For thousands of health care workers around the world, dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic has been non-stop for two years and counting. We want to understand what that is doing to our health care workforce. From dealing with illness themselves, to experiencing burnout, or even leaving the field altogether … we'll explore the ripple effects of COVID's impact for these workers, and what potential solutions exist.

The ramifications of health care worker burnout

In this episode, listeners will hear from four experts who bring their own unique perspective to the topic of health communication — the verbal and written strategies used to influence and empower individuals, populations, and communities to make healthier choices. Health Communication is a vital part of public health, but in many ways, it’s become more difficult to nagicate for public public health professionals and the public over time.

Health Communication: Why Getting It Right Impacts Us All

It’s been nearly half a century since the HIV/AIDS epidemic emerged. In the 1980s, before medical interventions or effective prevention methods were developed, it was a death sentence. Throughout the years, legislation, stigmatization, and limited resources have created costly setbacks in overcoming the disease and its spread. Today, treatment and prevention has evolved so that many people with HIV/AIDS can now live longer, healthier lives. But, there is still a long way to go before we can say that we’ve beaten AIDS. In this episode we look back on the evolution of this pandemic and why it has persisted for so long.

Exploring another pandemic: HIV/AIDS

It is no secret that healthier food makes for healthier people. However, there can be challenges to overcome when trying to make healthy food choices for ourselves and our families.For one thing, not all foods are created equally, nutrition-wise. In fact, many highly processed foods can have adverse effects on our health. There are many communities in the US and beyond that do not have ready access to affordable, high quality food, for a number of reasons.And the economics of food production play a large role in the availability of fruits and vegetables, which tend to cost more to grow and harvest.Thank goodness, public health researchers are studying all these problems and coming up with clever, effective, solutions.

Healthier people need healthier food

The pandemic highlighted the important role health departments play in communities large and small. But the role of a health department extends well beyond pandemic response. Assessing water quality, ensuring restaurants are following food safety practices, ensuring health care access and more. Health departments manage many health-related priorities to improve the lives of community members.In this episode, learn about the ways health departments protect the health of their communities through their services and the need to build a strong public health infrastructure. We’ll also talk to individuals working in health departments to learn how their work impacts the communities they serve.

What do health departments do?

Generally speaking, giving unsolicited advice to people only tends to annoy them and make them less likely to change any of their behaviors. Real change tends to come when someone sees a discrepancy between their own behavior and what they value as a person.So, how do you talk to a coworker, friend, or family member who is firmly entrenched in anti-vaccine beliefs? Preaching to them that COVID vaccines are safe and effective will most likely fail. But there are some lessons to be gleaned from a counseling style called motivational interviewing, where instead of trying to persuade someone, you subtly reflect back to them their own thoughts and feelings. In other words, you allow the other person to drive the conversation, with the idea that they themselves will see discrepancies between their actions and their beliefs. University of Michigan School of Public Health Professor Ken Resnicow has studied and used motivational interviewing since the early 1990s and has some timely tips for how to engage in these difficult conversations.

Using Motivational Interviewing to Convince People to Get Vaccinated

Right now, Delta is the dominant COVID-19 variant spreading here in the U.S and in some other areas of the world. It’s one of the handful of variants that have evolved from the original COVID-19 virus. The emergence of the more infectious Delta, and the prospect of new variants on the horizon, has underscored the urgency of widespread vaccination to put an end to the pandemic. In this episode, we're joined by two faculty experts from the University of Michigan who will discuss what is currently known about the Delta variant, how vaccine efforts are holding up through the Delta surge, and how it's spread is impacting our ongoing pandemic response strategies.

The Evolution of a Pandemic: Where Does Delta Leave Us?

Effective change takes effective changemakers. Today, we talk to a few changemakers who are dedicated to improving diversity in public health and healthcare leadership. Research has long shown that the most effective way to improve health for any community is to have public health leaders from that community involved in the day-to-day decision making around the care of that population. Pipeline programs, like the University of Michigan’s Summer Enrichment Program, create avenues for students from underrepresented communities to be exposed to careers in public health, healthcare management, and policy-making. Increasing diversity in public health is both a macro mission, taken on by universities and programs around the country, as well as an individual one, best exemplified by committed mentors who do what they can to support their students.

Increasing Diversity in Public Health

It has been roughly one year since the COVID pandemic hit the United States, bringing with it stay-at-home orders, social distancing, masks, and many other unprecedented experiences. One side effect of the pandemic is that epidemiology is now a household name. Our first guest on this special coronavirus series, back when it all started in March 2020, was Joseph Eisenberg, professor and chair of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. We invited Eisenberg back to share some of his thoughts on how this past year played out and where he sees things going from here.

One Year of COVID-19 3.19.21

In 1960, the population of Flint, Michigan was nearly 200,000 people. It was a center of American manufacturing and economic prosperity. But in the decades that followed, manufacturers abandoned their Flint operations. Many White families left for the suburbs and the now majority Black city entered a state of economic decline. In 2011 then-Governor Rick Snyder appointed an emergency manager. This government official had the authority to override decisions made by Flint’s city council and mayor in the interest of reducing the city’s debt. In 2014, in an effort to cut costs,  the city switched its longstanding water supply from the Detroit Water Department to the nearby untreated Flint river. This decision led to a public health crisis that will affect the city for generations.In this episode of Population Healthy Season 3: Race, Inequity, and Closing the Health Gap, we explore how the city of Flint faces a myriad of interwoven and complex public health challenges and how incorporating the voices of the city’s residents into research and decision making through the practice of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) can lead to more positive and meaningful health outcomes for the community.

Healing Flint Through Community Partnership

In the last few months, we have seen emergency usage authorization of the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. With more and more people receiving vaccines each day, things seem to be looking up. But many still feel unsure about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them.In this episode, we explore a term you may be hearing a lot these days: vaccine hesitancy. With two faculty experts from the University of Michigan, we’ll dig into some history around vaccine hesitancy and how it relates to this pandemic.Be sure to follow us at @umichsph on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook so you can share your perspectives on the issues we discussed, learn more from Michigan Public Health experts, and share episodes of the podcast with your friends on social media.

Vaccine Hesitancy and COVID-19 3.11.2021

As of October 2020, 23% of children in the US are experiencing food insecurity, and that percentage has continued to rise dramatically throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Of those affected, data shows that food insecurity impacts families and children of color disproportionately, with Black and Hispanic households reporting rates nearly double that of white households.In this episode of Population Healthy Season 3: Race, Inequity, and Closing the Health Gap, we talk with two nutritional sciences experts at the University of Michigan School of Public Health about what food insecurity is, why it’s been increasing in the US, and what we can do to address this devastating public health crisis.

How Food Insecurity Shapes Children and Families

According to a 2019 study published by the National Academy of Sciences,* African-Americans are exposed to 56% more pollution than they actually produce. Meanwhile, white Americans are exposed to 17% less pollution than they produce. African-Americans are also 75% more likely to live near industrial facilities than white Americans, compounding the risk for harmful environmental exposures that are tied to negative health outcomes like asthma, birth defects, cancer, and cardiovascular disorders. In this episode we’ll hear from School of Public Health faculty, community partners, and alumni working in environmental policy about the disproportionate environmental risks that communities of color face in the age of climate change and what can be done at the policy-level to balance out inequitable burdens of poor environments and environmental health outcomes.Be sure to follow us at @umichsph on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook so you can share your perspectives on the issues we discussed, learn more from Michigan Public Health experts, and share episodes of the podcast with your friends on social media.

The Inequitable Impact of the Environment on Health

When you hear the term “weathering,” you may think of soil or rock erosion next to a busy stream, or the paint of a house fading under the glare of the sun. But what if it could also happen to our bodies?In this episode of Population Healthy Season 3: Race, Inequity, and Closing the Health Gap, experts from the University of Michigan School of Public Health discuss weathering, which encapsulates the idea that lived experiences and stress have impact on our bodily systems—with disadvantaged and/or populations of color often experiencing this firsthand. We’ll also learn about the ways researchers are studying the impacts of these social stressors—such as racism and discrimination—and how they can literally have an impact on your body at a cellular level.Be sure to follow us at @umichsph on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook so you can share your perspectives on the issues we discussed, learn more from Michigan Public Health experts, and share episodes of the podcast with your friends on social media.

How Bodies Weather Social Stress

Data is a powerful, important thing. It can help researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and even frontline health workers discover new strategies that improve health, dictate things like resource and services allocation, and even save lives. But what happens when data is flawed, manipulated, or even weaponized? Can it worsen health inequities or harm populations?In this episode of Population Healthy Season 3: Race, Inequity, and Closing the Health Gap, we talk with experts about the problematic history of racialized data in the United States, the dangers of “garbage data,” and the ways we can both gather better data, and improve collaborations with the populations we serve. Be sure to follow us at @umichsph on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook so you can share your perspectives on the issues we discussed, learn more from Michigan Public Health experts, and share episodes of the podcast with your friends on social media.

The Impact of Race on Data

In this episode of Population Healthy Season 3: Race, Inequity, and Closing the Health Gap, we take a deeper look at how Black families and individuals deal with the factors that impact their mental health. Mental health is a complicated and nuanced subject, and racial trauma and stigmas add additional layers of complexity for communities of color. This creates a landscape that is difficult for Black adults and children to navigate.While an individual’s geographic environment plays a key role in shaping who they are, media, cultural concepts of masculinity and sexual orientation, and access to mental health resources can also affect a person’s ability to deal with stressors. Our experts will discuss these intersections of mental health and identity, as well as potential ways of exploring them.Be sure to follow us at @umichsph on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook so you can share your perspectives on the issues we discussed, learn more from Michigan Public Health experts, and share episodes of the podcast with your friends on social media.

Black Families and Mental Health

Join University of Michigan undergraduate public health students Anjali Vaishnav, Maddie Malvitz, Sophie Blasberg, Stephanie Lai, and Catherine Marudo as they dive into the topic of the 2003 SARS epidemic and its connections to the current COVID-19 pandemic in the final episode of this special three-part podcast series, SARS: The Pandemic that Never Was. In these unprecedented times, what lessons can be learned from the SARS and COVID-19 outbreaks? In this episode, the students are joined by Jon Zelner, assistant professor of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and get his take on how we can be better prepared for the next pandemic, what we can do to have more transparent communication with the public on public health issues, and how we can ensure health equity in the upcoming months with the development and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine.Be sure to follow us at @umichsph on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook so you can share your perspectives on the issues we discussed, learn more from Michigan Public Health experts, and share episodes of the podcast with your friends on social media.

SARS: The Pandemic that Never Was: Part 3

Join University of Michigan undergraduate public health students Anjali Vaishnav, Maddie Malvitz, Sophie Blasberg, Stephanie Lai, and Catherine Marudo as they dive into the topic of the 2003 SARS epidemic and its connections to the current COVID-19 pandemic in the second episode of this special three-part podcast series, SARS: The Pandemic that Never Was. Social factors heavily influence the outcomes of epidemics, and in this episode, the students uncover the social factors that contributed to the SARS outbreak and its results. Disease and discrimination have gone hand and hand throughout history. They explore the anti-Asian sentiment that existed during the SARS epidemic and the ongoing racial discrimination during COVID-19. They also discuss the importance of the media and government during the SARS outbreak. Finally, they dig into the impact on vulnerable populations, such as frontline healthcare workers in both the SARS and COVID-19 outbreaks. Be sure to follow us at @umichsph on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook so you can share your perspectives on the issues we discussed, learn more from Michigan Public Health experts, and share episodes of the podcast with your friends on social media.

SARS: The Pandemic that Never Was: Part 2

Join University of Michigan undergraduate public health students Anjali Vaishnav, Maddie Malvitz, Sophie Blasberg, Stephanie Lai, and Catherine Marudo as they dive into the topic of the 2003 SARS epidemic and its connections to the current COVID-19 pandemic in the first of this special three-part podcast series, SARS: The Pandemic that Never Was.SARS and COVID-19 are two infectious diseases in the coronavirus family that are 79% similar but with two very different effects on the world. Tune into this episode to learn more about the history behind the SARS outbreak, the similarities we see between SARS and the current COVID-19 pandemic, and the key differences that allowed COVID-19 to explode into a global pandemic.

SARS: The Pandemic that Never Was: Part 1

In this episode of Population Healthy Season 3: Race, Inequity, and Closing the Health Gap, we talk with experts about how inequities occur in health care settings and how who you are can impact your quality of care. Research has found that people of color may not only have less access to health care, but that the quality of care they do receive may also be lesser, and they may even face discrimination from providers. All of these factors can lead to dangerous outcomes such as a reluctance to seek care, delayed treatment, or even misdiagnoses.During the past year, the Coronavirus pandemic has brought to the forefront the deep inequities our country faces in health care delivery as AfricanAmericans and other racial minorities were infected, hospitalized, and dying from COVID-19 at a higher rate than other populations. We’ll explore new technologies that may have the potential to increase access to quality health care and what work is being done by health care leadership to address race based inequities in health care delivery.

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