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Following several delays and scrutiny over funding and location, construction of the state’s first skilled pediatric facility is underway in Jackson.

The Alyce G. Clarke Center for Medically Fragile Children will care for patients younger than 19 with complex medical conditions, providing long-term care for some children and training for others’ families to care for them at home.

“For long-term residents, this will feel like a home,” said Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for health affairs at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, in a press release. “They won’t feel like they are in a hospital, even though they will be provided with the same level of care.” 

Construction of the 20-bed facility began this spring and is planned for completion by fall 2025.

This is the second time the project has broken ground. The center held its first groundbreaking ceremony in 2019, a month before former Gov. Phil Bryant left office, and planned to begin construction in 2021.

Jones said the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the project, attributing the delay to rising costs and supply chain issues.

UMMC awarded the $12.2 million contract to Mid State Construction Co., Inc in February. The total project costs are estimated at $15.9 million.

The project will be funded by $14.5 million in bonds awarded by the Mississippi Legislature in 2019 and 2020, though the project was initially intended to be paid for by private funders.

The state Legislature originally passed a law in 2018 to lease state owned land off Ridgewood Road in Jackson to a nonprofit, which would construct, own and operate the facility. Then-First Lady Deborah Bryant’s chief of staff set up the nonprofit that would spearhead and fundraise for the project, Mississippi Center for Medically Fragile Children, that year. 

Nancy New, the Families First leader who pleaded guilty in 2022 for her role in channeling Mississippi welfare grant funds for illegal projects, served on the nonprofit’s board.

Tax returns from 2018 to 2020 show Mississippi Center for Medically Fragile Children raised $3.2 million. The Clarion-Ledger reported that UMMC made a $1 million donation to the center. In 2020, after New was arrested, she was removed from the board, the nonprofit dissolved and Children’s of Mississippi, the pediatric division of UMMC, assumed responsibility for the project. The nonprofit transferred its remaining $1.3 million to UMMC.

The Clarion-Ledger reported in 2020 that Families First, the program New ran through her nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center, was “a partner of the project and will offer services to families at the facility,” according to Mississippi Center for Medically Fragile Children’s now-defunct website. State Auditor Shad White, who investigated the sprawling fraud scheme, said he did not find any evidence of payments between New’s nonprofit and the center.

However, Mississippi Department of Human Services’ ongoing civil suit, which serves as the state’s effort to recoup millions in allegedly misspent welfare funds, describes Families First’s original proposal to use welfare funds to build the pediatric facility as a “model” for alleged misspending that followed – the construction of a volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Before New’s nonprofit entertained entering a $5 million sublease with University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation, allegedly as a way to circumvent the federal prohibition on using welfare funds for “brick and mortar” projects, the idea was for her nonprofit to enter a similar lease to build the pediatric facility with welfare funds, emails show. It’s unclear why that lease was never executed, according to MDHS’s lawsuit, but White acknowledged to The Clarion-Ledger that New “could have directed funding to the center by other means.”

Patients at the new center will include newborns who require additional time on ventilators to adolescents that require skilled nursing care. The conditions of patients at the center will range from children who have been injured in accidents to those who have congenital or genetic conditions.

Children’s of Mississippi has for years provided long-term care to patients in an acute-care hospital setting. The new center will provide a more comfortable setting for long-term care. 

“This new facility is designed to look and feel like each room is an individual home,” said Dr. Christian Paine, chief of the Division of Pediatric Palliative Medicine at UMMC. “In addition, children whose families are training to learn the skills necessary to eventually move home with medical technology will have a more home-like environment in which to learn.” 

The new pediatric facility is named for former Rep. Clarke, the first African American woman to serve in the Mississippi Legislature and an advocate for the project. She became involved when Calvary Baptist Church in west Jackson, the area Clarke represented, planned to renovate its building to house the center. After years of working on the proposal, the church was later left out of the plan. Some lawmakers accused state leadership of hijacking the church’s proposal to change the location to east of the interstate, next to the wealthier neighborhood of Eastover.

“It appears that it’s difficult for people to understand that we want good, nice things in our neighborhood, too,” Clarke said at the time in 2018.

“What I was trying to do was to improve that area over there and the fact that it’s not in the area, it doesn’t make me feel good,” Clarke told Mississippi Today on Thursday. “But at least I’m glad they’re finally getting to work on it and it’s something that we’ve needed for years.”

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Most of the Neshoba County Fair crowd stood Thursday and chanted “fight, fight, fight” at the behest of Republican Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson who vowed to battle the “liberal, woke agenda that has America in its jaws.”

Fight was the cry of former President Donald Trump as he was helped up by Secret Service agents after barely escaping an assassination attempt at a recent Pennsylvania rally. Fight also is what Trump urged his followers to do in 2021 before they attacked the U.S. Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

 The animated crowd was an example of how the second day of political speaking at the red dirt Founder’s Square at the Neshoba County Fair on Thursday was mostly highlighted by red-meat statements stressing the importance of electing Donald Trump as president and less on state policy positions.

But the statewide officeholders, led by Gov. Tate Reeves, did promote what he called “core conservative policies” that he and other speakers said have led to progress in Mississippi.

As is always the case at the fair during the fair’s political stumping, there was lots of speculation about what politicians will be jockeying for offices in Mississippi’s 2027 statewide elections.

One fair visitor making the rounds at cabins and glad-handing was the source of much talk Thursday: billionaire businessman Thomas Duff, a potential Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2027.

Duff, the co-wealthiest Mississippian along with his brother, has helped fund numerous other politicians’ campaigns over the years and could self-fund a serious one for himself.

Asked about any plans to run for governor as he met with movers and shakers at the fair, Duff said: “I’m very much considering it, and I’m very much interested in it.”

Gipson told reporters he is not ruling out a run for governor in 2027.

“I am praying about that,” Gipson said. “I … have not made a decision,” though he said he has started fund-raising efforts.

READ MORE: Hosemann, White trade jabs, hint at gubernatorial aspirations at Neshoba Fair

Second term Secretary of State Michael Watson, who also spoke Thursday, has reportedly been considering a run either for governor or lieutenant governor, though he did not tip his hand to his future political plans.

Watson, the chief administrator of Mississippi’s elections, used part of his speech to advocate for Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who did not speak at the fair because of a scheduling conflict, to prosecute election fraud crimes.

“I’m not here to attack, but I am here to ask people to do their jobs,” Watson said, who added that he would like to see an attorney with the Attorney General’s Office specifically assigned to prosecute election-related crimes.

Speaking at the fair for the first time on Thursday, House Speaker Jason White, a Republican from West, said health care would again be a priority during the 2025 session. He said the House would maintain “an open mind” on expanding Medicaid to the working poor and wants to reach a compromise with the governor and the Senate.

But Reeves, who said in his speech that he had spoken at the annual political speaking more than any governor in the history of the state, told reporters he still opposes Medicaid expansion, though he thanked the speaker for advancing conservative policy in other areas.

When a reporter pointed out the many bad health care outcomes in the state, such as the nation’s highest infant mortality rate, Reeves said, “We want to work on these things, There are plenty of items we need to work on when it comes to health care.”

He added some  of those poor outcomes are not the fault of government.

This past session both chambers passed legislation to expand Medicaid, but that effort proved unsuccessful when the House and Senate could not agree on a final proposal.

Reeves said many of the policies he has espoused during his 20-year tenure as treasurer, lieutenant governor and governor were first unveiled at the fair.

“As Donald Trump would say, we are winning like never before,” Reeves said of Mississippi.

He added, “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have steered the national economy into the ditch.”

None acknowledged that inflation is coming down and that employment has dramatically increased nationwide, though, they cited strong employment numbers in Mississippi. None cited legislation supported by Biden that has helped spur the state economy, such as improving infrastructure and expanding broadband internet access.

Repeating the refrain from his successful 2023 reelect campaign, Reeves said, “Mississippi has momentum. This is Mississippi’s time.”

He added, “I don’t want to be just Mississippi good. I want to set the national standard. I want  to beat Georgia’s ass.”

After his speech, Reeves declined to respond when asked about comments Trump made Wednesday that Vice President Harris only identified as Black recently as she ran for president.

Reeves said he wants to instead focus on Harris’ record.

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NESHOBA COUNTY FAIR — Ty Pinkins, Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, pledged at the Neshoba County Fair on Wednesday to work on ways to improve Mississippi’s dire health outcomes, some of the worst in the nation. 

“I’m running to take a common sense voice to Washington, D.C., so that I can work for everyone,” Pinkins said. 

Speaking at the Founders Square pavilion during the first day of political speeches, Pinkins said, if elected, he would seek out ways to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Mississippians and emphatically supported a woman’s right to obtain an abortion. 

“Whether you are a pro-life or a pro-choice woman, I support you to make that pro-life choice for yourself and that pro-choice decision for yourself,” Pinkins said.

Pinkins is challenging incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker for the seat he’s held since 2007. Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, did not speak at the fair this year. 

A campaign spokesperson previously told Mississippi Today that Wicker would be working in Washington during the week of the fair and “doing the job Mississippians have elected him to do.” 

Wicker did visit with several attendees at the fair on Saturday, according to his social media accounts. 

Pinkins also claimed his Republican opponent had forgotten his oath of office to defend the country against enemies “foreign and domestic” and seemed to tie him to the January 6, 2020, insurrection when a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the certification of the presidential election results .

However, Wicker voted to certify the election and rejected false claims that there was widespread voter fraud in the election. Pinkins later clarified to reporters that he was criticizing Wicker’s support of Trump. 

“Many in our legislative branch, they’re not doing their job,” Pinkins said. “Their job is to protect our democracy. What they have done is capitulated to power and put party over country.” 

Before his election to the Senate, Wicker, a Tupelo resident, served several terms in the U.S. House and in the Mississippi Legislature. 

Pinkins, an attorney in Vicksburg, has spent some of the last several years aiding Black farm workers in the Delta who were being paid less money for their work than white visa workers from South Africa doing the same jobs. Pinkins unsuccessfully ran for secretary of state in 2023.

The two will compete in the general election on November 5. Mississippians can begin voting by absentee ballot on September 23, according to the secretary of state’s elections calendar.

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Editor’s note: This article was written by Monica Land, niece of the famed civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer. It first published in The Enterprise-Tocsin newspaper on June 21, 2024, and is republished below with permission. Click here to read the story on The Enterpise-Tocsin’s website.

Everything I know about Fannie Lou Hamer, I learned from someone else. And that will forever haunt me as a tremendous loss of opportunity considering that she was my great-aunt.

Growing up, I often heard my family speak of her as an almost mythical figure. A woman, who not only prayed for change, but vowed herself to bring it. They’d laugh when they recalled the funny things she said or did. But their faces turned somber, cold and sad when they remembered the pain and sufferings she endured.

As a youngster from Chicago, I recall visiting my Uncle Pap and Aunt Fannie Lou during the summer. When we walked into their Ruleville home, I remember she was always lying down or sitting. As was customary, I spoke and gave her a hug, but then off I went to play with her two daughters, Cookie (Jacqueline) and Nook (Lenora).

It was the 1970s, and I deeply regret that I was too young to know that I should have stayed and talked to her, listened to her and asked her questions. As a teenager, I regret not asking my Uncle Pap or my maternal grandparents — who were very close to her — questions about her life and her childhood. And now those opportunities are gone.

As a writer and an aspiring filmmaker, I was determined to learn more about her life and to tell her story, and it took me more than 15 years to do it.

That film, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America, allows audiences to see and hear a side of Aunt Fannie Lou that many never have before. In fact, during the research phase of that project, I learned things myself that I had never known. Things that both surprised and horrified me.

Aunt Fannie Lou was an exceptional person. While many remember her as a fierce proponent of voting rights, who was “sick and tired of being sick and tired,” Aunt Fannie Lou did so much more, providing food, clothing, housing, educational opportunities and even jobs for the marginalized residents of the Mississippi Delta, while she herself had nothing.

My research into her life took me deep into the trenches where I met many of her fellow freedom fighters. Unfortunately, many are now only remembered for their work, while still others, decades later, are still fighting the good fight.

And now, in the midst of the 60th anniversary of Freedom Summer, which Aunt Fannie Lou helped organize, I recall the kindness of four people in particular who helped me on my cinematic journey: Heather Booth, Rita Bender, Charles Prickett and Richard Beymer.

During what was called the Mississippi Summer Project or Freedom Summer, hundreds of college students — mostly middle- and upper-class whites — descended upon Mississippi as volunteers to build support for the MFDP’s challenge; to teach at the Freedom Schools and to encourage Black residents to register to vote.

Richard Beymer had heard about the struggles in Mississippi, and he and his friend, Charles Prickett, another young volunteer, wanted to help. Richard was a hot commodity in Hollywood at the time. Five years earlier, he portrayed Peter Van Daan in the 1959 Academy Award-winning film, “The Diary of Anne Frank.” And in 1961, he played “Tony” in another Oscar winner, “West Side Story” opposite Natalie Wood.

An independent filmmaker, Richard is the only known person to document the events of Freedom Summer and then compile them in his 1964 film, A Regular Bouquet. Aunt Fannie Lou was heavily featured in the film, which was narrated by another well-known actor of that era, Robert Ryan.

Richard and Charles traveled across Mississippi filming and documenting the Freedom Schools, voter registration projects, mass meetings and other like events that summer.

“One of our stops was in Sunflower County … at the home of Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer. She was very welcoming and gracious, and invited us to stay at her home, which we did,” said Charles Prickett, an activist, attorney and author. “Mrs. Hamer had love and compassion for everyone, and we were privileged to accept her kindness … There is so much more I can say about the intensely caring person Mrs. Hamer was. She was very clear about what she wanted to achieve and how your individual contribution could help. She was open to sharing her home to anyone, to us – strangers. She was always in the moment and that says a lot about her.”

Freedom Summer officially began on June 14, 1964, and one week later, three volunteers — two white men and one Black — went missing. The local man, James Chaney, was from Meridian. The others, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, were from New York.

During an extensive search for the trio, federal investigators combed the woods, fields, swamps, and rivers of Mississippi, ultimately finding the remains of eight other Black men, including two college students who had been missing since May. The battered and bruised bodies of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were found buried 14 feet deep in an earthen dam on August 4. All had been shot. Chaney had been castrated and Goodman was buried alive.  

Aunt Fannie Lou was devastated by the murders and spoke of them often. In an iconic photo, she is comforted by Schwerner’s mother, Anne, while his father, Nathan, stands nearby.

Following the murders, the media sought to turn the story of Schwerner’s young widow, Rita, into a national tragedy. But an activist herself, Rita converted that attention to the many overlooked victims of racial violence and disparities in Mississippi. Rita, still an activist and a civil rights attorney, credits Aunt Fannie Lou with helping her through that ordeal.

“Mrs. Hamer was a remarkable woman,” she said, “and certainly, was one of the people who helped me to get through a difficult time. She was not only emotionally strong, but truly kind and caring. Mrs. Hamer’s support was a major contribution to my personal path forward.”

Heather Booth, now a renowned organizer, activist and filmmaker, was another Freedom Summer volunteer.

“I met Mrs. Hamer at her home in Ruleville … and her moral courage, her clarity, her deep commitment to decency and caring has stayed with me my whole life. She treated me, an 18-year-old student, with the same kind of caring and decency as she did with everyone else. I try to carry on her legacy. And … one of the greatest honors of my life [was] to have met Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer.”

Aunt Fannie Lou truly motivated and empowered others. And her former colleagues and friends all agree that her legacy must be preserved and amplified since there is so much we can still learn from her.

Aunt Fannie Lou experienced things that many people today can’t even begin to imagine: The atrocities of Jim Crow and segregation, gross miscarriages of justice and the constant threat of intimidation and death.

Her vision of equal rights for everyone has yet to fully materialize. But her sacrifices and her efforts to achieve that goal should never be forgotten.  

Aunt Fannie Lou accomplished so much. But deep down, she confessed to a dear friend that she wondered if she was truly making a difference. She did. And that’s something we all can be grateful for.

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There was a time, in the early-to-mid 1960s when Archie Manning thought he would probably play football, basketball and/or baseball at Sunflower Junior College (now Mississippi Delta Community College). Or, Manning dreamed, if he really improved and put on some weight, he might even play at Delta State.

Those were the college teams Manning knew well. Those were the schools closest to his hometown of Drew. Those were the places his daddy and uncles took him to watch college teams play.

Ole Miss and Mississippi State? For a skinny, 155-pound, red-headed kid from the tiny town of Drew, those places were pipe dreams.

You know the rest of the story. Manning did add some muscle to his lanky frame. He did improve and went on to become one of Mississippi’s most beloved football players with Ole Miss and then in the NFL.

Manning never attended Delta State, but he never lost his admiration for the school and its rich athletic history. That’s why he will join his longtime friend (and Delta State graduate) Langston Rogers for fundraising conversation and sports auction at DSU’s Sillers Coliseum on Thursday night. The program, billed as “Night of Champions,” will begin at 7 p.m.

Rogers played baseball for DSU legend Boo Ferriss and later become the school’s sports information director before going to Ole Miss in the same capacity. That’s where Manning and Rogers became good friends.

“Delta State and Cleveland are 15 miles from Drew,” Manning said. “That’s where we went to the picture show after the one in Drew closed down. That’s where we went to eat after the two restaurants in Drew had closed for the day. I have great memories from growing up and going to Delta State games. My sister, Pam, went to Delta State. I practically grew up there.”

Horace McCool, the longtime DSU football coach, recruited Manning when other colleges did not.

“No big colleges knocking my doors down in recruiting,” Manning said. “I was a skinny quarterback and I suffered a broken arm my junior football season and only played in three games.”

There was a time when Maning thought he might play basketball in college. He was the leading scorer and best player on Drew teams that sometimes played preliminary games before Delta State varsity games at Sillers Coliseum, opened in 1960.

“Oh man, that was a big deal for us back then,” Manning said. “For us, Sillers Coliseum, when it was brand new, was like Madison Square Garden.”

Manning, a Major League prospect as a shortstop, played summer league baseball games at what is now Harvey Stadium at Boo Ferriss Field. Manning’s Babe Ruth League baseball team was coached by future Delta State football coach Don Skelton.

“Everybody in the Delta knew who Boo Ferriss was,” Manning said. “He spoke to my summer league team when I was 13. I remember it well not only because Coach Ferriss was so impressive, but because my daddy was so disappointed that it was my mother and not him who took me to practice that day. My daddy loved Boo Ferriss and so did I.”

Manning was also a huge Mississippi State basketball fan back in the early and mid-60s when Babe McCarthy-coached Bulldogs teams were among the best in the nation and battled Kentucky almost annually for the Southeastern Conference championship. Manning remembers December of 1963 when McCarthy brought his Bulldogs to Sillers to play Delta State. Manning couldn’t wait to see his basketball hero, State’s Red Stroud, in person.

“Red Stroud’s hair wasn’t just red, it was flaming orange,” Manning said. “I remember that and I remember he could ever more shoot the basketball.”

Manning had told his father, Buddy Manning, he wanted to go to the big game. His father came home with one ticket.  “How am I supposed to get there?” Archie asked.

“Better start calling around,” his mother answered. And he did.

Delta State’s financial woes have been well publicized in recent months. Academic programs have been cut. Budgets have been slashed.

Delta State athletic director Mike Kinnison, who played for Ferriss and later coached Delta State to a national baseball championship, is tasked with trying to keep Delta State nationally relevant in NCAA Division II with limited resources. Delta State has won national championships in football, baseball and women’s basketball and has been to the Final Four in men’s basketball.

“We’re staying optimistic and focused on increasing revenue to offset our budget cuts,” Kinnison said. “It will require utilizing every asset we have to maintain nationally competitive programs and positive experiences for our student athletes. …It is a challenge we will work through.”

Money raised from Thursday night’s program dubbed “Night of Champions” will help, Kinnison said. The program also includes a silent and live auction of sports memorabilia. 

“We are honored to have Archie and Langston engage our community,” Kinnison said. “Their long-time support of college athletics and student-athletes are evident and appreciated.”

Click here for details of the “Night of Champions” auction.

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NESHOBA COUNY FAIR — Republicans state Auditor Shad White and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann threw a little political shade at each other, and both indicated they have 2027 gubernatorial aspirations at the Neshoba County Fair on Wednesday.

Hosemann told a crowd Wednesday that Mississippi’s next step in tax cuts should be reducing the state’s 7% tax on groceries – the highest levy of its kind in the nation.

Hosemann made the commitment Wednesday – the first of two days of political speaking at the historic Neshoba County Fair – to make reducing the grocery tax a priority during the upcoming 2025 legislative session, which begins In January.

White, who spoke before Hosemann under the balmy tin-roofed Founders Square Pavilion, also endorsed a cut to the grocery tax.

“It is time to lower the grocery tax,” Hosemann said before a sparse crowd for the off-election year political speeches. “We can do this. This is the year (2025 session) to do that.”

Hosemann pointed out that a $525 million cut in the income tax passed in 2022 will be completely phased in during the next two years. A cut in business taxes, costing the state about $42 million annually, will be phased in by 2029. He said a reduction in the 7% tax on groceries should be Mississippi’s next step.

White agreed, saying that because of the high cost of food, a reduction in the grocery tax would be big boost for families.

But White blamed Hosemann, as presiding officer of the Senate, for killing legislation that would ban the expenditure of public funds at universities for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. He said the efforts are a waste of taxpayer money.

He said some Mississippi Republican officials should act more conservative and “a little less like Joe Biden,” an apparent jab at Hosemann given the context of his speech.

After his speech, Hosemann was asked about White’s comments. He said he did not hear them, but added he was surprised White was at the fair.

“I thought he would be on a book tour,” Hosemann said, referring to the the state auditor releasing a book next week on the misspending of at least $77 million in federal welfare funds, part of an ongoing criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The 77-year-old Hosemann indicated that he intends to seek another political office in 2027 when his second term as lieutenant governor ends. Constitutionally Hosemann cannot seek a third consecutive term as lieutenant governor.

On Wednesday, he did not say which office he might pursue, though, in the past Mississippi Today has reported he is considering a run for governor.

‘We have a vision for Mississippi. We have been at it since 2008 …,” said Hosemann who previously served as secretary of state. “If people still want us, we want to continue to work.”

White was more succinct about his political ambition to media after his speech: “I’ll be honest with you, I am seriously considering a run for governor in the next election.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Democratic Central District Public Service Commissioner De’Keither Stamps called on 81-year-old President Joe Biden to step down and for Vice President Kamala Harris to assume his role. He said Harris should select the Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson as her vice president for the remainder of this term, which ends in January. He said such a move would unify the country.

He said Biden should resign to avoid “tarnishing” his long tenure of public service.

Central District Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons, also a Democrat, called on the Legislature to appropriate an additional recurring revenue source – presumably a tax increase — for his agency to deal with road and bridge needs. Simmons said the other two transportation commissioners, both Republican, also believe more recurring revenue should be directed to road and bridge needs.

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GREENVILLE – Sharon Johnson-Eby, a former respiratory therapist with 30 years of experience in the medical field, founded An Medi-Zen, a holistic clinic in Greenville, Mississippi, this year.

Johnson-Eby integrates Eastern and Western medicine to address local health disparities, offering services such as acupuncture, cupping therapy and herbal medicine.

Inspired by the success she found with acupuncture for her own asthma and acid reflux, Johnson-Eby earned a master’s degree in 2018 and a doctorate in 2019 from Northwestern Health Sciences University in Chinese Medicine.

“I got treated in the beginning of that first year of grad school for asthma and acid reflux,” Johnson-Eby said. “It basically changed everything for me.”

She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine in La Jolla, California. She is licensed in Minnesota and Mississippi and is board-certified by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

“I love Chinese medicine because we treat mind, body and spirit, and that’s something Western medicine might be missing.”

She moved from Bloomington, Minn. to Greenville in 2023 to be closer to her aging mother.

Supported by Delta State University’s Women’s Minority Business Incubator Program,  Johnson-Eby emphasizes community outreach and education. At a wellness fair, she discovered that the local school district’s health care plan did not cover acupuncture and has since advocated for its inclusion with the insurance company.

“I’ve been working to highlight not just the benefits of acupuncture, but also its potential to improve overall health outcomes and reduce long-term health care costs. It’s about ensuring that everyone has access to the full spectrum of care they deserve.”

Johnson-Eby’s specialties include respiratory health, dermatology, mental health, and overall wellness using Traditional Chinese Medicine techniques. Driven by a childhood aspiration to become a doctor and in memory of a late friend, she plans to develop a comprehensive wellness center to integrate holistic practices into mainstream health care and address issues such as obesity, hypertension, and mental health.

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