The Health Disparities Podcast

Can telemedicine reduce rural and other health disparities? Featuring Neal Neuberger.

Neal Neuberger has spent the past 35 years in Washington as a recognized leader for healthcare and information technology policy and strategy. In this episode, he will discuss telemedicine and the effect it can have on health disparity in rural areas. With host Bill Finerfrock.

The power of our voices: Thinking about the language we use in medicine, and the positive consequences of open notes. With Dr. Leonor Fernández.

Medical notes capture information that informs decision making. They can also reveal how healthcare providers are judging their patients, and patients reading those notes can feel offended, shamed and stigmatized by what they read. Drawing from her work as a Latina primary care clinician and health equity advocate, and as a Harvard Professor, Dr. Fernández highlights the importance of language and culture in medicine and in our medical notes. In this episode,we explore how language and literacy shape our ability to offer equitable, meaningful, and respectful care to Latinx, Black and other marginalized populations.

From surviving to thriving: Building personal resilience in the era of micro, macro, and “atomic” aggressions.

We often hear about the role of microaggressions, macroaggressions, and atomic aggressions during discussions about health equity. Often driven by unconscious bias, microaggressions are intrinsic to the processes of marginalization, racism and sexism that impact both patients and providers during the complex interactions that occur every day in the healthcare setting. How do we go about reducing and eliminating these types of harmful behaviors and transgressions? Can raising awareness at the grassroots level and then legal remedies at the policy level work in tandem to change behavior and provide protection? Today's episode explores these questions from a variety of perspectives, touching on the importance of fostering an inclusive culture for diverse students heading towards healthcare professions, and how this will also benefit patients.

Featuring Dr. Elvis Francois. Behind the Masked Singer, a lifelong passion for music as medicine.

Dr. Mary O’Connor invites fellow surgeon and singing sensation Dr. Elvis Francois to share his story. Dr. Elvis found fame on "The Masked Singer" after recording and posting inspirational performances accompanied by fellow physician Dr. William Robinson. In this episode, Dr. Elvis talks about the importance of integrating humanity into medicine, and how the emotional connections created through our shared love of music inspire resilience and healing.

Healthy “coopetition” in action. With Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome, Coletta Barrett and Dr. Charla Johnson.

Baton Rouge has created a culture of health through its public private partnerships. Using many creative approaches, Baton Rouge seeks to blend cooperation, competition, and personal responsibility, with civic leadership, health equity and community resources. Featuring Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome, Coletta Barrett from the Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, and NAON President Dr. Charla Johnson.

Dr. Millicent Gorham in discussion with Google/YouTube’s Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health, Dr. Garth Graham.

Google and YouTube have done a pretty good job of organizing the internet in a way that makes it quick and easy to find that one thing or website we need out of literally billions of options - including health information. In this episode, Dr. Graham and Dr. Gorham explore the theme of meeting people where they are, particularly where that place is an individual’s phone, and the individual is sharing their front of mind concerns about health with either a Google search or searching YouTube via their mobile phone. Dr Graham believes we are entering a new era of health information, a journey that all of us are already on. The key challenge is to make science central to that journey, so that even if we are receiving health information via social media, it is both factual and helpful.

How can community programs such as Operation Change adapt during a pandemic?

As COVID-19 emerged during early 2020, people all over the world were feeling similar negative emotions. Operation Change leaders were learning the extent to which participants were feeling let down and unsupported, so they urgently looked for solutions. In this episode, our panel of Operation Change community leaders reflect on the impact that COVID had on the groups they had convened, and share some of the ways they responded to the pandemic.

A LaSure Family Tradition: Service to Nation & Equity

For this episode of the Health Disparities Podcast, three members of the LaSure extended family gathered at the annual Movement is Life caucus to discuss their tradition of working in service to the greater good, a tradition which goes back many generations. Their discussion touches on aspects of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that these family members have witnessed in different spheres of service, but where similar patterns rise to the surface and reflect ever evolving norms in the context of racial diversification, inclusion, and advancement.  

Healthcare disparities in paradise? Hawaii Lt. Gov. Josh Green, MD, discusses health equity leadership and Hawaii’s COVID response with Bill Finerfroc...

Hawaii has long held the record for the highest average life expectancy in the US. The islands also enjoy some of the lowest COVID-19 infection and mortality numbers along with high vaccination rates. Dr. Green attributes near-universal healthcare coverage and a strong emphasis on primary care with Hawaiians good life expectancy, but Native Hawaiians live comparatively shorter lives. Parts of Hawaii are still in many respects the frontier, with poverty rates exacerbated by COVID’s impact on tourism, and difficult access to specialist care being important aspects of the disparities equation.

At the epicenter of the COVID first wave, safety-net hospitals were vital community assets. featuring Dr. Wayne Riley.

Back in the early days of the pandemic, SUNY Downstate President Dr. Wayne Riley found himself leading a major health system responsible for the care of some of the most vulnerable communities in New York City through unprecedented times. As the hospitals filled up with COVID patients his teams had to simultaneously support their staff and plan their response for patients. Dr. Riley discusses some of the immediate steps they had to take in response, from dealing with a lack of PPE to mitigating an immediate oxygen shortage. Many hospitals have found themselves stretched to breaking point both financially and in terms of staffing, and many hospitals have closed. Dr. O’Connor and Dr. Riley discuss the vital role that safety net hospitals play in care of patients in both urban and rural environments, and the margin pressures and funding shortfalls that are causing a crisis in the care of underserved populations.