Mississippi Healthcare Leaders Share Ideas, Discuss Challenges of Boosting State’s Health

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article marks the third in a 3-part series about primary topics addressed by healthcare leaders in Mississippi at the Mississippi Health Summit held earlier this year.

HATTIESBURG—Health-related economic development marked the third major discussion area among the state’s healthcare leaders at the collaboration-centered, one-day Mississippi Health Summit held earlier this year and sponsored by The University of Mississippi Medical Center, University of Southern Mississippi, Mississippi Hospital Association, Mississippi Public Health Association, and Forrest General Hospital.

Representing the economic/community development panel: Forrest General CEO Evan Dillard; Rick Duke, director of the Trent Lott Center at USM, location of the summit; and Allan Nation author of several books on artisan food production, including the latest, The Moving Feast: A Cultural History of the Heritage Foods of Southeast Mississippi. The trio raised questions in the discussion group to encourage collaboration among educators and bolster Mississippi’s healthcare workforce:

• What strategies can best raise public/political awareness of the critical interface of health outcomes and the “built” environment?
• How can we effectively communicate the many ways in which a vital health services infrastructure promotes wealth and economic development?
• What can be done to further invest in the healthcare system for additional improvement?

Focal points related to agriculture and the need to promote local farming versus large-scale, subsidized farming of corn and white crops. Nation explained it’s widely accepted that federal subsidies of crops have contributed to a significant decrease in healthy food production—the primary reason for malnutrition and the rise of obesity. 

“The thought was that if we can make it much easier to eat healthier, and much more difficult to eat unhealthy foods, then people will opt for the easier choice,” said Ryan Kelly, spokesperson for the Southern Miss College of Health, which hosted the event. “This is what we see currently with fast food, but if something is easier and cheaper than fast food, it will likely win.”

Duke, who gave a presentation that showed the transition of a busy, dirty street to a lush garden district avenue, said building a healthier environment requires the incorporation of mixed-use commercial/residential structures and the construction of walkways with vegetation to encourage walking instead of driving.

Dillard discussed the need for transformation in Hattiesburg. By using the same practical implementation that Duke referenced, the area encompassing Southern Miss, Hattiesburg Clinic, and Forrest General Hospital could be turned into a mixed-use environment, resulting in an improved culture.

“As you can imagine, this would be a significant transformation of a Mississippi city into one that you would expect from a large city like (Washington) DC or New York City,” said Kelly. 

Other key points raised by participants:

• Build trust in the community. One participant described an event where a community leader was so concerned that healthcare professionals would leave and not return that it became an obstacle. All concurred: continual communication from healthcare professionals that visit Mississippi communities is essential.
• Sustainability. Even though great ideas and projects are ongoing, leaders of those projects are being increasingly required to show sustainability once initial funding dries up. Therefore, collaboration is necessary to develop successful research projects and also sustain effective programs once they are incorporated into healthcare arenas. 
• Require all healthcare providers to be trained with a public health focus. 
• Educate schoolchildren (and their parents) about BMI and its effect on their bodies.
• Promote healthier eating by incorporating community gardens at elementary schools, neighborhoods, and villages by increasing collaboration at community-organized events. Tap Farmers’ Market vendors and master gardeners to teach best gardening practices, and also healthcare professionals such as nutritionists as part of the education process at the grass roots level.

“It would be good if schools could increase the students’ heart rates,” said Sheila Grogan, executive director of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation, noting the organization has implemented three community gardens. “Mississippi requires 50 minutes of physical activity or exercise. We need to increase the minutes to 200.”

Grogan also pointed out the foundation funds programs that have measurable outcomes. For instance, Blue Cross donated lights for a local walking trail in Jefferson County, an obese county where schoolchildren have fewer exercise requirements. The investment paid off.

Also, “small organizations that are making a difference are left out of the funding process,” she noted. “We need more Farmers’ Markets and funding for implementation.”

Southern Miss research specialist Rebecca Holland addressed public policy changes, such as jumpstarting a change in development laws by requesting a health assessment from state planners. 

For example, “change the law where food stamps cannot be used to buy junk food … and look at how other states have a focus on good health, such as Florida and New York,” she said, emphasizing that “this is a political problem” and paraphrasing a Chinese doctoral student: “China is much more populated and poorer, but they have an effective system.”

“Efforts like these would also provide economic growth and improved health for the citizens of Mississippi’s Delta, who experience every health disparity currently identified by the National Institutes of Health,” she said. “The best way to make people do something is to make it a financial issue as opposed to a health issue.”

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