Published by The Houston Chronicle at Chron.com: Belt-tightening in both good and bad times is starving the state’s future, particularly when it comes to health care and education, according to a new coalition that formed to educate lawmakers “as to what Texas people need and want.” READ MORE
It’s back-to-school time, and like those of you who have school-aged children, my family has been trying to come out of our summer haze and back into the routine of school days. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, and it’s why I can’t help but reflect on a parable one of our Pastors shared with me and others at a recent luncheon that is worth repeating as a means to help us focus our daily lives on what is truly important. The story goes something like this…
A couple in a San Antonio household is very anxious about the new school year and juggling all the work and school schedules, meals, and issues that are common in the beginning of the year. The big question they face is whether to eat out…choices, choices—or cook in…time, time. What to do?
A couple in a West Africa household is also very anxious about the next school year and juggling all the work, school schedules, meals and issues that are common in the beginning of the year. The big question they face, is will the school open this year? Is there food for the family to eat, and who should get it? Dad to sustain work, or the kids to sustain nourishment to learn and thrive? Mom is last of course.
One issue is a 1st world problem; the other is a 3rd world problem.
How do you live your life? And, what issues consume you (no pun intended)! Choices, choices…time, time—choose better and spend your time more wisely.
In 2012, MHM announced the launch of our new health and wellness program, MHM Be Well. MHM Be Well was designed to help team members make healthy choices in an engaging and supportive environment. In an effort to increase each team member's physical activity, MHM Be Well introduced team members to the Active Team Challenge (ATC) as a way to promote healthy competition between self-constructed teams within MHM.
As part of the ten-week challenge, MHMers formed ATC teams consisting of four to seven members per team. The first task delegated to teams was to create a team name. Ranked among the crowd favorites were ‘Withering a Weigh’ and ‘Girls Gone Walking’, while ‘We Perspire to Inspire’ took home the prize for favorite team name as voted by MHMers. As part of this winning designation, each team member on the We Perspire to Inspire team walked away with a $15 Subway gift card.
Our next task was to educate ourselves with the ‘Working Out at Work’ video seminar designed by our friends at Personalized Prevention. MHMers were charged with taking notes and encouraged to, if possible, watch the video with our ATC team.
Well, 7 Degrees of Fabulousness did just that and MORE! Take a look at how our very own bring exercising to work:
As we enter into the sixth week of the Challenge, MHMers are motivated now more than ever to step up their activity and walk into improved health. Please consider sharing how you stay active while at work (by using the Comments feature below).
Visit our Facebook page to browse our ATC team photos, or click here.
Summer was a busy time for our Nutrition & Health Education department as their Get FIT program hosted three summer camps in South Texas. Camp Get FIT, a free summer program, made its way to Sabinal and Bracketville in June, and finished up the summer in Cotulla.
The Get FIT (Families in Training) program is a preventive program aimed at averting type II diabetes, obesity and sedentary lifestyles. Camp Get FIT began in the summer of 2006 after school nurses identified that children tended to gain more weight in the summer than they do during the school year.
Children, ages 5 to 12, participate in swimming, dancing, team sports, field trips, arts and crafts, and nutrition lessons during the course of the four-week program. As a community-wide initiative, Get FIT partners with area school districts to implement a nutritious summer food program so campers eat from a healthy menu of items.
Because health is a family concern, as part of the Camp Get FIT criteria, parents are required to attend classes one evening per week during the Camp Get FIT term.
This year marked the Camp’s first time in Cotulla, Texas. Camp Get FIT returned to Sabinal for its second consecutive year, and to Bracketville for its fourth and final year.
With all three Camp sessions combined, over 300 campers participated in Camp Get FIT this past summer. Further, Camp Get FIT had such a positive impact on the Cotulla community that the food service department is contemplating adopting the Get FIT menu.
submitted by Rev. Mickey T. McCandless
Director, Church Connections and Spiritual Care
John Wesley, one of the founders of Methodism, had an intense desire to improve the lives of people throughout the land of England and then into the entire world. He believed that religion was important to that improvement as lived out in vital piety and social engagement. One of the areas of social engagement in which he was deeply interested was health. In 1747 he published Primitive Physick anonymously and by 1760 placed his name on it. The purpose of this book was to “bring practical medical advice to workers and others who could not afford private doctors.” Since that time Methodism throughout the world has been engaged with people to provide them with the means of health in body, mind and spirit.
Following are some excerpts from Primitive Physick:
“As to the manner of using the medicines here set down, I should advise, As soon as you know your distemper*, (which is very easy, unless in a complication of disorders, and then you would do well to apply to a physician that fears God): First, use the first of the remedies for that disease which occurs in the ensuing collection; (unless some other of them be easier to be had, and then it may do just as well.) Secondly, After a competent time, if it takes no effect, use the second, the third, and so on. I have purposely set down (in most cases) several remedies for each disorder; not only because all are not equally easy to be procured at all times, and in all places: But likewise the medicine that cures one man, will not always cure another of the same distemper. Nor will it cure the same man at all times. Therefore it was necessary to have a variety. However, I have subjoined the letter (I) to those medicines some think to be infallible. Thirdly, Observe all the time the greatest exactness in your regimen or manner of living. Abstain from all mixed, all high seasoned food. Use plain diet, easy of digestion; and this as sparingly as you can, consistent with ease and strength. Drink only water, if it agrees with our stomach; if not, good, clear small beer. Use as much exercise daily in the open air, as you can without weariness. Sup at six or seven on the lightest food; go to bed early, and rise betimes. To persevere with steadiness in this course, is often more than half the cure. Above all, add to the rest, (for it is not labour lost) that old unfashionable medicine, prayer. And have faith in God who "killeth and maketh alive, who bringeth down to the grace, and bringeth up."
“The great rule of eating and drinking is to suit the quality and quantity of food to the strength of the digestion; to take always such a sort and such a measure of food as sits light and easy on the stomach. All pickled, or smoked, or salted food, and all high seasoned, are unwholesome. Nothing conduces more to health than abstinence and plain food, with due labor. For studious persons, about eight ounces of animal food, and twelve of vegetable, in twenty hours, is sufficient. Water is the wholesomest of all drinks; it quickens the appetite and strengthens the digestion most. Strong, and more especially, spirituous liquors, are a certain, though slow poison. A due degree of exercise is indispensably necessary to health and long life. Walking is the best exercise for those who are able to bear it; riding for those who are not. The open air, when the weather is fair, contributes much to the benefit of exercise. We may strengthen any weak part of the body by constant exercise. Thus, the lungs may be strengthened by loud speaking, or walking up an easy ascent; the digestion and the nerves by riding; the arms and hams* by strong rubbing them daily. The studious ought to have stated times for exercise, at least two or three hours a day; the one-half of this before dinner, the other before going to bed. They should frequently shave, and frequently wash their feet. Those who read or write much, should learn to do it standing; otherwise, it will impair their health."
Continue to work toward and pray for good health for yourself and all of your brothers and sisters in the human family.
Blessings,
Mickey
Through Community Grants, we are able to offer support to partners who share in our mission of improving the physical, mental and spiritual health of those least served.
Sharing in this mission, Haven for Hope, the largest, most comprehensive Homeless Transformation Campus in the United States, opened its campus to the San Antonio community in 2010. Their 37-acre plot of land houses over 70 nonprofit and government partner agencies. Working independently, but in a unified manner, these agencies have collaborated to offer programming and services to those in need.
In 2008, MHM contributed $7.1 million, the single largest donation received, toward the construction of Haven for Hope. Additionally, MHM has partnered with some of the onsite agencies at Haven for Hope to further support this community health care model.
SAMMinistries, Spiritual Services
SAMMinistries is an interfaith ministry whose mission is to help the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless attain self-sufficiency by offering, with dignity and compassion, shelter, housing, and services. In June 2010, SAMMinistries completed transitioning program guests from the downtown SAMM Shelter to the new facility located at the Haven for Hope campus.
Upon initial relocation, SAMMinistries’ residential facility occupied over 45% of the campus providing housing for men, women, and family residents. SAMMinistries continues to minister to those in need by offering spiritual services, job readiness training, education assistance and in-kind donations. At a recent visit to the facility, we were 
introduced a 24 year old named Stephanie who came to call SAMM home in December 2011. A native of Puerto Rico, Stephanie’s transition into a new, unfamiliar community proved challenging and with two young children at her side, she ended up homeless. But things are leveling up for this family. Within less than a year at SAMM, Stephanie is close to obtaining her High School diploma.
“They make you feel like family here. I felt alone my whole life. I am not lonely anymore. I have a family,” Stephanie relishes. She hopes to continue her studies and become a medical assistant.
SAMMinistries became an MHM funded partner in 2008.
The Center for Health Care Services, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Clinic
The Center for Health Care Services improves the lives of people with mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse challenges.
In Prospects Courtyard, where many take shelter from the streets, the Center for Health Care Services staff work to encourage the mentally ill to seek assessment at their walk-in psychiatric outpatient clinic while living on campus. The Center for Health Care Services offers an intensive treatment program, medication stabilization and monitoring, case management and rehabilitation, benefit procurement and nursing assessments.
Along with these services, the Center offers a Mental Health dormitory for prospects exhibiting symptoms of mental illness.
MHM welcomed The Center for Health Care Services as funded partner in 2012.
Our Lady of the Lake University, Community Counseling
In partnership with Haven for Hope, the Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) Graduate Program in Counseling Psychology offers three distinct services to campus residents: counseling, assessment, and group therapy. By providing an estimated 700 contact hours of mental health care, this program aims to improve the day-to-day functionality of clients so that root causes of homelessness may be addressed.
By exposing graduate counseling students to practice with the homeless population, this partnership also helps to address the mental health workforce shortage as it relates to the underserved.
OLLU became an MHM funded partner in 2011.
Family Violence Prevention Services, Inc., Community Based Counseling
The mission of Family Violence Prevention Services (FVPS) is to break the cycle of violence and to strengthen families by providing the necessary
tools for self-sufficiency through the delivery of emergency shelter, transitional housing, education, effective parenting education, and early intervention with children and youth.
Joining the Haven for Hope campus in 2010, FVPS offers individual and group counseling for the homeless and victims of domestic violence. FVPS hopes to expand their services with the addition of a Children’s Counseling Program. This new program will provide individual and group counseling to children between the ages of 5 and 17 using a filial therapy model, which incorporates parents in the counseling process. Counselors will also provide in-home services to these children and their parents for up to six months after obtaining permanent housing in the community. FVPS anticipates implementing the new Children’s Counseling Program at Haven for Hope by October 1, 2012.
MHM welcomed FVPS as a funded partner in 2011.
CentroMed, Medical Services
CentroMed provides health care to the homeless at the Sarah E. Davidson Clinic located on the Haven for Hope campus. These services include family practice, pediatrics, pregnancy testing and family planning, lab and onsite pharmacy, and medial case management.
The majority of the Clinic’s patients fall at or below 150% of the poverty rate and do not have health coverage.
CentroMed has been an MHM funded partner since 1996.
San Antonio Christian Dental Clinic, Dental Care
The San Antonio Christian Dental Clinic (SACDC), at Haven for Hope, provides charitable dental care to impoverished and homeless persons in keeping with Christian ministry. Utilizing a corps of over 100 volunteer dental professionals, SACDC offers a wide range of dental services to Haven for Hope residents and the surrounding community including dental exams, cleanings, restorative dentistry, extractions, surgery and prosthodontics. Oral health education, a vital component of the program, is provided to further empower patients and support improved oral health.
Between January 2, 2012 and April 30, 2012, SACDC tracked over 3,400 patient visits.
MHM welcomed the SACDC as a funded partner in 2007.
I Care San Antonio, Vision Center
Founded in 1992, I Care San Antonio (ICSA) is a faith-based, medical organization managed primarily by volunteer doctors. Equipped with the latest technology and equipment, ICSA provides dilated eye exams, refractions and glasses, and medical and surgical eye care to those who cannot afford it.
In March 2009, ICSA relocated their vision center to the Haven for Hope campus. The majority of ICSA patients are low income families that are living below federal poverty guidelines throughout San Antonio and the surrounding area, while approximately 25% are Haven for Hope residents or homeless individuals.
ICSA became an MHM funded partner in 2008.
Since inception, MHM has provided nearly $500 million in healthcare services through our clinics and programs, as well as through our partnerships. MHM is proud to partner with organizations that share our mission and organizational objective of delivering healthcare and social services to the least served in the South Texas region. By strengthening other organizations’ capacity to provide services, we achieve our
overarching goal of increasing access to care.
Our family of partners, working collectively to establish a campus of care on the Haven for Hope grounds, is a prime example of community health improvement in action.
Last week the Working Out at Work video seminar was added to www.mhmbewell.com.
This video stressed the importance of working out at work along with providing special tips on incorporating these exercises into your daily work routine. Now is the time to test your knowledge by participating in the Active Team Challenge Video Seminar Trivia!
Answer the following Working Out at Work trivia questions correctly to be entered into a drawing to receive a special health and wellness prize. Three winners will be selected.
Working Out at Work: Seminar Trivia
1. How many hours per day does the average American spend sitting?
2. What are good aerobic exercises to do at work as recommended in the video?
3. Why is it important to stretch while at work?
Use the Comment feature below to submit your answers. If you have a Facebook account you can submit your answers on the MHM Facebook page as a wall post.
Deadline to submit your answers is Wednesday, August 22, 2012.
Note: The Active Team Challenge Seminar Trivia is open to MHM team members only. Correct answers will be submitted into a drawing to select three winners.
submitted by Ann Scarth, RN
Wesley Nurse, Mason, Texas
You just never know – that should be something everyone should be mindful of as we minister to our communities, because it is so true.
On February 8, one of my articles appeared in the Mason County News, announcing the launching of my grief support group in Mason. Gerry Gamel, the editor, is always helpful with getting news out. Not long after the article was published, I came into my office and saw that I had a phone message. The message was from the bereavement coordinator of a hospice in Austin. He wanted information about my support group as he had a referral. Before we finished our conversation, I asked him that burning question, “How did you find out about me?” His response rocked my world, “I googled you.” I couldn’t believe it. I had NO idea that I was on the web other than the MHM Blog. So I went on the Internet & typed in “grief support group Mason, TX” just as this fellow said he had done and there was my Mason County News article! Holy Cow, I had no idea that my article for the local newspaper was on the web, but there it was.
Do you remember the prayer of Jabez? It’s in I Chronicles 4: 9-10:
Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory.
That Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil.
Well, I used to pray that more often than I do now. However, I have to confess that sometimes I’m a fearful Christian because in the back of my mind I can hear the warning, “Be careful what you ask for, you might get it.” Step back fear and doubt – I don’t want to be cheated anymore.
I received the most precious blessing, because my territory has been enlarged in a way I could never have imagined. The person referred to me has now been attending my support group for two months. The Lord has enlarged my territory with the potential to reach so many. I thought I was a pretty insignificant player in His game, but now I know that we all have a part. Together, my editor friend and I are reaching others through the Mason County News and ministering for the Lord…..on the Internet! Praise the Lord!
Published by the San Antonio Express News: Caroline Fernandez entered the world 12 weeks prematurely, weighing less than a pound. Breathing with the help of a machine, her translucent skin a roadmap of veins, she slept peacefully in her incubator at Methodist Children’s Hospital four weeks later, with no idea of the hard road that lies ahead. READ MORE
submitted by Rev. Mickey T. McCandless
Director, Church Connections and Spiritual Care
It is Tuesday after the shooting in Aurora, Colorado early Friday morning. I have thought about a variety of biblical stories that can help me, and maybe you, make sense of life in the aftermath of this tragedy. Through prayer, meditation and patience the story of the Gerasene demoniac has surfaced. This is a story in Mark 5.
The story tells of a man who lives among the tombs of the area and is inhabited by demons who give him incredible strength and deep rage. Jesus comes to the area and the demons in the man recognize Jesus who allows the demons to enter a herd of swine. The swine then drive themselves into the Sea of Galilee taking the demons with them. The man is freed and again in his right mind. The people of the town become fearful of the power of Jesus and ask him to leave. He begins to leave and the freed man asks to accompany him. Jesus refuses his request and says to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.” Then Jesus departs across the sea.
The two themes that engage me with this story are the power of Jesus to heal and community. Both of these themes are helpful for me and possibly for you to move to a new place in the aftermath of this tragedy. First, Jesus has the power to be in the midst of our lives and heal us in our confusion, in our pain, in our sorry, and in our loss. Jesus allows us to again get into our right mind. Jesus also can be in the midst of the life of James Holmes, his family and friends to give them their right mind. It will take the power of Jesus to heal all of us as individuals and to heal us as a nation so that we can begin to live with one another in life-giving ways. To be healed by Jesus means that we now have the transformed life to tell a story of God’s power through Jesus to give life to us and anyone in new ways. The first step in recovering from this tragedy is to let the healing power of Jesus come into our lives, individually and corporately.
Secondly, the theme of community ends this story. Jesus does not let this now freed man walk away from the place where fear resides but instructs the man to return to his community, friends, family, and neighbors, to tell what God has done to break fear and evil. Jesus points the man back to community where his witness can be powerful, personal and transforming. Jesus was a community builder and challenges us to be faithful in building community not with those we like but with all people. Jesus as the life-giving presence of God demonstrated what it looks like to build community, to be in community, and to expand community. Our nation has lost a sense of community and claimed individuality and affinity groups as the foundational ways to live. Yet, that leads to powerlessness and destruction. The only way we get to life is to let Jesus lead us into community and what it means to live together in community even as fear, rage, evil and transformation are evident among us.
Healing and community, two themes upon which we can reflect and live with the emotions and thoughts stirred up by Aurora. May we let Jesus heal us. May we let Jesus challenge us to live in community and show us the way.
Since inception, MHM has provided nearly $500 million in healthcare services through our clinics and programs, as well as through our partnerships. MHM is proud to partner with organizations that share our mission and organizational objective of delivering healthcare and social services to the least served in the South Texas region. By strengthening other organizations' capacity to provide services, we achieve our overarching goal of increasing access to care.
Joining our family of partners in 2003, the Infant & Family Nutrition Agency (IFNA) holds a common mission of providing healthcare services to the underserved. Located in Brownsville, Texas at the First United Methodist Church, IFNA provides children in Cameron County a chance for a healthier start in life by equipping their mothers with the most current information about prenatal and postnatal nutrition and health, and family nutrition. “It starts with parents. It starts with babies,” explains Renee Garcia, INFA director.
The roots of IFNA date back to 1984 when a generous donation from a patron of the First United Methodist Church in Brownsville helped to form a ministry to aid women who lacked information and resources necessary to care for themselves and their children. This ministry, known as the Infant Nutrition Program, later became a registered nonprofit entity in 2001 and was renamed the Infant & Family Nutrition Agency.
Currently, IFNA provides three distinct programs to residents in the area: Prenatal & Postnatal Education, Family Nutrition, and Stork’s Nest. Employing a breastfeeding instructor and nutritionist, free Prenatal & Postnatal Education and Family Nutrition classes are provided for mothers to learn about health and nutrition, breastfeeding, infant nutrition and childcare. Classes are offered at various community sites convenient for the women served.
The Stork’s Nest Program also provides free education for mothers with breastfeeding concerns by offering a nursing station for women to nurse their babies under the guidance of a trained Breastfeeding Instructor. A variety of techniques are presented to encourage successful breastfeeding. Through education, women learn the importance of breast milk in the development of the human immune system along with its benefits to the mother. Additionally, mothers can purchase or rent breast pumps through the Stork’s Nest.
Given the area’s high rate of diabetes and obesity, among a largely low-income population, these programs are crucial to members of the community. Cameron County retains a high rate of women who receive little to no prenatal care. This, in turn, has an adverse affect on the newest citizens of the community. IFNA aims at equipping women with the knowledge and resources necessary to care for themselves and their babies.
In 2010, IFNA witnessed over 3,000 client encounters. These encounters are projected to more than double for 2012. To date, MHM has provided $180,000 in funding to support IFNA programming.
To learn more about IFNA, call (956) 541-9250.
Over 100 Bags of Food Provided to Local Children and Their Families
San Antonio, Texas — The Methodist Healthcare Ministries’ Weekend Nutrition Program, offered at its Wesley Health & Wellness Center is drawing to a close this Friday, June 20, 2012. The program, offered in partnership with the San Antonio Food Bank, is designed to provide the children participating in its Camp Wesley healthy food choices. However, for many, the food they receive is about more than just a lesson in nutrition—it’s a critical support for families in need.
“Teaching kids how to make better food choices is difficult period. But, if the children you are trying to help are coming from homes that are low-income and food may be scarce, it makes it all the more challenging,” explains Peggy Visio, the director of Nutrition and Health Education programs at Methodist Healthcare Ministries (MHM). “The majority of the children who come to our Camp, and many who live in this part of our community, simply do not have enough to eat at home. While we hope to influence the children’s eating habits, we know this program is doing so much more. It’s helping to fill a need.”
The contents of the food bags are prepared by kitchen staff at the Wesley Health & Wellness Center, and include basic staples such as bread, peanut butter, cereal, rice, beans, soup, macaroni, fruits and vegetables. “We are offering kids choices that we hope will help to change their overall family diets,” explains Visio.
Similar programs are offered through the San Antonio Food Bank during the school year, but the Weekend Nutrition program offered by the partnership is unique to the community, and the first of its kind for MHM.
This Friday will bring the end of the Weekend Nutrition Program. Members of the media who would like to attend the preparation of the food bags, and to interview participants or program administrators are encouraged to contact Jessica Sherfey at (210) 546-0992 or jsherfey@mhm.org.
MEDIA ADVISORY
Jaime Wesoloski
President & Chief Executive Officer
