Planting the seeds for healthier communities

"Being a woman of color, born and raised in the South, I want to dedicate my life to improve health in whatever way I can," says Leandra Lacy, an MPH student and intern at an inner-city garden. "I believe knowledge is power, and I want to spread as much knowledge as I can."

By Elaine Justice, Emory Report

The Super Giant Community Garden, run by the Emory Urban Health Initiative, aims to provide Northwest Atlanta with a more nutritious selection of foods. The area is considered a food desert, marked by limited access to grocery stores, fresh foods and convenient transportation.

The community garden is located in the parking lot of the Super Giant Foods grocery store, which is also working to expand healthy offerings. Organizers hope to eventually create a "Healthy Hub" for the area that will include a community kitchen, health clinic, childcare facilities and a laundromat.

"We have several regulars who come in," says DeJa Love, who became involved in the project as an undergraduate intern in Emory's Ethics and Servant Leadership Program. "We connect with them about nutrition and healthy living," Love says. "Being a listening ear, that's what my job has turned into."

"I live less than a mile away from a Kroger and a Publix," says Leandra Lacy, an MPH student working alongside Love at the urban garden. "To be in an area of Northwest Atlanta that's a food desert — besides the Super Giant and the garden in the parking lot, there isn't another grocery store within a 10 mile radius — was hard for me to fathom. I'm just glad that I'm in this place where I can be present and really get to know the people there and help open up access to healthy food." 

More than 30 Emory student interns are working with Atlanta non-profits this year while completing a non-credit ethics course on what it means to be not just a leader, but a servant leader.

Read more in Emory Report.

Lucy: Debunking the 10 percent brain myth

"It is estimated most human beings use only 10 percent of the brain’s capacity.” Morgan Freeman pronounced it in his God-like voice so it must be true, right?

Definitely not, says Emory neurologist Krish Sathian. The premise of the new sci-fi movie “Lucy,” starring Freeman and Scarlett Johansson, is based on a widespread, lingering myth that we tap into only a tiny fraction of our neurons.

“We are probably using all of our brain much of the time, and much of our brain all of the time,” Sathian says. “Even when you’re engaged in a task, and some neurons are engaged in that task, the rest of your brain is occupied doing other things. That’s why, for example, the solution to a problem can emerge after you haven’t been thinking about it for a while, or after a night’s sleep. That’s because your brain’s constantly active.”

Watch the above video, part of the Emory Looks at Hollywood series, to learn more.

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Tuberculosis: A rising concern on U.S. southern border

Cases of tuberculosis have been steadily decreasing in the United States – except along the southern border and within the Mexican-born population where cases are on the rise.

“Most alarming is the increase in multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis on both sides of the border,” says Polly Price, an Emory law professor and an expert on immigration. “Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis is very expensive to treat. It’s a very debilitating disease, many people don’t survive. It’s a problem that needs to be addressed at the national level.”

Tuberculosis requires a long course of treatment, 12 months or more, so continuity of care is the primary issue along the border, Price says. She is developing a guide to U.S. laws pertaining to tuberculosis treatment for states along the border.

“California, Arizona, Mew Mexico and Texas all have slightly different procedures for how to treat tuberculosis, what do to with a non-compliant patient, how to follow that patient and make sure the treatment regimen is followed,” Price says. “So just coordinating laws on the U.S. side is something of a big task.”

Price is also working on a best-practices guide for health care workers dealing with the situation along the border. “The law should help in this situation, it should not hinder in the efforts to provide tuberculosis care,” Price says.

Apes vs. humans: Finding common ground

Is war ever truly inevitable?

That question is central to “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” opening this weekend. The movie is the latest in the “Apes” drama series featuring a character named Caesar, an ape raised by humans who leads a simian rebellion against the human race.

Fear and misunderstanding can easily lead to violence, says Emory political scientist Shawn Ramirez, an expert on conflict resolution. In this video, Ramirez considers the plot to “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” as a mirror to real-life situations.

“I think it’s really hard when one side sees the other as a lesser – a lesser species or a lesser race or a lesser ethnicity or religion,” Ramirez says. “It’s very hard to overcome that.”

What can one side do when they face that issue?

“I think Hollywood captures this, actually,” Ramirez says, “because usually it’s some central characters that move over to the other side and they start communicating to the other side and realize that there is something more valuable there.”

Related:
A wild view of "Planet of the Apes"