Voices of Public Health

This episode of the Delta Center podcast spotlights Michael Curry, Esq, the President and CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (Mass League) and one of the co-founders of the state’s Health Equity Compact. The Health Equity Compact brings together over 80 leaders of color across a diverse set of Massachusetts organizations—including hospitals, health centers, payers, academic institutions, and public health—who are dedicated to advancing health equity in Massachusetts. Michael Curry discusses the establishment of the Compact and the importance of bringing leaders of color to the table. Through his experience at the Mass League, Michael specifically emphasizes how health centers can and should be at the forefront of health equity work: “Why can't health centers be closer to the power?” Mass League, together with the Association for Behavioral Healthcare, previously participated in Phase 1 of the Delta Center’s State Learning and Action Collaborative and has continued to drive positive change through coalition building in the state.

Rotavirus is a major cause of childhood disease and death in India. In 2016, the Government of India began a phased introduction of the rotavirus vaccine, and by 2019, the vaccine had been scaled up to cover the entire country. In this interview, Rebecca Chase, a Program Officer with JSI's Immunization Center, speaks with Dr. Arup Deb Roy, Project Director, and Dr. Amanjot Kaur, Senior Program Officer, both with JSI Private Limited’s new vaccine introduction team, about their experiences working the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to introduce the rotavirus vaccine in India. They discuss the challenges and successes of introducing a new vaccine in a large country like India and how their approach could be replicated for future vaccines.

In this episode, our guest, Nadia Vargas from Mountain Family Health Center, shares the social needs screening process at their health center and how their coordination platform supports local health information exchange to boost community-wide health. This episode will be useful to all health centers working on their own social determinants of health processes.

The introduction of fentanyl into the drug supply has been a game changer in how we prevent overdoses. More people are focusing on practical strategies and ideas to keep the person engaged, safe and alive while minimizing the harm resulting from substance use. Phoebe Axman, Director of Education of New Hampshire Harm Reduction Coalition, has joined us today. She will share the evidence-based practices behind these life-saving services and how they are making a difference across NH.

Connection, care, and concern are powerful tools in helping people overcome mental health challenges. When we let people know they matter, we offer them hope and can help them find resources to support their mental health. Every one of us can be a resource. Helping someone doesn’t always mean referring them to a clinician. Mental Health First Aid is a skills-based training course that teaches people to identify, understand and respond to mental health and substance use challenges for youth, adolescents, and adults.

The vaccine cold chain relies on a global network of refrigeration units and carriers to keep vaccines at the right temperature from production to administration. In this episode, Amos Chweya and Wendy Prosser from JSI's Immunization Center chat about the challenges of maintaining cold chain equipment and share some “crazy” ideas to approach it differently. By making cold chain maintenance "sexy" (and smart), we can ensure that vaccines stay safe and effective throughout the distribution process and end up in the arms of those who need them most. Amos Chweya, Regional Immunization Technical Officer, brings over 30 years of experience in public health programming to support country-level supply chain and logistics activities in the African region. He specializes in immunization logistics and health care waste management and works with regional partners on cold chain management. Wendy Prosser, Senior Technical Officer, provides technical assistance and strategic guidance on immunization supply chain design and management across JSI's country teams. Her expertise in supply chain optimization, health program design and management, monitoring and evaluation, and stakeholder engagement is grounded in several technical areas, including HIV testing and treatment, malaria, and family planning. Find out more about how JSI is strengthening sustainable immunization programs and transforming public health supply chains: https://www.jsi.com/expertise/immunization/ https://www.jsi.com/expertise/global-health-supply-chain-management/

In Yemen, the USAID-funded Systems, Health, and Resiliency Project (SHARP) is using innovative mobile solutions to increase immunization coverage for children. The project recently piloted an SMS reminder system and an Electronic Immunization Registry to share vaccination information between community midwives, health facilities, and parents. The result? A resounding win: uptake of Penta3 (the third dose of a vaccine that protects against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenzae type b) increased by 38%, and dropout rates dropped significantly in the pilot area. In this podcast episode, Dr. Areej Banaja, SHARP Senior Health Facility Manager, talks to Omar Al-Gundaid, SHARP Communication Manager, about these innovative interventions and getting the message out about the importance of childhood vaccinations. Dr. Areej has eight years of experience in the clinical and public health sectors with international nongovernmental organizations and UN agencies. She has worked in humanitarian and fragile settings, focusing on emergency and outbreak response, supply chain management, and child health. Prior to joining JSI, Dr. Areej was a child health officer at the UNICEF Yemen country office, where she played a key role in the national response to outbreaks of cholera, diphtheria, and COVID-19. SHARP works to reduce maternal and infant mortality in Yemen by focusing on reproductive, maternal, newborn, child health, and nutrition coupled with support services to tackle health challenges such as COVID-19, malnutrition, and other life-threatening conditions. Learn more: https://www.jsi.com/project/systems-health-and-resiliency-project-sharp/

The NH Pediatric Improvement Partnership (NH PIP) is helping pediatric practices build the skills and systems to identify and respond to trauma among their young patients and families. When pediatricians have meaningful conversations with their young patients about any type of trauma they have experienced, they validate their experiences and normalize their feelings, and they help reduce the shame and secrecy of the trauma—making healing possible. We were excited to have Felicity Bernard, the Director of the NH PIP on our most recent episode. She talked to us about how this project is helping pediatric practices look beyond what a child presents during a visit to understand how they feel and respond to stress.

As young people grow and mature, they seek independence and intimacy. However, many struggle with forming safe and healthy relationships. The New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (NHCADSV) and their member organizations are teaching these important skills to youth starting in middle school.

Vaping or e-cigarette use has been described as a public health crisis. They have been marketed as a tool to help adults quit smoking, but they have become a youth craze. Our guest, Kim Coronis with Breathe NH, helps us understand this attraction and how nicotine impacts the adolescent brain – releasing feel-good chemicals.

As health centers grapple with technology and telehealth for advancing equity, considerations around the triad in clinical informatics - technology, people and process continue to be a challenge. Dr. Jelinek from Hennepin Healthcare discusses a wide range of topics from physician training to digital navigation, covering actionable steps to reframe care delivery around patients' needs.

With federal funding from SAMHSA (Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration), the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension (UNH Extension) builds on the efforts of the State’s Opioid Response (SOR). The Partnership sits down with Melissa Lee, the project director with the UNH Extension to explore how this new funding collaborates with stakeholders to implement evidence based opioid prevention strategies that ultimately bend the curve on overdose and death. Expanded programs for individuals living with chronic pain and learning opportunities for healthcare providers serving them are a few of the successful alternative strategies to medication for managing pain. Also, they are working with The Partnership to get the word out about prevention tools and messaging and to address the endless need for stigma reduction to normalize asking for help with behavioral health issues.

As we age, some of us may find ourselves or those we care about using substances more often. Pain, boredom, and loss makes us more vulnerable. Our guests, Margaret Franckhauser and Anne Marie Olsen-Hayward, explain how this slide happens and how to get help.

Juvenile court diversion is an approach to help both youth and those harmed by their offenses heal and repair from their actions. Research shows that most young people age out of delinquent behavior with no intervention, by simply growing up; and diversion programs are a more productive way to prevent future arrests. Being involved in the court system does more long-term harm than good.

As health centers strive to ensure that access to telehealth is equitable for patients, digital navigation and digital literacy continue to be challenges for those with complex health and social needs. The lack of focus on digital literacy can hinder the use of patient engagement technology and could deepen the digital divide. This podcast covers a wide range of considerations about digital literacy and how it impacts telehealth equity for health centers, and Theresa Sladek from Literacy Minnesota describes how organizations with tremendous expertise in digital literacy can support telehealth delivery equity for health centers.

In this episode of the Delta Center podcast, members of the Delta Center team recently sat down for a conversation with Andrea Ducas, a Senior Program Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (https://www.rwjf.org/). During this 15-minute episode, Jason Patnosh from the National Association of Community Health Centers (http://www.nachc.org/) and Mohini Venkatesh from the National Council for Behavioral Health (https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/) talk with Andrea about strategies and tips for health centers and other nonprofits that would like to work with foundations. The podcast covers: how to find a foundation that’s a good fit; how to assess when a foundation or donor aligns with your organization’s values; suggestions for starting a new relationship with a foundation; and do’s and don’ts when working with foundations. A transcript can be downloaded from https://deltacenter.jsi.com/updates/strategies-nonprofits-use-working-foundations

This episode of the Delta Center podcast features John Solomon, LPC, CPHQ, a behavioral health counselor from rural Alaska, discussing the importance of expanding the telehealth system and reimbursement policy to support these services that increase access to care, especially for communities that have been historically marginalized. John is the Director of Behavioral Health at Maniilaq Association (https://www.maniilaq.org/), which provides health and social services to twelve federally recognized Tribes in Northwest Alaska and serves as the largest employer in the area. John Solomon spent years as an indie rocker in Minnesota, and now uses his voice to speak out as an advocate for telehealth in rural Alaska. John has seen first-hand how flexibility in reimbursement for telehealth during the COVID-19 public health emergency increased access to mental health and substance use care while also creating new job opportunities for rural Native Alaskan communities. John's story is relevant for any state still pushing for making telehealth flexibility permanent after the public health emergency ends. Together, Alaska Primary Care Association (APCA) and the Alaska Behavioral Health Association (ABHA) (https://deltacenter.jsi.com/grantee/alaska-primary-care-association-alaska-behavioral-health-association) are participating in Phase 2 of the Delta Center’s State Learning and Action Collaborative, where they brought together a multidisciplinary advisory group of consumer advocates and policy and practice experts to advocate for telehealth legislation. Fortunately, the Alaska legislature passed telehealth legislation (HB 265) in May 2022! This new state law (https://stateofreform.com/featured/2022/05/alaska-bills-address-health-care-needs/) protects audio and video telehealth access and expands Medicaid coverage of those services. It also removes a current requirement for an in-person visit with a healthcare professional prior to treatment and permits clients to have follow-up telehealth visits from providers who are licensed in another state, but have an established relationship with the client. A transcript can be downloaded from https://deltacenter.jsi.com/

3. Systems Maps Room by John Snow, Inc.

11. Culmination Room by John Snow, Inc.

1. BHC Introduction Room by John Snow, Inc.