UAB initiative 'Live Health Smart Alabama' details mobile grocery and wellness units serving Birmingham; presenter asks delegation to amplify outreach

Theresa Shucklebottom, representing the University of Alabama at Birmingham, briefed the Jefferson County Legislative Delegation on Live Health Smart Alabama, a UAB initiative that uses mobile grocery and mobile wellness units to increase access to healthy food and preventive health screenings.

Shucklebottom said the initiative began about five years ago after UAB President Ray Watts issued a challenge to the university community to identify and address statewide health issues. She told the delegation Live Health Smart Alabama focuses on four areas: access to healthy food, preventive health screenings, opportunities for physical activity and health education.

Key program details: Shucklebottom said the program started in Birmingham and has developed a ‘‘playbook’’ identifying what works. She said the mobile grocery sells fresh food rather than giving it away and the mobile wellness unit provides free preventive screenings — including body-mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol and A1C tests — with the goal of connecting people to primary care. Shucklebottom said about 80 percent of people screened fall outside normal ranges and that the program has screened nearly 4,000 people in Jefferson County. She said 11 percent of screened people had uncontrolled hypertension and 20 percent had uncontrolled diabetes.

Usage and outcomes: Shucklebottom said the program has "served over 11,000 customers" over four years in the areas where it operates, and that "over 50 percent" of mobile-grocery customers use EBT benefits and buy fresh fruits and vegetables. She said the initiative has connected ‘‘over 300 people’’ to primary care; in the meeting transcript she also said "we've had 3 people accept that navigation, and over 300 people who are connected to primary care," language taken from her remarks.

Partnerships and logistics: Shucklebottom described partnerships with local organizations and health providers, naming Sprout as the program’s fiscal partner and Woodville Memorial in Demopolis as a partner for deploying a second mobile grocery in the Black Belt. She said the program is expanding beyond Jefferson County into Selma (Dallas County), Marengo County, Wilcox County and Houston County. She said the mobile units typically operate Tuesday through Friday, with some Saturdays, and that schedules are published about six months in advance. Shucklebottom said there is one mobile wellness unit and two mobile grocery units (the second to be deployed in the Black Belt).

Questions from delegation members focused on scheduling, school and youth outreach, and sourcing produce. Shucklebottom said the initiative already partners with organizations that take healthy-eating and active-living curriculum into elementary schools and after-school programs and that produce comes from local farmers and partners, with Sprout serving as fiscal agent because UAB cannot directly serve as the program’s financial record.

Shucklebottom asked the delegation to help amplify awareness of the program, noting its aim to reach millions of people across Alabama to reduce chronic disease burden and associated economic losses.