Experts have discovered 'hidden' cause of learning disability often mistaken for autism - and EVERYONE should - Daily Mail
- Experts have discovered 'hidden' cause of learning disability often mistaken for autism - and EVERYONE should Daily Mail
- GPs urged to test for genetic condition affecting one in 250 women The Independent
- Everything you need to know about Fragile X syndrome The Independent
- Doctors urged to start testing for 'Fragile X' syndrome affecting one in every 250 women The Mirror
- What is Fragile X syndrome and how do you know if you carry it? Ireland Live
1 year 3 weeks ago
Health Archives - Barbados Today
Pharmacy at Eunice Gibson Polyclinic closed on Friday
The pharmacy at the Eunice Gibson Polyclinic in Warrens, St Michael, will be closed this Friday, October 11, to facilitate the rollout of the Barbados Drug Service’s (BDS) new Pharmacy Management System that is expected to result in an improvement in patient records management, treatment, and pharmaceutical health care and safety.
The pharmacy at the Eunice Gibson Polyclinic in Warrens, St Michael, will be closed this Friday, October 11, to facilitate the rollout of the Barbados Drug Service’s (BDS) new Pharmacy Management System that is expected to result in an improvement in patient records management, treatment, and pharmaceutical health care and safety.
It will reopen on Monday, October 14, when the system is fully implemented. The pharmacy at Eunice Gibson is one of many pharmacies under the aegis of the BDS, in addition to the Psychiatric Hospital Pharmacy, which will have scheduled closures until Monday, October 28.
On the dates of the closures, clients may access pharmaceutical services at any polyclinic pharmacy or outpatient clinic pharmacy. All clients are reminded that they must present their Barbados ID card to access pharmaceutical services.
Clients who need refill medications must present their medication containers to facilitate the refill process. Persons are likely to experience a temporary increase in wait times for pharmaceutical services for approximately four weeks.
The management of the Drug Service regrets any inconvenience which may be caused and encourages members of the public to arrange their business accordingly.
(BGIS)
The post Pharmacy at Eunice Gibson Polyclinic closed on Friday appeared first on Barbados Today.
1 year 3 weeks ago
Health, Local News, Public Notice
Watch: ‘Breaking the Silence Is a Step’ — Beyond the Lens of ‘Silence in Sikeston’
KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony took a reporting trip to the small southeastern Missouri city of Sikeston and heard a mention of its hidden past. That led her on a multiyear reporting journey to explore the connections between a 1942 lynching and a 2020 police killing there — and what they say about the nation’s silencing of racial trauma.
Along the way, she learned about her own family’s history with such trauma.
This formed the multimedia “Silence in Sikeston” project from KFF Health News, Retro Report, and WORLD as told through a documentary film, educational videos, digital articles, and a limited-series podcast. Hear about Anthony’s journey and join this conversation about the toll of racialized violence on our health and our communities.
Explore more of the “Silence in Sikeston”project:
LISTEN: The limited-series podcast is available on PRX, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- Episode 1: “Racism Can Make You Sick”
- Episode 2: “Hush, Fix Your Face”
- Episode 3: “Trauma Lives in the Body”
- Episode 4: “Is There a Cure for Racism”
WATCH: The documentary film “Silence in Sikeston,” a co-production of KFF Health News and Retro Report, is now available to stream on WORLD’s YouTube channel, WORLDchannel.org, and the PBS app.
READ: KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony wrote an essay about what her reporting for this project helped her learn about her own family’s hidden past.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
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1 year 3 weeks ago
Mental Health, Public Health, Race and Health, Rural Health, States, Missouri, Silence in Sikeston
Happening in Springfield: New Immigrants Offer Economic Promise, Health System Challenges
When Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance claimed Haitian immigrants had caused infectious-disease rates to “skyrocket” in Springfield, Ohio, local health commissioner Chris Cook checked the records.
They showed that in 2023, for example, there were four active tuberculosis cases in Clark County, which includes Springfield, up from three in 2022. HIV cases had risen, but sexually transmitted illnesses overall were decreasing.
“I wouldn’t call it skyrocketing,” said Cook, noting that there were 190 active cases in 2023 in all of Ohio. “You hear the rhetoric. But as a whole, reportable infectious diseases to the health department are decreasing.”
Tensions are running high in this industrial town of about 58,000 people. Bomb threats closed schools and public buildings after GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants — who he alleged were there illegally — were stealing and eating household pets. City and county officials disputed the claims the former president levied during his Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent.
Trump was amplifying comments made by Vance that — along with his claims about the immigration status of this population — were broadly panned as false. When asked during a CNN interview about the debunked pet-eating rumor, Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio, acknowledged that the image he created was based not on facts but on “firsthand accounts from my constituents.” He said he was willing “to create” stories to focus attention on how immigration can overrun communities.
But Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, also a Republican, has said immigrants have been an economic boon to Springfield. Many began arriving because businesses in the town, which had seen its population decrease, needed labor.
Largely lost in the political rancor is the way Springfield and the surrounding area responded to the influx of Haitian immigrants. Local health institutions tried to address the needs of this new population, which had lacked basic public health care such as immunization and often didn’t understand the U.S. health system.
The town is a microcosm of how immigration is reshaping communities throughout the United States. In the Springfield area, Catholic charities, other philanthropies, volunteers, and county agencies have banded together over the past three to four years to tackle the challenge and connect immigrants who have critical health needs with providers and care.
For instance, a community health center added Haitian Creole interpreters. The county health department opened a refugee health testing clinic to provide immunizations and basic health screenings, operating on such a shoestring budget that it’s open only two days a week.
And a coalition of groups to aid the Haitian community was created about two years ago to identify and respond to immigrant community needs. The group meets once a month with about 55 or 60 participants. On Sept. 18, about a week after Trump ramped up the furor at the debate, a record 138 participants joined in.
“We have all learned the necessity of collaboration,” said Casey Rollins, director of Springfield’s St. Vincent de Paul, a nonprofit Catholic social services organization that has become a lifeline for many of the town’s Haitian immigrants. “There’s a lot of medical need. Many of the people have high blood pressure, or they frequently have diabetes.”
Several factors have led Haitians to leave their Caribbean country for the United States, including a devastating earthquake in 2010, political unrest after the 2021 assassination of Haiti’s president, and ongoing gang violence. Even when health facilities in the country are open, it can be too treacherous for Haitians to travel for treatment.
“The gangs typically leave us alone, but it’s not a guarantee,” said Paul Glover, who helps oversee the St. Vincent’s Center for children with disabilities in Haiti. “We had a 3,000-square-foot clinic. It was destroyed. So was the X-ray machine. People have been putting off health care.”
An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitian immigrants live in Clark County, officials said. About 700,000 Haitian immigrants lived in the United States in 2022, according to U.S. Census data.
Those who have settled in the Springfield area are generally in the country legally under a federal program that lets noncitizens temporarily enter and stay in the United States under certain circumstances, such as for urgent humanitarian reasons, according to city officials.
The influx of immigrants created a learning curve for hospitals and primary care providers in Springfield, as well as for the newcomers themselves. In Haiti, people often go directly to a hospital to receive care for all sorts of maladies, and county officials and advocacy groups said many of the immigrants were unfamiliar with the U.S. system of seeing primary care doctors first or making appointments for treatment.
Many sought care at Rocking Horse Community Health Center, a nonprofit, federally qualified health center that provides mental health, primary, and preventive care to people regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. Federally qualified health centers serve medically underserved areas and populations.
The center treated 410 patients from Haiti in 2022, up more than 250% from 115 in 2021, according to Nettie Carter-Smith, the center’s director of community relations. Because the patients required interpreters, visits often stretched twice as long.
Rocking Horse hired patient navigators fluent in Haitian Creole, one of the two official languages of Haiti. Its roving purple bus provides on-site health screenings, vaccinations, and management of chronic conditions. And this school year, it’s operating a $2 million health clinic at Springfield High.
Many Haitians in Springfield have reported threats since Trump and Vance made their town a focus of the campaign. Community organizations were unable to identify any immigrants willing to be interviewed for this story.
Hospitals have also felt the impact. Mercy Health’s Springfield Regional Medical Center also saw a rapid influx of patients, spokesperson Jennifer Robinson said, with high utilization of emergency, primary care, and women’s health services.
This year, hospitals also have seen several readmissions for newborns struggling to thrive as some new mothers have trouble breastfeeding or getting supplemental formula, county officials said. One reason: New Haitian immigrants must wait six to eight weeks to get into a program that provides supplemental food for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, or non-breastfeeding postpartum women, as well as for children and infants.
At Kettering Health Springfield, Haitian immigrants come to the emergency department for nonemergency care. Nurses are working on two related projects, one focusing on cultural awareness for staff and another exploring ways to improve communication with Haitian immigrants during discharge and in scheduling follow-up appointments.
Many of the immigrants are able to get health insurance. Haitian entrants generally qualify for Medicaid, the state-federal program for the low-income and disabled. For hospitals, that means lower reimbursement rates than with traditional insurance.
During 2023, 60,494 people in Clark County were enrolled in Medicaid, about 25% of whom were Black, according to state data. That’s up from 50,112 in 2017, when 17% of the enrollees were Black. That increase coincides with the rise of the Haitian population.
In September, DeWine pledged $2.5 million to help health centers and the county health department meet the Haitian and broader community’s needs. The Republican governor has pushed back on the recent national focus on the town, saying the spread of false rumors has been hurtful for the community.
Ken Gordon, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Health, acknowledged the difficulties Springfield’s health systems have faced and said the department is monitoring to avert potential outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, and even polio.
People diagnosed with HIV in the county increased from 142 residents in 2018 to 178 to 2022, according to state health department data. Cook, the Clark County health commissioner, said the data lags by about 1.5 years.
But Cook said, “as a whole, all reportable infections to the health department are not increasing.” Last year, he said, no one died of tuberculosis. “But 42 people died of covid.”
Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom covering public health published by Civic News Company and KFF Health News. Sign up for its newsletters here.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
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1 year 3 weeks ago
Elections, Health Industry, Public Health, Race and Health, States, Healthbeat, Immigrants, Ohio
Medical News, Health News Latest, Medical News Today - Medical Dialogues |
WHO Recognizes India for Eliminating Trachoma as Public Health Problem
New Delhi: World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared that the Government of India has eliminated Trachoma as a public health problem becoming the third country in the South-East Asia Region to achieve this milestone.
An official Certification was handed over to Smt. Aradhana Patnaik, Additional Secretary and Mission Director, National Health Mission, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare by Ms. Saima Wazed, Regional Director, WHO South East Asia during the WHO’s South East Asia Region, Regional Committee meeting held at New Delhi, today.
Trachoma is a bacterial infection that affects the eyes. It is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia Trachomatis. Trachoma is contagious, spreading through contact with the eyes, eyelids, nose or throat secretions of infected people, if left untreated it causes irreversible blindness.
Also Read:Health Minister JP Nadda addresses 77th session of Regional Committee of WHO South East Asia
WHO has termed Trachoma as a neglected tropical disease. WHO estimates suggest that 150 million people worldwide are affected by Trachoma and 6 million of them are blind or at risk of visually disabling complications. Trachoma is found in underprivileged communities living in poor environmental conditions.
Trachoma was amongst the leading cause of blindness in the country during 1950-60. The Government of India launched the National Trachoma Control Program in 1963 and later on Trachoma control efforts were integrated into India’s National Program for Control of Blindness (NPCB).
In 1971, blindness due to Trachoma was 5% and today, owing to the various interventions under the National Programme for Control of Blindness & Visual Impairment (NPCBVI), it has come down to less than 1%. WHO SAFE strategy was implemented throughout the country wherein SAFE stands for adoption of surgery, antibiotics, facial hygiene, environmental cleanliness etc. As a result, in 2017, India was declared free from infective Trachoma. However, surveillance continued for trachoma cases in all the districts of India from 2019 onwards till 2024.
The National Trachomatous Trichiasis (TT only) Survey was also carried out in 200 endemic districts of the country under NPCBVI from 2021-24, which was a mandate set by WHO in order to declare that India has eliminated Trachoma as a public health problem.
All the reports were compiled in a specific dossier format by the NPCBVI team and were shared with the WHO country office for final scrutiny. Finally, after years of fighting against Trachoma, WHO declared that India has eliminated Trachoma as a public health problem.
Also Read:WHO Announces Fourth HPV Vaccine for Use in Single Dose Schedule
1 year 3 weeks ago
State News,News,Health news,Delhi,Latest Health News,Recent Health News
Overdoses and obesity fall: Hopeful signs Americans getting healthier - Axios
- Overdoses and obesity fall: Hopeful signs Americans getting healthier Axios
- In Good Health: The obesity rate is falling. What do weight loss drugs have to do with it? the1a.org
- US doctors stunned as four major health markers suddenly take a turn Daily Mail
- Opinion | The obesity rate might have stopped growing. Here’s what could be working. The Washington Post
- We may have passed peak obesity Financial Times
1 year 3 weeks ago
Pet dog kills rabid skunk in N.J. backyard, officials say - NJ.com
- Pet dog kills rabid skunk in N.J. backyard, officials say NJ.com
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- Rabid skunk confirmed in Gloucester Township Camden County, NJ
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1 year 3 weeks ago
US doctors stunned as four major health markers suddenly take a turn - Daily Mail
- US doctors stunned as four major health markers suddenly take a turn Daily Mail
- Overdoses and obesity fall: Hopeful signs Americans getting healthier Axios
- In Good Health: The obesity rate is falling. What do weight loss drugs have to do with it? the1a.org
- Opinion | The obesity rate might have stopped growing. Here’s what could be working. The Washington Post
- We may have passed peak obesity Financial Times
1 year 3 weeks ago
PM calls off Rwanda trip due to Marburg virus disease outbreak
The Prime Minister did not arrive at the Biashara Afrika Forum because of unforeseen circumstances presented by the Marburg Virus Disease outbreak
View the full post PM calls off Rwanda trip due to Marburg virus disease outbreak on NOW Grenada.
1 year 3 weeks ago
Health, Politics, biashara afrika forum, dennis cornwall, dickon mitchell, Ebola, linda straker, marburg virus, neila ettienne, paul kegame, who, world health organisation
Employers Haven’t a Clue How Their Drug Benefits Are Managed
Most employers have little idea what the pharmacy benefit managers they hire do with the money they exchange for the medications used by their employees, according to a KFF survey released Wednesday morning.
Most employers have little idea what the pharmacy benefit managers they hire do with the money they exchange for the medications used by their employees, according to a KFF survey released Wednesday morning.
In KFF’s latest employer health benefits survey, company officials were asked how much of the rebates collected from drugmakers by pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, is returned to them. In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has tried to deflect criticism of high drug prices by saying much of that income is siphoned off by the PBMs, companies that manage patients’ drug benefits on behalf of employers and health plans.
PBM leaders say they save companies and patients billions of dollars annually by obtaining rebates from drugmakers that they pass along to employers. Drugmakers, meanwhile, say they raise their list prices so high in order to afford the rebates that PBMs demand in exchange for placing the drugs on formularies that make them available to patients.
Leaders of the three largest PBMs — CVS Caremark, Optum RX and Express Scripts — all testified in Congress in July that 95% to 98% of the rebates they collect from drugmakers flow to employers.
For KFF’s survey of 2,142 randomly selected companies, officials from those with 500 or more employees were asked how much of the rebates negotiated by PBMs returned to the company as savings. About 19% said they received most of the rebates, 27% said some, and 16% said little. Thirty-seven percent of the respondents didn’t know.
While a larger percentage of officials from the largest companies said they got most or some of the rebates, the answers — and their contrast with the testimony of PBM leaders — reflect the confusion or ignorance of employers about what their drug benefit managers do, said survey leader Gary Claxton, a senior vice president at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.
“I don’t think they can ever know all the ways the money moves around because there are so many layers, between the wholesalers and the pharmacies and the manufacturers,” he said.
Critics say big PBMs — which are parts of conglomerates that include pharmacies, providers, and insurers — may conceal the size of their rebates by conducting negotiations through corporate-controlled rebate aggregators, or group purchasers, mostly based overseas in tax havens, that siphon off a percentage of the cash before it goes on the PBMs’ books.
PBMs also make money by encouraging or requiring patients to use affiliated specialty pharmacies, by skimping on payments to other pharmacies, and by collecting extra cash from drug companies through the federal 340B drug pricing program, which is aimed at lowering drug costs for low-income patients, said Antonio Ciaccia, CEO of 46brooklyn Research.
The KFF survey indicates how little employers understand the PBMs and their pricing policies. “Employers are generally frustrated by the lack of transparency into all the prices out there,” Claxton said. “They can’t actually know what’s true.”
Billionaire Mark Cuban started a company to undercut the PBMs by selling pharmaceuticals with transparent pricing policies. He tells Fortune 500 executives he meets, “You’re getting ripped off, you’re losing money because it’s not your core competency to understand how your PBM and health insurance contracts work,” Cuban told KFF Health News in an interview Tuesday.
Ciaccia, who has conducted PBM investigations for several states, said employers are not equipped to understand the behavior of the PBMs and often are surprised at how unregulated the PBM business is.
“You’d assume that employers want to pay less, that they would want to pay more attention,” he said. “But what I’ve learned is they are often underequipped, underresourced, and oftentimes not understanding the severity of the lack of oversight and accountability.”
Employers may assume the PBMs are acting in their best interest, but they don’t have a legal obligation to do so.
Prices can be all over the map, even those charged by the same PBM, Ciaccia said. In a Medicaid study he recently conducted, a PBM was billing employers anywhere from $2,000 to $8,000 for a month’s worth of imatinib, a cancer drug that can be bought as a generic for as little as $30.
PBM contracts often guarantee discounts of certain percentage points for generics and brand-name drugs. But the contracts then contain five pages of exclusions, and “no employer will know what they mean,” Ciaccia said. “That person doesn’t have enough information to have an informed opinion.”
The KFF survey found that companies’ annual premiums for coverage of individual employees had increased from an average of $7,739 in 2021 to $8,951 this year, and $22,221 to $25,572 for families. Among employers’ greatest concerns was how to cover increasingly popular weight loss drugs that list at $2,000 a month or more.
Only 18% of respondents said their companies covered drugs such as Wegovy for weight loss. The largest group of employers offering such coverage — 28% — was those with 5,000 or more employees.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
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This story can be republished for free (details).
1 year 3 weeks ago
Health Care Costs, Health Industry, Insurance, Pharmaceuticals, Drug Costs, Prescription Drugs
Scientists Just Discovered That Eating a Little Dark Chocolate Every Day Can Make You Healthier (and Happier) - Inc.
- Scientists Just Discovered That Eating a Little Dark Chocolate Every Day Can Make You Healthier (and Happier) Inc.
- Diet guru Prof Tim Spector reveals the surprising health benefit of chocolate that means he eats it every day Daily Mail
- Chocolate superfood pudding great for inflammation and blood pressure, says diet expert Express
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1 year 3 weeks ago
October 10 is World Mental Health Day
THE OVERALL objective of World Mental Health Day is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilise efforts in support of mental health. The day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health...
THE OVERALL objective of World Mental Health Day is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilise efforts in support of mental health. The day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health...
1 year 3 weeks ago
Dr Rose Ann Smith’s breast cancer survival story
Dr Rose Ann Smith is a proud breast cancer survivor. Her journey over the last year – from diagnosis to treatment – has been riddled with challenges, but she has weathered the storm with grace and determination; rising like a phoenix amid...
Dr Rose Ann Smith is a proud breast cancer survivor. Her journey over the last year – from diagnosis to treatment – has been riddled with challenges, but she has weathered the storm with grace and determination; rising like a phoenix amid...
1 year 3 weeks ago
CRH’s psychiatric dept observes Mental Health Week
WESTERN BUREAU: THE PSYCHIATRIC department at the Cornwall Regional Hospital [CRH] in Montego Bay, St James, kick-started its observance of Mental Health Week with an education campaign targeting patients’ relatives, featuring too opportunities...
WESTERN BUREAU: THE PSYCHIATRIC department at the Cornwall Regional Hospital [CRH] in Montego Bay, St James, kick-started its observance of Mental Health Week with an education campaign targeting patients’ relatives, featuring too opportunities...
1 year 3 weeks ago
I am a survivor, says Lydia Gooden-Gordon
LIFE IS fleeting and fragile, but precious and so very meaningful. Though it is short, it is significant. Lydia Gooden-Gordon is a vibrant, dedicated and compassionate woman; a bit sassy, yet reserved when necessary. She is fighting a battle that...
LIFE IS fleeting and fragile, but precious and so very meaningful. Though it is short, it is significant. Lydia Gooden-Gordon is a vibrant, dedicated and compassionate woman; a bit sassy, yet reserved when necessary. She is fighting a battle that...
1 year 3 weeks ago
Take extra precautions to curb spread of dengue
There is still an urgent need for heightened public health interventions, which begin with citizens acting responsibly by destroying all possible mosquito breeding sites in and around their home
View the full post Take extra precautions to curb spread of dengue on NOW Grenada.
1 year 3 weeks ago
Health, PRESS RELEASE, aedes aegypti, dengue fever, Ministry of Health, mosquito, shawn charles
PAHO/WHO | Pan American Health Organization
In record year of dengue cases, PAHO urges countries to strengthen response as seasonal transmission set to begin in South America
In record year of dengue cases, PAHO urges countries to strengthen response as seasonal transmission set to begin in South America
Cristina Mitchell
8 Oct 2024
In record year of dengue cases, PAHO urges countries to strengthen response as seasonal transmission set to begin in South America
Cristina Mitchell
8 Oct 2024
1 year 3 weeks ago
Calif. Ballot Measure Targets Drug Discount Program Spending
Californians in November will weigh in on a ballot initiative to increase scrutiny over the use of health-care dollars — particularly money from a federal drug discount program — meant to support patient care largely for low-income or indigent people.
Californians in November will weigh in on a ballot initiative to increase scrutiny over the use of health-care dollars — particularly money from a federal drug discount program — meant to support patient care largely for low-income or indigent people. The revenue is sometimes used to address housing instability and homelessness among vulnerable patient populations.
Voters are being asked whether California should increase accountability in the 340B drug discount program, which provides money for community clinics, safety net hospitals and other nonprofit health-care providers.
The program requires pharmaceutical companies to give drug discounts to these clinics and nonprofit entities, which can bank revenue by charging higher reimbursement rates.
Advocates pushing the measure, Proposition 34, say some entities are using the drug discount program as a slush fund, plowing money into housing and homelessness initiatives that don’t meet basic patient safety standards. Researchers and advocates have called for greater oversight.
“There are 340B entities that are misusing these public dollars,” said Nathan Click, a spokesperson for the pro-Proposition 34 campaign. “The whole point of this program is to use this money to get more low-income people health-care services.”
The initiative wouldn’t bar 340B providers from using health-care funds for housing or homelessness programs. Instead, it targets providers that spend more than $100 million on purposes other than direct patient care over 10 years. It would mandate that 98 percentof 340B revenues go to direct patient care. It also targets 340B providers with health insurer contracts and pharmacy licenses and those serving low-income Medicaid or Medicare patients that have been dinged with at least 500 high-severity housing violations for substandard or unsafe conditions.
That has placed a bull’s eye on the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a nonprofit that provides direct patient care via clinics and pharmacies in California and other states, including Illinois, Texas and New York. It also owns housing for low-income and homeless people.
A Los Angeles Times investigation found that many residents of AIDS Healthcare Foundation properties are living in deplorable, unhealthy conditions.
Michael Weinstein, the foundation’s president, disputes those claims and argues that Proposition 34 proponents, including real estate interests, are going after him for another ballot initiative that seeks to implement rent control in more communities across California.
“It’s a revenge initiative,” Weinstein said, arguing that the deep-pocketed California Apartment Association is targeting his foundation — and its health and housing operations — because it has backed ballot measures pushing rent control across California. “This is a two-pronged attack against us to defeat rent control.”
Weinstein is locked in a feud with the apartment association, the chief sponsor of the initiative, which has contributed handsomely to pass Proposition 34. Opponents argue that the initiative is “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Weinstein acknowledged to KFF Health News that his nonprofit uses money from 340B drug discounts to support its housing initiatives but argued they are helping treat and house some of the most vulnerable people, who would otherwise be homeless.
The apartment association declined several requests for comment. But Proposition 34 backers say they aren’t going after rent control — or Weinstein and his nonprofit.
Supporters argue that “rising health care costs are squeezing millions of Californians” and say that the initiative would “give California patients and taxpayers much needed relief, and lowers state drug costs, while saving California taxpayers billions.”
If the initiative passes and 340B providers do not spend 98 percent of the revenue on direct patient care, they could lose their license to practice health care and their nonprofit status.
This article is not available for syndication due to republishing restrictions. If you have questions about the availability of this or other content for republication, please contact NewsWeb@kff.org.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
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This story can be republished for free (details).
1 year 3 weeks ago
california, Elections, Health Care Costs, Health Industry, Pharmaceuticals, States, Drug Costs, Health Brief
Health Archives - Barbados Today
Different name among changes to ditch stigma associated with Psychiatric Hospital
The 131-year-old Psychiatric Hospital is set to undergo a rebranding as part of efforts to reduce the stigma preventing people from accessing mental health services, Director of the Psychiatric Hospital David Leacock revealed exclusively to Barbados TODAY.
The 131-year-old Psychiatric Hospital is set to undergo a rebranding as part of efforts to reduce the stigma preventing people from accessing mental health services, Director of the Psychiatric Hospital David Leacock revealed exclusively to Barbados TODAY.
Health authorities are aiming to ensure that the facility, the island’s sole main provider of mental healthcare, becomes more welcoming to those in need.
Leacock revealed that preliminary discussions have already taken place between the Ministry of Health and the hospital’s management.
“The minister himself, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Wellness [Davidson Ishmael], would have raised this matter with us a few weeks or months ago, having the need for us to more or less, improve access to services from our end, because of the idea of it not carrying that longstanding stigma associated with being the hospital and where it came from,” he said.
He acknowledged that, despite efforts to encourage people to seek help regardless of where they access it, negative associations with the Psychiatric Hospital persist.
“That’s understandable, but it is something we are definitely looking at, and hopefully, in the near future, it would be supported towards a name change,” he added.
The Psychiatric Hospital began in 1893 as the Mental Asylum when it opened on the site of the Jenkinsville plantation in Black Rock.
Successive generations of Barbadians referred to the asylum–later renamed the Mental Hospital and then the Psychiatric Hospital–by its location, ‘Jenkins’ and ‘Black Rock’. The Victorian-era buildings and layout have remained largely unchanged with modest improvements over the intervening years.
Leacock was keen to stress that the planned rebranding is not just about changing the name.
“The idea of a name change is not just that, but also bringing awareness to persons about what it is that [the Psychiatric Hospital] does, and hopefully with that, we can get a better understanding of the role that we play, and hopefully some of the issues that they have in seeking care wouldn’t be as many as they are now,” he explained.
The hospital director stressed that the institution will be careful not to reinforce stigma by creating divisions based on socio-economic status. “Yes, we are mindful that persons may say, ‘I am not mentally ill’ and therefore should be seeking services in a place where persons are mentally ill. The reality is that, within our population, a quarter of all persons will experience mental health challenges in their lifetime, whether it be depression, some persons or families will experience mental health challenges,” he pointed out.
Leacock further stressed the importance of avoiding the “re-stigmatisation” of clients who already access the hospital’s services by how new patients are treated.
“We don’t want a situation where, in trying to offer our services, we, in turn, are turning away persons because we create divisions to say that one set of persons is this way, and the next set is that way,” the hospital official said.
He also stated that the Black Rock, St Michael hospital should not be viewed as a last resort or a place of punishment but as a therapeutic environment for individuals in need of assistance. He acknowledged that while the preference is for community-based treatment, some individuals are best served in the hospital setting.
“A large part of what we have been doing in the last three or four years in relation to expansion has been from the community-based standpoint. The posts of psychologists, social workers, and a medical doctor have augmented our community services, and that has seen a very high increase in the number of persons being seen at the community level. I have seen a high level of persons who have seen either the doctors or the nurses,” he said.
Despite the growth of community services, Leacock admitted that admissions to the Psychiatric Hospital have also increased. He revealed that the institution has been actively engaged in public awareness campaigns to address the mental health challenges faced by at-risk youth and the wider population.
Calls for the rebranding of the hospital have also come from external sources. Last week, Shaquani Hunte, the new president of the Young Democrats and a youth representative on the Democratic Labour Party’s Crime Commission, made a similar proposal during a special youth edition meeting of the commission. Hunte highlighted the need to address the mental health crisis among young people and noted that stigma often prevents them from seeking help, even when they are able to articulate the pressures they face.
At a 2022 inquest into the shooting death of a mentally disturbed man in 2016, the coroner Graveney Bannister recommended that the Psychiatric Hospital be renamed and rebranded to erase the stigma associated with the mental hospital.
“It is unfortunate in Barbados the stigma that is attached to mental health illnesses for persons with mental health. For some reason, people do not want to go to the Psychiatric Hospital because of that stigma.
“I would recommend that the place be given a remake – a new name, a new ethos, maybe call it a wellness institution as we have seen in other jurisdictions instead of calling it the Psychiatric Hospital. . . . Something away from the name psychiatric. Change the ethos so that it will be accepted by both patients and the general public,” the coroner recommended.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
The post Different name among changes to ditch stigma associated with Psychiatric Hospital appeared first on Barbados Today.
1 year 3 weeks ago
Health, Local News
Silence in Sikeston: Is There a Cure for Racism?
SIKESTON, Mo. — In the summer of 2021, Sikeston residents organized the biggest Juneteenth party in the city’s history. Sikeston police officers came too, both to provide security for the event and to try to build bridges with the community. But after decades of mistrust, some residents questioned their motives.
In the series finale of the podcast, a confident, outspoken Sikeston teenager shares her feelings in an uncommonly frank conversation with Chief James McMillen, head of Sikeston’s Department of Public Safety, which includes Sikeston police.
Host Cara Anthony asks what kind of systemic change is possible to reduce the burden of racism on the health of Black Americans. Health equity expert Gail Christopher says it starts with institutional leaders who recognize the problem, measure it, and take concrete steps to change things.
“It is a process, and it’s not enough to march and get a victory,” Christopher said. “We have to transform the systems of inequity in this country.”
Host
Cara Anthony
Midwest correspondent, KFF Health News
Cara is an Edward R. Murrow and National Association of Black Journalists award-winning reporter from East St. Louis, Illinois. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Time magazine, NPR, and other outlets nationwide. Her reporting trip to the Missouri Bootheel in August 2020 launched the “Silence in Sikeston” project. She is a producer on the documentary and the podcast’s host.
In Conversation With …
Gail Christopher
Public health leader and health equity expert
click to open the transcript
Transcript: Is There a Cure for Racism?
Editor’s note: If you are able, we encourage you to listen to the audio of “Silence in Sikeston,” which includes emotion and emphasis not found in the transcript. This transcript, generated using transcription software, has been edited for style and clarity. Please use the transcript as a tool but check the corresponding audio before quoting the podcast.
[Ambient sounds from Sikeston, Missouri’s 2021 Juneteenth celebration — a DJ making an announcement over funky music, people chatting — begin playing.]
Cara Anthony: It’s 2021. It’s hot and humid. We’re at a park in the heart of Sunset — Sikeston, Missouri’s historically Black neighborhood.
Emory: Today is Juneteenth, baby.
Cara Anthony: The basketball courts are jumping. And old-school funk is blaring from the speakers. Kids are playing.
Cara Anthony: [Laughter] Are you enjoying the water?
Cara Anthony: People are lining up for barbecue.
I’ve been here reporting on the toll racism and violence can take on a community’s health. But today, I’m hoping to capture a little bit of Sikeston’s joy.
Taneshia Pulley: When I look out to the crowd of my people, I see strength. I see power. I just see all magic.
Cara Anthony: I drift over to a tent where people are getting their blood pressure, weight, and height checked … health screenings for free.
Cara Anthony: I’m a journalist.
Community Health Worker: Ooooh! Hi! Hi!
Cara Anthony: The ladies working the booth are excited I’m there to report on the event.
Cara Anthony: OK, and I’m a health journalist.
Community health worker: Baby, that’s what I told them. Yeah, she healthy. [Laughter]
[Dramatic instrumental music plays.]
Cara Anthony: This Juneteenth gathering is happening a little over a year after Sikeston police officers shot and killed 23-year-old Denzel Taylor.
We made a documentary about Denzel’s death and the death of another young Black man — also killed in Sikeston.
Denzel was shot by police. Nearly 80 years earlier, Cleo Wright was lynched by a white mob.
Both were killed before they got their day in court.
In these years of reporting, what I’ve found is that many Black families worry that their kids don’t have an equal chance of growing up healthy and safe in Sikeston.
[Dramatic instrumental ends.]
Rosemary Owens: Being Black in the Bootheel can get you killed at any age.
Cara Anthony: That’s Rosemary Owens. She raised her children here in Southeast Missouri.
Cara Anthony: About 10 Sikeston police officers showed up to Juneteenth — for security and to connect with the community. Some are in uniform; some are in plain clothes.
Rosemary has her doubts about why they came today.
Cara Anthony: You see the police chief talking to people. What’s going through your mind as you see them milling about?
Rosemary Owens: I hope they are real and wanting to close the gap between the African Americans and the white people.
Anybody can come out and shake hands. But at the end of the day, did you mean what you said? Because things are still going on here in Sikeston, Missouri.
Cara Anthony: For Rosemary, this brings to mind an encounter with the police from years ago.
[Slow, minor, instrumental music plays softly.]
When her son was maybe 16 years old, she says, she and her sister gave their boys the keys to their new cars — told them they could hang out in them.
Rosemary had gotten her new car for Mother’s Day.
Rosemary Owens: A brand-new red Dodge Caravan. We, we knew the boys were just going from the van to the car. You know, just showing out — they were boys. They weren’t driving.
Cara Anthony: Someone nearby saw the boys …
Rosemary Owens: … called and told the police that two Black men were robbing cars.
When the boys saw the police come up, there was three police cars. So they were like, something’s going on. So their intention, they were like, they were trying to run to us. And my brother said, stop. When they looked back, when the police got out of the car, they already had their guns drawn on my son and my nephew. Cara Anthony: That’s what Rosemary thinks about when she sees Sikeston police at Juneteenth.
[Slow, minor, instrumental music ends.]
[“Silence in Sikeston” theme song plays.] Cara Anthony: In this podcast series, we’ve talked about some of the ways racism makes Black people sick. But Juneteenth has me thinking about how we get free — how we STOP racism from making us sick.
The public health experts say it’s going to take systemwide, institutional change.
In this episode, we’re going to examine what that community-level change looks like — or at least what it looks like to make a start.
From WORLD Channel and KFF Health News, distributed by PRX, this is “Silence in Sikeston.”
Episode 4 is our final episode: “Is There a Cure for Racism?”
[“Silence in Sikeston” theme song ends.]
James McMillen: How you doing?
Juneteenth celebration attendee: Good. Good.
James McMillen: Good to see you, man.
Juneteenth celebration attendee: What’s up? How are you?
Cara Anthony: When I spot Sikeston’s director of public safety in his cowboy hat, sipping soda from a can, I head over to talk. James McMillen: Well, you know, I just, I, I’m glad to be … on the inside of this.
Cara Anthony: James McMillen leads the police department. He says he made it a point to come to Juneteenth. And he encouraged his officers to come, too.
James McMillen: I remember as being a young officer coming to work here, not knowing anybody, driving by a park and seeing several Black people out there. And I remember feeling, you know, somewhat intimidated by that. And I don’t really know why.
I hadn’t always been, um, that active in the community. And, um, I, I have been the last several years and I’m just wanting to teach officers to do the same thing.
Cara Anthony: The chief told me showing up was part of his department’s efforts to repair relations with Sikeston’s Black residents.
James McMillen: What’s important about this is, being out here and actually knowing people, I think it builds that trust that we need to have to prevent and solve crimes.
Cara Anthony: A few minutes into our conversation, I notice a teenager and her friend nearby, listening.
Cara Anthony: Yeah, we have two people who are watching us pretty closely. Come over here. Come over here. Tell us your names.
Lauren: My name is Lauren.
Michaiahes: My name is Michaiahes.
Cara Anthony: Yeah. And what are you all … ?
James McMillen: I saw you over there.
Cara Anthony: So, what do you think about all of this?
Michaiahes: Personally, I don’t even know who this is because I don’t mess with police because, because of what’s happened in the past with the police. But, um …
Cara Anthony: As she starts to trail off, I encourage her to keep going.
Cara Anthony: He’s right here. He’s in charge of all of those people.
Michaiahes: Well, in my opinion, y’all should start caring about the community more.
Cara Anthony: What are you hearing? She’s speaking from the heart here, Chief. What are you hearing?
James McMillen: Well, you know what? I agree with everything she said there.
Cara Anthony: She’s confident now, looking the chief in the eye.
Michaiahes: And let’s just be honest: Some of these police officers don’t even want to be here today. They’re just here to think they’re doing something for the community.
James McMillen: Let’s be honest. Some of these are assumptions that y’all are making about police that y’all don’t really know.
[Subtle propulsive music begins playing.]
Michaiahes: If we seen you protecting community, if we seen you doing what you supposed to do, then we wouldn’t have these assumptions about you.
James McMillen: I just want to say that people are individuals. We have supervisors that try to keep them to hold a standard. And you shouldn’t judge the whole department, but, but just don’t judge the whole department off of a few. No more than I should judge the whole community off of a few.
Cara Anthony: But here’s the thing … in our conversations over the years, Chief McMillen has been candid with me about how, as a rookie cop, he had judged Sikeston’s Black residents based on interactions with just a few.
James McMillen: Some of, um, my first calls in the Black community were dealing with, obviously, criminals, you know? So if first impressions mean anything, that one set a bad one. I had, um, really unfairly judging the whole community based on the few interactions that I had, again, with majority of criminals.
Cara Anthony: The chief says he’s moved past that way of thinking and he’s trying to help his officers move past their assumptions.
And he told me about other things he wants to do …
Hire more Black officers. Invest in racial-bias awareness education for the department. And open up more lines of communication with the community.
James McMillen: I know that we are not going to see progress or we’re not going to see success without a little bit of pain and discomfort on our part.
Cara Anthony: I don’t think I’ve ever heard the chief use the term institutional change, but the promises and the plans he’s making sound like steps in that direction.
Except … here’s something else the chief says he wants …
[Subtle propulsive music ends with a flourish.]
James McMillen: As a police officer, I would like to hear more people talk about, um, just complying with the officer.
Cara Anthony: That phrase is chilling to me.
[Quiet, dark music starts playing.]
When I hear “just comply” … a litany of names cross my mind.
Philando Castile.
Sonya Massey.
Tyre Nichols.
Cara Anthony: After Denzel Taylor was killed, people felt unsafe. I talked to a lot of residents on the record about them feeling like they didn’t know if they could be next.
One thing that you told me was, like, well, one thing that people can do is comply with the officers, you know, if they find themselves having an interaction with law enforcement.
James McMillen: Well, I mean, I think that’s, that’s a good idea to do.
And if the person is not complying, that officer has got to be thinking, is this person trying to hurt me? So, asking people to comply with the officer’s command — that’s a reasonable statement.
Cara Anthony: But, it’s well documented: Black Americans are more likely than our white peers to be perceived as dangerous by police.
That perception increases the chances we’ll be the victim of deadly force. Whether we comply — or not.
[Quiet, dark music ends.]
That’s all to say … even with the promise of more Black officers in Sikeston and all the chief’s other plans, I’m not sure institutional change in policing is coming soon to Sikeston.
[Sparse electronic music starts playing.]
Cara Anthony: I took that worry to Gail Christopher. She has spent her long career trying to address the causes of institutional racism.
Cara Anthony: We’ve been calling most of our guests by their first name, but what’s your preference? I don’t want to get in trouble with my mom on this, you know? [Cara laughs.]
Gail Christopher: If you don’t mind, Dr. Christopher is good.
Cara Anthony: OK. All right. That sounds good. I’m glad I asked.
Cara Anthony: Dr. Christopher thinks a lot about the connections between race and health. And she’s executive director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity. Her nonprofit designs strategies for social change.
She says the way to think about starting to fix structural racism … is to think about the future.
Gail Christopher: What do you want for your daughter? What do I want for my children? I want them not to have interactions with the police, No. 1, right?
Uh, so I want them to have safe places to be, to play, to be educated … equal access to the opportunity to be healthy.
Cara Anthony: But I wonder if that future is even possible.
[Sparse electronic music ends.]
Cara Anthony: Is there a cure for racism? And I know it’s not that simple, but is there a cure?
Gail Christopher: I love the question, right? And my answer to you would be yes. It is a process, and it’s not enough to march and get a victory. We have to transform the systems of inequity in this country.
Cara Anthony: And Dr. Christopher says it is possible. Because racism is a belief system.
[Hopeful instrumental music plays.]
Gail Christopher: There is a methodology that’s grounded in psychological research and social science for altering our beliefs and subsequently altering our behaviors that are driven by those beliefs.
Cara Anthony: To get there, she says, institutions need a rigorous commitment to look closely at what they are doing — and the outcomes they’re creating.
Gail Christopher: Data tracking and monitoring and being accountable for what’s going on.
We can’t solve a problem if we don’t admit that it exists.
Cara Anthony: One of her favorite examples of what it looks like to make a start toward systemic change comes from the health care world.
I know we’ve been talking about policing so far, but — bear with me here — we’re going to pivot to another way institutional bias kills people.
A few years ago, a team of researchers at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston reviewed admission records for patients with heart failure. They found that Black and Latinx people were less likely than white patients to be admitted to specialized cardiology units.
Gail Christopher: Without calling people racist, they saw the absolute data that showed that, wait a minute, we’re sending the white people to get the specialty care and we’re not sending the people of color.
Cara Anthony: So, Brigham and Women’s launched a pilot program.
When a doctor requests a bed for a Black or Latinx patient with heart failure, the computer system notifies them that, historically, Black and Latinx patients haven’t had equal access to specialty care.
The computer system then recommends the patient be admitted to the cardiology unit. It’s still up to the doctor to actually do that.
The hard data’s not published yet, but we checked in with the hospital, and they say the program seems to be making a difference.
Gail Christopher: It starts with leadership. Someone in that system has the authority and makes the decision to hold themselves accountable for new results.
[Hopeful instrumental music ends.]
Cara Anthony: OK, so it could be working at a hospital. Let’s shift back to policing now.
Gail Christopher: There should be an accountability board in that community, a citizens’ accountability board, where they are setting measurable and achievable goals and they are holding that police department accountable for achieving those goals.
Cara Anthony: But, like, do Black people have to participate in this? Because we’re tired.
Gail Christopher: Listen, do I know that we’re tired! Am I tired? After 50 years? Uh, I think that there is work that all people have to do. This business of learning to see ourselves in one another, to be fully human — it’s all of our work.
[Warm, optimistic instrumental music plays.]
Now, does that preclude checking out at times and taking care of yourself? I can’t tell you how many people my age who are no longer alive today, who were my colleagues and friends in the movement. But they died prematurely because of this lack of permission to take care of ourselves.
Cara Anthony: Rest when you need to, she says, but keep going.
Gail Christopher: We have to do that because it is our injury. It is our pain. And I think we have the stamina and the desire to see it change.
Cara Anthony: Yep. Heard. It’s all of our work.
Dr. Christopher has me thinking about all the Black people in Sikeston who aren’t sitting around waiting for someone else to change the institutions that are hurting them.
People protested when Denzel Taylor was killed even with all the pressure to stay quiet about it.
Protesters: Justice for Denzel on 3. 1, 2, 3 … Justice for Denzel! Again! 1, 2, 3 … Justice for Denzel!
Cara Anthony: And I’m thinking about the people who were living in the Sunset neighborhood of Sikeston in 1942 when Cleo Wright was lynched.
Harry Howard: They picked up rocks and bricks and crowbars and just anything to protect our community.
Cara Anthony: And Sunset did not burn.
[Warm, optimistic instrumental music begins fading out.]
[Piano starts warming up.]
Cara Anthony: After nearly 80 years of mostly staying quiet about Cleo’s lynching, Sikeston residents organized a service to mark what happened to him — and their community.
Reverend: We are so honored and humbled to be the host church this evening for the remembrance and reconciliation service of Mr. Cleo Wright.
[Piano plays along with Pershard singing.]
Pershard Owens: [Singing] It’s been a long, long time coming, but I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will. It’s been too hard a-livin but I’m afraid to die and I don’t know what’s up next, beyond the sky …
[Pershard singing and piano accompaniment fade out.]
Cara Anthony: I want to introduce you to that guy who was just singing then. His name is Pershard Owens.
Remember Rosemary Owens? The woman who told us about someone calling the police on her son and nephew when they were playing with their parents’ new cars? Pershard is Rosemary’s younger son.
Pershard Owens: Yeah, I definitely remember that.
Cara Anthony: Even after all this time, other people didn’t want to talk to us about it. We couldn’t find news coverage of the incident. But Pershard remembers. He was in his weekly karate practice when it happened. He was 10 or 11 years old.
Pershard Owens: My brother and cousin were, like, they were teens. So what do you think people are going to feel about the police when they do that, no questions asked, just guns drawn?
Cara Anthony: Pershard’s dad works as a police officer on a different police force in the Bootheel. Pershard knows police. But that didn’t make it any less scary for him.
Pershard Owens: You know, my parents still had to sit us down and talk and be like, “Hey, this is, that’s not OK, but you can’t, you can’t be a victim. You can’t be upset.” That’s how I was taught. So we acknowledge the past. But we don’t, we don’t stay down.
Cara Anthony: So years later, when Chief James McMillen started a program as a more formal way for people in Sikeston and the police to build better relationships, Pershard signed up. They started meeting in 2020.
The group is called Police and Community Together, or PACT for short.
[Sparse, tentative music begins playing.]
Pershard Owens: It was a little tense that first couple of meetings because nobody knew what it was going to be.
Cara Anthony: This was only five months after Sikeston police killed Denzel Taylor.
PACT is not a citizens’ accountability board. The police don’t have to answer to it.
The committee met every month. For a while. But they haven’t met in over a year now.
Pershard Owens: We would have steps forward and then we would have three steps back.
Cara Anthony: People have different accounts for why that is. Busy schedules. Mutual suspicion. Other things police officers have done that shook the trust of Black residents in Sikeston.
Pershard Owens: And people were like, bro, like, how can you work with these people?
The community is like, I can’t fully get behind it because I know what you did to my little cousin and them. Like, I know what the department did back in, you know, 15 years ago, and it’s hard to get past that.
So, I mean, I’m getting both sides, like, constantly, and listen, that is, that is tough.
[Sparse, tentative music ends.]
Cara Anthony: But Pershard says something important changed because he started working with PACT.
Pershard Owens: Chief did not like me at first [Pershard laughs]. He did not.
Chief didn’t … me and Chief did not see eye to eye. Because he had heard things about me and he — people had told him that I was, I was anti-police and hated police officers, and he came in with a defense up.
So, it took a minute for me and him to, like, start seeing each other in a different way. But it all happened when we sat down and had a conversation.
[Slow instrumental music begins playing.]
Cara Anthony: Just have a conversation. It sounds so simple; you’re probably rolling your eyes right now hearing it.
But Pershard says … it could be meaningful.
Pershard Owens: I truly want and believe that we can be together and we can work together and we can have a positive relationship where you see police and y’all dap each other up and y’all legit mean it. I think that can happen, but a lot of people have to change their mindsets.
Cara Anthony: That’s a challenge Pershard is offering to police AND community members: Have a conversation with someone different from you. See if that changes the way you think about the person you’re talking to. See if it changes your beliefs.
The more people do that, the more systems can change.
Pershard Owens: We got to look in the mirror and say, “Am I doing what I can to try and change the dynamic of Sikeston, even if it does hurt?”
Cara Anthony: Pershard says he’s going to keep putting himself out there. He ran for City Council in 2021. And even though he lost, he says he doesn’t regret it.
Pershard Owens: When you’re dealing with a place like Sikeston, it’s not going to change overnight.
Cara Anthony: And he’s glad he worked with PACT. Even if the community dialogue has fizzled for now, he’s pleased with the new relationship he built with Chief McMillen. And all of this has broadened his view of what kind of change is possible.
[Slow instrumental music ends.]
Pershard Owens: If you want something that has never been done, you have to go places that you’ve never been.
[“Silence in Sikeston” theme music plays.]
Cara Anthony: Places that you’ve never been … stories that you’ve never told out loud … maybe all of that helps build a Sikeston where Black residents can feel safer. Where Black people can live healthier lives.
A world you might not be able to imagine yet, but one that could exist for the next generation.
[“Silence in Sikeston” theme music ends.]
[Upbeat instrumental music plays.]
Cara Anthony: Thanks for listening to “Silence in Sikeston.”
Next, go watch the documentary — it’s a joint production from Retro Report and KFF Health News, presented in partnership with WORLD.
Subscribe to WORLD Channel on YouTube. That’s where you can find the film “Silence in Sikeston,” a Local, USA special.
If you made it this far, thank you. Let me know how you’re feeling.
I’d love to hear more about the conversations this podcast has sparked in your life. Leave us a voicemail at (202) 654-1366.
And thanks to everyone in Sikeston for sharing your stories with us.
This podcast is a co-production of WORLD Channel and KFF Health News and distributed by PRX.
It was produced with support from PRX and made possible in part by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
This audio series was reported and hosted by me, Cara Anthony.
Audio production by me, Zach Dyer. And me, Taylor Cook.
Editing by me, Simone Popperl.
And me, managing editor Taunya English.
Sound design, mixing, and original music by me, Lonnie Ro.
Podcast art design by Colin Mahoney and Tania Castro-Daunais.
Tarena Lofton and Hannah Norman are engagement and social media producers for the show.
Oona Zenda and Lydia Zuraw are the landing page designers.
Lynne Shallcross is the photo editor, with photography from Michael B. Thomas.
Thank you to vocal coach Viki Merrick.
And thank you to my parents for all their support over the four years of this project.
Music in this episode is from Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions.
Some of the audio you heard across the podcast is also in the film.
For that, special thanks to Adam Zletz, Matt Gettemeier, Roger Herr, and Philip Geyelin.
Kyra Darnton is executive producer at Retro Report.
I was a producer on the film.
Jill Rosenbaum directed the documentary.
Kytja Weir is national editor at KFF Health News.
WORLD Channel’s editor-in-chief and executive producer is Chris Hastings.
Help us get the word out about “Silence in Sikeston.” Write a review or give us a quick rating wherever you listen to this podcast.
Thank you! It makes a difference.
Oh yeah! And tell your friends in real life too!
[Upbeat instrumental music ends.]
Credits
Taunya English
Managing editor
Taunya is deputy managing editor for broadcast at KFF Health News, where she leads enterprise audio projects.
Simone Popperl
Line editor
Simone is broadcast editor at KFF Health News, where she shapes stories that air on Marketplace, NPR, and CBS News Radio, and she co-manages a national reporting collaborative.
Zach Dyer
Senior producer
Zach is senior producer for audio with KFF Health News, where he supervises all levels of podcast production.
Taylor Cook
Associate producer
Taylor is an independent producer who does research, books guests, contributes writing, and fact-checks episodes for several KFF Health News podcasts.
Lonnie Ro
Sound designer
Lonnie Ro is an audio engineer and a composer who brings audio stories to life through original music and expert sound design for platforms like Spotify, Audible, and KFF Health News.
Additional Newsroom Support
Lynne Shallcross, photo editorOona Zenda, illustrator and web producerLydia Zuraw, web producerTarena Lofton, audience engagement producer Hannah Norman, video producer and visual reporter Chaseedaw Giles, audience engagement editor and digital strategistKytja Weir, national editor Mary Agnes Carey, managing editor Alex Wayne, executive editorDavid Rousseau, publisher Terry Byrne, copy chief Gabe Brison-Trezise, deputy copy chief Tammie Smith, communications officer
The “Silence in Sikeston” podcast is a production of KFF Health News and WORLD. Distributed by PRX. Subscribe and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Watch the accompanying documentary from WORLD, Retro Report, and KFF here.
To hear other KFF Health News podcasts, click here.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
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1 year 3 weeks ago
Mental Health, Multimedia, Race and Health, Rural Health, States, Missouri, Podcasts, Silence in Sikeston