There are a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to Long Covid, which refers to the prolonged symptoms that some patients experience after an initial COVID-19 infection . People experiencing Long Covid have reported symptoms ranging from fatigue to brain fog to difficulty breathing. For some, the symptoms last a couple weeks after their initial infection with COVID-19. For others, the symptoms have lasted much longer. This week on the Public Health Out Loud podcast, find out what we do and ...
Jul 22, 2022•26 min•Season 2Ep. 53
This week’s guest expert on the Public Health Out Loud podcast is Dr. Carol Lewis, a general pediatrician at Hasbro Children’s Hospital and the director of the Refugee Health Program there. Co-hosts Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan ask her about pediatric health trends and common health issues among the refugee community. They also ask her about how Rhode Island has welcomed recent waves of refugees arriving from Afghanistan and Ukraine. Download this week’s episode to learn more....
Jul 15, 2022•24 min•Season 2Ep. 52
What did COVID-19 teach us about pandemic preparedness? How concerned should we be about monkeypox? Download the latest episode of the Public Health Out Loud podcast to get the answers from Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo , an epidemiologist, pandemic preparedness expert, and the director at the new Pandemic Preparedness Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. Co-hosts Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan talk about their experiences as local public health officials throughout the COVID-19 pa...
Jul 08, 2022•24 min•Season 2Ep. 51
Did you know 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have experienced domestic violence in their lifetime? Listen to the latest episode of the Public Health Out Loud podcast to learn more about the patterns of behavior that can occur in abusive relationships and local resources that are available to Rhode Islanders. This week’s guest expert is Vanessa Volz, the executive director at Sojourner House . The mission of Sojourner House is to promote healthy relationships by providing culturally sensitive support...
Jul 01, 2022•29 min•Season 2Ep. 50
This week’s guest expert is Erin Bertoldi, the state breastfeeding coordinator at the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH). Co-hosts Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan ask Erin about the health benefits of breastfeeding, the challenges that parents may face, and the resources that are available to support parents through their breastfeeding journey. Why does the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that infants be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life? Has the nationa...
Jun 24, 2022•24 min•Season 2Ep. 49
Did you know about 10 million people a year develop an active infection of tuberculosis? Although cases in the United States are rare, tuberculosis continues to be prevalent in other areas of the world. And since there isn’t an effective, long-term vaccine, cases can be fatal. In fact, before COVID-19, tuberculosis was the leading infectious disease killer in the world. This week’s guest expert is Dr. Natasha Rybak, the director of the RISE Clinic for Tuberculosis in Rhode Island. She describes ...
Jun 17, 2022•22 min•Season 2Ep. 48
Ending homelessness is a public health issue. One possible solution? More housing. This week’s guest expert on the Public Health Out Loud podcast is Karen Santilli, the CEO of Crossroads Rhode Island. Crossroads is the leading provider of housing and homeless services in Rhode Island. Santilli talks about how rates of homelessness have increased not just in the state, but throughout the country during the pandemic. She also shares stories about how something called a “housing first” model can he...
Jun 10, 2022•25 min•Season 2Ep. 47
This week’s guest expert on the Public Health Out Loud podcast is Dr. Andrew Saal; a family physician and the chief medical officer of the largest community health center in Rhode Island, Providence Community Health Centers (PCHC). Co-hosts Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan ask Dr. Saal about the difference between reactive and proactive healthcare. They also ask him about how transforming primary care to a team-based approach could relieve crowded emergency rooms and reduce burnout among hea...
Jun 03, 2022•26 min•Season 2Ep. 46
Pharmacists do a lot more than dispense medication. Pharmacies have become a major hub for people to access health care services—like testing, vaccine, and treatment—during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, roughly 75 percent of the country’s eligible population got their COVID-19 vaccine from a pharmacy. How has the role of the pharmacist evolved over time? This week’s guest experts, Dr. Jeffrey Bratberg and Dr. Sabrina Silveira, will explain just that. Dr. Bratberg is a clinical professor of pha...
May 27, 2022•25 min•Season 2Ep. 45
This week’s guest expert has been managing outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics throughout her career. Meet Dr. Utpala Bandy, the Medical Director for the Division of Preparedness, Response, Infectious Diseases, and Emergency Medical Services at the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH). Dr. Bandy gives a tour of her healthcare experiences from around the globe, including her education and the onset of her career in India, and the front-line training she received throughout the United Kingdom...
May 20, 2022•25 min•Season 2Ep. 44
Trauma-informed care shifts the focus from “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” A trauma-informed approach to health acknowledges that physicians and healthcare organizations need to have a complete picture of a patient’s life situation — past and present — in order to provide effective healthcare services with a focus on healing. This week’s guest experts are Dr. Catherine DeGood; a physician in family and addiction medicine, medical director of CODAC Behavioral Healthcare , and ...
May 13, 2022•31 min•Season 2Ep. 43
This week’s guest on the Public Health Out Loud podcast is an expert on housing instability, the eviction crisis, and related impacts on health outcomes. Dr. Gracie Himmelstein is a resident in internal medicine at the University of California Los Angeles with a PhD in demography from Princeton University. She has also conducted research with The Eviction Lab at Princeton University , which creates data, interactive tools, and research to help neighbors and policymakers understand the eviction c...
May 06, 2022•28 min•Season 2Ep. 42
In July of 2021, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee signed legislation allowing for a two-year harm reduction center pilot program in the state. This means Rhode Island will be among the first in the nation to license and establish harm reduction centers , which are places where people can go to use drugs safely. What will a harm reduction center in Rhode Island look like? How effective have harm reduction centers been at preventing overdose deaths in other countries? Learn more about Rhode Island’...
Apr 29, 2022•30 min•Season 2Ep. 41
In this week’s episode, you’ll hear co-hosts Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan talk about their roads to becoming doctors, and their journeys into public health. What did Dr. Chan’s time as an ambulance driver teach him about medicine? What made Dr. McDonald decide to drop his undergraduate major in photography? Download this week’s episode to learn more.
Apr 22, 2022•23 min•Season 2Ep. 40
When we think about vending machines, we imagine sugary drinks and candy bars. But in Rhode Island, vending machines are being used to dispense harm reduction tools that can help prevent overdose and reduce the spread of infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. Through these vending machines, individuals can access free, sterile syringes, rapid tests for sexually transmitted infections, naloxone (Narcan®), wound care and hygiene kits, and fentanyl test strips any time of day or night. In th...
Apr 15, 2022•24 min•Season 2Ep. 39
Research shows that adverse childhood experiences, like abuse or parental abandonment, can negatively impact a person’s health outcomes later in life. This week’s guest expert, Dr. Robert Sege, is determined to flip pediatrics upside down by asking the question: Can positive childhood experiences foster better health outcomes for children later in life? Dr. Sege is a pediatrician at Tufts Children’s Hospital in Boston, Mass. In this week’s episode, he talks with co-hosts Dr. Philip Chan and Dr. ...
Apr 08, 2022•27 min•Season 2Ep. 38
Many Rhode Islanders living in specific geographies have experienced higher rates of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths throughout the pandemic. For example, in the seven hardest-hit ZIP codes, people of color as young as 25 are experiencing higher hospitalization rates than white people over 60 years old. Such differences are directly connected to the social conditions in which some communities of color are more likely to live and work every day, and to systems of structural raci...
Apr 01, 2022•32 min•Season 2Ep. 37
People who are incarcerated have a constitutional right to quality healthcare services. This week’s guest expert, Dr. Justin Berk, is responsible for ensuring every person who is incarcerated at Rhode Island’s correctional facilities has access to, and receives, quality healthcare. Dr. Berk is medical director at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections and a faculty member at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University. He is a staunch advocate for increased access to medications , s...
Mar 25, 2022•21 min•Season 2Ep. 36
This week’s guest expert is Dr. Tom Bledsoe, a general internist and chair of the Rhode Island Hospital Ethics Committee. Co-hosts Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan ask him about how medical ethical issues are handled in Rhode Island. Do physicians have a different ethical responsibility from the average person? What were some of the ethical conundrums that arose during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic? Download this week’s episode to find out.
Mar 18, 2022•24 min•Season 2Ep. 35
As the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved, Rhode Island has relied on data and science to help guide its response. At the Rhode Island Department of Health, the COVID-19 Data and Analytics Team is responsible for collecting and organizing statewide data that has informed decisions about reopening businesses and schools, and protecting people from the virus. This week, you’ll hear from some of those team members. Co-hosts Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan get into the nitty gritty of COVID-19 data,...
Mar 11, 2022•22 min•Season 2Ep. 34
At the Rhode Island Department of Health, the Medical Countermeasures Distribution Program is responsible for giving out things like medicine, vaccine, and personal protective equipment to healthcare professionals and members of the public in response to an outbreak. The program has detailed plans prepared for responding to various emergency public health scenarios. In recent years, the program has responded to measles cases among international travelers, a meningitis outbreak at a university, a...
Mar 04, 2022•27 min•Season 2Ep. 33
According to co-hosts Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan, this week’s episode is long overdue. We’re talking to a nurse! This week’s guest expert is Erin Abrahamsen. She is a nurse and team lead on the Rhode Island Department of Health’s COVID-19 Prevention Field Team. She also works in the emergency department at Rhode Island Hospital and serves as a nurse in the Rhode Island Air National Guard. Erin shares stories that highlight the versatility and adaptability of nurses working in emergency...
Feb 25, 2022•26 min•Season 2Ep. 32
In this week’s episode, Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan talk about something that impacts the health of every person living on this planet: climate change. Learn more about what climate change actually means and how it’s already impacting Rhode Island from guest expert Dr. Stephen Porder. Dr. Porder is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, a Fellow in the Institute at Brown University for Environment and Society, and the Assistant Provost for Sustainability at Brown University. H...
Feb 18, 2022•25 min•Season 2Ep. 31
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are stressful or traumatic events that can undermine a child's sense of safety and well-being. They can include emotional abuse, exposure to substance use, sexual abuse, having a member of the household be incarcerated, and having separated or divorced parents. According to research, including studies published by this week’s guest expert, ACEs may have a negative impact on a person’s health and behavioral outcomes later in life. Our guest this week is Dr. Tr...
Feb 11, 2022•20 min•Season 2Ep. 30
This week’s guest expert, Dr. Mitchell Levy, is a member of the National Institutes of Health’s panel on COVID-19 treatment guidelines. He is also the medical director of the Medical Intensive Care unit at Rhode Island Hospital, and a professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. Levy is joined by co-hosts Dr. Philip Chan and, the newly appointed Interim Director of the Rhode Island Depa...
Feb 04, 2022•26 min•Season 2Ep. 29
Understanding the American healthcare system can be complicated. This week on Public Health Out Loud, we’re joined by guest experts Dr. Robert Hackey and Dr. Todd Olszewski, two healthcare policy experts from Providence College. Co-hosts Dr. Philip Chan and Dr. Jim McDonald ask them about the good, the bad, and the ugly of national and state-level healthcare policies. What do our guest experts think works well about the American healthcare system? What do they think works less well? Download thi...
Jan 28, 2022•35 min•Season 2Ep. 28
Caring for infants can be difficult for one, very obvious reason: they can’t talk. Sometimes drawing blood or preventatively prescribing antibiotics are the only courses of action for pediatricians looking to fend off a possible infection among their youngest and most vulnerable patients. Wouldn’t it be easier if pediatricians could diagnose and accurately treat infants based on a drop of their saliva, instead? This week’s guest expert, Dr. Jill Maron, may have the answer to that question. Dr. J...
Jan 21, 2022•27 min•Season 2Ep. 27
On this week’s episode of the Public Health Out Loud podcast, co-hosts Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan are talking about natural immunity. What level of immunity does someone have after getting infected with COVID-19? Are they at risk for getting infected again? Our co-hosts are joined by Dr. Joseph Hogan and PhD candidate Nick Lewis from the Brown University Biostatistics Department. Our guest experts discuss their research findings on how many people in Rhode Island have gotten infected w...
Jan 14, 2022•34 min•Season 2Ep. 26
There are about 1.6 million people in the United States right now living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Cases range from mild to severe, and can impact people of all ages. In this week’s podcast, co-hosts Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan are talking about all things related to IBD and gut health. This week’s guest expert is Rhode Island native Dr. Jason Shapiro. He’s a pediatric gastroenterologist and director of the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Hasbro Children's Ho...
Jan 07, 2022•29 min•Season 2Ep. 25
Dr. Ewa King, director of Rhode Island’s State Health Laboratories, returns in this week’s episode to talk about COVID-19 variants. In Rhode Island, the State Health Labs coordinate the SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance program in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and clinical and academic laboratories. This means the State Health Labs are sequencing and analyzing a representative selection of samples of the virus circulating in the state to identify differences...
Dec 31, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 24
