InOn Health Podcast: Recent Episodes
Kaakpema "KP" Yelpaala
Health equity issues in our country have been around for decades – largely impacting communities of color and rural areas. When it comes to economic and racial disparities in health the evidence is clear. This is more than a hot topic. Covid-19 has exposed the underbelly of how social determinants of health and racial disparities play out in our country. What we need now is to impart lasting change.
Welcome to the InOn Health podcast. I’m your host Kaakpema Yelpaala, and I’m the co-founder and CEO of InOn Health.
In this podcast we’re going to be talking about health equity. We’ll be talking to entrepreneurs, thought leaders, investors, and other industry experts in healthcare and public health. The topics we’ll cover will range from racial disparities in health to digital innovation for diverse populations, and ultimately how we build better policy to more inclusively serve everyone around their healthcare needs.
Join me on this podcast series to not only be inspired by our leaders but also to get insight on how we can all take action.
Chelsea Clinton, Phil, MPH, joins KP in this episode of the InOn Health podcast. Chelsea is a longtime public health advocate and the vice chair of the Clinton Foundation where she works to improve the lives and inspire emerging leaders across the United States and around the world. In addition to her Foundation work, Chelsea teaches at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and has written several books for young readers, including many New York Times bestsellers. She is also the daughter of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
KP and Chelsea discuss the definition of health equity and its context through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chelsea points out that prior to COVID conversations surrounding health equity were primarily focused on the individual level. Post-COVID, she hopes that the work around health equity and justice can shift to a more population level.
They also explore the dynamics surrounding the COVID-19 public health issue and its divisive nature in our country and around the world. Chelsea shares her thoughts on the wide-spread criticism and questioning of health and scientific experts and how to combat the spread of misinformation.
The conversation also covers the United States’ role in the global vaccine effort. Chelsea gives her thoughts how we can safely and effectively vaccinate the world and on the effectiveness of the Biden administration in this effort. She also shares how the Clinton Foundation is coming alongside the fight.
KP and Chelsea round out their conversation with discussion by talking about the importance of investing in getting more women involved in these conversations and in positions of leadership.
Connect with Chelsea:
https://www.facebook.com/chelseaclinton
https://twitter.com/ChelseaClinton
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
https://twitter.com/inonhealth
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
Dr. Brandi Jackson, chief behavioral health officer at Howard Brown Health, and Kevin Dedner, CEO and founder of Hurdle, join KP in this episode of the InOn Health podcast. Dr. Jackson and Kevin address the structure of the mental healthcare system in the United States. They elaborate how the current system lacks effective therapeutic alliance for people of color in the U.S, resulting in poor provider fits and patients terminating therapy prematurely. For example, 50% of Black Americans terminate therapy sessions prematurely, compared to 33% for other general populations. Dr. Jackson and Kevin explain this dynamic is due to a lack of education in the training process, leaving psychiatrists and clinical psychologists unprepared to help treat diverse populations.
Hurdle is a mental healthcare platform focused on delivering culturally intentional mental healthcare, consisting of virtual therapy services and self-mastery tools. To combat barriers of the current mental healthcare system, Hurdle trains its providers with evidence-based techniques dedicated to developing cultural humility and culture responsiveness. Kevin explains how this approach emphasizes listen more and talk less, improving therapeutic alliance and provider fits for patients. This foundation of care enables a safe space for patients, allowing providers to assess what prevents patients from showing up fully to each session and removing those barriers. Cultural humility and responsiveness have demonstrated a reduction in terminating therapy prematurely.
Kevin discusses the hypothesis that self-care is a pathway to teletherapy. As people dedicate time to healing and normalize new habits, they are more likely to transition more easily into therapy. Ultimately, everyone wants their experiences, family history, and culture to be honored across all areas of life, especially in therapy sessions. Dr. Jackson is the co-founder of The Institute of Antiracism in Medicine. This organization trains clinicians to recognize implicit biases by providing tools to serve as advocates for their patients, understanding how to engage in the topic of racism, and ultimately eliminating racism from the healthcare system.
Links:
The Joy of the Disinherited: Essays on Trauma, Oppression and Black Mental Health
https://www.kevindedner.com/
Hurdle
https://www.hurdle.health/
The Institute for Antiracism in Medicine
https://whatismedicine.com/
Connect with Dr. Brandi Jackson:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drbrandi/
https://twitter.com/drbrandij
Connect with Kevin Dedner:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-dedner-mph-/
https://twitter.com/kdedner
https://www.instagram.com/kevin_dedner/
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
https://twitter.com/inonhealth
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell joins KP in this episode of the InOn Health podcast. Veronica is the senior site lead and section head for women’s services at Ochsner Health. She is also the medical director for the Perinatal Quality Collaborative and Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review for the Louisiana Department of Health.
Veronica discusses implicit bias and structural racism within the United States healthcare system. She explains how systemic policies and laws have created and upheld systemic disparities. Veronica addresses maternal mortality and the gaps between black and white women. For example, a black woman with a college degree is twice as likely to experience severe maternal morbidity compared to a white woman with an eighth-grade education. Veronica explains that this gap is a result of implicit bias, micro-aggressions, and social conditioning. Veronica further explains race is a social condition, not a biological condition. She elaborates how this construct connects to racial-residential segregation—physical separation of groups into different neighborhoods (ex: black people living near black people, white people living near white people). Veronica outlines the negatively distinct living conditions associated with this concept. For example, minority neighborhoods experience higher crime levels, less green space to remain active and exercise, and lower property taxes—less funding for education and public schools—resulting in an environment that does not support good health.
Veronica breaks down the concept of social conditioning by discussing how black and brown people are portrayed in the media and how the portrayal creates stereotypical perceptions, influencing people’s biases. Implicit biases create negative interactions between patients and healthcare providers, resulting in micro-aggressions and poor health outcomes. Veronica shares Ochsner Health created a physician diversity and inclusion council to address and prevent implicit bias on an internal level. She also discusses two separate initiatives designed to reduce maternal mortality/morbidity and improve care for substance-exposed dyad (mother and baby). Veronica presents final thoughts addressing how telehealth has the potential to narrow or broaden health gaps, dependent on infrastructure and proper access to technology.
Connect with Veronica:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronica-gillispie-bell-md-mas-29b3206a/
https://twitter.com/nolaobgyn
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
https://twitter.com/inonhealth
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
In this episode of the InOn Health podcast, Neil Lewis Jr., assistant professor at Cornell University, joins KP to discuss systemic and structural issues of inequity in American society and how they relate to health inequities and disparities. Neil explains how these themes correlate to behavioral science and public health communication.
Neil’s passion for research initially led him to study educational inequality. His findings acquired understanding factors leading to disparities in educational outcomes, ultimately leading to the study of health disparities and health equity issues due to similar undermining factors demonstrated in both domains. Researching environmental injustices is also integrated into his work because it is a driving disparity in education and health. Neil explains how America’s history of class, race, and segregation created a precedent for how people live and structured society, impacting present-day outcomes. Neil breaks down the concept of behavioral science and its purpose—multi-disciplinary disciplines drawing insights from economics, communication, sociology, and psychology to understand people’s behavior. The findings are utilized to apply suitable messaging and design policies to change behavior when appropriate.
Neil explains Americans from different demographic backgrounds have distinct understandings of how the United States operates. When the COVID-19 pandemic initially hit the United States, “The Great Equalizer” misconception emerged. When shocks to the system occur, those in good positions end up better off while those in poor positions suffer. He describes how people end up living in different worlds given society’s structure, making it psychologically difficult to understand each other’s experiences. Neil addresses how policies in the U.S. have included and excluded people from different social institutions, varying access to resources, and limiting contact with people who are different than themselves. This dynamic creates segregated social networks, impacting interpersonal interactions like doctors and patients—minority patients with white doctors can be awkward and uncomfortable, undermining trust and resulting in worse health outcomes.
Neil’s research enables decision-makers to determine which strategies are appropriate, depending on the audience and which behaviors they are trying to change. Public health communication is a form of persuasion, with three primary aspects:
1) The source and how it is perceived
2) The message and what it means in the context
3) The audience and how their experiences shape the way they hear it
Links:
Why Many Americans Can’t See The Wealth Gap Between White And Black America:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-many-americans-dont-see-the-racial-wealth-gap/
Connect with Neil:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-lewis-jr-551b1b18/
https://twitter.com/NeilLewisJr
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
https://twitter.com/inonhealth
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
In this episode of the InOn Health podcast, Carrie Paykoç, director of the Office of eHealth Innovation in Colorado, joins KP to discuss the intersection of public policy and technology and how it works to support all Coloradans for their health and wellbeing.
Before joining Colorado’s Office of eHealth Innovation, Carrie previously held various positions in non-profit organizations, healthcare startups, and tech companies. The Office of eHealth Innovation launched in 2015 through executive order to establish strategy, policy, coordinate funding across Colorado. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the office primarily focused on implementing projects and initiatives to fulfill Colorado’s health priorities. The Office of eHealth Innovation developed the state strategy in 2017, creating a roadmap for initiatives and developing methods to measure progress. Carrie outlines two primary initiatives:
1) Advancing health information exchange and data sharing
2) Aligning and advancing care coordination to support communities and infrastructure for delivering information effectively
These initiatives enabled more agility and flexibility regarding prompt responses during a public health crisis. Carrie outlines the purpose of health information exchange, which focuses on stewarding information to various healthcare providers to ensure understanding of the patient to ensure necessary service and support. She addresses current challenges to instill the best delivery methods, which involves catching up to current technology standards based on current rules, regulations, and interpretations of when and how information is shared (policy constraints).
Carrie provides an overview of social health information exchange—regardless of record or application, information can be exchanged freely. This concept addresses someone’s needs like housing and food while assessing adequate and available resources. Carrie discusses how health equity can evolve to serve everyone—assess policy, laws, and rules—and examine the barriers in place. If so, create the necessary change to prevent poor outcomes and situations. An opportunity to advance health equity involves enabling access to healthcare affordably and effectively through sharing information and appropriate services and treatments when/where needed.
Connect with Carrie:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-yasemin-payko%C3%A7-b189b517/
https://twitter.com/OeHI_Colorado
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
https://twitter.com/inonhealth
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
Joy Lewis—senior vice president of health equity strategies at the American Hospital Association—joins KP in this episode of the InOn Health podcast. They discuss the impact of hospitals in reducing health disparities for various populations in the United States.
Joy reveals the vision of the American Hospital Association, which focuses on achieving a society of healthy communities with individuals reaching their highest potential for health, where everyone receives the necessary support to live the healthiest life possible. She provides insights into how (modifiable) societal factors influence health outcomes and conditions. She describes the advancement of health equity demonstrated as:
"We will know we've achieved health equity when the quality of care that’s rendered does not vary based on characteristics like race, ethnicity, gender, geographic and socioeconomic status.”
Joy explains advancing health equity involves removing structural barriers—dismantling the existing structure requires implementing more just action, such as creating a moral case of listening to patients as the first step. She explains how hospitals are the most influential institutions in the communities they serve. She further elaborates how the health/medical industry should pivot towards a more inclusive community partnership, involving co-designing and co-developing health equity solutions, ultimately creating sustainable solutions.
Joy discusses the path to advancing equity and eliminating disparities requires the ongoing development of products, information, and resources. She outlines the evolvement in data-gathering—traditionally focused on race, ethnicity, and language—now pivoting to include sexual orientation, gender identity, and social needs. She elaborates how this data—including other factors like housing conditions, food insecurity, and transportations needs—impacts people's abilities to engage in their health. Collecting this data would serve as a guide to provide the proper clinical support while eliminating biases to ensure it does not negatively impact patients.
Connect with Joy Lewis:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyalewis/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-hospital-association/
https://twitter.com/joylewisMPH
https://twitter.com/IFD_AHA
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
https://twitter.com/inonhealth
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
In this episode of the InOn Health podcast, Chris Pusey, chief operating officer at Rural Partners in Medicine, joins KP to discuss the current challenges of rural healthcare in the United States. Before joining Rural Partners in Medicine (RPM)—an organization dedicated to developing sustainable models for providing specialty care to rural populations across the United States—he served eight years in private equity investing in healthcare services businesses and later pursued entrepreneurial endeavors focused on health and fitness.
Chris addresses how critical access in rural communities has evolved and the gaps in rural healthcare, particularly specialty medicine. The issue is often rooted in the lack of consistent work/demand in rural areas for full-time surgeons. He further shares the two typical models in rural areas:
- Model #1: Outreach - Specialty surgeons and doctors commute to rural areas and provide a free clinic to the hospital and its patients
- Model #2: Full-time employed doctor - More challenging to recruit in rural areas, a difficult financial decision if work does not equate to a full-time basis
Chris outlines the pros and cons of each model, explaining how these models do not contribute financial benefits for rural hospitals, lacking long-term sustainable growth, revenue stream, and additional opportunities. To steer away from this dynamic, Chris explains RPM’s approach—build programs to the demand of the community. This model reflects via a permanent, part-time basis with a consistent schedule. RPM typically recruits private-practice surgeons, moving from home base to rural communities on a recurring basis.
Chris describes how RPM contracts with rural hospitals on a production-style basis, creating economic alignment in the community. He discusses how providing local services improve overall health for the community, enabling more equitable access. Ultimately, providing quality, specialty care to rural communities also improves economic wellbeing.
Connect with Chris Pusey:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherpusey/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/rural-partners-in-medicine/
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
https://twitter.com/inonhealth
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
In this episode of the InOn Health podcast, Sarah Dash, president and CEO of Alliance for Health Policy, joins KP to discuss her roles in health equity and healthcare initiatives in the United States. Sarah shares how she pursued a career path in public health policy, inspired by Edward Stierle’s biography, A Dance Against Time: The Brief, Brilliant Life of a Joffrey Dancer.
Before joining Alliance for Health Policy, Sarah shares her background as a Health Policy Advisor and Senior Legislative Assistant under Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro and Senator John D. Rockefeller IV. She outlines her roles in developing the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act and the Informed Consumer Choices in Healthcare Act, which contributed to the final package of the Affordable Care Act under the Obama administration.
Alliance for Health Policy is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization to advance knowledge and education of health policy issues. The organization focuses on bi-partisan engagement with congressional staff to address the nation’s health care issues and make proposals for change. Alliance for Health Policy implements solution-focused dialogue regarding all initiatives. Sarah shares some of the health initiatives discussed with congress members, such as behavioral health, maternal mortality, rural access, and the opioid crisis.
Sarah and KP discuss the evolvement of health equity. They share how the lack of a clearly defined definition in the United States creates a divide in discussions and impacts policymakers in determining the concept. They further address how societal values contribute to the priorities and outlook of health equity—creating both destructive and constructive criticism. KP explains how constructive criticism can encourage positive discussion and lead to better, more inclusive policies.
Connect with Sarah Dash:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahdash/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/alliance-for-health-policy/
https://twitter.com/SarahJDash
https://twitter.com/AllHealthPolicy
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
https://twitter.com/inonhealth
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
In this episode of the InOn Health podcast, KP introduces Dr. Monique Smith, ER physician and founding executive director of Health DesignED. Dr. Smith opens the conversation by sharing her upbringing as a first-generation Jamaican American and how it influenced her to study anthropology as a pre-med student at Harvard University. She explains how she incorporated her anthropology lens into her practice as a practitioner of public health and health systems redesign—providing patient care requires understanding people and their stories.
Dr. Smith discusses the concept of equitable, tech-enabled care—stemming from the idea of ensuring people have comfort and trust utilizing virtual care services. She elaborates how people of color, specifically women of color, lack trust with in-person care, often feeling unheard and unseen. This concept serves as the foundation for Health DesignED, an organization dedicated to providing equitable, tech-enabled acute care to diverse patient populations. Dr. Smith describes how this initiative aims to transform the way patients assess and define their medical emergencies, whereas previously determined by healthcare professionals. The overall goal is to incorporate equity into well-being.
Dr. Smith explains how developing and designing platforms require an intentional element, like understanding user pain points. Building inclusive products and services require creative and diverse thinking and solutions, which are more likely to be achieved in diverse teams. Dr. Smith provides insights into how a lack of diversity in digital health creates implicit bias, excluding other populations and embedding systems unable to treat people of color in the best way. Dr. Smith addresses one of the prominent barriers in the healthcare system—preconceived notions about how medicine is practiced, not accounting for the diverse ways people experience healthcare and their distinct outcomes.
Connect with Dr. Monique Smith:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniquesmithmd/
https://twitter.com/drmoniqueasmith
https://twitter.com/HealthDesign_ED
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
https://twitter.com/inonhealth
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
In this episode of the InOn Health podcast, KP welcomes Troy Bannister, Founder, and CEO of Particle Health, a platform enabling healthcare companies with secure and comprehensive access to medical data. Troy begins the conversation by sharing his experiences working in an ambulance throughout college, which ultimately paved his career in the digital health space and inspiration to launch Particle Health.
Troy reveals insights about the traditional barriers often encountered when patients attempt to access their medical records, including the challenges of maintaining organization within the documents. Troy discusses how he examined other tech companies, such as Stripe and Twilio, and their approaches to solving three major issues—fragmentation, privacy insecurity, and data standardization. These insights served as the key foundations for transitioning traditional medical data processes into an electronic experience.
Particle Health enables providers to see the full scope of patients’ history via data automation, making it easier to build treatment plans and create clear follow-ups. Troy addresses the Anti-Information Blocking Rule (prohibits the restriction of medical information, with patients having the right to access data how they want feasibly) and how this led to initiating Particle Health’s beta program with consumer-facing applications.
Troy explains that if Particle Health can attain data outside of traditional healthcare spaces like hospitals and clinics and emerge into new technology, that same technology can exist outside of the current healthcare system, resulting in greater competition, cheaper prices, and more innovative thinking. He further explains how this evolvement would unleash a new ecosystem of healthcare. Ultimately, this change would create greater choice for everyone and provide more solutions and easier access to underserved populations.
Connect with Troy:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/troy-bannister-259a3235/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/particle-health/
https://twitter.com/TroyHBann
https://twitter.com/Particle_Health
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
In the fourth episode of the InOn Health podcast, KP welcomes Simmone Taitt, CEO & Founder of Poppy Seed Health. Simmone founded Poppy Seed Health after experiencing a traumatic miscarriage, with no follow-up support or wellbeing services. Her experiences inspired her to become a doula and launch a platform that provides on-demand, 24/7 text access and emotional support for pregnant women and those who experience miscarriages, provided by doulas, midwives, and nurses.
Simmone shares how her experiences growing up in a first-generation immigrant family shaped her view of the world and perspective of what defines diversity. She discusses how she integrated these views into her business, making it a priority to create opportunities for women and people of color. She explains how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the development of Poppy Seed Health, enabling her to build an effective business model and thorough team of investors, primarily inclusive of queer, women-identifying, and women of color.
Simmone addresses the maternal health gap for black women, as they are 3-5 times more likely to die in childbirth in comparison to their white counterparts. She explains how a lack of faith in the system prevents people from getting the necessary healthcare. Lack of education, awareness, and resources is a contributing factor in the gap. However, a detrimental factor includes the racist conception that black women have a higher pain tolerance. Simmone aspires to be part of the current disruptive wave occurring in health equity, creating a path forward while tackling the institutions and systems that have sustained the pre-existing health equity gaps.
Links:
https://www.poppyseedhealth.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/poppy-seed-health/
Connect with Simmone Taitt:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/simmonetaitt/
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
This episode of the InOn Health Podcast features Colorado Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera. She is a lifelong Coloradan and is a leading patient advocate who has spend three decades fighting for every Coloradan’s access to quality, affordable healthcare.
The Lieutenant Governor talks about how the early years of her professional career opened her eyes to the need for equitable and affordable access to healthcare for everyone. Both as a vocational rehabilitation counselor and a customer service professional in healthcare policy and financing, she was able to witness many of the inequities in the system first-hand.
Lt. Gov. Primavera also opens up about her story as a breast cancer survivor. She shares how her personal journey with cancer as an unemployed, single mother influenced how she views the importance of healthcare at an individual level. She believes that when a patient is fighting for their life, they shouldn’t have to worry about how they’re going to pay their medical bills.
KP and the Lieutenant Governor also explore the initiatives and actions taken by the Governor’s Office to improve the affordability and accessibility of high-quality healthcare for all Coloradans—including the passing of House Bill 21-1097 to establish a behavioral health administration and the launch of The Office of Saving People Money on Health Care. They also explore the State’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has influenced their view on health equity.
Connect with Lt. Governor Primavera:
https://ltgovernor.colorado.gov
https://www.facebook.com/LtGovofCO/
https://twitter.com/ltgovofco?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/ltgovofco/?hl=en
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
Dr. Brittani James, family physician and Co-Founder of The Institute for Antiracism in Medicine, joins KP in the ongoing discussion addressing health equity. Dr. James begins the conversation by sharing her upbringing, witnessing segregated systems in and outside the healthcare system. She reveals how the Covid-19 pandemic spotlighted the racial disparities in the healthcare systems and the mental health impact on the Black community.
While attending medical school at the University of Michigan, Dr. James reflects learning how black individuals are more inclined to experience health issues, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, but never taught the explanation of why. She further explains how race is often regarded as a biologically distinct entity, which has led to false conclusions that people of color are biologically different. This fundamental flaw inaccurately suggests and justifies the concept that people of color are “inferior” to other races on a biological and genetic level. Dr. James discusses how this misconception is evident in research studies, especially in medical journals, which are primary sources of information in medicine. She provides insights into the harmful effects of the lack of editorial neutrality in medical journals, such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, blocking scholarship of racism and findings in research.
The Institute of Antiracism in Medicine is designed to train clinicians to recognize implicit biases by providing tools to serve as advocates for their patients, understanding how to engage in the topic of racism, and ultimately eliminating racism from the healthcare system. Dr. James explains confronting racism and implementing change requires a clear understanding of its foundation. The first steps to creating change involve identifying your influence and recognizing relationships in your life.
Connect with Dr. Brittani James:
www.drbrittanijames.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drbrittanij/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-institute-for-antiracism-in-medicine/
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
The InOn Health podcast premiere features Eric Parrie, an educator, social entrepreneur, and CEO of COVIDCheck Colorado. Eric led CovidCheck through statewide testing and vaccination access initiatives throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. InOn Health partnered with COVIDCheck Colorado to support school communities and organizations, children, and their families while communicating news and services effectively.
KP and Eric discuss some of the significant influences during the pandemic, addressing the roles of public health, community organizing, and health equity—all contributing factors to overcoming the virus and providing a path forward in healthcare. Eric provides insight into confronting health inequities, which requires trust, partnerships, and relationships. COVIDCheck Colorado adapted to the needs of vulnerable communities by tailoring messaging that made testing, tracing, and vaccination more available, accessible, and convenient.
Eric reveals how COVIDCheck Colorado started from the ground-up at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, primarily developing and measuring equity metrics. After gathering data, the organization implemented two goals: 1) increase testing volume, 2) provide testing to most vulnerable individuals/communities. Eric explains the metrics that define high-risk, which is more than a question of race, poverty, and health history—it is ultimately an intersection of all three. As the ultimate goal is herd immunity, it is strongly dependent on community health, which varies and relies on the overall action and vaccination rate of communities, neighborhoods, and counties.
The Covid-19 pandemic has created a generational impact in serving communities, acknowledging inequity and health, resulting in increased action and commitment on individual levels. For example, Eric reveals that there are record-number applications for medical school and public health education. As technology will be an influential factor in the future of healthcare, it will not be the ultimate solution until there is an effective balance between the two aspects of public health— 1) health, science, and research, 2) showing up and listening to people’s stories.
Connect with Eric Parrie:
linkedin.com/in/ericparrie/
covidcheckcolorado.org/
Connect with KP:
linkedin.com/in/kaakpema-kp-yelpaala-379b269/
inonhealth.com/podcast
inonhealth.com/
Health equity issues in our country have been around for decades – largely impacting communities of color and rural areas. When it comes to economic and racial disparities in health the evidence is clear. This is more than a hot topic. Covid-19 has exposed the underbelly of how social determinants of health and racial disparities play out in our country. What we need now is to impart lasting change.
Welcome to the InOn Health podcast. I’m your host Kaakpema Yelpaala, and I’m the co-founder and CEO of InOn Health.
In this season we’re going to be talking about health equity. We’ll be talking to entrepreneurs, thought leaders, investors, and other industry experts in healthcare and public health. The topics we’ll cover will range from racial disparities in health to digital innovation for diverse populations, and ultimately how we build better policy to more inclusively serve everyone around their healthcare needs.
Join me on this podcast series to not only be inspired by our leaders but also to get insight on how we can all take action.