Tracy City, TN - The Student Health Coalition Archive Project

The Coalition worked in Tracy City, Tenn. in the summer of 1975. It had originally evolved as a community around a coal mine economy, but that industry had nearly disappeared by the 1970s. Student leaders, as had become their practice, were drawn to investigate Tracy City because of its isolation from health care services and its impoverished economy, including an unemployment rate of 13%. Initial contact with the community leaders was limited to the editor of the local newspaper, but eventually grew into networking with the abundant number of churches in and around the county.

Tracy City is located in Grundy County, in southeastern Tennessee, near the Alabama/Georgia state lines, closer to Chattanooga than to Knoxville or Nashville.

See the 1975 SHC Annual Report for more information.

Related People:

Paul Joffrion

A Duke University Arts & Science graduate, and University of North Carolina Master of Social Work, Paul served as an SHC community worker in Tracy City, Tenn. in 1975. Related Content: Continued

Rebecca Joffrion Ingle

Contributed by Rebecca (Becca) Joffrion Ingle. I was born in Starkeville, Miss. in 1952, but grew up from age 5 in Huntsville, Ala. This small, sleepy Alabama town exploded in growth and diversity during those years with the coming of… Continued

Cathy Barrow Heck and Jeff Heck

Contributed by Cathy Barrow Heck I was absolutely sold on the Appalachian Student Health Coalition upon seeing the video as a nursing student in the fall of 1973. The idea of a team of students working in partnership with rural… Continued

Tish Crane Rainey

Contributed by Tish Crane Rainey, March 2017. I participated in the Student Health Coalition the summer of 1975. I had just finished my first year in nursing school at Vanderbilt with an eye on becoming a nurse midwife. That fall… Continued

Cindy Lutenbacher

Contributed by Cindy Lutenbacher, September 2015 I was born in Shreveport, La. in 1953, but I lived in cities all over the South. New Orleans is my family home, even though only one cousin still lives there now. I think… Continued

Related Resources/Links:

Article: “Health Fair Schedule Resumed,” from the Grundy County Herald

Newspaper article published in the Grundy County (Tenn.) Herald, titled, “Health Fair Schedule Resumed.” Click image to enlarge. [catlist tags=”grundy-county” title_limit=50 conditional_title=”More on Grundy County:” show_category=yes excludeposts=this] More on Grundy County: Continued