Bringing Health to Bridgeport
Bringing Health to Bridgeport
By Chris Carbone
How is success measured? Within the parameters of this non-profit world; dealing with growth, pivoting amongst budget cuts, record numbers in our pantry, and catering to the whims of an indoor hydroponic farm can make these silver linings we do it all for hard to track. We often refer to our direct service programs as lifelines to our community. The story of Sherylyn Garner is a personification of such a lifeline.
Sherylyn was a recent participant in the St. Vincent’s Diabetic Research Study. nOURish BRIDGEPORT played a role by providing salad kits from the nOURish INDOOR FARM to the participants on a bi-weekly basis. For the past ten years, she had been working in the commercial real estate development industry. Her office was in New York, but the job took her all up and down the east coast. Like too many other a victim of this sort of hustle culture work environment, her health became a nether-concern.
“I wasn’t eating right…I was not putting myself on the schedule.”
The late hours and itinerant nature of the work led to poor diet choices; that detrimental grab at anything quick and convenient. The ramifications of this would come full circle when Sherylyn went in for a pre-op for a hip-replacement surgery. The doctor discovered that her A1C level was at a dangerously high 12.8 percent. This resulted in the surgery being cancelled. Dr. Chambers, Sherylyn’s PCP with Hartford Healthcare, brought the study to her attention. She quickly enrolled.
“I was introduced to local farmer’s markets that I could walk to from my home…I would get fresh fruits and vegetables, and just focused on cooking these.” Then, the first nOURish BRIDGEPORT salad kit arrived. “It was so fresh…it looked as if there was morning dew on it,” she exclaims. These kits, replete with any one of our fresh varieties of lettuce; from pomegranate crunch to green star romaine, as well as tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs were included every week for the duration of the study. “This was the catalyst that helped me get back on track.”
Additionally, Sherylyn was visited by a nutritionist on a bi-weekly basis. “It was an education between her and I…it gave me ways to combat diabetes beyond just the meds I was on.” This led to her finally understanding the dynamics of her disease. She was taught to read labels. To make sure the carbs were within a suitable range for her situation. The difference between processed sugars and the natural ones found in fruits. “Years ago, diabetes was a life-sentence,” she explains. “My grandmother had it…they just called it ‘sugar’ back then…Nobody had the education about it.”
By the end of the study, Sherylyn was able to get her A1C down to 6.7 percent. “Knowing that I can do it, and knowing that I can now impart information to others so they can know that they can reverse the symptoms they are having,” is what is driving Sherylyn’s next moves. Last month, she completed the Community Health Workers Course. “When I learned such a course was being offered, I said, ‘God, you know, I don’t need to be in construction…access to health and education are what impact a person’s life.” In addition to this career change, Sherylyn has been interning at the nOURish BRIDGEPORT Super Food Pantry, giving directly back to the program that helped turn her disease around.
“People don’t have the knowledge of these resources…to be able to walk up to a neighbor here on Wednesday and talk to them and answer questions about where they can go means everything…I want to pass this on.”
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George Carlin once said, “People are just wonderful as individuals. You see the whole universe in their eyes if you look carefully.” While interviewing Sherylyn for this piece, I couldn’t help but think of that. This woman, whom I had never met before, agreed to come in and share this most trying and intimate of stories with me. Why? For personal gain? Certainly not profit. She had a certain gait as she came in the door and hunched over to sign herself in. Something developed from years of putting something else; other people, jobs, shareholders above oneself. The irony is that, in putting Sherylyn first for once, has led to a new life of sorts. One of ultimate selflessness. Sherylyn hopes to be an advocate for others who are in her situation. Her road is a continuation of our aims: not merely to give people access to fresh and nutrient-dense food, but to educate them as well. Because we are what we eat, and we all deserve a brighter future.