We are currently moving our office, but our services and service area will remain the same. During this transition, if you need immediate 24-hour domestic or sexual assault crisis support, please call +1-804-612-6126. All other customer-related inquiries should be directed to our primary intake number, +1-804-362-6835.
We have moved our office, but our service area remains the same. If you need immediate 24-hour domestic or sexual assault crisis support, please call +1-804-612-6126. All other customer-related inquiries should be directed to our primary intake number, +1-804-362-6835.
Can you tell us a little bit about your role as a Community Health Specialist?
“I cover a large range of health issues that affect our service areas, so my main focus has been on the food access side of things, as well as, expanding other healthcare initiatives.”
Let's talk a little bit about rural, specifically food access and how that affects our community.
“When we're talking about food access in a rural community, we're talking about a little bit of a different game as compared to a more urban or suburban setting.
We are talking about a large, expanded area that doesn't necessarily have the same things that we have access to like public transportation, gas stations, a huge variety of grocery stores or other ways to get food.
So, we're dealing with a community that is more spread out. There are less resources available, and we deal with bigger issues when trying to get food within the community. Part of my role is helping to break down those barriers and serving our community members in a way that is accessible to them.”
How do you do it?
“So, we do a lot of ‘at home’ delivery work. The way our model has worked in the past is we do distributions, with the option of having them delivered to a home. That really breaks down the transit barrier that we face. We give people the option to pick it up or have it delivered, and about 90% of our clients choose to have it delivered to their house.
We do our food distribution surrounding school breaks. The way our food access program developed was a member of our organization saw a need with kids that were coming to our summer camp, and we knew that they were going home to empty refrigerators. That really led to the idea that we wanted to serve the kids and community to fulfill that need.
We wanted to send food home with them. It's expanded over the past couple years to focus around those extended school breaks. We work closely with the school district to get the information out that we're a resource for parents, so they can sign up. So, during fall, winter holiday, spring and summer breaks, we have these food distributions take place.”
And where is this food coming from?
“We try to diversify where we get our food. We do some wholesale stuff. We work with donations, we do food drives, and we also try to support local agriculture businesses to get produce for distribution, so that we're supporting the local economy as well.”
Fresh food and produce is one of the biggest issues. It’s unfortunate that the food that's the most accessible, is the worst for you.
“Right, and that's something that we see as well. The way that our food has evolved throughout the decades is that the cheaper the food is, the less quality ingredients it has.
We've really lost touch with our food. You know, a lot of people don't have any access to fresh produce, and don't work in the agriculture field. So really, our whole relationship with food is through a grocery store experience, and in these communities that don't have a lot of access to a diversified food source it brings up issues.
So let's say we have the option to go to five different grocery stores and we have a car, or we use public transit to do that. And then, we also have a farmer's market on the weekends. These communities don't necessarily have those same resources, so the options are limited. It's really about resources.”
Can you tell us about some other public health initiatives going on at Thrive?
“We try to work really closely to serve the needs that are directly reported back to us.
A big thing that's coming down the pipeline is menstrual, or period products. That has been something that has been reiterated to us over and over again through a lot of our different community partnerships.
That's a project that we actually just started and implemented. We have distributed period kits to some of our indigenous partners, our school partnerships, and then we are also working closely with more local level clinics to distribute that as well.
And then, we're trying to expand into the rural health space and serve the needs of that community in the sense of what they've told us directly. Really what they need is primary, vision, and dental care, that kind of comes up over and over again. We're looking at providing rural area medical clinics to this area as well. Those are a couple examples of some of the additional initiatives we are involved in.”
There's a lot of Primary Care Physicians that are starting to pop up in sort of a new way where there are monthly membership fees for unlimited visits that make healthcare more affordable. Is that happening at all in the more rural areas?
“They are more likely to set up in a city environment, just from a financial standpoint, than they would in these rural areas. It's not just about the desire to be in a rural versus an urban area. It's about infrastructure. It's about how are you going to get to your job, where are you going to live, affordable housing, all of these things.
It's hard to put foundations in these communities that are easy to build on. There are a lot of steps that it takes in order to create a resource that is sustainable. So, there are a lot of issues that we face in creating programming, especially in the food and health industry, in these areas in order to make it sustainable and that can continue forward.
We really try to focus on maintaining projects and making sure that what we're putting out in the community is something that is really needed, community backed and pro-client in the sense that it's something that's an accessible and sustainable project in the community.”
Can you explain the ‘whole picture’ concept?
“We are focused on how we look at the whole picture of what makes a person or a family successful; then we break it down to a kind of primary care level. We look at the factors that maybe we don't think about that can affect someone's ability to keep a job, provide for their kids, and ensure that they're mentally and physically able to do the work that they need to do in order to thrive.
What I strive to do in my work is to really ensure that we are serving primary needs that are so foundational in overall success. We look at things all the way from the elementary age up into adulthood. If you're running on an empty stomach or you don't know where you're going to get your food, and you don't have a primary care physician, you might let things sit a little bit longer. Those are huge things that really affect our day-to-day life. Without those foundational supports in place, it makes it more difficult to be successful.
Part of my role is focusing on foundational needs of our clients and how we can promote that healthy base in terms of their lifestyle, so they can take care of themselves physically in order to mentally and emotionally do well and be an active member in their family and in their community. That is the broader sense of what I focus on in my work specifically. We do so many different things at the organization and everyone has their hands in different work.
When you break it all down, each team is focused on a different part of an individual's wellbeing which makes the whole picture come together.”
Everyone at Thrive seems so passionate about what they do. Why do you think that is?
“We are all passionate about this work for sure, because we all believe in it. We all think that whether or not your focus is public health, which is my background, behavior and mental health, support of young families, or case management, it all ties together to create a successful picture of what a person looks like. Together we all make a difference.
We are all so optimistic about being able to work in a space that is focused on the whole family approach, is multifaceted, and which addresses so many issues in a way that's not just looking at one piece of the picture.”
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