March 17, 2025 • 60 mins
Mia Jones is a force of nature whose mission to serve Jacksonville's underserved communities has shaped her remarkable career from city council to the Florida legislature and now healthcare leadership. Her approach to creating change reveals a masterclass in relationship politics – not the partisan kind, but the human connections that transcend political divisions when addressing community needs.
Jones shares fascinating behind-the-scenes stories of how she strategically built alliances to pass meaningful legislation. Now as CEO of Agape Community Health Center, Jones faces the challenge of providing care regardless of ability to pay while navigating complex funding structures. Her innovative approaches to creating sustainable funding streams reveal both creative problem-solving and deep commitment to community health.
What resonates most powerfully is Jones's reminder that strong communities take care of their own. Her parting wisdom draws from historical examples of community self-sufficiency. In today's uncertain landscape, her message couldn't be more timely: use your insurance while you have it, get preventive care, and contribute to organizations serving your community. The strength to weather any storm comes from within.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Hey, hey.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hello, how are you, hey Neil, Hello, hello, let me
try to get me a background here.
Hold on one second.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Now you know, it's just audio now.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah, Boom yeah.
We just looking at you so wecan see your face while we talk.
I did not know that.
And it's cute too y'all, If wekeep this part of the recording.
Honey, she cute too.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Hey, literally I got up this morning and I was
getting ready to throw my scrubson and I was like, oh crap, I
got up this morning and I wasgetting ready to throw my scrubs
on and I was like, oh crap, Igot a and they recording.
Put some clothes on Mia so yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I got dressed for y'all, I know I'm glad you did.
You look so pretty, your hair,everything, everything.
And we manifested you really,because we've been talking to a
lot of um, omegas, and the lastcall I was like, come on now,
let's get a couple more aka's,and then what do we have today?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
hey, anytime, anytime .
I was with the deltas last week, a week before last so you know
whatever.
I can do.
Y'all know.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Well, we're happy to have you, for sure, I have your
bio here.
Did you send me your bio?
Speaker 1 (01:53):
You know T I like the whole concept where we might do
the ChatGPT bio for everybody,just to see what comes up.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
We could actually Really.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I got your bio from Ioana, but let me see what
ChatGPT says about you.
We did that for Senator Hill.
It was pretty good.
Oh, wow, I know, beware, getready.
Have you done this before, mia?
No, just put in ChatGPT.
Okay, have you used it at all?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
A little bit.
I gotta find me some classes.
One of my friends was trying towork with me on how to ask the
questions and that kind of thing, so I've used it for a few
things.
But yeah it, I'm slow on likeresponding to people because I
have this twerk in my head thatit's got to be the perfect
(02:45):
response.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And so she told me to start trying to use it for that
and just type in what I'mtrying to say and let it create
it.
And so I've been working onthat.
So, yeah, I'm technologicallychallenged.
I'm technologically challenged,but I am praying that the Lord
(03:17):
is going to fix that for me andput me in a different space so
that it makes my life easier.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I know that chat GPT can go through a document and
give me bullet points, but Ionly know the basic way.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
So if it's in a PDF, then I'm trying to convert it to
Word so I can cut and paste itand put it in the chat.
Gpt and I'm like Mia, it'sanother way.
It's an easier way to do this,so I'm trusting God.
He's going to do it, becausehe's got work for me to do.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You know what's funny is ChatGPT began your bio with
your birth year, your entirebirth date.
Would you like for me toinclude that, or should we?
No, I was just going to add alittle color to you and the
computer issues.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
What Born in 1968.
, that's right?
Hey, no, but I'm reminded.
I remember when my mom gotready to retire and computers
were just really, you know,getting there and she was like,
(04:32):
yeah, when you graduating.
So I told her when I wasgraduating undergrad, she put
her papers in the Friday beforemy Saturday graduation.
She put her papers in theFriday before my Saturday
graduation.
My gift to her and my dad was Ihad gotten accepted into grad
school on a free ride.
(04:52):
So when they got there andthey're looking around like you
have not packed anything, and Isaid, oh yeah, I extended my
lease and, by the way, I had itin a little box and she opened
it up and she said I put myretirement papers in.
I said keep reading, mama, it'spaid in full.
(05:15):
But in her mind she needed tostill have income coming in and
I'm like, okay, lady, if youwant to keep working.
And she went back for a yearjust so she was working while I
was in school and I was like no,don't send me no money.
(05:37):
I got it seriously.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I love that yeah for her baby girl.
So what did Jack GPT say to her?
Seriously, I love that.
Yeah, yeah For her baby girl,mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
That's true.
So what did?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
ChatGPT say to her All right, let me tell you what
it said.
Scratch Work EDU listeners.
Today we have Mia L Jones, whois a distinguished public
servant and healthcare advocatewith a career spanning various
leadership roles.
Jones graduated from FloridaA&M University with a Bachelor
of Science in Accounting in 1991, followed by a Master of
(06:10):
Business Administration in 1992.
She began her public servicecareer in 1992 as an Equal
Employment Opportunity Assistantin Jacksonville's Office of
Equal Employment, serving until1995.
She then joined Duval CountyPublic Schools as Supervisor of
Affirmative Action and laterbecame the Director of Minority
(06:32):
Business Affairs.
In 2003, jones was elected tothe Jacksonville City Council,
representing District 10, whereshe served until 2008.
During her tenure, she chairedand participated in various
committees, including rules,economic, community and
international development, andpublic health and safety.
(06:52):
She also served as councilliaison to several boards and
authorities.
In 2008, jones was elected tothe Florida House of
Representatives for District 14,was elected to the Florida
House of Representatives forDistrict 14, serving until 2016.
She held positions such asranking member on the House
Select Committee on Healthcare,workforce Innovation and Health
(07:14):
and Human Services Committee.
Jones was also the Democraticleader pro tem from 2012 to 2016
.
After her legislative service,jones became the chief executive
officer of Agape CommunityHealth Center, inc.
A federally qualified healthcare center in Duval County.
Under her leadership, agape hasexpanded health care access to
(07:37):
underserved communities,addressing health disparities
and providing quality care touninsured and underinsured
residents.
In 2024, jones was honored withthe Jacksonville Jaguars
Inspire Change Changemaker Awardfor her significant
contributions to communityhealth and her dedication to
(07:59):
public service.
Jones's career reflects asteadfast commitment to public
service, health, equity andcommunity development in
Jacksonville.
Mia Jones, per Chat, gpp.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
That's pretty good.
That's pretty good, Mia What'd?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
you say about that.
I like it.
I mean it covered everything.
There you go, uh-huh, butyou're praying about it.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Boom, I'm praying about it.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Okay, one question.
I said we're interviewing MiaJones today and I need a bio.
She's from Jacksonville,florida, that's just in case it
was another Mia Jones.
And then, boom, now they didnot say you graduated from
Raines High School.
I'm going to add that.
And they also did not say thatyou are a member of Alpha Kappa,
(08:47):
alpha Sorority Incorporated.
I'm going to add that.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
All right, hey you know, I got cussed out about not
putting that in my bio, notputting AKA in my bio, when I
first ran for office.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Leah, how could you miss that?
Those were votes.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Maybe I didn't miss it but I grew up in a Greek
family, and so I believe that ifI was not financial, I didn't
know what.
You didn't see me walkingaround wearing pink and green.
You didn't see any tags on mycar.
None of that Got it.
And I don't know if you everknew Betty Sessions and Delphina
(09:30):
Carter.
They pulled me to the side oneday and they said now you need
to straighten this out because Iwas featured in Onyx Magazine
Nice and they said oh, we are soproud of you.
However, you are an alpha,kappa, alpha woman for life and
(09:53):
I don't care if you are notfinancial, that's right.
You better straighten it out.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I need the non-financial members of
sororities and fraternitiestoday to put on a shirt today
and just enjoy yourself.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Don't tell that to my brothers.
They mess around and not paytheir dues.
That's not okay over here,brothers.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
No we need them paying their dues.
We need them engaged.
We need them remembering whythey did what they did.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
All of this is true, but it didn't mean you were not
a brother or a sister hiding inthe Onyx magazine because you
didn't pay something.
So if y'all doing somethingspecial, now shout us out.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
That's it Okay.
All right, Mia.
So that's a lot of your bio.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
You put out what you want to and keep in what you
want to.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Well, first tell me, is there anything missing?
Is there anything that you knowthat you've done, that you felt
was substantial and it wasn'tadded?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
I don't think I heard it say anything about fighting
for Medicaid expansion remindedme on Saturday that she came
with a group of people aboutfood deserts and I challenged
(11:14):
them to go and write legislationand come back.
And they did, and I carried itand passed it.
And what it did was it allowedthe recipients of SNAP and food
stamp benefits to be able to usethose at farmers markets across
the state so that they couldget fresh fruits and vegetables,
(11:37):
as opposed to having to, youknow, do what they were doing,
which was buying a whole lot ofprocessed foods and all of that
kind of thing.
But it's not necessary.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
That's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Those are things and actually it made me say that I
want to go back and look at someof my legislation and document
that chronicle it, and becausethere have been some really good
things I had.
It was a time that God justkept sending people to me whose
(12:15):
license had been suspended and Iwas like what the heck?
And then they would keepdriving and then they, you know,
get another ticket and theylicense.
And then they would keepdriving and then they, you know,
get another ticket and theylicense.
And I happened to be in anevent and there were some judges
there Judge Ariz, I think, he'sretired now and we were talking
about it and I said I don'tunderstand this.
(12:38):
He said, oh, you're talkingabout the snowball, we call it
the snowball.
And I said what do you mean?
He said well, people get theticket, they can't pay it.
They got to drive to get towork or do whatever.
They keep driving, they getcaught again, they get another
ticket, they get more fees addedand that snowball just
(13:01):
continues.
He says, and it's not a way out.
And I was like, oh, challengehim.
I said, can you write me somelegislation and let's see if we
can do something about this.
So when you hear people saythat they're paying their
(13:21):
tickets in partial payments thatwas my bill and I thought
literally that it was just goingto be a pilot, but you don't
ever know and when you'relooking at everything that's
going on right now, this isreally a good time Know that
(13:44):
things are going to get betterbecause the people who are up
here their families, are hereokay and just to explain for our
listeners up here, she'sshowing that the families are
lower it's going to literallyshow them because it's going to
(14:05):
start to touch them.
So it's going to be thatlegislator whose child ended up
on drugs and now they got toraise their grandkids and
they're in their 70s or 80s.
That's a real example.
That person came back the nextyear and all of a sudden was the
(14:27):
biggest proponent for secondchances for kids Wow, and I had
to ask the question why?
What happened?
I mean, I know I was fightingwith you and he said Mia, I'm
raising my grandson and he's agood kid, he just got into some
(14:52):
little trouble, he just needed asecond chance.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Little trouble.
Look different now, huh, littletrouble looks different when
it's your people.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Even that snowball looked different because the
speaker of the house at the time, their family had a worker who
was a single mom and she rodethe bus to work for them every
day and I guess she helped withtheir kids and their parents and
(15:24):
whatever.
And he and his brother decidedto buy her a car, make sure she
on time, make sure she couldhelp them more, whatever.
And they bought her the car,they gave her the keys and she
said, oh, I can't take that.
And they said what do you mean?
It's paid for, free and clear.
We're going to pay theinsurance.
(15:45):
She said, oh no, my license hassuspended.
And so when I walked into thespeaker's office to present the
bill to him and to ask that heapprove it being put on the
agenda and I had the provisionin there that it was a pilot
program he took pilot programout and it passed with no issues
(16:12):
.
But they were touched bysomebody who was in that
situation.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
And so when we look at everything that's going on
right now, and so when we lookat everything that's going on
right now, when you hear peopleon the news saying I didn't
think it would touch me.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
We're going to see more and more and more of that
You're going to see taken andthe actions that they are not
standing up against.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Mia, with all the things that you've done, I'll
admit that even hearing some ofthe bills that you've passed and
things that have happened, Ifeel badly that I don't know
Even the elected officials.
I know I don't know things likethat about happened.
I feel badly that I don't knoweven the elected officials.
I know I don't know things likethat about them.
I know that they're good people.
I know that they're fightinghard.
I know that you know whenthey're running for something
(17:14):
people may say, oh, they don'tdo anything or they do do
something.
But how is there, why don't weknow all the amazing things that
happen under a particularelected officials kind of
timeline?
That's something going on rightnow that we could be discussing
(17:35):
.
Where is that it happens?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
For me.
I can say the reason ithappened is because the way I
was brought up I mean, my dadwas at the Y helping families
and doing that for over 32 years.
My mom was an administrator inthe school system for over 30
years Kids would end up at ourtable because their parents put
(18:01):
them out and we never knew whowas going to be eating dinner
with us and if they were stayingovernight.
Okay, that's just, that's thefamily that I grew up.
That's my roots and so, evenbeing elected, when I was
elected, I didn't have somebodyaround me that was good at
(18:26):
recording and telling the storyand it wasn't a big deal for me
because I wasn't doing it forthe story.
I was doing it to help thepeople and as long as I could
help who I was trying to help, Iwas good.
So you look at the LegendCenter and the Bob Hayes Sports
(18:47):
Complex.
The Bob Hayes Sports Complexwas funded originally.
Before I got there it was theBob Hayes soccer field.
I'm making plans for six monthsdown the road and I went to Bob
Hayes' mom and I said I wouldlove for you to be a part of
(19:09):
this event when we name thissoccer complex after your son.
She cussed me out.
My son didn't play soccer.
Why the hell would somebodywant to name a soccer complex
after him?
Mm-hmm, I said you areabsolutely right and I will
correct that that's how itbecame the Bob Hayes Sports
(19:34):
Complex.
But I even went as far as tomake them redesign it so that it
is a full football field.
So that it is a full footballfield, you can cut it into two
junior fields and then you cancut it into quarter fields for
(19:57):
the smaller kids.
Okay, at that point she wasokay and she came to the ribbon
cutting.
But the Legends Center wasn't onanybody's radar.
That was just contaminated landover there.
Nobody was getting ready to doanything and you'll remember
when the storms came through in2004 and they came down Edgewood
(20:18):
and a lot of prop Jenkins gottorn, a lot of houses, roofs got
tore up, a lot of houses, roofsand things were torn up.
It was right before the SuperBowl and we were talking.
I got the call and they're likeI was on Beach Boulevard, I was
(20:39):
at JCCI so you know this a longtime ago At JCCI in a meeting.
I'm like why is my phoneblowing up?
They know I'm in a meeting.
Hey, your district has been hithard by this storm.
I scurry home, I'm trying to getto the house and they're like
you're not going to be able toget to your house.
I'm like I grew up in thisneighborhood, I can, I got some
(21:02):
back streets, I can go on and Ican get there.
I grew up in this neighborhood,I can, I got some back streets,
I can go on and I can get there.
And I was able to get to myhouse.
The chief for the area sent anofficer to come and get me and
then we went to where theystaged on us one and I was like
well, I don't want to stay uphere with y'all, y'all just
(21:22):
talking and no, take me out inthe community.
And he did.
And I said well, let's go tothe hurricane shelter.
All my life, I thought RainesRebought were hurricane shelters
.
Come to find out they had beendecertified.
Nobody ever told us.
So people were literallybringing seniors to the schools,
(21:46):
telling them to sit on thebench and somebody would be
there to open the door shortly.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
And nobody coming.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Nobody was coming.
So at first I wasn't able toget what I what it created for
me was a vision of a medicalneeds multi-purpose facility in
our community, because I'm like,well, where are we supposed to
(22:14):
go?
They said downtown.
So we supposed to go to thehomeless shelter Wild.
No, we, not we going to come upwith this.
And I started going around thecity, going into Georgia,
looking at facilities andidentify what I wanted it to be.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Didn't have any money .
Speaker 2 (22:41):
But back then they gave each council member a
million dollars your first yearand so I took a portion of it
and had the building designed.
So we had architecturalrenderings and all of that.
And who was that?
Dick Gregory, a promoter who Ihad met one time called and said
(23:06):
hey, I'm being in Jacksonvillewith Dick Gregory.
You got something you want himto come to.
Sure, you know he's abouthealth, you know nutrition.
Bring him out here to the BobHayes Sports Complex on Valley.
He came, he came, he told JohnPayton off in front of all them
(23:32):
people, and I had gotten thearchitect to blow the renderings
up and we had the renderingsout there for the ribbon cutting
of a sports complex.
The media was there.
We didn't have any money tobuild this thing.
Every time hurricane seasoncame around there was a reporter
(23:59):
that would tell the story abouthow the Northside didn't have a
hurricane shelter and how I hadbeen trying to get one.
And when John Payton went infor reelection to the editorial
board, that was one of thequestions they asked him and
they said are you going tofinally give Councilwoman Jones
the money to build the medicalneeds and hurricane shelter?
(24:22):
And he said yeah.
And then he called me and saiddid you pay these people?
I said no, they've just beentelling the story for three
years.
Every hurricane season theywould tell the story, they would
call me, I would tell them wedon't have anywhere to go and
that's how that facility gotbuilt.
(24:42):
And then it has an indoorwalking track.
Because if you go out to LonnieMiller Park you know we want
our seniors to walk, we want thecommunity to walk exercise.
There are still signs on LonnieMiller Park to this day that
say do not disturb the dirt.
(25:04):
So if you're telling me don'tdisturb the dirt, you're
covering yourself from liability.
So my thing was okay.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Well, my seniors can walk inside the facility and so
that's why there's the indoorwalking track in there, because
I wanted them to have a safeplace to walk.
That's amazing.
(25:36):
Now that needs to be recorded.
We talk a lot about justknowledge repositories, just
databases of stories that youknow.
Again, the general public mayor may not know, but we have to
record those types of things andconnect that back to our
community so that theyunderstand how things became and
you know what they reallyreally mean.
Now it's more than just a, youknow, a park or a building or
(25:58):
whatever those things are.
So I'm glad we've been able totalk about this.
You know, mia, one of the thingsthat I've always admired about
you has been you know the stuffthat was in your bio, those
significant kind of policies andthings that have come from you
know city council kind ofpolicies and things that have
come from you know city council,state and especially at the
(26:20):
state level, just knowing theway that the lines are drawn and
you know the party lines, Iguess talk to us a little bit
about how to even get meaningfullegislation passed, both when
you was there and particularlynow you know, because when I
(26:41):
think about it, even on a citylevel, you know there's a lot of
great ideas floating around inour community, a lot of folks
saying we should do this and weshould have that, but actually
getting it to the point wherethere's some legislation on the
books for us to vote on in a waythat empowers communities I
know can be a difficult thing todo, you know, even from the
outside, so I'm sure from theinside you have a different
(27:02):
perspective.
And what's your thoughts onactually getting things going
from concept to vote on alllevels?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
What I learned and I've shared a little bit with
you of that was that you've gotto get To know the people.
Ok, you can have an idea it'snot a good idea to tell
everybody what your idea is orwhatever but you kind of lay out
(27:31):
what you want your plan to be.
Kind of lay out what you wantyour plan to be, and then you
start getting to know peoplelistening to people, finding out
what's important to them,watching them in a committee
meeting OK, let's see howthey're going to vote on that.
Hmm, they might be a good ally.
(27:53):
And then you build thatrelationship.
It could be as simple as onedinner.
It could be as simple as eatingin the cafeteria.
Back in the when I first gotfirst few years I was in the
(28:16):
legislature I remember thatthere was a mother in City Hall
and she would have to leave workevery day to go and give her
son his insulin.
And I was like let's go tolunch.
She said no, I have to go to myson's school and give him his
insulin.
I said why?
(28:36):
I'm sure it's a whole bunch ofdiabetics at the school.
What do you mean?
And she said no, you know therules say you got to.
You know.
Just I said do you give him hisinsulin at home?
She said no, the doctor trainedhim on how to do it.
I said okay, well, I had seensome bills pass the previous
(29:01):
year and I got with one of theRepublican members and I said
this is what I want to do.
I want kids to be able toself-administer, because their
doctors teach them how to do itand they do it every day at home
.
And I said what I need is Ineed you to carry the bill.
We'll co-sponsor you.
Carry the bill because it wasthat important to me.
(29:22):
I didn't want anything to getin the way of it.
I didn't want them to think ofdiabetes as a black disease.
I wanted them to see it as thisis something that's going to
help families.
And so he said OK.
I said I need a prop.
He said what I said we need aprop.
(29:43):
He said OK.
He found a little five-year-oldlittle white boy with spiked
hair.
They put him on a cute littleoutfit, had his little tie on.
They brought him to the meeting.
He told his story and he showedhim how he self administers.
(30:06):
And I sat back and I said I lovethat so it's really getting to
know people, their stories, whatthey've been through and
touching them so they know itrelates to them.
Now I'm not there.
Now I know things are a lotdifferent.
(30:30):
If there was a way for us toget turned the internet down,
was a way for us to get turn theinternet down, at least Not off
.
Turn it down.
Help our elected officials andremind them on a regular basis.
All politics is local.
(30:51):
All of this stuff you see goingon in Washington, or you let
them do that.
All of this stuff you see goingon in Washington, or use, let
them do that.
Take care of the business ofthe people on the level that
you're on.
But remember, we look at thecuts that are being made in DC.
(31:14):
Well, a lot of the money inTallahassee is there and
available, because we take asmall portion of Tallahassee
money and then the federalgovernment will give us a match
that then increases that moneyand then we have the money to do
(31:36):
the things that we need to do.
So if they're cutting up here,we can't afford to cut on the
state level in the blind orblindly and then turn around and
cut on the local level blindly,because you don't know what
this impact is going to be uphere and you're only going based
(31:59):
on what you know.
The past has been so.
In the past, the state hashandled it.
In the past, the feds havehandled it.
But if everybody is cutting atthe same time, you just in this
flux.
You're just in this flux andthen all of a sudden, the issue
(32:25):
that you have is going to behuge rather than okay, well, we
got that cut, we can fill thisgap.
And so everything from peoplelosing their insurance most
people get their insurance fromwork you cut all of these
government workers and many ofthem if they're two income
(32:51):
families, a lot of times both ofthem work for the government.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Mia, are you finding these cuts to be impacting you
at Agape?
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Absolutely.
How so?
Absolutely.
So we have a mandate as afederally qualified health
center not to turn anybody away.
We provide services regardlessof their ability to pay.
So the more people who don'thave the money to pay, the more
people who are going to comethrough my door.
(33:22):
But if the federal governmentisn't giving me the funding, if
the state isn't giving me thefunding because they're getting
the matched funding from thefeds, if the city is not going
to give me the money and I needthe city's intergovernmental
(33:44):
transfer six figures to send toTallahassee to then turn around
for them to get millions fromthe feds and then send me more
back All of that impacts.
So imagine, as an organizationyeah, that money works for us to
(34:09):
support the uninsured.
Well, if you cut Medicare,which is another program that we
depend on, because when ourseniors come in and that's what
they got, we take them, usuallythat will help to offset the
care of the uninsured.
(34:30):
But if you reduce that, that'sless money for me to have for
the uninsured and it's lessmoney for me to provide the
service to that senior.
If you reduce Medicaid and youreduce the number of people that
are on Medicaid, then thosepeople go to becoming uninsured,
(34:51):
okay.
And then you've got Medicaidgetting smaller, so that little
bit of money that we get fromMedicaid gets smaller, and so
now I've got a bigger hole tofill.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Mia the and I am not as well versed in this kind of
health space, but, you know, forthe purposes of sky type stuff,
(35:39):
to that we as communities canstart thinking about at least
implementing that could supportthis in place of federal funding
and state funding.
You know what do you?
Have you thought about it?
Have you seen any other thingsyou know in other countries,
maybe even in terms of, hey, weneed to figure out this on a
(35:59):
community level.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Yeah, absolutely Stepping into this position.
One of the things that has beenon my list is for this to be an
organization that has perpetualfunding.
So, regardless as to how muchwe get each year, yes, we use
that, whatever, but that we havea pot of funds that are there
(36:27):
that are just building interest.
We're rolling that interestover back into it and we keep
allowing it to grow almost likean endowment.
To grow almost like anendowment.
But you're doing it with ahigh-yield savings account where
(36:47):
you're getting 4%, 5%, and if Iput a million in and I'm
getting 4% and 5%, I do that.
I'm able to pay for a position.
Okay, I'm able to pay for aposition.
Okay.
And regardless as to whateverelse is going on, I can pay for
that position.
And that position is not havingto be paid for all at one time,
(37:09):
it's incremental as the moneyis being built and growing.
Our organization, our board, isrequired to be made up of 51%
patients.
So when you think of anonprofit organization and you
(37:33):
think of boards, you think ofthem having members from Bank of
America, First Union, Florida,Blue, the hospitals, all these
different places.
I can only have 10% of my boardfrom the hospital or healthcare
(37:57):
industry.
So 51%, that's patients.
Now they can go and ask theirfriends, family, whatever, for
small gifts Can you give me $100?
Can you give me $50?
(38:18):
Can you give me, you know, on amonthly basis, $25?
Those are things that I'm nowhaving to try to put in place so
that kind of like the you seethe kids on TV and they, for
years they would say, oh, if yougive this much money, you're
(38:38):
able to do this, that and theother.
Creating that story so peopleunderstand every little bit
helps.
It could be $25 and I'm hearinga patient in the pharmacy and
the pharmacist is saying it'sgoing to be $25 for your
medicine and they're saying theydon't have it.
(38:58):
Well, they tell me I have tosee them.
They don't tell me I have togive them the medicine.
So we try to raise money andput money aside to be able to
help to fill that hole.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Mia, is that 51% because it's the FQHC or why is
okay?
Speaker 2 (39:23):
It's because we are what they call a 330E
organization.
330 is the healthcare servicearea, but E is everyone, so the
330H, which is homeless.
They don't have the samerequirement.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Is it ever?
You know, obviously I'm surethat was extremely advantageous
at whatever point we set it up.
You know you set it up likethat.
Have you ever thought aboutthis?
Is this is no longer anadvantage?
But you know what's going on atthe federal level and the state
level and you know, is there afor profit solution that is now
(40:06):
maybe more advantageous?
Speaker 2 (40:09):
I mean the requirement.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
So and I understand why they did.
Ok, it's almost like a secretshopper.
Ok, so you want board memberswho are actually receiving the
service and can tell you thisisn't working.
This is working.
(40:34):
This is not a good provider.
This is a good provider.
This is working.
This is not a good provider.
This is a good provider.
The staff was this way, thefacility was this way and I
believe they did that becausethey recognize that if you have
a board and I learned this atthe school board if you have a
(40:54):
board of people who are makingdecisions for others, but it's
not something that they livelive, then the level and the
quality and the expectations arediminished.
(41:14):
I won't say intentionally, butit's just the reality of things.
So they are looking for thepatient member to be able to be
that voice.
So I don't tell my staff who myboard members are.
(41:35):
So when they come in, theydon't know, unless they go out,
how many staff going to go outthere.
Read your website, see who yourboard is.
They're not so unless they dothat, your board is.
They're not so unless they dothat when that board member
walks in and they're trying toget an appointment or they're
calling and trying to get anappointment and they can't get
(41:59):
through.
I get a phone call and I try towalk them through the process
so I can learn what's actuallygoing on, Versus just going and
fixing it.
Just going OK, here's yourappointment, we got you straight
, We'll see you tomorrow.
Ok, because that's not the realworld of the patients.
(42:22):
So right now we are testing outdoing Saturday clinics because
a new patient with us was havingto wait three to four months to
get a new patient slide.
Yeah, Now, mind you, I can't paywhat the hospitals pay.
(42:45):
I can't pay for what some ofthe private offices can pay.
So it's a constant battle ofokay, I really need this
provider, I need this doctor.
How are we going to pay for it?
So then we have to go out andlook for grants.
(43:06):
So then we have to go out andlook for grants, but you don't
want to get a grant.
I had to learn this.
All money is not good money.
I didn't always think that way.
I get one time money.
I start a program up, it startsgoing good, and then the money
runs out, that's it.
I got patients now that aredepending on that.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
Okay, those are the that's it.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
I got patients now that are depending on that.
Ok, those are the types ofthings that, as I'm trying to
come up with what would be analternative to the government
money, that I'm having to thinkthrough, that I'm having to try
(44:06):
to come up with ideas, identifysupport, looking for that plan
that would allow us not to havethat to worry about Now.
Diversification has been ourbiggest benefit and I'm glad I
thought about that early,because when I came we only got
money from the feds.
That's it.
And that first year I remembergoing to the city, which was
(44:28):
interesting, since I had beenescorted out Like no, we don't
need you to stay for two weeks,we are accepting your
resignation and you can leavetoday.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
Now don't try to skip the real stories.
Now, that's the podcast.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
What happened.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Now Okay.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
Well, you remember, I used to work for Mayor Brown
and I was the first healthcommissioner for the city of
Jacksonville.
I was still in the legislature,which is a part time job Most
of those people have job so itwas a part time job and I worked
for the mayor as a specialassistant to the mayor and
(45:07):
director of boards andcommissions.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
I forgot about that.
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
So in doing that I'm having to.
I'm playing both sides of it,state and local which I'm glad I
had the opportunity to do it.
I appreciate him thinkingenough of me to bring me in
because I learned so much.
It's one thing to be on thecity council, but you don't see
(45:38):
what the administration ishaving to do, and that's why
it's important to have you knowthe different compartments of
government.
You need your legislativecomponent, you need your
legislative component, you needyour executive component, you
need the judiciary component,because everybody plays a role
and, just like in life,everybody has a different
(45:59):
perspective based on whatthey're responsible for.
And so when Mayor Brown did notget reelected, everyone had to
submit their letters ofresignation and then the new
administration would decide ifthey wanted to keep anyone.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
You couldn't even do the two weeks.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
No, no, they said pack your stuff Bye-bye.
Pack your.
I had Republican friends likeyou're going to be good.
We've been telling them you'regood to work with, you're just
going to be about doing it.
(46:44):
Thank you for your service.
Pack your bag.
I went and got me some boxes,packed my stuff up and went home
, got my two weeks check and itwas okay.
Then I had to turn around and goto them because this was my
(47:07):
idea of we got to diversify ourrevenue and go to rest his soul,
sam Moussa, who was chief ofstaff or administrative chief of
staff, whatever he was at thetime and say, hey, sam, I need
to meet with you.
And he's like okay, neil, whatyou want to meet about, I need
(47:28):
to meet with you.
He's like okay, neil, what youwant to meet about?
I said, well, I'm over here atAgape and we're providing health
care services for our mostneedy population.
And you may remember, someyears ago the city stopped
giving money to the FQHC becausey'all felt that it was the
(47:50):
responsibility of the state.
Remember, we're a consolidatedgovernment.
We're the only consolidatedentity in the state of Florida.
So every other municipality,their county has money, their
city has money, then they havethe state money and then they
(48:11):
have the federal money.
So when, with us beingconsolidated city and county,
when they were looking for waysto cut the budget, that was one
of the places they cut.
They said we're not paying forthe health department.
The state can do that.
Wow.
So she said, okay, we'll meet.
(48:34):
And we met and we were able tocarve out funding.
Unfortunately, it's every year Ihave to go back, as opposed to
putting it where it needed to be, and that's why I say it's a
learning process.
If I had known that, as healthcommission, I could have taken
care of that while I was there,but I didn't know Right, okay.
(49:00):
So it's things like that that Ithink that as we are traveling
this road, this journey thatwe're on, we have to document
what's taking place.
We've got to look for what wasgood in it, what was bad in it,
(49:22):
and there were a lot of goodthings and we just need to go
ahead and start finding ways forus to implement.
So, even if it's and I've beenderelict in doing this being
able to say okay to churches,every church got somebody who
(49:43):
need help, healthcare help.
Can y'all provide A hundreddollars a month.
Can y'all put us in your budget?
Ok to organizations.
(50:04):
Can you put?
Or can you help me to create away to market to them?
Because they all got insurance,they all they good.
This isn't their area, this isnot touching them yet.
Okay, hey, we fund this.
(50:26):
I will tell you.
I've been here nine years.
I have one volunteer doctor Now, you know, doctors volunteer at
a number of organizations inour community.
Speaker 1 (50:48):
The volunteer doctor doesn't look like me.
You know we're coming up ontime, but I really want to know
why you think that's the case Igot to ask.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
I believe that we look at organizations that have
been around for a long time andwe want to be able to say, oh, I
volunteer at Volunteers inMedicine, I volunteer at we Care
, I volunteer at Salzbacher, andthose are larger organizations,
(51:15):
they have a different face infront of them and, as a result,
that's where we go.
Speaker 3 (51:28):
I hate that, mia, and I hope that if we have any
listeners in medicine nearby ornot nearby, come here and help
Agape Community.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
Health.
Yeah, we got to fix that.
Speaker 3 (51:39):
Yeah, I don't like that at all, mia.
There are so many themes inwhat you've been sharing today.
What I've heard is, if you growup around service, you're going
to serve.
If you are doing great work, itdoesn't matter.
People will still ask you topack your bags and walk up out
of there, and that there arefunding challenges and health
(52:01):
care challenges right now everpresent.
No matter how hard anybody'sbeen working, that's impacting
our community.
Before we wrap up, I do want toknow on the health side, of
course, we know on the news thatthere's COVID or if these, you
know, like big outbreaks andthings like that.
But from a communityperspective, what are we?
What are you seeing in terms ofpeople who are coming in?
(52:24):
Is there anything?
If you had to do just anoff-the-cuff PSA, a public
service announcement for peoplejust to kind of hear what you
all have been getting into yourclinics, or advice you would
give what is really going on inour community from a health
perspective?
Speaker 2 (52:46):
Honestly, the message that I would share is if you
have insurance right now, use it.
Go get your annual checkup.
We have taken things forgranted for so long.
Even people with insurancedon't always use it.
We wait until we get sick, andso, with the climate being what
(53:12):
it is right now, I encouragepeople go and get those checks.
Go and identify what yourbaseline is, where you are, and
create that relationship with aprovider's office, because so
many people don't have a primarycare provider, so many people
(53:34):
don't get an annual check.
We have to teach our children,and you all have done an amazing
job and continue to do anamazing job educating our kids
and exposing them educating ourkids and exposing them but we
have to create for them aroadmap of how do I make sure
that I'm healthy years down theroad, and so teaching them that
(54:02):
you need to do an annual, youneed to go to the dentist.
It's an awful thing to seepeople come in and they don't
have teeth.
It affects the entire body,okay.
It's an awful thing to knowthat somebody could have gotten
help, but they didn't.
And now they're unemployed andthey don't have that insurance,
okay.
(54:22):
So that's what we are all about.
We want to be preventative, wewant to try to get in front of
the curb.
Our numbers, historically, areso bad that as a community we
got a long way to go.
But we got to start somewhereand so we've got to change our
(54:44):
messaging.
We've got to have these talks.
You know time is out forchit-chat.
Our time together, our timewith other groups, needs to be
spent with valuable discussionson health, on finances, on
(55:06):
community growth andsustainability, on finances, on
community growth andsustainability.
I'll leave you with this.
When I look back over decades,I say the best time that we had
was when we were segregated.
We owned our own grocery stores, we owned our doctors work for
(55:31):
themselves, we had pharmacies,we had hotels, we had
entertainment venues, we had ourschools.
Our teachers taught our kids.
At that point, when you aretaking care of yours which a lot
of communities do with noproblem when you're taking care
(55:53):
of yours and not trying so hardto get what somebody else has,
we as a community are strong.
Speaker 3 (56:01):
Period.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
And that is the message.
Speaker 3 (56:05):
That's it right there .
Drop the mic.
Speaker 1 (56:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (56:10):
Thank you for the opportunity you guys no, thank
you.
Speaker 1 (56:12):
I want I wanted to say too as well you know you've
always been a big supporter ofall the stuff that we've been
doing.
You know, way, way back, evenwhen it was uh, just a fund at
the community foundation and uh,matter of fact, I don't know,
we, we gave uh agape.
The first, one of the firstchecks that we sent from the
fund went to a gap.
It was like a thousand dollars.
I might have bought him some,some chips in the lobby, but we
(56:35):
did all we could.
But we appreciate a gap.
They're supporting us.
Speaker 2 (56:41):
You brought the young people in that we could talk to
them and share about theprogram.
Speaker 1 (56:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, love it and.
Speaker 3 (56:48):
I love that you shared that, ronnie, because I
think, based on what Mia justsaid and even that example of we
had a few dollars and we tookit over there like we gave it to
them, I think for our listeners, y'all, we have to take care of
ourselves.
We have to take care of eachother.
If there is no ever-presentmessage right now, you no ever
(57:11):
present message right now, youcan turn your TV off or on.
There shouldn't be one of uswalking around that doesn't
think we need each other andthat we need to take care of
ourselves and one another.
We cannot wait on other peopleto take care of us.
Beg people to take care of us,beg people to see us.
We're here and you know exactlyhow to plug in.
Go support somebody who lookslike you today, like literally
today.
(57:32):
Like when you hear the song, Ilike the song.
Y'all like the song at the endof the podcast.
I love it, mia, you got to hearit.
You'll hear it when the songgoes off.
Y'all go support each other.
That's all.
That's my little tidbit fortoday, mia.
Thank you so much Thank you.
Speaker 2 (57:48):
That's my little tidbit for today, Mia.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (57:49):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (57:50):
Thanks for inviting me.
I appreciate it Anytime.
Speaker 2 (57:51):
I'm here.
Speaker 1 (57:53):
Hopefully we didn't waste the outfit, you know, even
though it's all audio.
Speaker 2 (57:56):
It's all good, oh yeah, just giving somebody a
little time, I might decide togo to dinner or something you
know that's right.
Speaker 3 (58:04):
I think you should All right.
Speaker 2 (58:08):
Thank you, take care, all right, bye-bye.
Speaker 4 (58:29):
Anytime.
I guess that endurance is bliss.
Take me back to before the noonRewind.
Take it out of queue.
Innocence can be a human's game.
Signed up for the hall of shame.
I wish I knew how much I missednot knowing that we're all
(58:50):
screwed when we play our rolesand ignore the problems.
I like to be way more patient.
(59:13):
Stay up.
I feel so outdated.
How can we look the other way?
Sun is out, but the sky is gray.
What would happen if I took achance?
It's always hard at firstglance.
I don't wanna, but I know Igotta do it.
The truth is hard to swallow.
I think I knew how much Imissed that moment that we're
(01:00:07):
all screwed when we play ourroles and ignore the problems.
I wish I knew how much I missnot knowing that we're all
(01:00:35):
screwed.
I wish I knew.
Hey, hey.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hello, how are you, hey Neil, Hello, hello, let me
try to get me a background here.
Hold on one second.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Now you know, it's just audio now.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah, Boom yeah.
We just looking at you so wecan see your face while we talk.
I did not know that.
And it's cute too y'all, If wekeep this part of the recording.
Honey, she cute too.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Hey, literally I got up this morning and I was
getting ready to throw my scrubson and I was like, oh crap, I
got up this morning and I wasgetting ready to throw my scrubs
on and I was like, oh crap, Igot a and they recording.
Put some clothes on Mia so yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I got dressed for y'all, I know I'm glad you did.
You look so pretty, your hair,everything, everything.
And we manifested you really,because we've been talking to a
lot of um, omegas, and the lastcall I was like, come on now,
let's get a couple more aka's,and then what do we have today?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
hey, anytime, anytime .
I was with the deltas last week, a week before last so you know
whatever.
I can do.
Y'all know.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Well, we're happy to have you, for sure, I have your
bio here.
Did you send me your bio?
Speaker 1 (01:53):
You know T I like the whole concept where we might do
the ChatGPT bio for everybody,just to see what comes up.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
We could actually Really.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I got your bio from Ioana, but let me see what
ChatGPT says about you.
We did that for Senator Hill.
It was pretty good.
Oh, wow, I know, beware, getready.
Have you done this before, mia?
No, just put in ChatGPT.
Okay, have you used it at all?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
A little bit.
I gotta find me some classes.
One of my friends was trying towork with me on how to ask the
questions and that kind of thing, so I've used it for a few
things.
But yeah it, I'm slow on likeresponding to people because I
have this twerk in my head thatit's got to be the perfect
(02:45):
response.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And so she told me to start trying to use it for that
and just type in what I'mtrying to say and let it create
it.
And so I've been working onthat.
So, yeah, I'm technologicallychallenged.
I'm technologically challenged,but I am praying that the Lord
(03:17):
is going to fix that for me andput me in a different space so
that it makes my life easier.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I know that chat GPT can go through a document and
give me bullet points, but Ionly know the basic way.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
So if it's in a PDF, then I'm trying to convert it to
Word so I can cut and paste itand put it in the chat.
Gpt and I'm like Mia, it'sanother way.
It's an easier way to do this,so I'm trusting God.
He's going to do it, becausehe's got work for me to do.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You know what's funny is ChatGPT began your bio with
your birth year, your entirebirth date.
Would you like for me toinclude that, or should we?
No, I was just going to add alittle color to you and the
computer issues.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
What Born in 1968.
, that's right?
Hey, no, but I'm reminded.
I remember when my mom gotready to retire and computers
were just really, you know,getting there and she was like,
(04:32):
yeah, when you graduating.
So I told her when I wasgraduating undergrad, she put
her papers in the Friday beforemy Saturday graduation.
She put her papers in theFriday before my Saturday
graduation.
My gift to her and my dad was Ihad gotten accepted into grad
school on a free ride.
(04:52):
So when they got there andthey're looking around like you
have not packed anything, and Isaid, oh yeah, I extended my
lease and, by the way, I had itin a little box and she opened
it up and she said I put myretirement papers in.
I said keep reading, mama, it'spaid in full.
(05:15):
But in her mind she needed tostill have income coming in and
I'm like, okay, lady, if youwant to keep working.
And she went back for a yearjust so she was working while I
was in school and I was like no,don't send me no money.
(05:37):
I got it seriously.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I love that yeah for her baby girl.
So what did Jack GPT say to her?
Seriously, I love that.
Yeah, yeah For her baby girl,mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
That's true.
So what did?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
ChatGPT say to her All right, let me tell you what
it said.
Scratch Work EDU listeners.
Today we have Mia L Jones, whois a distinguished public
servant and healthcare advocatewith a career spanning various
leadership roles.
Jones graduated from FloridaA&M University with a Bachelor
of Science in Accounting in 1991, followed by a Master of
(06:10):
Business Administration in 1992.
She began her public servicecareer in 1992 as an Equal
Employment Opportunity Assistantin Jacksonville's Office of
Equal Employment, serving until1995.
She then joined Duval CountyPublic Schools as Supervisor of
Affirmative Action and laterbecame the Director of Minority
(06:32):
Business Affairs.
In 2003, jones was elected tothe Jacksonville City Council,
representing District 10, whereshe served until 2008.
During her tenure, she chairedand participated in various
committees, including rules,economic, community and
international development, andpublic health and safety.
(06:52):
She also served as councilliaison to several boards and
authorities.
In 2008, jones was elected tothe Florida House of
Representatives for District 14,was elected to the Florida
House of Representatives forDistrict 14, serving until 2016.
She held positions such asranking member on the House
Select Committee on Healthcare,workforce Innovation and Health
(07:14):
and Human Services Committee.
Jones was also the Democraticleader pro tem from 2012 to 2016
.
After her legislative service,jones became the chief executive
officer of Agape CommunityHealth Center, inc.
A federally qualified healthcare center in Duval County.
Under her leadership, agape hasexpanded health care access to
(07:37):
underserved communities,addressing health disparities
and providing quality care touninsured and underinsured
residents.
In 2024, jones was honored withthe Jacksonville Jaguars
Inspire Change Changemaker Awardfor her significant
contributions to communityhealth and her dedication to
(07:59):
public service.
Jones's career reflects asteadfast commitment to public
service, health, equity andcommunity development in
Jacksonville.
Mia Jones, per Chat, gpp.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
That's pretty good.
That's pretty good, Mia What'd?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
you say about that.
I like it.
I mean it covered everything.
There you go, uh-huh, butyou're praying about it.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Boom, I'm praying about it.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Okay, one question.
I said we're interviewing MiaJones today and I need a bio.
She's from Jacksonville,florida, that's just in case it
was another Mia Jones.
And then, boom, now they didnot say you graduated from
Raines High School.
I'm going to add that.
And they also did not say thatyou are a member of Alpha Kappa,
(08:47):
alpha Sorority Incorporated.
I'm going to add that.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
All right, hey you know, I got cussed out about not
putting that in my bio, notputting AKA in my bio, when I
first ran for office.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Leah, how could you miss that?
Those were votes.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Maybe I didn't miss it but I grew up in a Greek
family, and so I believe that ifI was not financial, I didn't
know what.
You didn't see me walkingaround wearing pink and green.
You didn't see any tags on mycar.
None of that Got it.
And I don't know if you everknew Betty Sessions and Delphina
(09:30):
Carter.
They pulled me to the side oneday and they said now you need
to straighten this out because Iwas featured in Onyx Magazine
Nice and they said oh, we are soproud of you.
However, you are an alpha,kappa, alpha woman for life and
(09:53):
I don't care if you are notfinancial, that's right.
You better straighten it out.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I need the non-financial members of
sororities and fraternitiestoday to put on a shirt today
and just enjoy yourself.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Don't tell that to my brothers.
They mess around and not paytheir dues.
That's not okay over here,brothers.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
No we need them paying their dues.
We need them engaged.
We need them remembering whythey did what they did.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
All of this is true, but it didn't mean you were not
a brother or a sister hiding inthe Onyx magazine because you
didn't pay something.
So if y'all doing somethingspecial, now shout us out.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
That's it Okay.
All right, Mia.
So that's a lot of your bio.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
You put out what you want to and keep in what you
want to.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Well, first tell me, is there anything missing?
Is there anything that you knowthat you've done, that you felt
was substantial and it wasn'tadded?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
I don't think I heard it say anything about fighting
for Medicaid expansion remindedme on Saturday that she came
with a group of people aboutfood deserts and I challenged
(11:14):
them to go and write legislationand come back.
And they did, and I carried itand passed it.
And what it did was it allowedthe recipients of SNAP and food
stamp benefits to be able to usethose at farmers markets across
the state so that they couldget fresh fruits and vegetables,
(11:37):
as opposed to having to, youknow, do what they were doing,
which was buying a whole lot ofprocessed foods and all of that
kind of thing.
But it's not necessary.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
That's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Those are things and actually it made me say that I
want to go back and look at someof my legislation and document
that chronicle it, and becausethere have been some really good
things I had.
It was a time that God justkept sending people to me whose
(12:15):
license had been suspended and Iwas like what the heck?
And then they would keepdriving and then they, you know,
get another ticket and theylicense.
And then they would keepdriving and then they, you know,
get another ticket and theylicense.
And I happened to be in anevent and there were some judges
there Judge Ariz, I think, he'sretired now and we were talking
about it and I said I don'tunderstand this.
(12:38):
He said, oh, you're talkingabout the snowball, we call it
the snowball.
And I said what do you mean?
He said well, people get theticket, they can't pay it.
They got to drive to get towork or do whatever.
They keep driving, they getcaught again, they get another
ticket, they get more fees addedand that snowball just
(13:01):
continues.
He says, and it's not a way out.
And I was like, oh, challengehim.
I said, can you write me somelegislation and let's see if we
can do something about this.
So when you hear people saythat they're paying their
(13:21):
tickets in partial payments thatwas my bill and I thought
literally that it was just goingto be a pilot, but you don't
ever know and when you'relooking at everything that's
going on right now, this isreally a good time Know that
(13:44):
things are going to get betterbecause the people who are up
here their families, are hereokay and just to explain for our
listeners up here, she'sshowing that the families are
lower it's going to literallyshow them because it's going to
(14:05):
start to touch them.
So it's going to be thatlegislator whose child ended up
on drugs and now they got toraise their grandkids and
they're in their 70s or 80s.
That's a real example.
That person came back the nextyear and all of a sudden was the
(14:27):
biggest proponent for secondchances for kids Wow, and I had
to ask the question why?
What happened?
I mean, I know I was fightingwith you and he said Mia, I'm
raising my grandson and he's agood kid, he just got into some
(14:52):
little trouble, he just needed asecond chance.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Little trouble.
Look different now, huh, littletrouble looks different when
it's your people.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Even that snowball looked different because the
speaker of the house at the time, their family had a worker who
was a single mom and she rodethe bus to work for them every
day and I guess she helped withtheir kids and their parents and
(15:24):
whatever.
And he and his brother decidedto buy her a car, make sure she
on time, make sure she couldhelp them more, whatever.
And they bought her the car,they gave her the keys and she
said, oh, I can't take that.
And they said what do you mean?
It's paid for, free and clear.
We're going to pay theinsurance.
(15:45):
She said, oh no, my license hassuspended.
And so when I walked into thespeaker's office to present the
bill to him and to ask that heapprove it being put on the
agenda and I had the provisionin there that it was a pilot
program he took pilot programout and it passed with no issues
(16:12):
.
But they were touched bysomebody who was in that
situation.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
And so when we look at everything that's going on
right now, and so when we lookat everything that's going on
right now, when you hear peopleon the news saying I didn't
think it would touch me.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
We're going to see more and more and more of that
You're going to see taken andthe actions that they are not
standing up against.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Mia, with all the things that you've done, I'll
admit that even hearing some ofthe bills that you've passed and
things that have happened, Ifeel badly that I don't know
Even the elected officials.
I know I don't know things likethat about happened.
I feel badly that I don't knoweven the elected officials.
I know I don't know things likethat about them.
I know that they're good people.
I know that they're fightinghard.
I know that you know whenthey're running for something
(17:14):
people may say, oh, they don'tdo anything or they do do
something.
But how is there, why don't weknow all the amazing things that
happen under a particularelected officials kind of
timeline?
That's something going on rightnow that we could be discussing
(17:35):
.
Where is that it happens?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
For me.
I can say the reason ithappened is because the way I
was brought up I mean, my dadwas at the Y helping families
and doing that for over 32 years.
My mom was an administrator inthe school system for over 30
years Kids would end up at ourtable because their parents put
(18:01):
them out and we never knew whowas going to be eating dinner
with us and if they were stayingovernight.
Okay, that's just, that's thefamily that I grew up.
That's my roots and so, evenbeing elected, when I was
elected, I didn't have somebodyaround me that was good at
(18:26):
recording and telling the storyand it wasn't a big deal for me
because I wasn't doing it forthe story.
I was doing it to help thepeople and as long as I could
help who I was trying to help, Iwas good.
So you look at the LegendCenter and the Bob Hayes Sports
(18:47):
Complex.
The Bob Hayes Sports Complexwas funded originally.
Before I got there it was theBob Hayes soccer field.
I'm making plans for six monthsdown the road and I went to Bob
Hayes' mom and I said I wouldlove for you to be a part of
(19:09):
this event when we name thissoccer complex after your son.
She cussed me out.
My son didn't play soccer.
Why the hell would somebodywant to name a soccer complex
after him?
Mm-hmm, I said you areabsolutely right and I will
correct that that's how itbecame the Bob Hayes Sports
(19:34):
Complex.
But I even went as far as tomake them redesign it so that it
is a full football field.
So that it is a full footballfield, you can cut it into two
junior fields and then you cancut it into quarter fields for
(19:57):
the smaller kids.
Okay, at that point she wasokay and she came to the ribbon
cutting.
But the Legends Center wasn't onanybody's radar.
That was just contaminated landover there.
Nobody was getting ready to doanything and you'll remember
when the storms came through in2004 and they came down Edgewood
(20:18):
and a lot of prop Jenkins gottorn, a lot of houses, roofs got
tore up, a lot of houses, roofsand things were torn up.
It was right before the SuperBowl and we were talking.
I got the call and they're likeI was on Beach Boulevard, I was
(20:39):
at JCCI so you know this a longtime ago At JCCI in a meeting.
I'm like why is my phoneblowing up?
They know I'm in a meeting.
Hey, your district has been hithard by this storm.
I scurry home, I'm trying to getto the house and they're like
you're not going to be able toget to your house.
I'm like I grew up in thisneighborhood, I can, I got some
(21:02):
back streets, I can go on and Ican get there.
I grew up in this neighborhood,I can, I got some back streets,
I can go on and I can get there.
And I was able to get to myhouse.
The chief for the area sent anofficer to come and get me and
then we went to where theystaged on us one and I was like
well, I don't want to stay uphere with y'all, y'all just
(21:22):
talking and no, take me out inthe community.
And he did.
And I said well, let's go tothe hurricane shelter.
All my life, I thought RainesRebought were hurricane shelters
.
Come to find out they had beendecertified.
Nobody ever told us.
So people were literallybringing seniors to the schools,
(21:46):
telling them to sit on thebench and somebody would be
there to open the door shortly.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
And nobody coming.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Nobody was coming.
So at first I wasn't able toget what I what it created for
me was a vision of a medicalneeds multi-purpose facility in
our community, because I'm like,well, where are we supposed to
(22:14):
go?
They said downtown.
So we supposed to go to thehomeless shelter Wild.
No, we, not we going to come upwith this.
And I started going around thecity, going into Georgia,
looking at facilities andidentify what I wanted it to be.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Didn't have any money .
Speaker 2 (22:41):
But back then they gave each council member a
million dollars your first yearand so I took a portion of it
and had the building designed.
So we had architecturalrenderings and all of that.
And who was that?
Dick Gregory, a promoter who Ihad met one time called and said
(23:06):
hey, I'm being in Jacksonvillewith Dick Gregory.
You got something you want himto come to.
Sure, you know he's abouthealth, you know nutrition.
Bring him out here to the BobHayes Sports Complex on Valley.
He came, he came, he told JohnPayton off in front of all them
(23:32):
people, and I had gotten thearchitect to blow the renderings
up and we had the renderingsout there for the ribbon cutting
of a sports complex.
The media was there.
We didn't have any money tobuild this thing.
Every time hurricane seasoncame around there was a reporter
(23:59):
that would tell the story abouthow the Northside didn't have a
hurricane shelter and how I hadbeen trying to get one.
And when John Payton went infor reelection to the editorial
board, that was one of thequestions they asked him and
they said are you going tofinally give Councilwoman Jones
the money to build the medicalneeds and hurricane shelter?
(24:22):
And he said yeah.
And then he called me and saiddid you pay these people?
I said no, they've just beentelling the story for three
years.
Every hurricane season theywould tell the story, they would
call me, I would tell them wedon't have anywhere to go and
that's how that facility gotbuilt.
(24:42):
And then it has an indoorwalking track.
Because if you go out to LonnieMiller Park you know we want
our seniors to walk, we want thecommunity to walk exercise.
There are still signs on LonnieMiller Park to this day that
say do not disturb the dirt.
(25:04):
So if you're telling me don'tdisturb the dirt, you're
covering yourself from liability.
So my thing was okay.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Well, my seniors can walk inside the facility and so
that's why there's the indoorwalking track in there, because
I wanted them to have a safeplace to walk.
That's amazing.
(25:36):
Now that needs to be recorded.
We talk a lot about justknowledge repositories, just
databases of stories that youknow.
Again, the general public mayor may not know, but we have to
record those types of things andconnect that back to our
community so that theyunderstand how things became and
you know what they reallyreally mean.
Now it's more than just a, youknow, a park or a building or
(25:58):
whatever those things are.
So I'm glad we've been able totalk about this.
You know, mia, one of the thingsthat I've always admired about
you has been you know the stuffthat was in your bio, those
significant kind of policies andthings that have come from you
know city council kind ofpolicies and things that have
come from you know city council,state and especially at the
(26:20):
state level, just knowing theway that the lines are drawn and
you know the party lines, Iguess talk to us a little bit
about how to even get meaningfullegislation passed, both when
you was there and particularlynow you know, because when I
(26:41):
think about it, even on a citylevel, you know there's a lot of
great ideas floating around inour community, a lot of folks
saying we should do this and weshould have that, but actually
getting it to the point wherethere's some legislation on the
books for us to vote on in a waythat empowers communities I
know can be a difficult thing todo, you know, even from the
outside, so I'm sure from theinside you have a different
(27:02):
perspective.
And what's your thoughts onactually getting things going
from concept to vote on alllevels?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
What I learned and I've shared a little bit with
you of that was that you've gotto get To know the people.
Ok, you can have an idea it'snot a good idea to tell
everybody what your idea is orwhatever but you kind of lay out
(27:31):
what you want your plan to be.
Kind of lay out what you wantyour plan to be, and then you
start getting to know peoplelistening to people, finding out
what's important to them,watching them in a committee
meeting OK, let's see howthey're going to vote on that.
Hmm, they might be a good ally.
(27:53):
And then you build thatrelationship.
It could be as simple as onedinner.
It could be as simple as eatingin the cafeteria.
Back in the when I first gotfirst few years I was in the
(28:16):
legislature I remember thatthere was a mother in City Hall
and she would have to leave workevery day to go and give her
son his insulin.
And I was like let's go tolunch.
She said no, I have to go to myson's school and give him his
insulin.
I said why?
(28:36):
I'm sure it's a whole bunch ofdiabetics at the school.
What do you mean?
And she said no, you know therules say you got to.
You know.
Just I said do you give him hisinsulin at home?
She said no, the doctor trainedhim on how to do it.
I said okay, well, I had seensome bills pass the previous
(29:01):
year and I got with one of theRepublican members and I said
this is what I want to do.
I want kids to be able toself-administer, because their
doctors teach them how to do itand they do it every day at home
.
And I said what I need is Ineed you to carry the bill.
We'll co-sponsor you.
Carry the bill because it wasthat important to me.
(29:22):
I didn't want anything to getin the way of it.
I didn't want them to think ofdiabetes as a black disease.
I wanted them to see it as thisis something that's going to
help families.
And so he said OK.
I said I need a prop.
He said what I said we need aprop.
(29:43):
He said OK.
He found a little five-year-oldlittle white boy with spiked
hair.
They put him on a cute littleoutfit, had his little tie on.
They brought him to the meeting.
He told his story and he showedhim how he self administers.
(30:06):
And I sat back and I said I lovethat so it's really getting to
know people, their stories, whatthey've been through and
touching them so they know itrelates to them.
Now I'm not there.
Now I know things are a lotdifferent.
(30:30):
If there was a way for us toget turned the internet down,
was a way for us to get turn theinternet down, at least Not off
.
Turn it down.
Help our elected officials andremind them on a regular basis.
All politics is local.
(30:51):
All of this stuff you see goingon in Washington, or you let
them do that.
All of this stuff you see goingon in Washington, or use, let
them do that.
Take care of the business ofthe people on the level that
you're on.
But remember, we look at thecuts that are being made in DC.
(31:14):
Well, a lot of the money inTallahassee is there and
available, because we take asmall portion of Tallahassee
money and then the federalgovernment will give us a match
that then increases that moneyand then we have the money to do
(31:36):
the things that we need to do.
So if they're cutting up here,we can't afford to cut on the
state level in the blind orblindly and then turn around and
cut on the local level blindly,because you don't know what
this impact is going to be uphere and you're only going based
(31:59):
on what you know.
The past has been so.
In the past, the state hashandled it.
In the past, the feds havehandled it.
But if everybody is cutting atthe same time, you just in this
flux.
You're just in this flux andthen all of a sudden, the issue
(32:25):
that you have is going to behuge rather than okay, well, we
got that cut, we can fill thisgap.
And so everything from peoplelosing their insurance most
people get their insurance fromwork you cut all of these
government workers and many ofthem if they're two income
(32:51):
families, a lot of times both ofthem work for the government.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
Mia, are you finding these cuts to be impacting you
at Agape?
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Absolutely.
How so?
Absolutely.
So we have a mandate as afederally qualified health
center not to turn anybody away.
We provide services regardlessof their ability to pay.
So the more people who don'thave the money to pay, the more
people who are going to comethrough my door.
(33:22):
But if the federal governmentisn't giving me the funding, if
the state isn't giving me thefunding because they're getting
the matched funding from thefeds, if the city is not going
to give me the money and I needthe city's intergovernmental
(33:44):
transfer six figures to send toTallahassee to then turn around
for them to get millions fromthe feds and then send me more
back All of that impacts.
So imagine, as an organizationyeah, that money works for us to
(34:09):
support the uninsured.
Well, if you cut Medicare,which is another program that we
depend on, because when ourseniors come in and that's what
they got, we take them, usuallythat will help to offset the
care of the uninsured.
(34:30):
But if you reduce that, that'sless money for me to have for
the uninsured and it's lessmoney for me to provide the
service to that senior.
If you reduce Medicaid and youreduce the number of people that
are on Medicaid, then thosepeople go to becoming uninsured,
(34:51):
okay.
And then you've got Medicaidgetting smaller, so that little
bit of money that we get fromMedicaid gets smaller, and so
now I've got a bigger hole tofill.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Mia the and I am not as well versed in this kind of
health space, but, you know, forthe purposes of sky type stuff,
(35:39):
to that we as communities canstart thinking about at least
implementing that could supportthis in place of federal funding
and state funding.
You know what do you?
Have you thought about it?
Have you seen any other thingsyou know in other countries,
maybe even in terms of, hey, weneed to figure out this on a
(35:59):
community level.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Yeah, absolutely Stepping into this position.
One of the things that has beenon my list is for this to be an
organization that has perpetualfunding.
So, regardless as to how muchwe get each year, yes, we use
that, whatever, but that we havea pot of funds that are there
(36:27):
that are just building interest.
We're rolling that interestover back into it and we keep
allowing it to grow almost likean endowment.
To grow almost like anendowment.
But you're doing it with ahigh-yield savings account where
(36:47):
you're getting 4%, 5%, and if Iput a million in and I'm
getting 4% and 5%, I do that.
I'm able to pay for a position.
Okay, I'm able to pay for aposition.
Okay.
And regardless as to whateverelse is going on, I can pay for
that position.
And that position is not havingto be paid for all at one time,
(37:09):
it's incremental as the moneyis being built and growing.
Our organization, our board, isrequired to be made up of 51%
patients.
So when you think of anonprofit organization and you
(37:33):
think of boards, you think ofthem having members from Bank of
America, First Union, Florida,Blue, the hospitals, all these
different places.
I can only have 10% of my boardfrom the hospital or healthcare
(37:57):
industry.
So 51%, that's patients.
Now they can go and ask theirfriends, family, whatever, for
small gifts Can you give me $100?
Can you give me $50?
(38:18):
Can you give me, you know, on amonthly basis, $25?
Those are things that I'm nowhaving to try to put in place so
that kind of like the you seethe kids on TV and they, for
years they would say, oh, if yougive this much money, you're
(38:38):
able to do this, that and theother.
Creating that story so peopleunderstand every little bit
helps.
It could be $25 and I'm hearinga patient in the pharmacy and
the pharmacist is saying it'sgoing to be $25 for your
medicine and they're saying theydon't have it.
(38:58):
Well, they tell me I have tosee them.
They don't tell me I have togive them the medicine.
So we try to raise money andput money aside to be able to
help to fill that hole.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Mia, is that 51% because it's the FQHC or why is
okay?
Speaker 2 (39:23):
It's because we are what they call a 330E
organization.
330 is the healthcare servicearea, but E is everyone, so the
330H, which is homeless.
They don't have the samerequirement.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Is it ever?
You know, obviously I'm surethat was extremely advantageous
at whatever point we set it up.
You know you set it up likethat.
Have you ever thought aboutthis?
Is this is no longer anadvantage?
But you know what's going on atthe federal level and the state
level and you know, is there afor profit solution that is now
(40:06):
maybe more advantageous?
Speaker 2 (40:09):
I mean the requirement.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
So and I understand why they did.
Ok, it's almost like a secretshopper.
Ok, so you want board memberswho are actually receiving the
service and can tell you thisisn't working.
This is working.
(40:34):
This is not a good provider.
This is a good provider.
This is working.
This is not a good provider.
This is a good provider.
The staff was this way, thefacility was this way and I
believe they did that becausethey recognize that if you have
a board and I learned this atthe school board if you have a
(40:54):
board of people who are makingdecisions for others, but it's
not something that they livelive, then the level and the
quality and the expectations arediminished.
(41:14):
I won't say intentionally, butit's just the reality of things.
So they are looking for thepatient member to be able to be
that voice.
So I don't tell my staff who myboard members are.
(41:35):
So when they come in, theydon't know, unless they go out,
how many staff going to go outthere.
Read your website, see who yourboard is.
They're not so unless they dothat, your board is.
They're not so unless they dothat when that board member
walks in and they're trying toget an appointment or they're
calling and trying to get anappointment and they can't get
(41:59):
through.
I get a phone call and I try towalk them through the process
so I can learn what's actuallygoing on, Versus just going and
fixing it.
Just going OK, here's yourappointment, we got you straight
, We'll see you tomorrow.
Ok, because that's not the realworld of the patients.
(42:22):
So right now we are testing outdoing Saturday clinics because
a new patient with us was havingto wait three to four months to
get a new patient slide.
Yeah, Now, mind you, I can't paywhat the hospitals pay.
(42:45):
I can't pay for what some ofthe private offices can pay.
So it's a constant battle ofokay, I really need this
provider, I need this doctor.
How are we going to pay for it?
So then we have to go out andlook for grants.
(43:06):
So then we have to go out andlook for grants, but you don't
want to get a grant.
I had to learn this.
All money is not good money.
I didn't always think that way.
I get one time money.
I start a program up, it startsgoing good, and then the money
runs out, that's it.
I got patients now that aredepending on that.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
Okay, those are the that's it.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
I got patients now that are depending on that.
Ok, those are the types ofthings that, as I'm trying to
come up with what would be analternative to the government
money, that I'm having to thinkthrough, that I'm having to try
(44:06):
to come up with ideas, identifysupport, looking for that plan
that would allow us not to havethat to worry about Now.
Diversification has been ourbiggest benefit and I'm glad I
thought about that early,because when I came we only got
money from the feds.
That's it.
And that first year I remembergoing to the city, which was
(44:28):
interesting, since I had beenescorted out Like no, we don't
need you to stay for two weeks,we are accepting your
resignation and you can leavetoday.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
Now don't try to skip the real stories.
Now, that's the podcast.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
What happened.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Now Okay.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
Well, you remember, I used to work for Mayor Brown
and I was the first healthcommissioner for the city of
Jacksonville.
I was still in the legislature,which is a part time job Most
of those people have job so itwas a part time job and I worked
for the mayor as a specialassistant to the mayor and
(45:07):
director of boards andcommissions.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
I forgot about that.
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
So in doing that I'm having to.
I'm playing both sides of it,state and local which I'm glad I
had the opportunity to do it.
I appreciate him thinkingenough of me to bring me in
because I learned so much.
It's one thing to be on thecity council, but you don't see
(45:38):
what the administration ishaving to do, and that's why
it's important to have you knowthe different compartments of
government.
You need your legislativecomponent, you need your
legislative component, you needyour executive component, you
need the judiciary component,because everybody plays a role
and, just like in life,everybody has a different
(45:59):
perspective based on whatthey're responsible for.
And so when Mayor Brown did notget reelected, everyone had to
submit their letters ofresignation and then the new
administration would decide ifthey wanted to keep anyone.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
You couldn't even do the two weeks.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
No, no, they said pack your stuff Bye-bye.
Pack your.
I had Republican friends likeyou're going to be good.
We've been telling them you'regood to work with, you're just
going to be about doing it.
(46:44):
Thank you for your service.
Pack your bag.
I went and got me some boxes,packed my stuff up and went home
, got my two weeks check and itwas okay.
Then I had to turn around and goto them because this was my
(47:07):
idea of we got to diversify ourrevenue and go to rest his soul,
sam Moussa, who was chief ofstaff or administrative chief of
staff, whatever he was at thetime and say, hey, sam, I need
to meet with you.
And he's like okay, neil, whatyou want to meet about, I need
(47:28):
to meet with you.
He's like okay, neil, what youwant to meet about?
I said, well, I'm over here atAgape and we're providing health
care services for our mostneedy population.
And you may remember, someyears ago the city stopped
giving money to the FQHC becausey'all felt that it was the
(47:50):
responsibility of the state.
Remember, we're a consolidatedgovernment.
We're the only consolidatedentity in the state of Florida.
So every other municipality,their county has money, their
city has money, then they havethe state money and then they
(48:11):
have the federal money.
So when, with us beingconsolidated city and county,
when they were looking for waysto cut the budget, that was one
of the places they cut.
They said we're not paying forthe health department.
The state can do that.
Wow.
So she said, okay, we'll meet.
(48:34):
And we met and we were able tocarve out funding.
Unfortunately, it's every year Ihave to go back, as opposed to
putting it where it needed to be, and that's why I say it's a
learning process.
If I had known that, as healthcommission, I could have taken
care of that while I was there,but I didn't know Right, okay.
(49:00):
So it's things like that that Ithink that as we are traveling
this road, this journey thatwe're on, we have to document
what's taking place.
We've got to look for what wasgood in it, what was bad in it,
(49:22):
and there were a lot of goodthings and we just need to go
ahead and start finding ways forus to implement.
So, even if it's and I've beenderelict in doing this being
able to say okay to churches,every church got somebody who
(49:43):
need help, healthcare help.
Can y'all provide A hundreddollars a month.
Can y'all put us in your budget?
Ok to organizations.
(50:04):
Can you put?
Or can you help me to create away to market to them?
Because they all got insurance,they all they good.
This isn't their area, this isnot touching them yet.
Okay, hey, we fund this.
(50:26):
I will tell you.
I've been here nine years.
I have one volunteer doctor Now, you know, doctors volunteer at
a number of organizations inour community.
Speaker 1 (50:48):
The volunteer doctor doesn't look like me.
You know we're coming up ontime, but I really want to know
why you think that's the case Igot to ask.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
I believe that we look at organizations that have
been around for a long time andwe want to be able to say, oh, I
volunteer at Volunteers inMedicine, I volunteer at we Care
, I volunteer at Salzbacher, andthose are larger organizations,
(51:15):
they have a different face infront of them and, as a result,
that's where we go.
Speaker 3 (51:28):
I hate that, mia, and I hope that if we have any
listeners in medicine nearby ornot nearby, come here and help
Agape Community.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
Health.
Yeah, we got to fix that.
Speaker 3 (51:39):
Yeah, I don't like that at all, mia.
There are so many themes inwhat you've been sharing today.
What I've heard is, if you growup around service, you're going
to serve.
If you are doing great work, itdoesn't matter.
People will still ask you topack your bags and walk up out
of there, and that there arefunding challenges and health
(52:01):
care challenges right now everpresent.
No matter how hard anybody'sbeen working, that's impacting
our community.
Before we wrap up, I do want toknow on the health side, of
course, we know on the news thatthere's COVID or if these, you
know, like big outbreaks andthings like that.
But from a communityperspective, what are we?
What are you seeing in terms ofpeople who are coming in?
(52:24):
Is there anything?
If you had to do just anoff-the-cuff PSA, a public
service announcement for peoplejust to kind of hear what you
all have been getting into yourclinics, or advice you would
give what is really going on inour community from a health
perspective?
Speaker 2 (52:46):
Honestly, the message that I would share is if you
have insurance right now, use it.
Go get your annual checkup.
We have taken things forgranted for so long.
Even people with insurancedon't always use it.
We wait until we get sick, andso, with the climate being what
(53:12):
it is right now, I encouragepeople go and get those checks.
Go and identify what yourbaseline is, where you are, and
create that relationship with aprovider's office, because so
many people don't have a primarycare provider, so many people
(53:34):
don't get an annual check.
We have to teach our children,and you all have done an amazing
job and continue to do anamazing job educating our kids
and exposing them educating ourkids and exposing them but we
have to create for them aroadmap of how do I make sure
that I'm healthy years down theroad, and so teaching them that
(54:02):
you need to do an annual, youneed to go to the dentist.
It's an awful thing to seepeople come in and they don't
have teeth.
It affects the entire body,okay.
It's an awful thing to knowthat somebody could have gotten
help, but they didn't.
And now they're unemployed andthey don't have that insurance,
okay.
(54:22):
So that's what we are all about.
We want to be preventative, wewant to try to get in front of
the curb.
Our numbers, historically, areso bad that as a community we
got a long way to go.
But we got to start somewhereand so we've got to change our
(54:44):
messaging.
We've got to have these talks.
You know time is out forchit-chat.
Our time together, our timewith other groups, needs to be
spent with valuable discussionson health, on finances, on
(55:06):
community growth andsustainability, on finances, on
community growth andsustainability.
I'll leave you with this.
When I look back over decades,I say the best time that we had
was when we were segregated.
We owned our own grocery stores, we owned our doctors work for
(55:31):
themselves, we had pharmacies,we had hotels, we had
entertainment venues, we had ourschools.
Our teachers taught our kids.
At that point, when you aretaking care of yours which a lot
of communities do with noproblem when you're taking care
(55:53):
of yours and not trying so hardto get what somebody else has,
we as a community are strong.
Speaker 3 (56:01):
Period.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
And that is the message.
Speaker 3 (56:05):
That's it right there .
Drop the mic.
Speaker 1 (56:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (56:10):
Thank you for the opportunity you guys no, thank
you.
Speaker 1 (56:12):
I want I wanted to say too as well you know you've
always been a big supporter ofall the stuff that we've been
doing.
You know, way, way back, evenwhen it was uh, just a fund at
the community foundation and uh,matter of fact, I don't know,
we, we gave uh agape.
The first, one of the firstchecks that we sent from the
fund went to a gap.
It was like a thousand dollars.
I might have bought him some,some chips in the lobby, but we
(56:35):
did all we could.
But we appreciate a gap.
They're supporting us.
Speaker 2 (56:41):
You brought the young people in that we could talk to
them and share about theprogram.
Speaker 1 (56:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, love it and.
Speaker 3 (56:48):
I love that you shared that, ronnie, because I
think, based on what Mia justsaid and even that example of we
had a few dollars and we tookit over there like we gave it to
them, I think for our listeners, y'all, we have to take care of
ourselves.
We have to take care of eachother.
If there is no ever-presentmessage right now, you no ever
(57:11):
present message right now, youcan turn your TV off or on.
There shouldn't be one of uswalking around that doesn't
think we need each other andthat we need to take care of
ourselves and one another.
We cannot wait on other peopleto take care of us.
Beg people to take care of us,beg people to see us.
We're here and you know exactlyhow to plug in.
Go support somebody who lookslike you today, like literally
today.
(57:32):
Like when you hear the song, Ilike the song.
Y'all like the song at the endof the podcast.
I love it, mia, you got to hearit.
You'll hear it when the songgoes off.
Y'all go support each other.
That's all.
That's my little tidbit fortoday, mia.
Thank you so much Thank you.
Speaker 2 (57:48):
That's my little tidbit for today, Mia.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (57:49):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (57:50):
Thanks for inviting me.
I appreciate it Anytime.
Speaker 2 (57:51):
I'm here.
Speaker 1 (57:53):
Hopefully we didn't waste the outfit, you know, even
though it's all audio.
Speaker 2 (57:56):
It's all good, oh yeah, just giving somebody a
little time, I might decide togo to dinner or something you
know that's right.
Speaker 3 (58:04):
I think you should All right.
Speaker 2 (58:08):
Thank you, take care, all right, bye-bye.
Speaker 4 (58:29):
Anytime.
I guess that endurance is bliss.
Take me back to before the noonRewind.
Take it out of queue.
Innocence can be a human's game.
Signed up for the hall of shame.
I wish I knew how much I missednot knowing that we're all
(58:50):
screwed when we play our rolesand ignore the problems.
I like to be way more patient.
(59:13):
Stay up.
I feel so outdated.
How can we look the other way?
Sun is out, but the sky is gray.
What would happen if I took achance?
It's always hard at firstglance.
I don't wanna, but I know Igotta do it.
The truth is hard to swallow.
I think I knew how much Imissed that moment that we're
(01:00:07):
all screwed when we play ourroles and ignore the problems.
I wish I knew how much I missnot knowing that we're all
(01:00:35):
screwed.
I wish I knew.
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