Health and Human Services News

Partnerships built to improve quality of life

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MSU Care is a free and charitable clinic that serves an underserved, unisured population within the community.

Jaime Gnau, clinical dietician at MSU Care and also clinical instructor of MSU’s dietetics program, talks about her role at the clinic.

“A lot of my work focuses around diabetes, weight management and developing a healthy relationship with food,” Gnau said.

The clinic is a partnership with Mercy, with employees from both institutions working side by side.

Gnau shares about the challenges patients are facing and how she helps them.

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“Our patients have a lot of barriers. So as you can imagine, they’re fighting fires every day. They deal with challenges of just meeting their basic needs,” Gnau said.

Improving health care access

“As a dietician, it’s really about helping them set achievable goals,” she said. “When you’re not able to pay your electric bill, or you’re not even able to have a house to access, a stove to cook on, to be able to store refrigerated foods – we really are focusing in on what is within your control. Let’s see how we can develop some some small achievable goals that you feel confident you can reach.”

Changing services during COVID

Gnau served on a task force to strategize about the necessary adaptations for services during COVID. Instead of feeling defeated, she is excited to share about some of the new partnerships – primarily one for food boxes.

“If you don’t have a consistent food source while you’re on insulin, it can be very dangerous,” she said.

When she reached out to Ozarks Food Harvest and explained the needs and types of food that would be best, she was in awe.

“They just absolutely came through. We’ve served 30,427 pounds of food since the program began,” she said, and the partnership continues.

For more information, visit msucare.missouristate.edu.

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Turning heartache into a thriller

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In 2017, Dallas Massey lost his brother to pneumonia. With an interest in writing, he used that tragedy as an inspiration to write a book.

Growing up, Massey, who’s a per course faculty  in the department of biomedical sciences at Missouri State University, had a childhood full of obstacles. But even after being diagnosed with a genetic disease, he and his late brother, Dillon, still found a way to enjoy life through their love for science, and letting their imaginations run wild.

Using science knowledge to tell stories

Massey’s writing resulted in his science fiction series, “Fall Prey.”  It combines his passion for science and his love for vampire stories.

“When I was younger, the ‘Twilight’ books never appealed to me, and I always wanted to write an even better vampire series,” said Massey, a Seymour, Missouri, native. “I took about six weeks to grieve the loss of my brother, then I began writing.”

The three-part trilogy includes: “Fall Prey: The Hunt,” “Fall Prey: The Attack” and “Fall Prey: The Kill.”

Find Fall Prey: The Hunt on Amazon

A personal connection to the characters

The series follows Asher Blackthorn, a young, weary police officer whose brother recently died from complications  of Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy.

Blackthorn’s world turns to chaos after encountering a vampire.

Muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of the skeletal muscles. Massey and Dillon were both diagnosed with the disease at an early age.

“Growing up, my brother and I were like normal brothers in that we fought a lot,” said Massey.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in cell and molecular biology  from MSU.

“But as our disease progressed, we became best friends.”

Continuing the “Fall Prey” series

Book two of the series is expected to be released in March 2022, with the third  to follow in August 2022.

Read more about the “Fall Prey” series.

Bringing new volume to Latina voices

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Helping a student find his or her own voice is one of the most important things a teacher can do.  

Dr. Daisy Collins, a faculty member in the school of social work, is motivated by her personal journey to help her students learn to speak up. 

Collins moved to the United States from Mexico in her early 20s to continue her education. She faced many challenges on her journey through academia before eventually reaching her role as a teacher at Missouri State University.  

“I moved here not speaking any English,” Collins said. “There were not many women like me – bilingual, non-native English speaker, first generation – who were working in higher education.” 

Collins was inspired to find more women like her so they could help each other, share their stories and inspire one another.  

Advocating with a scholarly voice 

Collins was pursuing her doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis when she began to look for ways to advocate for Hispanic women in higher education.  

Her dissertation advisor encouraged her to turn her concern into a research question. Specifically, what are the experiences of Hispanic women in higher education, and what can we learn from them?  

Finding Hispanic women in higher education was not an easy task.  

“I ended up with 25 participants from five different universities,” Collins said. “Which sounds like a great pool, but it’s actually pretty small.”  

Yet Collins turned the small sample size into a full account of the 25 women’s experiences. This became her dissertation, “The Brown Glass Ceiling? A Qualitative Study of Hispanic Women/Latinas Leaders in Higher Education.”  

The dissertation was one of the first works giving a scholarly voice to the stories of Latinas in higher education. 

“Sometimes you see people in high positions, but you don’t know their journey,” Collins said. “For me, it was so powerful to be able to give a voice to these Latina women’s experiences. It’s worth recognizing the barriers they had to overcome and the roles they reached, such as those of department heads or leaders of overseas programs.” 

Expanding her work  

Collins used her passion for advocacy to begin the work of creating a new textbook for EDC 345 Introduction to Multicultural Education and Diversity, a course she taught in the College of Education.  

“It has been the most humbling experience to work with my colleagues,” Collins said. “Our collaboration has allowed us to share the voices of preservice teachers and help guide those interested in multicultural education and diversity.” 

At the end of Collins’s email signature is a tagline that she strives to live by: “communicate respectfully, humanize and create positive environments around you.” 

 She hopes that her work – in the classroom and beyond – will do just that.   

“Sometimes we take for granted what people do. That’s why I feel like advocacy is my calling,” Collins said. “I want Latina women in higher education to know they’re not alone. We are here to join hands and go through the journey of making our voices heard together.” 

Read more about Collins’s recent publications  

Protecting cattle from tickborne illnesses

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Tracking the spread of contagions has proven to be crucial to preserving health. This extends to protecting cattle.

A Missouri State University research team recently discovered a species of tick in southwest Missouri that is harmful to cattle.

The team was led by Drs. David Claborn and Kip Thompson, faculty members in the master of public health program at Missouri State.

They were searching for the Asian longhorned tick, which can spread a deadly disease. Claborn notes it harms mainly cattle, not humans.

“Although the risk posed by the Asian Longhorned tick in the U.S. is primarily to cattle, the tick is a known vector of human diseases as well” said Claborn.

“It has a disease called theileria, which is like malaria, though malaria only infects red blood cells,” Claborn said. “Theileria affects all blood cells in all ages and can be very devastating to cattle.”

After being located on the East Coast four years ago, there was an Asian longhorned tick spotted in northwest Arkansas two years ago.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services asked if the Missouri State research team could find this tick in Missouri. In 2021, the department awarded the team a grant of $17,000 to conduct this survey.

The results

Research began in 2019, but halted in 2020 due to COVID. It resumed this year.

“In 2021, we focused on the southwest corner of the state and that is where we found them,” Claborn said.

By dragging through conservation sites and using baited traps, the team members collected 4,ooo samples of ticks. Out of that sampling, they were able to identify five Asian longhorned ticks.

What farmers need to know

Thompson asserts the best way for farmers to prevent harm from these ticks is to regularly check cattle and make sure they have repellent on.

The Missouri Department of Agriculture encourages farmers to keep grass and weeds trimmed and check their livestock regularly.

The team plans to continue conducting surveillance in conservation sites.  It’s hopeful to learn more about this species of tick.

Read more about Dr. Claborn’s reseach in Mind’s Eye