Global Health Is A Collective Problem: How We Can Solve It, Together?

sure you don't miss that episode. Meanwhile, as I've shared with you before, I love this idea of putting our heads together, joining forces, and basically becoming voltron for change. So today I'm gonna continue exploring global health by putting the spotlight on some action leaders. These are folks on the ground providing health care access, both physical and mental, in some remote places, including right here in the United States.

I wanted to know a few things. What's it like to provide healthcare in places where inequity is a problem. How do you globalize an issue that has so many nuances within each government, each system, in each community. How do you facilitate mental health access in the community that doesn't know it desperately needs it. To answer some of these questions, I sat down with Juan Acosta, a mental health advocate and regional manager at cal Hope Warmline at

the Mental Health Association of San Francisco. He began his work really young, accumulating over two hundred hours of community service at age fifteen. He's also a New York Times bestselling author for a book he co authored with Lady Gaga, Yeah, Lady Gaga called Channel Kindness, Stories of Kindness and Community.

After one, We'll hear from Dr Kerry Joe's Felix. He works as a chief surgeon at Doctors Without Borders and has been with the organization since He spent time offering his services all over the world, from his native home in Haiti to the Congo in Africa. Welcome to Force Multiplier. Thank you for joining me. Thank you. So you have a book with Lady Gaga. I saw you kicking it with Selena Gomez and the first Lady at the White House. So I just want to start by saying congratulations on

your life one. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Now. I know things didn't start this way. Can you take me back to some of your early days. Tell me where you were born and raised, some of your early home and school experiences. Great well, I was born in Halisco, Mexico, and I came to this country at age two. Uh So growing up. I grew up in Woodland, California, and growing up here was quite interesting because it's a small town,

so everybody knows one another. And because I immigrated to this country, I didn't know the English language when I first arrived, and I have to learn it throughout grade school, which put me through some barriers and communication with my classmates, with my teachers, and I started to get made fun of for those things. And I was also being labeled things in regards to my sexuality prior to me being

able to acknowledge it myself. So that's when a little bit of my mental health journey began and just why I got into the work that I did today. We all have so many parts to our identities, and you've hinted at a few pieces already. But what parts of yourself and your identity are you comfortable with and fully embracing now that you weren't able to do with a kid. Yeah, I think living authentically as a gay man has been one of the things that I'm most proud of today.

It brought me a lot of fear and a lot of inner conflict to even be able to name that out to people, to my parents, to my ends. I felt like I had to repress and hide a lot of who I was in order to be living in a society that I felt was not meant for people like me. This feeling, this internal tension, is feeling of repression that you just described. How did that show up in your life? Yeah, it manifested in many ways, and I generally believe it did in every aspect of my life.

Even with my parents. I remember I built this barrier and communicating with them. I was trying to push my my own family away because I didn't want to feel like I was too attached if they were to turn their back on me when I came out to them. So I I didn't share a lot with my parents. And I also didn't share because I saw them struggling as well to put food on the table to pay for our bills, because they were working a day and night as immigrants in this country to provide for my siblings.

And I I felt stomach ache showing up to school. I didn't want to be in class because I knew I was going to get bullied on my peers. It wasn't a great feeling and I chose to stay home often so that I wouldn't interact with people in school or outside of school, because I knew it was going to put me in the fire zone, that I was going to be a target to the people around me. Yeah, I have this image of just walls between you and your peers at school, walls between you and your own family,

walls within yourself. I grew up with a mother who worked really really hard to make the road a bit smoother from me, and I can identify with withholding some of my own needs so as not to be a burden. Definitely, So I really I really connect with that. That said, how did your parents react when you remove that wall and revealed that part of yourself to them? Honestly, it took me a while to do so. I was in high school, I think, when I had built up the courage to do so, I just didn't want to feel

a lot of their disappointment. Thankfully, when I did come out to them, they were really accepting and embracing. My dad had a couple of questions to try and understand, but he is the sweetest man, and he's supportive of me, and he's proud, and I'm proud to just be able to have this relationship with them. And I also recognized that my story isn't the same story of every other lgbt Q plus person, and that people are at times kicked out of their homes and face many more barriers

when coming out. What were some of the spaces where you started to feel more comfortable connecting with this part of your identity and starting this healing process for you? Who? Who did help you? Who did you run to first? Yeah? Honestly, when I was going through it, when I was deep, like in the dark, I did not know where to go, and that is why I got into advocacy. I found an opportunity to join a youth council locally at a nonprofit here in my town, and I started doing a

lot of volunteer work, a lot of community service. You joined a youth council in your town? How old were you? I was thirteen when I started. Just doing that community service was really beneficial to my own mental health at the time in your life where you didn't necessarily feel fully supported. Based on the timeline you shared, you end up volunteering to try to support others. Talk to me a little bit more about that that may not be

obvious to a lot of people. Yeah, for me, that moment was about me feeling like I didn't belong in the community and wanting to feel like I belonged in the community, and joining that youth council was the opportunity for me to belong in the community by trying to have a positive impact with other people because I knew that we were all in that council with one purpose, and it was to support one another and support the other youth in our community. I want to talk about

the roller culture in supporting the LGBTQ community. You said it was some of the lyrics and Lady Gaga is Born this Way that really helped you be your true self. What was it about that music, those lyrics that resonated so deeply with you. Yeah, I think with Gaga. I I always liked her performance art. But that album came out in middle school at a point where I was

really struggling with my mental health. I had a lot of suicidal thoughts and feelings at the time because I was being bullied almost every day in school, and when that song came out, it just kind of reaffirmed that it was okay to be myself. And in this small town that I live, and there wasn't a lot of lgbt Q plose folks, and there wasn't that representation, and

that was really isolating. But when I see and hear music with these lyrics of you being beautiful in your way and that doesn't matter if you're gay, it really spoke to me that point, and it gave me kind of that light amidst all the darkness that I was surrounded by someone seemingly so far away, you know, connected so closely to you in and broke through some of

those walls. You had a rector to protect yourself. M h. How did you end up hearing that song and then I'm reading about you as co author of a book with Lady Gaga? How did that begin? I was looking for every opportunity to stay involved in community work, and I saw an opportunity to join Channel Kindness, which is Lady Gaga's extension of her Born This Way Foundation, and that we're looking for an inaugural cohort for this new platform about storytelling and kindness and community, and I applied.

In my head, I was like, there's no way they're going to choose me. You know, in Woodland, like a small town, like it's just not gonna work out, but I'm just gonna take the risk, and I applied into my surprise, I was accepted, and years later I wrote a story for the Platform about my journey and drafting a historic lgbt Q plus proclamation for my hometown that made history. Tell me about that proclamation. What is the

proclamation that you wrote? Yeah, so, prior to moving to San Francisco, where I pursued my higher education, I wanted to address the lgbt Q plus community here in Woodland where I grew up because I didn't have that message of acceptance or belonging, and I wanted to change that for the young people that were going to be growing up here. So I emailed the city manager at the time and I was like, how can we get the

city council to proclaim June as Pride Month? And they said, what we need language for a proclamation, and I was I had just turned twenty one at the time, and I had no clue about any language for a proclamation.

So I stayed up all night kind of figuring stuff out, looking at things from the Internet, and I did it, and I emailed it to them and they took it up to their study Hall meeting and I went to speak during public comment and all of the people opposing it, and it passed unanimously for the first time in the town's history. Wow, what did it feel like to hear that opposition and to have the proclamation ultimately passed. Yeah.

I think curing the opposition was something that I knew was going to happen, just because of the things that I had undergone in this town. And to my surprise, there was also a lot of people speaking in favor of it. It was just so beautiful to see and I didn't think much of the opposition in that moment. I was there to do one thing and I wanted

to make sure it got done. And just when it passed and I saw everybody else like near me, cry and hug each other and have their like pride flags, it was just a mom And I think that's still my favorite moment till this day, of just being able to do that, because for my inner child, it was a full circle moment of kind of something that I was shamed for so much, and now in our present day, they have like a pride week, a Pride Parade and

it's completely three sixty. That's tremendous. And it's also for so many folks they get that moment elsewhere and and so they're accepted in a community they weren't born into. You got that feeling in your hometown. That's great man, Thank you. Yeah. You know, I've recently had a conversation on this podcast with Amanda Ryan Smith. She's at the Trevor Project running development, and she was telling me how there are over two d harmful policies targeting LGBTQ folks

proposed this year alone. So you've got this front row seat with the Commander in chief. I mentioned the White House and passing earlier, but you were part of the first ever youth mental health action form at the White House. What was the purpose of the forum? What was your role?

Give me some deeds? Yeah, So the forum was put in in partnership with MTV and the White House, and it brought together thirty young people to create a mental health campaign that was going to address relevant issues in our community and are My campaign, along with my team, was around intersectionality and mental health. How different aspects of our identity impact our mental health. The way we have access to care and how we approach mental health support

and care. And we all authority of us created these campaigns, and we all presented it to a variety of media and brands so that they could come together to create and put these campaigns into action along with the government. I'm you're in like Avengers style scene with you know, all the Avengers versus like the villains in the various movies, and and on one side, I see these proposed exclusionary laws, and on the other I see you, you know, and I see Lady Gaga, and I see these mental health

advocacy campaigns. Where do you see the field right now? Do you feel like we're moving in the right direction in terms of the politics. Does it feel like we're moving backwards? What's your take? I think it's a mixture of both. I believe that there is progress that has definitely been made, and that, you know, just having conversations around intersectionality and mental health and having more people that look like society itself being represented and speaking to these

issues has been great. And I think the issue that we've been encountering is that there has been a lot of conversations and not enough action and when there's these policies that are impacting and targeting communities, we are letting history repeat itself. Maybe not in the same exact way,

but history is repeating itself. And what we need to do is to ensure that we, yes, are fostering these conversations, but that we're being intentional and following through with our actions after I have often thought that history isn't a circle, but it can feel like a spiral, and we revisit like similar coordinates, but on kind of a different plane.

So there's these echoes of the past. When you talk about moving from words to action, you make me think of what I hear a lot about Generation Z. I hear that gen Z is done with the status quo, ready the challenge and fight for issues that matter to them most and act and not just talk. Do you think that's true, And as so, what do you see in terms of those actions that are different among gen

Z versus other generations. I think it's definitely true. I think in comparison to other generations, the majority of gen Z is advocating and they're pushing their thoughts beliefs out there, whether it's through social media or locally with their community. And I think that's great. And I think just this that we have about the youth mental health crisis. I know the Surgeon General put out a mental health crisis

statement late last year. There needs to be proactive measures at all levels to ensure that young people and everybody in general have support before them reaching a crisis point. For so long people have reached the crisis and it is not until then that they receive support, and we need to change that. We need to make sure people are getting support early on so that they don't have to go into a crisis. Yeah, it feels like we can't talk about lgbt Q plus mental health without talking

also about technology. I've been online for a very long time and seeing some of the best part where folks who feel isolated, who don't have someone in their town like them, can find someone in another town like them and feel less alone. But I've also seen the bullying, the isolation that the targeted harassment of this community as well. What would you like to see tech companies do more of or less to have the role of technology be

more supportive than harmful. You're talking about tech spaces here. I think making sure that they are ensuring that whether it's apps or spaces are safe for people that could look very differently for many members what we've seen these past years in terms of misinformation of just attacks on communities. People go sometimes online when they can't find a safe space in their own communities or at home. So I think trying to ensure that's done is really important. This

show we like to focus on action. One of our hashtact is action meets Impact. Can you tell us about some of the action you're up to now, particularly with this concept of a warm line as opposed to a hotline at the cow Hope Warm Line. So I work as a regional manager for the cow Hope Wormline, and a worm line is meant to be a phone line where people are able to call it in and get

support prior to them being in a crisis. So unlike a crisis line, when people call wormline, they're going to be connected to a peer counselor someone who's been there before and who understand what it's like to struggle. And our peer counselors they come from all different backgrounds and they have different experience in the mental health field, and when people call in, they're able to have an honest conversation about how they're feeling. And people like this approach

because unlike the clinical field, there isn't a hierarchy. They're able to talk to and with one another rather than out one another where you're just sharing, sharing, sharing and getting nothing back. And they are also connected to resources, whether it's a source of a peer support program or group in their community where they're able to go in person, or they're connected to how to find a therapist in

their communities. So that's our approach at the warm Lane, and it's very real around the nation, and a lot of people don't know about that. And I think just the more we're able to raise awareness because sometimes people can't get a therapy appointment because of insurance or because of long wait times. So the more we can use resources that are accessible to us, better we can ensure that people don't have to wait to reach a crisis point. Yeah.

I love that kind of preemptive, preventive position. I also like this idea that you know, I've I've talked with therapists before in my life, and that can be a pretty q and a focus kind of extractive, like tell me about your traumas as opposed to the way you described a peer who's been through some version of this, and there's more of an exchange there. How long have you been in this role. I started working at the warm Line in I started off as a coordinator, than

assistant manager and the regional manager for the line. But what I've seen throughout it has been really incredible because there's people who reach out for the first time for mental health support. People who share how they never wanted or could acknowledge in their household that they were struggling mentally and now they're fifty calling the warm Line talking about their struggles for the very first time. Yeah. When you hear that story, how does that make you feel?

You know, it gives validation to the work, and it continues pushing me and the counters who are answering the phones through because this work can be heavy and it can be exhausting emotionally, as is advocacy. So when you hear these stories, you are reminded of your why and why you get into this work is because of that passion and purpose to support the community, and those stories are that they are very much the purpose of why we do this work. Yeah, that's great, It's like fuel.

Definitely is in a world filled with such literally devastating news every day. This is a great reminder there's a warmline you can call that, there's kindness that you can channel and be inspired by or contribute to yourself. How do you manage your own mental health today? And it sounds like you've been on quite a journey from that two year old who showed up in Woodland and a couple of decades ago. What are your tools now? How do you assess where you're at? How do you manage well?

One of my biggest tools now, it's just being honest and open, both about my struggles and how I'm feeling. I think that has changed my life tremendously compared to where I was in middle school, where I repressed everything and where I felt shameful almost every part of my being. I now feel very proud of who I am, and I feel like I'm able to share how I'm feeling with my family openly. I set boundaries. I take care of my own mental health. I try and move my

body every morning at five am. I tray and exercise. I also have my own support groups, peer support therapy. All of those things work for me. What's one thing you want someone listening to this conversation to be sure they take away I want people to not feel broken for being who they are. I think our society is the one that's broken, and we are at times made to feel shame or broken for being ourselves, and that should never be the case. We should be proud of

who we are and we should embrace our light. That is what makes us who we are, that is what makes us unique, that is what makes us want to live. And if we are feeling broken and we're repressing who we are, we are not living life. We are alive, and we cannot just be alive. We need to live. That's about everything right there. We have to live, not just be alive. What's one thing you want people listening

to this conversation to do. I want people listening to this conversation to reach out for support when they're struggling, and to support those around them if they have the capacity. I think that's really important. And when we do that, we create a ripple effect. We impact ourselves positively, and we impact those around us to do the same with our peers and with the folks around them. M mmm mmmmm. It's almost like we become a kind of force multiplier

on exactly. I have so much respect for you. I'm so grateful for what you're doing in the world, the ripples, your cre aiding. I think what stands out to me is when you said, if you have the capacity offering support to a lot of us going through whatever we're going through, we can get stuck in our own and think of any extra effort as extra, right. It's like outside of ourselves. But sometimes we need to get outside of ourselves to find ourselves. And it seems to be

a part of your journey. You know, as you were needing support, you were also offering it, and so you became that and with a community, you know, found that for yourself. Why is there anything else you want to add? Now? Just thank you again for having me on here and for having this conversation, and to again to folks out there, reach out for support if you need it, and take people up into your head and show them how you're feeling. Thank you. One a costa. Thank you. You're listening to

a podcast called Force Multiplier, Action meets Impact. Now. I'm sure you've grown to expect ads baked into your podcast, but we're gonna do something a little different to walk the walk. We've donated our ad space to the organizations that need it, most organizations directly tackling today's greatest challenges. Be right back. The biggest threat to global health isn't

a virus, it's injustice. The same scenario the ones denied life saving HIV medication to the world's poorest countries is now on repeat with access to COVID relief, we must act now to get doctors and nurses on the front lines to help they need to save lives. Join read and learn how every dollar raised for the Global Fund results in thirty one dollars in health gains and economic returns. Visit red dot org for the many ways your money and support can become a force multiplier in the fight

against pandemics. Hey, I'm still Baritune Day, your host for Force Multiplier, but I'm checking in with you with a little different energy, because if you're listening, you like the show, and if you like the show, you might like my other show, How to Citizen, where we take citizen as a verb and find out from people practicing the ways we can shape our community by showing up, investing in relationships,

understanding power, and valuing our collective selves. Check it out at how to citizen dot com or wherever you get your podcast. Yo. I am so impressed by Want, not just because he's annoyingly accomplished at his young age, but because he was able to open doors for so many by figuring out how to be himself. That's a radical yet simple idea that finding our voice can be one of the most powerful things we do for ourselves and for those around us. Our next guest follows a similar path.

Doctor carry Joe's Felix was so inspired by those around him he decided to get into medicine, where he helps people in some of the most unpredictable conditions. My name is Carrie Jos Felix m thirty eight years old. I was born and raised in eighty the Caribbean. My family really believed in education, and my mother is a nurse. And also I have an uncle with a doctor that we admired lot, so I think I've been very much

influenced by those two people. So I've been working with Doctor's brothers since two thousand and sixteen, first as a general surgeon in eighty and then I became the chief of the surgeons in the Bird Center import winds to Capital City. So I'm part of this generation of doctors who actually had to deal with the consequences of the devasting earthquake in eighty two ten. So I've been pretty much aware of differences in the global healthcare system in general.

One of the differences is access to care. For example, the number especially is that we would find in one hospital in Ottawa that would be more than the world Central African Republic. For example, there is only one Central African autopedic surgeon in the world country, and the other autopedic surgeon who would be working in the country are the ones bought by the clubs with our borders. So this is one of the biggest inequities that I can notice.

And also the fact that there is universal have college in some countries and defeated in that in a lot of other countries. Dr Felix has traveled the world both in training and in practice, but nothing actually prepares you for the stressful situations that pop up without notice. I spent four months in the Congo las here and when I arrived in May, I've been there for two weeks. And then there was that volcanic awersion in Goma, one of the biggest cities in the Congo. People had to

be evacuated. So I was already there, you know, a smaller city about seven kilometals from Goma, So there were like thousands of people on the wards and of course my team not only had to receive and shutter a lot of those people, but also we were receiving at nights ten, fifteen, twenty people involving accidents. So we would come to the hospital and we would have to do triage and operate on some patient. So that was one

of those situations. Was a bit like difficult and swears for so community will come together after crisis to help and also to take things in their own hands because the fact that we are here trying to help without any kind of discrimination, that brings a lot of hope to them. They feel that they are not all known. But my biggest investment, I would say it's the local staff, the local doctors, local nurses, because I do believe that

they're the ones. I mean, if they had means, they would do more to actually serve the population and help them talk to us. For all, brothers were begging expertise,

were begging means, medication, experience all of that. So they are here, they're working with us, we are helping them to help their own population, and they're learning also, So that's that was the case in Native for example, I was part of the international which actually came to help, and that was a very special experience, and I was so happy because one of the ancient surgeons who actually came to help was one of the ones that I trained,

and I was so proud of that. You see, whatever, He's one of those experiences where actually we've seen what we've done being replicated to build a community and keep helping. It's easy to see these crises as far removed from us, especially when they happened on the other side of the world. But through his experience, he's learned that sometimes help looks

similar regardless of geography. So right now the needs may be more in the Middle East and uh in Africa or Latin America and nowadays Ukraine, but things may happen everywhere any time in the world, so it's not about them. It's us. So today's Africa or you friend, but it can be anyone any time, so we should care a little bit more. No Man is an island, John Dan said right, So we have to try to stay from and see what's going on in the world and try to see how we can help based on the needs.

And also we have to be culturally sensitive because every country has their own specificities and we have to be aware of that. We have to give a hand, but also respecting the dignity of the people that we're helping, so people can help in their own ways. There are people who are willing to give, so I would definitely encourage people to keep donating, but also volunteer. There are so many ways to get involved, doats about borders. This is not just about doctors and nurses. There are a

lot of people with different back ones. No man is an island. This perfectly sums up how important Dr Felix's work is not just to the regions he services, but to the whole world. And I can't help but think of these local doctors and nurses. He references, those that do so much despite having so little. We all need more of that spirit, just a pair of willing hands that want to help. I don't know about you, but I have to talking more with Juan and Dr Felix.

I feel like the world is a little bit smaller and a little bit more compassionate. It's not just because we're connecting from different parts of the world or across time zones. I think it's because they give me hope that the solution can be replicated, just with added sprinkles of culture and nuance, depending on what community you're serving.

I also love that they both believe we can be part of the action with more than just our dollars, because our skills, time, and empathy don't have to begin and end with medicine. Sometimes, compassion, the ability to listen, and the willingness to learn is more than enough to help. Are you feeling inspired and want to check out more information about the organizations we talked about in this episode. Learn more about them and how you can support their work.

Go to salesforce dot org slash Force Multiplier. Force Multiplier is a production of I Heart Radio and Salesforce dot Org hosted by me Barrettune Day Thurston. It's executive produced by Elizabeth Stewart, produced by Van Schien, edited and mixed by James Foster, and written by Yvette Lopez. A special thanks to our guests Dr Kerry, Joe's Felix and Juan Acosta. Listen to force multiplier on the I heart rate, your app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. M m hm