Public Health On Call

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668 - Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls Sep 29, 2023

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An estimated 97,000 Black women and girls have gone missing or been murdered in the US in the last year—which represents about 40% of all missing persons. These women and girls are often viewed as criminals or runaways and not victims or survivors, which can hamstring efforts to find and support them. Dr. Tiara Willie, gender-based violence researcher, and Dr. Kamila Alexander, a nurse and trauma researcher, talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the first organized effort to focus long overdue attention on this problem, which was recently launched in Minnesota, and its implications for the nation.

667 - RxKids—Flint, Michigan's Cash Allowances For New Parents Sep 27, 2023

Show notes

Starting in January, 2024, every family with a new baby in Flint, Michigan will be eligible to receive cash payments for the first year of life. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who exposed the Flint water crisis in 2014, and Luke Shaefer, Michigan public policy professor, talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how this effort came together and what it hopes to accomplish. Professor Schaefer's new book is The Injustice of Place. Learn more at flintrxkids.com

666 - The Institute for Global Tobacco Control Turns 25 Sep 25, 2023

Show notes

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Institute for Global Tobacco Control was founded in 1998, and since then it has become a global leader in the efforts to end the tobacco epidemic. To highlight the Institute's 25th anniversary, Joanna Cohen, director of IGTC, and founding director Jonathan Samet talk to Stephanie Desmon about the past, present, and future fight against tobacco. Check out the video version of the podcast here.

665 - Bankruptcy and Purdue Pharma Sep 22, 2023

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A major bankruptcy case of Purdue Pharma—the makers of Oxycontin—now sits with the Supreme Court. How did it get there, and what's at stake? Andy Dietderich, an expert in bankruptcy law and co-head of finance and restructuring at New York law firm Sullivan and Cromwell, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the case, the Sackler family's involvement, and what a SCOTUS decision could mean for future settlements.

664 - Disaster Planning For Extreme Weather Sep 20, 2023

Show notes

Extreme heat, wildfires, hurricanes, and more are driving huge changes for emergency managers like Chas Eby, the deputy executive director of the Maryland Department of Emergency Management. Eby talks with Stephanie Desmon about an "all-hazards" approach for emergency management agencies, and their work to be better problem solvers when it comes to what climate change is expected to bring in the future. They also discuss how to increase the capabilities of communities to make them more resilient.

663 - The Impact of Health Care on Climate Sep 18, 2023

Show notes

Daily health care operations in the US account for 8.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Shanda Demorest is a cardiac nurse and Associate Director of Climate Engagement and Education at Health Care Without Harm. She takes Dr. Josh Sharfstein on a virtual tour of a hypothetical hospital, pointing out opportunities for sustainability. They discuss how, despite a lack of regulation, health care systems are making pledges to reduce emissions—and how individual clinicians and patients can help the cause.

662 - National Food Safety Education Month: What a Health Department Does to Keep Our Food Safe Sep 15, 2023

Show notes

There's a bit of detective work that has to go into investigating outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, and your local health department plays a key role. Cari Sledzik, an epidemiologist in the Office of Acute Communicable Diseases at the Baltimore City Health Department, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what goes into piecing together a potential outbreak and what happens once the source is found. To round out this Food Safety Education Month episode, she also shares some tips for how people can avoid foodborne illnesses. Learn more about how to lower your chances of getting sick with the FDA's Food Safety Education Month resources.

661 - Why is Methadone So Hard to Get? Sep 13, 2023

Show notes

Methadone is a gold star treatment for opioid use disorder but it's heavily regulated at the federal level, making it hard for patients to get and even harder for doctors to prescribe. Dr. Brian Hurley, president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about the process of getting methadone, how its regulatory roots in legislation from the 1970s contribute to its stigma, and what's being done and what more could be done to streamline prescribing so that the patients who need the life-saving medication can actually get it.

660 - The CDC's 9.11 World Trade Center Health Program Sep 11, 2023

Show notes

Hundreds of thousands of people were exposed to dust, debris, carcinogens, and trauma at the three sites of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the immediate aftermath and then the years following. In 2011, Congress created The World Trade Center Health Program to provide health care monitoring and treatment for certified health conditions at no cost to people directly affected. Dr. John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at the CDC which oversees the program, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the history, the extensive list of covered conditions, and the process through which people can apply to be part of the program—even if they don't have any diagnosed medical condition at this time. Learn more here: https://www.cdc.gov/wtc/apply.html

659 - What You Need To Know About the Juvenile Justice System Sep 08, 2023

Show notes

Many of us only hear about the juvenile justice system from the news in 30-second snippets. But Sam Abed, acting director of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services in Washington DC, has more to say. Abed talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about his work with juvenile justice and what he most wants people to know about the system and the young people who come through it.

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