Ophelia C. - Participant

Good morning, Miss Ophelia.

Good morning.

Thank you for joining me today.

Thank you for the invite. Yeah.

So, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Well, my name is Ophelia Carr. I belong to the Canaan Baptist Church right here in the city, right up the street.

Okay.

11Th and chambers. I've been with them since December. It's my new church. I'm part of the General Baptist State convention. Convention. Convention of Wisconsin, Incorporated. I am also part of the hope ministry that's part of the National Baptist Convention of USA, Incorporated. We do a lot of things with that, with regarding to health and opportunities.

And what else do I do? I work. I'm a full time. I'm a grandma, I'm a mom, I'm a wife. Okay. Quite a bit of things that I do in a day.

All right. So are you from Milwaukee?

Born in Chicago, raised here.

Okay. Raised in what side of town?

Chicago?

No, in Milwaukee.

Northside.

North side.

Always have been. Yep.

Okay.

See how northwest. I'll put it that way. Where I was raised there because I was born in Chicago and we moved here, as my dad said, we transplanted here. And I went to grade school, I went to middle school, and I went to high school in Union Grove, Wisconsin.

Okay. What was growing up like?

It was fun. I had two sisters, mom and dad, and we had a good time. My dad made sure that we learned about how to take care of yourself, don't depend on somebody else because that person may not be there. So he taught us, he trained, raised us like boys, so we know how to mow grass, cut trees. We know how to do all the good stuff as a young man because he didn't have any sons. So we learned all the good stuff. And I have to say, my dad made sure that we learned everything so we can be self sufficient.

What about health? Did your dad teach you anything around health?

Well, my mom did that part. Okay, so you know how to be healthy. Make sure you get to the doctor, the dentist, making sure that you always know what your health numbers are. Because if you don't know how, you can tell somebody else, and without knowing your own health history, how can you tell your children and grandchildren what happened, but also what happened in the past with grandma, great grandma? So you can know how to focus the rest of your life, because you just don't know what can happen and who will come along with those grandchildren. You just have to know.

You said that you are really active in your church community, faith based communities, specifically regarding health. Tell me a little bit what that looks like.

Well, people are quiet. I'll use african American because that's what I am. And we are very, very particular who we talk to and what we say and how, who we say it to. So when being part of different workshops as part of the african american community and from the community partnerships that I'm part of is that you have to be particular how you bring the program, but also particularly who you put in the program. Because if you put somebody who don't look like me, sound like me and lived in my shoes, I'm going to give you basic information. But if you look like me and you like, yeah, I seen you. I know you. You know the struggle.

I can talk to you and I'll tell you everything you need to know and even more than you ever wanted to know. So that makes it interesting to be able to be part of the community, but also to be able to help them and bring resources that they say that's in the community but we never see. So that's my thing with being part of healthcare and being part of the community health ambassador, to make sure that all those resources that's laying out there for our caucasian and our other brothers and sisters out there is brought back to our community so they can be able to be self sufficient but also to live a little longer. Past 35.

Yeah. What are some, like, practical things that you do in those communities to help bring those resources back?

Well, I'm currently working with the Living well with chronic health disease, part of the Milwaukee County Health, Milwaukee County Health department of aging in the living will, Wisconsin. It's called WiHa Wisconsin Health and aging, Wisconsin Health Aging Institute. And so we have a program, a workshop that we're working with, piloted with several churches here in the city. And it brings, talking about chronic health conditions. So it's just like a conversation like we having today. We sit and talk evidence based program, but it's a conversation, you talk about different health concerns such as diet, diabetes, everything you can think of and how you can manage it better. So being able to bring this information to the community in a small group and have them talk, be like, man, just a little bitty, something small that you can hear the conversation. They'll take it back and tell somebody else.

And next thing you know, we got another workshop coming up because somebody else want to hear. What did you tell them and how did you do it and how, why did you read that story to them and how come they feel so good? And that makes me feel so good because I've been in health care for over 30 years. And I know it's information that we're missing.

What did you do in healthcare?

I worked. Currently I work for a health insurance company, one of the badger care. But I worked for Aurora as a health care coordinator and also as admission clerk, clinic clerk. So I did a lot of stuff. So I saw people come in from our community and it's like, you go in and see the doctor and you be there. You in there, like 15 minutes? Like, no, I have more questions. Go back and ask. Well, they said no.

I tell people all the time, you can take. It says 15 minutes. If you need 45 minutes, you tell them, I got ABC. Write your stuff down. And African Americans do not understand that you can write information down. Ask the doctor, don't let them. You understand this prescription. Don't shake it.

Hit them. No, put it in words that I can understand. I can go tell my granddaughter that can help me. So that's me. I like to make sure that I know. Cause even for myself, if I don't know what this word means, I'm gonna look it up. But maybe somebody who's not computer savvy or it's illiterate to understand the word or how to look it up or ask somebody. That's the job, I suppose, to be doing to make sure they understand.

Good, good.

Now, I know you said that you kind of lead an evidence based type program, but you also participated in a program. Is that correct?

Yes, the same program I was participating in. Wow.

Okay. And then that led you to lead it?

Yes, ma'am. Awesome. Awesome. Yes, ma'am.

So what motivated you to join the class that you participated in to be.

Able to bring the information back to see what they were talking about. How does it apply to somebody in my community? Because it wasn't in my community before. In the african american community, in our christian community, for African American Baptist church community, it wasn't there, so they bought it in. So I said, let me just be a tester, because if I'm sitting there testing it and listening and going through the process, that means somebody else is going to say, oh, yeah, sister car. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because people know your name, because if they don't know your name, they know who you look like and who you with. Because of the churches that I go with, go to with our former pastor. I've been to a lot of churches, so they may not know my name, but they know who I look like and what I wore.

So people get to be trusted once you part of a program and they're like, yeah, okay. Yeah, she can come in. She can come in. So you have to be able to live it, walk it, and then be able to talk it to somebody else outside of your own family, even with the family, you have to be able to talk it to them.

Yeah, for sure. For sure. What aspects of the class did you enjoy the most when you were a participant?

Knowing that the information was simple. I can understand it and I can express it to someone else in simple terms, if need be. I could have broke it down even smaller to have the other person understand what we're talking about. And it made me feel being part of the community, but also being part of that person's family and let them know that if you don't want to say nothing and the programs led to, you don't have to answer. And just giving that person that opportunity. You don't have to answer anything.

Do you have an instance where you were kind of, like, in the class and something just kind of clicked for you? Like, I get that. I understand.

Oh, yeah. Because like I said, I've been in healthcare for, I say, over 30 years, but you'd be like, yeah. You made this word simple. Yeah, my mother can understand this one. Yeah. Cause I try to make sure I put, if it was my aunt, my uncle, my sister, brothers, whoever, could they understand this? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They can understand it. Yeah, yeah.

Cause I wanna make sure that the next person can. If they can understand. Excuse me. Can you make this simple? Write it differently so the next person who's younger than me or older than me can understand it.

Did you have a moment like that in the class?

Yes.

Can you talk about that moment?

Oh, I forgot what part it was. I guess we were talking about some kind of health factor. I can't remember what your health factor it was. And it was going, asking, how would you explain. Oh, it was about measuring. How would you explain as measuring out this amount compared to your diet? Shucks, it was measuring out food. But how, if you don't understand math, how about explain this to somebody? Give me something that's simple to show somebody else who don't understand math. Show me a cup.

Oh, okay. Use this cup. This is what we're talking about. This size compared to this size. And he, like they said, we never thought about like that. Well, you have to bring it down some. You can't have it always at high level. You have to bring it down to the ground because everybody's not as well educated as the people who are bringing the information to you.

Right.

That's a great example.

Thank you. Did you personally encounter any obstacles or challenges that made participation difficult?

Nope. Mm mm.

So you didn't feel like there were any barriers for you?

Particularly not for me. Mm mm.

Did you witness anybody who had any barriers?

No. If they was having barriers, they didn't admit to it.

Okay.

Because, you know, everybody's not gonna, like I said, again, speak up and say, yeah, I understand. But if I didn't understand, so I'm gonna raise my hand and say, hey, mm mm. That don't make sense to me.

Well, like, even with, like, kind of everyday barriers, like transportation or having to give care to someone else and making time for the class, so not even necessarily with the understanding of what's being given to you, but just like, outside barriers. Did you notice any of that or.

Nobody, nobody said, okay, but it's there. And you have to take that into account when you have workshops in our community, to know that if mom has children and they're different ages, do you have a workshop in the morning or do you have it in the evening? Because at lunchtime, somebody getting out of school, and in the evening, it's dinner time. So you have to be kind of careful how you work that and going through the programs and the workshops and activities here in the community, those things come to mind. What time do we offer this? Do we offer it early in the morning or do we offer it on Saturday when mom has or dad has availability? Or do you offer in the evening time where we gonna provide childcare and a meal for them to eat?

How has the program impacted your daily activities and overall physical health?

Daily activities. It makes me want to do more research.

Okay.

Physically, if you talk, we talked about weight loss. How do you do weight loss? Everybody wanna run to the gym. Well, that's not everybody can't afford the gym. So me, it's like, how do I tell somebody who don't have the funds to go to the gym? The cheapest thing you can do is walk, and that's free. You can walk around your neighborhood. And so that made me like, okay, I can pick my walk back up. Cause I had stopped for a little bit. Let me see if I'll walk at my neighborhood.

Could I lose a couple of inches, maybe a couple of pounds of. And it really does work. And I can testify to that. You know, you have to be able to do things that's in your price range. If you go beyond your price range, you may have stress all the way around. But if you can freely walk the neighborhood or walk inside your house, back up and down the steps. You can do that. So you have to.

I played. I made sure I was in the same spot if I was when I started the workshop with other people that I have walked, walked around the block, walked up and down the steps. And it works. Yeah.

So just implementing some practical things that, you know.

Yeah. And everybody don't think like that, because doctor said you have to lose 30 pounds. Oh, I'm gonna lose 30 pounds. I gotta go to the gym. No, you can walk and you can eat. You can make, take even making a meal, you can thank macaroni and cheese. Everybody makes it a thousand different ways. Well, how do you make it so it's less calories? You can google it.

You can look it up. You can ask, you can try it yourself. Create something that you notice that it's less calorie. You can see yourself losing weight.

So you said something about walking around your block. Right. What is a way that you changed your eating habits from this program?

I'd start in the beginning. I measured my food. I bought a scale. It was non expensive, and just weighed things out based on what it said. And then I had a. My plate. USda has a plate that you can. How much food should go in each section? So I had one of them.

I had the. It was orange, and then they have a flat one. And I started putting my food on the plate based on what they said on the plate. And that's how I learned how to portion my food out, too. And so when you know how to portion, you know, learn how to know what you can eat and can't eat, because our steak should not fill the whole plate. It should be just where it's supposed to be. And as you learn that and go through the process of how to reduce the amount of food that you eat, eventually the plate goes away, because in your mind and your brain, you say, yeah, that's too much. That's too much.

You just learn along the way. And that's how I learned, too.

What improvements or new activities would you like to see in the program to.

Be to break it down to children? Because our kids are obese, and they. They don't always get the daily food that they need to eat. So if the program can be brought down to where a kid can understand, we have the same conversation and we have with adults, I think kids would be so happy. Cause they can know that they can eat solid food. They can eat fruits and vegetables. They don't have to eat hot fries. And all those chips and all those soda, you can have real food and still lose weight. Because a lot of kids, there are just so many children way overweight.

And they have health, diabetes, high blood pressure, and they just 16 and they got a whole life ahead of them. So if we can push it back and have them eat healthy food on a daily basis, that'd be great. So I wish the program would come down to something like that for me.

Kids.

Mm hmm. Oh, yeah. Start at the beginning. Instead of. Cause us as seniors, we can only say so much. We can only do so much. But if you can start when they're little, they can tell the next one that's coming along how to do it, too.

That's good. How did you find out about the program?

Through the Milwaukee county health department of aging and living well, and one of my community partners was talking about it. You want to be part of that? Okay, sure, I'll go. Because they always. Somebody always asks, do you want to be part of a program and see what it tested out? It's tested out for the church and the community. Sure, why not? I got time. So I like that part. Because if they don't ask me, who they gonna ask? Everybody don't always say yes. And I like being part of.

And it's part of research, and it's part of letting people know that, yeah, they're not gonna kill you. They gonna let you make it through. So it was part of. Of course, everything is research, but you just have to understand research that it's not. We remember what happened with Tuskegee and Henrietta the last. Remember all those things. But research has come a long way. There's consent forms.

You have to read and understand. If you can read, understand. If you don't understand it and can't read, there's someone that can read it for you. So I feel like if I'm trusted enough to understand where I'm going, I can read this information to somebody and say, hey, I did the same thing already. I'm still here. It's still good. So it's up to you to trust it. But I'm still here and I'm still part of it.

I'll be your partner along the way. You have to show people that you're invested and that you've been part of and you've done the work.

Would you recommend the program to others and why?

Gosh, yes, I would. Oh, I wish everybody would be part of any other program, such as living well with working, living well with chronic conditions. Because you get a chance to speak to, not a healthcare provider, but a community person, somebody that's in the community, somebody that has a family member that has the same thing. And you can hear their. Hear how I feel, how I deal with it on a daily basis, but I can also hear how you feel and what you need to know, how you did it. It's like, no, you can do it this way. I say a smarter way or better way. I'll use the word better way to do this instead of just going along because so and so says so.

So if everybody can be, can come in and join, at least listen on the first day. If you don't like it, you can walk away. But if you find something interesting, stay. Because once again, you have to help yourself, but you also have to help the generations behind us. It may not help us today, but it will help our great grandchildren along the way. Just letting them know that I just changed my diet. I just did a little more walking. I did more fruit and vegetable.

Yeah, we still want our fried food, but you can eat fried food at a, at a smaller rate. You don't have to have fried chicken every day or fried pork chop. You can bake, you can broil, you can barbecue. You can do a whole lot of things. But if we could, we have to be the one to be able to tell that little five year old that they can. You don't have to have fried chicken every day. You can have fruit. Fruit is good for you.

And don't tell kids, no, you can't have. We have to be the one to show. If we don't show, they don't know. Right?

In closing, give me some encouraging words. Give folks some encouraging words that would really push them to participate in a program like evidence based program. Really focus in on their health and.

Value, you know, a healthy lifestyle, compassion, love, understanding. I'll hold your hand as we walk this trail together. Because without walking, holding hands, how can I be true to what I learned and how. And the other word is being empowered. Because it's all about you. It's not about the family. It's about you. So being empowered to do this, to be part of this program, of evidence based programs and workshops around the city.

Okay, cool. Thank you, Miss Ophelia.

You're welcome.