pius XII, who was sometimes referred to as “Hitler’s Pope,” and ending with Benedict XVI, formerly Joseph Ratzinger Jr. of the Hitler Youth and the Nazi infantry. The resigned pope’s father, Joseph Ratzinger Sr., was a member of the Nazi “Order-Police,” under the control of the SS, an inconvenient fact that was whitewashed from Pope Benedict’s Wikipedia bio. I guess Benedict took his red Prada shoes into retirement since the current pope, Francis I, would never tolerate such a display of personal vanity. In his short tenure as Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis has given the faithful so much change and hope for the future, he should be called the Barack Obama of Catholicism.

Pope Francis was born on December 17, 1936. I believe that any pope who shares my birthday must be destined for greatness. Now I have someone to brag about who was born on the same day as I was besides such Catholic luminaries as Manny Pacquiao, Bob Guccione, and Chris Matthews. It’s no coincidence that the new pope took the name Francis. Born in Buenos Aires, which has one of the largest concentrations of poor people of any major city, the new pope is named for Francis of Assisi, mostly known for his concern for the well-being of the poor. Pope Francis has stated that he will remain in the Vatican guesthouse rather than live in the Apostolic Palace. Most startling of all was the manifesto written by the pope last August and released last week. The “apostolic exhortation” is called The Joy of the Gospel, and though it was written as instruction for priests and pastoral workers, Vatican correspondent John L. Allen wrote that the work “amounts to Francis’ ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.'” While adhering to basic Catholic tenets, Francis’ populist views, according to Charles Camosy of Fordham University, “would likely be considered too liberal for a prime-time speaking slot at the 2016 DNC.”

Of course, Americans of a certain political bent have rejected the pope’s message as leftist propaganda. Famous Christian thinker Sarah Palin reared her ugly head to declare the pope was far too liberal. Other politicians have had so many running commentaries that differ with the pontiff, I thought it might be fun to compare some quotes:

“Justice requires … mechanisms and processes specifically geared to a better distribution of income.” — Pope Francis

“I know there are some who believe that if you simply take from some and give to others then we’ll all be better off. It’s known as redistribution. It’s never been a characteristic of America.” — Mitt Romney

“It is vital that government leaders take heed and broaden their horizons, working to ensure that all citizens have dignified work, education, and health care.” — Pope Francis

“And what is Obamacare? It is a law as destructive to personal and individual liberty as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 that allowed slave owners to come to New Hampshire and seize African Americans and use the federal courts to take them back to … slave states.” — New Hampshire state representative Bill O’Brien

“The Church has no wish to hold back the marvelous progress of science. On the contrary, she rejoices and even delights in acknowledging the enormous potential that God has given to the human mind.” — Pope Francis

“All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the big bang theory — all that is lies straight from the pit of hell.” — Georgia representative Paul Broun

“Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.” — Pope Francis

“You can’t help those who simply will not be helped. One problem that we’ve had, even in the best of times, is people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless who are homeless, you might say, by choice.” — Ronald Reagan

“I exhort all countries to a generous openness which, rather than fearing the loss of local identity, will prove capable of creating new forms of cultural synthesis.” — Pope Francis

“Just build the damn fence.” — Senator John McCain

It’s so refreshing to hear the pope say, “We have to state … that there is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor.” This stuff is enough to make a free-market capitalist’s head explode. “I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor.” Uh oh. The pontiff just took out the entire Republican Congressional Caucus. Pope Francis’ message appears to be resonating. His favorability rating among Catholics is almost 80 percent, and lapsed members are returning to their churches with a renewed commitment. It’s incredible what one dedicated man can do to restore faith to a disillusioned people. Just ask Jesus.

Randy Haspel writes the “Born-Again Hippies” blog, where a version of this column first appeared.

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Music Music Features

Makeshift Benefit Show

Whenever I have friends visiting from out of town, I point out the neon glow of the Sun Studio sign, the jewel that’s the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, and the ’50s glory of Sam Phillips Recording Studio.

Then I head down Peabody Avenue, where I show off the Church Health Center, which, for the last two decades, has been a saving grace for hundreds of local musicians (and plenty of non-playing industry professionals, including me).

The Church Health Center provides medical care for the uninsured and, via programs at the Hope and Healing Center, offers preventative help to a phenomenal number of Memphians.

This month, Memphis musicians are giving back to the Church Health Center with Rock For Love, a benefit organized by Makeshift Music.

J.D. Reager

J.D. Reager, Makeshift’s mouthpiece and a member of the Hope and Healing Center, was hanging out with his friend Marvin Stockwell when the idea for the benefit materialized.

“J.D. and I became friends because he played bass on the third Pezz record,” says Stockwell, Pezz’s longtime guitarist, who spends his daytime hours working as public relations manager for the Church Health Center. “I’d been thinking about a benefit show, and then he brought it up.”

“I know a lot of folks who have had their butts saved by the Church Health Center,” Reager says, “so when we started putting it together, it quickly blew up into this multifaceted event.”

Snowglobe, The Subteens, Holly Cole, Jump Back Jake, Two-Way Radio, The Third Man, Joy Whitlock, and Pezz are all slated to play Rock For Love, which will be held at the Gibson Music Showcase on Friday, July 27th.

All those groups and more — including Shabbadoo, Dragoon, Black Sunday, The Secret Service, Antique Curtains, The Glass, and vocalists Cory Branan, Blair Combest, Susan Marshall, Paul Taylor, and Amy LaVere — have recorded tracks for Makeshift 5, a compilation CD which also benefits the Church Health Center.

“It’s a great cross-section of the music scene,” Stockwell says. “We wanted as broad a group of bands as possible, and we ended up with all varieties of rock-and-roll. It’s extremely gratifying for me in particular, because I’ve been able to combine the two things I’m most passionate about.”

“We put out feelers all over town and recorded a fair amount of tracks at Unclaimed Recordings,” says Reager, who credits Makeshift founder Brad Postlethwaite and his co-workers, Greg Faison and Jeremy Graham, for seeing the project to fruition. “Other stuff trickled in through the mail or via various meet-ups and drop-offs. The CD and show ended up getting sponsored by Ardent Studios, the Center City Commission, TCB Concerts, and other companies, and [screen printer] Sasha Barr has donated 100 percent of his time and printing.”

“People who wouldn’t normally collaborate have a common interest, which is supporting a charity that helps so many of them,” says Stockwell, also noting event components such as a photo booth manned by aristo-rappers Lord T & Eloise and a silent auction run by blogger Rachel Hurley, plus the Live From Memphis video crew and Rocket Science Audio‘s guerrilla engineer Kyle Johnson, who will combine forces for a DVD release of the benefit concert.

“The show itself has become much bigger than the one we set out to organize. People have really come out of the woodwork to support it, which underscores how local musicians feel about the Church Health Center and about the national health-care crisis,” Stockwell adds, noting that the number of uninsured Americans has nearly doubled since the Church Health Center opened its doors.

During the benefit, musicians will have an opportunity to sign up for the Musicians Healthcare Plan, an initiative offered by the Memphis and Shelby County Music Commission and Church Health Center.

“I don’t know of any other market that supports their musicians like this,” says Antonio Parkinson, board chairman of the music commission.

For more info on the Church Health Center, visit ChurchHealthCenter.org. For more on Makeshift Music and the Rock For Love benefit, go to MySpace.com/MakeshiftMusicMemphis.com. To learn about the Musicians Healthcare Plan, go to MemphisMusic.org.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Mission: Physician

A visit to a coastal village on the Eastern Cape of South Africa sounds like a pleasant vacation. A team of Memphis health-care professionals, however, worked harder than ever on a recent trip to Dutywa, a village in the region on the verge of becoming a city.

Local New Direction Christian Church pastor Stacy Spencer and church member Charlsetta Gipson organized the trip to bring medical services to residents of Dutywa and the surrounding area, which lacks medical infrastructure.

Spencer and Gipson recruited family-care physician Twyla Twillie, dentist Steve Ballard, sickle-cell specialist Patricia Graves, and obstetrician Lanetta Anderson-Brooks, along with about 10 registered nurses. The group spent three days last month serving roughly 300 patients a day.

“It was an interesting community to spend time with,” says Anderson-Brooks. “They don’t have any doctors that practice in the community, so the primary goals of this mission are, long-term, to open a clinic, and short-term, to introduce the concept to the community and see how well it would be received.”

The group chose Dutywa because of the village’s importance as a regional education center. “Kids within a 100-mile radius will get their education there,” Anderson-Brooks explains. “Most of the kids are living away from their parents in hostels.”

Dutwya struggles with growing pains. “It’s becoming a city, but there’s no infrastructure,” Anderson-Brooks says. “People have cell phones but no running water. People are suffering from basic health needs that can make or break a community, such as poor nutrition and bad water.”

The group made advance accommodations to ensure access to medicine and basic equipment. “We had a scout team go out six months prior to the trip, and they determined the needs. They knew I would be doing pap smears, so they had a bed that could accommodate a pelvic examination and a light,” says Anderson-Brooks.

While the Memphis group made referrals and hoped to positively impact Dutywa’s public health in the short-term, they realize that one mission is only a beginning.

“One of the biggest barriers to making a long-term change is understanding the cultural differences and then starting to work within those confines,” says Anderson-Brooks. “We have plans for 30-day, 90-day, and then a one-year follow-up. We want to set a new standard in the community.”