Podcasts about allegheny county health department

Soul Pitt Media Health & Business Report Episode #98 | Interview with Mayor Ed Gainey, City of PittsburghJoin Craig as he discusses with Mayor Gainey:1) Mayor Gainey, much has been said about affordable housing during this campaign. What would you like our listeners to know about your plans for affordable housing in Pittsburgh?2) Mayor Gainey, the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft is coming to Pittsburgh. Can you talk to our listeners about what this will mean for Pittsburgh under your leadership?3) Mayor Gainey, can you please talk to our listeners about why they need to vote to give you another four years as the Mayor of Pittsburgh?Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region.Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Soul Pitt Media Health & Business Report Episode #97 | Interview with Mark Lewis, Chief Executive Officer, POISE FoundationJoin Craig as he discusses with Mark:1) Mark, growing up in Pittsburgh, did you ever envision yourself as the CEO of POISE and having the ability to make such a difference in your hometown?2) Mark, for any of our listeners who might not know exactly what POISE does, can you talk to them about POISE?3) Mark, what advice can you give our younger listeners who may want to be the next Mark Lewis?Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region.Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Soul Pitt Media Health & Business Report Episode #96 | Interview with Corey O'Connor, Allegheny County Controller and Candidate For Mayor of PittsburghJoin Craig as he discusses with Corey:1) Corey, I read that childhood education is something that you really feel is important. Can you talk to our listeners as to why you feel that way?2) Corey, lately our community has witnessed some real pushback on DEI programs. How will your administration, if you are elected, work with minority businesses in Pittsburgh to make sure that our community continues to grow?3) If elected mayor, what is your vision for Pittsburgh in the next four years?Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region.Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Soul Pitt Media Health & Business Report Episode #95 | Interview with Cara Ciminillo, Executive Director, Trying TogetherJoin Craig as he discusses with Cara:1) Cara, can you talk to our listeners about Your Career/Our Future campaign?2) What type of individuals are you looking to attract?3) How can our listeners who may be interested in your program get more information?Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region.Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Soul Pitt Media Health & Business Report Episode #94 | Interview with Asantewa Anyabwile, Director, Labelle Neighbors Who CareJoin Craig as he discusses with Asantewa:1) Asantewa, can you talk to our listeners about what schools you will be visiting on your HBCU College Tour?2) What are the dates for your tour?3) What is the cost of your tour and what does that cost include?Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region.Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Soul Pitt Media Health & Business Report Episode #93 | Interview with William B. Marshall, Founder, Stop The Violence PittsburghJoin Craig as he discusses with B. Marshall:1) William, can you talk to our listeners about your Juneteenth 2025 lineup?2) I understand that you will be making some location changes this year. Can you talk to our listeners about those changes?3) Can you talk to our listeners about your Black History Month events?Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region.Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Soul Pitt Media Health & Business Report Episode #92 | Interview with Mayor Ed Gainey, City of Pittsburgh Join Craig as he discusses with Mayor Gainey: 1) Mayor Gainey as we celebrate Black History Month here in Pittsburgh what does it mean to be Pittsburgh's first Black Mayor? 2) Mayor Gainey, much has been said about safety in the City of Pittsburgh, Can you talk to our listeners about your efforts to retain and grow our police fire, and EMT ranks? 3) Is revitalization of downtown Pittsburgh one of your goals if re-elected for a second term? Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region. Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Soul Pitt Media Health & Business Report Episode #91 | Tamara Butler | Supervisor, Telecommunications at Duquesne Light Company Join Craig as he discusses with Tamara: 1) Tamara, what career path did you take to achieve your current position with Duquesne Light Company? 2) Growing up did you ever envision yourself in this position? 3) What advice can you give to our younger listeners who may want to be the next Tamara Butler with Duquesne Light Company? Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region. Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Soul Pitt Media Health & Business Report Episode #90 | Pastor Ruth Winfield | Executive Director, Woman of Wisdom Cafe, Greensboro, NC Join Craig as he discusses with Adrianna: 1) Growing up, did you always envision yourself becoming a Pastor? 2) In todays hectic and sometimes demoralizing climate in the African-American community what words of advice can you offer our listeners to give them hope this upcoming year? 3) Pastor Ruth, we always end each podcast with a message to our younger listeners. What message can you give them to continue to have hope for the future? Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region. Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Soul Pitt Media Health & Business Report Episode #89 | Interview with Adrianna Branin, Inclusion/Diversity/Equity and Access Manager, City of Pittsburgh Join Craig as he discusses with Adrianna: 1) Adrianna, can you talk to our listeners about what your job as Inclusion/Diversity and Equity Access Manager consists of? 2) Adrianna, what career path did you take to become Inclusion/Diversity and Equity Access Manager? 3) Can you talk to our listeners about the recently passed Gender Equity Commission Ordinance to advance Local Intersectional Gender Equity? Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region. Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Soul Pitt Media Health & Business Report Episode #88 | Interview with Olga George, Press Secretary, Office of the Mayor Ed Gainey Join Craig as he discusses with Olga: 1) Olga, growing up on the island of St. Croix did you ever imagine yourself in your current position? 2) Olga, you are considered a Legend in Journalism and Communications in the city of Pittsburgh. Can you talk to our listeners about the road you traveled to become the current Press Secretary to Mayor Ed Gainey? 3) Olga, what advice can you give our younger listeners who may want to follow in your footsteps? Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region. Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Soul Pitt Media Health & Business Report Episode #87 | Interview with Alexander B. Olawaiye, MD | Professor / Department of Obstetrics / Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at UPMC Join Craig as he discusses with Dr. Olawaiye: 1) Dr. Olawaiye, growing up in Nigeria, did you always dream of being a physician? 2) After you completed medical school in London, what made you want to come to the United States? 3) Dr. Olawaiye, what advice can you give our younger listeners who may want to pursue a medical career? Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region. Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Soul Pitt Media Health & Business Report Episode #86 | Interview with Dr. Stacy Barlett, Family Medicine / Obstetrics, UPMC Join Craig as he discusses with Dr. Barlett: 1) Dr. Bartlett, growing up did you envision yourself as a doctor? 2) Did you have any medical role models growing up that helped to prepare you to pursue your dreams to be a physician? 3) After medical school, what made you decide to do your residency at UPMC? Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region. Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Join Craig as he discusses with Regina: 1) Regina, can you talk to our listeners about what career path you took to lead you to your current job at Duquesne Light Company? 2) Regina, can you talk to our listeners about what your job as General Manager of Universal Services and Energy Efficiency entails? 3) Regina, what advice do you have for our young professional listeners who are preparing to embark on their careers? Additionally, make sure you listen to our Community Calendar (brought to you by Pittsburgh Regional Transit, PRT) with Debbie Norrell at the end of each of our interviews so you can keep up with what's going on in our Pittsburgh region. Soul Pitt Media's Health & Business Report is sponsored by UPMC, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Duquesne Light Co., Allegheny County Health Department, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Central Outreach Wellness Center.

Support our journalism. This work doesn't happen without you. Become a founding member today! A judge signed off on a 600 million dollar settlement between Norfolk Southern and people who live near the East Palestine train derailment. But many are unhappy with the outcome. A new study looks at the influence of oil and gas industry donations on university research. Survivors of the worst industrial accident in world history in Bhopal, India visited Beaver County to talk about the multi-generational impacts of the chemical disaster and lessons for those living near chemical infrastructure in Pennsylvania. Also, there are mixed reactions from residents, environmentalists and the business community as the Three Mile Island nuclear facility plans to reopen. Allegheny County Health Department held a public hearing in the Mon Valley about an air quality permit for U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson Works. Wasting resources from the land has a big impact on climate change, so we have tips for cutting emissions from your food and yard.

The National Transportation Safety Board approved its investigative findings into last year's train derailment in East Palestine. It issued recommendations on rail safety and emergency response, criticizing Norfolk Southern for keeping critical information away from responders. Former workers at an oil refinery in Philadelphia remember the fire and explosion five years ago that shuttered the plant. Plus, giant wood sculptures at a botanic garden help visitors understand the bees and other pollinators that live among us. We have news about pollution from gas stoves, another mishap at the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a new director of the Allegheny County Health Department and a debate in the state legislature about renewable energy goals.

It's the Friday news roundup! Can you believe it's been four years since the pandemic started? Local journalist and host of KDKA Radio's Saturday show Natalie Bencivenga joins host Megan Harris and newsletter editor Francesca Dabecco to take stock of our recovery and the state of family leave in Pittsburgh. Plus, are you going to a show at Star Lake this summer? We're sharing pavilion parking woes and a wacky new way to get to Burgettstown! Help us with an upcoming show! What's your favorite cocktail? Is it on the menu somewhere or do you ask for something special? Or maybe you have a favorite cocktail bar? What do you love about it? Call or text us with your love letters to 412-212-8893. If you include your name and neighborhood, you might just hear it on the show! We always cite our sources: Check out photos from 1993's “storm of the century” in Pittsburgh Magazine. It's the anniversary of the shutdown in Pittsburgh, but the pandemic isn't really over. The Allegheny County Health Department shows about 1,600 current coronavirus cases, and the New York Times is tracking about 100 area hospitalizations.  Paid family leave is money you receive from your employer, an insurer, or the government while you are away from work for an extended period of time so you can take care of a seriously ill family member or bond with your newborn or newly adopted child. It's different from paid time off like sick pay. There's legislation in PA called the “Family Care Act,” which aims to provide essential support for families caring for loved ones and alleviates financial burdens. You can sign a support letter at FamilyCareAct.com. The Burgh Bus wants to take the hassle and headache out of your summer concert going experience. Catch a ride with them over to Star Lake for $45 per person.  Become a member of City Cast Pittsburgh at membership.citycast.fm. Want more Pittsburgh news? Sign up for our daily morning Hey Pittsburgh newsletter. We're also on Instagram @CityCastPgh! Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hour 1 - Larry and Marty discuss a recent mass shooting in Maine, the prevalence of guns, and get vaccinated in studio by the Allegheny County Health Department! 

The Pharmacy Podcast Network has released a 7-part series in partnership with the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association designed to help community pharmacists implement change and practice transformation. The ‘Let's Talk Stigma' podcast miniseries is designed to equip community-based pharmacists to provide culturally sensitive care to individuals with opioid use disorders.    Today's guests were instrumental in the creation of this series.  Alyssa Khieu, Student Pharmacist at the University of Pittsburgh Logan Kissell, PharmD    This podcast miniseries was developed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Duquesne University School of Pharmacy and paid for through CDC grant funding provided by the Allegheny County Health Department to the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University Schools of Pharmacy. Podcasts as a Method to Deliver Education on Stigma Surrounding Opioid Use Disorder by Logan M. Kissell Kim C. Coley Alyssa S. Khieu Elizabeth J. Bunk Sophia M. C. Herbert Joni C. Carroll  1 The Hometown Pharmacy, Poland, OH 44514, USA 2 Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA 3 Center for Integrative Health, Duquesne University School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh, PA 15282, USA * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Pharmacy 2022, 10(6), 161; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy10060161 Received: 1 October 2022 / Revised: 8 November 2022 / Accepted: 9 November 2022 / Published: 29 November 2022

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Debra Bogen, Director of the Allegheny County Health Department, come to the studio to receive their flu shot and spread awareness in regard to influenza vaccines. 

Allegheny County Health Department discusses concerns in region and more. 

Allegheny County Health Department fines Clairton Coke Works, new message in regard to edible CBD products and more. 

The team is back for the Friday roundup. This week, we're discussing understaffing at the Allegheny County Health Department, municipal police departments bringing in social workers, and a full-scale pirate ship — with water cannons! — soon to set sail on the three rivers.  As always, the Friday roundup is powered by incredible local journalism. This week, check out: Charlie Wolfson for PublicSource on restaurant inspections: https://www.publicsource.org/allegheny-food-safety-health-inspection-salary-staffing-shortage/  Allegheny County's website to look up the health safety status of a restaurant: https://eapps.alleghenycounty.us/restaurant/ Sandy Trozzo for PublicSource on social workers at local police departments: https://www.publicsource.org/police-arent-social-workers-some-local-departments-want-them-at-the-scene/ And Kristy Locklin for NEXTPittsburgh on “The Kraken,” a new pirate ship taking to the high seas of Pittsburgh: https://nextpittsburgh.com/latest-news/pittsburgh-pirate-ship-will-sail-into-the-season-with-a-larger-vessel-and-a-liquor-license/ Our newsletter is fresh daily at 6 a.m. Sign up here. We're also on Twitter @citycastpgh & Instagram @CityCastPgh!

In this episode of Let's Talk Stigma, we will hear about medications for opioid use disorder, or “MOUD,” and how patient accessibility to these medications can play a huge role in helping someone reach recovery. The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association has partnered with Pharmacy Podcast Network to bring you a series of podcasts designed to help community pharmacists implement change and practice transformation. The Let's Talk Stigma podcast miniseries is designed to equip community-based pharmacists to provide culturally sensitive care to individuals with opioid use disorders. This podcast miniseries was developed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Duquesne University School of Pharmacy and paid for through CDC grant funding provided by the Allegheny County Health Department to the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University Schools of Pharmacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Let's Talk Stigma, we will hear about medications for opioid use disorder, or “MOUD,” and how patient accessibility to these medications can play a huge role in helping someone reach recovery. The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association has partnered with Pharmacy Podcast Network to bring you a series of podcasts designed to help community pharmacists implement change and practice transformation. The Let's Talk Stigma podcast miniseries is designed to equip community-based pharmacists to provide culturally sensitive care to individuals with opioid use disorders. This podcast miniseries was developed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Duquesne University School of Pharmacy and paid for through CDC grant funding provided by the Allegheny County Health Department to the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University Schools of Pharmacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Let's Talk Stigma, we will hear about the impact that both naloxone and harm reduction services have on the lives of individuals with opioid use disorder. We will hear from patients, practitioners, family members and those who work directly with people who use drugs. The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association has partnered with Pharmacy Podcast Network to bring you a series of podcasts designed to help community pharmacists implement change and practice transformation. The Let's Talk Stigma podcast miniseries is designed to equip community-based pharmacists to provide culturally sensitive care to individuals with opioid use disorders. This podcast miniseries was developed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Duquesne University School of Pharmacy and paid for through CDC grant funding provided by the Allegheny County Health Department to the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University Schools of Pharmacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Let's Talk Stigma, we will hear about the impact that both naloxone and harm reduction services have on the lives of individuals with opioid use disorder. We will hear from patients, practitioners, family members and those who work directly with people who use drugs. The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association has partnered with Pharmacy Podcast Network to bring you a series of podcasts designed to help community pharmacists implement change and practice transformation. The Let's Talk Stigma podcast miniseries is designed to equip community-based pharmacists to provide culturally sensitive care to individuals with opioid use disorders. This podcast miniseries was developed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Duquesne University School of Pharmacy and paid for through CDC grant funding provided by the Allegheny County Health Department to the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University Schools of Pharmacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harris currently serves as deputy director of the Allegheny County Health Department in Pittsburgh. Detailed show notes at https://www.ideastream.org/news/roderick-harris-to-succeed-retiring-cuyahoga-county-health-commissioner-terry-allan.

In this episode of Let's Talk Stigma, we focus on the voices of individuals directly impacted by the stigma associated with opioid use disorder. We talked with family members, friends, and people in long term recovery who discuss intrapersonal and interpersonal stigma associated with opioid use disorder. The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association has partnered with Pharmacy Podcast Network to bring you a series of podcasts designed to help community pharmacists implement change and practice transformation. The Let's Talk Stigma podcast miniseries is designed to equip community-based pharmacists to provide culturally sensitive care to individuals with opioid use disorders. This podcast miniseries was developed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Duquesne University School of Pharmacy and paid for through CDC grant funding provided by the Allegheny County Health Department to the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University Schools of Pharmacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Let's Talk Stigma, we focus on the voices of individuals directly impacted by the stigma associated with opioid use disorder. We talked with family members, friends, and people in long term recovery who discuss intrapersonal and interpersonal stigma associated with opioid use disorder. The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association has partnered with Pharmacy Podcast Network to bring you a series of podcasts designed to help community pharmacists implement change and practice transformation. The Let's Talk Stigma podcast miniseries is designed to equip community-based pharmacists to provide culturally sensitive care to individuals with opioid use disorders. This podcast miniseries was developed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Duquesne University School of Pharmacy and paid for through CDC grant funding provided by the Allegheny County Health Department to the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University Schools of Pharmacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Let's Talk Stigma, we will hear the voices of four different individuals who will talk about how we should recognize opioid use disorder and other substance use disorders as chronic health conditions or diseases, and not moral failings. The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association has partnered with Pharmacy Podcast Network to bring you a series of podcasts designed to help community pharmacists implement change and practice transformation. The Let's Talk Stigma podcast miniseries is designed to equip community-based pharmacists to provide culturally sensitive care to individuals with opioid use disorders. This podcast miniseries was developed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Duquesne University School of Pharmacy and paid for through CDC grant funding provided by the Allegheny County Health Department to the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University Schools of Pharmacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Let's Talk Stigma, we will hear the voices of four different individuals who will talk about how we should recognize opioid use disorder and other substance use disorders as chronic health conditions or diseases, and not moral failings. The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association has partnered with Pharmacy Podcast Network to bring you a series of podcasts designed to help community pharmacists implement change and practice transformation. The Let's Talk Stigma podcast miniseries is designed to equip community-based pharmacists to provide culturally sensitive care to individuals with opioid use disorders. This podcast miniseries was developed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Duquesne University School of Pharmacy and paid for through CDC grant funding provided by the Allegheny County Health Department to the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University Schools of Pharmacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Podcast Episode 1 - Why Stigma Exists: In this episode of Let's Talk Stigma, we will hear the voices of three different individuals who will share their perspectives on why they believe stigma with opioid use disorders exists and how we can begin to reflect on our own biases and recognize ways we need to change. Let's Talk Stigma Show Notes The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association has partnered with Pharmacy Podcast Network to bring you a series of podcasts designed to help community pharmacists implement change and practice transformation. The Let's Talk Stigma podcast miniseries is designed to equip community-based pharmacists to provide culturally sensitive care to individuals with opioid use disorders. This podcast miniseries was developed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Duquesne University School of Pharmacy and paid for through CDC grant funding provided by the Allegheny County Health Department to the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University Schools of Pharmacy. Speakers:  Stacie A. Brown CRS, CFRS Overdose Prevention Outreach Coordinator Allegheny County Health Department Lauren Jonkman, PharmD, MPH Assistant Professor, Pharmacy and Therapeutics University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy Kelley Kelley Turtle Creek Borough Mayor LEAD Community Engagement Coordinator CONNECT (Congress of Neighboring Communities) Kevin Kelley Square Café General Manager Logan Kissell, PharmD Clinical Pharmacist, The Hometown Pharmacy Micah J. Sobota, PharmD, BCPS, BCGP, FASCP Director, Crisis Stabilization Unit  Coleman Health Services AAH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Podcast Episode 1 - Why Stigma Exists: In this episode of Let's Talk Stigma, we will hear the voices of three different individuals who will share their perspectives on why they believe stigma with opioid use disorders exists and how we can begin to reflect on our own biases and recognize ways we need to change. Let's Talk Stigma Show Notes The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association has partnered with Pharmacy Podcast Network to bring you a series of podcasts designed to help community pharmacists implement change and practice transformation. The Let's Talk Stigma podcast miniseries is designed to equip community-based pharmacists to provide culturally sensitive care to individuals with opioid use disorders. This podcast miniseries was developed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Duquesne University School of Pharmacy and paid for through CDC grant funding provided by the Allegheny County Health Department to the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University Schools of Pharmacy. Speakers:  Stacie A. Brown CRS, CFRS Overdose Prevention Outreach Coordinator Allegheny County Health Department Lauren Jonkman, PharmD, MPH Assistant Professor, Pharmacy and Therapeutics University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy Kelley Kelley Turtle Creek Borough Mayor LEAD Community Engagement Coordinator CONNECT (Congress of Neighboring Communities) Kevin Kelley Square Café General Manager Logan Kissell, PharmD Clinical Pharmacist, The Hometown Pharmacy Micah J. Sobota, PharmD, BCPS, BCGP, FASCP Director, Crisis Stabilization Unit  Coleman Health Services AAH Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hour Two - KDKA details w new requirement for landlords in Allegheny County.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Hey Girl Hey Podcast is an EYE-OPENING one! We will, of course, cover the hot topics from DaBaby and DaniLeigh, Young Dolph's untimely death, and the Astro World tragedy.We have two dynamic women joining us tonight for a difficult conversation as it pertains to our community. Ruthie Walker joins us to talk about stillborn loss and Valerie Stallworth is from the Allegheny County Health Department and she's going to share some much-needed information about STDs, STIs, HIV, and AIDS cases in our communities.This is a VERY IMPORTANT SHOW! Tell your friends to TUNE IN! Leave a comment or question and we'll try to get them on the show!If you have any questions or comments, please email: theheygirlheypodcast@gmail.com Find past episodes wherever you hear podcasts!

The Hey Girl Hey Podcast is an EYE-OPENING one! We will, of course, cover the hot topics from DaBaby and DaniLeigh, Young Dolph's untimely death, and the Astro World tragedy. We have two dynamic women joining us tonight for a difficult conversation as it pertains to our community. Ruthie Walker joins us to talk about stillborn loss and Valerie Stallworth is from the Allegheny County Health Department and she's going to share some much-needed information about STDs, STIs, HIV, and AIDS cases in our communities. This is a VERY IMPORTANT SHOW! Tell your friends to TUNE IN! Leave a comment or question and we'll try to get them on the show! If you have any questions or comments, please email: theheygirlheypodcast@gmail.com Find past episodes wherever you hear podcasts! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

The Pittsburgh police create a Zone 3 sub-station to curb crime in the South Side, the Allegheny County Health Department updates COVID-19 numbers, and more.

Extraction is a three-part podcast that traces the history of the United States Steel Corporation (the world's first billion-dollar company) from its founding in 1901 through today, presenting stories of people and places from which U.S. Steel has extracted natural resources and labor. Part three (“Air”) discusses U.S. Steel's continued impact on the local environment, specifically focusing on the issue of air quality. Interspersed with interviews with local […]

Pennsylvania state treasurer has a special request, Allegheny County Health Department announces new vaccination efforts and more.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Allegheny County Health Department to open three more temporary vaccination sites, four lawmakers appointed to state's legislative redistricting commission and more.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re living through an unprecedented time in American history. Businesses are closed, schools are shuttered, and gatherings are canceled, all because of an invisible, infectious agent that our modern world hasn’t been able to match — not yet, anyway.Marking the unique circumstances, we spent the most recent episode of the P100 Podcast discussing the effects of COVID-19 on daily life (including our own), how people and businesses can help their communities, and how they can communicate during a crisis.If you’re hitting the download button or streaming from your “office away from the office,” thank you for listening and stay safe. Full Transcript:Paul:Welcome back to a special edition of the P100 podcast, the audio companion to the Pittsburgh 100 e-zine. This episode, solely focused on COVID-19, the coronavirus. I'm Paul Furiga, your cohost along with my colleagues, Dan Stefano…Dan:Hey Paul.Paul:And Logan Armstrong.Logan:Hi Paul.Paul:And I want you all to know at home we are practicing safe social distancing. In fact, we are so far away from you while you're listening to us right now ... well, that's another story. Seriously though, given the times that we're in, we thought that we would devote this entire episode of the podcast to understanding how we, as a community can deal with this. I've never seen a situation like this in my lifetime and as Dan and Logan frequently remind me, I'm old.Dan:I think you got a point there. I mean, I've tried to think of this in context of my own life. I'm 33 and I would say the most impactful thing that has ever occurred in my lifetime was 9/11.Paul:Right.Dan:And I was in high school whenever that happened. That was a time whenever the stock market cratered. The next day all air traffic was suspended. It was severely drastic. It took a long time for American life to get back to normal then. Whatever the new normal was, I should say. But this seems like it could be something different. There's a lot of uncertainty in the air, which there was at that time in 2001 for sure, but when we're talking about a virus here, we're talking about something that we don't have a vaccine for, it's a little bit scary right now. And I feel like the streets are even ... it's weird to be walking downtown. At the WordWrite offices here, we're getting ready to practice social distancing and work from home.Paul:Work from home, yeah.Dan:I could say in some ways it feels similar to those days after 9/11 but it's very different too.Paul:Absolutely. Logan.Logan:Yeah. And I'm a little younger. So I'm only 22.Dan:Little.Logan:I was a young kid when 9/11 happened. But also especially with what we're seeing in the market right now, very reminiscent of the 2008 era, which of course this has a few different causes than in 2008. But we've seen people are going crazy at supermarkets…Paul:That's right.Logan:... and really trying to stockpile, which is good because they're themselves trying to self-quarantine but it's going to be interesting to see how the markets react and how local businesses and business owners will wade through the waters during this time. Dan:AbsolutelyPaul:So a couple of things we wanted to do, number one, we wanted to share some helpful resources, which certainly there are probably, if you're listening to this podcast, you're probably a consumer of a lot of things online and you may already have some favorites, but we are at WordWrite in the business of working with reliable news organizations. So we'll share a few of our favorite go-to sources for local information here in western Pennsylvania.Paul:And then we're going to shift gears a bit and we're going to talk about our own experience because it's a crazy situation, but a lot of our clients rely on us for our crisis expertise. In any given year, we handle about 12 major crises, 10 of which you never read about because they're effectively handled. And then two of them, sadly, for whatever reason, they're all over the news. So we actually have a lot of experience in this arena and we are currently working with several of our clients on crises related to the COVID-19 outbreak.Paul:So first let's talk about some go-to sources here in western Pennsylvania. Dan and I, we share this other disease called being former journalists. Dan, some of your favorite go-tos for reliable and accurate information on what's happening.Dan:Still trying to get over that. The journalism disease. No, it's no disease. I mean, some of my good friends are journalists. So, I appreciate them.Paul:Yes, likewise.Dan:As you said, I do respect just journalism and what they put in. So I mean, your two major newspaper news sources in the area would be Post-Gazette and then triblive.com, the former Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. And now just the regular Tribune-Review set in Greensburg. That's a great place to go for it. But I'd recommend, if you're talking locally, the Allegheny County Health Department. That's got pretty consistent and good updates.Paul:They have an entire page, Allegheny County-Dan:Yes, they do.Paul:... .PA.US devoted to COVID-19.Dan:Right. Everybody's got their own page on it now. I mean it's incredible. I think everybody has been a victim of getting all these emails now. And I mean fortunately I have an email from the CEO of Banana Republic to tell me that all their stores are safe, but that's also just ... that's best practice right now. And businesses are doing their due diligence to just show everyone that they're trying to do their best.Dan:But for right now, I mean, that gets a little bit away from our question and I'm kind of drifting here, but I would follow the PG and TribLIVE. But a lot of them, they're getting their information from the government sources here. But I would really trust the County Health Department and that's some of your most current information.Paul:Absolutely.Dan:Make sure you're following their Twitter accounts and everything you can.Paul:Logan anything you'd add?Logan:I'd also say that The Incline, they're usually a little more lighthearted, but they've been doing a really good job of grouping up various articles from multiple local publications.Paul:Yes, aggregating content.Dan:Yeah.Logan:Exactly. Yeah. Aggregating that and that's getting delivered to inboxes at 6:00 a.m. every day. If you need to be up to date on the latest news in the area, I would also say check out The Incline for that.Paul:I'm going to add a few more. So in the last few years, pretty much every television station in Pittsburgh has debuted some flavor of an online presence, sometimes up to and including live streaming of events. So one of the things we've been doing at WordWrite is we've been watching live streams of Governor Wolf, the Pennsylvania governor, and his press conferences, Rich Fitzgerald, the Allegheny County executive, the County Health Department. I believe the new director's name is Dr. Bogen, so that's available.Paul:I would also add, and this has not really gotten much attention because the debut occurred during this whole crisis, but Channel 2 KDKA, which is owned by a CBS Network, has debuted essentially I believe a local version of on-air all the time local news. So CBSN is the national network and there's some local connection. I'll be honest with our listeners, I haven't had time to fully understand all of that because we've been so busy with other things. Personally, I look at all of those. I also look at WESA-FM. One of the reasons for that is with everything that's happened in newspapers in recent years, the major foundations in Pittsburgh have poured a fairly substantial amount of money into building the newsroom at WESA and they have all of the same kinds of resources in terms of online delivery of news that we've just talked about.Paul:So those for me are all good services. Most of us, I'm of a certain age, I'm 61. I hate to say that in a room with somebody in their twenties and thirties but it's the truth, I can't lie, it's on my driver's license, anyway, even somebody like me can make use of the phone and I am getting a lot of alerts. So I rely on the alerts as well to remind me. Before we shift gears here and talk about some advice for our listeners, even in our own planning for WordWrite, as Dan mentioned, on Friday we were ready, Friday the 13th of March, we were ready to implement a phased work from home process where some people would be in the office. And by the time we got to Sunday of the weekend where mandatory, non-essential businesses are asked to close or it is voluntary but strongly encouraged.Paul:So things are just moving so fast now it's worthwhile not to scare yourself, and I think that's, Logan, why it's good that you mentioned The Incline. Really good journalists can have the right touch to put an uplifting spirit into their round up of things. Right? But you don't want to be consumed by the news, but you also want to be informed and up to date. You don't want to be headed out to go to an event or something like that when it's not going to happen. And it was just cancelled. I don't know. Anything you guys would add to that?Dan:Well I think if you're talking about cancelled events, just try to look up to see what one is actually on now. Pretty much the assumption should be that it's closed. But-Logan:Yeah. And one thing I'd add is that it is a little hectic with all of these things happening so fast. But one of the hopeful benefits of that is this quick action now is really going to be the precursor to slowing it down in the long run.Paul:Absolutely. And this is something that, for our listeners, that we've been talking about here at the company in terms of working with our clients and that is that we are at this inflection point where the number of people who might be contagious in our community is at its highest point at the same time that we have the least ability to test.Paul:So if we self-isolate for the next two weeks, what we'll be able to do is keep those who might be infected from spreading the disease. National news media is saying that the United States might be 11 days behind Italy, meaning that what's happened there could happen roughly two weeks later here in the United States. God forbid, we don't want that. Other folks I've seen on the national news talk about we want to be like South Korea where there was a lot of testing, the self-isolation and they seem to have, as the medical experts call it, flattened the curve, which is to say slow the growth of the virus so that the number of people who are sick doesn't exceed the capacity of the region's healthcare providers to treat those who are sick.Dan:One thing, Paul, I'd like to bring up, open the conversation to you and Logan is what's fascinating about this is similar, like we said, I mean I hate to keep making the comparisons to 9/11 because that was a very much different type of crisis, but that was a tragedy that affected almost everyone in the U.S. at some level. Corona possibly even more. Just in terms of even if you aren't getting the disease, I mean it's probably going to disrupt your life, whether how you're working or somebody that you know. Maybe your children are off of school right now. There's quite a bit going on. And Paul, yourself, I know you've had some, personal events that are affecting you, right?Paul:Oh absolutely. So I'll give you a few. Number one, one of our two daughters is getting married, we hope, on May 31st. There's been a lot of conversations with the venue and the providers. The baker and the flowers and everything else. And we'll see how things play out. May 31st might be okay, but let's just say that we're a little concerned.Paul:Our other daughter is getting her MBA at the University of Chicago and they have extended spring break, which has pushed their, they're on a quarter system, their third quarter deeper into the year. She's supposed to have an internship this summer. It was going to start June 1st. She won't be done with school on June 1st and we don't even know if she'll have the internship.Dan:Yeah, certainly, it's amazing how this is just disrupting lives. I mean it's putting almost everything on pause. It's amazing. Myself, my wife and I, we were planning on taking a vacation to Japan, it was going to be the first week of April and we were looking forward to this trip for an entire year. It was just something we'd planned. It's kind of a bucket list type thing and just a week ago we had to cancel it. Right now as we record here, there are no travel restrictions over there, but there's just no guarantee whenever you see the massive lines that are coming for people that are coming back into the country, at least from Europe. But just something we had to be take care of.Dan:And we were even planning on maybe having a backup trip to California. And now we're really seriously kind of rethinking that one. It feels selfish to say, well hey, this thing that was just a wonderful little pleasure trip for us here we're disrupting it. How horrible is that? But we don't know when we're going to be able to take that trip again. We planned for specific dates in our lives. We mapped around that. So it's just another area that it does affect things. But Logan, I know you've even had some ...Logan:Yes. Yeah. It's a similar situation. I had a trip planned to Italy. I guess I would've left last week. Yeah. But it is unfortunate that this is such a disruptive virus. But thinking on the bigger picture of things, I mean, it's much better to have these disruptions now and really put these policies in place, especially because not only on an individual level, but on a business level, as we touched on earlier, there's really a lot of things that business owners are going to have to prepare for. And there may be some crisis communications that business owners have to take into account and that's something that we've experienced here. Yeah, Paul?Paul:Oh absolutely. Absolutely. And we want to dig into that for the remainder of our time here on the podcast, this episode. And before I do that, I just want to give a quick shout out to your point, Logan, the retail and restaurant sectors are going to be particularly hard hit and in the local economy as well as the American economy, the percentage of workers who are hourly who have, let's just say less robust benefits packages, whatever we can do as a community to keep them in mind and help to keep them employed I think is really important.Paul:One of the other sources of information that I didn't mention earlier were members of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, the Partnership has articles in the Pittsburgh 100 frequently. Their weekly… they do a weekly sort of what's going on downtown email. And the one that I received just before we came in to record the podcast is all about this subject. So you can't dine in during the time that businesses are closed but you can still do take out. So there's things that we can do as a community to help our friends and our neighbors through. And I think it's something we should do.Dan:Yeah, I think before we take a deeper dive into talking about crises and crises management, what you said there kind of touches on an important point and one thing, one of the huge crises or huge problems that are coming out of this is whenever schools are closed there are a lot of students out there who might be on free or reduced lunch and these are kids who might rely on these school lunches to help themselves eat. It might be their biggest meal of the day.Dan:But one thing that you've seen is restaurants are coming out and offering free lunches to some of these kids. I believe some districts have, including I believe Pittsburgh Public, they have programs in place to help these kids to make sure that they have food, that they have resources.Dan:And that touches on your point there, Paul, about the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership in that…do something. If you're a business owner and you feel like maybe it's a helpless time right now, maybe you have to put pause on a lot of things, you can think of something to do and that's one way I think if you make yourself a goal and you have a mission, you can help yourself get through this, right?Paul:Oh, absolutely. We're going to shift gears now folks and talk about crisis. To Dan's point, this is one of the things when we sat down and we looked at this episode of the podcast, there were other segments and other things that we had planned to do perhaps, but we agreed that one of the ways that we could be helpful was to share with people what we know about this.Paul:So I'm going to kick off this portion of the episode here and Dan and Logan will jump in. So historically, one of the things that we've done a lot of at WordWrite is crisis communication. And one of the things we've learned is that there are only really four basic kinds of crises.Paul:So there are acts of God, there are acts of man, there are acts of God made worse by man, and there are acts of man made worse by God. That's it. You can think about pretty much anything bad that's ever happened in the history of the world. And there's going to be some element of one of those four categories. So certainly-Dan:If you asked my wife I think she would say that there are also acts of God made worse by Dan. But we'll leave it to four right now.Paul:Well Dan, the last time I looked, you are a human being, so we'll put you in one of the four categories.Dan:Got you.Paul:Anyway, certainly the viruses, if you want to call it that, an act of God, it's an act of nature. What we don't know yet is whether what's happened, our acts of man, let's call it, that it made it worse. When you go back to China we're not here to judge. We don't really know exactly where the virus spread began. But certainly there's humankind and there's nature mixed together in this crisis.Paul:So one of the things that's interesting in doing so much crisis communications at our firm that is both a positive and a cause for pause, is that most crises are predictable. This is not the first time that the world's been through an epidemic, a pandemic, a virus, and perhaps it's the 21st century technology-driven, I don't know if we've become a little bit lazy or we're just lulled into a sense of complacency, but what this epidemic is demonstrating to us that this can still happen in the 21st century.Logan:Yes. Even with all the technological advances, and medical advancements, and medical capabilities, something that moves this fast is very hard to control no matter-Paul:Absolutely.Logan:... how many technological capabilities we have. And it's something that we're probably not going to have a vaccine for, for a little bit. This vaccine isn't going to be coming in the next week or the next month.Dan:Testing's an issue too right now.Logan:Exactly.Paul:18 to 24 months is what people are saying.Logan:Right. So we're really going to have to figure out what the best course of action is. And I think that's going to be something that is going to be on the fly. Because, as you've said, we've seen these kinds of crises before, but there's no real way to account for all the variants in it and it's going to be on people and on the media to portray information in as close to real time as possible and as accurately as possible to try to help mitigate that.Paul:So one of the things that I think is true about this, 1918 the Spanish flu epidemic was just a terrible worldwide crisis. So that fits into what I just said about most crises are predictable. So we can learn from that. And to your point, Logan, this is fast moving, but we can learn from what's happened in Italy. We can learn from what's happened in China, within the more restrictive immediate window. So that's critically important.Paul:One of the other things that's important, and there are going to be people who are going to be picking over this for years, I'm sure, what we tell our clients is if crises are predictable, then you need to plan for them. So theoretically the world, especially the largest economies and countries in the world should have been planning for this sort of a thing. And there had been some, let's just say missteps, fits and starts.Dan:Yeah.Paul:Now for our listeners, even though this thing is underway, you can look at history and you can look at recent events to do your own planning for the crisis. So we're already in it. So to your point Logan, there's an element of every day is different and you can't predict for sure, but one of the things we do when we work with clients is scenario planning. What's the worst case scenario? What's the best case scenario, what's the likely scenario? And then you start to develop your communications around each one of those outcomes. And that guides you on a day to day basis in terms of what you need to be doing.Dan:Right in this situation, and I would just kind of play interviewer here with you Paul, with so many different businesses it's hard to gauge, exactly what are likely outcomes. Businesses right now we might think of they might have to do some layoffs, they might have to temporarily furlough some employees and whether certain bills pass out of our Congress here they may have wages, they may not. It depends on how large a company is. One thing here though, whenever we've had this discussion is we talk about, you start from a place of truth when you're communicating these outcomes. Can you elaborate a little more on that?Paul:Sure. So in a crisis like this, obviously if you're standing in front of the forest and the forest is burning behind you, you can't tell people that that smell in the air is a candle. You have to acknowledge even the hard truths.Paul:One of the things that we see time and again is that if you're straightforward with people up front and there's tons of university research on this that validates this point, they're going to give you the benefit of the doubt. If I own a restaurant in Pittsburgh that opened two months ago – I'm in a place that's not the same as a restaurant that's been around for 25 years. Right? And I need to say to people, look guys, we just opened. I can't guarantee you that we're going to ride through this unscathed.Paul:And then what you need to do is you need to communicate process. And that's where that scenario planning comes in handy. It's like, look, we don't know where this is going to end, but here's what we're going to do today. Here's what we're going to do next week. Here's our thought process and our plan, and there's a lot of university research on this too, that when you can't communicate content, if you can communicate process it calms people's fears and gets people organized around the common goal of moving forward.Dan:I guess that speaks to control. It might be the wrong word to say controlling, but trying to manage people's emotions here. I think we have to understand how everyone is feeling because we're feeling the same way on a lot of these things. I mean we can tell a business, a B2B business, okay, hey, this is how you want to talk when you're talking to your clients or something like that. But we have the same feelings whenever we're trying to listen to the government here. Are they going to tell us the process? Are they going to describe that?Dan:So can you talk a little bit about how to be a good effective communicator to work with the community and make sure that you're delivering this information not maybe necessarily in a doom and gloom way and just being an effective storyteller essentially?Paul:Right. So one of the things that we're big on obviously at our company is the process of storytelling. We have our own process that we help companies uncover what we call their Capital S story. And I do a lot of speaking around this. In a crisis there's no more important time for you to be thinking about your Capital S story and that story is this, it answers these questions. Why would somebody work for you, buy from you, invest in you, partner with you? If you're a nonprofit, why would they donate or volunteer with your organization? And that is the story above all stories for your company, your organization. That's why we call it the Capital S story.Paul:And you think about that in times of stress, a crisis like this, which is an enormous stressor. It doesn't matter so much what you say on a daily basis. It matters what people believe you to be as an organization. And I think Dan, that's kind of what you're getting at there.Paul:And in a crisis, what we find is whatever audience you're trying to reach, employees, partners, vendors, customers, that's where they go in their minds in terms of assessing whether or not to believe you when you say don't worry about this, or I need your help to do X, Y and Z so that we can pull through this crisis.Paul:Right now, all of us are being flooded with information and this story is like cast in concrete. It's bedrock. It's the granite of who your organization is and they're going back to that hard place that they can knock on, that they can sit on, that they can lean on, and that's the truth that they're looking for. To assess whether or not your organization in this time of crisis is an organization that can be believed.Dan:Now, not every business, well whenever we think of Corona individually, I mean I'm just thinking of the restaurant that's across the street from us right now but people aren't looking necessarily for Bruegger's Bagels to answer the crisis or come up with a vaccine or explain people how to feel. But how, if you're a business that isn't necessarily adjacent to the current crisis or if you're just you have nothing to do with it, but your business maybe is closed or something like that, how do you kind of manage these crises that you're not necessarily related to but it does affect you?Paul:So I think one of the things that we're seeing, and we started the episode today by talking about the news media and some other resources who are trying to be helpful. So you want to be helpful. And there's also an element of business as usual. A lot of the companies that aren't directly affected by the crisis, and of course I'm sure many of our listeners are saying, well everybody's affected by it, and certainly when we all need to be self-isolating, we all are affected by it, but if you're not directly affected by it in the sense that you don't run a restaurant or you're not a retail store or you're not an event space where hundreds of people would be expected to gather, this is a time to be helpful.Paul:One of the reasons why we're doing this specific episode of the podcast, we see many, many institutions in the community, there is an element of what they're doing, to your point, Dan, where it is on some level still business as usual. However they have the opportunity because of things being pulled in to reduce the spread of the virus, to have some time, to have some resources to be helpful in whatever way that they can be.Dan:Paul, all that stuff is really helpful here. And so I appreciate you especially sharing your expertise here in crisis communications and we encourage anybody who's listening at home to feel free to check out wordwritepr.com. We've got some really good information. There's some good stuff on crisis communications and certainly even one of our VPs here, Jeremy Church, just wrote a really interesting blog about effective crisis communication during outbreaks.Paul:Yeah. And Dan, we'll be putting up in the show notes, I wrote one in July of last year, Storytelling in a Crisis: Why You Need Your Capital S Story. And again, we're going to be sharing a lot more of the resources that we can. This is a time when we all need to pull together as a community. And certainly we have clients whom we work for and we have a lot of experience that we've developed over the years, and we want to be able to share that with the community in the spirit of helping everybody recover from this as quickly as possible. And to your point, Dan, if there's anything that we can do as people who believe in good, strong, authentic communications, we want to do that for the community.Dan:Absolutely, 100%. And as we wrap up here just the message from us here is hopefully everybody at home can weather this as well as they can. Every business can as well. It sounds cheery and optimistic to say, but we will get through this and we'll survive.Paul:Absolutely.Dan:Yeah. 

Join us today as we interview Ryan Scarpino, current Spokesman for the Allegheny County Health Department and previously Public Relations Assistant for the Pittsburgh Steelers, as we talk to him about his roller-coaster ride through the crazy world of sports media as he learned to navigate his way as a PR assistant for a professional sports team and (as we later find out) juked his way around avoiding the twitter mob! This is a story you can't miss!

This week’s guest is Hannah Hardy, Chief of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention at the Allegheny County Health Department.

Gun violence is the leading cause of mortality among young black men and the county needs to treat it as a public health issue, according to Karen Hacker, director of the Allegheny County Health Department . “ How do we help to prevent this ?” Hacker asked. “And how do we help communities to heal because the impact of this kind of violence is really like post-traumatic stress in many of our communities.” She found an ally in the local Christian community.

eCareDiary will speak to Lorraine Starsky, Public Health Nurse for Allegheny County Health Department's Chronic Disease Prevention Program about the basics of diabetes and tips to delay its onset.

One burger joint in Pittsburgh has repeatedly kept raw hamburger meat, lettuce and coleslaw at temperatures that allow bacteria to flourish. A chain restaurant’s worst violations in the past three years were a missing floor tile and a dirty floor drain. Both restaurants have maintained their approved-to-operate green stickers from the Allegheny County Health Department, but one would’ve earned a ‘C’ and the other an ‘A’ if the county’s attempts to institute a restaurant grading system had passed. Nearly all of the roughly 4,200 restaurants in the county have a green sticker — no matter whether it had five high-risk health violations in its last inspection or none. There have been two failed attempts, most recently in May, to pass an A-B-C restaurant grading system that could give consumers more refined health information at a key decision-making point — entering a restaurant. Although the Allegheny County Health Department supported the change, the county council voted the A-B-C system