Our community is well on its way to obtaining the resources and amenities we need to really begin to tackle and eradicate chronic health conditions and poor health in our community. With the wellness garden open and our new wellness center and Path to Wellness opening later this year, we only lack a playground to complete our wellness center campus and bring our first community park to Charleston!

In 2012, the community of Charleston, located in Tallahatchie County, MS, spearheaded by a local non-profit organization, the Charleston Arts and Revitalization Effort (CARE), approached the University of Mississippi to inquire whether they would be interested in working with the community to help them address the health concerns and poor health status of residents in the community. In 2012, Tallahatchie County was ranked 81st of 82 counties in MS in terms of overall health status (RWJF County Health Rankings 12, 2012) as such, the county has some of the highest rates of obesity, teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, diabetes, and heart disease in MS. In order to address the health concerns and to improve the health and societal well-being of the community, the University of Mississippi along with Charleston residents including: city officials, pastors, school personnel, business owners, and other stakeholders partnered together to address the health issues facing the community.

A community health needs assessment was conducted in 2012 in order to identify the perceived health needs and priority health issues in the community as well as to identify strengths, weaknesses and existing resources and organizations that could potentially partner to improve health status and to address the identified needs. From the inception of the needs assessment, conducted by a then doctoral student at the University of Mississippi, Dr. Catherine Woodyard, a partnership between the university and community was established and has since been growing, as well as other partnerships within the community. Principles of community based participatory research (CBPR) were and are continuing to be utilized throughout our programming, research and evaluation. According to CBPR, when using these principles, the first step is to conduct a needs assessment. This allows trust to be built between the community and researchers and allows all parties involved to have an active role and voice in the development and implementation of efforts to address health concerns and ultimately improve health status and quality of life.

Following the conduction of the needs assessment, Dr. Woodyard along with Tallahatchie General Hospital (TGH) administrator, Jim Blackwood, wrote a grant based on the identified needs for the construction of a health and wellness facility to be located on the hospital campus. In May of 2013, TGH’s Medical Foundation received funds for the construction of the facility as well as funds for an out-door walking path, the path to wellness. Construction is currently underway and should be completed by late 2015. Dr. Woodyard serves as the executive director of the wellness center and as the project director for Tallahatchie Wellness. The wellness center is the first of its kind in this community as there are no other places or parks for recreation, socialization and/or exercise. Ultimately, the wellness center campus will serve as a park-like setting and a place for relaxation, exercise and socialization. The out-door Path to Wellness as well as the playground (when fundraising is complete) will be available to the public and will not have an associated fee for use.  The educational programming and events will be free to Wellness Center members.

Additionally, the campus includes picnic tables and benches, a pond (which will eventually be stocked with fish so that our senior adult nursing home residents can fish and the youth in our youth program can learn to fish) and a wellness garden, which supplies fresh, locally grown produce to our community. Our programming includes a variety of health education and promotion programs for youth, adults and older adults focused on various topics related to health and wellness. 

We received a grant from the Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA) in May of 2015 that will cover the majority of our programming costs over the next three years. 

The programs included in the HRSA grant are as follows:

1. An annual three month community wellness challenge, modeled after the biggest loser but focused more heavily on all aspects of wellness, not just weight loss, in which participants receive a baseline and follow-up health assessment as well as access to weekly educational workshops, group fitness classes, cooking demonstrations and access to a personal trainer, a registered dietician and a health coach. The Wellness Challenge begins in January.

2. An after school youth program using the Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH). The after school program will initially target 3rd and 4th graders but over time we will grow this program to include more ages.

3. The Tallahatchie Food Expansion and Education Program (TFEP) which will include: 3 annual cohorts of a 6-week cooking class to teach healthy eating principles to low income families using the Cooking Matters Curriculum, a wellness garden to grow fresh produce to address food security issues, selling produce at low costs, cooking demonstrations and an annual fresh foods expo where we will provide taste testing of healthy foods grown in the garden.

4. A FREE annual health fair carnival where we will combine a health fair into a community carnival in order to increase participation rates. Follow up care will be provided to all residents whose biometric measures are not at healthy levels and for those who do not have health insurance, they will be connected to a navigator in order to obtain insurance. The carnival will include inflatable jump houses, a petting zoo, a healthy grill out and more!

5. Work-site wellness program for the employees of TGH with the aim to expand to additional work-sites within the community.

 6.4 annual cohorts of the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) which is a 6-week workshop where participants learn to become better self-managers of their conditions, increase self-efficacy and ultimately improve their health status and quality of life. Monthly follow-up support and sustainability groups will be held following completion of the 6 week workshop in order to provide continued social support and encouragement as well as to review topics learned in the course. Monthly follow-up groups will vary in content and include things such as group outings, cooking demonstrations, group fitness, and opportunities to talk to providers.

The executive director of the Wellness Center, Dr. Catherine Woodyard, is currently working hard to raise money to build a community playground on the wellness center campus to accompany the new walking path and Wellness Center. Through grants and private tax-deductible donations, she hopes to raise $150,000 for the project which will cover the cost of the playground equipment, site preparation, safety surfacing, shipping, and installation. We still need to raise an additional $50,000 for our dream of a playground to become a reality!