Thank you to Mary Rose Navarro, Natural Areas Grants Coordinator at Metro, for her post today!

At Metro we have our value statement posted on our website, calendars and flyers reminding us that our goal is to inspire, engage, teach and invite people to preserve and enhance the quality of life and the environment for current and future generations.  One way we are striving to achieve this is by protecting and restoring the region’s natural resources.  Here in the Portland metropolitan area we are fortunate to be surrounded by an exceptional natural landscape nationally known for the quality of the water, the air and the abundance of outdoor recreation.  This natural inheritance offers those of us who live here a sense of identity and an opportunity to easily find relief from our daily struggles.  But just as there are disparities in our health care system, there are disparities in who is enjoying the benefits of nature.

There is increasing evidence supporting the notion that contact with nature promotes health and well-being.  Of course, few of us find this research particularly surprising.  It hasn’t been that many generations since our direct engagement with the natural world was integral to our survival.  In fact, some believe humans are not fully adapted to an urban existence and this lack of adaptation could be the cause of much of the chronic disease we are seeing.  Yet people’s connection to nature and the health of the built environment in which we move through our daily lives have yet to be elevated in health equity strategies.  Perhaps that’s because further research is needed to understand the actual health benefits people derive from nature and how those benefits can contribute to reducing costs of health care.  Perhaps there are cultural questions that need to be explored to better understand why populations experiencing the greatest health challenges are less likely to take advantage of the incredible system of parks and greenways this region offers.

In recent years Metro has been exploring these possibilities. Through the Nature in Neighborhoods grant programs we have funded projects in nature-deficient areas that enhance people’s connection to the natural world while helping achieve other critical outcomes such as economic development, local jobs and workforce development, affordable housing and transportation options.  We are beginning to fund not only conservation organizations, but also organizations such as Adelante Mujeres that directly serve low-income communities of color and other at-risk populations.  Metro also awarded the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Clinic a grant to convert an old alleyway into a green gathering place – a terrific example of intertwining nature and health.

Metro’s natural areas program is full of opportunities. We engage 2,500 volunteers each year to help care for 16,000 acres of parks and natural areas, and we serve 14,000 people with conservation education programs.  In addition, nearly 1 million people visit Metro’s parks every year. How can we ensure that these opportunities are used to address our region’s health equity crisis? I invite you to get in touch as we continue the conversation.

Thank you to Karin Kelley-Torregroza, Executive Director of Vision Action Network, for her post on our blog today!

This is the mantra of the Vision Action Network (VAN), a private non-profit organization committed to the promotion and support of collaborative community problem solving in Washington County, Oregon.

Today’s social issues are complex and interconnected. Despite the fact that we all are keenly aware of this reality, we still often as communities look to one organization or one sector (often government) to tackle such issues. We also still have public and private structures and systems that silo issues and make it difficult to work across departments, organizations and sectors. This has all too often resulted in limited progress in solving these complex issues such as poverty, homelessness, and access to quality health care.

Communities across the country (and world) have found that tackling today’s challenging social problems require multiple systems, organizations and individuals coming together, despite competing agendas, to find common goals and solutions and, yes, I’m going to say it, to SHARE resources.

This is the work VAN undertakes in Washington County. We bring together leaders from all sectors (nonprofit, government, business, faith) and facilitate their working together to develop and implement action plans to tackle critical issues in ways that address the complexities and interconnectedness mentioned above.

An example of this is Washington County Thrives, a collaboration of public, private, non-profit and faith based leaders committed to economic security, convened by Community Action and VAN. Currently Thrives has 30 member organizations who share the vision of healthy and prosperous communities in Washington County where everyone is engaged in their community and has opportunities to access living wage jobs, quality education, nutritious food, stable homes and services that promote health and wellness. Overall community and individual wellness is the common goal that binds these organizations together. This group is not singularly focused. Leaders around the table know that in order to tackle the issue of poverty, we must simultaneously focus on appropriate nutrition, health and wellness, stable homes, quality education and living wage jobs.

Together Thrives member organizations have decided that the first step in increasing overall wellness for Washington County residents is to help the larger community better understand the complex issues involved, in order to build stronger public and political will to work toward lasting solutions. We can no longer afford to sit around and expect someone else to solve these issues. We MUST come together, be willing to think and act differently, break down barriers, and find real solutions to the problems we face as communities, so that we all have the opportunity to be healthy, happy and thriving.

By, Virginia Garcia’s Family Members

Recently, I had the great fortune of being contacted by Virginia Garcia’s cousin, Armando Valdez. Armando saw our blog, Perspectives on Wellness, and got in touch to talk about his connection to Virginia Garcia.

I asked if Virginia Garcia’s family would be open to talking about Virginia, their lives as migrant farm workers and their lives today in Texas. I was lucky enough to have two of Virginia’s nieces take on this project by interviewing family members. Enjoy! – Christine Rontal, ED, VGMF

Let us introduce ourselves, our names are Esmeralda Romero and Erica Reyes and we are two of Virginia’s nieces. We would have loved to meet our Aunt Virginia but we know she has always been watching over all of us. We got to know her only by the stories that Virginia’s parents – our Grandpa Alberto and Grandma Maria (may she rest in peace) – would tell us.

Virginia was traveling with her family as migrant farm workers when she passed away at the young age of six. Life as a migrant worker was very hard because they had to travel and raise kids while living in camps that were unsanitary for the family. However, it was the best opportunity to make enough money to support their family in the United States. The only positive aspect of the whole experience was that they would meet people of different cultures in different states as they traveled.

Virginia’s favorite thing to do was to sing and dance to the songs that her mom, Maria Garcia, would sing. She loved to eat Mexican food and vanilla ice cream. Virginia had lots of friends in every different school that she would attend. She attended many different schools as a function of her family’s role as migrant farm workers.  

Virginia Garcia

Today, the family of Virginia Garcia is big and extended and we mostly live separated from each other in various areas of Texas. In terms of our own wellness, we are from south Texas and we are known to have great Mexican food. We watch what we eat and try not to exceed a whole lot in calories. The majority of our family members exercise by walking, playing baseball or running around with our kids. To us, staying healthy means keeping everything we eat to a minimum and at least walking in the park.

To the patients and staff of VG, we are very proud that you can keep Virginia’s name alive. Patients are so blessed to have great medical providers and support staff working there to treat any medical conditions that arise.  It is because of the staff’s passion for making sure that no other child, like Virginia, loses her life due to lacking care that this medical center is thriving.  Thank you!

Thank you to Ivy Wagner, Virginia Garcia’s Cornelius Wellness Center Coordinator, for her post on our blog today!

Upon arrival in Oregon, I learned rather quickly that we all perceive and define our worlds quite differently.  As I sat in a meeting about “inclement weather procedures,” I chuckled to myself.  In Cornelius, it means a light dusting of frost.  In Minnesota, it meant a snow parking emergency declaration because the skies dumped 24 inches of white powder in 24 hours.

During one of those blustery blizzards during grad school, I found myself trapped in my apartment with nothing to do.  I remembered a book I had stumbled across at a “Friends of the Library” give-a-way called Batik by Mary Reis.  These colorful dyed clothes fascinated me when I walked through local markets in Tanzania (East Africa).  After five years of sitting on my bookshelf, I opened Batik and was determined to teach myself the craft.

Ivy’s batik

What emerged from the random waxing and dyeing, stirred something deep within me.  I was in the middle of a dual Master’s program in Holistic Health Studies and Clinical Social Work.  At the bottom of the cloth, I saw hands appear.  The hands of the healers who had gone before me.  The hands of the women who were misunderstood and had been killed as witches.  As one of the rounds of dye was drying, I picked up a pen and a poem came out of me.

Becoming

Self 

Self, are you listening?

Please remember, please never forget.

Let it soak deep, so deep into the fabric of our being.

I am loved.  You are loved.  We are loved.

We are self-regulated beings responding to our ever-changing environment.

Always seeking balance, integrity, wholeness and health.

Naturally self-regulating.  I let go of my tendency to fix, trying to take away their pain.

Offering only my care and presence unchanging knowing it may be met by

gratitude,

indifference,

anger or

anguish.

Be patient with the process.

Please remember, please never forget to view illness and suffering as opportunity for growth.

Be intentional about creating space for healing.

Please remember, please never forget.

Listen as lagom and lohfri echo through the dazzling ocean current,

the majestic mountain peaks and the crackling fire embers. 

There is enough for all.  We are all enough.

Sit with it. 

Breathe in and out. 

Accept all that is hidden and undeveloped as it rises to the surface.

Embrace it. 

Embrace and integrate all the ways you are human.

All the livingness inside me. 

Inside we. 

Allow the salves to sooth the burning, aching longings

deep, deep within.

Please remember, please never forget that you are held by the whimsical, creative hands of the healers

who have gone before you. 

Before me. 

When the world is in pieces, place the heavy burdens and unabsorbed overflowings into their lap.

Surely, slowly

Slowly, surely the whole will emerge. 

 Let their silence testify.

Please remember, please never forget.

Connected.  Disconnected.

Disconnected.  Connected.

There is a place for me held and supported in and by we. 

Balanced through the seasons of excess and deficiency.

Please remember. 

Please remember our dreams.  Please never forget to hear your own story.

You are loved.  I always have been.  We always will be.

Rest deeply, drink it fully, fly freely.

We are home.

We are home.  I would have never imagined this winter day’s art would transform and carry me to Cornelius, Oregon.  I could have never dreamed my becoming would lead to a position as the Wellness Center Coordinator at Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center.

As I sit in meetings about slippery cement, watch patients move in Tai Chi and Zumba classes, hear stories of what families want their community to look like and taste the delicious food created in our teaching kitchen, I sense a profound welcome home.  To a place where dreams come true.  Where it’s okay to be human.  Where healing happens through connection.  Where we honor the ways we shape our environment and our environment shapes us.

There are moments each day when our space is quiet and empty, awaiting another creative burst of energy and aliveness.  Might a piece of your journey of becoming well be here with us?   The Wellness Center is here as a home.  For all of us.  Me, you and we.

Thank you to Susannah Morgan, Oregon Food Bank CEO, for her blog post today!

We honor Antonia.

The Amazing Antonia

Antonia is a certified nanny in Portland. With three growing kids and a household income devastated by the effects of Portland’s sluggish economy, she and her husband must make difficult decisions nearly every day.

“I have three children, all boys … we don’t ever want to tell them ‘no’ within reason or say, ‘I’m sorry, we only have crackers,’” she says. “During the last week of most months, my husband doesn’t bring lunches to work … just so we can make sure our kids can eat.”

Hunger is an uninvited guest in Antonia’s home. It’s a presence that threatens the health of her family and the futures of her growing boys, who should be focused on learning and playing – not on the pangs of hunger.

The mental and physical effects of hunger are devastating – especially to a child’s developing mind and body. And, the toll that hunger takes on our kids is well-documented:

• Hunger hurts our kids as they are growing. It negatively impacts a child’s cognitive development, and physical and psychological health. Exposure to food insecurity as a young child – and even in the womb – causes poor health, including headaches and stomachaches, respiratory infections, and nutrient deficiency.

• Hunger hurts our kids in the classroom. Students from food-insecure families show lower school achievement, and impaired social skills, self-control and attentiveness.

• Hunger hurts our kids’ futures. The impacts of poor nutrition can permanently damage their brain development, their overall health and their education prospects. Moreover, families like Antonia’s, who have to choose between providing some food to their kids or none at all, put their children at higher risk for obesity, since healthy, nutrient-rich food is more expensive.

We honor Antonia, who is doing the best she can for her family in these difficult times. We honor her with food assistance. In an average month, an estimated 270,000 people in Oregon and Clark County, Wash., like Antonia, ate meals from emergency food boxes provided by the Oregon Food Bank Network. Of those, almost 92,000 were children.

We also honor Antonia by telling her story. We honor her by spreading the word that Oregon has one of the highest rates of childhood hunger in the nation. We honor her, together, when we demand action to ensure that no one in Oregon is hungry.

How can you help join Oregon Food Bank in the fight against hunger? Volunteer your time and talent, donate food or funds, or become an advocate for hunger relief. To learn more, visit http://www.oregonfoodbank.org.

A special thank you goes to our guest blogger today – Dr. Bruce Goldberg, Director of the Oregon Health Authority, for his contribution to Perspectives on Wellness.

As I often say, better health, better care and lower costs come from more than just the health care system. Other factors including access to that care, the environmental health of our communities, the walkability of our neighborhoods, income, race, gender, the language we speak — these all contribute to our health.

Very little of health comes from a doctor’s office. About 40% of our health results from lifestyle and behavior, 30% from biology, 15% from social aspects, 5% environmental – and just 10 percent from the medical care we receive.

We know that there are preventable disparities in health and the way people experience care in Oregon. We must not accept that African Americans and Native Americans in Oregon have higher rates of hospitalization than others in our state. We must not accept that rural Oregon has less access to primary care than metro Oregon. We must not accept 24 percent of our children living in poverty. We must not accept the heavier toll this unemployment and poverty has on our communities of color – they represent 40 percent of our Medicaid population. We must not accept that the rate of death due to diabetes for African Americans and Native Americans in Oregon is more than twice that of white Oregonians.

As we collect more data, we’re also learning that sub-ethnic groups such as Pacific Islanders experience disparities that are often overlooked when we combine racial and ethnic groups together. We may not be responsible for creating these inequities, but we must all work to eliminate them. 

In Oregon, eliminating health disparities is a fundamental part of our transformation efforts. We’re working in partnership with community organizations across the state and coordinated care organizations to make real changes that will make a difference in health outcomes. 

Part of this strategy is transforming the way people receive health care – and how that care is paid for –to improve quality and make it more affordable to us all. It’s also about making sure communities have the flexibility to address their local health care needs and better coordinate care. Prevention is also essential as we work towards improved health outcomes.

Across the state, coordinated care organizations are assessing the health of their communities and developing plans to improve the health of their members and reduce health disparities. They’re doing this by making plans for integrated physical and mental health care, and addictions services. Strategies for culturally appropriate communications, outreach, member engagement, and services will be a part of each plan. CCOs will ensure these are tailored to cultural, health literacy, and linguistic needs of those they serve.

Having the right provider network is also a key step in eliminating health disparities. Each CCO’s plan will show how they’ll assure a provider network and staff ability to meet the culturally diverse needs of their community. They’ll accomplish this through methods such as providing cultural competency training, working towards a provider composition that reflects the diversity of its members, and utilizing non-traditional health care workers that also reflect member diversity.

With flexibility and the ability to meet each community’s unique needs, together we can make real progress towards eliminating health disparities.  

Thank you to Linda Gerber, Portland Community Collage Sylvania Campus President, for this very interesting blog post today! To learn more about PCC Sylvania and Linda’s work, you can contact her at linda.gerber@pcc.edu.

“What’s the difference?”  That’s the question too many Oregon high school students ask themselves when they think about the choice of finishing or dropping out of high school.   “What does it matter whether I earn a high school diploma?”  Clearly, too many think it makes no difference and doesn’t matter all that much.  How do I know they think this?  I know because of Oregon’s alarmingly low graduation rate.  About one in three students don’t graduate.  Only three other states in the country have lower graduation rates than Oregon (The Oregonian November 28, 2012).

Our dropout rates are shockingly low for students of every racial and ethnic group: 54% of Oregon’s African American students drop out and as does 58% of Latino students.  (To see the data for yourself, go to the federal government’s state-by-state report ).

What happens to students who drop out?  The answer is they are likely to pay a very high price in income and quality of life for the remainder of their years.  Here are the facts…

On average Oregon dropouts:

Earn $10,000 less each year than those who graduate from high school;

Experience high levels of poverty–over 30 % live in poverty;

Are twice as likely to be unemployed as high school graduates;

Are twice as likely to be incarcerated as high school graduates;

Require public assistance such as food stamps at a far higher rate than high school graduates–over 40 percent of dropouts receiving Medicaid benefits;

Are more likely to have children at younger ages and, if female, more likely to be a single parent while raising those children; and

Experience poorer overall health than those who have graduated from high school

Does it matter if a teenager earns a diploma?  You bet it does!  His or her lifelong earnings are reduced greatly if she doesn’t graduate, but more importantly, the choices the dropout has that would enable him or her to create a healthy and satisfying life are restricted without that high school diploma.  The teenage years are ones of change and often rebellion, but they can also be years of learning.  Learning about oneself, about science, mathematics, the arts, history, politics, and what makes other people tick.  This learning pays off immediately after graduation and each year thereafter.

I hope students and their families will have a discussion today about these hard facts.  I hope teachers, religious leaders and other adults who work closely with children and teens get this message to them–the benefits of a high school diploma are clear and the impact is huge.  Any sacrifice a teen and his or her family makes to achieve the milestone of an earned diploma will pay off in big ways for the remainder of the teen’s life.  Graduating high school does make a difference; earning a diploma matters greatly.