Mississippi Delta takes page from Iran's health care playbook
VIDEO - The Mississippi Delta is taking a page out of a health care program half a world away--in Iran...
As lawmakers in Washington go back and forth on healthcare reform, one section of the country, one of the poorest parts in fact, is looking for help. The Mississippi Delta is taking a page out of a health care program half a world away—in Iran.
As NBC’s Thanh Truong shows us, a nation many Americans would consider an enemy, is giving a hand to the Deep South.
According to Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Delta’s health conditions are equivalent to the health conditions of many who live in third-world countries. Consequently, the citizens of the Mississippi Delta have been inspired by the Iranian people, not their politics, but their health care model.
WATCH NIGHTLY NEWS COVERAGE OF HOW IRAN IS INSPIRING THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA’S NEW HEALTH CARE PROGRAM.
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In Baptist Town, Mississippi, there’s no shortage of prayer, poverty, or pain. Every Sunday at church—names of the sick are announced. And with each name, Dr. Aaron Shirley shudders.
Back in the Civil Rights era, Dr. Shirley fought just to practice medicine here. Fighting for a modern solution to the health care crisis, and he thinks he’s found it, in a very old country: Iran.
WATCH NIGHTLY NEWS COVERAGE OF DR. AARON SHIRLEY DISCUSSING THE NEED FOR MORE ADVANCED HEALTH CARE IN BAPTIST TOWN
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The health house is an idea from Iran, where community health workers, not doctors, deliver screenings and basic medical care.
Dr. Shirley and his colleague James Miller traveled more than 7,000 miles to see health houses firsthand. And Iranian doctors came to Mississippi to see if the idea could work in Baptist Town.
The World Health Organization commends the health house model. It help cut the infant death rate in Iran by more than 70 percent.
Sylvester Hoover, runs the only business in Baptist Town, and he doesn’t care where health solutions come from.
So now the community is planning. With proper funding, this vacant store could be turned into the Mississippi Delta’s first health house. Nurse Lee Bell is ready to volunteer.
It’s an example of how the common enemy of illness can forge unlikely alliances.
