By RAYMOND ADEEKO

Staff Writer

Health is wealth.

This saying reflects the significance and importance of health, especially to a community.

The concerns of maintaining health at a high standard are the basis of research called "Better Health for the Delta" being conducted by Dr. Larry Procter, an assistant professor of health and exercise sciences.

"It is a research [project] designed to improve the health and awareness status of the community," Procter said.

"So we've partnered with the [religious] community in an effort to accomplish this."

Procter said his research is principally for places within the Lincoln and Union Parish area and it is a means used by the government to help society bridge the gap between health care providers and the community.

He also added the research will focus on helping those who find the cost of health maintenance too high to afford and relate their needs to the appropriate authorities.

"Primarily, we are trying to improve the status of the uninsured and underinsured," Procter said. "This is because that [demographic] seems to have the higher number of diseases, such as heart attack and stroke, which are permeating the community and are the leading cause of death in the country."

To achieve this, Procter said he would center on people in 31 African-American churches around the parish.

He said he will assign focus groups within the churches and, with the help of health care agencies, hospitals and the Interdenominational Alliance of Ministers, they will analyze and determine their needs and help them find solutions.

"We will do [research] to find out what they need," Procter said.

Procter added the results from the research will be documented and used as guidelines to improving health in the delta area.

"From this, we plan to develop a task force to address the issues that will be put into documentation from these focus meetings," Procter said.

Dr. James Heimdal, head of the department of health and exercise sciences, will work with Procter on the project. He said it is part of the department's contribution to the society.

"[We] have partnered up on this initiative, which provides us the opportunity to improve and enhance the quality of life of the Tech community," Heimdal said. "It is a small one-year pilot project to collect data required to secure external resources."

He also said he will employ students in the research project to expose them to the desires of the society and allow them the opportunity to make it better.

"We also plan to have students working with us in order to give them the experience on how to work with a diverse population, improve their ability to do community outreach and help better the health of their society," Procter said.

Procter also said the project is community-oriented and designed to "pull the resources of the community in order to better serve the population."