Hello from Greenwood, Mississippi!
(...or currently more accurately Itta Bena, MS)
After an extremely busy, stressful and exhausting transition back on campus, we arrived safely in Greenwood, MS for our second SPIKE on Thursday afternoon. We may as well have landed on another continent! The Mississippi Delta is a completely different world than the Gulf Coast.
The first night here we were greeted with a reception hosted by the board of directors of our project. There was food and music and introductions all around. We then moved into our four 2-bedroom apartments! I have an apartment all to myself, and my corps members are living three to an apartment. We feel extremely spoiled by our new sponsors, they are doing everything they can to make us comfortable. After move-in we went shopping and each apartment acted as a little cooking group (leaving me on a very tight very lonely meal budget this weekend).
On Friday we headed over to our new office. The office is just an empty space in a strip mall with a few tables and some chairs. We are hoping to get some computers soon. We met with a man named Dr. Miller who, along with the famous Dr. Shirley, is the main brains behind this operation (to the best of my knowledge). He explained the big picture to us and how we fit in. The hope is to eventually implement a new structure of health care. The plan is modelled after the Iranian health care system. It is a three tiered structure. Tier 1 is a community health house with someone from inside the community trained to do some basic health checks and preventative medicine. At this facility the focus would be things like prenatal care, proper parenting, diabetes testing, blood pressure, weight and height checks, and proper nutrition. Tier 2 would be a clinic with a doctor and/or a licenced nurse practitioner who would handle things like the flu and strep. Finally people could be refer ed up to tier 3, the hospital, for more major and specific needs. The goal of the plan is to provide adequate health care across rural populations, switch American health care over from a curative focus to a preventative focus, and relieve some of the financial burden by cutting down on emergency services. In Iran, this system successfully eliminated the difference in health issues between rural and urban populations.
We fit into this plan as the so-called foot soldiers. Before any new health care plans can be instituted, data needs to be gathered and analyzed. We will be going door to door throughout Greenwood and surveying the population. We will also be administering diabetes tests and checking blood pressure, height and weight. We are also hoping to work with the Board and acting as a bit of a think tank, bouncing ideas back and forth. There is so much potential in this project. My team is so excited! I hope it works out and we can actually get something done for this community.
After our meeting, we headed over to tour the Greenwood Hospital and got to see all kinds of super cool equipment.
Next we toured the city of Greenwood, focusing on the areas we will be surveying. I knew it was going to be bad, but I had no idea how extreme the poverty was here. The city is just like the areas I saw in South Africa. There are dilapidated shotgun houses up and down the streets, some with no plumbing or electricity. The city is over populated and under-supported. The situation is the definition of absolute abject poverty. Families are on a cycle trapping them in this environment with little means or hope to get out or better their community. The most disturbing part is the white neighborhood not five minutes away. Just across the river, still in Greenwood, mansion after mansion after mansion lines the road, a sharp contrast from the neighboring black community. The difference in socioeconomics is based on years and years of institutionalized discrimination based on race and economic status stemming originally from the booming cotton trade in America's cotton capital, Greenwood Mississippi. After the tour, there was one worry I could not get out of my head: how is this community going to react to a bunch of white kids knocking on their doors and asking them extremely personal questions?
Luckily today we had a picnic in Baptist Town, the first neighborhood we will be working in. It was slow to start up, but after a little while some residents started to come out and meet us. The day ended up being extremely successful-people came out for hamburgers and hot dogs and got their blood pressure checked and were tested for diabetes. My team mingled with the adults and painted faces for the kids. The people who came out were wary of us at first but by the end of the picnic, I was feeling a lot better about surveying the community. They seemed to like us and many people ensured that they would get the word out for everyone to welcome us and treat us well.
So far every aspect of our stay here has been unbelievably positive. There is a great deal of work to do, but we have some amazing people supporting us and hopefully when we leave, the community will be a little better off than it is now. I hope that in some way we can empower and motivate the people of this community to step up and help make the changes with in the community that they would like to see. I also hope to start a partnership with AmeriCorps NCCC that will last many years. It is time for America to stop ignoring this population and start working in the right direction. It will be rough, but I hope that we can be part of the change for the better!
Stay Healthy!
Love you all,
Casey
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Goodbyes
Hello All,
Once again, long time. These last few weeks have been busy as usual! I have been much happier lately, beginning with my parents visit two weeks ago. I had an amazing time introducing them to my friends and team and showing them around our little town here. Dad was hoping to kite, but the wind just wouldn't blow- of course it started as soon as he left and I have seen about 6 kite boarders a day for the last week. I can't say I was too unhappy with the weather because it forced him to spend the whole time hanging out with me. Mom and Dad joined the team working on a rehab house on Tuesday. We tore off a rotting roof and rebuilt it. It was nice to have my parents working along side me and seeing what I do. After work they brought the whole team out to our favorite- sno cones! When my team wrote up their weekly progress report they said that working with Mama and Papa Nerp was the highlight of their week. I was sad to see them go and it took me a day or so to get over it.
Since then, life has been really good here. We have finally caught our stride on the work site and need very little instruction. The team is working and playing together like a happy little family!
Tonight is our last night at Camp Victor and I can't say I'm sad to go. I will be sad to leave River 6, the team we have been living and working with this whole time. I am going to have an especially hard time separating from Sally. We are both trying to ignore the fact that we are leaving each other. Her team will be in Georgia next SPIKE working in a swamp for the National Park Service. I just hope she has good cell reception. How am I going to get through this job without her?
Sally and I turned in our Project Completion report today- we compounded our quantifiable accomplishments and over the last two months our teams have:
-Worked on 21 new houses completing tasks including installing floor systems, framing, raising trusses, exterior sheeting, roofing, shingling, decking, shed building, siding, trim work, painting, appliance installation, interior hardware installation, detail cleaning and landscaping. that would -all of these added together would equal building 5 whole new houses
-rehabilitated 3 houses
-Landscaped 1.5 acres of land
-Served 24 families/ approx. 96 people
-worked with about 100 volunteers
My team learned construction- most of us came into the project barely able to swing a hammer, many didn't know how to use a measuring tape and now we are leaving proficient (or professional) at using hammers, chalk lines, measuring tape, speed squares, levels, miter saws, circular saws, table saws, jigsaws, drills, and nail guns! I am so proud of my team- they worked extremely hard and pushed themselves outside their comfort zone just about everyday.
These last two months have been challenging but overall the good definitely outweighs the bad.
We are now all packed up and looking forward to our next SPIKE in Greenwood, Mississippi (may as well be a different country from here). I recently got some awesome information about our next SPIKE- we will be staying in four or five 2-bedroom apartments near Mississippi Valley State University and we will be cooking for ourselves! I don't think my team could be more excited about what we are doing and how we are living. I can't wait to have my own apartment for two months!
I also just booked my tickets for winter break- can't wait to see everyone!
Love and Miss you all!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Hello All!
Morale is much higher this week than I expected. We are living with 150 volunteers at Camp Victor, so there was definitely some anxiety going into the week. Luckily, we have been removed from volunteers for the most part on the work site. It isn't that we aren't grateful that people are volunteering, but it can get really exhausting. A group in, a group out- and they are all on their "vacations." I imagine it is sort of like being a Towny in a tourist town (but the town is all in one building with no real walls.)
This week Habitat has been struggling slightly to keep us busy, understandably with their large volunteer load. On Tuesday we did some landscaping and finishing up of homes in the community we have been working in the last month. Yesterday and today my team has been with a new supervisor who works on rehabbing homes. We painted and closed up the inside of a home. We are working all together as a team and in the A/C so that is keeping people happy.
Unfortunately, I am sick- the flu I think. Hopefully not h1n1! I took today off- though I still spent a great deal of time on paperwork. I did get to sleep for about 6 hours today so that helped. Sally bought me soup, gingerale and Green Goodness drink... Not sure how I will be doing tomorrow- but I have a meeting with my project sponsor so I hope I'm doing better. I really, really hope I am better by the time my parents visit on Saturday. I can't wait to see them!!!!!
We got more information on our next project and I am now very excited about it! My team is also excited. It looks like we are going to be able to do some great things where we are going. The project is with the Jackson Medical Mall Services which is a non-profit that rehabbed an old abandoned mall into a big medical hub for low income families. The project focuses on a low income rural population. We will be surveying houses for environmental health risks, writing proposals and then going into homes and fixing them. There is a lot of potential in this project! We will live in college dorms and eat in the cafeteria (yet another two months of cafeteria food- but at least it won't be the same five meals rotating every week). The only other draw back is that our work week is Monday-Saturday with only Sundays off! Hopefully we will see direct benefits on the community from our work, so the long work weeks will be worth while.
Here is some information regarding our new partner organization:
"The Jackson Medical Mall Foundation (JMMF) was established in 1995 with five main goals: to promote greater access to cost-effective, high-quality health care for central Mississippi; to facilitate integration of human service delivery with health care delivery; to stimulate economic and community development in the area surrounding the mall; to utilize health care delivery activities to enhance educational opportunities; and to build financial strength of the foundation to ensure future reinvestment in the community through economic development and job creation. To accomplish these goals, JMMF purchased and restored a largely abandoned shopping mall for use as a state-of-the-art medical facility, the Jackson Medical Mall (JMM), that would provide quality healthcare and other services to those in need, and would at the same time help revitalize the surrounding community.
Prior to establishment of JMM, many disadvantaged citizens in the Jackson, Mississippi area faced challenges rooted not only in their economically-depressed status, but also, as is the case in other areas of the state, they did not have access to a centrally-located medical and social services “hub.” Such a facility would ease the great burden of locating the relevant assistance/healthcare agencies and traveling to those diverse locations for much-needed social services and healthcare assistance. JMM has become a model in the nation of this type of facility, as its many health and social service “tenants” and community outreach and education programs offer an often life-changing “one stop” healthcare center for all regardless of age, gender, race, creed, religion or nationality."
Here is the work outlined in the JMM Americorps Proposal:
"The AmeriCorps team will engage in a number of specific tasks related to 1) identify households and individuals within the community who may benefit from the full range of health services provided by the PHC network, 2) engage household members in preliminary discussions regarding potential social determinants risk factors, 3) distributing educational and informational materials related to the new Greenwood PHC initiative, 4) conduct surveys with individuals and families to determine social determinant factors and residential environmental issues that may have an impact on the health of families, 5) identify environmental issues that may be easily resolved by general construction interventions of the Team, 6) engage in construction activities to be coordinated with families using materials donated by the sponsors, and 7) generate reports for future use by Greenwood Health House CHWs for more extensive follow-up surveys and data tracking. These AmeriCorps-assigned tasks are considered vital to the long-term success of the PHC initiative in Greenwood and its potential positive impact on overall health outcomes in the community."
Miss you All!!!! Love you!
Casey
Morale is much higher this week than I expected. We are living with 150 volunteers at Camp Victor, so there was definitely some anxiety going into the week. Luckily, we have been removed from volunteers for the most part on the work site. It isn't that we aren't grateful that people are volunteering, but it can get really exhausting. A group in, a group out- and they are all on their "vacations." I imagine it is sort of like being a Towny in a tourist town (but the town is all in one building with no real walls.)
This week Habitat has been struggling slightly to keep us busy, understandably with their large volunteer load. On Tuesday we did some landscaping and finishing up of homes in the community we have been working in the last month. Yesterday and today my team has been with a new supervisor who works on rehabbing homes. We painted and closed up the inside of a home. We are working all together as a team and in the A/C so that is keeping people happy.
Unfortunately, I am sick- the flu I think. Hopefully not h1n1! I took today off- though I still spent a great deal of time on paperwork. I did get to sleep for about 6 hours today so that helped. Sally bought me soup, gingerale and Green Goodness drink... Not sure how I will be doing tomorrow- but I have a meeting with my project sponsor so I hope I'm doing better. I really, really hope I am better by the time my parents visit on Saturday. I can't wait to see them!!!!!
We got more information on our next project and I am now very excited about it! My team is also excited. It looks like we are going to be able to do some great things where we are going. The project is with the Jackson Medical Mall Services which is a non-profit that rehabbed an old abandoned mall into a big medical hub for low income families. The project focuses on a low income rural population. We will be surveying houses for environmental health risks, writing proposals and then going into homes and fixing them. There is a lot of potential in this project! We will live in college dorms and eat in the cafeteria (yet another two months of cafeteria food- but at least it won't be the same five meals rotating every week). The only other draw back is that our work week is Monday-Saturday with only Sundays off! Hopefully we will see direct benefits on the community from our work, so the long work weeks will be worth while.
Here is some information regarding our new partner organization:
"The Jackson Medical Mall Foundation (JMMF) was established in 1995 with five main goals: to promote greater access to cost-effective, high-quality health care for central Mississippi; to facilitate integration of human service delivery with health care delivery; to stimulate economic and community development in the area surrounding the mall; to utilize health care delivery activities to enhance educational opportunities; and to build financial strength of the foundation to ensure future reinvestment in the community through economic development and job creation. To accomplish these goals, JMMF purchased and restored a largely abandoned shopping mall for use as a state-of-the-art medical facility, the Jackson Medical Mall (JMM), that would provide quality healthcare and other services to those in need, and would at the same time help revitalize the surrounding community.
Prior to establishment of JMM, many disadvantaged citizens in the Jackson, Mississippi area faced challenges rooted not only in their economically-depressed status, but also, as is the case in other areas of the state, they did not have access to a centrally-located medical and social services “hub.” Such a facility would ease the great burden of locating the relevant assistance/healthcare agencies and traveling to those diverse locations for much-needed social services and healthcare assistance. JMM has become a model in the nation of this type of facility, as its many health and social service “tenants” and community outreach and education programs offer an often life-changing “one stop” healthcare center for all regardless of age, gender, race, creed, religion or nationality."
Here is the work outlined in the JMM Americorps Proposal:
"The AmeriCorps team will engage in a number of specific tasks related to 1) identify households and individuals within the community who may benefit from the full range of health services provided by the PHC network, 2) engage household members in preliminary discussions regarding potential social determinants risk factors, 3) distributing educational and informational materials related to the new Greenwood PHC initiative, 4) conduct surveys with individuals and families to determine social determinant factors and residential environmental issues that may have an impact on the health of families, 5) identify environmental issues that may be easily resolved by general construction interventions of the Team, 6) engage in construction activities to be coordinated with families using materials donated by the sponsors, and 7) generate reports for future use by Greenwood Health House CHWs for more extensive follow-up surveys and data tracking. These AmeriCorps-assigned tasks are considered vital to the long-term success of the PHC initiative in Greenwood and its potential positive impact on overall health outcomes in the community."
Miss you All!!!! Love you!
Casey
Monday, October 5, 2009
Next SPIKE
My team has been assigned to "Jackson Medical Mall Services' in Greenwood MS (100 miles away from campus). I don't know much yet, but the project brief is as follows: "Conduct surveys with individuals and families to determine social determinant factors, and identify residential environmental issues. Engage in construction activities to be coordinated with families." Jackson medical mall services is a new sponsor which could prove to provide us with a great many opportunities as well as frustrations. This was one of our lower ranked projects (lowest ranked) but hopefully my team will turn it into something they love.
I will let you know when I know more.
Peace.
I will let you know when I know more.
Peace.
Spot of Tea
Greetings Everyone!
One more week down!
The week started with a visit from my Unit Leader (my direct boss). The visit went spectacularly- all my supervisors gave my team amazing reviews. I needed that feedback because I am really hard on myself here- I often lose sight of the good things I do and focus on all the little downfalls and mistakes. I am learning, though, to forgive myself the little things because it is impossible to be perfect- especially in a job like this. I am going to continue to work on that this week, because I am driving myself down with my own negative reviews.
So Neal visited and met with my housing supervisor, project supervisor, and site supervisor and found out that Sally and my teams are on top of their game. We also got a chance to vent to Neal about all the issues we have been having with our project. It was nice to have MY team leader around for a little bit. He also brought us out to lunch which was lovely!
The rest of the week went pretty well. My team has been striving to work better as a team. Now that we are more than half of the way through SPIKE, I have been trying to get them to focus on achievements as a group rather than personal achievements. I have a few very agressive workers, and a few people who are very timid. This leads to certain people always learning the new skills and getting the "good" jobs and others constantly searching for work. For a few weeks I concentrated my time on looking for work for everyone, and always asking site supervisors for more work, more work more work... but I am now concentrating more effort on getting the team to work together on this issue. It is going to take a while, but we are coming along. Team dynamic is fasinating.
We were back on Brad's team's site this week, so that helped me out greatly. His team is very helpful and I feel that we all work pretty well together.
This weekend, Alec (an STL on campus) drove down and picked up MaryMolly, Jordan, Sally and me and we all headed to Mobile, Al. We were planning on going to Bayfest a big music festival that takes over the city, but we ended up opting out of that because we were all so exhausted. It was still sooo nice to let my guard down and just be a person responsible for only myself for a night. We spent the day Sunday just slowly touring the city.
Today is Monday and I am avoiding work, though I probably should get started on some. I am not ready to give up my weekend relaxation yet. We got the new slate of projects for our next round and rated them. I will let you all know as soon as we har which one we get. I am very excited! Tomorrow is going to be hectic- we are observing World Habitat Awareness Day on the site, so that means 150 volunteers. There are also 15 new volunteers living here at Camp Victor starting tonight. It's going to be stressful! Hopefully it will drive my team closer together (with all the outsiders around).
If the rain stops, my team is going to go canoeing tonight so I am looking forward to that.
Also, my parents are trying to come visit this coming weekend which will be WONDERFUL!
One more week down!
The week started with a visit from my Unit Leader (my direct boss). The visit went spectacularly- all my supervisors gave my team amazing reviews. I needed that feedback because I am really hard on myself here- I often lose sight of the good things I do and focus on all the little downfalls and mistakes. I am learning, though, to forgive myself the little things because it is impossible to be perfect- especially in a job like this. I am going to continue to work on that this week, because I am driving myself down with my own negative reviews.
So Neal visited and met with my housing supervisor, project supervisor, and site supervisor and found out that Sally and my teams are on top of their game. We also got a chance to vent to Neal about all the issues we have been having with our project. It was nice to have MY team leader around for a little bit. He also brought us out to lunch which was lovely!
The rest of the week went pretty well. My team has been striving to work better as a team. Now that we are more than half of the way through SPIKE, I have been trying to get them to focus on achievements as a group rather than personal achievements. I have a few very agressive workers, and a few people who are very timid. This leads to certain people always learning the new skills and getting the "good" jobs and others constantly searching for work. For a few weeks I concentrated my time on looking for work for everyone, and always asking site supervisors for more work, more work more work... but I am now concentrating more effort on getting the team to work together on this issue. It is going to take a while, but we are coming along. Team dynamic is fasinating.
We were back on Brad's team's site this week, so that helped me out greatly. His team is very helpful and I feel that we all work pretty well together.
This weekend, Alec (an STL on campus) drove down and picked up MaryMolly, Jordan, Sally and me and we all headed to Mobile, Al. We were planning on going to Bayfest a big music festival that takes over the city, but we ended up opting out of that because we were all so exhausted. It was still sooo nice to let my guard down and just be a person responsible for only myself for a night. We spent the day Sunday just slowly touring the city.
Today is Monday and I am avoiding work, though I probably should get started on some. I am not ready to give up my weekend relaxation yet. We got the new slate of projects for our next round and rated them. I will let you all know as soon as we har which one we get. I am very excited! Tomorrow is going to be hectic- we are observing World Habitat Awareness Day on the site, so that means 150 volunteers. There are also 15 new volunteers living here at Camp Victor starting tonight. It's going to be stressful! Hopefully it will drive my team closer together (with all the outsiders around).
If the rain stops, my team is going to go canoeing tonight so I am looking forward to that.
Also, my parents are trying to come visit this coming weekend which will be WONDERFUL!
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