How one medical center is affecting the health of its community members, outside the hospital bed.
Health. Outside the bed.
How does one effect health outside of the bed? This is exactly what my employer, Truman Medical Centers is working to address. Food is something that each of us has an intimate relationship with. Truman knows that a big issue affecting it’s patients population is a lack of access to quality produce in order to effectively feed themselves and their families.
Today, I would like to discuss a project that I began working on officially as of July 17th, 2012.
The hospital I work at, Truman Medical Centers & the Hospital Hill Economic Development Corporation began a Mobile Market. The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority donated an out-of-service 40 ft bus to TMC and even did the work to outfit the bus as though it were a grocery store on wheels! The bus serves people in communities where there is not access to fresh produce by bringing it directly to them.
Health outside of the bed is very simple. It’s everything that doesn’t involve the bed (like surgery). I.e., food, health & wellness, education, outreach etc.
I am currently Manager over the Mobile Market and Healthy Harvest Farmers Market. What makes this position so interesting is that I am working on a much different way to positively affect the health of people through something each and every one of us must do. Eat.
Our relationship with food should be a very intimate one, however I suspect that this is not the case for everyone. It’s been very disturbing to find out that many people just don’t know about the foods that should and shouldn’t be consumed. Then again, I’m not surprised at all.
If anything, the food we eat should be our first line of defense not the last resort. Clearly this is not the case with the lack of fresh produce available to people in more urban and rural areas. The lack of knowledge about the different foods that are available and the culture of fast food that seems to be overtaking everything.
How do you think health should be affected outside of the bed? Here are my thoughts below.
(Disclaimer: *The statements are not the thoughts of Truman Medical Centers, The Hospital Hill Economic Development Corporation, or any parties involved with the Mobile Market. They are those of Far From Idle.*)
1) Stop focusing on the Pharmaceuticals.
Don’t get me wrong, pharmacy is a great and necessary part of healthcare. However, it can become an issue when the only thing fixed is the surface issue, not the root cause. A pharmacist can give you all the pills for hypertension you want, however if you get out, take your medicine, and go eat some fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, what do you expect?
To fix this, perhaps their should be more focus on the root cause of the issue. No, it’s not just genetics. Just because you are predisposed for something does not mean you will get it. It does mean you are more susceptible to that disorder. However if you take care of yourself by eating properly, among other things perhaps you can prevent diabetes.
2) Education.
Knowledge is power right? It is power, as long as you are getting the right information. I think that people (especially those in areas where people don’t have access to something.
3) Discover the root problem.
This is a much easier fix than taking fills to stop the long term issue. If anything it would take time. Each and every person has a story that led up to the present issue (insert issue here: lack of knowledge, some form of abuse, poverty, etc.)
I don’t have all the answers, and besides I am learning about healthcare daily. In the meantime, please check out one of the articles written about this project. There are other articles as well. If you would like to look more of them up, just google “Truman Medical Centers & Mobile Market”.
What are your thoughts on Healthcare? What do you think needs to change? What do you think is a more effective way of reaching people where they are? How do you reach these people?
Want to learn more about Truman Medical Centers & The Hospital Hill Economic Development Corporation? Follow them on Facebook, and check out the first PSA about the Mobile Market!
Come see how we roll.
Read more: Food (In)security
Image credit: A few of the Children enjoying Fruit from the Mobile Market. Credit: KC Nursing News
About Derrick Idleburg Jr
Absolutely, the health care system should focus more on prevention. Isn’t it easier to prevent a forest fire in the first place, than to drop fire-retardant from a helicopter & risk lives of dozens of fire-fighters?
The field of public health is an up & coming one, & focuses on just this issue. (General well-being; attaining the root cause of health difficulties & addressing them there).
Soo… to begin. Education, epidemiology & biostats (inferring general population & disease statistics & trends & therefore what to do about them); infrastructure (clean drinking water, availability of good produce & basic medicine). Wikipedia goes into the basics, provides a decent starting point.
I agree CJ. Personally, I HATE having to clean up a mess. I’d rather just avoid it.
In my opinion we’re far too adventurous. We eat stuff our ancestors didn’t know existed. What we forget is that most “explorers” die in the process – Columbus, Marco Polo etc are famous because they are abnormal in that respect.
I love to clean up messes Albert. In regards to your statement about being adventurous, I would say that you are correct in that we eat things that aren’t meant to be eaten. Both of you should check out the film Forks Over Knives. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1567233/
The film speaks to a lot of what Albert is discussing. It follows a group of people with various chronic illnesses & how good old fashioned food was the largest factor in their recovery.
CJ, Thank you! I have thought this for years. You are correct in your statements. The biggest issue with healthcare today is that the root issue is never fixed. Just the symptom. Because of this, I think a lot of lives were lost that didn’t need to be lost. I also think it is part of the reason for the rampant inequalities & outrageous costs. But that is for another article.
Are you by chance in healthcare? (Or just have interests in everyone’s overall well being?) I ask because I don’t hear many people speak about health the way you just stated.
Focus on the roots, & you’ll fix the problem.
Hi Derrick,
Yes – healthcare admin/management.
The way I tried to put it is how public health departments (@ universities mainly, but also through teaching hospitals & industry etc.) have been formalizing their study & what they attempt to do in the world.
As said public health as a discipline is somewhat new, although it has its beginnings back toward the start of the 20th century (or earlier?).
I like the administrative side of things just personally – you get to determine how to deploy resources most effectively – but also as said in a prior comment, there are many other totally necessary facets of the public health approach, whether educational or diagnostic.
And I like how you came at this from an intuitive standpoint.
-Starts discussion, without being intimidating (by contrast, academia sometimes is, whether or not it means to be).