Community Possibilities
Community Possibilities
From Family Medicine to Public Health Leadership: Meet Dr. Jimmie Smith
Dr. Jimmy Smith Jr., a dynamic leader in public health, reveals the transformative journey from family medicine to becoming the Director of the Macon-Bibb County Health Department. Dr. Smith shares his passion for influencing communities on a large scale, highlighting his mentorship at Mercer University and as the president of the Georgia Public Health Association. His inspiring story is packed with insights about the challenges and triumphs of public health, painting a vivid picture of the dedication required to make a significant impact.
Like other public health departments, the public health department in Macon-Bibb County performs vital tasks, from food inspections to vital immunizations. Facing the reality of a community where 24% live below the poverty line, Dr. Smith discusses the universal importance of public health, dispelling misconceptions that it is only for the underserved. His insights on handling recent health concerns like flu, RSV, and COVID-19 and the critical role of vaccinations. He offers a compelling narrative on managing public health services in a diverse community.
Dr. Smith shares his philosophical approach to public health prevention strategies. Using creative metaphors, he illustrates the importance of primary and secondary prevention efforts and the crucial role of leadership and collaboration in fostering healthier societies. With a focus on resilience and mentorship, Dr. Smith shines a light on the future of public health careers, emphasizing the importance of nurturing emerging leaders to create lasting change. His optimistic outlook invites listeners to engage with public health initiatives, advocating for a future filled with progress and opportunity.
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Hi everybody, welcome back to Community Possibilities. I know it's been a few weeks since I've uploaded an episode, but if you've been paying attention to the news, there's been a lot going on. With that said, I want to welcome my guest today, dr Jimmie Smith. That said, I want to welcome my guest today, Dr. Jimmie Smith. You're going to hear Dr. Smith and I talk about a couple of the folks that he and I have in common, some young folks that he has mentored through his academic work at Mercer University here in Georgia. I wanted Dr Smith to come on because he is a passionate advocate for the importance of public health and what public health does for our communities, and I think a lot of people just don't know. I think public health has taken a big hit in the last couple of years and so many of my friends and colleagues are public health workers. So welcome, Dr. Smith, to the podcast. Just a little bit of an intro.
Ann Price:Dr Jimmie Smith Jr is the administrator of the Macon-Bibb County Health Department. He holds an undergraduate degree from Johnson C Smith University, a medical degree from Wayne State University and a master's of public health from Fort Valley State University. He has extensive practice in family medicine, public health practice and policy and he served in various academic and public health roles. And he served in various academic and public health roles. He also was a special assistant to the US Surgeon General. How cool is that? Dr Smith is the current president of the Georgia Public Health Association and he's active in his community, in church. He is married to Dr Yvette Monique Davis-Smith and he has three children.
Ann Price:I wish that I had kept the recording running because we had such an amazing post-conversation. But anyway, I think you are going to enjoy our conversation and I hope you learn a little bit more about public health than you knew before. Hope you enjoy the conversation, love always to hear from you and don't forget to like and share this episode. And now let's join the podcast. Hi everybody, welcome back to Community Possibilities. It's been a few weeks since we have had an episode and actually my last guest led me to today's guest. So hey, Dr. Smith, how are you?
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Good morning. Good morning.
Ann Price:Welcome, welcome. So I am so happy to have Dr Jimmie Smith here, who, as it turns out, was the professor for some of my research assistants and, uh, at least one other person that I work with in communities. So I'm excited to talk about all of the great work you do, and you have had a significant impact on a couple of folks that I know. I'll just call them out by name Darice, who was on my podcast just a few weeks ago, who is probably one of the most amazing community leaders that I have ever met in my 20-ish years of doing this work, and then Rochelle and Emily, who also were graduates of Mercer. So we'll talk about all that. So, thank you, thank you for the work that you do for growing these young women. They're amazing work that you do for growing these young women.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:They're amazing. They were Darice. I was able to meet her in undergrad and taught some of her undergrad courses, and actually Rochelle as well. And then Rochelle and Emily both completed Mercer's Master of Public Health program, and actually Rochelle is actually the first student to complete an undergrad degree and a Master's of Public Health degree through Mercer. So no, they were stars when I first met them, and the sky's the limit for all three.
Ann Price:Yeah, absolutely so. The podcast really, as you and I have discussed, is really I focus on community leadership and community coalitions, community-based nonprofits and how that all is related to the work that we do, whether that be public health or education or mental health, or support to families, all of the things. So today I really want to elevate the field of public health, which is why I asked you on the podcast, and it has everything to do with your mentoring these students. So let's back up a skinny minute and just let me give you a chance to introduce yourself so everybody can get on the same page. You and a chance to introduce yourself so everybody can get on the same page. And I always ask people to tell us how you came to be who you are. Not necessarily you know your, your Vita or your resume, but tell us how you came to do this work. You had so many options, I'm sure.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Well, one thank you for this, this opportunity. I came into public health. Some people come into public health directly. I came in through kind of a pretty long route, I guess.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:I initially went to undergrad science major, just because I like science to be a family physician, did the residency and then, while I was in residency, got involved with the politics or the policy side of family medicine and then realized that really touched public health.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:So as a family physician you can see a person or family one at a time. I luckily had or very fortunate to have attendings or teachers that helped us to look at communities at a time. So right now you could treat a person in the office for the flu, but you can also ask your question how many people in that block or in that neighborhood or in that school also have the flu, and that leads you to public health. So once finishing my residency, did a fellowship in medical education with the Academy of Family Physicians out in Kansas City and then one day got a call from Dr David Satcher, who was at the time the newly appointed Surgeon General, and said, hey, I've got a spot on my team and I think you can help with that, and got to spend the next two and a half years working in the Surgeon General's office as a special assistant, looking at health disparities, health equity, helping to develop the Healthy People 2010 document and those leading health indicators, and have been doing that for the past 25 years now.
Ann Price:Awesome. Was there somebody in your family that was in this space, in health or interested in science? I'm just curious.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:No, I would definitely say science. Yes, I'm fortunate I'm a third generation HBCU graduate. So my grandparents finished Johnson C Smith. My mother did, which is all in Charlotte, and then I was the oldest of four siblings that all went there. But my grandmother went to Johnson C Smith and finished in the mid thirties and wanted to be a physician.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:But that was a time when it was one hard for any woman to a physician, and particularly an African-American woman to be a physician. So she went into education and taught science. So I always had the best science projects of anybody in the school because I would always run them by my grandma. And then one of the things she did, so very quietly, she taught us science. She made sure our stuff was right. She taught us science. She made sure our stuff was right. And in actuality all of my cousins either went into education or healthcare. So I have a sister that's a physician assistant. I had a brother that went into the ministry. So we still say he's got the biggest of all the social services. But all of us went into math or science and we really attribute that to our very quiet but very constructive and demanding grandmother that made sure we do things right.
Ann Price:I love that. I always think it's so fascinating how people came right, Because that family legacy, what a legacy she has left your family, really, and all the folks that you've touched. So thank you, grandmother.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Yep.
Ann Price:Yeah, that you've touched. So thank you, grandmother. Yep, yeah, that's so awesome. So let's take a step back, because I can imagine that some of our listeners may not be aware of public health, and you kind of gave that example. But can you try to give us a layman's definition of public health? Layman's definition of public health.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Sure. So I would define it in two ways. So one as in a comparison. So clinical medicine looks at, say, the physician-to-patient relationship one-on-one, and just in the case of family docs, that may be a whole family.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Public health tends to look not at the individual but at the community level. Public health tends to look not at the individual but at the community level. So as we're doing that, again I'm looking at what are the flu levels across our county as opposed to how many folks in my household have the flu and those types of things. So public health also involves not only the clinical side of things but it looks at what we call a one health model. So we're looking at the environment, we're looking certainly at clinical health, but we also have a huge component of what we call the social determinants of health, those things that if I said diabetes, you'd know what I mean. If I said high blood pressure, you know what I mean. But if I said I'm income limited, you may say well, what does that? Oh, you don't have a whole lot of money. That affects your health. That's a social determinant of health, just as education, income, transportation options, social support from family community resources, social support from family, community resources, environmental constraints that you may have, because where you live matters.
Ann Price:Yeah, exactly.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:And all of that comprises public health.
Ann Price:Yeah, all of those things. That's so similar to the story that I tell, because people say, well, what do you do for a living? And I say, well, I'm a community psychologist and an evaluator. And well, what? Oh, you see families, you do therapy. No, I used to do that, I don't do that anymore Because community psychologists, just like someone in public health, are really interested in the community level factors. Right, so somebody may be struggling with mental illness, but what are those contextual factors that are contributing to whatever that stress that someone is going through? So we talked about going upstream. Right, that great metaphor of people are falling in the river. Right, you and I are interested in going upstream to find out why people are falling in the river right.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Absolutely.
Ann Price:So why is public health important? Why should we care about these social determinants of health?
Dr. Jimmie Smith:So in many cases the social determinants of health have always been around since the beginning of time. But they're important because when you begin to look at how one deals with their health in a community, or first in their family and then at a community level and then maybe in a larger aspect, you will find that 80% of what a person deals with does not carry a clinical diagnosis. If you don't have a whole lot of money, you can't go to the doctor for that. If you don't have, say, an education the education that would allow you to get X job, which would then pay you certain money to be able to have a certain type of home or access to a car or truck or whatever you need there's no clinical diagnosis for that.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:But one thing we do know is those folks that are in that boat tend to congregate around each other. So one thing I would tell folks when you're in a community and you're like man, one community looks so different than another one in the same county. But we also have to realize it's hard for a poor man to move. How does he have the means? Or she have the means, or the family have the means to move to something different, and that difference sometimes isn't because of lack of work, but maybe lack of opportunity or the ability to make a decision. Everyone has the chance to make decisions. They may not have the same ability to make the same type of decision that you or I would make because of exposure.
Ann Price:And that has a direct impact on our communities. Right.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:It does and, just like you said, you deal with the psychology of communities. That's it in a nutshell.
Ann Price:So talk to me about some of the challenges that your community faces and what you and your department do to address those.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Okay, so I am located in Macon, georgia, which is in Bibb County, so, but we're a consolidated government, so it's known as Macon Bibb County. I'm responsible for about 160,000 people every day and public health aren't necessarily the folks you want to see coming all the time, you don't. You know, we're responsible for checking tourist accommodations, every hotel, motel, campground. We're responsible for checking all of our permitted food facilities, and right now I think we're at like 693 in this one county. That doesn't count your mobile food services either. We're responsible for the tattoo parlors, the micro bladers. We have to review plans for every new subdivision that gets built, any new building. We have to do soil tests, well tests, and then we have.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:That's the things we do outside of clinical medicine. So we certainly have nurses. We have LPNs, rns, advanced practice nurses, nurse practitioners, one of which carries a doctorate degree that can do primary care. We also have a women infant children program and they're providing, on average right now, about 3,900 services a month. But where are those challenges In a county such as ours that has a high poverty rate, where about 24% of the citizens in our county live in poverty?
Dr. Jimmie Smith:According to the federal scale, more than 32% of 32, 34% of children live in poverty in our county. So, even though we provide a number of services, we certainly have access in our community, but utilization is something else. So with that I mean we can have services, but we need people to come, and public health is one of those. I'm not one that believes that everyone that is touching a public health service has to receive it here in our building, but we're also out in the community. So we internally have to do a much better job of how do we reach folks where they are. How do we also encourage them to come to us when they're able to?
Ann Price:did you say 140,000 people?
Dr. Jimmie Smith:we're at about 160,000 people in town that's a big practice you have it is. I joke. With my colleagues that are in private practice or medical practice.
Ann Price:I say, man, I'm proud of you, you have a great practice, but I happen to have the largest one in town you, you do, and you're not just like treating, you know, sore, sore throats or the flu, or covid, that's, that's a lot. You, you must have a huge staff. Probably probably not. I said that, sorry, I said that sarcastically yeah, we're most well.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:I know you understand public health, so, no, I have a. We have a team here of about 55 yeah, about 55 team members. But think about it. Um, if we have 690 permitted food facilities or restaurants here in the county, we have 10 environmentalists, that's it, and they cover far more than you know. There's 11 different programs that they're responsible for just under environmental health. So it is one where you have to be a generalist on your best day, because you don't know what you're going to run into or see on most days.
Ann Price:Right yeah, and we all experienced that a few years ago the tsunami that was COVID, of course. Now we have the flu. That is the rates are what? Are they the highest in 10 or 15 years? Something like that.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Yes, they are, and part of that is flu. We're dealing with respiratory syncytial virus or RSV. You have pneumonia, you still have COVID, that is out there, and then you just everybody has life. Yeah, just day-to-day life.
Ann Price:We were talking about that before we came on. It's been raining, cats and dogs here in Georgia and there's flooding going on. Yeah, there is a lot. My middle child has the flu right now. I so wanted to be the mom. He's 32, dr Smith. I so wanted to say, son, did you get your flu shot Right? Because you know it's? Did you get your flu shot Right Cause you know it's the strangest thing? When they grow up.
Ann Price:You actually can't tell them what to do? Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure, and I, I will. I will say when Aaron, when the when my child who will probably shoot me, cause I just said his, his name out loud when he was he's my second, and when Dan and I we had, you know, we had our other child, but when Aaron came along, you know, resources were a little tighter and I absolutely went to the public health department to get his vaccinations right, because that's something that you provide too.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Do you ever get tired? We do, we do. There are days you get tired and I think that's just part of being human. You mentioned something that I wanted to make sure that we stressed is public health is for everyone, regardless of income, and I think that's one of the things that we have not done a great job of explaining to the community. So here I would say, at least in this county, what I see is many people think public health is for those that are underserved or indigent or without insurance. But our services run the gamut for across life's continuum. So we can see newborns that need immunizations. We also can see adults of any age for immunizations. Our nurses certainly serve families, particularly mothers. As it relates to family planning, we'll have gentlemen that will come in and say, hey, I need to talk to somebody, and they may not call it family planning, but they're like I need to talk to somebody about some sexual stuff.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Cool, we got you we can either get you with a health educator or get you with a nurse if that's needed. We're a site that also offers travel vaccines for international travel, and usually the folks that can do that tend to be at the middle or higher end of the income scale. So everyone is welcome to walk through the doors of a local health department, and the great thing about that in Georgia is that each county has a local health department, so it is the one consistent healthcare provider across all 159 of our counties.
Ann Price:Yeah, plus all those other things you were talking about, like restaurants and when a new subdivision goes in, to think about, I'm sure, sewage and water and all of those other things that absolutely touch the entire community.
Ann Price:One of the things that I the metaphor I like to use, because I think people need visuals, they need stories right, to talk about like a public health approach to prevention, because that's certainly how I kind of came into this work is sometimes I'll show a picture of one of my sons when we went fishing and he actually caught a I don't know six or 10 foot nurse shark depending on who's telling the story right, and of course, the you know the shark you know whipped around and, like you know. So he's holding the hook up, right, and I put that next to a big like shrimp boat with a big net, right. So that's kind of the metaphor in my head that I use and I try to communicate to other people. People you know we can, like you know, have the hook or we can have a big white net that helps everybody be healthier in all these kinds of ways.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Yeah, I think public health has to use both of those, because I think sometimes the net may be there for when we fall, but public health is a good deal of the work we do is about primary prevention and secondary prevention. So, primary prevention being, let's show you some, inform and educate you so that we can empower you that there are certain things that you may or may not do. We want you to eat healthy, but we also have to show you that may or may not do. We want you to eat healthy, but we also have to show you that we ask you not to use tobacco products, but we have to show you why it's not a good idea to use tobacco products. The secondary prevention is once you've started doing. One of those two things is to then show you hey, here's the negative effects of doing that. So you know we really want you to stop. That may be our hook. The net part of that is when we do have folks that and I'm going to use this just as an analogy in air quotes fall. We want to make sure that that net is one, there to catch them, but two, we want to make sure that that net is also secure enough to hold them.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:We do have folks that may fall through the cracks and get to the net, but then if the net is not woven tightly, they can still fall through the net, and unfortunately I see that here as well. So that's where I talk about that access versus utilization. We may have a 42-year-old young lady that walks in our doors for whatever service and is without insurance at this time, and let's say she comes for family planning. Well, we should also know that because she's over 40 and has no insurance, she qualifies for the state's breast and cervical cancer screening program where our nurses can do the clinical breast exam. We can then, because she's enrolled in that program, get her scheduled for a mammogram which we are going to pay for. So therefore, that mammogram, it's not a deterrent to get it because of cost. But if we miss that opportunity to say to that young lady, hey, you qualify for this, we'd like to sign you up, then yes, she has hit the net of public health, but she is still falling through because we didn't have it woven tight enough.
Ann Price:Yeah, yeah Makes sense, and I have a few friends that are struggling with breast cancer right now, so that really that really resonates with me. Of course, you know early detection is the key and we know there's some community members that are a lot less likely to, you know, have that offered to them or have that accessible to them. So thank you for that. So I know that you teach and you're also a leader in the public health space in Georgia and nationally, and I wanted to allow you to have a chance to kind of talk about your work across the state and across the nation.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Sure. So within Georgia, I currently serve as the president of the Georgia Public Health Association, so I have the opportunity to work with amazing folks all over the state and not only those that are officers and section leaders within the organization to promote and empower those in public health, and those members can be anyone from community activists or stakeholders, or students or practicing folks in the field of public health, whether they're at the local level, district, state or in academia. At a national level, I am a member of the American Public Health Association and now serve as a member of their executive board since actually November of last year, so that's a four-year term I just started, where it certainly gives me the lens to look at public health from another level, looking at it across the country as opposed to just Georgia.
Ann Price:So let me ask you a couple of rapid-fire questions. What do you love most about being a community public health leader? What do you love most?
Dr. Jimmie Smith:about being a community public health leader, I think one the opportunity to advocate for some to facilitate for probably far more others. Just this morning I sent an email. I was in a meeting yesterday and met a young lady with the Hispanic Health Coalition of Georgia and we do a lot of work with Mercer's Foreign Language Department and Dr Jose Pino in trying to address health in the Hispanic-Latino community. And so the first thing I did this morning was send both of them an email saying please let me introduce the two of you to each other in case you don't know each other. So being able to facilitate those things, being able to get to know folks across our county to see the great work and the vast resources we have in our community, and then trying to be able to link folks to those.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:From an educator standpoint, I tell my students my job as an instructor is to lean on the door long enough for you to get out of, and by that I mean when you enter our doors in the public health program you're going to be with us at a master's level for two years. I only get those students usually for one class public health administration and management. So everything I've got I've got to try to pour into you in about 16, 17 weeks. I've got, I've got to try to pour into you in about 16, 17 weeks and the things that I pour into you today will probably be obsolete in about 36 months. But what I have to do is teach you everything not train you, but teach you what I know and then hope you will use those lessons and your critical thinking skills to then apply them to the world that you're going to walk into, your critical thinking skills to then apply them to the world that you're going to walk into.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:So and I tell them that story and they don't realize I'm being literal so I meet them on their first day of class of graduate school, cause I have my classes on Monday night at six o'clock. But when they graduate the day of their hooding ceremony, I'm there, and when they walk out that hallway to the department on their way to get their master's level hood, I'm holding the door open and then I remind them remember I said my job is to lean on the door long enough to get you out. I watch you do the work and I know you're ready to go. So the proudest part for me is watching those students go out in the world like an Emily, like a Rochelle, like a Darius, and see the work and impact that they're making on communities, and that makes it all worthwhile.
Ann Price:Yeah, as someone who spends a lot of mentoring, yeah, I can appreciate that Totally. So what are some of the most challenging things you face as a public health leader?
Dr. Jimmie Smith:I think what you asked earlier. Sometimes you get tired, you're like I've said the same thing over and over and over again, and then I've also realized that there are some days you just okay, I'm tired, but I need to keep going Doesn't mean you don't rest, but you keep going. And if that message is sincere, if you're intentional with your integrity, if you follow what I call the ABCs of public health and that is always be accessible, believable and competent your message will get through. It may not get through in the timeframe you think it does, but someone will come back to you and say, hey, you said this and I'm like but I said that six months ago and nobody was listening six months ago and you realize somebody was.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Budgets are challenging because what we find, particularly in Georgia, is our funding levels are probably on par with where they were about 20 years ago. So we certainly have infusions of money at times. So, certainly after the terrorist attacks on 9-11, there was an infusion of money into public health, especially around emergency preparedness. There was an infusion of money. As we dealt with the COVID pandemic, there was an infusion of money as we dealt with the COVID pandemic, but as those things, those are event oriented.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:But what you see is consistently that funding has declined. Technology, the cost, the human cost for your team members goes up, and it should because of the work that they do. But when that money is not there, you find yourself trying to do more with less and there becomes a point when you can't do that.
Ann Price:Yeah, and then I imagine some hard decisions have to be made as a result of that. So what do you wish people knew about public health professionals that serve the community? What do you wish they knew that they don't know, or maybe they misunderstand?
Dr. Jimmie Smith:I wish they would know that one. These are some of the most dedicated folks, multidisciplinary folks. You don't have to have a bachelor's in public health. You don't have to have a master's or a doctorate in public health to be engaged in public health work. So if, if I were to take a picture and say, hey, here's a picture of the faculty at Martin Luther King Elementary School, who's the public health person?
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Well, the public health person might be the nurse on staff. The public health person might be that third grade teacher that asks that student every morning how was your day? And won't stop until that child gives them an answer. Your public health person might be the lady that sits on the porch every day in the neighborhood, that knows what goes on. She's not an elected official, but if something needs to happen in that community and she says this needs to happen, it gets done. Those are the folks that support the folks that sit, say, in my seat and this team of 55 here in getting things done across our community. They include our elected officials, but they include so many more unelected officials but folks that really impact our community yeah folks that work behind the scenes yeah, I appreciate that.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:so one piece of advice you have for for those either serving in public health or who are anticipating joining that workforce Probably two years ago, I posted something on LinkedIn called my public health gospel playlist, and one of the songs I had on there was a song called Stand health gospel playlist, and one of the songs I had on there was a song called Stand, and one of the first lines in that song is what do you do when you've done all you can and it seems like it's never enough?
Dr. Jimmie Smith:And then the next line says you just stand. So I think there's sometimes that we run this race of life so hard and then realize sometimes what we need to do is not run but just stand still. So for our folks that are our emerging leaders, those folks that are in school or doing community based work whether it's a community health worker or a teacher or professor that just started every day you have to come with a hundred percent at a a minimum, because we're only going to do this for a short time. And then that's where you teach the folks that come beside you, before you, behind you, so that you make sure that when you're done you're not worried about what's coming, because you know you've left great folks that are trained to do this type of work.
Ann Price:I think you're going to make me cry. That's yeah, that's so helpful, especially especially right now. Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:And I think we have to be afraid to not let people go. And I don't mean that in a bad way. What I mean is if you have a member on your team and they're doing well, they're learning stuff and you know that they've got skills that could be pushed to another level, it is okay to let that. You know, sometimes we want to hold on to that person because it makes our life so much easier.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:But if an opportunity comes along, share that opportunity with that person. And then what you have is now you've got an ally somewhere else, yeah. And then you've got what that does. You've got an ally somewhere else, but now you've got another opportunity to help another emerging leader get their start yeah.
Ann Price:It sounds like you are a seed planter, Dr Smith, versus someone who harvests.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Yeah, and I'd rather plant the seeds. I'm big enough now. I need to lose some weight anyway, so let me plant. I don't need to harvest too much.
Ann Price:Yeah, I came to know that about myself a good many years ago that some of us are called to be harvesters and some of us are called to be seed planters I had a mentor of mine that said she was a deputy superintendent of a large school system, um, and actually her background was in social work.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:And she said you know, as she got near retirement she said you know, I've come to realize many times people look at the deputy superintendent as the person that has to control things. She said I've learned over the years. I'm at a place now I'd rather coach things, and that's a very different mindset of let me move. I may see something going on way over here that you can't see, but if I can move pieces where those two people can get together, then both may benefit or both may learn something from the other. And I think that's where we have to be in public health. We don't we manage. We don't necessarily cure things, we facilitate. And those are the things you know. That's the hard stuff. It's hard having conversations, it's hard trying to get folks in a room. Everybody brings their stuff to the table and when you get to the table then you realize when you have more than what you need, don't build a wall, build a longer table and then you can bring more people in.
Ann Price:Yeah, absolutely, I love that, Love that. Dr Smith, I know you're busy. You got a lot on your plate. You got a lot on your plate today, as in every day, so I just really want to thank you for taking the time. But I got to ask you the question that I ask all of my guests, because I am really curious what you're going to say. When you look to the future, what community possibilities do you see, or what?
Dr. Jimmie Smith:community possibilities do you see? I would say those community possibilities are super, super bright and so bright you can't see them all. So where we have? Dr Satcher taught us when we were on his team that sometimes life his quote was life is full of golden opportunities carefully disguised as irresolvable problems. Oh, so when you look to that future, when you look at your, in my case, say, nieces, nephews, much younger cousins, and you're like you know what? You wouldn't have survived in the fifth grade if you had my fifth grade teachers, because they didn't allow the stuff that some folks allow now. But at the same time, you know what. We are multi-generational and things progress and it may not be the way we exactly want it, but possibilities are there and you have to give folks the opportunity to grow and to blossom, to change, to make mistakes, to make amends, you know, and go forward and go forward.
Ann Price:You've left us with so many gems today. I'm going to be thinking about this conversation for a while, so before I let you go, how can people get in touch with you if they want to learn more about the work you do, or just more about you?
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Sure. So I can be reached at the Macon Bibb County M-A-C-O-N-B-I-B-B health department. We're located in Macon, georgia. I can be found on LinkedIn, jimmy, with an I-E-H Smith Jr and I tell folks we're you know, just call. We're open to having those conversations. We literally are proposing and Macon has a thing we call On the Table, where you invite people in and just have an open discussion about a topic. We're holding one on March 4th and we titled it how Long Should I Live? Because I have a community here in our county where the average life expectancy is 63.
Ann Price:That's how old I am as of a few weeks ago.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:But three miles down the street I have a community whose average life expectancy is 82.
Ann Price:Yeah.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:So that's why I say where you live matters, but I think when you have those conversations we can begin to see what are some characteristics of one that may not be in the other one Right, and then are those applicable to that other community?
Ann Price:Yeah, get curious.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Yeah, that would be, we have to talk to each other to be able to solve those problems.
Ann Price:Yeah, absolutely Well. Thank you again, dr Smith. I so appreciate your time and your conversation.
Dr. Jimmie Smith:Thank you, it has been a pleasure. Thank you, it has been a pleasure Thank you.
Ann Price:Hi everybody. Thank you for joining me on today's episode of Community Possibilities. I hope you have found it helpful. You know these are stressful times we're living in and nonprofit leaders need all the support they can get. Be sure, and check out our website, communityevaluationsolutionscom. I have so many free and low-cost resources for you, from our course Powerful Evidence to logic, model templates and theories of change and coalition assessments all sorts of things that you might need as a community leader during this trying time. I hope you find the resources helpful. I hope you find the podcast helpful and, if you do, would you please like and share this episode? That helps get more ears on our podcast. Thank you so much and I'll see you next time. Thank you.