
Marcy Madrid is Vice President of Planning and Marketing at Midland Memorial Hospital in Midland, Texas. (That's about halfway between Dallas and El Paso on I-20.)
When Midland decided to embrace plant-based nutrition as a pillar of their disease-treatment protocol, Madrid was brought in to spread the message. Both internally, and to the larger community.
What she didn't expect was to need that message herself, and soon.
Shortly after joining the initiative in late 2015, which included the CHIP program and the introduction of PlantPure meals for patients, Madrid started experiencing numbness in her lower body. An MRI provided a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), a huge shock to a young woman in (presumably) good health.
At the same time, the hospital staff were being introduced to plant-based nutrition protocols to help their diabetic and cardiac patients. They weren't talking about autoimmune disorders such as MS, but Madrid was able to tap into the network of national plant-based leaders and discovered the groundbreaking work of Dr. Roy Swank.
Madrid and her husband had prayed for divine intervention, and it seemed to them that it had been granted in the form of the plant-based initiative at work. She quit her MS meds after a month, went fully plant-based (just in time for Thanksgiving and all the other challenging food holidays!).
Six months later, an MRI showed significant reduction in lesions, almost to nothing. Her neurologist remarked that he had never seen that in a non-medicated patient. And to this day, Madrid has little to no issues with MS.
In our conversation, we went back and forth between Madrid's own healing journey, and the amazing transformation in progress at Midland Health. We covered:
- the unique nature of the population of Midland
- “God's fingerprints of healing and forgiveness are all over our bodies”
- “after years of cheeseburgers and pizza, it took just months to go back to God's original design – and my body forgave me”
- how Midland Health began to change staff behavior around food
- the Medicaid conundrum: how hospitals are penalized financially for making people healthier
- the clash of health and business model
- how the CHIP program reduced Midland's own healthcare costs
- challenges and opportunities in physician education
- the value of PlantPure meals as part of the initiative
- how Midland Health can coexist with ranchers and oilmen
- structured grassroots activity to get the community involved
- replicating the Midland model elsewhere in Texas – and nationally
- and much more…
Enjoy, add your voice to the conversation via the comment box below, and please share – that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.
Links
Lifestyle Medical Center at Midland
The Multiple Sclerosis Diet Book, by Dr. Roy Swank
Marcy Madrid featured on PlantPure TV:

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