"Doing" Public Health in Mississippi
Sasha Tretyakova
1st Year MPH Candidate: Epidemiology
Credit: US49 North Ramp from Clarksdale. Photo by formulanone (Flickr)
I am so excited to have the opportunity to “do” public health with our PH 615 class in the Mississippi Delta! My two big reasons for this are learning about a brand new place and culture, as well as participating in inter-state public health collaboration.
My impression about the community is that it will be a lot different from what I am used to living through in Ann Arbor. Where Ann Arbor is cold and city-like, Tallahatchie is rural and hot. I think the two areas will feel a lot more different culturally, as well. At the start of the course, I honestly didn’t know what to expect before going to Mississippi. The only place down South I have ever been to is Florida. I have never been to states like Oklahoma, Georgia, Louisiana, or Mississippi, so I am looking forward to expanding my view of the USA.
Furthermore, I have learned about a local Food Rx project and am looking forward to seeing how it relates to the one we will see in the Delta! I currently work for the Washtenaw County Health Department (WCHD) right now as an intern and one of the programs that WCHD has is a Food Rx in Ypsilanti. People get a prescription from their doctor for more fruits and vegetables that they can then trade in for actual fruits and vegetables. It’s interesting to see Food Rx programs through work AND class. Before we go to Mississippi, I am planning on meeting with the person in charge of the Ypsilanti program to see if there are any notes I can take that can be incorporated into our project in Mississippi. It will be very interesting to compare and contrast the two programs as I learn more about each. I feel like a “real” public health professional who can learn from past projects and build upon them through fostering inter-state collaborations. For our in-class presentation, my group was assigned to Tallahatchie county, and our task was going to be about expanding the existing Food Rx program.
Overall, I am really looking forward to applying all of the skills I have spent this year learning through my public health program! I feel like I am stepping out of my comfort zone, but my classmates, our teacher, and our Mississippi partners seem like we will make a great team together and be able to create a tangible impact on this Food Rx Program.