Population Healthy digs into important public health topics that impact our everyday lives. Produced by the University of Michigan School of Public Health, the show brings together experts to discuss population health issues from a variety of perspectives, from the microscopic to the macroeconomic,…
Welcome to the Ahead of the Curve podcast from the University of Michigan school of Public Health. We also produce a podcast called "Population Healthy", and if you're on that channel right now, we've got some bonus content for you.CNN's Chief Medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta recently joined our Ahead of the Curve speaker series, where we focus on leadership through a public health lens. He discussed health communications and trust with the Dean of our School, F. DuBois Bowman in this exclusive 1-on-1 conversation.We wanted to let you know that a new season of Population Healthy begins on February 14, with weekly episodes going through March. We'll be discussing some the biggest topics in health right now with our University of Michigan School of Public Health experts and beyond...topics like emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, gender affirming care, the public health crisis in Ukraine, and much more. Enjoy the conversation with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, look for that new season of Population Healthy real soon...and thanks for listening.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In the newest season of the Population Healthy podcast—Race, Equity, and Closing the Health Gap—we speak with researchers from around the University of Michigan School of Public Health and beyond to examine health inequities through the lens of race in America.We begin our journey with an episode called Race and Health Equity in America, where we ask how we know these disparities exist, where researchers get data to examine race and ethnicity inequities, and why it is so important to understand and reduce health inequities.As our experts say, to study the population’s health, we have to study those who experience the greatest burdens from disease—from their health care and disease management to employment, housing, education access, natural environments and other factors that affect their health. To treat disease and, better yet, to prevent it, we must understand that having great health care and even providing “access” to health care does not guarantee population health. Everyone in the population must know about their health care options, know how to use it, and have transportation, paid time off, and childcare so they can use their health care.
As we continue through these winter months, we find ourselves inside for longer periods of time. How can we avoid aerosolized droplets becoming a problem for disease transmission in our public buildings? We have many layers to consider for minimizing risk, but in many ways it starts with the ventilation systems in these buildings. To learn more about the connection between air ventilation and the COVID-19 pandemic, we spoke with Dr. Aurora Le, assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public Health and an expert on biocontainment and biosafety procedures.
In this episode infectious disease expert Dr. Arnold Monto discusses the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines. Monto is a Professor of Epidemiology and Global Public Health at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Throughout his seven decade career, Monto has been involved in pandemic planning and emergency response to influenza and other respiratory virus outbreaks, including the 1968 Hong Kong influenza pandemic, Avian Influenza, SARS, MERS and the COVID-19 pandemic. He currently serves as acting chair of the vaccines and related biological products Advisory Committee, which provides advice to the Food and Drug Administration on the authorization and licensure of vaccines to prevent COVID-19.Also in this episode, Dr. Emily Martin, an associate professor of epidemiology at Michigan Public Health, helps guide us through some frequently asked questions about the COVID-19 vaccine safety and distribution. Dr. Monto and Dr. Martin co-lead the Michigan Influenza Center, one of five centers across the country that collects data for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As global coronavirus cases spiked, University of Michigan School of Public Health Biostatistics chair and professor Bhramar Mukherjee traveled to India to continue her critical work on the pandemic and reunite with family. In this episode, Mukherjee joins us from her home in India to discuss the pandemic on the ground there, the differences between pandemic response in India and the United States, and the challenges facing both countries as they begin the distribution of vaccines and look to end the pandemic.
In this episode infectious disease expert Arnold Monto discusses the COVID-19 vaccine development and approval process. Monto is a Professor of Epidemiology and Global Public Health at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Throughout his seven decade career, Monto has been involved in pandemic planning and emergency response to influenza and other respiratory virus outbreaks, including the 1968 Hong Kong influenza pandemic, Avian Influenza, SARS, MERS and the COVID-19 pandemic. He currently serves as acting chair of the vaccines and related biological products Advisory Committee, which provides advice to the Food and Drug Administration on the authorization and licensure of vaccines to prevent COVID-19.Also in this episode, Dr. Emily Martin, an associate professor of epidemiology at Michigan Public Health, helps guide us through some commonly asked questions about the safety and distribution of the new vaccine. Dr. Monto and Dr. Martin co-lead the Michigan Influenza Center, one of five centers across the country that collects data for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, only 1 in 4 children in the US has been physically active at recommended levels. With researchers anticipating a 2-3% increase in youth obesity as a result of the pandemic, we wanted to learn more about keeping kids active during a pandemic, especially during the winter months.In this episode, Rebecca Hasson, assistant professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, talks about programs that help teachers, superintendents, and school boards ensure students are reaching their learning outcomes. And she shares a range of ways for families with children trying to stay active.
We live in a connected time. The information age has brought with it unparalleled access to other people through telecommunications, email, social media, and so on. Someone half a world away can post something on their social platforms, and you could see it almost instantly seen where you are. This access can be an amazing resource. But on the flipside, instant access to people's thoughts and opinions can sometimes skew toward rumor or gossip and upend rigorously researched truths. More than just being a source of confusion, misinformation can cause huge problems. This has been made painfully apparent during the current COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, we take a look at some of the more popular misconceptions and questions about COVID-19 from a public health standpoint.
The federal government moved fairly quickly to grant waivers to schools when the COVID-19 pandemic began, allowing them to continue to serve food to students in need even as in-person classes were curtailed. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the government’s response in helping daycare providers in the same boat. Millions of younger children and their families across the country depend on daycares for nutritious meals, and the pandemic wreaked havoc on this system. In this episode, we speak to University of Michigan School of Public Health Assistant Professor Kate Bauer, a researcher who specializes in children’s nutrition, about what she and her colleagues found as they dug into this issue to try and make sense of it, and to provide some solutions.Join the conversation on social with @umichsph!
We all have some sense that the pandemic has had a particularly large toll on the elderly. But, in fact, the story of the pandemic among vulnerable older adults is a story of resilience. Many older adults have come through difficult times before, and in many cases, they are showing the rest of us how to make the best of these most difficult and unusual of circumstances. Still, older adults do have ongoing risks from the pandemic, including difficulties in accessing health care and medication, not to mention the negative effects of social isolation. In this episode, Mary Janevic, associate research scientist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, helps us understand and appreciate the many ways the pandemic is affecting older adults.
It’s been six months since the state of Michigan first enacted the stay-at-home order on March 23. We spoke to Sharon Kardia, professor of Epidemiology and associate dean for Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health to help us look back at what has happened across the state over the last six months and learn more about two projects from the University of Michigan that helped the state in its response to the pandemic.
With over 500 members representing nearly 70 countries, the grassroots organization “Students Against COVID-19” is addressing the coronavirus pandemic with global collaborations that cross borders, disciplines, and perspectives. Organization founder Marina Haque, an alumna of the University of Michigan School of Public Health and School of Medicine, joins us to talk about the explosive growth of Students Against COVID-19 and the innovative, interdisciplinary ways its members are addressing COVID-19 around the world.Follow us and join the conversation on social media with @umichsph.
With September just a few days away, schools around the country face the daunting task of reopening in the midst of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. We take a look at the risks and benefits of in-person and online learning for students of different ages, as well as how a potential vaccine might affect the upcoming school year. We also get a small taste of the work that went on behind the scenes this summer in thousands of American school districts, where administrators, teachers, and community members raced against the clock to come up with plans to keep students safe and academically engaged this year. Follow us and join the conversation on social media with @umichsph on Twitter, Instagram, and more.
Local health departments all over the world are a frontline defense against the novel coronavirus during the current pandemic. Unlike hospitals, they don’t treat patients. Instead, they track the virus, help sick people find treatment, safe places to quarantine, and even food when needed, and do all they can to keep COVID-19 from spreading.The Washtenaw County Health Department (Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan are in Washtenaw county) is no exception. We wanted to take a look at the Department’s day-to-day battle against the virus, and find out more about what the pandemic has looked like in the county since the very beginning.
Questions around coronavirus testing and immunity are top-of-mind as the pandemic continues to spread and potential vaccines undergo trials. Emily Martin, associate professor of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, breaks down the basics of coronavirus testing and what the current data show are the potential next steps for the United States as we head toward fall and flu season.
In Latin America, the battle against COVID-19 is raging. At the time this podcast was recorded, the region has reported over 3.2 million cases of the disease and over 140,000 deaths, making it one of the biggest hotspots in the world.To find out more about the coronavirus pandemic in Latin America, we spoke to Joe Eisenberg, a professor and the chair of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and an expert on infectious disease research in the region. He provides insight on current figures and how various national responses have shaped the status of the pandemic in Latin American countries.
In the United States alone, there’s an average of 4 million births each year. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, that amounts to a lot of women who are understandably concerned about their health and the health of their child. In this episode we talked with Phoebe Kulik, a program manager at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a first-time expectant mother, about what it’s been like to be pregnant during the coronavirus pandemic. To learn more about what we currently know about pregnancy and COVID-19, we also sat down with two experts in maternal health in the department of Epidemiology: Research Scientist, Miatta Buxton, and Associate Professor, Alexis Handal. They offered insights on the unique challenges the pandemic has had on expectant mothers, and what we can learn to provide better care.
Though it’s landmass is only one-third the size of the United States, India is home to nearly 17% of the world’s population — approximately 1.34 billion people. But as it grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, it’s population size is just one of the unique challenges facing the country. Michigan Public Health Professor Bhramar Mukherjee explains the factors behind India’s still-rising infection numbers, and how she’s helping the Indian government use data to slow the virus’ spread.Learn more about Prof. Mukherjee’s COVID-19 modeling project: http://myumi.ch/Axm7W
In Michigan, African Americans make up 14% of the population but represent 33% of the state’s COVID-19 cases and 41% of deaths. Michigan is not unique in this respect—experts have seen similar statistics across the country. Michigan Public Health professor Enrique Neblett, a leading expert on racism and health, explains how and why the coronavirus pandemic is causing Black Americans to be infected, hospitalized and die at a higher rate than other populations—and what we as individuals and communities can do to dismantle the systemic racism that is the root cause of these health disparities. Join the conversation with us on social media at twitter.com/umichsph and learn more about coronavirus from Michigan Public Health experts at http://myumi.ch/qgW8y
Now that the weather is getting nicer and states like Michigan are beginning to loosen their restrictions on gatherings, retail shopping, and more, how do we assess our own personal risk—and the risks to friends and family—as we head out of our homes to reconnect and return to public spaces? Michigan Public Health research scientist Ryan Malosh, a survivor of leukemia and a bone marrow transplant, shares his recommendations for managing your individual infection risk, and explains how swiss cheese can help us all think about reducing infectious disease transmission.Join the conversation with us on social media at twitter.com/umichsph and learn more about coronavirus from Michigan Public Health experts at http://myumi.ch/qgW8y
What's it like to manage health care systems and personnel during a global pandemic? And how can you mobilize and redeploy thousands of workers and set up hundreds of surge facilities across the nation in just a few weeks? For an inside view of how we are managing surge staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic, we connected with alum Kelly Rakowski, a national staffing solutions leader. She and her team are working across the country with organizations and with “hand raisers”—retired or out-of-work health care workers stepping forward to help fight the outbreak.Join the conversation with us on social media at twitter.com/umichsph and learn more about coronavirus from Michigan Public Health experts at http://myumi.ch/qgW8y
As the United States slowly reopens the economy, we will see a variety of new safety measures nearly everywhere we look. Some we might have seen already, such as transparent barriers at a grocery store between you and the cashier.With his expertise in occupational health, we asked Rick Neitzel, Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, how businesses of all shapes and sizes, across all sectors, can reopen while keeping workers and customers safe and secure.Neitzel has been working closely with other public health researchers to understand how occupational health practices can help protect us from exposure to the coronavirus as we return to work in Michigan. These principles can be applied anywhere—whether you work in the construction or hospitality industry, you will be seeing new protective measures to help you and your crew mitigate your risk of infection.
It’s estimated that more than 500,000 people in the United States experience homelessness on any given night. In recent weeks, social distancing and stay-at-home orders have been implemented across the United States in order to slow the spread of coronavirus. But, for people currently staying in homeless shelters which may serve hundreds of people at once and have communal living spaces, this presents unique challenges for both staff and residents. In addition, people facing homelessness often have comorbidities that go untreated, placing them at greater risk for serious illness due to coronavirus, and economic downturn could mean that community support for the homeless population could be in even greater demand in the future.In this episode, we talked with Barbara Brush, a Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education at the School of Public Health and an expert on homelessness and health about the hardships people experiencing homelessness encounter daily during this pandemic. We also spoke with Linda Little, President and CEO of the Neighborhood Service Organization which provides shelter and support to thousands of people in Metro Detroit each year about how coronavirus has impacted how they provide care to the people who need it.
There are nearly 40 million Americans, including 11 million children, who are food insecure. That means, they don't have reliable, consistent access to the nutritious, quality food they need to lead healthy lives. With growing pressure on the food supply chain, and tens of millions of Americans now out of work, the coronavirus pandemic could cause that 40 million to climb. Cindy Leung and Susan Aaronson, Nutritional Sciences faculty at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, talk about the ways COVID-19 is impacting those experiencing food insecurity, and how community and government organizations are adapting to serve those in need.Join the conversation with us on social media at twitter.com/umichsph and learn more about coronavirus from Michigan Public Health experts at http://myumi.ch/qgW8y
Long before we could sequence a virus’s genome in a matter of weeks, we used public health tactics like contact tracing to sort out the movement of a disease in a population. Contact tracing is one of the “traditional” tools of epidemiologists—an epidemiologist calls up dozens or even hundreds of people who might have had contact with an infected person. By tracking these interactions, they can understand how a disease is making its way through a population.Today, we have more public health surveillance tools at our disposal, but we still have a lot of work to do before we fully understand how this new coronavirus behaves and what it means to have immunity to it.Abram Wagner is research assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. We asked him to cover some basics of how we monitor a disease outbreak—from how we test for it to how long we might have immunity to it after an infection.Join the conversation with us on social media at twitter.com/umichsph and learn more about coronavirus from Michigan Public Health experts at http://myumi.ch/qgW8y
People over the age of 65 are at higher risk for complications and death from COVID-19. But that’s not the only way this pandemic is disproportionately impacting older adults. Social distancing and other pandemic control strategies can take a particular toll on older individuals, some of whom don’t have access to or experience with the technologies like FaceTime and Zoom that are helping many people feel connected in this time. Lindsay Kobayashi, assistant professor of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, talks about her new study that looks at the impact of social distancing on older adults and discusses how we can help the older individuals in our families and communities cope during this time.Join the conversation with us on social media at twitter.com/umichsph and learn more about coronavirus from Michigan Public Health experts at http://myumi.ch/qgW8y
We are all getting antsy, wondering when we can return to work, see our friends and family in person, and get back to some sense of normal. Meanwhile, we might notice a planned temporary hospital wasn’t built or that some data on the local news seems to show a reduction in the spread of coronavirus. What are we supposed to do with these emerging shades of gray in a situation that felt so black and white not too long ago? In this episode, Abram Wagner, research assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, helps us think through these questions.Join the conversation with us on social media: twitter.com/umichsphMore info about coronavirus from Michigan Public Health experts: publichealth.umich.edu
The effects of the coronavirus pandemic have been damaging to the economy, and now many are finding that it’s also intensifying the existing shortcomings of housing and health in the United States as about 22 million people have lost their main sources of income. There’s also an even greater risk of spread of COVID-19 for those who don’t have the ability to “stay at home”. In this episode, Roshanak Mehdipanah, an assistant professor of Health Behavior and Health Educations at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, explains how the devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic is spreading further than the disease is transmitted and how federal aid for housing support may not be enough to prevent negative outcomes in housing for years to come. Join the conversation by following is on social media: www.twitter.com/umichsph
The coronavirus pandemic has turned our lives upside-down. The uncertainty of a global crisis—layered with the challenges of job losses, school closures, lifestyle changes, and social isolation—can generate stress, anxiety, and depression. And for those who previously relied on face-to-face contact with therapists or support groups to cope with mental health issues or substance use disorders, this situation presents an additional challenge.Since the beginning of this crisis, there has been significant focus on ensuring hospitals have enough health care workers to manage a huge surge in patients with COVID-19. Angela Beck, a clinical assistant professor of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, explains why it’s also important to evaluate the capacity of the mental health workforce to respond to an equally inevitable spike in people struggling with mental and behavioral health issues during this pandemic and into the future.Join the conversation on social media with @umichsph or follow us on twitter.com/umichsph and instagram.com/umichsph
According to the American Diabetes association, more than 34 million Americans have diabetes. That's 1 out of every 10 people. The CDC says, all of those people are “at higher risk for severe illness” from coronavirus because of this chronic illness. In this episode, we speak with Gretchen Piatt, an associate professor and the Associate Chair for Education within the Department of Learning Health Sciences at the University of Michigan Medical School as well as an associate professor of Health Behavior and Health Education in the School of Public Health. As a chronic disease epidemiologist, she specializes in health care issues around diabetes. Piatt explains why diabetics have been labeled a high-risk group during the COVID-19 pandemic, talks about their unique risks, and shares what we can do to keep this large population of Americans safe through this emergency. Join the conversation on social media with @umichsph on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
In recent weeks, Detroit has become a national area of concern during the coronavirus pandemic - it’s emptied the streets of the Motor City and taken a toll on the local health care systems and communities. Nearly half of the cases and deaths in the state of Michigan have been confirmed in the county surrounding Detroit, which has the third most coronavirus cases in any of the US states. In this episode, we’ll talk to Roshanak Mehdipanah and Paul Fleming of the University of Michigan School of Public Health about the historical and social legacies that have made the city a hotspot for coronavirus.. Both are Assistant Professors of Health Behavior and Health Education and experts in health equity issues.Join the conversation on social media with @umichsph
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