The Center for Chronic Illness Self-management & Prevention (CRISP) hosted its second annual Symposium, “Implications of Food & Financial Insecurity in Chronic Illness” at the Truhlsen Campus Events Center, Omaha on April 27. The UNMC Continuing interprofessional Development and Innovation team provided support.
The symposium brought together approximately 60 community members, faculty, clinicians, students, and representatives from local community resources for an engaging event focused on access to healthy food and financial stability as challenges in preventing chronic illness.
Keynote speaker Shawna Forsberg, President and CEO of the United Way of the Midlands, presented “Signals and Trends: Responding Together with a Circle of Support,” providing critical insights into the nature and magnitude of the food, financial, and other challenges experienced by citizen within the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area. Among other United Way resources, she highlighted data about the “211” helpline, a resource for navigating available resources to people with a variety of social needs.
Speaker Mariah Kay Jackson, PhD, assistant professor, UNMC College of Allied Health Medical Nutrition, addressed cooking healthy food on a budget and guided a student-led cooking demonstration of how to make healthy, cost-efficient energy bites.
Natalia Santos, PhD, assistant professor, College of Public Health, and Tracie Kirkland, PhD, DNP, associate professor, College of Nursing, rounded out the day with presentations on food insecurity in cancer and the experiences of Black/African American women affected by food insecurity, respectively.
Student and faculty posters on related topics and for-profit and non-profit resource organization exhibitor booths fostered collaboration throughout the day. Attendees also competed in a friendly “Shark Tank” style event where they there asked to develop a proposal for a significant and innovative project focused on reducing the burden of food and/or financial insecurity associated chronic illness.
Teams were given 45 minutes and then 3 minutes to present their ideas. The winning team that proposed “Fuel for Healing” were then invited to provide a brief written proposal to receive $1,000 seed money from CRISP to initiate their project.
The symposium promoted awareness, clinical knowledge, networking and community-academia connections, as well as research-based actions to address the pervasive needs of the community.