We had the pleasure of meeting with Taco Williams from the Delta Regional Authority (DRA). Taco is newly minted in her position as the Director of the Healthy Delta Initiative & Health Policy Advisor and brings great energy and expertise to the region. The DRA is a federal-state partnership working to stimulate economic development in the 8-state, 240 county/parish Mississippi River Delta region.
Ms. Williams says the group focuses on improving quality of life of folks in the Delta region. The group works to improve workforce development and in 2008 re-focused on health initiatives. The thinking was that if the delta workforce wasn’t healthy it couldn’t effectively compete for jobs. As in most rural areas the big focus is on preventative health care.
This sparked a couple of ideas:
Everything is Better Together.
The DRA is really focused on building partnerships
with regionally-focused organizations.
Aligning with organizations with a regional focus can
help your program increase reach and draw.
How about Telehealth in the Work Place?
It seems to me that telehealth could be designed to be an integral part of a healthy work force initiative. Workers could have health screenings, routine check-ups or urgent care triage – all via telehealth. It’s hard for shift-workers to take time off from work for wellness and preventative health care. If those workers had access in the workplace absenteeism could decrease and efficiency could increase. Healthy workers work longer.
For more information about the Delta Regional Authority and Taco Williams, go to http://www.dra.gov/
