Federal News
Nuns Help Desperately Poor at Mississippi Medical Clinic
Sister Anne Brooks, D.O., has provided care for the desperately poor at the Tutwiler Clinic for the last 30 years. House calls and 12-hour days have been part of her routine for those years. In addition to Sister Anne, the Roman Catholic nuns serving Tutwiler include a nurse practitioner, a registered nurse and a licensed counselor who all work in the clinic, and a community outreach worker who heads Habitat for Humanity. (Source: RAC) [Read article]
Food Programs Aim to Help Specific Populations: Rural Elderly and Children Often the Most Vulnerable to Hunger
Kids’ Cafes, community gardens, backpack programs and mobile pantries target hungry seniors, children and families. Vegetables harvested from community gardens are given to senior centers and needy families. Seniors are more vulnerable because poor nutrition or failure to eat regularly exacerbates existing health conditions. (Source: RAC) [Read article]
Food Pantries Serving More and More of the Rural Poor
Food pantries and other volunteer operations serve rural households experiencing food insecurity, often for the first time. In America, known as the land of plenty, plenty of people are hungry. They are termed "food insecure," meaning their food intake was reduced and eating patterns disrupted because the household lacked money for food. (Source: RAC) [Read article]
Is Food Insecurity the Same Thing as Hunger?
The United States Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as having two ranges: low food security, with reports of reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet, but little or no indication of reduced food intake; and very low food security, with reports of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake (i.e., episodic hunger). “Very low food security” often simply goes by the label “food insecurity.” (Source: RAC) [Read article]
Rural Spotlight: An Interview with Clint MacKinney, MD, MS
MacKinney, an emergency room doc, professor and RUPRI Health Panel member, discusses how health care can be transformed to a system of care that responds to patient and community needs. (Source: RAC) [Read article]
The Rural Monitor
The Spring issue of the Rural Monitor deals with “Rural Hunger.” Articles in this issue range from food pantries and programs to food deserts and food insecurity/hunger. Check it out! (Source: RAC) [Read articles]
CDC Takes A Closer Look At Kids’ Mental Health
Somewhere between 13 and 20 percent of kids in the United States experience some sort of mental illness, according to Mental Health Surveillance Among Children — United States, 2005–2011, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That adds up to millions of children suffering from disorders like ADHD, depression, autism and illicit drug use. (Source: Kaiser Health News) [Read article]
TEDMED Talks: 'Cure Violence' Founder on Treating Violence as a Contagious Disease
How can we put a stop to violence? Gary Slutkin, MD, believes the key is treating it as we would any contagious disease. “The greatest predictor of a case of violence is a preceding case of violence,” said Slutkin. The way to stop violence is to find those “first cases” and interrupt the transmission. (Source: NewPublicHealth) [Read article]
