Nurse practitioners, physician assistants and nurse anesthetists from TeamHealth – an organization that provides hospital-based clinical outsourcing to several Baptist hospitals – recently collected non-food essentials and matching donations for Heartland Hands Food Pantry, which gives the items to the needy in Northwest Mississippi. The TeamHealth staff serve on the Advanced Practice Provider Council and work at Baptist DeSoto.
TeamHealth nurse practitioner Dr. Jawanner Davis led the drive.
“The items collected and donated are essentials most of us take for granted every day,” Davis said. “When we treat patients, we see community needs. This is a small way we could give back in line with Baptist’s mission.”
Heartland Hands officials say drives like this help them serve hundreds of families every month.
“Items like toilet paper, shampoo, soap and laundry detergent are desperately needed by people in our community,” said Connie James, executive director of Heartland Hands Food Pantry. “Since 2006, more than 22,000 food and essentials baskets have been distributed to over 70,000 individuals. The administrative cost is less than 1 percent and is staffed exclusively by 35 volunteers. There is never a cost to the families we serve.”