The Greatest Hope for Health Turnaround

There are so many angles to this health issue I don't know any anyone who has a grasp of the broad picture. The health crisis our nation is facing as a whole, regardless of income status, is pretty daunting and for low income and at risk and disabled folks - it gets pretty gruesome, particular, and entrenched. What support systems are now in place are being hacked to death and/or threatened with more budget cuts or elimination. The fallback system legislators and policy makers are relying on seems to be volunteer run soup kitchens, the police, prisons, and hospital emergency rooms.

If the trends continue, we are not so slowly turning our low income neighborhoods into subtle but crude mass holding pens and death camps for the homeless, ill, or disabled. We are in a steep downward spiral from our current unhealthy shopping and eating and lifestyle habits - and these habits are supported by endemic policy favoring corporate profits over personal health.

The greatest hope for turning the whole system around is organic practices, sustainable, fresh, local, fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, public transportation, and human powered transportation bikes and walking. So home, school, and community gardens, farmers markets, and local farm cooperatives are absolutely essential, along with the support systems and policies that drive customers and participants in those activities to embrace these healthy alternatives. Such policies as Home Ec programs and kitchens in our High Schools. The vast majority of High School Graduates don't know how to steam greens, or the nutritional health difference between apples and cheeze curls.

cChaos was incorporated in 2007 and we started the Fire House Farmers Market in Southside in June of 2008. The following October we opened the Chapman Market in Chico. So our programs have been running continuous for about 2 years now.

Both markets are holding together by a thread and financially we survive on a shoestring budget  - less than $3,000 per year which just covers insurance, environmental health and operating permits. I have one consistent farmer at each of the markets. I would say that the vast majority of our customers are from outside the neighborhood.

I would guess that most low income, disadvantaged, and special needs folks do not eat healthy food - existing instead on sodas and cheese pizza or worse. I have had EBT food stamp enablement from the start but we seldom have any EBT customers. I would guess that the sales in EBT are less than $60.00/month combined between the two markets, this despite being the only farmers markets in the Sacramento Valley north of Sacramento enabled to accept EBT. I would guess that most households in those neighborhoods do not know there is a farmers market in the neighborhood and when informed do not see it as relevant to their lives.

Networking with social service organizations has been hampered by the instability and cuts in social service programs. And outreach has been hampered because we have - until recently - been entirely a volunteer run organization (mostly me). We recently were able to bring on staff two half-time "Office Manager" positions through the "Experience Works" program and these folks have made significant improvements to the programs and perhaps will provide a significant improvement in the vitality of our markets. We will see. Meanwhile the budget for Behavior Health has been slashed and they have pretty much reduced their hours to those necessary to dispense medication. (Note: When I worked in the County Behavioral Health office the pharmaceutical companies treated all staff to lunch between 2 and 4 times a week.)

Currently our markets lack two important things: one is food shopers, the other is farmers. Butte County probably has more farmers markets than any other county in the state - 14 by my count. Some say that we have saturated the market. I believe there are not too many markets, just too few customers shopping for fresh whole foods and too few farmers. 

One of the greatest problems is attracting enough farmers to our very small markets. The cChaos stall spaces are offered free, and still we are not able to attract enough farmers to make our markets attractive to customers. This is in part due to the location of our markets. We are attempting to target two of the most "in need" neighborhoods - so the commercial placement of these markets are far from ideal - or even realistic. Currently we have one farmer at each of our markets that we can rely on, though we have events where no farmers show up. Ideally - at full build out - I would estimate that having 4 to 8 farmers would be ideal.

I am sure that even with 14 Certified Farmers Markets, roadside stands, and CSAs combined Butte County is still capturing less that 1% of the food dollars spent in Butte County. In light of the obesity and diabetes pandemic this is grossly absurd, and the focus and direction that health care has not improved matters. The focus is on disease care - not on wellness or disease prevention. It is a documented fact that health insurance companies invest in fast food franchises - not local farmers markets - to solidify their place in the market. Here is a link to an ABC News article on the topic:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_DietAndFitness/health-insurance-companies-invest-billions-fast-food-stock/story?id=10392603

Note how - embedded in this text article is a auto-start video with an ad for dieters followed by a story on "Business Lessons from McDonald's: What we can learn from the world's most successful fast food chain." Such is the environment in which important and relevant issues addressing wellness is delivered to the masses.

The lesson I draw from all this is that disease feeds profit and profit drives disease.

The similarities between the two market locations are that both are very ethically diverse: Anglo, Hispanic, Hmong, and Black. Both are low income. Both are unincorporated areas of cities. Both have a history and identity that residents take some pride in.

The differences are that the Chapman Neighborhood is less than 2 miles from a University, that the cultural events are much more available and the education levels are a good deal higher. There are 4 parks that residents can walk to without crossing anything but residential streets - and 3 schools - and both parks and schools are spread out - and there is a history of community planning and organizing.

The Southside Neighborhood has one park. and the schools and park are clustered. There is a fair amount of undeveloped open land. The income and education levels are lower. There is a concentration of individuals receiving government assistance, and the history of joblessness and hopelessness seems much more prevalent. There are many more Behavior Health Clients in Southside than in Chapmantown, but in both neighborhoods the rate is high - as is the rate of homelessness.

Not sure where any of this is leading, but here it is. Of course: I've been wrong before . . .