Health & Wealth Desk Podcast

Last August, the United States completed the American exit from Afghanistan, and as the Taliban regained control of the county, numerous Afghans – many of whom had worked with the US military – were forced to flee.Several hundred of those refugees have ended up in Mid-Missouri, so in January community groups came together to gather donations for new and expectant Afghan moms.And they didn’t stop there – they also hosted a baby shower and health clinic to educate and welcome Afghan Mom as they transition to life in America and to life as new moms.

COVID-19 vaccine education and outreach are hard enough without a language barrier. But for Missouri’s Spanish-speaking immigrant communities, these efforts are critical. Many work in high-risk environments like meat and poultry processing plants. And while most still aren’t eligible for a vaccine, health officials and providers face a number of challenges to be ready when they are.

COVID-19 vaccine education and outreach are hard enough without a language barrier. But for Missouri’s Spanish-speaking immigrant communities, these efforts are critical. That’s because many work in high-risk environments like meat and poultry processing plants, in rural parts of the state where access to healthcare is already limited. Dr. Kathleen Page is a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who co-founded Centro SOL in Baltimore. The center aims to increase education and

Missouri’s vaccine rollout has been one of the slowest in the nation according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Now, the Parson administration is looking to change that by routing vaccine distribution through some 30 major hospitals across the state. The state Department of Health and Senior Services is sending more than half of its weekly federal allocation of 76,000 doses to those hospitals in a bid to streamline the process.

Last Thursday, Governor Mike Parson announced Missouri would enter Phase 1B of COVID-19 vaccine distribution, making millions of Missourians eligible for vaccination. But the vast majority of those eligible still have to wait to be inoculated. That’s because supply of the two vaccines approved for distribution — from Pfizer and Moderna — hasn’t mirrored the growth in eligibility. Sara Humm is with the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services department. She says the department is

As vaccine distribution gets going, some rural hospitals are facing uncertainty when it comes to immunizing their staff. Dr. Randy Tobler, the CEO of Scotland County Hospital in rural northeastern Missouri, initially didn't expect to receive the shipment of the Moderna vaccine he ordered for his staff. While it ultimately showed up this week, he fears other rural providers won't be as lucky.

This is part one of a two-part report on how rural hospitals across Missouri are dealing with the surge in COVID-19 admissions. 30 hours — that’s how long it took Erik Martin to find one of his patients a hospital bed. Martin is an emergency physician who works in hospitals throughout southern Missouri. “It was pretty frustrating, because we had to call a lot of different hospitals and they just couldn’t help us," Martin said.

COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to rise in Missouri, and unlike other surges earlier in the summer, hospitals in most parts of the state are filling up. At Cox Health, a health system in Springfield that operates multiple hospitals, expanding capacity over the past nine months still hasn't been enough. Cox has added more than 100 beds, but the system has still had to turn people away. CEO Steve Edwards told the Health and Wealth Desk how the system is surviving the surge.

It’s the first time since the University of Missouri started reporting COVID-19 cases that the number of “TOTAL STUDENTS HOSPITALIZED SINCE AUG. 19, 2020” was not zero. The Show Me Renewal dashboard was updated on Monday to two students, marked with a double asterisk.

A month ago, there were fewer than 60 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Boone County. This week, there were more than 140 . COVID-19 hospitalizations are up across the state, with more than 2,000 people admitted as of November 7, according to the Missouri Hospital Association . The increase was enough to push BJC Healthcare to start deferring some scheduled procedures at hospitals in the St. Louis area. Columbia hospitals aren’t there yet, but it’s not out of the question.