FEATURE
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Christopher Wolf Crusade to Partner with the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center to Fight Opioid Epidemic in Rural Communities
Opioid misuse and overdose remain a significant public health emergency facing Georgia. The Georgia Department of Public Health says there were 1,300 opioid overdose deaths in 2020, up 52% over the 2019 number of 853. This sharp increase punctuates an alarming upward trend in deaths and overdoses. Rates of overdose and death are significantly higher in rural parts of Georgia and follow a well-known trend of lower access to care and poorer health outcomes among rural residents. Now, more than ever, strategies to reduce opioid misuse are needed to stop these needless tragedies and create health equity for rural Georgians.
In order to address this pressing concern, the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center (GRHIC) is partnering with the Christopher Wolf Crusade (CWC) to implement the proven Life Care Specialist (LCS) pilot program into three to five rural communities in Georgia.
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GRHIC Leads Farmer Mental Health as Occupational Health
Nationally, agricultural work, including farming and ranching, has been identified as a high-mortality-risk occupation by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Fatal Occupational Injuries Census identified agricultural work as one of 63 occupations with fatality rates more than twice as high as the overall rate of full-time workers.1
In Georgia, agricultural workers have the highest rate of suicide in any occupation.2 A 2016 study by the Georgia Department of Labor reported that at their time of death, 36% were experiencing depression and 32% were experiencing other mental health problems.2 The study highlighted the need to consider workers’ mental health as an occupational health issue and called for ensuring that workers have access to workplace and community-based suicide and other violence prevention services.
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SNAPSHOT
On December 7, Dr. Anne Montgomery and Ph.D. candidate Stephanie Basey spoke at the winter meeting of the Council of State Territorial Epidemiologists' Occupational Health Surveillance Subcommittee in Atlanta. They presented on their statewide results of farmer mental health.
Click the image to view the info sheet.
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GRHIC Selected to Guide COVID-19 and Flu Vaccine Hesitancy Study for Second Year
The Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center (GRHIC) has been awarded a $53,756 contract by the North Central Health District (NCHD), Georgia Department of Public Health, for the second year. The project team led by Dr. Kimberly N. Carr, community resource and assessment specialist, consists of Edson Jean-Jacques, director of demographic research, and Dr. Brad Lian, associate professor, Department of Community Medicine at the Mercer University School of Medicine.
Dr. Carr and the team will focus on equipping influential, community messengers (e.g., community health ambassadors) with vaccine education, awareness, and messaging and provide research dissemination strategies, trainings, and workshops via the Hancock County Community Health Ambassadorship Program (H-CHAMP). H-CHAMP was designed collaboratively with NCHD in the first year of the contract. Additionally, the team will evaluate the existing Hancock Health Improvement Partnership (HHIP)/REACH Faith-Based Organization, COVID-19/Flu mini-grant vaccine awareness program. The target population is African American adults. The contract period began October 1, 2022 and will end September 2023.
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Statistic Source: Mental Health America of Georgia | |
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Pediatric Mental Health Initiative Provides Crucial Resources for Rural School Systems
The Pediatric Mental Health Initiative (PMHI) provides free mental health counseling via telehealth to children in Georgia’s rural communities, many of which have limited or no mental health services. By collaborating with Georgia’s rural county school systems, Georgia’s colleges and universities, and Global Partnership for Telehealth (GPT), the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center (GRHIC) is transforming the mental health infrastructure in rural spaces. Mental health is being addressed holistically and equitably, regardless of one’s address or economic status.
GRHIC seized an opportunity to expand mental health services by harvesting existing, often untapped, resources. In the PMHI model, children receive counseling services from supervised graduate students attending the state’s colleges and universities. This helps alleviate the mental health professional workforce shortages. Additionally, it provides future counseling professionals with valuable supervision practicums and internships. Currently the PMHI is active in Ben Hill County Schools, Jefferson County Schools, and Washington County Schools.
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Faith in Rural Health: Care for the Mind, Body, and Spirit
There is a clear and well-studied relationship between faith and health. Faith leaders are tasked with understanding the mental, emotional, and physical needs of their congregation members and have a great amount of influence. Faith leaders can act as health educators, bringing information, advocacy, and encouragement to their communities. While both health care professionals and clergy are leaders in their rural communities, relationships between the two are often limited.
The Faith in Rural Health program was created to help communities foster these relationships and to help nurture dialogue and responses around community needs and priorities in multiple rural Georgia counties. Working with the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center, the program is a collaborative partnership between Mercer University’s School of Medicine and McAfee School of Theology. Mercer is uniquely suited to do this work as both professional schools focus on rural communities and asset-based community development.
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Faith in Rural Health Program Intern Spotlights | |
Sydney, assigned to Putnam County, was drawn to the Faith in Rural Health program because of her own faith background and her undergraduate studies in global health. She said, “Being able to look at health care through the lens of faith really excited me and interested me [in joining the program]. It's becoming more recognized that spiritual health does play a role in a patient's overall health care." She looks forward to connecting with faith communities and bringing awareness of available resources to Putnam County residents. | |  |
Kristen, assigned to Berrien County, aspires to be a hospital chaplain. Her 25 years of experience as an EMT gave her insight into health care disparities. It was a particularly unsettling EMT call, where no chaplain was present, that eventually set her on the path to pursue a theology degree. Kristen said, "My heart is with the people." She is excited to be working with rural communities. “I hope people who aren’t seen are given a voice and given the resources that they need in a loving and understanding way.” | |
2023 Ongoing Center Initiatives | |
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ABOUT THE CENTER
In 2018, Georgia lawmakers dedicated special funds to establish a new Rural Health Innovation Center tasked with confronting the complex health care challenges and wellness disparities facing rural communities. Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM) was awarded the grant funds in 2019 and formally established the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center on its Macon campus. MUSM boasts a longstanding commitment to serving rural Georgia’s health needs, with a mission to educate physicians dedicated to tackling the health challenges in rural Georgia. The Rural Health Innovation Center serves as a critical resource to rural communities to improve access and effectiveness of health care by offering research, collaboration, and training opportunities.
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