{"id":15968,"date":"2023-10-01T23:59:52","date_gmt":"2023-10-01T23:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/the-active-leadership-ingredients-that-turn-food-into-medicine\/"},"modified":"2023-10-01T23:59:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-01T23:59:53","slug":"the-active-leadership-ingredients-that-turn-food-into-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=15968","title":{"rendered":"The Active Leadership Ingredients That Turn Food Into Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

They pass a talking radish around the circle sharing stories of food. More than a dozen people have gathered in a circle facilitated by Dr. Kristi Crymes for a biweekly conversation about food and nutrition. One woman found her love of tomatoes\u2014she had never smelled one like that before\u2014and now wants to grow her own. They talk about what to do with fennel; most have never seen it before. And who knew Swiss chard had such a distinctive flavor? Such are among the discoveries in the box of locally sourced produce they pick up weekly as part of the HealthScripts program. For Kristi, this is also living Zen Leadership. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to be the \u2018doc-in-charge\u2019 or get in the way of the wisdom of these groups,\u201d she says. \u201cIn holding these circles, I use everything I learned in the HEAL programs (i.e., Zen Leadership for healthcare professionals). If people are interested in having a different way to help their patients, here are the skills that help do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

At an individual level, the program is changing diets and health outcomes. Perhaps even more surprising is what\u2019s happening at collective levels: from the community of these circles, to the Springfield Community Gardens that gathered the pieces and funding for this project, to the community of farmers who grow the food, to the community of Cox Health professionals who are discovering new ways to care for people, to the community of Springfield that is growing stronger and more resilient as it relocalizes its food supply. Given that Food Is Medicine (FIM) programs are on the rise with the hope that they will save lives and billions of dollars, it\u2019s worth looking at what\u2019s making this one work so well. The answer for HealthScripts is relationships and the leadership ingredients that make them strong: trust, compassion and love.<\/p>\n

An Integrator With A Passion For Localized Food Systems<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Maile Auterson, the founder and executive director of Springfield Community Gardens, breathes and dreams relocalizing food economies. A 4th<\/sup> generation Ozark farmer, she grew up farming with her father, hearing his stories of how they had no money during the depression, \u201cbut ate like kings\u2026 eggs and cream and peach ice cream.\u201d That resilience amidst difficulty stayed with her and she wants it for everybody. \u201cFood is the social fabric of a town,\u201d Maile says, and her vision for community gardens is that everyone has access to healthy, local food, from the homeless to those who dine at high-end restaurants.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust\u201d is the first word Maile uses in describing her way of working. She builds trusting relationships by delivering as promised and meeting real needs. She has trusting relationships with local farmers, having worked with them on many projects, including Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. She has trusting relationships with the Springfield community, where people volunteer in the 17 gardens spread across the city, including the one at the hospital run by Cox Health. She has trusting relationships with Cox Health where she was encouraged by Dr. Mark Ellis (who would go on to lead HealthScripts) to speak with some of their doctors about services that might be wrapped around CSA boxes, which package local farm produce for subscribers. What she heard in those conversations was that people were exhausted from the pandemic and what\u2019s not working, and might we turn things around by getting people to eat better? She secured a GusNIP grant (short for Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program) to implement the HealthScripts project, providing fresh, healthy food and nutritional guidance to people with health risks and low income, while also supporting small, local farms. Once again, Maile delivered for her community. But she is not one to take credit. \u201cLoving kindness is the key,\u201d she says. \u201cEveryone on the project has that at their core.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A Farmer With Trusting Connections<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cMost of my CSA customers are upper-middle class,\u201d says Curtis Milsap. These are people who buy shares in the produce of Milsap Farms so he doesn\u2019t have to take out an operating loan. In exchange, they get the best of everything in the fields. He\u2019s always wanted to get his food into the hands of people who need it and can\u2019t afford it. For him, HealthScripts is a win-win. \u201cI\u2019d give all our food to people who need it, but I need to feed my family. This lets me do both.\u201d<\/p>\n

How does it work? \u201cEmma will reach out to me and say \u2018I need 68 units of something; what can I get?\u2019\u201d Curtis explains in reference to Emma Freitas, the HealthScripts manager. Emma works for Maile, wearing many hats, including interacting with farmers, aggregating the produce boxes, and getting them to program participants. \u201cIf I have a lot of carrots, I\u2019ll put carrots in. Or there might be a standing order of 40 units of thyme.\u201d For years, Curtis and Maile have been building trust, one successful project at a time, and dreaming dreams that led to funding for this project. He\u2019s also a connector among farmers, recognizing it takes a diversity of players to fill all those boxes, from the utility player who always delivers to the farmer who grows \u201csalad in his sleep.\u201d He\u2019s been able to bring in friends who may not trust government programs but trust him. \u201cEvery connection as an opportunity to relocalize food from vulnerable state it\u2019s in now to something that\u2019s more sane.\u201d Curits points out. \u201cYou can grow carrots in every state of the union.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curtis also has a trusting connection with Kristi. Dr. Crymes is the Associate Program Director of the family medicine residency at Cox Health and brings her first-year residents out to Milsap Farms as part of their orientation. From Curtis they learn three principles that apply to farming, doctoring, and the success of this program: (1) Always look at the big picture and beneath the surface; like soil, what\u2019s going on beneath the surface affects everything we can see. (2) Diversity is the key to health. (3) Don\u2019t lose sight of the wonder.<\/p>\n

Physicians And Patients Holding Circles Of Wonder<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Putting a box of produce into people\u2019s hands would not be enough to make the difference this program is making. Where greater wonder emerges is through the trusting circles held by Kristi or her colleague, Dr. Katie Kabonic Davenport, sharing stories of life, food and nutrition. These conversations \u201ccomplete so many deficits in what I learned about nutrition growing up,\u201c says Matt, one of the program participants. \u201cWe don\u2019t know enough about food or the impact it has on health. Most of what we get are ads\u2014buy this or that\u2014but we don\u2019t have discussions.\u201d The discussions have given space for a complete rethinking of how Matt approaches nutrition, as well as a second benefit he wasn\u2019t expecting: \u201cI feel much more connected to the community.\u201d The group\u2019s diversity is what makes it so powerful. \u201cEveryone has different areas of expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n

What recipe did you try last week? How do we become nourished? How is that different from just eating? If you have $3, how do you spend that on good food? Plenty of laughter, some tears. As Kristi has witnessed the evolution of these circles over several months, she has wonder in her voice. \u201cThese people had never met,\u201d she says. \u201cNow they\u2019re bringing eggs to each other. One woman picked up clothes at Walmart for another patient\u2019s son\u2026The food is the active ingredient. The food is grown regeneratively. Many people are involved, doing their part, and it all fits perfectly together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The outcomes of this program are starting to come in. Even individual outcomes are \u201camazing\u201d to use Kristi\u2019s word. For example, one of the participants with diabetes went from a very high A1c (i.e., a measure of average blood sugar) to normal levels within four months, allowing him to come off one of his medications. But Kristi finds the collective shift in the circle even more striking:<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething happened at this last visit that feels important. The group seemed to take on its own power. They began spontaneously sharing with each other the ways the program has helped them, naturally showing encouragement and caring to a few who were struggling with stressors. One patient told us he wanted to start a group like this in his own neighborhood. There was definitely a shift.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Kristi wasn\u2019t alone in witnessing the unfolding; she\u2019d been joined by several residents and dieticians. One resident sent her a message the next day saying that attending the HealthScripts circle was an \u201chonor and a beautiful human experience\u201d that made her excited for her next few years at Cox Health. One of the dieticians said she came because she\u2019d heard about this program and didn\u2019t believe it was real. After the visit she told a colleague that it was a dream come true. As Kristi sees it, \u201cThese patients are touching people’s hearts and minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

How Might This Scale?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Better health outcomes. Stronger communities. Greater resilience in relocalized food economies. More fulfilling healthcare practice. What community would not want such benefits? Maile has spoken to hundreds of people wanting to replicate the success of this program. \u201cIt has to stay small,\u201d Maile begins. \u201cResilience comes in being small and local. Yet every town can do this and there are 175,000 small towns.\u201d It takes an integrator like Maile and opportunities for funding. It calls for a well-connected farmer like Curtis who cares about helping people in the community. It takes physicians like Kristi and Katie, both HEAL-trained, who can hold circles with humble expertise, allowing profound wisdom and compassion to emerge. \u201cIf you think about relationships first,\u201d Maile concludes, \u201cyou\u2019ll get it right.\u201d If you think about relationships first, grow trust, experience compassion and enact love, you\u2019ll get it especially right.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They pass a talking radish around the circle sharing stories of food. More than a dozen people have gathered in a circle facilitated by Dr. Kristi Crymes for a biweekly conversation about food and nutrition. One woman found her love of tomatoes\u2014she had never smelled one like that before\u2014and now wants to grow her own. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leadership"},"yoast_head":"\nThe Active Leadership Ingredients That Turn Food Into Medicine | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"They pass a talking radish around the circle sharing stories of food. 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