Reprinted with permission from the Smyth County News & Messenger, a Media General Company.

By STEPHANIE PORTER-NICHOLS/Staff

Lauran Roth Glover wants to improve health in rural communities across America. As every grassroots initiative must start somewhere, the physician assistant student wants this movement to begin in Saltville.

The idea sparked when a patient at the Saltville Medical Center, where Glover is undertaking the community medicine rotation of her clinical training, expressed frustration about trying to select healthy options from restaurant menus.

Glover, who works under the direction of nurse practitioner Sally Pennings, recognized a need. Many of the patients she was seeing were overweight or obese and suffered from related chronic diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart disease.

Pennings, who’s worked in medicine for 22 years, confirmed the reality. She said in a Thursday interview that nearly all of her patients struggle with eating well and that at least 50 percent of them ask for nutritional guidance.

Eating out is especially challenging, she said, noting that she can provide patients with a list of nutritional foods but can’t go to a restaurant and pick out the healthiest menu items.

Glover, who first learned about community medicine as a child watching her surgeon father do missionary work in South Korea that included venturing into leprosy colonies, wanted to help.

The Jefferson College of Health Sciences student recognized that while many chain restaurants may have nutritionists on staff and offer foods targeted to health-conscious diners, those same options wouldn’t be available to hometown restaurants, which are the majority of eateries in Saltville.

Glover knows firsthand the challenge of losing weight. Earlier this week she explained that several years ago she lost 20 pounds and is working to lose more. Despite seeing health benefits, she acknowledged that she’d still rather have biscuits and gravy for breakfast than a healthy cereal. However, she emphasized, steps people make now directly influence quality of life long term and even how they will die.

Chronic health problems related to weight are a serious problem across the country, but especially in the south, she said. “Our southern diet, which we love so much, is killing us,” Glover said, noting that is especially true when combined with inactivity.

She cited a 2001 study that surveyed 14 Southwest Virginia counties, including Smyth, Bland and Washington, and found 44 percent of households in the region had at least one member who was overweight. Across the commonwealth, the Centers for Disease Control projects that at least 24.5 percent of Virginians are obese. According to the CDC, obesity is determined using the body mass index (BMI), which calculates a person’s percentage of body fat using weight and height. A person who has a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese.

For example, a person who is 5’9” and weighs 203 pounds is obese.

Glover and Pennings believe that even small steps can help an individual pursue better eating habits.
Pennings noted that when restaurant menus note their healthier dishes, diners are more conscious of their choices.

Knowing that in small towns people care about one another, Glover decided to appeal to local restaurants to help their clientele by offering healthy choices. She and other student practitioners would help them examine popular menu items for ways to make them healthier, such as reducing sugar or salt or switching from vegetable oil to olive oil.

“It’s (Saltville) a true community of friends and neighbors who do care for each other. I hope they (restaurateurs) receive it in the spirit of wanting to help neighbors,” Glover said.
“As clinicians, neighbors, restaurant owners and concerned citizens of our hometown, we can all help each other in reaching those goals.”

However, Glover is business savvy and is also ready to help eateries market their new menu options. Restaurants that join the Hometown Healthy campaign and provide healthier choices will have copies of their menus distributed in venues that reach people pursuing improved health. As well, Glover is working with Darren Handy of Handy Graphics in Marion to develop window stickers that would designate the restaurants as Hometown Healthy.

Handy has donated the first dozen stickers, and Glover called his contribution “a prime example of the neighbor-helping-neighbor concept” in action.

She also noted that providing healthier options is a future trend for restaurants as Americans battle chronic disease. She pointed out how even McDonalds is now offering healthy alternatives to the super-size burger and fries meals.

Glover and Pennings hope the idea will be accepted in Saltville and serve as a prototype for other Smyth County and Southwest Virginia communities and eventually the nation.

In describing her proposal, Glover wrote, “I hope it will provide the pebble throw in the river-type ripples that will start in Saltville, Va., and spread out as far as possible, affecting small, but powerful change in the way people make healthy food choices in our hometown restaurants.”

Pennings concurred. “We could create a model that every small town in America could adopt.”