Page Comparison

Jessica

Jessica Wallace
PhD, MPH, MSHS, PA-C
Family Medicine Physician Assistant
Director of "Healthy World"

Sonja

Sonja R. Fuqua, PhD, RN, Chief Clinical Services Officer for the Community Health Association of Mississippi has served as Program Coordinator for the Child Overweight/Obesity Management Models in Teams Setting (COMMIT) with MEND throughout the 5-year program. She was responsible for engagement, recruitment and oversight of six community health centers for implementation of the evidence-based program (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do It [MEND]). Additionally, she facilitated staff training for both the didactic and exercise components of the program. The goal was to improve the health outcomes and risk behaviors of children aged 7-13 years, with obesity or overweight to facilitate the Quadruple Aim of better health, better outcomes, better costs, and better workforce. Aside from leading the MEND community health center collaborative meetings, Dr. Fuqua has focused on program innovation and establishing community partnerships. She has presented on the MEND program and establishing partnerships in various state and national conferences including the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC),

On a personal note, Dr. Fuqua has a passion for empowering others to make positive lifestyle changes for better health. She has maintained the loss of over 120 pounds and often uses her lived experience to inspire others.

Sonja R. Fuqua, PhD, RN, Chief Clinical Services Officer for the Community Health Association of Mississippi has served as Program Coordinator for the Child Overweight/Obesity Management Models in Teams Setting (COMMIT) with MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do It) throughout the 5-year program, recruiting and overseeing six community health centers for implementation of the evidence-based program. On a personal note, Dr. Fuqua has a passion for empowering others to make positive lifestyle changes for better health. She has maintained the loss of over 120 pounds and often uses her lived experience to inspire others.

Kyskie

"When I started participating in the COMMIT project 6 years ago, I could never have guessed what a profound change it would have on our health center, as well as, the community. The health center is so much more ingrained in the community and has forged more partnerships and alliances with more organizations than ever. With group classes, we were able to reach so many more families than we would have with one-on-one interventions.

I've gained so many skills from the training and learned to apply them in an entirely new format. COMMIT has fundamentally changed my approach to pediatric weight management and pediatric dietetics. It may sound sappy (and I've been watching too much TV for toddlers) but starting out, our program took on the COMMIT/MEND project like a hungry caterpillar. We dove headfirst into the program eating away and reacting to the changes daily. As we progressed and learned and grew the project into a butterfly. We have the knowledge and skills now to see ahead and above. We can move quickly and adapt and take the program wherever it's needed. We can create, develop, and spread the program to more people than we could have perceived.

From the connections I have made across the country with people doing the same work, to the knowledge gained and my ability to apply that knowledge for the betterment of my patients and my community, my experience with COMMIT program has been monumentally life-changing. Our interactions with each other have been an education in and of itself and the growth we have seen is one of the greatest highlights of my career. 

Kyskie Bolton, MS, RDN, LDN WIC Program Coordinator at G.A. Carmichael Family Health has led her team’s participation in the COMMIT project throughout the 5 year program, using the skills she learned to not only lead group classes for families but to forge partnerships and alliances with organizations united in the mission for healthier families. She said: “From the connections I have made across the country with people doing the same work, to the knowledge gained and my ability to apply that knowledge for the betterment of my patients and my community, my experience with COMMIT program has been monumentally life-changing.”

Maggie

Margarita Vroman, RN BSN, CIC

Director of Ancillary Nursing