Jun 20, 2022
Reclaiming Trust: Addressing Cardiovascular Health Disparities in Rural, Underserved Communities through CHW-Led Interventions, with Dr. Jessica Barnes and Chip Purcell
A bright future for the nation depends on the health and prosperity of rural America, and unfortunately, we are at a moment in time where life is not ideal in the rural heartland. Although most rural Americans are generally satisfied with the overall quality of life and see their communities as safe, we are reaching a crisis when it comes to financial insecurity, trouble accessing affordable, high quality health care, a lack of high-speed internet access, housing problems, and isolation/loneliness. When it comes to health care, even though most rural Americans have health insurance, about one-quarter say they lack adequate health care access, as they have not been able to get the care they needed at some point in the past few years. Consequently, potentially preventable deaths from the five leading causes are consistently higher in rural counties, especially with heart disease. (Nearly half of deaths from heart disease in rural counties are preventable, compared with 18% in large metropolitan areas.) All of this has culminated into a mistrust of the traditional, fee-for-service dominated healthcare system and created a “shadow population” of underserved minorities and the socially isolated who are dealing with significant cardiovascular metabolic disease.
The Arkansas Lincoln Project is an important population health program focused on improving cardiovascular health in highly underserved, under-resourced areas of the Arkansas Delta Region where economic and health disparities have life altering consequences for rural residents. Joining us this week, we have two population health leaders sharing their insights about their work in deploying community-based cardiovascular health interventions led by community health workers. Chip Purcell is the director of cardiology research at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences and the principal investigator of the Arkansas Lincoln Project. Joining him is Dr. Jessica Barnes, the co-founder and CEO of 20Lighter, LLC – an award winning cardiometabolic health program, delivering dramatic reductions in inflammation and visceral fat. Together they are winning the “Race to Value” by fighting cardiovascular metabolic disease in the Arkansas Delta, the worst region in the nation for healthcare quality and population health outcomes.
Episode Bookmarks:
01:30 The challenges of obesity and cardiometabolic disease disparities in Rural America
02:00 Rural Americans facing financial insecurity, poor healthcare access and hospital closures, a lack of high-speed internet access, housing problems, and isolation/loneliness
02:45 “Nearly half of deaths from heart disease in rural counties are preventable, compared with 18% in large metropolitan areas.”
03:30 Introduction to Dr. Jessica Barnes (CEO of 20Lighter, LLC) and Chip Purcell (UAMS Cardiology Research and the principal investigator of the Arkansas Lincoln Project)
05:00 “Rural Americans tend to have higher rates of cigarette smoking, hypertension, and obesity, and report less leisure-time physical activity than their urban counterparts.”
06:20 The US News & World Report ranks Arkansas 50 out 50 states for overall healthcare quality with higher-than-average obesity rates and overall preventable hospital admissions
07:00 “Arkansas is the worst of the worst in health outcomes, and that is where we can make a difference.”
08:00 Mistrust of the healthcare system is pervasive in the Arkansas Delta Region
09:30 The exponential growth curve in building trust through improvement in individualized patient outcomes
10:00 Studying out-of-hospital, premature natural deaths as a proxy for determining population health needs in Eastern Arkansas (how the Lincoln Project began)
12:30 The use of geospatial mapping to identify the highest risk communities to target with cardiovascular health interventions led by community health workers
16:30 The economic challenges of Phillips County,