Food and Health Inequality in the 74126 Zipcode: Talk and Tour for Local Food Week here on Wed. June 12 10 am to Noon

Come celebrate Local Food Week with us on Wed. June 12 from 10 am to Noon as we do a tour of our The Welcome Table GardenPark and Orchard, 6005 N. Johnstown Ave., with Dr. Bonnie Ashing, M.D., gardenpark director, and talk about the poor food choices and health inequality in our zipcode with a 14 year lower life expectancy than the highest zipcode in midtown Tulsa. There will be a free lunch then at Noon across the street at the Turley United Methodist Church.

During the same time we begin our new hours for the Free Corner Store at our Welcome Table Community Center, 5920 N. Owasso Ave., from 10 am to Noon every Wednesday and Saturday as we expand days to meet the growing hunger in our area and rising use of our food resources here.

We need volunteers of all ages at both the GardenPark and Orchard and at the Community Center for the Food Corner Store, the Clothing and More Store, and our other projects at the Center and in the Community.

Creating The Welcome Table: From the Philippines to North Peoria Ave.

It has been an especially full few weeks since my last letter to you. The series of links below will take you to stories and photos that capture just a bit of how our miracle among the ruins, welcome table community of radical hospitality and grace has been made visible from the Philippines to North Peoria Ave. as we give witness to the many lives we intersect with here doing the sacred work of being a neighbor. We are involved with a lot of events, as you will see, but we are always trying to push through those, or use them, to form deeper relationships with people and, as the bumper sticker on our front door says, to live out the truth that "the most radical thing we can do is to introduce people to one another."

1. Today, Saturday May 11, we had two major events. 

First, we were a part of Street Cred 2013 event, community fair, revitalization program, at the intersection of 36th and N. Peoria, across from the Comanche Park Apartments, at the beginning of the corridor that extends past the new OU Health Center, past Neighbor for Neighbor complex in the old and once abandoned Northland Shopping Center, past churches and businesses, past St. Simeon's Living Center, past the Westview Office Complex, to Osage Casino. This once vital commercial strip has been slowly coming back to life, and this Street Cred Event is to celebrate its past, showcase the groups like ours on the northside that are working to seed hope in the present, and to plan and give a glimpse of what the future could be. The event on Saturday had healthy food, live entertainment, a trolley, and lots of chances to meet and talk with people, along with a children's play zone. We picked fresh herbs today from our gardenpark and orchard and gave out to people at the StreetCred event to show them how they can eat well straight in or from the garden.

We enjoyed meeting and sharing news with the medical residents at the new OU Tisdale Medical Center on 36th St. which is now open and adding new practices. I was a part of the community advisory committee a few years ago before construction began, and we had a community health clinic with OU at that time; one change from the original plans at the Center has been the availability of primary care there, through the residents in the medicine-pediatrics residency program. Now with the OU Center and with the OSU Physicians at the new Health Dept. Wellness Center opened in our area, we have really made an impact on the presence of medical options in our area, including the long-standing Morton Health Clinic on the northside. But just opening clinics doesn't mean people of little means and little transportation and little trust in knowing how to navigate health systems will use them. It is why our community healthy lifestyle work is so important; for as we have reported before, so much of funds is spent on clinic care when what really impacts life expectancy the most is healthy lifestyle choices and nurturing environments. But we need both clinic presence, especially for economic development benefits, and deep engagement in the community surrounding the clinics.

Also today, in the community center and the gardenpark and orchard we created, we hosted a special group of young women who will be working with us and with you, we hope. Girl Scouts who have a parent incarcerated came to gather at our community center at 10 am at 5920 N. Owasso Ave. for breakfast then went up to our park at 6005 N. Johnstown Ave. to work on a special new part of the garden: the Three Sisters Garden, planting beans, squash, and corn. 

This Sunday, at 5 pm. you are also invited to join with our missional community in worship as we go be with Trinity Episcopal Church at 5th and Cincinnati Ave. downtown for its monthly Taize Service, communion, and meal afterwards. This is our Second Sunday worship gathering; on First Sundays we are with our partners across from the park, Turley United Methodist Church, for its communion service. On other Sundays we gather at our park or community center for spiritual deepening in a variety of ways or go worship with other churches as we participate in being an organic manifestation of "the church."

2. During the last week of April I was in the Philippines meeting and hearing stories of community hopes and renewal with the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines in the Negros Oriental, being inspired once again by lives of faithfulness amidst great poverty and struggle. You can read my sermon given during the church's anniversary celebration, "Jesus' Lost and Found: Coming Alive Again in Community" at http://www.progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2013/05/jesus-lost-and-found-coming-alive-again.html. I will be posting video of my presentations and more in weeks to come. I also gave a talk on the parables of Jesus and what they teach us about right relationships according to Jesus (the theme of the conference), and a talk and discussion on The Missional Church, and explored topics of UU Christianity, and their own understandings of Jesus, practices of communion and baptism and prayer in their churches, and more. I will be writing more about my own increased learning about poverty and community. One of the highlights of my trip was laying on hands and blessing and participating in the ordination service of the Rev. Tet Gellardo who became that church's first openly lesbian minister, and probably the first or one of the few openly lesbian ministers of a church in Southeast Asia. As we participate once more in the annual Gay Pride Parade in Tulsa, one of the few if only northside organization to do so, this year on Saturday June 1 (come walk with us), I will be thinking of the Philippine pioneers. On my previous trip to the Philippines eight years ago I was also able to participate in the ordination service for two young women ministers. There is much to be done to assist the people of the communities in the Negros Oriental, and especially efforts to help their youth afford and have support going to college, so stayed tuned for further writings and links to videos.

3. As soon as I came back, we had one of our amazing, perhaps most amazing, Mobile Van Food Community Days, this one in partnership with Tulsa McLain School, as we gave them some 125 household vouchers for students families to come participate as we gave out four tons of food in one hour. We had fewer of our regular volunteers for this event, and were struggling to get it underway, when the families from McLain, waiting in line in cars, got out and joined our volunteer force, setting things up, handing out food as the cars came through, and staying to help, and to give blessings to one another. It was a testimony to the love of neighbor and reminded me that Jesus meant it when, in the beatitudes, he said simply "Blessed are the Poor." The very next day at our free cornerstore we gave out whatever food we had left over plus emptying many of our shelves in just two hours to an additional 28 families. The following Wednesday in our weekly cornerstore event we helped 55 more families in just the afternoon. We need many more volunteers to be able to keep serving the growing number of hungry and food insecure in our area; I hope you can be one of those volunteers whether it is one-time or on a regular basis; we have a variety of things to do to tap into your skills and desires. Please let me know how you can help. We even have a range of tasks and opportunities that can be done on your own time and place. Not only with the cornerstore but with our thrift store and other activities, from art to sewing to helping with our events and festivals and community beautification at neglected sites. We are also working on ways to bring back and expand the summer daily free lunch program for children in our area throughout the summer; more on that soon too.

I had the opportunity on May 7 to preach on the documentary about food insecurity, A Place At The Table, during a homily for worship at Phillips Theological Seminary. Here you can read the homily: http://www.progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-place-at-table-homily-from-welcome.html or listen to it at http://ptstulsa.edu/MediaPlayer.aspx?ID=438. I encourage all to go online and see the documentary, or catch it at a theater near you; in the same vein, in a movie we showed at our center, I still encourage you to see the film on the new face of poverty, www.thelinemovie.com.

4. Other highlights of our community:

Save the date for a neighborhood block party just north of McLain School on Saturday June 1 from 10:30 am to 3 pm along with our partner Sarah's Residential Living on 53rd St. N. To participate contact our Board member Elaine McDondle of Sarah's. Come share info with us and get to know our neighbors and have fun. 

---We are still working on beginning an area Seniors and Family Program and are looking for a handful of leaders to help us finish organizing it, applying for funding we have been told we should get, and working on a heritage day event and senior fair at our Turley FunFest on Friday and Saturday Sept. 20-21.

---We are still working to support McLain School in its transitions, and have a Foundation Board meeting on Friday, May 24 at 4 pm at the Shoppes on Peoria near Pine; we are supporting the student trip to DFW next week; we had a great time representing the Foundation at the McLain-Booker T Washington Alumni Basketball Classic. We are waiting word about the continuing changes at McLain with the EduLab program and continue to seek ways to turn the abandoned Cherokee School on North Peoria back into a community oriented facility, and even hope it could be used as a school again.

---Responding to a concern we had been expressing about a lack of contact during the past year or two, We had a good meeting with a representative from the Sheriff's Office who is once more meeting with area residents and leaders; we received a presentation on crime statistics for our area that we had been seeking in order to be able to better tell the story of life in our area (safer than the stigma) and yet address the problem areas. I will be presenting these at the next community meeting on Tuesday, May 28 at 7 pm at O'Brien Park.

---We continue to work with the local Health Dept. on the environmental health problems of our area especially through the growing presence of burned out abandoned buildings that are left standing untouched for months and years. We have been pleased with how the Dept. has responded with Notices being sent out, we have been told, to property owners and each month we hope to see some progress as these work their way through the health dept and legal process. It has been almost a year now since the building across from Cherokee School burned down and it continues to be open and accessible to children in its dangerous state; it remains in the exact same condition as the night it burned, leaving its ruins spilling out and its structure damaged but standing.

---We continue to work with the local Volunteer Fire Dept. on its campaign to restructure into a Title 19 organization that can get increased support and not have to rely on voluntary membership dues; a process that will result in lower costs to most homeowners in our area, a win-win for local residents. We celebrate a recent grant received by the Fire Dept. too and hope it can come up with the matching funds needed to capitalize on the grant.

---We have been working on a new economic development initiative to help those who are in sudden need of assistance for shelter or medical or other reasons; both to meet short term needs and to participate in longer term relationships of renewal and growth. When one recieves, they will also receive the opportunity to find ways to give back, to pay forward, and to break off plateaus in their own lives.

---We have produced the first of several DVDs to highlight our work here, as it shows both the blight and the transformation and projects we do, and relationships we form, in the midst of the abandonment; we hope to get those out to those of you who would like a visual reminder and to share with others. It is a moving picture of both the despair and the hope, the isolation and the community. We hope to continue adding to it. 

Looking Ahead: Plan now to join with us in attending the inaugural missional gathering Life on Fire, Sept. 13-15, at the Unitarian Universalist church in Oak Ridge, Tenn. See more at http://lifeonfire13.wordpress.com/. And help us plan Life on Fire II which will be held here in our place Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 2014. And go with us to Missional Revival 2013 in New Orleans Oct. 10-13; see www.uuchristian.org/revival/.

Finally, let me say thanks to those who have made a recent gift to us through our website here easily and safely at the Donate button (you don't have to use paypal; credit or debit cards work). www.turleyok.blogspot.com. It is vital and transformative as a match to the more than $100,000 worth of volunteer hours that are local folks contribute each year; it is an astounding amazing number of hours and equivalent dollars that come from volunteers. Many many hours of volunteer work are the backbone of all we do (since we are all mostly volunteers, though we try to be an economic driver in our area when and where possible by hiring local folks for our projects we don't have volunteer labor for). But our bills can't be paid by volunteer hours. 

Over the past few years as we have grown and expanded our outreach to the community and our inreach to people's lives we have actually lost a sizeable amount of our regular contributions as people who give to us on a monthly basis have either moved out of the community, or shifted giving elsewhere, or died. Those individuals and families who once contributed to us but no longer do so amount to some $1,500 a month--it is virtually our entire monthly budget we have had to make up for in increased giving by those who remain, or through grants and special donations and the occasional fundraiser. :So, we believe if we keep true to mission, that it will inspire people to give of time, and talent, but also of their financial gifts. We put it all into mission and it is easy to see what your contributions go toward: our cornerstore and our gardenpark and orchard getting healthy food into our poverty area, and our community center gatherings to bring a little life and community connection into people's isolated lives. Each time you read these reports I hope you read them as witness to what your life means to many here. Thanks for your offerings either one-time or on a regular basis, or from church outreach offerings, or other ways.  

Enjoy these days, and come find ways to be with us; i love to do tours of the area and our projects; we need volunteers even for an hour or two a month in our cornerstore and garden. And keep passing on the word about what people are doing here, where so many believe that nothing good can come from here, by here. Every person has something within them that can change the world; we would love to be the venue for that happening in your life. 

blessings, Ron Robinson

News and Events at the Community Center and Community GardenPark and Orchard

Turley/Far NorthTulsa Community COMING EVENTS

 Community Center 5920 N. Owasso Ave & GardenPark: 6005 N. Johnstown Ave.

Third Place Foundation www.turleyok.blogspot.com for more information 9186913223

Free Cornerstore Pantry and Community GardenPark Food Programs:

Volunteer Tuesdays 10 am to Noon at the Center & Cornerstore; 

Volunteer Saturdays 9 am at the Garden Park

Come enjoy a special Garden Day Sat. April 13, 10 am to 2 pm, at the GardenPark and Orchard: get your own garden bed, free seeds and water, and help with planting.  Free lunch and party. 

Cornerstore Free Pantry Weds. 12-4 pm, serving 74126, 74130, 74073 zips.

 Cornerstore Free Pantry First Sat. April 6, 11 am to 1 pm at the Center, or by appointment. 

Volunteer for next Food Bank Mobile Van Food Giveaway Day, Fri. May 3, 9 am to Noon.

SNAP food assistance card Outreach Center, Weds. Noon to 2 pm, 

Free OSU Nutrition Advisor and Class, Weds. 12:30 pm; 

Free Clothing Room Wednesdays Noon to 4 pm. Grand Opening this Wednesday, April 3. 

Turley and Far Northside Free Legal Aid. Call Atty. Sara Cherry 918-295-9461 appts.

Other Projects and Events at The Welcome Table Community Center

The OU Turley Area Project Working with Our Residents Wed. Apr. 17, 1:30 to 4 pm and Monday, April 1 and Apr 22,  5:30 to 8 pm. Meals included. All Welcome.

Turley Area Alliance Against Crime, neighborhood watch, Thur. Apr 25, 6:30 pm.

Free For All Ages Community Art Day, Sat. March 30, 10 am to 4 pm

Turley Area Partner Planning Meeting Thurs. April 4, 3:30 pm, 

Senior (60+) Center Planning Meeting, Monday April 8, 2 pm. All Welcome & Needed. 

Recovery 12 step groups. Saturdays, 6 pm and 7:30 pm

Other Events and Projects In the Community

Pancake Breakfast, Sat. April 13, Lodge Hall, 6227 N. Quincy Ave., $5 all you care to eat

Community Free Health Fair Fun Day, Sat. April 20, Wellness Center, 56^th St. and MLK Blvd (old Cincinnati Ave.)

Turley Public Town Hall, Tuesday, April 30 7 pm O’Brien Center, 6147 N. Birmingham Ave.

Northside Street Cred Community Makeover Event, Sat. May 11, 36^th and Peoria. Experience transformation vision, by Tulsa Young Professionals

 Turley Water Board Public Meeting, Last Working Day of Month, 8:30 am, 6108 N      Peoria Ave. Turley Fire Dept. Meetings  Thursdays, 7 PM, Fire Station, 6408 N. Peoria.

Spring Board Meeting Agenda and Updates

A glimpse into our all volunteer, four year old group, and I know I am leaving something out :). Tonight's agenda for the quarterly board meeting for A Third Place Community Foundation, here at our Welcome Table Community Center, 5920 N. Owasso Ave. From 1:30 to 4 pm today we will be working with our partners here from the OU Graduate Social Work Dept in their service-learning. From noon to 4 pm will be our weekly Food Community Day embodying the Maundy Thursday Mandate to love one another as I have loved you...
6 pm at the Community Center, Wed. March 27

Dinner and Meeting

1. Call to Order

2. Any Minutes of Winter Meeting/Party? Not sure we took any? So Sharing Highlights of What All Has Happened so far in 2013

3a. Financial Update
3b. Craigslist items and next steps for selling donated items to raise funds and clearing south room for use
3c. Set another Grants Meeting and look at deadlines in 2013, potential grantswriting partners, etc. 
3d. Proposal to Create an Emergency Aid Fund with original allotment of $1,000 designated for the Executive Director and Treasurer to allocate to local residents in special needs. (Our equivalent of a "minister's discretionary fund" for such assistance). If the Board thinks it is good to have, we can investigate the best practices and come back with policies and parameters and how to promote it to be sustainable.

4. Selection of Officers: 

5. Updates on Past Business and Discussions and Projects
---Property Purchase Options and Investigations: land to the immediate south, completing the lots on the block; Cherokee School; Land along the Prairie Trail where burned properties are located; the 34 HUD properties; McLain Village Shopping Center
---Community KitchenGardenPark:
---Cornerstore Pantry: (besides the updates on the pantry, we also on Wednesdays now have SNAP outreach center and also AA booth and representatives, along with nutritionist and others)
---Senior Citizens Center:
---Community Center: (south room, clothing room, new downstairs meeting room, art room, crafts room, bathrooms, washer/dryer, upstairs)
---Community Center outside, land, and parsonage

6. Events
---second Wednesday dinner planning and coordinating circles
---Volunteer Tulsa and the 2013 Big Event Day, Sat. April 13. Get volunteers for our park and community center projects. 
---partnership event with McLain High School and Tulsa Health Dept. Northside Wellness Event Sat. Apr. 20; booth needs staffed
---partnership event with North Star Street Cred Event with Tulsa Young professionals Sat. May 11: booth needs staffed
---partnership with Food Bank, Mobile Van here, Friday, May 3
See calendar of events attached for other meetings and partnership events ongoing, such as Art Day, OU Days, etc.
---Setting local showing and discussion of "A Place At The Table" documentary (I was a part of one such event at Circle Cinema and will be at another event at Phillips Theological Seminary I believe set on Tues. May 7). 
---Setting local showing and discussion of movie "Flight" about addictions, in partnership with recovery group(s). 

7. New Partnership Options
---GreenPark Vann Industrial Board on Economic Development Project(s)
---STAR Fellowship Program, academic research 
---North Tulsa Development Council Leadership Class Program

8 Announcements, Setting Dates for next meetings:
Others? See calendar of events for all the main events not listed above or here.
Summer Board Meeting: Wed. June 12? Fall Meeting, Wed. Sept. 18? 
I will be in the Philippines, or on the way there and back, from Sunday, April 21 to Tuesday, April 30 (if I have my international date change right)
I will be in Louisville June 17 to 24. 
The Tulsa Pride Parade with the Okla Center for Equality will be Sat. June 1 (we have in the past talked about getting a banner just for and about us geared for the two parades we are in each year; MLK and the Pride Parade, not having to use the banner outside our building; do we want to consider upgrading to this and perhaps to car float?). 
We have set Sat. Sept. 21 for our Community FunFair and Turley Heritage Day and Senior Resources Focus, launching organization of new senior center group
I will be in New Orleans Oct. 8-9 to 14-15. (invite all to come be part of service in the community work and/or as you choose worship options, with the Center for Ethical Living and Social Justice Renewal, and can learn from them about their structures and experiences in hosting people and groups on community projects and partners). 

9. Adjournment

Important Community Meeting Tuesday Mar. 26 Here at the Center: Health Dept. Map on Blighted Areas in our Community, plus other updates on community projects

Don’t Miss This Opportunity!

Community Meeting Notice

Local residents and property owners are invited to attend the next monthly meeting of the…

Turley Community Association

Tuesday, March 26, at 7:00 PM.

At the Welcome Table Community Center, 5920 N. Owasso Ave.

behind the tag agency

 

Hear a presentation by the Tulsa Health Department about a problem that concerns all of us. The Health Department has recently been engaged in a study of the abandoned, the burned and the blighted properties in our unincorporated service area. We will hear more about their efforts and see a comprehensive area map they have developed.

A  time for questions and comments after the presentation.

Also Hear Updates on County issues, on The Turley Fire Dept., on Area Law Enforcement, on The Community Center projects, The Community GardenPark and Orchard, O’Brien Park, Cherokee School, and other matters.

Refreshments Will Be Served

Community Matters....

Hi all. Today's message is about the neglected truth that "Community Matters" and underlies most everything that we struggle with in our area.

 

First, a note about this Sunday's missional community gathering; we are not meeting in the morning as usual (which is good since it is a Spring Forward an Hour Sunday) but will meet at the community center at 4 pm for communion and then travel to the 5 pm Taize worship service downtown at Trinity Episcopal, then out to dinner afterwards.

 

Tomorrow, Saturday, there is Pancake Breakfast from 8 to 10 am at the Odd Fellows Lodge, 6227 N. Quincy Ave., and weather permitting we have a community gardening morning at the Welcome Table park and orchard at 6005 N. Johnstown Ave. and from 10 am to 4 pm, with free lunch included, we have Community Art For All Ages Day at the community center, 5920 N. Owasso Ave.

 

In the coming week:

 

two meetings having to do with supporting McLain High School; one to hear of the recommendations being considered for changes at the school (for my take on how a holistic approach that is focused on the community is the only long term solution to what has been a long term community based problem:http://www.turleyok.blogspot.com/2013/01/mclain-high-school-take-survey-get.html) and on Thursday a meeting of the McLain Foundation to bring on new leadership to help us raise funds for needed projects at the school, already vulnerable being affected even moreso by cut in state funding).. And on Monday we will be part of a Food Bank special showing and discussion of the new documentary A Place At The Table at the Circle Cinema (see below for more about the first public showing and panel discussion that followed, which I was honored to be on).

 

..on Tuesday we will have a volunteer appreciation lunch and orientation about our emerging and expanding cornerstore and food community programs...

 

...on Wednesday from Noon to 4 pm we will have our Food Community Day, along with nutrition class at 12:30 pm, and other resources available. We also have our free clothing and items day during this time. Our new The Welcome Table Cornerstore is in its new and larger quarters in our building, and getting rave reveiws for how we have created a grocery store feel and empower people to choose their own food items, and we are just beginning to develop this concept further and look for ways to continue expanding hours open. Thanks to the OU Tulsa Graduate Social Work classes for helping to move into our new space, and to work in other projects with us at the community center, the park, and in the community.

 

...on Saturday morning, March 16, we will have our Big Gardening Event beginning at 9 am, and will be hosting the Tulsa Community Gardening Association as part of it, at 10:30 am at the gardenpark and orchard. We hope to see you and friends at any or all of these events. Or call to arrange a time to visit.

 

Abandoned Properties Project:

In previous email updates from here I have been highlighting the increasing presence of burned and vandalized and abandoned buildings, residential and commercial, in our area which affects so much; decline is contagious in many manifestations, and is considered the number one factor promoting crime in an area. We have properties that have burned and continue to be health hazards and have been untouched for months or years without any change. I am happy to report that the Tulsa Health Department has been involved in a windshield inspection tour of almost every property in our unincorporated side of our service area, and they have identified the severity of the problem on a property by property basis, developing a map for our area residents to look over and help to come up with the priorities in how to focus abatement procedures to get the properties cleaned up (funds permitting of course which is often the rub, since the property owners will just let the properties go and let a lien be placed on them for any future owners, and in the meantime the county will have to pay to keep the properties clean). The map and presentation will be presented to area residents for questions and comments again at the Turley public meeting Tuesday March 26 at 7 pm, held this month at the Welcome Table Community Center instead of its regular location at O'Brien Park, in hopes of attracting more property owners and residents. This is a good first step, thanks to THD. We have so far prioritized the abandoned properties as: 1. those on North Peoria and along the Osage Prairie Trail; 2. Those residences that have been rundown the longest and which are located immediately adjacent to properties where there has been effort at beautifying the area. Additionally, we might consider if there are ways to get more funds into the cleanup, ways that people in the community can get ownership of the abandoned properties that just stay on the county ownership for a number of years, and ways that our own local folks could be hired to do the tear down and clean up. Thanks again though for these vital first steps, THD, which we have been seeking for some time.

 

Food and Health:

We have recently had volunteers receive training in how to help get more of our residents applying for the SNAP food assistance, that only has about 75 percent of the people who are elgible for it actually receiving the assistance to help combat their struggles with food insecurity, ill health, and poverty. We will have a food assistance outreach worker or volunteer helping area residents during our Wednesday Food Community Days and possibly at other times, as well as allowing our computer center to help people renew benefits online.

 

On Friday night, last night, we had several from our community join with those from across the Tulsa area to watch the showing of the documentary A Place At The Table about the rising epidemic of hunger and food insecurity, especially among children, in our nation, and our state has one of the worst rates of the nation, and our service area has one of the worst rates in the state. I was honored to be a part of the panel responding to questions following the showing of the film which did a great job of humanizing the issue and the people who suffer from hunger and its twin of bad health and obesity, and of the policy decisions that have caused our nation to lose the war on hunger that it once was well on the way to winning in the 1970s.

Several areas needed to be emphasized even more:

 

1. growing one's own food is a way to promote health and for the poor to save money (growing your own food is like printing your own money), and yet so much of the nation's resources do not go into this healthy lifestyle and ecological affirming truth, and into school programs and community nonprofit programs fostering gardens and community health, but they go into major corporate agribusinesses that grow the ingredients that are in the processed foods that cause our health problems but are the cheapest foods and most readily available ones for the poor, trapping them in a cycle of bad health and limited choices. Even the food assistance programs which do direct giving of food to those in need (such as we do) but who struggle to have that food not be just more of the same processed food, even these are being cut in funds; and even the food assistance programs which are already way too limited ($4 average a day very difficult to eat on, especially to eat healthy on), even these are being targeted for further cuts and other limitations designed to punish the poor. We need to keep addressing the issue of why we don't support local farms and local gardening initatiatives, and why it is so hard to get local folks so in need to take part of the gardening programs we do have, and to change that by starting again with the basics holistically by supporting the schools and community groups where residents are to help them shift their default mode away from the one that treats them as a consuming object and toward a default mode where they are agents of their own and their community's growing health. We need to take the long view and invest in these programs and experiments the same way we do with the other aspects of our national security.

 

2. Many in the audience watching the film and in the discussion afterwards were expressing their sense of hopelessness and despair, especially at the political system that is looking to gut the very community oriented and neighbor helping programs that could make a difference in the lives of so many. What I wish I had said, besides the fact that the very presence of so many in attendance at the film and discussion afterwards was hopeful, is that the real doorway to change and real hope is always first through despair, through facing the emotions of fear and hopelessness and angst and confusing and even shame; it is the very desire to avoid these emotions communally that keep us from facing the hard truths about the facts of life for many in our community. And so what people were feeling was in itself a sign of hope. The most powerful part of the film for me was the women witnessing to their own hunger and that of their families and taking that witness to seats of governmental power where decisions are being made to prop up corporations instead of people; I think they would say that despair work is part of their routine lives, and for those not in their shoes to use that despair work as a destination point instead of as a means to a very different end. We need to focus more on how to get our witnesses to join together and become advocates.

 

3. The film did a good job of linking hunger with poverty, and saying the real issue is not why are so many people hungry, but why are so many people poor in the first place. And I would add that the real issue is the type of poverty as well; for there is the poverty that is mitigated and dealt with by the presence of a justice seeking community and there is the kind of poverty most have now that is set in the context of no community, no extended family, no neighborhood schools or groups connecting the people in the area, no "third places" where they once thrived; we live in a much more fragmented area and that "sequestering" of one another from one another keeps us divided, especially the poor divided, from the tremendous power they would otherwise possess and use. Where there is real visible beloved community, the vulnerable are put at the first of the line for attention, not re-segregated into areas where so many of the dominant culture don't have to get to know, or see, ever. The more we focus just on food alone for example (or low test scores in school, or crime statistics (which for our area we don't any longer get access to, which is something we really need the public officials to help our residents get access to), or the rate of heart disease or diabetes, the more we will ultimately miss the mark of how we seek to turnaround the realities so many face. It is not as "sexy" or as quick to focus on growing again a viable community of connections in this disconnected age, but that is what it will take across the board to wipe out these current realities for so many. We need to keep not letting even the urgent keep us from the important. Like seeing how government is just one of the ways we manifest community, but it is a major one and so we need to put its priorities toward the poor, instead of our current rush in our state particularly to shrink government; when you do that you shrink community. We need it right alongside the other community forming entities of private business and nonprofit enterprises including but not limited to religious ones. Even for private businesses we need to emphasize that community matters, that all communities matter, and that the moral and ethical way of being in community is to have a practice of not leaving areas when they struggle, but remaining and helping to grow them back. And we need more nonprofits and more churches, etc. to not just focus on serving/saving individuals but serving/saving communities. When communities work, so do persons, and so does their health, and their families and their schools. What does it take to educate a child at McLain, or to adequately feed with healthy food that child's family in the 74126? It takes, as we know, a village. We need to keep from burning down the village. We need to make it a priority and act and fund it as one.

 

4. I hope we can better keep spreading such discussions as we had tonight, for there was so much left unsaid, undreamed, so much going on left unshared; and not only keep spreading discussions, but keep opening up opportunities for people to engage in their own service-learning.

Coming Events: Small Acts of Justice Done With Great Love

Hi all. Feel free to share with others...

From our beginning, one of our taglines that guide us has been borrowed from Mother Teresa, the call to do "small acts of justice with great love". By small acts we mean we are as devoted to the one on one encounters, to the meetings where two show up instead of twenty, even to the solitary act of one person going out of their way to help when no one ever knows what they did. By justice we mean the desire to "make right" or "to bring into alignment" (as in how a row of type is justified) what has been broken or put askew either by life itself, by powers of oppression and especially the powers of abandonment and neglect and isolation; it is more about the process we commit to daily than an outcome always over the horizon. By "great love" we mean with humility, with vulnerability for our shared humanness, and always with copious amounts of forgiveness and grace. In this way, we have been very busy of late, too busy to stop, sadly, and report, and we have many opportunities coming up for more small acts of justice done with great love. You are invited to participate, to support.

1. See the latest reflection on an inspiring presentation I attended at OU Tulsa, and my response to it, on health care and poverty and innovations that could disrupt the status quo, and why the status quo is killing us, literally, from our area perspective in the 74126, at http://www.turleyok.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-view-from-74126-on-health-care-after.html

2. Also, from my perspective as a community resident in the McLain school feeder area, as an alum of McLain, and as a board member on the McLain Foundation, I was promoting the recent public survey about ideas for how to grow learning and justice at our area high school currently being studied from many outsiders (which has both good and bad tendencies), and so here is my response from my own heart and observations: http://www.turleyok.blogspot.com/2013/01/mclain-high-school-take-survey-get.html. More will be coming up soon about the McLain Foundation and our need for more to get involved, both with current projects like sending aviation students on their first flight and to a field trip, but also to long term systemic growth for the Foundation and its mission of helping the community and the school. See below for the coming week's projects here with McLain students and OU students.

3. We have been busy transforming one half of one of our building wings into an expanded "cornerstore food pantry" which is also opening up a new room for more meeting space, and we have expanded our Clothing Room into renovated space in our large Community Room which we have only been able to use for storage up to now. We had a wonderful visit again by the Food Bank mobile food van, and we were able to reach out to new folks in our area who were not yet a part of our food program. Thanks to both The Lighthouse Academy Charter School in our 74126 service area, and to Sperry Elementary School in our 74073 pantry service area for help in connecting us with families. We also gave out food from that visit, some four tons in total, to many other people in our area during our new First Saturday Pantry day.

4. There is still much to be done in the coming months on these projects at our The Welcome Table Community Center, and we are getting help this week on them and other projects from special events with OU Tulsa graduate students and with Tulsa McLain students as part of service learning and the Smart Choices=Healthy Living grant. Monday, Feb. 25, come from 5:30 to 8 pm, dinner included, as we work with the students as they get hands-on experiences in community renewal...Earlier that day, at 2 pm we will hold a planning meeting toward starting a community fair for seniors, age 60 and above, and for a senior citizens center in our area north of 46th St., and a survey of area seniors to help guide us. All interested welcome. And congratulations to our neighbors and partners, Sarah's Residential Living Center, north of McLain, on their 10th anniversary. What a good model of care and love they embody.

5. Or come and spread the news about Wednesday, from 10 am to 4 pm as we host the Tulsa Health Dept.'s important free screening clinic where people will not only get results of blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and body indexes, but also get the chance to visit with medical mentors and referrals as needed. That will be between 10 am and 2 pm. And our weekly food pantry will be going on as well from Noon to 4 pm. Share info on both of these events. And the OU and McLain students will be working with us on this day, too, from 1:30 to 4 pm....At the very start of the day Wednesday, 7:30 am breakfast at the Regional Food Bank, Deb Carroll and I will be talking with a group from the Tulsa Metropolitan Ministries about our food justice and faith commitments.

6. Before that, Don't forget Tuesday Feb. 26 our weekly preparation volunteering at 10 am, all welcome to come and help us get ready for the week, or that evening's two meetings at O'Brien Park Center with the Turley Community Association, 6 pm planning meeting to get updates and work on the Fire Dept.'s important and much needed Fire District campaign; see the attached flier, and reports on other matters in the community, and then at 7 pm for the Town Hall public forum.

7. Other opportunities to grow as a person and help our community grow, to serve and connect with other people: Turley Area Alliance Against Crime, neighborhood watch, Thur. Feb. 28, 6:30 pm at the Community Center, every last Thursday.....Our Art Studio Free For All Ages, lunch included, Community Art Days at the Center, Fri.-Sat. Mar. 8-9, Fri.-Sat. April 5-6, and Sat. Apr. 20, 10 am to 4 pm each day...Turley and Far North Legal Aid. Call Sara Cherry 918-295-9461 for appointments...

Community Pancake Breakfast, Sat. Mar. 9, 8 to 10 am, Odd Fellows, 6227 N. Quincy Ave. $5 for all you care to eat; kids under 10 eat free....

Every Saturday, 9 am. Get Your Own Garden Bed, Seeds, or Help Grow for the Pantry, at our Community GardenPark and Orchard, 6005 N. Johnstown Ave. call 9183463475.

On Sat. Mar. 16, we will host a gathering at the park of the Tulsa Community Gardening  Association....

Recovery 12 step groups. Saturdays, 6 pm and 7:30 pm, at the community center....Turley Water Board Public Meeting, Last Working Day of Month, 8:30 am, 6108 N. Peoria Ave. Turley Fire Dept. Meetings Thursdays, 7 PM, Fire Station, 6408 N. Peoria.

8. The Welcome Table missional community is holding a series of weekly Sunday 11 am movies and prayers and meals for all welcome during Lent and Easter, focusing on reconciliation, redistribution, relocation, the 3Rs of community renewal. Feb. 24, Chocolat; Mar. 3, Jesus of Montreal, Mar. 10 Spitfire Grill, Mar. 17, Pay It Forward, Mar. 24, The Mission, Maundy Thursday, Mar. 28, Babette's Feast, and Easter Sunday, Mar. 31, Places in the Heart....Those 3Rs are inspired by the work of the African-American civil rights leader and community renewal guru at the Christian Community Development Association, John Perkins. Here is a great article about him in the Jackson, MS paper: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2008/dec/17/radical-faith-the-revolution-of-john-perkins/. And speaking of Lent, it was a great honor to be a part of this year's Ash Wednesday Ashes to Go ministry on the streets of Tulsa. I worked with a colleague saying prayers and giving the imposition of ashes with people outside the downtown bus station on a cold Ash Wednesday day made warmer by the  hospitality and sharing of those who came by and received ashes and gave of themselves and the hopes and struggles of their day. more at www.ashestogo.org. Did the same to some who requested it at our food pantry time that day. We had our Ash Wednesday service that evening before a leadership informal circle of sharing and planning and coordinating and meal.

9. Much more is happening on big issues, on small little projects, on outreach to others, on inreach to grow leaders, on building our own capacity to respond quickly to opportunities that are congruent with our mission. Chances are if you have a passion, a project, a partnership, we will have a way to connect with it.

10. I have been invited to preach in April at the annual convention of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental province, and am trying to raise funds to get there since they are among the poorest of the islands and can't afford the airfare, but will provide hospitality once there. I figure if we all kick in a little we can help make it happen so I have a site for donations and more information, particularly about their fascinating history, athttp://www.gofundme.com/22w3r4. I hope you can contribute and spread the giving opportunity. I look forward to bringing their good news back to you all.

11. I am tremendously enjoying teaching this semester a supervised ministry course at www.ptstulsa.edu, especially concerned with ministry in and with and to the wider community. Here is a recent blogpost about The Power of Relocation, and its many varieties but centrality for mission. http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-power-of-relocation-part-one.html Check back often for updates and other lecture notes and comments that give background to why we do what we do where we do it with whom we do it.

12. On March 7 we will be getting training in order to better educate area residents about the ins and outs and benefits of the SNAP program of food assistance (old food stamps program), and also that Thursday at 3:30 pm we will have our important monthly planning and work sessions for partners to connect with our needs in the area.

Hope to see you soon, or visit with you online, and thanks for your support as we seek to "do small acts of justice with great love."

blessings, and more soon, Ron

ps I had a refreshing time late last month meeting new friends and partnerships at the recent gathering of the www.christianuniversalists.org and look forward to more connections.

Other websites that influence our ministry here:

www.uuchristian.org

www.turleyok.blogspot.com

www.progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com

www.ptstulsa.edu

www.missionalprogressives.blogspot.com

www.missionalmonastics.blogspot.com

www.ccda.org

http://redpillbrethren.tumblr.com/

A view on health and poverty from the 74126

Health Care in the U.S. in the 21^st Century:

Inspiring Innovations that Disrupt The Status Quo---

A Response and View From the 74126

Ron Robinson

(Photo above, taken in our community gardenpark and orchard we are creating here; for the purposes of this post, it is a photo of a physician delivering innovative health care here in the 74126)

Some bottom lines about health and the U.S.: What contributes to making a real difference in the health of people in our nation?
 51 percent of health comes from lifestyle choices,
 20 percent from genetics, 
19 percent from the environment,
and only 10 percent from the health care delivery system (data from the presentation mentioned below)

And yet, of course, what is spent to effect change in health care in those areas is not anywhere near proportionate to what in fact makes the difference. We are stuck in an institutional, attractional model, that is maintanence rather than mission based. But, there are seeds of new endeavors underway to try to re-orient us (connected issue but also separate from this are the issues of the health care insurance and coverage of uninsured in our country; won’t get into that here; but if Governor Fallin is serious about looking beyond the box and trying innovative local plans to improve health outcomes that do not involve insurance coverage, then she should pay attention to what is said here and what is going on in these new seedbeds of innovation). Of course, good things are happening and health is being improved through the current institutions, but it is out of whack when it comes to comparing outcomes and costs.

This conversation stems from being privileged to attend a presentation at OU Tulsa yesterday that looked at some key aspects of our health care situation in the United States, particularly regarding the inability to see changes to our life expectancy especially when connected with the costs of care, and that mapped out some of the steps being taken to try to step away from the current system. This is especially important here as we live and have our community renewal efforts in the 74126 zip code, one of the ones with the lowest life expectancy in the Tulsa region, some 14 years lower than in midtown Tulsa just a few miles south of the 74126. Plus, we at the A Third Place Community Foundation have been working on these issues since our founding in 2009, with our mission of growing healthy lives and neighborhoods in our area (note the connection we make between the health of the two, people’s lives and their neighborhoods; can’t separate them).

This took on critical function when we hosted an OU Community Health Clinic, which was closed in winter 2011, and as we sought ways to replace clinic-based health care with ways that were “disruptively innovative” to the status quo and the system that perpetuates it, partnering in research and focus groups in our community toward a lay community health worker proposal, where the community worker lives in the neighborhood targeted for better health outcomes.  And my interest in these issues has been personal since I used to work with the OU Health Sciences Center years ago, and my wife is a graduate of OU Medical School and one of the few physicians (maybe the only one, we don’t know) who lives in the 74126. Health concerns underlie our major projects in our community foundation through the creation of the community garden and orchard and the community center. It is also why we are working with the Tulsa Health Department and its new Wellness Center in our area that opened its doors after our clinic closed, as well as with McLain High School and the healty living grant and the Taste of North Tulsa event; our food pantry with our weekly nutrition class and other programs is better named The Health Hub, and just about every program and partner we work with is directly connected to community health in the 74126 and other zips in our service area north of 46^th St. Our latest project to get a senior citizens program and center going in our area is also at heart health related. People in community live longer and more abundantly, and in doing so, give back to the community itself. 

Before I get into my take-aways from today’s presentation, and what my response and questions would have been to the inspiring presenters, here is what I have written about these issues, often, during the past eight years we have lived in the 74126. Here is a link to a few of the earlier works about some of our projects and the lay community health worker proposal in particular; you might want to check them out for further reflection after reading this one:

The powerpoint presentation on community health workers, which I had not posted before: http://www.scribd.com/doc/124103581/Community-Health-Workers

Blogposts on health care in our area and projects we have been involved with:

http://turleyok.blogspot.com/2011/05/radical-health-care-change-for-poor.html

and the related http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2010/08/disruptive-innovation-for-real.html.

Also the lecture I gave at OU in Norman that looked at our area in a comprehensive way and what we were doing at the time collaboratively to make a difference: http://turleyok.blogspot.com/2010/10/ou-lecture-pragmatics-of-collaboration.html

Now on to the most recent conversation at OU yesterday…

1.      They didn’t use the precise term but I liked that in essence they, physicians and health care and economics leaders who had gone through a Masters program at Dartmouth, were talking about the need to expand the bandwidth of how health care is delivered. That is in itself a good way to look at how to make the changes necessary, which often seem clear but too major to be undertaken. The community health care worker plan they later mentioned, as one of the small steps needed, is just one of the places for this expanded way of delivering health care. I am going to talk below about an even more radical, and basic, but simpler way as well.

2.      In looking at the differences in different communities about how care is delivered and where, such as what percent die in hospitals, in hospices, in nursing homes, in their own homes, or elsewhere, one of the things not addressed directly yesterday and that leaped out to me that I would have loved to go more in depth about was about how hard it is to track the outcomes of health in a community that, like ours, is poor and underserved and with low life expectancy, hard to track and hard to design plans for because of the high mobility and turnover of the people in the community, and the diversity even within us. We have some who have lived in this zip code all their lives, and some who only will for a month, and the percentages of those is growing more equal, meaning the community is becoming less stable.

 Related to this is that very important truth that there are big differences in values and approaches and “class” perspectives among the very residents here, and these are big determinants on how residents trust, or not, the health care system now in place, and what they think of regarding their own health options and their willingness or reluctance to go to a doctor for what is generally considered preventive care or primary care, even if they, for example, lived next door to a 24/7 facility; there are differences if it is a walk-in anytime clinic as opposed to one where you have to make an appointment first, an act itself that is viewed as a barrier and difficulty for some. We have here differences of those who grew up middle class with its values and even though they are now poor, and perhaps new to the area, still have middle class attitudes toward themselves and their options; we have those who are multi-generationally in poverty who have different stances and responses; and we have those who are or were working class and who have assets that are above poverty line. So, any health care approach that considers people to be representative, even among their own neighborhood, will end up misconnecting; treatment for someone will vary due to culture and geography and economic condition, and will vary in a zipcode like ours as well. So, the bottom line here is that health care professionals, and planners, need to really, really know an area they want to make a difference in. more on what that entails below.

3.      One of the best questions that the presenters raised, in light of the points made immediately before this, is how do different people answer the question of “what does it mean to be healthy?” That is going to vary widely. It is something we need to ask more often here on the ground in the community as well. What I have noticed is that it will be a different response than what will be given by someone not in poverty: for me, for example, when I answer that question I think about how being healthy allows me to live in advance, to make long range plans, to carry out goals for me and others around me, to keep a career; in essence, to be healthy is not to have to be thinking about whether I am healthy or not. For many of my neighbors when we talk about things like this, I can tell that it means, like so many things, being able to live subsistently day to day with the ability to enjoy a respite now and then and a small pleasure now and then or be around others for a good time; in essence, for the day to just be a little easier because so many things are naturally hard in it to accomplish, such as keeping a child in school, being able to go hunt for work, etc. Health care professionals need to know these differences and account for them.

4.      Where can health care happen? One of the needed shifts underway that was mentioned in the presentation is the need to move from “rescue care to health care.” (others were moving from fee-based service to risk-based contracting; and the development of the primary care patient-centered medical home and care coordination, and reducing variability). I thought of this move from rescue care, which we in the U.S. do well, to health care and thought of those percentages above about what really affects health care life expectancy outcomes, and I thought of how we need to de-institutionalize and de-centralize health care and move that ten percent into the 51 percent lifestyle change category. What I really thought about is how my wife, a physician, delivers health care to our neighbors when she meets them and talks with them at the community center, and especially while in the garden or orchard, at the community events; just building relationships with them, listening to them, and out of that relationship when suffering arises she is able to respond, be it with information, resources, advice, looking at a cut or rash or hurt leg, the same way a knowledgeable family member would in some places, or in some times; and just in helping to create healthier environments and lifestyle choices of healthier food and community she is involved in delivering real health care outcomes in this unhealthy area the same as when she sees someone from this area in her own practice located across town (at the VA). I will say that her patients in the clinic who do live in the 74126 seem to be better patients and taking care of themselves and trust her advice more and are more compliant, as they say, with followup actions once they find out where she lives, when they see her in the grocery store or at a community event. This is one of the ways that the future of health care is reclaiming a culture of health care from the past. The catchword now for it is cultural competency, knowing something about them in a wholistic way.
And it is important to note that health care is being delivered, in such a way, by many people here, and in our wider community, by people who do not have medical careers; it is very true that a lot of the health problems in our area are also caused by the spread of misinformation on health matters. The key is to unlock the strengths of community connections and trust, and build on them with a little training, and using right information to spread in the community (where word of mouth, and personal relationships are the currency). All of which is testament to why the community health workers, health coaches, lay advocates, whatever you want to call those who will be partners in health with those most in need and without anyone serving that function from their family or their community connections already, why they must be people who live in the area where those seeking care come from. 
It is also why, if I had been asked yesterday what I thought would make the most difference in health care from the medical school, I would answer with the simple but radical response: tell your graduates to move and live in areas of high poverty, add to the diversity of those neighborhoods, learn from them, make a difference in that 51 percent category even if you make your living still in that 10 percent category; you can do it and you can make it happen; we are proof of it. Also, give your employees in health care institutions bonuses, merit pay, for choosing to live in the areas where the patients with the least resources live, and where they can be a part of that informal, community grassroots health delivery. If health care, especially, is more of a calling, a vocation, and not just a profession, and certainly not just a job, then be open to the nature of a call. Talk about “disruptive innovation” and helping to shift the focus and locus of health care…or we can continue to tinker and plan and rearrange the chairs on the Titanic.
This is also why there is a connection between the health of the community and the health of the neighborhood schools, why we need to be ble to graduate students from McLain high school now who can and will go on to become nurses and doctors and other health professionals, the same as happened when my wife was a McLain graduate. To grow health in the 74126, make our schools in the area healthier and give them the resources and the curriculum offerings to produce graduates who will not be scared to remain or return to the area to live and work and be a part of that important community informal day to day life.

5.      I like that the folks at OU are looking at all this, and others are across the country; that they are committed to exploring small projects to try to seed change; that they are open to such questions as how many physicians should we be paying to educate if we don’t see major changes in health outcomes especially among our poorest, and I would say, if physicians and institutions continue to take the safe and convenient route with least change to “the way we have done it.” I think more physicians actually might be the key, especially as population grows, and as it becomes more diverse, and especially given the vast physician deserts like here in the 74126. The question has arisen for us, for example: why given the current health care system is it virtually impossible for my wife to open up a practice here in the 74126 where she so would like, or have liked, to do so, as she did on her own in Tahlequah, OK years ago when completing her residency in internal medicine and going to be the only M.D. internist there? Why, given the health problems here and low life expectancy here, is it the hardest to have an OU clinic, or a private medical clinic, here? Answering that unveils the realities of the situation. Making it easier to do so would seem to be part of the solution. The other part of the solution is to not be physician-focused, clinic-focused either (I love that we now in our zipcode have the new OSU physicians clinic in the new Health Dept. building opening up, but it is going to face the same set of cultural barriers, attitudes toward one’s self and one’s view of what health means). I like how OU, and I suppose OSU, and Morton with its new plan for health coaches, and the Health Dept with its commitment to our area are all beginning it seems to take some small steps in trying to figure this all out, and due to the necessity that just knowing what to do is but a small part of the problem, since funds are being cut, Medicaid coverage is being kept from expanding, and those lifestyle choices and environmental realities that mean so much to health are also not being funded. When you live on the same block, or go by everyday, rows of abandoned houses, burned out houses and buildings, and have no sidewalks, few street lights, no ability to exercise where you can get to easily and are not hassled by stray dogs, etc , and when you add to that the deep issues of substance abuse, addictions, mental health issues, learning disabilities, lack of resources for the high percentage of incarcerated people getting out and coming into our area, and we remember that axiom we began with, from our mission statement, that healthy lives require healthy neighborhoods, and healthy neighborhood schools, and civic and church groups, and those require healthy lives. As I have talked recently about school transformations, (and in my other hats, have talked about church transformations), what goes on outside of a health care office, in the home and neighborhood of the person seeking care, is more important to creating health than what even goes on inside the office in the 15 to 30 minute to at most hour together, or in the hospitals.

6.      My final takeaway was just a notion, a small detail, that arose when the conversation focused on the role of the internet and technology, and sharing information, etc. in the new world emerging for health care delivery. While they were talking in those big terms, all good and needed and helpful, I was thinking how we could really use a text message database that sent out news, reminders, tips, free from us and from health caregivers to all those who are poor and out of usual means of communication and contact and who will only attend health classes or lifestyle classes, etc. if mandated to be there. Most of our neighbors have now phones (as vital as horses once were here, and for many of the same reasons, to keep in touch and connected with others) and I would love to be able to build on that basic technological tool; there are so many ways that health-driven text messages, info, resources, all could affect their lives, a small but significant way. We need to try to build that into our system here from the ground up, but would be an interesting project to explore with others its application possibilities and ramifications.

It has been great having OU as one of our community health partners. Some of our board members are going out to OU today to meet with a class of graduate social work students doing service learning projects with us later this month too back in the 74126. Love to do the same with other groups.