May 20, 2025 • 34 mins
LORETTA DISCUSSES HOW AUTHORITY HEALTH IS PROVIDING UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES WITH GREATER ACCESS TO HEALTHIER FOOD OPTIONS AND HEALTH SERVICES THROUGH THEIR HEALTHY AND RESILIANT COMMINITIES PROGRAM
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Light Up the D, focus on what's happening
in our community from the people who make it happen.
Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market President Colleen Grant.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning and welcome to another episode of Light of
the D. I'm your host, Colleen Grant, and I am
really excited we have a great guest today.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
It's Loretta V. Bush.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
She has been the leader in the health and human
services field for over thirty five years. Really dedicated to
our community, committed to furthering access to health services for
underserved populations, and toward that effort. She holds many roles
including Group Executive and Public Health Officer for the City
of Detroit, the Health officer for Wayne County. She's the
(00:42):
President and CEO of the Institute for Population Health, CEO
of the Michigan Primary Care Association, and President and CEO
of Authority Health, which we're discussing today. As President and
CEO of Authority Health, she's shaping the organization's sic vision
through the delivery of primary care at the neighborhood level,
(01:04):
while creating partnerships for physician residency training in family medicine,
internal medicine, pediatrics, and psychiatry, which is really really cool,
and we're going to talk more about that in our conversation.
Missus Bush has received numerous awards for her dedication, leadership
and service in the field of healthcare, including the Governor's
Council on Physical Fitness, the Harriet Tubman Award for Outstanding
(01:26):
Service on Behalf of Women, Outstanding and Innovative Leader in
the field of HIV AIDS Education, the Michigan Chronicle Women
of Excellence Award, as well as the Crane's Detroit Business
Notable Healthcare Executive.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
It's not just all about the awards.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It's about what she's doing to make a difference in
the lives of our community members. And so I'm deeply
happy to welcome you, Loretta Bush to our show.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Thank you, Colleen, I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, let's talk about the concept that you've really dive
through authority health, which is healthy and resilient communities.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
How did that come about?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I understand it was originating from your involvement with the
Coronavirus Task Force on Health Disparities, But why don't we
talk about that task force and how your idea came
about and into fruition.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
All right.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Well, the great thing about that task force is it
really gave those who were participating the opportunity to really
think out outside of the box. You know, we understood
that it wasn't going to be one of those task
force that go on for ten twenty years still asking
what are we going to do? Right from the beginning,
we understood that we were supposed to be looking for
solutions and solutions that would help vulnerable people should and
(02:42):
win something occur again. So with COVID, what we noticed
right away was that black and brown people were getting
COVID at a different rate, higher rate, they were getting
severe COVID and dying, so startling, it was startling, Yeah,
but here's what we are. No, it didn't have anything
to do about being black or brown. It had to
(03:03):
do with black and brown communities being overburdened already with
chronic disease. So if you have all of these chronic diseases,
and you know the cast of characters we're talking about, diabetes, hypertension,
heart disease, obesity, all of these things overburdened in our communities,
and then you lay a deadly ribis on top of it.
(03:25):
So what we have the opportunity to do at authority
health is because we see it every day. We know
what impacts chronic disease, and it's what we eat and
what we drink. Even if we have a predisposition for it,
a genetic disposition, the food that you eat and what
you drink can help you on your chronic disease journey,
(03:46):
either to prevent getting a chronic disease or help you
manage a chronic disease. So with that in mind, you know,
we see it every day in our clinics many times, colleague,
when you go to your doctor and you are diagnosed
with a chronic disease, the first things they're going to
do is start talking to.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
You about lifestyle changes.
Speaker 5 (04:03):
Now they made they're going to prescribe medication and everything,
but they're going to talk to you about lifestyle change
is eating more fruits, eating more vegetables, reducing carbs, getting
more physically active. And so we knew that that was
the space that we needed to be in.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
You know, the choice of the title healthy and resilient
communities resilience is such an interesting choice of words, and
I think that when you talk about all the health
conditions that the black and brown community has already you know,
had to work through their daily lives, and then you
lay that blanket, like you said of COVID, on top
(04:41):
of an already challenged health situation resilience, you know, having
to develop resilience through all of those things. Can you
speak to why resilience with a specific choice of words
that you used, and how that lends itself to all
the activities that you do?
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Right?
Speaker 5 (04:56):
So for us, we try to keep it simple when
we think about resilience, and we think about the ability
to bounce back, to recover quickly and efficiently.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Bad things happen to everybody.
Speaker 5 (05:07):
Like COVID, it covered everybody, right, It wasn't select if
it covered everybody, but certain communities had a resiliency an
ability to bounce back.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
And that's what we want.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
We want people to go into it being resilient. Now,
if I can, I want to spread it out even
away from COVID, just so that the listeners really get
a feel for resiliency.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Let's look at women and girls.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
If you want a woman to have a healthy pregnancy,
you need her to be healthy before she gets pregnant.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
You need her to be resilient.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
You need her to be at a healthy wait, you know,
eating good foods, mentally healthy, all of these things being
more already more built up so that when that pregnancy comes,
she's resilient, she can bounce back, she can handle being pregnant.
So resiliency just really cuts across all of the health issues.
It means the ability to bounce back quickly, efficiently, effectively,
(06:06):
to restore yourself back to where you were or even better.
And in some communities, you know, it's just much more
difficult when a problem happens, the ability to recover from
it sometimes is very slow, if at all.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
So with regard to healthy and resilient communities that you're
trying to further, what are some of the elements that
go into developing healthy and resilient community. What are some
of the initiatives that your organization is taking.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Well, I'm going to start with the heart the healthy
and resilient community.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
What we did.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
We hired fourteen community health workers from the communities that
we are serving. And that's because we believe that people
who live in the community know that community, aren't afraid
of that community, and are trusted by that community. And
these fourteen are to be health ambassadors, so they're in
the community talking about the importance of health, of eating
(06:59):
right of sea, your doctor. And many times when we
go out, we take a medical assistant with us so
that she can do assessments glucose high pretension and make
an appointment right there on the spot. Now we would
love for them to come to one of our four
outpatient clinics, but our medical assistant will refer them to
if they say, oh, somebody is closer, they'll say, okay,
(07:21):
well you should go there, but we'll make their appointments
right on the spot. So we're connecting people from education
to the right foods, but also to good medical care.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
And you're right in the community doing.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
This, and we're right in the community doing it. And
I tell you, one of the things that comes to
mind is there was and I'm going to start with
one that was a staff person.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
So you know, we have installed these refrigerators, these eighteen
refrigerators throughout seven communities, and we've stocked them with healthy, affordable,
and good tasting food.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
Let me say that's important. It doesn't taste good, We're
not going to eat it. I know I'm not going
to eat You can tell me how healthy it is
all you want to I'm just not going to eat it.
But if it's healthy, it's good, and it's affordable, then
we have a chance that the community will actually eat
it and enjoy it and continue to do it.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
So we wanted to.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
Expose our staff to it as well. So we have
one staff person who's very open about the fact that
she struggled with obesity almost all of her life. So
when we put the refrigerator in, she was committed to
only eating out of the refrigerator at lunchtime. She lost
fifteen pounds. Goodness, fifteen pounds, wow, fifteen pounds. So we
(08:33):
were very proud of that, and we know that if
others in the community do the same, you know they're
going to get a good weight management and you know,
just controlling your weight. Obesity is the gateway to many
of our chronic diseases, right, type two diabetes, heart disease, again,
all of the diabetes, all of the usual cast of characters.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Right.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
So that was a success story that we really enjoyed,
and it was you know, among our own staff, because
our staff are human too, and they're going.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
To tell you if it's good or not, and oh
my god, they're gonna tell they're not gonna hold back.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Now, and you know, and we you know, the good
thing about it is we do tastings before we put
it in the refrigerator. We have the chefs come to
us and we do tastings and sometimes it goes well.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
Sometimes it does it and you can hear it in
the room. Wow, this is horrible.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
And when the chef isn't around it, no, no, And
for that what we do is we have them right
on a piece of paper and they drop it into
the suggestion box, you know. But for the most part,
we have the local chefs that are giving delicious foods
and they've also been made to be healthy. We have
one now and it's the most popular in the refrigerator
(09:45):
right now. It's the Rosta Pasta and it is gluten
free made with chicken and pasta and then it has
this kind of rosta flavoring to it and it is
one of the favorites right now and it's gluten free.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Okay, So now that we've got everybody these appetites going right,
let's go back to you mentioned seven locations, right.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
Yes, so eighteen locations in seven zip codes.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Oh wow, eighteen locations and seven zip codes, so access
is great.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
How do you like select those zip codes?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
And why and where can people find those locations?
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Yes, so if you go on our website authorityhealth dot org,
you'll be able to find and go over to that
site hark ha RC you'll be able to see all
of our locations. So we are in eighteen locations right now,
and I'll tell you how we did it. So first,
we hired the community health workers out of the community
(10:40):
and many times they know the local liquor store, convenience store.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Dollar store, gas station.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
They know them, and we just walk up to them
and we tell them what we're trying to do and
ask them if they want to be a part. Now
we do have a formal contract that gets signed if
they say yes. But really, what we found is is
that people who own these stores in our communities, regardless
to their nationality, really love and want to help their community.
(11:07):
Many times they don't know how to help their communities,
but they want to help their communities, and so when
we explain to them what we're doing, for the most part,
we always get a yes. You know, some of the
constraints may be oh, I just don't have enough room
in my store for another refrigerator. You know, if you've
ever gone in in a convenience store or.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
A gas station, it's tight in there. It's tight, and
we need a good location.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
We don't need to be you know, tucked in the
back somewhere where people can't see it. Basically, the answer
is we get them because we ask, you know, we
explain to them the benefits to the people who are
coming into their stores, that we want people to be healthy,
live healthy lives, live long lives, and that good healthy
food will help.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
And it sounds like they're in places where there's a
lot of natural action anyway.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Yes, there's a lot of foot traffics in the stores
that we choose, and we choose neighborhoods where there's not
a lot of healthy food choices and sometimes you know,
food choices period.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
I recently visited.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
One of our stores that's right at the edge of
Highland Park, and as I was driving.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Around, there was nothing.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
You know, it was definitely not just a food swamp
where you have an abundance of fast food and greasy foods.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
It was a food desert.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
There was no place to get food for blocks and
blocks in all directions around around the store, lots and
lots of foot traffic coming into that store, but there
was just absolutely nothing. And so that's another thing that
went into the who We asked which store owners and
in what neighborhoods. You know, we wanted to be in
(12:46):
neighborhoods that were food swamps or food deserts, and so
we've been that's where we have been focusing so far.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I mean, you think about food swamps and food deserts
and it's not just about like, you know, you see
somebody at a clinic and they say, hey, you need
to change your lifestyle, and it's like, oh, yeah, that's
so easy to do, you know, not really, because one, first,
you're access to food, which you're looking to solve, and
it sounds like, you know, you're putting them in places
to solve that problem. But also then it's just I
(13:15):
work full time, I have kids, I'm trying to go
back to school, I have to catch the bus, I
have you know, whatever. There are a million other reasons
that make it so hard to even make a meal.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
If you have access to the food in the first place,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So the fact that you make it accessible and then
easy sounds like it's just a real win for the community.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
It is, and seeing you've described all of the reasons
why all of us do a grab and go meal.
Sometimes you know you're hungry, you've worked all day, and
you're driving by one of the fast food restaurants. You're
going to get it. You're hungry and you want to
be done. So it really is for that person that
you describe. Is it good for someone who's feeding the
whole family? It's not really targeted for that is for
(13:55):
that grab and goal person who you would have gone
through the fast food line and got yourself something quick
to eat. Now you can just run into that local
store and get a delicious chicken wrap.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
You can get turkey chili, you can get the.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
Rasta pasta, you can get a beautiful salad, all of
those kinds of things because we're hungry, we want something quick.
I know, for myself, it used to be if I
was hungry, I'm in the gas station, I'm getting those
orange fingers because I'm gonna stop and get those cheetos.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Right, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Never know it was if it was your friend, right,
and so now to be able to pull into a
gas station and be hungry and instead of you know,
going for the cheetos or whatever, you can grab that sandwich.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
We wanted it to be something.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Now you know, the chili not so much, but the
wraps and everything.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
You know, how we do it. We get these fast
food things. We eat it in the car on the
way home.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
You can eat that rap or on to the next meeting,
or you got you only have a half hour for lunch,
right and so you run out the stores right there,
you get it, you eat it, and your back to
your workstation. So that's some kind of situations that we
were thinking about healthy affordable, grabbing goal meals.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's great, Well, there are three components to the healthy
and resilient communities, And we've talked just a little bit
so far about you know, the actual food that is
available in the coolers, But what are the other two
parts of the components for healthy and resilient communities.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
So there's the food that's in the coolers.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
Then there's the medical assistant who is really connecting people
to healthcare because you know, we can eat good. But
the thing about it is, we need a medical home.
We need a place where a physician knows us, not
because something is oozing or bleeding right now, it's because
they know me.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
You know, I'm there.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
I go for my annual exams so that they see
when something is going awry or if you're doing well,
they can keep you on a right path. So she's
connecting individuals to that. We also have a food truck.
We have a food truck that should be rolling.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Beautiful food truck.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
By the way, thank you for the seat online Authorityhealth do.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
It's gorgeous.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
It's gorgeous and it is a state of the art.
And so we're going to be driving through neighborhoods providing
the food. We'll be given samples from the food to
support the store owners that have the food.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
So we'll give samp. We're going to use the costco model.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
They give samples and then you go and buy it, right,
So we're going to give samples to support those store
owners that have led us in. But then we're also
going to be at health fares and places like that,
pulling up next to the other food trucks that are
selling other things. So we're going to be there selling
healthy foods. Those are the components of it.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So you've kind of created a whole food retail business,
from like sampling to a place to have people pick
it up, to pricing and promotions. Talk about everything you've
learned as you've been putting us together.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
Yes, so the first thing we've learned is if you
want to have a healthy and delicious grabbing go meal
in a refrigerator, it has to have longer than a
two day shelf life. So I always like to, you know,
just share. You know, you make mistakes along the way.
We're health people, right, we run clinics, and now we're
you know, having food trucks and refrigerators and stores.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
You know we're gonna stumble a little bit.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
So we had a very healthy partner, but the food
had a two day shelf life.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
So we were constantly.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
Turning over that food, and you know, it just was
not going well. So we learned that the healthy and
delicious and affordable food needed about a four day shelf
life in order for people to see it, decide they wanted,
and all of that.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
So we did. We did learn that.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
The other thing is we look for partners who's gonna
want to keep the refrigerator after the appropriation is gone.
You know, when you start off with a five million
dollar appropriation. I know, in my world, five million dollars
is a whole lot of money, but when you start
doing programming, you look up and it say, oh my god.
You know, three years is over and the money is over.
(18:01):
And we want it to have a sustainable initiative. So
it is built on a retail model. And that's why
we chose these retailers, because you're already buying stuff, putting
it on your shelves and selling it to people, using
some of that profit to buy more stuff and some
you know, to keep for yourself for your own earnings,
(18:22):
and so this fits right into it. The good thing
is they don't have the cost of the refrigerator. The
refrigerator is a nine thousand dollars refrigerator which we will
give to the store owner with certain conditions forever more.
They must put healthy, grabbing gold meals in the refrigerator
and that can include a lot of things, and you
(18:43):
know it cannot intu you know, include the ice cream
pushup sandwich because it has milk in it or anything.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
It has to be a healthy food.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
So when as the months go on, we will start
working with our retail owners to connect them with our wholesalers,
or they may have whole sellers are their own, so
that they will be able to continue.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
This forever more. You know, they're they're a retailer.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
They know how to talk to whole sellers, they know
how to package it, and they know how to sell
it and how to buy more. And so that's why
we believe that it will be sustainable forevermore.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
So interesting, did you ever think in your scope of
work throughout the years of being a healthcare administrator that
you would eventually be in the food food industry as well?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
No, ma'am, I am really amazing.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Now it is amazing. And sometimes i just wake up
in a cold sweat.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
I'm like, okay, food truck, how do you run?
Speaker 5 (19:41):
You know, licensing? You know, I'm learning about something called
gray water. It's like, what is grey water?
Speaker 4 (19:48):
Y'all? And why does it have to be emptied out
of the truck? Okay? What is grey water?
Speaker 5 (19:53):
So you know, you're just you're learning all of these things.
But it's exciting and and here's why. You know, for
years in community health, we always talk about we need
to get with non traditional partners, and then we kind
of sort of do it. You know, we think if
we hook up with a library, you know, that's a
non traditional partner, or if we hook up with a
(20:15):
hair or nail salon. Both of those are non traditional partners.
But when you step out and help people start, you know,
doing food and having refrigerators and having a food truck
and everything, now that's a non traditional partnership, right, and
it has been amazing.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
You know, food is where it begins and ends, right.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
You know, when you think about it, people love around
the table eating. There's laughter around it. We gather for it,
we love it. What would happen if we just started
promoting in our communities a love of foods that are
all so healthy for us and an understanding for that
because they don't have to be.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
You know, bad tasting.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
Like I said, folks are loving that Rostoposta word is
getting out, and they love that turkey.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Okay, word is getting out.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
That rap comes from Chef Golden and it's a chicken
wrap and it has grapes in it. And when I
tell you, when they first bite into that chicken.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Wrap, probably such a surprise.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
It's such a.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
Surprise that whole sweet and savory thing happening.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
At the same time, I'm hungry.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Now too, where.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Hey, do you have any new meals planned in the future,
because you're you're mentioning all these awesome foods, like how
how does it come about? Who are some of the
partners that you've worked with to develop the foods?
Speaker 3 (21:32):
The chefs? Yeah, and what's coming up?
Speaker 5 (21:35):
So we have worked with Chef Golden, We have worked
with I've just mentioned her sandwich, the chicken sandwich. We
have worked with Lady Jane, also known as the Soup Lady.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
She did the church you know, the sue she's in
this area, she is.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
Yeah, so she did our turkey chili and she's also
done a garden salad salad for us. It is Chef
Hicks that is bringing that rasta pasta to us. And
then we've all so worked with another one that many
people are familiar with, what's the deal? Yeah, so we
have the deal pickle sandwich.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Oh gotcha.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
That is also one of the favorites as well. So
some of the things we're looking at, we're looking at
more soups, and that's because the community is asking about soups.
Now as it gets warm, they may stop asking about
that as much, but soups is one of the things
we're looking at, trying some fruit cups, some cut fruit.
(22:30):
We're cautious though, because when we started we went all
in with cut fruit cups and also at Amammy and
things they didn't sell. We want to make sure first
let folks get their palette right for some things that
are more familiar, and then maybe venture out again with
some of those fruit cups and things like that and
(22:51):
some cut vegetables.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Well, the food truck be selling at events like other
food trucks.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Tell me more about where it's going or is it
only for demonstration purposes and.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
Sand Yeah, so for sampling, we'll do it around the
stores that actually offer it in the store, because we
don't want to compete with the stores. We want to
get people and say, hey, you like this, walk right
through that.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Door and you can have it now.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
For healthfares and events like that, when we pull up
next to another food truck, we're going to be selling
the items as well.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Okay, your community health workers, that's the third prong of
the three spokes there. Tell us about how they're used,
because they're doing a lot of different things today. Yes,
then they probably used to be And how did you
decide to include them in this project and train them well.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
We decided to include them in the project because we
knew that we needed people from the community. From the community,
and so they went through a formal training. All we
required is that they have a high school diploma and
be able to read and write to be able to
be eligible. And so they go through a very intensive
eight week training and then they are certified as a
(23:58):
community health worker. So they learn about things like all
of the chronic diseases, they learn about you know, making
referrals about networking. So they are highly trained and they
are certified. The reason we pick them is because you know,
we want people who are still in the community. You know,
when they go home, they're still in those communities that
they have been working in, and they become health ambassadors.
(24:21):
You know, we can put food in the refrigerator, but
if there's no one you know, kind of hawking it saying,
you know, eat this, do this, this is a good thing,
Try this, then you know it's just kind of in there,
maybe work, maybe not. We wanted to have the beauty
of the refrigerator, it's very attractive, but then we also
wanted people kind of in the community at all times,
(24:43):
speaking about health, thinking about nutrition and driving them towards
the refrigerators in the stores.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Are you going to eat? Feedback? What are what are
people saying? And what are the most popular items?
Speaker 5 (24:54):
Is it the rosposita rosta pasta is the most popular?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Feedback?
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Like, how do people tell you that that's what liking
or is it just that it's gone and other things remain?
Speaker 3 (25:02):
What is this?
Speaker 5 (25:03):
So, because this is a demonstration project, we did a
partner with someone to do evaluation. So there's this like
online survey that we're doing with people all the time
as they're coming in the store. It's pretty you know,
not obnoxious. It's about five questions because we want to
know what.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Are you liking? What are you not liking?
Speaker 5 (25:21):
That kind of thing, So they tell us in real
time as they've tried it. And also we can keep
track because the refrigerator is a smart refrigerator, so it
tells us what's being purchased, so we know in real
time what's being purchased and what is kind of languishing there.
And then we ask them, you know, we survey them
formula formally, but then while we're in the stores doing demonstrations,
(25:44):
giving samples in the stores.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
We're asking them.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
About their feedback about what they like, and before we started,
we did survey them to get the price because you know,
that's the other piece of it, right, It has to
be healthy, it has to be delicious, it has to
be affordable because one of the reasons people say, I
don't eat healthy because it costs more to eat healthy.
So before we started, we asked the community about their
(26:09):
price point and so they kind of gave us anywhere
between eight to ten dollars, and that's where we landed.
Nothing in the refrigerator costs more than ten dollars.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
And so they take the survey and has it influenced
in a great way how you've designed initiative going forward?
Speaker 4 (26:26):
It has, It really has.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
So the feedback we got from them caused us to
kind of pull some of the initial things that we
put in there that are indeed healthy, and we made
them affordable, but it wasn't the right time to be
introducing those foods. We're working hard to be able to
accept the EBT card. Oh wow, And that was a
piece of the learning, right, I just what I thought,
(26:49):
you know, by the refrigerators, have them set up so
that they can accept EBT and then we just accept EBT.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
That's not how it works. It's a federal thing.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
And you have to get approval by the federal and
all of that.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
So that's taken a little bit of time.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
So our refrigerator can't be EBT and the store owner
b EBT. So you know, it's little kinds of things
that you know, we're health people. I keep saying that, right,
did I mention this is a bunch of new learn.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Again all that.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Now you're learning about eb tweet T and how to get.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
And everything, so we know that that is the next step.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
We're trying to get some special dispensations so that we
can indeed, you know, take the EBT card on the refrigerator.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Okay, yeah, when we before we began the interview, we're
telling me that the sustainability for this program. Right now,
you're into about a year and a half of three
year awards that you've basically been given to create this program,
and the public Michigan Public Health Institute, they're conducting a
full evaluation.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
From what I understand, they're involved.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
In the surveys too, right, they're involved with that.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You know, it sounds like you're really working hard with
the locations to make sure they're the right people who
are going to want to continue this in the program
in the future. Is there anything else that's going on
that you know, you have to think about and put
in place to ensure it continues after.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
The good thing is is that with the appropriation, we
did purchase all of the refrigerators up front. So why
we have eighteen locations we have forty refrigerators. Oh you do,
we do have forty refrigerators because we also wanted to
prove that we could scale up. You go with start
off with ten work out, the bugs get another eight
work out, the bugs get another twenty five, So we
(28:32):
are scaling up.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
So the refrigerators are purchased.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
It is a retail model, so you find wholesalers, you
buy their food at a wholesale price, and then you
sell it at a reasonable retail price. And we have
said to the store owners we have helped to set
what that markup can be. So that's another thing about
the partnership, right, They really do love their communities because
some places they're used to, you know, a fifty sixty
(28:58):
eighty percent markup, can't have that kind of markup on
this food and still make it affordable. So they've agreed
to about a twenty percent markup, which is kind of
unheard of, right, the wholesalers have agreed to a very
great wholesale price. It surprises even me sometimes, but this
just shows that people understand that people need to be
(29:18):
healthy and that food can be part and should be
part of that health journey. Probably the piece that will
be most difficult to fund going forward would be the
community health workers because their salaries are dependent upon that.
We really know that that's a strong piece. It's been helping.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
They're convincing people of why this is really the right
choice to make.
Speaker 5 (29:40):
Their food ambassadors, their food and health ambassadors. And the
other piece that I probably should say is a four
prog because the other part is our healthy one hundred.
So with this initiative, we're finding one hundred people who
want intense approach with us. So they want to eat
the food, they want to see our physician, they want
(30:01):
to work with our in clinic community health worker where
we're touching base with them every couple of weeks. We're
monitoring their blood pressure, we're exposing them to yoga and
to you know, many of the things that you know,
you just those supportive approaches that help us keep us healthy,
like the mental health, all of those kinds of things.
(30:22):
So the healthy one hundred is another piece of it
that we're very excited about.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
We just kicked that off and.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
So many times people don't get that type of intensive
wrap around service, right.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
So there's no question that's got to make a difference.
It's going to make you're communicating with somebody on a
regular basis about your activities and your habits and you're
both working to change them, and they're encouraging you and
they're helping you make a choice.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
I mean that's got those hundred, they's.
Speaker 5 (30:48):
Going to make a difference. And you know they're asking them,
you know what was the boulter? Why weren't you able
to do this?
Speaker 4 (30:54):
What is it? What can we do? Was it transportation?
Was it? This? Were your lights off?
Speaker 5 (30:59):
All of these kinds of questions and then helping to
navigate through that. So we believe that you're going to
have a better health outcome. And then we give you know,
some pretty nice gifts along the way for those who
stick the blenders and all of those.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
Things that's helping you on your health journey.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Right, so you can stick with it longer.
Speaker 5 (31:16):
So you can stick with it longer, you know, and
you know, we also believe that once a person gets
into it and they start feeling better, they start feeling better,
they start looking better, their mental health is better, their
confidence and self esteem is better.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
Why wouldn't you want to continue?
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Right?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
And then people are like, hey, you look you look
like and you look like you feel great?
Speaker 3 (31:37):
How do I get to do that?
Speaker 4 (31:38):
How do I get to do that? Right? Well?
Speaker 5 (31:40):
How do you have so much energy? How is your
belly a little bit flatter? You know, you look like
you feel great. Your skin tone is better, your eyes
are clearer.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
What's going on? You know?
Speaker 5 (31:52):
You have so much energy? Those kinds of things. Health
the story, and they tell the story. They all have
I'm able to reduce my blood pressure medicine, I'm able
to do this. I mean, it's a it's a great story.
And so they become ambassadors. Right, So we have our ambassadors,
and then this healthy one hundred they become ambassadors because
once you start, we tell people, your body keeps score.
(32:13):
So if you are mean to it, if you are
putting foods in there, that is not good for it.
If you're putting too much food in there, not using
it for fuel, your body keeps score. On the other hand,
if your plate is looking like a box of crayons,
because that's what we tell people, it's like, we're not
going to make this difficult. If you look at your plate,
look at your plate, it should look like a box
(32:36):
of crayons.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
It should be a brown people, not all.
Speaker 5 (32:40):
Brown, red, orange, green, yellow, purple, green, folks, the green green,
don't forget the green. Half of your plate should be
that all of those colors. Then you can have a
protein and one fourth and you know, and then a starch.
But when you look at your plate, if it's brown
and white, we got to talk.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
Yes, yes, you need something else.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
But if your plate looks like the rainbow, looks like
a crayon box, then you're heading in the right direction.
People also ask us about processed food because they're always
told eat less processed food.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
Well, what is a process food?
Speaker 5 (33:14):
Anything that you have to open a bag, a box,
or a container before you can see what you're eating.
A can is a processed food if you can see
your food. If you have to open something before you
can see what you are eating, it's probably been process.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Here it is.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
So to figure out where in your community you can
find more on your health eating because your body's keeping score,
your body keeps scoring, keep score, go to Authorityhealth dot org.
Our lovely guest today is been Loretta Bush. She's the
president and CEO of Authority Health. Again, you can go
to Authorityhealth dot org for more information. Loretta, thank you
(33:51):
for joining us today.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
It's been a pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
This has been light up the d a community a
fairs program from Iheartened Detroit. If your organization would like
to get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia
dot com. Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.
Welcome to Light Up the D, focus on what's happening
in our community from the people who make it happen.
Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market President Colleen Grant.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning and welcome to another episode of Light of
the D. I'm your host, Colleen Grant, and I am
really excited we have a great guest today.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
It's Loretta V. Bush.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
She has been the leader in the health and human
services field for over thirty five years. Really dedicated to
our community, committed to furthering access to health services for
underserved populations, and toward that effort. She holds many roles
including Group Executive and Public Health Officer for the City
of Detroit, the Health officer for Wayne County. She's the
(00:42):
President and CEO of the Institute for Population Health, CEO
of the Michigan Primary Care Association, and President and CEO
of Authority Health, which we're discussing today. As President and
CEO of Authority Health, she's shaping the organization's sic vision
through the delivery of primary care at the neighborhood level,
(01:04):
while creating partnerships for physician residency training in family medicine,
internal medicine, pediatrics, and psychiatry, which is really really cool,
and we're going to talk more about that in our conversation.
Missus Bush has received numerous awards for her dedication, leadership
and service in the field of healthcare, including the Governor's
Council on Physical Fitness, the Harriet Tubman Award for Outstanding
(01:26):
Service on Behalf of Women, Outstanding and Innovative Leader in
the field of HIV AIDS Education, the Michigan Chronicle Women
of Excellence Award, as well as the Crane's Detroit Business
Notable Healthcare Executive.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
It's not just all about the awards.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It's about what she's doing to make a difference in
the lives of our community members. And so I'm deeply
happy to welcome you, Loretta Bush to our show.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Thank you, Colleen, I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Well, let's talk about the concept that you've really dive
through authority health, which is healthy and resilient communities.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
How did that come about?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I understand it was originating from your involvement with the
Coronavirus Task Force on Health Disparities, But why don't we
talk about that task force and how your idea came
about and into fruition.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
All right.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Well, the great thing about that task force is it
really gave those who were participating the opportunity to really
think out outside of the box. You know, we understood
that it wasn't going to be one of those task
force that go on for ten twenty years still asking
what are we going to do? Right from the beginning,
we understood that we were supposed to be looking for
solutions and solutions that would help vulnerable people should and
(02:42):
win something occur again. So with COVID, what we noticed
right away was that black and brown people were getting
COVID at a different rate, higher rate, they were getting
severe COVID and dying, so startling, it was startling, Yeah,
but here's what we are. No, it didn't have anything
to do about being black or brown. It had to
(03:03):
do with black and brown communities being overburdened already with
chronic disease. So if you have all of these chronic diseases,
and you know the cast of characters we're talking about, diabetes, hypertension,
heart disease, obesity, all of these things overburdened in our communities,
and then you lay a deadly ribis on top of it.
(03:25):
So what we have the opportunity to do at authority
health is because we see it every day. We know
what impacts chronic disease, and it's what we eat and
what we drink. Even if we have a predisposition for it,
a genetic disposition, the food that you eat and what
you drink can help you on your chronic disease journey,
(03:46):
either to prevent getting a chronic disease or help you
manage a chronic disease. So with that in mind, you know,
we see it every day in our clinics many times, colleague,
when you go to your doctor and you are diagnosed
with a chronic disease, the first things they're going to
do is start talking to.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
You about lifestyle changes.
Speaker 5 (04:03):
Now they made they're going to prescribe medication and everything,
but they're going to talk to you about lifestyle change
is eating more fruits, eating more vegetables, reducing carbs, getting
more physically active. And so we knew that that was
the space that we needed to be in.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
You know, the choice of the title healthy and resilient
communities resilience is such an interesting choice of words, and
I think that when you talk about all the health
conditions that the black and brown community has already you know,
had to work through their daily lives, and then you
lay that blanket, like you said of COVID, on top
(04:41):
of an already challenged health situation resilience, you know, having
to develop resilience through all of those things. Can you
speak to why resilience with a specific choice of words
that you used, and how that lends itself to all
the activities that you do?
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Right?
Speaker 5 (04:56):
So for us, we try to keep it simple when
we think about resilience, and we think about the ability
to bounce back, to recover quickly and efficiently.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Bad things happen to everybody.
Speaker 5 (05:07):
Like COVID, it covered everybody, right, It wasn't select if
it covered everybody, but certain communities had a resiliency an
ability to bounce back.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
And that's what we want.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
We want people to go into it being resilient. Now,
if I can, I want to spread it out even
away from COVID, just so that the listeners really get
a feel for resiliency.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Let's look at women and girls.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
If you want a woman to have a healthy pregnancy,
you need her to be healthy before she gets pregnant.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
You need her to be resilient.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
You need her to be at a healthy wait, you know,
eating good foods, mentally healthy, all of these things being
more already more built up so that when that pregnancy comes,
she's resilient, she can bounce back, she can handle being pregnant.
So resiliency just really cuts across all of the health issues.
It means the ability to bounce back quickly, efficiently, effectively,
(06:06):
to restore yourself back to where you were or even better.
And in some communities, you know, it's just much more
difficult when a problem happens, the ability to recover from
it sometimes is very slow, if at all.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
So with regard to healthy and resilient communities that you're
trying to further, what are some of the elements that
go into developing healthy and resilient community. What are some
of the initiatives that your organization is taking.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Well, I'm going to start with the heart the healthy
and resilient community.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
What we did.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
We hired fourteen community health workers from the communities that
we are serving. And that's because we believe that people
who live in the community know that community, aren't afraid
of that community, and are trusted by that community. And
these fourteen are to be health ambassadors, so they're in
the community talking about the importance of health, of eating
(06:59):
right of sea, your doctor. And many times when we
go out, we take a medical assistant with us so
that she can do assessments glucose high pretension and make
an appointment right there on the spot. Now we would
love for them to come to one of our four
outpatient clinics, but our medical assistant will refer them to
if they say, oh, somebody is closer, they'll say, okay,
(07:21):
well you should go there, but we'll make their appointments
right on the spot. So we're connecting people from education
to the right foods, but also to good medical care.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
And you're right in the community doing.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
This, and we're right in the community doing it. And
I tell you, one of the things that comes to
mind is there was and I'm going to start with
one that was a staff person.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
So you know, we have installed these refrigerators, these eighteen
refrigerators throughout seven communities, and we've stocked them with healthy, affordable,
and good tasting food.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
Let me say that's important. It doesn't taste good, We're
not going to eat it. I know I'm not going
to eat You can tell me how healthy it is
all you want to I'm just not going to eat it.
But if it's healthy, it's good, and it's affordable, then
we have a chance that the community will actually eat
it and enjoy it and continue to do it.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
So we wanted to.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
Expose our staff to it as well. So we have
one staff person who's very open about the fact that
she struggled with obesity almost all of her life. So
when we put the refrigerator in, she was committed to
only eating out of the refrigerator at lunchtime. She lost
fifteen pounds. Goodness, fifteen pounds, wow, fifteen pounds. So we
(08:33):
were very proud of that, and we know that if
others in the community do the same, you know they're
going to get a good weight management and you know,
just controlling your weight. Obesity is the gateway to many
of our chronic diseases, right, type two diabetes, heart disease, again,
all of the diabetes, all of the usual cast of characters.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Right.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
So that was a success story that we really enjoyed,
and it was you know, among our own staff, because
our staff are human too, and they're going.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
To tell you if it's good or not, and oh
my god, they're gonna tell they're not gonna hold back.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Now, and you know, and we you know, the good
thing about it is we do tastings before we put
it in the refrigerator. We have the chefs come to
us and we do tastings and sometimes it goes well.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
Sometimes it does it and you can hear it in
the room. Wow, this is horrible.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
And when the chef isn't around it, no, no, And
for that what we do is we have them right
on a piece of paper and they drop it into
the suggestion box, you know. But for the most part,
we have the local chefs that are giving delicious foods
and they've also been made to be healthy. We have
one now and it's the most popular in the refrigerator
(09:45):
right now. It's the Rosta Pasta and it is gluten
free made with chicken and pasta and then it has
this kind of rosta flavoring to it and it is
one of the favorites right now and it's gluten free.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Okay, So now that we've got everybody these appetites going right,
let's go back to you mentioned seven locations, right.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
Yes, so eighteen locations in seven zip codes.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Oh wow, eighteen locations and seven zip codes, so access
is great.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
How do you like select those zip codes?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
And why and where can people find those locations?
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Yes, so if you go on our website authorityhealth dot org,
you'll be able to find and go over to that
site hark ha RC you'll be able to see all
of our locations. So we are in eighteen locations right now,
and I'll tell you how we did it. So first,
we hired the community health workers out of the community
(10:40):
and many times they know the local liquor store, convenience store.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Dollar store, gas station.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
They know them, and we just walk up to them
and we tell them what we're trying to do and
ask them if they want to be a part. Now
we do have a formal contract that gets signed if
they say yes. But really, what we found is is
that people who own these stores in our communities, regardless
to their nationality, really love and want to help their community.
(11:07):
Many times they don't know how to help their communities,
but they want to help their communities, and so when
we explain to them what we're doing, for the most part,
we always get a yes. You know, some of the
constraints may be oh, I just don't have enough room
in my store for another refrigerator. You know, if you've
ever gone in in a convenience store or.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
A gas station, it's tight in there. It's tight, and
we need a good location.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
We don't need to be you know, tucked in the
back somewhere where people can't see it. Basically, the answer
is we get them because we ask, you know, we
explain to them the benefits to the people who are
coming into their stores, that we want people to be healthy,
live healthy lives, live long lives, and that good healthy
food will help.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
And it sounds like they're in places where there's a
lot of natural action anyway.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Yes, there's a lot of foot traffics in the stores
that we choose, and we choose neighborhoods where there's not
a lot of healthy food choices and sometimes you know,
food choices period.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
I recently visited.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
One of our stores that's right at the edge of
Highland Park, and as I was driving.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Around, there was nothing.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
You know, it was definitely not just a food swamp
where you have an abundance of fast food and greasy foods.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
It was a food desert.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
There was no place to get food for blocks and
blocks in all directions around around the store, lots and
lots of foot traffic coming into that store, but there
was just absolutely nothing. And so that's another thing that
went into the who We asked which store owners and
in what neighborhoods. You know, we wanted to be in
(12:46):
neighborhoods that were food swamps or food deserts, and so
we've been that's where we have been focusing so far.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I mean, you think about food swamps and food deserts
and it's not just about like, you know, you see
somebody at a clinic and they say, hey, you need
to change your lifestyle, and it's like, oh, yeah, that's
so easy to do, you know, not really, because one, first,
you're access to food, which you're looking to solve, and
it sounds like, you know, you're putting them in places
to solve that problem. But also then it's just I
(13:15):
work full time, I have kids, I'm trying to go
back to school, I have to catch the bus, I
have you know, whatever. There are a million other reasons
that make it so hard to even make a meal.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
If you have access to the food in the first place,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So the fact that you make it accessible and then
easy sounds like it's just a real win for the community.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
It is, and seeing you've described all of the reasons
why all of us do a grab and go meal.
Sometimes you know you're hungry, you've worked all day, and
you're driving by one of the fast food restaurants. You're
going to get it. You're hungry and you want to
be done. So it really is for that person that
you describe. Is it good for someone who's feeding the
whole family? It's not really targeted for that is for
(13:55):
that grab and goal person who you would have gone
through the fast food line and got yourself something quick
to eat. Now you can just run into that local
store and get a delicious chicken wrap.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
You can get turkey chili, you can get the.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
Rasta pasta, you can get a beautiful salad, all of
those kinds of things because we're hungry, we want something quick.
I know, for myself, it used to be if I
was hungry, I'm in the gas station, I'm getting those
orange fingers because I'm gonna stop and get those cheetos.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Right, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Never know it was if it was your friend, right,
and so now to be able to pull into a
gas station and be hungry and instead of you know,
going for the cheetos or whatever, you can grab that sandwich.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
We wanted it to be something.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Now you know, the chili not so much, but the
wraps and everything.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
You know, how we do it. We get these fast
food things. We eat it in the car on the
way home.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
You can eat that rap or on to the next meeting,
or you got you only have a half hour for lunch,
right and so you run out the stores right there,
you get it, you eat it, and your back to
your workstation. So that's some kind of situations that we
were thinking about healthy affordable, grabbing goal meals.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's great, Well, there are three components to the healthy
and resilient communities, And we've talked just a little bit
so far about you know, the actual food that is
available in the coolers, But what are the other two
parts of the components for healthy and resilient communities.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
So there's the food that's in the coolers.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
Then there's the medical assistant who is really connecting people
to healthcare because you know, we can eat good. But
the thing about it is, we need a medical home.
We need a place where a physician knows us, not
because something is oozing or bleeding right now, it's because
they know me.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
You know, I'm there.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
I go for my annual exams so that they see
when something is going awry or if you're doing well,
they can keep you on a right path. So she's
connecting individuals to that. We also have a food truck.
We have a food truck that should be rolling.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Beautiful food truck.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
By the way, thank you for the seat online Authorityhealth do.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
It's gorgeous.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
It's gorgeous and it is a state of the art.
And so we're going to be driving through neighborhoods providing
the food. We'll be given samples from the food to
support the store owners that have the food.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
So we'll give samp. We're going to use the costco model.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
They give samples and then you go and buy it, right,
So we're going to give samples to support those store
owners that have led us in. But then we're also
going to be at health fares and places like that,
pulling up next to the other food trucks that are
selling other things. So we're going to be there selling
healthy foods. Those are the components of it.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So you've kind of created a whole food retail business,
from like sampling to a place to have people pick
it up, to pricing and promotions. Talk about everything you've
learned as you've been putting us together.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
Yes, so the first thing we've learned is if you
want to have a healthy and delicious grabbing go meal
in a refrigerator, it has to have longer than a
two day shelf life. So I always like to, you know,
just share. You know, you make mistakes along the way.
We're health people, right, we run clinics, and now we're
you know, having food trucks and refrigerators and stores.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
You know we're gonna stumble a little bit.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
So we had a very healthy partner, but the food
had a two day shelf life.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
So we were constantly.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
Turning over that food, and you know, it just was
not going well. So we learned that the healthy and
delicious and affordable food needed about a four day shelf
life in order for people to see it, decide they wanted,
and all of that.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
So we did. We did learn that.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
The other thing is we look for partners who's gonna
want to keep the refrigerator after the appropriation is gone.
You know, when you start off with a five million
dollar appropriation. I know, in my world, five million dollars
is a whole lot of money, but when you start
doing programming, you look up and it say, oh my god.
You know, three years is over and the money is over.
(18:01):
And we want it to have a sustainable initiative. So
it is built on a retail model. And that's why
we chose these retailers, because you're already buying stuff, putting
it on your shelves and selling it to people, using
some of that profit to buy more stuff and some
you know, to keep for yourself for your own earnings,
(18:22):
and so this fits right into it. The good thing
is they don't have the cost of the refrigerator. The
refrigerator is a nine thousand dollars refrigerator which we will
give to the store owner with certain conditions forever more.
They must put healthy, grabbing gold meals in the refrigerator
and that can include a lot of things, and you
(18:43):
know it cannot intu you know, include the ice cream
pushup sandwich because it has milk in it or anything.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
It has to be a healthy food.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
So when as the months go on, we will start
working with our retail owners to connect them with our wholesalers,
or they may have whole sellers are their own, so
that they will be able to continue.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
This forever more. You know, they're they're a retailer.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
They know how to talk to whole sellers, they know
how to package it, and they know how to sell
it and how to buy more. And so that's why
we believe that it will be sustainable forevermore.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
So interesting, did you ever think in your scope of
work throughout the years of being a healthcare administrator that
you would eventually be in the food food industry as well?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
No, ma'am, I am really amazing.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Now it is amazing. And sometimes i just wake up
in a cold sweat.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
I'm like, okay, food truck, how do you run?
Speaker 5 (19:41):
You know, licensing? You know, I'm learning about something called
gray water. It's like, what is grey water?
Speaker 4 (19:48):
Y'all? And why does it have to be emptied out
of the truck? Okay? What is grey water?
Speaker 5 (19:53):
So you know, you're just you're learning all of these things.
But it's exciting and and here's why. You know, for
years in community health, we always talk about we need
to get with non traditional partners, and then we kind
of sort of do it. You know, we think if
we hook up with a library, you know, that's a
non traditional partner, or if we hook up with a
(20:15):
hair or nail salon. Both of those are non traditional partners.
But when you step out and help people start, you know,
doing food and having refrigerators and having a food truck
and everything, now that's a non traditional partnership, right, and
it has been amazing.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
You know, food is where it begins and ends, right.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
You know, when you think about it, people love around
the table eating. There's laughter around it. We gather for it,
we love it. What would happen if we just started
promoting in our communities a love of foods that are
all so healthy for us and an understanding for that
because they don't have to be.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
You know, bad tasting.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
Like I said, folks are loving that Rostoposta word is
getting out, and they love that turkey.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Okay, word is getting out.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
That rap comes from Chef Golden and it's a chicken
wrap and it has grapes in it. And when I
tell you, when they first bite into that chicken.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Wrap, probably such a surprise.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
It's such a.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
Surprise that whole sweet and savory thing happening.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
At the same time, I'm hungry.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Now too, where.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Hey, do you have any new meals planned in the future,
because you're you're mentioning all these awesome foods, like how
how does it come about? Who are some of the
partners that you've worked with to develop the foods?
Speaker 3 (21:32):
The chefs? Yeah, and what's coming up?
Speaker 5 (21:35):
So we have worked with Chef Golden, We have worked
with I've just mentioned her sandwich, the chicken sandwich. We
have worked with Lady Jane, also known as the Soup Lady.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
She did the church you know, the sue she's in
this area, she is.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
Yeah, so she did our turkey chili and she's also
done a garden salad salad for us. It is Chef
Hicks that is bringing that rasta pasta to us. And
then we've all so worked with another one that many
people are familiar with, what's the deal? Yeah, so we
have the deal pickle sandwich.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Oh gotcha.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
That is also one of the favorites as well. So
some of the things we're looking at, we're looking at
more soups, and that's because the community is asking about soups.
Now as it gets warm, they may stop asking about
that as much, but soups is one of the things
we're looking at, trying some fruit cups, some cut fruit.
(22:30):
We're cautious though, because when we started we went all
in with cut fruit cups and also at Amammy and
things they didn't sell. We want to make sure first
let folks get their palette right for some things that
are more familiar, and then maybe venture out again with
some of those fruit cups and things like that and
(22:51):
some cut vegetables.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Well, the food truck be selling at events like other
food trucks.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Tell me more about where it's going or is it
only for demonstration purposes and.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
Sand Yeah, so for sampling, we'll do it around the
stores that actually offer it in the store, because we
don't want to compete with the stores. We want to
get people and say, hey, you like this, walk right
through that.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Door and you can have it now.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
For healthfares and events like that, when we pull up
next to another food truck, we're going to be selling
the items as well.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Okay, your community health workers, that's the third prong of
the three spokes there. Tell us about how they're used,
because they're doing a lot of different things today. Yes,
then they probably used to be And how did you
decide to include them in this project and train them well.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
We decided to include them in the project because we
knew that we needed people from the community. From the community,
and so they went through a formal training. All we
required is that they have a high school diploma and
be able to read and write to be able to
be eligible. And so they go through a very intensive
eight week training and then they are certified as a
(23:58):
community health worker. So they learn about things like all
of the chronic diseases, they learn about you know, making
referrals about networking. So they are highly trained and they
are certified. The reason we pick them is because you know,
we want people who are still in the community. You know,
when they go home, they're still in those communities that
they have been working in, and they become health ambassadors.
(24:21):
You know, we can put food in the refrigerator, but
if there's no one you know, kind of hawking it saying,
you know, eat this, do this, this is a good thing,
Try this, then you know it's just kind of in there,
maybe work, maybe not. We wanted to have the beauty
of the refrigerator, it's very attractive, but then we also
wanted people kind of in the community at all times,
(24:43):
speaking about health, thinking about nutrition and driving them towards
the refrigerators in the stores.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Are you going to eat? Feedback? What are what are
people saying? And what are the most popular items?
Speaker 5 (24:54):
Is it the rosposita rosta pasta is the most popular?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Feedback?
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Like, how do people tell you that that's what liking
or is it just that it's gone and other things remain?
Speaker 3 (25:02):
What is this?
Speaker 5 (25:03):
So, because this is a demonstration project, we did a
partner with someone to do evaluation. So there's this like
online survey that we're doing with people all the time
as they're coming in the store. It's pretty you know,
not obnoxious. It's about five questions because we want to
know what.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Are you liking? What are you not liking?
Speaker 5 (25:21):
That kind of thing, So they tell us in real
time as they've tried it. And also we can keep
track because the refrigerator is a smart refrigerator, so it
tells us what's being purchased, so we know in real
time what's being purchased and what is kind of languishing there.
And then we ask them, you know, we survey them
formula formally, but then while we're in the stores doing demonstrations,
(25:44):
giving samples in the stores.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
We're asking them.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
About their feedback about what they like, and before we started,
we did survey them to get the price because you know,
that's the other piece of it, right, It has to
be healthy, it has to be delicious, it has to
be affordable because one of the reasons people say, I
don't eat healthy because it costs more to eat healthy.
So before we started, we asked the community about their
(26:09):
price point and so they kind of gave us anywhere
between eight to ten dollars, and that's where we landed.
Nothing in the refrigerator costs more than ten dollars.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
And so they take the survey and has it influenced
in a great way how you've designed initiative going forward?
Speaker 4 (26:26):
It has, It really has.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
So the feedback we got from them caused us to
kind of pull some of the initial things that we
put in there that are indeed healthy, and we made
them affordable, but it wasn't the right time to be
introducing those foods. We're working hard to be able to
accept the EBT card. Oh wow, And that was a
piece of the learning, right, I just what I thought,
(26:49):
you know, by the refrigerators, have them set up so
that they can accept EBT and then we just accept EBT.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
That's not how it works. It's a federal thing.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
And you have to get approval by the federal and
all of that.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
So that's taken a little bit of time.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
So our refrigerator can't be EBT and the store owner
b EBT. So you know, it's little kinds of things
that you know, we're health people. I keep saying that, right,
did I mention this is a bunch of new learn.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Again all that.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Now you're learning about eb tweet T and how to get.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
And everything, so we know that that is the next step.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
We're trying to get some special dispensations so that we
can indeed, you know, take the EBT card on the refrigerator.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Okay, yeah, when we before we began the interview, we're
telling me that the sustainability for this program. Right now,
you're into about a year and a half of three
year awards that you've basically been given to create this program,
and the public Michigan Public Health Institute, they're conducting a
full evaluation.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
From what I understand, they're involved.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
In the surveys too, right, they're involved with that.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You know, it sounds like you're really working hard with
the locations to make sure they're the right people who
are going to want to continue this in the program
in the future. Is there anything else that's going on
that you know, you have to think about and put
in place to ensure it continues after.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
The good thing is is that with the appropriation, we
did purchase all of the refrigerators up front. So why
we have eighteen locations we have forty refrigerators. Oh you do,
we do have forty refrigerators because we also wanted to
prove that we could scale up. You go with start
off with ten work out, the bugs get another eight
work out, the bugs get another twenty five, So we
(28:32):
are scaling up.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
So the refrigerators are purchased.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
It is a retail model, so you find wholesalers, you
buy their food at a wholesale price, and then you
sell it at a reasonable retail price. And we have
said to the store owners we have helped to set
what that markup can be. So that's another thing about
the partnership, right, They really do love their communities because
some places they're used to, you know, a fifty sixty
(28:58):
eighty percent markup, can't have that kind of markup on
this food and still make it affordable. So they've agreed
to about a twenty percent markup, which is kind of
unheard of, right, the wholesalers have agreed to a very
great wholesale price. It surprises even me sometimes, but this
just shows that people understand that people need to be
(29:18):
healthy and that food can be part and should be
part of that health journey. Probably the piece that will
be most difficult to fund going forward would be the
community health workers because their salaries are dependent upon that.
We really know that that's a strong piece. It's been helping.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
They're convincing people of why this is really the right
choice to make.
Speaker 5 (29:40):
Their food ambassadors, their food and health ambassadors. And the
other piece that I probably should say is a four
prog because the other part is our healthy one hundred.
So with this initiative, we're finding one hundred people who
want intense approach with us. So they want to eat
the food, they want to see our physician, they want
(30:01):
to work with our in clinic community health worker where
we're touching base with them every couple of weeks. We're
monitoring their blood pressure, we're exposing them to yoga and
to you know, many of the things that you know,
you just those supportive approaches that help us keep us healthy,
like the mental health, all of those kinds of things.
(30:22):
So the healthy one hundred is another piece of it
that we're very excited about.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
We just kicked that off and.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
So many times people don't get that type of intensive
wrap around service, right.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
So there's no question that's got to make a difference.
It's going to make you're communicating with somebody on a
regular basis about your activities and your habits and you're
both working to change them, and they're encouraging you and
they're helping you make a choice.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
I mean that's got those hundred, they's.
Speaker 5 (30:48):
Going to make a difference. And you know they're asking them,
you know what was the boulter? Why weren't you able
to do this?
Speaker 4 (30:54):
What is it? What can we do? Was it transportation?
Was it? This? Were your lights off?
Speaker 5 (30:59):
All of these kinds of questions and then helping to
navigate through that. So we believe that you're going to
have a better health outcome. And then we give you know,
some pretty nice gifts along the way for those who
stick the blenders and all of those.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
Things that's helping you on your health journey.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Right, so you can stick with it longer.
Speaker 5 (31:16):
So you can stick with it longer, you know, and
you know, we also believe that once a person gets
into it and they start feeling better, they start feeling better,
they start looking better, their mental health is better, their
confidence and self esteem is better.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
Why wouldn't you want to continue?
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Right?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
And then people are like, hey, you look you look
like and you look like you feel great?
Speaker 3 (31:37):
How do I get to do that?
Speaker 4 (31:38):
How do I get to do that? Right? Well?
Speaker 5 (31:40):
How do you have so much energy? How is your
belly a little bit flatter? You know, you look like
you feel great. Your skin tone is better, your eyes
are clearer.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
What's going on? You know?
Speaker 5 (31:52):
You have so much energy? Those kinds of things. Health
the story, and they tell the story. They all have
I'm able to reduce my blood pressure medicine, I'm able
to do this. I mean, it's a it's a great story.
And so they become ambassadors. Right, So we have our ambassadors,
and then this healthy one hundred they become ambassadors because
once you start, we tell people, your body keeps score.
(32:13):
So if you are mean to it, if you are
putting foods in there, that is not good for it.
If you're putting too much food in there, not using
it for fuel, your body keeps score. On the other hand,
if your plate is looking like a box of crayons,
because that's what we tell people, it's like, we're not
going to make this difficult. If you look at your plate,
look at your plate, it should look like a box
(32:36):
of crayons.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
It should be a brown people, not all.
Speaker 5 (32:40):
Brown, red, orange, green, yellow, purple, green, folks, the green green,
don't forget the green. Half of your plate should be
that all of those colors. Then you can have a
protein and one fourth and you know, and then a starch.
But when you look at your plate, if it's brown
and white, we got to talk.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
Yes, yes, you need something else.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
But if your plate looks like the rainbow, looks like
a crayon box, then you're heading in the right direction.
People also ask us about processed food because they're always
told eat less processed food.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
Well, what is a process food?
Speaker 5 (33:14):
Anything that you have to open a bag, a box,
or a container before you can see what you're eating.
A can is a processed food if you can see
your food. If you have to open something before you
can see what you are eating, it's probably been process.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Here it is.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
So to figure out where in your community you can
find more on your health eating because your body's keeping score,
your body keeps scoring, keep score, go to Authorityhealth dot org.
Our lovely guest today is been Loretta Bush. She's the
president and CEO of Authority Health. Again, you can go
to Authorityhealth dot org for more information. Loretta, thank you
(33:51):
for joining us today.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
It's been a pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
This has been light up the d a community a
fairs program from Iheartened Detroit. If your organization would like
to get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia
dot com. Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.
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