What Community Health Work Actually Is with Ma’ta Crawford

The Foundations of Community Health

Carey Rothschild and Lillie Hall join us on this episode to discuss the new IACH Community Health Digital Badge in partnership with the SC Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare. Carey serves as the Director of Community Health Policy and Strategy of the Spartanburg Regional System, and Lillie is the Community Engagement Director at the Department of Public Health Upstate. They will both serve as faculty for this course. IACH Director of Education Loretta Crowley guides listeners through an interview about the importance of the non-clinical side of health and community-informed education, as well as how these modules will help raise knowledge in these areas across the South Carolina community.

What Community Health Work Actually Is with Ma’ta Crawford

“If it’s not equal for one of us, it’s not equal for any of us.” Ma’ta Crawford, a Certified Community Health Worker, has never been able to leave her field of health equity work — she says there is always more work to be done.   She serves as a member of the HEAL (Health Equity Action Leadership) Board, a community-led advisory board supported by LiveWell Greenville and the Institute for the Advancement of Community Health at Furman University. The board is composed of diverse community leaders and residents who work to advance health equity and improve health outcomes across Greenville County. Through relationship-building, advocacy, and community engagement, the HEAL Board seeks to strengthen trust, build community capacity to influence larger systems, and elevate community voices in decision-making processes. In this episode, IACH Researcher Jody Teel sits down with Ma'ta to explore: * What makes the HEAL Board feel like a family to her  * Why she continues to show up for this work, even when it is difficult * Her favorite memories from working with her team Ma'ta shares her core values around learning from people with lived experience, building trust, and moving through life with an open mind while staying true to yourself.

The Power of Scaffolded Support: A Future PTs pathway with the IACH

At the IACH, we help students gain meaningful experiences in their fields that deepen their academic learning and ignite a passion for community health. In this episode, Health Careers Internship Coordinator Rebecca Haffen sits down with Will Hutson — a graduating senior Public Health major and Community Health Champion at Furman University — to talk about his journey in community health, hands-on internship experience at a physical therapy clinic, and his summer as an IACH Summer Fellow at Sustaining Way. Will shares how he connected his shadowing experience to his public health classes, and offers practical advice for Furman students looking to make the most of internship and fellowship opportunities.

The Connections We Share

Research suggests that the health risks associated with social isolation are comparable to those of smoking, obesity, and alcohol use, yet many modern communities are not structured to foster meaningful in-person interaction. In this episode, Dr. Kerry Sease is joined in the podcast studio by Risa Wilkerson, Executive Director of Healthy Places by Design. Together they discuss how Healthy Places By Design works to advance community-led, place-based strategies to strengthen social cohesion and explore practical ways to embed connection into the infrastructure of ev

CBPR Partners in Practice – Postdoc Perspectives

Even the best research can end up excluding the very communities it aims to serve. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is different — it’s rooted in collaboration and "power-sharing." Communities are a part of each step of the research process, and the partnership continues after the research concludes. Postdoctoral training coordinator Meghan Richmond talks to IACH Postdoctoral fellows Kinsey Meggett and Abass Babatunde to explore what CBPR actually is, and what it isn't. They’ll discuss how practicing CBPR at the IACH allows researchers to bring findings directly back to the community, creates opportunities for co-learning, and ultimately strengthens the quality of their findings.