Tag: Healthy Memphis Common Table

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Calling the Bluff Music

Health Disparities To Be Explored During Annual Healthy Memphis Common Table Meeting

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In Memphis and Shelby County, diabetes, heart disease, breast cancer, and infant mortality disproportionately impact the African-American community. And minorities who are poverty-stricken and have inadequate access to health care are more likely to be affected by health disparities than their white counterparts.

Healthy Memphis Common Table, a nonprofit that helps address various issues evolving around health in the Midsouth, will shed light on these disparities during its fourth annual meeting and recognition luncheon. Themed “Cracking the Code to Real Health Equity,” the event will take place Thursday, May 22nd at the Racquet Club of Memphis (5111 Sanderlin). It begins at 11:30 a.m.

Dr. Marshall Chin, a nationally recognized health care quality and disparities expert, will be the event’s keynote speaker. He currently works as the Richard Parrillo family professor of healthcare ethics in the University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine.

Dr. Chin will address the burden of health disparities locally and nationally, some of the socioeconomic causes of these disparities, and what can be done by health professionals and others to bridge the gap in the Memphis area.

Renee Frazier, CEO of the Common Table, said some of the reasons for health disparities among minorities are lack of access to affordable health care, poverty, and poor interaction between health care providers and patients.

“There’s a difference between the outcome of specific minority groups, especially African-Americans, as it relates to their optimum health and their overall health care,” Frazier said. “There’s not only a difference but a disadvantage to their health outcome. I don’t care what area you look at around health, whether it be national data or local data, there’s a higher rate of disparity in the minority community, specifically African-American community and individuals with low socioeconomic levels. Especially in the South, there’s a huge disparity in all levels of health as it relates to very specific minority groups. And poverty is always a factor when you look at areas of disparity.”

The Common Table created a formal definition for what is considered a health disparity: a disproportionate burden of disease, disability, and death among a particular population or group when compared to the proportion of the general population.

Since its establishment, the Common Table has been solely dedicated to achieving healthy equity (when everyone — despite race, gender or economic status — gets the same quality health care from their providers) in the Memphis area. And it plans to continue to do that by raising more awareness of the issue and providing potential solutions during its fourth annual meeting.

The Common Table will also present three local health care leaders with its first-ever Health Care Leaders Impact Award during the event. The organization will unveil its new name, and attendees will have the opportunity to assist the Common Table with selecting a new logo.

For more information on the Annual Meeting, visit www.healthymemphis.org or call (901) 684-6011.

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Calling the Bluff Music

HMCT Presents First Annual Million Calorie Burn 5k Walk/Run

One-third of adults in Shelby County are considered obese, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. And 17 percent of Memphis youth suffer from obesity.

To combat the city’s weight dilemma, Healthy Memphis Common Table (HMCT) is presenting its first annual “Million Calorie Burn 5k Walk/Run” Saturday, November 2nd.

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“We believe that a 5K is a good way to demonstrate how families can help reduce obesity by taking charge of their health through better food selections and exercise,” said Renee Frazier, executive director of HMCT in the event’s press release. “Exercise seems easiest when you are doing something you enjoy and it helps if you have a support system such as your family. This race promises to be a fun event for all.”

Registration for the 3.1 mile journey will begin at 7:30 a.m. Sneakers will start pacing to the finish line at 9 a.m. Participants will travel on a route that starts at Highpoint Church (6000 Briarcrest Ave.), travels through the East Memphis Ridgeway Loop, and ends back at the church. There will also be a special one-mile “Family Fun Run” for those who don’t want to participate in the 5k.

Food and entertainment will follow the event. Children will be able to meet Grizz, the mascot for the Memphis Grizzlies. And medals will be provided to runners with the best completion times.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton will be the event’s “race captain,” and Marybeth Conley of WREG-TV’s “Live at 9” will be the honorary chair.

People can register for the event here. Prior to the event, the cost is $25. The day of, it’s $30.

Proceeds raised from the race will be used to fund various HMCT programs that address childhood and family obesity.

For more information, contact Chris Owens at chris.owens@healthymemphis.org or 901.800.5117.

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News The Fly-By

To Your Health

Eight years ago, when Memphian Josh Perry was diagnosed with diabetes, he checked into the hospital with a blood sugar level of 770.

“The doctors and nurses said they didn’t know what to do with me,” Perry says, “and that with a blood sugar level that high, I should be comatose or dead.”

He remained hospitalized for three weeks, hooked up to an IV and unable to eat, until his condition stabilized. Since then, the 28-year-old has been hospitalized six times for diabetes-related complications.

Perry accepts responsibility for the complications but feels he received inadequate care from the local hospitals, primary care physicians, and diabetes clinics he visited for help.

“There’s only so far you can go when talking with doctors, and they aren’t doing anything to really help you,” Perry says. “I feel like I’m getting the runaround.”

Last week, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded a $1 million grant to Healthy Memphis Common Table as part of its Aligning Forces for Quality initiative. The grant, which will be issued over a three-year period, should improve health care for Perry and others like him.

Memphis was initially chosen by the foundation for a pilot program in 2006 and awarded a $600,000 grant. Though more than $400,000 of that money remains, Memphis was chosen to receive the additional funding as part of a 14-community, $300 million, nationwide initiative.

Aligning Forces for Quality stems from a national report that exposed deficiencies in health care by geography and race. Diabetes and obesity rates in Memphis continue to exceed national averages. The overall rate for diabetes-related leg amputations in Memphis slightly exceeded the national average, but African-American diabetics in Memphis are six times more likely than their white counterparts to undergo amputation, according to the study.

The study also showed that only about 83 percent of diabetic Medicare patients in Memphis receive recommended blood screenings.

Healthy Memphis Common Table will use the funding to address three specific areas, including encouraging patients to take responsibility for their own health. The nonprofit already has created easy-to-read brochures that explain what to expect when going to a health-care provider, how to detect and prevent chronic diseases, and ways to take control of your own health care.

“We want people to know they have choices … and what they can do to improve their health,” says Denise Bollheimer, chair of Healthy Memphis Common Table. “It is everyone’s responsibility.”

The funding also will be used to review patient feedback and provide nurses and doctors with “report cards” of their performance.

Bollheimer says that if proper care is given from the beginning, there will be fewer patients like Perry. “Some people can’t get care, don’t know how, or don’t have access to care due to lack of funds or transportation,” Bollheimer says. “We hope to bring together the people who get care and give care.”

The next phase of the initiative will assess the disparities in health care in Memphis and to study why those disparities exist.

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News The Fly-By

Fat Farm?

CREDIT: davidcrehner | dreamstime.com

In Memphis, many things seem super-sized — the musical legacy, the portions of barbecue ribs, and, well, the butts.

In 2004 — the most recent numbers available — 26 percent of Memphians were overweight or obese. That means that over one-quarter of the city’s population is at an elevated risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension, and heart disease.

A recent New York Times article by Michael Pollan suggests that America’s obesity epidemic may be linked to the 2002 U.S. Farm Bill and the $25 billion in agricultural subsidies it provides to farmers each year. The bill, which gives financial assistance to those who grow certain commodity crops (namely, corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, and cotton), is due for renewal this year.

Many junk foods are made from those subsidized commodities. Pollan argues that the government subsidies lead to the overproduction of those crops, thus driving down prices. In the end, it’s cheaper for a consumer to purchase a Twinkie (ingredients include wheat flour, corn syrup, and partially hydrogenated soybean oil, among other things) than vegetables. And that can mean a huge difference for shoppers on a budget.

“Cost is a large consideration,” says Marian Levy, a dietician with Healthy Memphis Common Table, a group dedicated to improving the health of Mid-Southerners. “It’s been shown that families with lower [income] levels have … a higher association with obesity.”

But Mid-South farmers say the argument that subsidies indirectly cause obesity is ridiculous.

“[The obesity argument] is about as illogical as blaming General Motors for highway deaths,” says Stanley Reed, a cotton and grain farmer from Marianna, Arkansas, about 60 miles southwest of Memphis. “There’s got to be some personal accountability in how you use products and how you consume food. If someone was giving away Brussels sprouts, most people would still prefer to buy a cheeseburger. They may know it’s worse for them, but they like the taste.”

Farmers also say the subsidies are necessary to protect the country’s future food production. Supply and demand drive market prices, but at planting time, farmers cannot know what the market will be like when they harvest their crops.

“These [subsidies] are designed to give farmers a safety net in the event that prices tumble to an incredibly low level,” says John Alter, a fifth-generation farmer who grows rice, soybeans, wheat, and corn on 2,000 acres in Dewitt, Arkansas, about a two-hour drive southwest of Memphis.

Local farmers are hoping that the subsidy program in the 2007 Farm Bill mirrors that of the 2002 bill, but food-justice activists like Pollan hope for a bill that “makes the most healthful calories in the supermarket competitive with the least healthful ones.” He’s not alone.

“Taking an honest look at the current state of agribusiness in the United States is vital to the health and welfare of Americans,” says Congressman Steve Cohen. “The prevalence of obesity, particularly childhood obesity, is alarming, and yet historically, the Farm Bill has not provided incentives for local farmers producing fresh, healthy produce. Rather, it has been designed to support big agribusiness. … We must step back and rethink outdated programs that no longer serve our citizens and, indeed, may actually be harming their health.”

Even Shelby County Farm Bureau president Tommy Morrison says that a bill guaranteeing fair prices would trump the need for subsidies.

“We’re getting the same prices we were getting 20 or 30 years ago, and you know what a car costs today compared to 20 or 30 years ago,” says Morrison. “The middlemen and the retail folks aren’t paying the farmer any more for food that they ever have, and they’re making a killing off consumers. The American consumer is being manipulated.”