At the Core of Care

In this compelling podcast episode, we are joined by guest Shukriyyah Mitchell Hinton, BSN, RN, the Senior Director of Outreach and Advocacy from the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium (NNCC) who leads a poignant conversation with Saleemah McNeil, CLC, MS, MFT, and Imani Davis. Together, they delve into the systemic challenges facing Black maternal health in Philadelphia and beyond. From personal experiences to community initiatives, they explore the multifaceted efforts to address disparities through advocacy, education, and support. As they navigate through discussions on mental health, home visiting programs, and legislative advocacy, they bring light to the ongoing struggles for maternal health equity. Imani Davis is a lived experience expert and community specialist for organizations including Strategy Arts and Community Action Network (CAN). Saleemah McNeil is a reproductive psychotherapist and founder of the Oshun Family Center in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. This episode coincides with Black Maternal Health Week. To learn more about virtual and in-person events scheduled in Philadelphia, please visit bmhwphilly.org for more information. 

Our partners at Obscured captured the insights of our distinguished panelists in two parts, each shedding light on the diverse facets of harm reduction and effective strategies for addressing trauma resulting from interactions with law enforcement. If you have not listened to Part 1, we recommend starting with that episode. Listen here! Continuing the dialogue in the second part of the panel discussion are moderators Stephanie Marudas from Kouvenda Media and Namaijah Faison, MPH from the Pennsylvania Action Coalition. Joining them is Talitha Smith, BSN, RN, a nurse navigator with the Allegheny Health Network’s Center for Inclusion Health Clinic, RIvER (Rethinking Incarceration and Empowering Recovery). Following Talitha, we delve into the experiences of Chad Bruckner, a retired police detective who now owns and oversees a private investigator firm, Intercounty Investigations & Solutions, Inc. and is a coach and recovery specialist. Wrapping up the discussion is Laurie A. Corbin, MSS, MLSP, who is the Managing Director for Community Engagement at Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC). She oversees a range of programs that provide social services, prevention, intervention, treatment, and education to at-risk individuals and their families.

In a special collaboration, the Pennsylvania Action Coalition joined forces with Kouvenda Media’s Obscured Journalism Initiative last year to host a thought-provoking panel discussion on law enforcement interactions within the community and the implementation of a harm reduction care model. Our partners at Obscured captured the insights of our distinguished panelists in two parts, each shedding light on the diverse facets of harm reduction and effective strategies for addressing trauma resulting from interactions with law enforcement. In this episode, we hear from Talitha Smith, a nurse navigator with the Allegheny Health Network’s Center for Inclusion Health Clinic, RIvER (Rethinking Incarceration and Empowering Recovery). Talitha shares her insights about harm reduction and her passion for RIvER’s unique programming, which rapidly, effectively, and compassionately addresses the health needs of individuals post-release from incarceration.  Following Talitha's insights, we delve into the experiences of Chad Bruckner, a retired police detective who now owns and oversees a private investigator firm and is a coach and recovery specialist. Closing the discussion is Laurie A. Corbin who is the Managing Director for Community Engagement at Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC). She oversees a range of programs that provide social services, prevention, intervention, treatment, and education to at-risk individuals and their families.

In this episode, we speak with Kim Trout, PhD, RN, CNM, FACNM, FAAN and Saumya Ayyagari, MSN, MPH about nurse-led research on the lived experiences of sex workers who identify as women and their healthcare needs. We also hear insights from Blue Laurano, a harm reduction professional and MPH candidate at Temple University. Trout and Ayyagari are two of the three researchers on the study, “In Our Own Voices: The Lived Experience of Sex Workers in Philadelphia who Identify as Women.” This study aimed to begin filling the gaps in our knowledge concerning how the lived experience of being a woman (i.e., a cisgender or transgender woman) sex worker affects her health, health preferences, health needs, and health care utilization.  Saumya Ayyagari is the Nursing Workforce Development Manager for the Pennsylvania Action Coalition. Prior to this, her nursing career focused on reproductive health and parental and child health. She is passionate about expanding access to health care in a manner that is empowering to communities. Dr. Trout is an Associate Professor at the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing at Villanova University where she conducts research on health promotion, health equity, and maternal morbidity reduction through nursing and midwifery care. Blue Laurano has worked in harm reduction for more than seven years. They are deeply committed to uplifting the voices of persons who use substances & educating people about the benefits of utilizing harm reduction in all spaces. They are currently pursuing a Masters in Public Health at Temple University. Trout and Ayyagari hope their findings will inform health care and public health professionals about how to improve health care services for sex workers who identify as women. Read their published research article here: In Our Own Voices: The Lived Experience of Sex Workers in Philadelphia who Identify as Women

In this episode, we are closing out our special vaccine confidence coverage with Letha Joseph, DNP, APRN, AGPCNP-BC and Adeline Kline, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, NCSN who are members of the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium’s Vaccine Confidence Advisory Committee. Kline and Joseph discuss the importance of relationship-building with community members to help promote health and wellness goals. Letha Joseph is a nurse practitioner from Durham, North Carolina. She is also the Director of the Geriatric and Extended Care Nurse Practitioner Residency program at the Durham VA Healthcare System and consulting associate at the Duke University School of Nursing. Adeline Kline is a family nurse practitioner and clinical educator for Hawai’i Keiki, which is a partnership between the University of Hawai’i Mānoa School of Nursing and the Hawai‘i Department of Education. 

Our special vaccine confidence coverage continues as we discuss the latest vaccine confidence trends and lessons learned as we enter the third year of the COVID-19 public health emergency. In this episode, we speak to Monica J. Harmon, MSN, MPH, RN and Jayatri Das, Ph.D. about the role that non-traditional health settings and partnerships have played in recent years to promote vaccine confidence.   Harmon and Das have been involved in educational and public health outreach within the community since the beginning of the pandemic. Jayatri Das is the Chief Bioscientist at the Franklin Institute, a science museum in Philadelphia that leads education programming and research efforts. She is also the Executive Producer of the Franklin Institute’s So Curious! Podcast. Das has helped oversee the Franklin Institute’s involvement with a nationwide initiative called Communities for Immunity to help educate and engage the public during the pandemic. Monica J. Harmon is a public health nurse and holds various leadership roles. At Drexel University she is the Executive Director at the College of Nursing and Health Professions (CNHP) Community Wellness HUB in addition to being an assistant clinical professor. She is also the Interim CNHP Services Director at the Stephen and Sandra Sheller 11th Street Family Health Services. Harmon serves as the Co-Chair for the Pennsylvania Action Coalition’s Nurse Diversity Council and is the chapter president of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Area Black Nurses Association (SEPABNA).

Our special vaccine confidence coverage continues as we discuss the latest vaccine confidence trends and lessons learned along the way. In this episode, Annette Gadegbeku, M.D joins us for a community-health focused conversation about her work and active role in various vaccination and testing initiatives that helped serve the community at Drexel University. She shares some of the key community health lessons learned after rolling out these initiatives specifically at the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships. Annette Gadegbeku is a family physician and holds various leadership roles at Drexel University in addition to being an associate professor. She is the Chief of the Division of Community Health in the Department of Family, Community, & Preventive Medicine, the Associate Dean for the Office of Community Health & Health Equity, and the Medical Director of the Healing Hurt People Program in the Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice.

In 2021 we rolled out a six-part vaccine confidence series featuring nurse champions who shared their experience with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, addressing nursing burnout, and much more. We are continuing the conversation about vaccine confidence with a four-episode special focusing on vaccine confidence trends and lessons learned so far. In this episode we follow up with Melody Butler, who we previously talked to in 2021 from our first vaccine confidence series. She explains where we are in the pandemic and addresses the simultaneous surge of COVID, RSV, and the flu. Butler also shares her perspective on whether we are more prepared to prevent cases of infectious disease than in previous years. Melody Butler, BSN, RN, CIC is an Infection Preventionist at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center on Long Island and the founder of Nurses Who Vaccinate.