Health experts say poor outcomes have many root causes
"Factors such as education, economics, where we live, our social support, community resources, just our genetics that play a role in how our health outcome."
Dr. Traci Hayes, USM assistant professor
Dr. Susan Johnson, USM associate professor
"[Programs are being created to allow more healthcare options like] which will be an individual like a health coach or someone who can refer you and provide outreach to you.”
The reporting team: Hannah Hardaway, Deja Barksdale and Maliyah Ridgeway
Compared to other U.S. states, Mississippi ranks last, or close to last, in every single measurable healthcare outcome. With nearly 15 percent of adults in Mississippi suffering from diabetes, nearly 50 percent of adults having high blood pressure, and over 70 percent having problems with weight gain, such as with obesity.
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Dr. Traci Hayes, an assistant professor of health at the University of Southern Mississippi, said in an interview that many causes of healthcare deficits in Mississippi are caused by an assortment of issues. A key issue is social determinants.
"There’s so many causes of health issues that impact our citizens and Mississippi particularly," she said. " And those can be defined as social determinants of health. Those are those factors such as education, economics, where we live, our social support, community resources, just our genetics that play a role in how our health outcome.”
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These heavily impact how difficult it is for people to both get the medical service they need, but to use the service given. Some people do not have the economic means to afford healthcare, while others may be given medication but do not understand how to use medication given.
Along with this, with the lack of healthcare facilities due to closures and a doctor shortage, this makes it more difficult for people to be able to be given care. In rural areas where people may live far away from other cities, if there’s no hospital nearby, there’s no way for them to be able to properly get the help they need and any condition they may have will only worsen.
Many people in rural areas also have to deal with priorities they may put over their own health; tending to their work, family, being more willing to spend money and time on other things but their own health, meaning anything wrong with them may not be tended to.
With so many factors at play that’s causing healthcare outcomes to be so poor, there are people trying to provide programs and organizations not only fix, but prevent these issues from occurring.
Dr. Susan Mayfield-Johnson, an associate professor of health at USM, said there are programs being created to allow people to be given more healthcare options and help with health professionals from their area: “[...] so this will be an individual like a health coach or someone who can refer you and provide outreach to you.”
This program is to make it easier for people to be given advice to not only help with their health, but prevent issues from even starting at the very beginning. Along with that, by the coast her and her program worked to ensure it’s possible for people to be able to find proper transportation so being able to go to hospitals that are nearby is easier and more possible for them.
Overtime, more things are being done in order to provide citizens of Mississippi more medical assistance, the experts said.Programs trying to create more job opportunities for nurses and doctors in order to tend to the doctor shortage, providing federal funds to hospitals to ensure they can still continue running for people to go to, and more. Hopefully soon Mississippi will no longer be ranked the lowest when it comes to healthcare outcomes, so the citizens of Mississippi can be as healthy as every other state.
How Petal Family Practice helps rural communities?
The reporting team: Calei Gilstrap and Umaya Grady
Petal Family Practice Clinic is working to help citizens in rural communities by providing help and information to improve health.
Dr. Judd M. Reynolds is a practicing family physician from Augusta, MS. He sees there are a number of issues facing rural communities and healthcare.
“ With us being such a rural place there is inadequate access to care for everyone and our job is to try and provide care to everyone the best we can,” says Dr. Reynolds.
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Dr. Reynolds also stated that members from larger cities travel to these smaller rural health clinics to find care which causes an overflow of patients and with the lack of space this has caused less time to help in the community.. He went on to say that the need for family physicians is in high demand. An increase in interested young minds could help fill the gap in patient care.
He says their mission is to face these issues head on and work toward offering solutions and care.
Another issue some people in Mississippi face is lack of access to health insurance. When deciding whether to feed their family or pay for premium health care, families have to make hard choices.
The Petal Family Practice Clinic provides affordable access by using sliding scale services. This scale is made for low income individuals in small rural areas. The idea is to help their community access healthcare without causing financial stress.
In 2022 America’s health foundation ranked Mississippi 45th in the country for overall health. Mississippi has one of the highest rates for chronic disease including an obesity rate of 39.5%. Additionally Mississippi has a high blood pressure rate of 40.8% and a diabetes rate of 14.3%. Dr. Reynolds went on to say, ““Lots of Mississippians have difficulties with high blood pressure or with diabetes so we see lots and lots of that.”
With the rise in need of healthcare, professionals in both big cities and small rural areas like Petal, MS are working to find solutions for their communities. They are pushing for change in their communities by providing information to their patients and the general public on how to take care of their personal health.
The Purvis clinic in Hattiesburg is among a number of rural operations in Mississippi dealing with pressure on resources.
Rural Mississippi clinics face unique problems
The reporting team: Kalaeja Jones and Alexia Murphy
Healthcare in Mississippi faces problems especially in rural areas in Mississippi.
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The Purvis Family Practice Clinic provides thorough assessment and care to fulfill each family member's needs for overall health. When necessary, these doctors can request and organize consultation with additional specialists and provide timely, thorough assessments of the patient in their local communities.
Dr. Anutida “Jade” Charoentong, with the Purvis clinic, said, “I do think that sometime coverage for certain medication is a problem for either interest coverage and Medicaid or medicare patients so we have to navigate a lot of financial barriers.”
Rural Mississippi faces significant challenges in providing healthcare to its residents. The region is characterized by a shortage of healthcare professionals, limited access to medical facilities, and high rates of poverty and chronic diseases. The lack of healthcare
providers, including doctors and specialists, makes it difficult for residents to receive timely and comprehensive care. Additionally, the limited number of medical facilities, such as hospitals and clinics, forces many individuals to travel long distances to access healthcare services.
This issue is exacerbated by the high poverty rates in rural Mississippi, as many residents struggle to afford transportation and healthcare costs. Consequently, the healthcare disparities in rural Mississippi contribute to higher rates of preventable diseases and poorer health outcomes for its residents.
Efforts are being made to address these challenges, such as increasing telehealth services and implementing programs to attract and retain healthcare professionals in rural areas. However, more comprehensive and sustainable solutions are needed to ensure
equitable access to quality healthcare for all rural Mississippians.
In contrast to rural healthcare, Charoentong said, healthcare challenges faced by those in rural areas of the country can be vastly different from those faced by their urban counterparts. Rural healthcare and urban healthcare differ significantly in terms of access, resources, and healthcare delivery.
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Urban areas generally have a higher concentration of healthcare facilities, including hospitals, clinics, and specialized medical centers. This allows for easier access to a wide range of healthcare services and specialists. In contrast, rural areas often face challenges in terms of limited access to healthcare facilities and a shortage of healthcare professionals. Rural residents may have to travel long distances to receive specialized care, leading to delays in treatment and increased healthcare costs.
Additionally, urban areas tend to have more resources and funding available for healthcare infrastructure and technology, enabling them to offer advanced medical treatments and services. Rural areas, on the other hand, may struggle to keep up with the latest advancements due to limited resources. Overall, while urban healthcare offers greater accessibility and resources, rural healthcare faces unique challenges in providing equitable and comprehensive care to its residents.
Among the services offered by the Southeast Mississippi Rural Health Initiative is a mobile unit that go to remote communities.
Dr. Rebecca Roberts, SEMRI.
Women's health center focuses on availibity
The reporting team: Presleigh Hucks, Hannah Lance, Abby Yuan, Trey Parten
When have you seen your doctor last? Have you been to checkups recently? Why is it important?
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The Southeast Mississippi Rural Health Initiative offers women’s healthcare services. The Woman’s Healthcare Center is located on 62 Old Airport Road in Hattiesburg, MS. Among the providers at the center are Dr. Rebecca Roberts and Nurse Practitioner Laura Singley.
Women’s healthcare is an important and serious issue. Good health care for woman promotes stability. 15.2 percent of women are in poor or fair health. There are approximately 2.93 million women in Mississippi. Approximately 322,765 of those women live in poverty and may lack resources to obtain adequate healthcare.
Others may to not schedule or show up to appointments because of various reasons. You may be wondering why most woman miss or skip appointments. It could be because they cannot pay the cost for healthcare. Limiting healthcare costs for women could be a critical component for getting more women to get annual checkups and other lifesaving services.
Cargivers a the Women’s Healthcare Center spoke out on woman’s healthcare and how important it really can be. Dr. Roberts talked about how women should be doing exams and should be focusing on their health regularly.
“A woman’s lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is 1 in 8,” Roberts said.
The Women’s Healthcare Center focuses on the topic of breast cancer. Nurse Practitioner Velma Lee said the SEMRI program is meant to help those without resources.
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"The BCC program for underinsured and uninsured woman that is medically underserved and minority woman in age ranges from 40 to 64," she said. "You can go to their website or the Mississippi state department website.”
They also want women to know how important attending appointments are. Both Roberts and Lee said women must keep their appointments. They offer many services at the clinic including annual checkups, comprehensive exams, diabetic screening/care, diagnostic lab, general medical care, physicals, x-ray referral, optometry, obstetrics/gynecology, Ryan White Program, and preventative health screenings.
They also offer a mobile healthcare center, run by Maria Dearmond. The mobile unit is a healthcare center/vehicle brought for people unable to make it into the clinic. The Women’s Healthcare Center takes woman’s healthcare very seriously and shows they are there for every woman every day.
Hattiesburg clinic specializes in STDs, HIV testing
Becky Deakle, left, is a registered nurse at Open Arms Healthcare Center in downtown Hattiesburg. Joseph Lindsey, above, is director of Open Arms Healthcare.
The reporting team: Brianna Lance and Zyon McDowell
Open Arms Healthcare center, located in Jackson, Gulfport, and Hattiesburg, MS, is a non-profit organization whose main goal is to bring affordable healthcare and medical advice to communities that are often neglected and underrepresented.
The Hattiesburg location has been open for a little over a year and has helped the Pine Belt get healthcare for a little to no cost. Open Arms is all-inclusive and does not discriminate based on ethnicity, beliefs, age, gender, sexuality, disability, or ethnicity.
They accept all types of insurance, including Medicaid, Medicare, Humana, and many others. For those without insurance, they have a Sliding Fee Discount Program that assists each patient in a way unique to their situation.
The doctor visits cost as low as $25. The clinic offers a payment plan for those that pay with card, and they still treat people who cannot afford to pay for the visit. Open Arms has integrated a delivery approach to give these marginalized communities the healthcare that everyone deserves in case they cannot afford to make the drive to the clinic. This shows that Open Arms is dedicated to serving these communities no matter what.
Open Arms does regular checkups to care for common sicknesses like the flu and fevers and chronic illnesses like asthma, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
The workers at the clinic are very proud of their BHU program, and registered nurse, Becky Deakle gives more insight about the purpose of the program. “We have a program called BHU or Become a Healthier You. That is where we offer an STI screening, ad HIV screening, as well as glucose and blood pressure screenings every 90 days for no cost to the patient.”
The clinic provides other sexual and reproductive healthcare. This includes HIV testing and treatment, STI treatments, vaginal infection testing and treatment, cervical, testicular, and prostate cancer screenings, and breast and surgical screenings.
In order to help people understand the importance of screening, Becky Deakle explains the risk of not getting screened. “The biggest symptom of an STI or HIV is no symptom at all. So, some people don’t know that they have an STI or HIV. We think it is important to make it available to the community to make it available to the community to get screened and be able to know your status and stay healthy.”
They also do behavioral counseling for those who may have contracted these infections. While at the clinic, you can experience marriage counseling or couples therapy, stress management counseling, and sexual identity counseling. This allows the clinic to focus on mental health as well as physical health.
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The clinic also has a U=U Program, which means Undetectable equals Untransmittable. This helps destigmatized HIV and lets people know that if they take their HIV medicine and are undetectable, they cannot transmit the disease. Open Arms director, Joseph Lindsey, wants people to know that “HIV is not a death sentence,” which could change the way people view HIV. Additionally, Open Arms gives assistance in transportation, food, housing for people with HIV, and pharmacy situations.
USM takes action on nursing shortage
USM's College of Health Professions offers nursing students the chance to practice what they learn through an on-site nursing lab.
Dr. Lachel Story, dean of the College of Health Professions at the University of Southern Mississippi, says USM strives to add more nurses to Mississippi's dwindling healthcare giver ranks in a variety of ways.
The reporting team: LaBrenda Bell, Angela Davis, Samaria Jones
Registered nurse vacancies in Mississippi are the lowest they’ve been in the last decade with 1 in 4 nursing positions being unfilled. Now, as Mississippi ranks 49th in the nation for healthcare (down one spot from last year), officials are starting to wonder what can be done.
Particularly, Dr. Lachel Story, dean of College of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of
Southern Mississippi says, “I can attract students—that’s not my problem usually — it’s really the issue that I do not have enough faculty or clinical space.”
Dean Story provides some examples of solutions that USM has already implemented. Her solutions are
very humanity based. “You can’t just throw money at it, because the nursing shortage is a complex issue,”
she said.
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First, there is the Accelerated Nursing Program that shortens the time it takes to get a Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN). The program also makes the process of getting a BSN much easier. Students can get a four year degree in any field before applying and they don’t have to submit their ACT scores.
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To continue helping students go into nursing school, USM also assists in identifying loan pay-back programs, both federal and state.
Story said the university also works to keep nurses in Mississippi once they graduate. She isn’t worried too much about it, though. Story said, “The great thing about Southern Miss is that most of our students are Mississippi residents, so most of them will stay close to home.”
She said the university helps keep students in Mississippi by helping them through the program. “You can’t just bring pizza to the
classroom and expect them to keep coming,” she said. “You have to ask them what can be done better and what can be done to assist them.”
For more information, visit the college's web page.
SeMRHI works to keep healthcare costs low for rural patients
The reporting team: Kailyn Rankin, Dillon Turner, Madi Ward
SeMRHI works to make healthcare affordable and accessible in rural areas in Mississippi.
Southeast Mississippi Rural Health Initiative (SeMRHI) started operating back in the 1980’s delivering primary health care to Lamar and Covington counties 43 years later it now offers many different services such as women’s healthcare, optometrist, highschool clinics, and dental services to name a few.
Pati Knight with corporate compliance has been a registered nurse for over 43 years and has worked at SeMRHI for 21 years.
“We do a needs assessment of those areas. Sometimes it's people that come to us and say, "Look, we just don't have this,” said Ms.Knight.
SeMRHI covers 5 counties: Lamar, Pearl River, Stone, Forest, and Perry. SeMRHI also provides a mobile clinic service to provide care to surrounding counties further expanding their reach.
“We have a sliding scale fee program … and it all depends on what they claim is their income.” Ms. Knight says when asked what SeMRHI can provide to Southern Miss students who don’t have insurance.
After filling out a Sliding Fee form certain fees are waived. Regardless as to what side of the poverty line they are on.
“We share seamlessly and steal shamelessly” Ms.Knight says.
SeMRHI has held this motto for 21 years and received assistance from a coastal clinic that was very helpful and Ms.Knight states, “we want to give to each other because we want to share our success stories.”
“We have agreements with a number of other of the school districts in which we have clinics” said Ms knight.
There are several schools that SeMRHI works with such as: Lamar County, Forest County, Petal, and even some colleges
“We go out into the communities,” Ms.Knight responded when asked how they reach their communities.
SeMRHI takes the effort to make phone call and goes out to patients homes to check up and they reach out to their community with annual back to school immunization and national HIV testing days which you can view on their website https://www.semrhi.com/
“We're always hunting we are we're always searching,” Ms. Knight said when asked what SeMRHI plans on bringing in the future. ​