submitted by Rosalio (Lio) Luna
Parenting Programs Coordinator, Parenting Programs  

At a recent PHP Facilitator training I met with Jeanette Pickard and Robin Kaspar, who will be serving as PHP Facilitators at one of MHM’s newest PHP sites located at the Marble Falls United Methodist Church (1101 Bluebonnet Drive, Marble Falls, Texas 78654).

By providing community members with hands-on training, we are able to ensure facilitators are equipped with the knowledge and resources needed to carry on the PHP model within their respective communities. 

During the course of the six-hour training, Jeanette and Robin were provided with a PHP program history and introduction. As the training progressed, we discussed topics to include setting group norms and expectations, warm-up activities, and meet-and-greet tips. 

As PHP Facilitators in Burnett, Jeanette and Robin will work closely with PHP team members to implement the program in Burnett County. Duties for this role include:

• Collaborating with community agencies and guest speakers
• Planning and promoting the weekly group meetings
• Facilitate group meetings, and recruit group members and volunteers
• Complete and submit logistical reports after every group meeting

Additionally, Jeannette and Robin plan on working with The Parent Project, another ministry at the Marble Falls United Methodist Church, to help spark interest for the new group.

The MHM Challengers are taking to the track on Saturday, November 3 to participate in the Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes benefiting the American Diabetes Association.

The Challengers, with team captain Juan Martinez at the helm, are comprised of MHM team members, clients, and community supporters. Collectively, the Challengers identified a fundraising goal of $1,000 in support of the ADA. What's more, MHM has offered to match every dollar raised by the team! 

We sat down with Vanessa Enriquez, MHM Challengers' Fundraising Superstar, to learn more about her connection with this cause:

• Why are you participating in the ADA Step Out: Walk to Diabetes?

I am participating because I have several family members affected by diabetes. Last year, we lost my grandmother who was diabetic. In the end, she had heart trouble that led to her passing, but I know that the diabetes contributed to her poor cardiovascular health. My family is very close and personally, I spent my afternoons growing up helping my grandmother make dinner. My parents, brother and I ate dinner during the week with my grandparents so I shared a very close bond with her. In a way, she helped shape my love for food and nutrition, so I partly have her to thank for my career as a dietitian. Since becoming a dietitian I have tried to help my family in whatever ways possible and this is another way I see that I can try to impact those with diabetes or those who may develop the disease.

• You've raised over $500.00 so far. Any tips or tricks to share with your teammates?

I emailed all of my family members through the ADA Step Out page. I added that I wanted to raise funds in memory of my grandmother so that one day other families would not have to go through the loss we had because of diabetes. I also emailed my close friends with a similar message. Many of my friends were supporting me during my grandmother’s illness so they saw the impact in had when she passed. Lastly, I post weekly updates on my facebook page. I try to share what my total is and how close I am to my goal. I also add that MHM is matching donations to encourage people to give no matter the amount, as it will be doubled in the end.

We are just five short weeks away from Step Out, and the Challengers are nearing their fundraising goal with close to $900 raised. Please consider joining our team, and helping us stop diabetes.

To join our team, or make a donation to the MHM Challengers, visit our team page.

By Kevin C. Moriarty

The fervor the U.S. Supreme Court decision over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) this summer caused is understandable given how drastically the law is expected to change our healthcare delivery system.

Since then, pundits, scholars, and people on all sides of the issue have offered wildly different estimates on who the law would actually help. Now, thanks to Dr. Michael Cline and Dr. Steve Murdock of the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas at Rice University, Texans don’t need to speculate. There is data that illustrates who would benefit in our state.

Methodist Healthcare Ministries commissioned a study authored by Dr. Cline and Dr. Murdock—who once served as the official State Demographer of Texas (in case you were wondering why the name sounded familiar)—to help us better understand how the new law would impact our community.

Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the nation. This unfortunate ranking is not necessarily breaking news; it’s a distinction our state has earned in the past. But, it’s worth mentioning since the U.S. Census Bureau just recently released 2010 Census data that confirms our unfortunate standing in the nation. So how many uninsured Texans does it take to put our state nearly dead last? As of 2010, an estimated 23.7 percent of all Texans (5.9 million people) had no health insurance coverage. Given our numbers, it stands to reason, that we have a lot to gain from the ACA.

According to Dr. Cline and Dr. Murdock, in the study titled Estimates of the Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Counties in Texas, if Texas implemented the new law—even with a moderate effort to increase enrollment in public and private health insurance— by 2014 every county in Texas would see a decrease in the number of uninsured people. The total number of uninsured people in our state would essentially be cut in half; from 5.9 million to 2.9 million. Nearly 3 million people in our state stand to gain from the ACA due to the expansion of Medicaid and the accessibility of affordable health insurance through the private sector.

According to the two researchers, all this is largely dependent upon the efforts of the State and healthcare advocates enrolling people in public health insurance (Medicaid and CHIP), and how well the health insurance exchange is developed and marketed. The Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) has further analyzed the data and summarized the key findings in a brief titled Choices and Challenges: How Texas County Uninsured Rates Will Drop Under Health Care Reform. That brief also includes some recommendations on how the state can leverage the ACA to reduce its uninsured rate.

Aside from the sheer number of people who would benefit, health care as an industry will also realize tremendous gains through expanded funding of previously uninsured patient visits.

As a healthcare provider, we here at MHM know this law will make an important difference in peoples’ lives based on what we hear time and again from those served in our clinics and the programs we support throughout South Texas. The difference between paying rent, or getting health care; buying food or getting much-needed medicines. The findings in this study make the choices before our policy makers clear, and invite them to make that difference for three million Texans.

We are ready to do our part to help our community realize all the ACA has to offer. We hope our legislators are ready too.
 

Last week marked the commencement of our 4th Annual United Way Pledge Campaign. The United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County is the largest, private health and human care service organization in Bexar Country.

The United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County continues to lead the country with an overhead cost of 6.5 percent. This overhead is lower than the average overhead of other United Way communities (12.7 percent) which means that 93.5 cents of every dollar you give go directly to programs that matter as they support children, families and our community.

This year, we have determined an MHM team goal of raising $40,000 in donations. By combining our financial support, we can bring about real, visible results to thousands.

Within a few days of kicking off the Campaign, we are happy to report MHM is inching closer and closer to our goal with over $32,445.80 raised with an average gift of $337.98. What’s more, fifteen team members have given gifts of $1,000 or more.

The 2012 Campaign is scheduled to close on Friday, October 12  at noon. With a collaborative effort from our team, we are hopeful of reaching our goal of $40,000.

We are asking every team member to please consider making a donation of any amount, however it is NOT mandatory to give. All team members are asked to log onto the e-Way system and select an option (make a pledge, decline, etc.).

Thank you to every team member for your consideration and for your donations!

For more information, contact your Pledge Coordinator or Maggie Vasquez at mvasquez@mhm.org.

Test your knowledge for a chance to win health and wellness prizes!

Last week the Working Out at Work video seminar was added to www.mhmbewell.com.

This video stressed the importance monitoring your dietary intake along with providing special tips on healthy eating and nutrition. Now is the time to test your knowledge by participating in the Active Team Challenge Video Seminar Trivia!

Answer the following Supercharging Your Nutrition trivia questions correctly to be entered into a drawing to receive a special health and wellness prize. Three winners will be selected.

Supercharging Your Nutrition: Seminar Trivia

1. Which of the following are health benefits of consuming fruits and vegetables?

• a.) better immune system functioning
• b.) weight management
• c.) lower risk of certain cancers
• d.) lower risk of heart disease
• e. all of the above

2. In order to provide any health benefits, dark chocolate should contain what percentage of cocoa?

• a.) 50-55%
• b.) 60-65%
• c.) 70-75%
• d.) chocolate provides no health benefits

3. How many servings of fruit and vegetables should you consume per day?

• a.) 2
• b.) 3
• c.) 4
• d.) 5+

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, September 19, 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.

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 1^st world problem; the other is a 3^rd 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.

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.