Mark Jackson joined the Mt. Healthy WeTHRIVE! Team in October 2016. He immediately started to make an impact with his D-Check diabetes screening program and other initiatives.
Family:
Married to Angie; they have four children.
- Mark Jackson conducting blood sugar testing at Trinity Lutheran Church in Mt. Healthy.
Job:
Mark is a Civil Affairs Specialist with the United States Army. He has served in the military for 29 years, with six of the last ten years spent overseas in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa.
Community:
Mt. Healthy (a WeTHRIVE! Community)
Interesting Fact:
Mark has master’s degrees in public health and business. He also speaks Arabic.
Making a Difference with WeTHRIVE!:
- D-Check: Mark Jackson’s passion for diabetes prevention led him to create the D-Check Program in Mt. Healthy. D-Check provides free blood glucose screenings to raise awareness about diabetes in the community, where the rate of diabetes is higher than the county average. Mark conducts the screenings himself on Thursday evenings at Trinity Lutheran Church’s Feed Your Neighbor community dinner. He recruited volunteers from the University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy to do screenings at Walgeen’s on weekends. To get the word out about D-Check, Mark distributed flyers door-to-door in Mt. Healthy.
- Mark has talked to Mt. Healthy restaurants about promoting menu items that are “diabetic friendly.” He is working with American Diabetes Association on this.
- Mark is working with Mt. Healthy schools to expand diabetes screening to include students.
- As a member of the Mt. Healthy WeTHRIVE! team, Mark is also involved with the Mt. Healthy Community Assessment Survey, the WeTHRIVE! Walking Club, and the Mt. Healthy WeTHRIVE! Health & Safety Fair, which will be held on April 22, 2017.
In His Own Words:
Diabetes is personal to Mark, as he was diagnosed with pre-diabetes three years ago. “I was shocked,” he said. “I’ve spent 29 years in the Army and I’m fit, I’m not overweight…but diabetes runs in my family.”
“Everyone knows someone with diabetes. But they don’t talk about it and they don’t understand what it is. This must change in order to fight this epidemic.”
“My goal is to saturate the community with WeTHRIVE! I want kids to see WeTHRIVE! like they see McDonald’s.”
Words from Others:
“We are grateful that Mark has chosen the residents of our community to develop and implement real strategies to provide options to battle diabetes. He is the utmost professional in every way and his organization skills, drive, and passion make working with him extremely enjoyable! His attitude is truly contagious!”
–Mimi Anderson, former Mt. Healthy WeTHRIVE! Team Leader