City-backed program aims to reduce high blood pressure in North Nashville

North Nashville will become the city's first "Wellness Opportunity Zone" with the launch of a new program to reduce high blood pressure among the neighborhood's residents.

The "Heart of Nashville" program is seed-funded by a $1 million grant from the city and will be run by a coalition of Nashville-based organizations called the Nashville Wellness Collaborative. The Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center will act as a hub for patient care, while other participating organizations will provide patients with resources like heart-healthy meals and transportation services to reduce barriers to wellness.

North Nashville is a vibrant community known for its history as Nashville's "Black Wall Street" and a midcentury entertainment hub. It's home to three historically Black colleges and universities, and families who have lived in the neighborhood for generations, Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center CEO Katina Beard said. The neighborhood has also borne the pressures of the city's rapid growth, facing disparities in health, food access and investment.

"Nearly half the adults in this community are living with a preventable disease that's often called a 'silent killer,'" Beard said.

Nearly a third of Nashville adults have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, according to a countywide survey conducted by the Belmont Data Collaborative. Almost half of North Nashville residents have hypertension.

Nashville has a reputation as a health care hub because of its "great infrastructure around health and health services," said Mark Yancy, CEO of NashvilleHealth, an initiative founded by former Sen. Bill Frist. But when compared to competing cities like Denver, Austin and Raleigh, Nashville residents' life expectancy is lower.

"In Nashville, your ZIP code, where you were born, can determine how long you live, even if those ZIP codes are less than five miles apart," Yancy said.

North Nashville, specifically within 37208, is a food desert, an area lacking access to healthy, affordable food options. But it's also a "food swamp" where high-sodium, processed foods — the kind linked to higher chances of developing hypertension — are readily available, Yancy said.

A Food Insecurity Index released by Vanderbilt University Medical Center last year found Davidson County's highest rates of food insecurity are concentrated in ZIP codes in and around North Nashville, including 37208.

Research published by Tennessee State University's David Padgett in 2003 demonstrated the relationships between health outcomes like hypertension to food access in North Nashville neighborhoods, historic disinvestment and segregation. A team of researchers from Meharry Medical College, Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt found these factors to be persistent in 2023.

Metro's pilot grant funding will support Heart of Nashville's launch over the next two years. The program will pair clinical treatment providers with non-clinical partners who can provide wellness support services around food, housing and transportation after patients leave the doctor's office. The end goal: improving wellness in North Nashville and building a framework that can be used to bolster health throughout the city.

Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell, who served parts of North Nashville as District 19 council member for two terms, said the "reality that high blood pressure disproportionately affects North Nashville hits close to home because these are not just statistics — they're my neighbors and friends."

"By uniting our resources and expertise … we're increasing our capacity to combat systemic health disparities and we're closer to a future where every Nashville resident, regardless of ZIP code, has equitable access to quality health care," O'Connell said.

The Nashville Wellness Collaborative includes:

• NashvilleHealth

• Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center

• The Nashville Food Project

• Belmont Data Collaborative

• Meharry Medical College

• Sycamore Institute

• Urban League of Middle Tennessee

• Center for Nonprofit Management

• Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee

• Juice Analytics

• STARS

• American Heart Association

• Senior Ride Nashville

• AgeWell Middle Tennessee

• Raphah Institute

• Metro Parks Nashville

• The Housing Fund

• Metro Public Health Department

• Second Harvest Food Bank

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: City-backed program aims to reduce blood pressure in North Nashville