We launched the Just Health Table!

The Just Health Table has been launched! This way we are enabling an open space for Health providers, non profit organizations, educators, community leaders and public employees to explore new ways to partner up in order to be able to offer better healthcare to more people in Memphis.

The “Just Health Table” is one of the six components of the “Just C.H.A.N.G.E.” model , and it’s complemented by other similar tables that will address the following issues: Climate, Arts/Culture, Next Gen, Growth and Education.

During the launch our Executive Director, Justin Merrick, announced that CTC will be joining efforts with the Common Table Health Alliance, a non profit organization that has been fighting for health equity in Memphis for over 20 years. In that sense, CTChas taken upon the work that CTHA has been carrying out in the communities and Merrick himself will become the new CEO of the organization.

One of the first tasks of the Just Health Table will be to expand the general assembly of the Memphis Breast Cancer Consortium to the fields of nutrition and mental health. These two issues raised as priorities for the Table as it consolidates the work of community health workers who are day after day doing the field work within the communities.

The Just Health Table produced three committees that will work in order to meet the purpose of the Table. The first of these committees will explore ways to share data between the members of the Table with the objective of designing data-driven outcomes. The second will seek to consolidate a dynamic network that will allow identifying resources and challenges that each one of the members may be facing. A third committee will push for the creation of a Statewide certification for health workers in the communities.

The Just Health Table is led by three “Champions”. Dr. Fedoria Rugless, an epidemiologist, who currently is Director of Research at Church Health and an Assistant Professor at UofM; Joy Sharp, Director of Community Health Programs at Baptist Health Care and Andrea Jacobo a Dr. from UC Berkeley with extensive experience implementing evidence-based nutrition and physical activity programs in community settings around Memphis.