Hear Me Now Podcast

CW: war fighting, sexual violence, genocide

An online transcript is available

.

The latest iteration of Russia's war on Ukraine has entered its second year prompting us to examine the issue of war trauma ��� especially the toll war takes on civilians. Russia's indiscriminate targeting of civilian housing, schools, hospitals, and infrastructure has not only made civilians witnesses of war, but victims of it. War-rape, which was only recognized as a crime against humanity following the war in the former Yugoslavia, is being used by Russian forces and paramilitaries as a means of terrorizing civilians.

On today's program, four conversations about civilians during and after war.

.

Sr. Donna Markham, OP, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and Dominican sister, heads Catholic Charities USA. She describes her encounters with Ukrainian civilians during her recent trip to the war zone and the tasks that face the people of Ukraine today. (Watch: Catholic Charities' webinar on Sr. Donna's visit to Ukraine.)

.

Next: we talk with Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta, MBBS, Ph.D., a physician who co-directs the Centre for Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto about the long-term effects of maternal and child health of living in a war zone and the very real developmental deficits that can arise by disruption of adequate nutrition, normal schooling, and play. (Watch: Aga Khan University's Lecture by Dr. Bhutta on the future of maternal and child health.)

.

And we have a conversation with Shanna Kohn who is Director of International Education at Sesame Workshop. In addition to its longstanding effort to meet the educational needs of refugee children, for the first time ever, Sesame Workshop in Ukraine is producing content for children in an active war zone. ��(Watch: the entire episode "������������ ����������" ["Grover is Sad"])

.
And finally, we talk with Dr. Nena Mo��nik, Ph.D., author of Trauma Transmission and Sexual Violence: Reconciliation and Peacebuilding in Post Conflict Settings about the use of rape as a tool of war and the ways victims can begin to recover from the trauma of it. (Watch: Project Eirene's video of Dr. Mo��nik's webinar on "Women and Post-War Transitions: Oral history,")

.

BONUS: Listen to our episode "Life During Wartime" ��(Episode 041) from March, 2022 where we examined the early days of the Russian War on Ukraine through the lens of whole-person care; how every aspect of a person's life is thrown out of balance in the midst of war. It features conversations with displaced people, ex-pats and people of Ukrainian ancestry living in the U.S. eager to help people back home, relief workers assisting refugees, and a journalist with a long history of covering Putin and the Ukraine.��

��

��

��

An online transcript is available

More than 60 million Americans live with a disability and that number will grow as the baby boomers continue to age. But new research throws into question whether those people are receiving the best care possible.��

More than four out of five physicians say someone with a significant disability has a worse quality of life than someone without a disability. A minority of physicians ��� only 42% ��� feels strongly confident that they can provide equal quality of care to their patients with disabilities as they provide to other patients. And a large number of doctors say they do not strongly welcome disabled patients to their practice.��

On today's program, a conversation with Harvard's Lisa Iezzoni, M.D. ��� a researcher at the Health Policy Research Center at Mass. General Hospital. She has been studying healthcare for people with disability for a generation now and finds the attitudes of her fellow physicians alarming, even 30 years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

.

.

Lisa Iezzoni, M.D.

Health Policy Research Center

Massachusetts General Hospital

Professor

Harvard Medical School

Boston, Mass.

.

.

FURTHER READING:

Physicians��� Perceptions Of People With Disability And Their Health Care, Lisa I Iezzoni, M.D., M.Sc. et al., Health Aff (Millwood). 2021 February

What should we teach about disability? National consensus on disability competencies for health care education, Susan Havercamp, Ph.D., et al. (Disability and Health Journal)

A call to action: Preparing a disability-competent health care workforce, Christina Neill Bowen MSW, LICSW et al. (Disability and Health Journal)

The Ohio Disability and Health Partnership

Nisonger Institute at The Ohio State University��

.

.

��

��

��

An online transcript is available ��

.

There's growing evidence that the routine practice of meditation improves quality of life (including relief from anxiety, increased focus, and the mitigation of negative emotions) and that these benefits can be seen after as few as five sessions of meditation. But we didn't really need scientific journals to tell us that: Practitioners of mindfulness meditation have been enjoying the benefits of this natural brain hack for millennia. ��

On today's program, host Se��n Collins talks with a pioneering neuroscience researcher who describes what goes on in the brains of people who meditate, with a hospice doctor who trains his colleagues in techniques of meditation to help them deal with the stresses of their work, and with the founder of a program in Southern California that teaches at-risk youth to meditate as part of a program in effective social and emotional learning.

.

Michael Posner, Ph.D., M.S.

Professor Emeritus

Department of Psychology

University of Oregon

Eugene, Ore.

.

Glen Komatsu, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

Providence Hospice, Los Angeles County

Torrance, Calif.

.

Patricia Jones

Founder

P.S. I Love You Foundation

Redondo Beach, Calif.

.

Se��n refers to the Balance app ��� a personalized meditation coaching tool which is available for both the Apple and Android platforms.

.

MORE INFORMATION

Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation (Tang, Posner, et al., 2007)

Short-term meditation induces white matter changes in the anterior cingulate (Tang, Posner, et al., 2010)

Mechanisms of white matter change induced by meditation training (Posner, Tang, & Lynch, 2014)

Circuitry of self-control and its role in reducing addiction (Tang, Posner, et al., 2015)

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction vs Escitalopram for the Treatment of Adults With Anxiety Disorders (Hoge, et al. 2023)

.

.

��

��

��

��

An online transcript is available

��

On the next episode of the HEAR ME NOW Podcast, we'll explore Mindfulness Meditation with three great people who have connections to the practice.

��

• Dr. Michael Posner is a brain researcher who has demonstrated changes in brain tissue of people who meditate AND shown changes in how they deal with stress and anxiety.
• Patricia Jones has been helping at-risk youth in Los Angeles to meditate for 25 years.
• And Dr. Glen Komatsu, a hospice and palliative medicine physician in Southern California, teaches Mindfulness Meditation techniques to his colleagues to help them deal with the stress of their work.

��

Dr. Posner's research shows that as few as five short sessions of meditation can begin to change how people feel and react to stress. In this four minute BONUS episode, Dr. Komatsu coaches us in a simple meditation technique that you can try out before listening to the next podcast episode.��

.

A video of the episode that includes captioning & ASL interpretation is available online. A transcript is also available.��

.

If you take only one fact away from this podcast today, it should be this: more than 30 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, healthcare providers in the United States remain ill-equipped to meet the needs of deaf, deaf-blind, and hard of hearing people who come to them for care. On today's program, host Se��n Collins talks with Drs. Poorna Kushalnagar and James Huang of Gallaudet University about the barriers that exist in the healthcare setting for people with hearing loss and some of the steps medicine can take to make the best care possible a reality for all patients.

.

��

Poorna Kushalnagar, Ph.D., MA

Director of the Center for Deaf Health Equity

Chief Research Officer

Office of Research

Gallaudet University

Washington, D.C.

.

��

James Huang, M.D. FAAFP

Family Physician

Medical Director, Student Health Services

Gallaudet University

Washington, D.C.

.

��

We also present excerpts from a conversation between Christine Kostrubala and her friend Sarah Rasmussen about some of the hurdles Christine has faced as a deaf person seeking treatment for cancer. An extended version of this conversation will be available by 6:00p PST on Thursday 12 January.��

.

MORE INFORMATION

The Center for Deaf Health Equity

The Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Losses

A print-ready transcript of this episode is available.

.

��

��

An online transcript is available��

Complete episode notes can be found here

Playlists: ��Apple Music �� ����Spotify �� ����.pdf

Trouble listening? Right-click to download an MP3

��

"Self-care" became a common discussion topic at the start of the pandemic to the extent that it's now not unheard of for relative strangers to share their life-hacks with each other. So, as we come to the end of 2022, with all of the stress and craziness that come from turning the page of a calendar, we offer you a life-tested playlist for well-being: deep cuts our guests recommend for those moments when you want to pull back, recharge, take stock, reset, and find that special sweet spot between listening-and-hearing where you connect with your wellness and can be restored.��

.

Many thanks to all our panelists today. And from all of us at the Hear Me Now Podcast, we hope the year ahead is sweet.��

.

You'll find the (nearly) complete Well-being Playlist on Apple Music and on Spotify. And you can download a printable list, too. A few cuts heard on the podcast episode are not available on streaming services but are available for you to hear elsewhere: "Don't Think Twice" ft. Billy Strings, "Barbara Allen" ft. Emmy Rossum, "Barbara Allen" ft. Emmylou Harris, and an unplugged version of Spencer LaJoye's "Plowshare Prayer," as heard on the podcast.��

.

.

.

Jeremy Edmonds

Outreach & Marketing Liaison��

Providence ElderPlace - PACE

Guest on the debut of this podcast: ��Ep. 001 "I see you. I hear you. And I ache for you" and on Ep. 022 "George Floyd revisited: Our first anniversary."

Vashon Island, Wash.

"Love's in Need of Love Today" by Stevie Wonder on "Songs in the Key of Life"

.

.

.

PRODUCERS' PANEL: Melody Fawcett

Care Experience Manager

Providence Home & Community Care

Tukwila, Wash.

"Spanish Steps" by Van Morrison on "Poetic Champions Compose"

.

.

.

Dr. LJ Punch

Trauma Surgeon & Founder of the BRIC ��� the Bullet-Related Injury Clinic

Recent guest on this podcast: ��Ep. 50 "When Bullets Wound"

Saint Louis, Mo.

"Chrysalism" by Toonorth on "Chillhop Essentials Spring 2020"

"Go Up Moses" by Roberta Flack on "Quiet Fire"

"Right On" by the Roots, Joanna Newsom, STS" on "How I Got Over"

"Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley & The Wailers on "Legend ��� The Best of Bob Marley"

"Song Song" by Ben Wendel on "What We Bring"

.

.

.

Steve Silberman

Author, "NeuroTribes: the Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity"

Recent guest on this podcast: ��Ep. 57 "Neurodiversity"

San Francisco, Calif.

"Kids and Dogs" by David Crosby (ft. Jerry Garcia) on "If Only I Could Remember My Name"

.

.

.

Dr. Anna McDonald

Faculty,

Swedish First Hill Family Medicine Global Health Residency

Recent guest on this podcast: ��Ep. 54 "Family medicine building bridges"

Seattle, Wash./Mangochi, Malawi

"Particula" by Major Lazer & DJ Maphorisa on "Know No Better"

.

.

.

Eric Thoelke

Founder, TOKY Branding + Design

Saint Louis, Mo.

"The Breaking of the Fellowship" by Howard Shore on "LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring"

"Days of the Ring" by Howard Shore on "LOTR: The Return of the King"

.

.

.

PRODUCERS' PANEL: Mike Drummond

Executive Director, Communications

Providence Health

Dana Point, Calif.

"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" by Bob Dylan performed by Billy Strings

.

.

.

Gwen Thompkins

Writer and Host of Music Inside Out

Guest on this podcast: ��Ep. 007 "COVID winter strategies"

New Orleans, La.

Two recordings of "Barbara Allen" (trad.) sung first by Emmy Rossum and then by Emmylou Harris.

.

.

.

Bob Boilen

NPR host and producer, musician

All Songs Consi...

A transcript is available online

��

Women outnumber men in American medical schools, but in the operating room it's still an Old Boys' Club. Surgery remains a bastion of male privilege, prerogative, and power in American healthcare. But that is changing. On today's program, Se��n talks with three surgeons who understand firsthand the challenges faced by the women who routinely suffer insults and aggressions in an antiquated system.��

.

Julie Ann Sosa, M.D., MA, FACS, FSSO��

Chair, Department of Surgery�� (bio video)

Leon Goldman, M.D. Distinguished Professor of Surgery

Professor, Department of Medicine

Affiliated faculty, Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies

University of California, San Francisco

Editor-in-Chief

World Journal of Surgery

Soci��t�� Internationale de Chirurgie ��

.

Dr. Sosa on Twitter ��� Mastodon

.

.

Shenia Theodore, M.D.

Trauma & Acute Care Surgeon

Boston Medical Center

Boston University School of Medicine

.

Dr. Theodore on Twitter

.

.

M Cristy Smith, M.D., FACS

Cardiothoracic & Heart Transplant Surgeon

Surgical Director, Heart Transplant/Mechanical Circulatory Support

Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center

Spokane, Wash.

.

Dr. Smith on LinkedIn

.

,

.

The episode includes this piece by Brooklyn- and Berkshire mountains-based poet, Alexandra Beers, MS Ed., MFA:

.

Recovery

for Se��n Collins

.

They open your heart the way dentists open your mouth, as if they can just peek inside, and then they start with the loud drills and suction and all manner of vocabulary is tossed about and picking and pulling until they have cleaned you up, and afterward you are supposed to just spit and go on living the way you did, your teeth or your chest or your whole self sore for a bit, and you avoid hard candies and proceed with caution. Then you almost forget and you just bite and swallow and breathe easily again. Only if you are alive, really alive to this you are never the same. You are deeply in love with the people who fixed you and you want to stay in their care forever. Yet you must rise, rise each day to the blessing of blue true nothing of all knowingness that they bestowed on you as they sewed you up with the twine of science and grace and sent you out to join the rest of us. Be brave, and share.

���Alexandra Beers

.

.

.

��

��

��

A transcript is available online

.

Today we���re tapping the storytelling skills of veteran science and tech reporter, Steve Silberman.

In 2015, Silberman���s book NeuroTribes: The legacy of autism and the future of neurodiversity was published and soon took a place on The New York Times bestseller list. And in Britain, it was awarded the Samuel Johnson prize for best nonfiction writing in English.

The work was groundbreaking:��exploring both the legacy of autism, but also the future of neurodiversity. ��It brought clarity where there had often been confusion and it began to explore new avenues and answer questions that have lead to even more fascinating questions.

Steve Silberman is Se��n's guest on today's program.

.

.

TELL US YOUR STORY

With this podcast episode, we���re inaugurating a project to collect oral histories of autism ��� stories from autistic��people and people who work alongside them, or care for them, or love them.

Let us know if you���re interested in being part of that project and would like to tell us your story.

.

.

Steve Silverman's website www.stevesilberman.com includes an extensive list of resources for parents, clinicians, and autistic people (many written by autistic people.)��

��

NeuroTribes: The legacy of autism and the future of neurodiversity by Steve Silberman

The forgotten history of autism (TED)��

The Institute for the Study of the Neurologically Typical (ISNT)

Autistic Self-Advocacy Network��

Asperger/Autism Network

Don't Mourn for Us by Jim Sinclair (Our Voice, 1993)

An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks (The New Yorker, Dec 27, 1993)

��

.

��

��

Before the pandemic, one-in-five children in America faced a challenge with their mental, emotional, or behavioral health. Since the pandemic, symptoms of depression and anxiety among young people have doubled, worldwide.

We all have a role in protecting the mental health of kids. And we can start by making it something that it���s OK to talk about.��

On today���s program, two youth advocates for mental health ��� Billie Henderson and Kaiya Bates ��� discuss what they���ve experienced and how they���ve worked to make things better for other young people.

.

A transcript of this episode is available online.

.

CONTENT WARNING:��

Billie and Kaiya's conversation includes discussion of self-harm and suicide, which may be troubling for some listeners. If you are struggling, please call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 9-8-8. Someone is available to talk with you now.

.

��

RESOURCES:

Protecting Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory (.pdf)

Suicide & Crisis Lifeline �� ��call 988 anytime

Work2BeWell: Mental Health Resilience Support for Teens & Adults

The Trevor Project �� ��call 866-488-7386 �� | ��chat �� | ����text "START" to 678-678

The National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline (RAINN) �� ��call 800-656-4673 �� | ����chat

How do we connect with our kids? ��Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, M.D. & Dr. Becky Kennedy, Ph.D. (video)

Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness a film by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers (video/paywall)��

.

In 2019, Tembi Locke's book From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home found a place in Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Book Club and on the New York Times bestseller list. It has now been adapted as an eight-part series on Netflix starring Zoe Salda��a and Eugenio Mastrandrea.

Tembi Locke talks with Se��n about the adaptation that she helmed with her sister Attica Locke, about the experience of watching Zoe Salda��a portray a character based on Tembi's life, and about the thickly-woven fabric of family, food, love, serious illness, loss, and grief that's at the heart of Tembi's story.��

.

Tembi mentions her recipe for Eggplant Parmigiana being used to feed the cast and crew during filming. Read the recipe (.pdf) here.

Closing credit music: Anime Imperfette sung by Matteo Bocelli, From Scratch (Soundtrack from Netflix series) Laura Karpman & Raphael Saadiq

.

��

��

��