A Health Revolution Begins in Starkville

On a beautiful Saturday morning in September people from across the Starkville District came together at Griffin United Methodist Church for a groundbreaking training event. The United Methodist Church, University Medical Center, and Southern Remedy have partnered together to train individuals to become Community Health Advocates for the Starkville District of The United Methodist Church. 


 “Community Health Advocates are lay persons trained who assist individuals and communities to adopt healthy behaviors. Community Health Advocates can be extremely effective in linking patients in a supportive faith environment to health care systems as they are familiar with the community and its people. They are important to the coordination of disease prevention and treatment services that reflect the value systems of the community.” -- from the training manual

Dr. Embra Jackson greets seminar participants

The Starkville District is the first to host such an event in Mississippi.  Dr. Embra Jackson, Starkville District Superintendent, expressed excitement about this event and shared that “what we learn in doing this pilot program in our district we plan to take to the Greenwood and Hattiesburg districts as well”. Dr. Jackson anticipates this program will help all our churches, regardless of size, to connect health and wellness to their ministry and “remind people that Jesus Christ came that we may have abundant life. Health and wellness is a part of who we are, particularly as United Methodists.”


 The stated goal of the program is ”to train individuals to become Community Health Advocates in their community. Doing so will lead to increased health awareness and literacy, which may lead to an improved health status of individuals within the community.” The certification training included learning to calculate BMI (body mass index), how to test blood glucose, and how to accurately take a blood pressure. Community Health Advocates that were trained at this event will be able to help educate our local communities as well as training more advocates to help reverse the health problems we are facing today.

Dr. Richard deShazo of Southern Remedy

 “We have an epidemic of bad health in our state.” proposes Dr. Richard deShazo of Southern Remedy, a Mississippi Public Broadcasting weekly radio show about health. According to Dr. deShazo a great deal of this problem is “self-made”. We make poor decisions about our health because we don’t know better. Cuts in education have led to less focus on health education and physical education. Another contributing factor is the type of food that is available in our country has shifted. Dr. deShazo spoke about “Fresh Food Deserts”, communities where fresh fruit and vegetables are unavailable and fast food is readily available and cheap. These and other factors have led to an epidemic of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. Training Community Health Advocates is the key to turning this problem around.

This day of training will have far reaching effect on the lives of many people throughout our state. Jaquelin McCoy, Mississippi State Department of Health representative, attended the training as an observer to see how the Community Health Advocate training might be used as a part of the training of health workers under her guidance. On the more local level, I spoke with Rev Eddie Lee Jones about how this event would help his congregation. “What we are talking about today is this training is right here at our church” Rev. Jones, pastor of the host church, continues by sharing that the trained Health Advocate and the kits for testing will help his congregation and community be aware of how to deal with health problems like diabetes as well as learn to make healthy choices.


Bishop Hope Morgan Ward added her support of this day of training. “Health ministries are at the heartbeat of our life together as United Methodist people.  Jesus Christ gives life abundant and eternal.  We follow Christ in mission as we grow together, seeking wellness for all.  Our prayer and hope is for healing - in body, mind, spirit, and relationships.  The Starkville District is leading the way in these essential health ministries, well-led by Dr. Embra Jackson, District Superintendent.”

See more photos from this training