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Introducing: Health ACTION Implementation Specialists (H*ACTIS)
Dear GrassrootsHealth members, scientists, friends of all kinds,
We are frequently asked, "What do you do?" The timing is perfect to answer this question. We are pleased t o share our 'state of the union' letter to start out the New Year. Much has happened that has helped structure our organization to meet your needs.
GrassrootsHealth was formed eight years ago when I had the pleasure of attending a Vitamin D & Cancer meeting at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. At that time, the overwhelming need was to address the enormous gap between research about vitamin D and its public implementation. (That need is still very real.)
HOW should we do this? How do we move research into practice-quickly, safely and scientifically?
 We set about to
- Form a solid research base of scientists (our scientists' panel) to guide us and help us set priorities.
- Fulfill stated needs of the masses of 'consumers' who were health-conscious and already knew that they could do something better about their vitamin D health IF they only had the information and education (vitamin D tests, educational information).
- Measure the outcomes of our work, using vitamin D levels of our participants, to determine the success of this project (ongoing research with health measures).
Now, in 2015, we are ready to solidify and greatly expand our reach into 3 key areas. We will continue to act as the 'bridge' between research and implementation.
 1. Provide individual consumers, all over the world, with laboratory testing not only of vitamin D but of other nutrients. New system interfaces will give more feedback to individuals about their health outcomes so that they can take more complete action.
 2. Move research into medical practice, public health groups using special projects with insurers, governments, and other health groups.
 3. Report health outcomes research to nutrient groups in order to help them create solid health recommendations to their users about specific nutrients and various combinations of nutrients.
We are introducing a new catchphrase - Health ACTION Implementation Specialists - to answer the question we often get, "What is GrassrootsHealth?" Now we can say with great certainty, that
GrassrootsHealth answers questions such as
- "What does Vitamin D (and soon other nutrients) do for my health?"
- "How much should I take?"
- "How do I implement vitamin D testing/education in my medical practice"
- "...in our public health department?"
- "As a nutrient manufacturer, what can I tell my customers that the research says about my products"
- And, MANY more answers for many more questions.
The role of the scientists on our panel is even more important as we move into other nutrients, and soon we will be adding a medical panel to provide advice to medical practitioners as well.
The role of our individual participants is to provide the core  information which we use to help shape public health methods and policy. We will be adding much, much more to the technological and social interfaces for this group over the next year. We want to reward all of our participants with more knowledge and personal health action through these tools.
So, to all of you, please accept my ongoing thanks for your interest and participation with us in this world-changing process. We have some new projects that we will be announcing in the next few months that will also enable many medical and public health groups to get started with their own targeted implementations of vitamin D! Stay tuned. Mu
ch more to come...
Implementingly yours,
Carole Baggerly
Director, GrassrootsHealth
A Public Health Promotion & Research Organization
Moving Research into Practice NOW!
P.S. Don't forget to keep your vitamin D level measured and up to at least the 40-60 ng/ml range during this cold/flu season. We will be publishing some information soon that indeed shows that it matters.
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