Let's Improve Futures Together (LIFT)

This summer, we had a chance encounter with Andrea Kruszka, assistant director of the Tennessee Center for Rural Innovation at Tennessee Tech University. We were trying to think about how to convey to the public news about our new project to create the South Cumberland Health Mobility Network (a mouthful) in a way that would quickly build knowledge of what we were trying to accomplish and give the public an easy way to access our services.

Andrea agreed to come to Tracy City, and we quickly assembled a group of community members who were accustomed to the challenges of communicating important messages about the Plateau. We took over the conference room at the Littell-Partin Center and went to work.

We wanted to be able to convey some basic information about how our network will function:

• If you were a person who needed a ride to the doctor, grocery store, or walking trail (among other health related opportunities) we would be there for you. You'd just need to call us (or use our app) and we would get you a ride.

• If you wanted to volunteer to help your neighbor with a ride, we wanted to bring you in the network and reimburse you for your expenses.

• If you needed accompaniment on your health (or medical) journey, we wanted to put you in touch with a Community Health Worker who could help you navigate the system and get you thinking about your health beyond immediate interventions.

• If you were a recovery organization, providing rides to people in your care, we wanted to relieve you of some of the cost of doing that huge task.

And, above all, we wanted to convey the idea that mobility is much more than being able to go from point A to point B. We had designed a program that we hoped would build social mobility as well. You might get a ride today, but we really hope that through our intervention, tomorrow is going to be so much better.

That afternoon, as a community group, we talked all the way around these questions, trying out phrases like G-Uber (a crowd favorite). Then Dan Miller said, “What about LIFT Grundy, with LIFT standing for Let’s Improve Futures Together?” The room knew instantly that we had a name, and in the coming weeks, we will be rolling out our branding and marketing. In the meantime, meet some (but not all) of the people who are taking the idea of a health mobility network, and turning it into the LIFT Grundy reality.