Operation My Health and Our Community

In the past six months, I have lived enough for a decade, or so it feels. I had been a hospice chaplain in the greater Los Angeles area for two years and while I loved my patients and my co-workers, something was missing. I found myself too often too drained to do anything for my own spiritual well-being. Often times on weekends I simply stayed at home and 'vegged'. My commute was only 30 minutes (which is fantastic for that city), so it wasn't that. I thought maybe it was the environment, so I began searching for a smaller area. I thought I'd found it when I moved up to the east San Francisco Bay area to a much smaller area to work for a hospice there. Surely here I might find a sense of balance, I told myself. Only a few weeks into my training, I abruptly left and drove to Tucson Arizona because my parents were seriously ill and needed full time care. There was never a question of what to do; family is very important to me. After five months my father had improved to the point that he gained some mobility again and so I began to seek another position.

I thought long and hard about what I wanted: while hospice is a wonderful opportunity to build relationships with people, it is a very sedentary ministry. I sat and drove to my office. I sat and read reports. I sat and drove to patients' homes. I sat and spoke with them. I sat in IDT meetings. I began to long for the times when I would easily walk 12,000 steps in one shift as a hospital chaplain. I also found that hospital ministry tends to be more varied; many times in hospital you will meet someone who requires palliative care but not always. Sometimes it's family with personal struggles, sometimes it's an accident victim in the ED, sometimes it's celebration of new life. I like the variations that appear in every day hospital ministry, so I began seeking a position with a hospital. As my luck would have it, the very city where I did so much of my training and where I learned to be part of community had an opening in one of their hospitals. Yes, three weeks ago I returned to my adopted home New Orleans.

As much as I am excited about the chance to bring to the table all the experience and wisdom I've gained since I left four years ago, I am more aware than ever that this is a chance to improve my own health as well. I have been slacking in the past six months, and the familial issues that were top priority aren't really an excuse. My spiritual health was fairly well attended in the time I spent caring for my parents, which is a blessing. But my diet has been rather average, my physical activity has been below normal and my emotional health is beginning to poke its head out of the burrow and ask for attention. Now that I am in a position where I will indeed be walking the 12,000 steps toward a healthier me I am looking at the bigger picture: what does it mean to promote community health?

My new roommate Linda mentioned the day I moved in that Whole Foods has built a large store here in Mid-City in the years that I've been gone. This was jaw-dropping to me; I know from studying under a community activist in seminary that large grocery chains rarely or never build in the inner city, thus insuring that people who live there often spend a lot of money just to travel outside the area so they can afford to buy food at a reasonable price. Linda said that the company is doing a lot to get involved in the local community, and trying to learn what's important to the people in the vicinity. This was impressive enough to me that I went over this morning to check it out.

What stands out instantly is the calendar out front; it advertises monthly specials and is right next to the coupon book. Prices, while slightly higher than grocery chains like Winn-Dixie or Safeway, are not outrageous. Employees are a real stand-out to me; every one of them went out of his/her way to be helpful when I was asking questions. I noticed that every Wednesday, they have a "bundle" deal. This month it consists of a roast chicken: when you buy the chicken, you get freshly made potatoes and mushroom rosemary gravy free. This would easily serve a family of four for $10; add a fresh side vegetable and you still have a reasonably priced meal that is far healthier than the junk we all tend to buy at BK, McD or any other fast food outlet that is 'easy'. This promotion of healthy meals is absolutely vital to the continued health and well-being of the community at large.

I've been a chaplain for almost a decade, and in my initial unit of training (in suburban Phoenix AZ) I observed that it was always people of an ethnic minority who had major health issues like diabetes or cardiomyopathy. Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians comprised over 90% of the patients who battled these issues. It wasn't until I moved to New Orleans that I realized how very little ethnicity has to do with it. Here, most of my 50-something and 60-something cardio patients were white. That's when I realized that diet is largely what causes our health issues. I want to do something about that, so I have decided to promote my own health and at the same time promote community health. Starting today, I intend to buy only organic vegetables and free range meat at Whole Foods. Yes, I know this can be very expensive. This is my Lenten devotion: both to treat my body as the temple we are told it is, and to reduce my own carbon footprint by buying organically and responsibly. I hope to include Hollygrove Fresh Market, a local farm co-op, as part of this project.