Anchorage Health Department public health nurse Molly Carver administers the Covid-19 vaccine to Malia Tuga at the community vaccine clinic held at Manai Fou Assembly of God Church in Airport Heights on Feb. 23, 2021. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media)

Across our community, Alaskans are trying to navigate the new realities brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversations about masking, vaccines, and whether to return to work and school can trigger strong feelings and in some cases have resulted in strained friendships and divided families. These conversations mimic the political divide and frequently devolve into defensiveness, contempt, criticism, and hurt feelings. These high conflict conversations do nothing to improve public health and are tearing at the foundations of our community and the sense of unity we take pride in as Alaskans. Please join us for

a discussion about how we have gotten to where we are, and how we can move from destructive to constructive conversations about these challenging issues.

HOST: Prentiss Pemberton

GUEST: Megan Cacciola-Vice President of Programs, Alaska Humanities Forum

LINKS:

Alaska Humanities Forum: Depolarizing vaccine conversations

Associated Press: Mask, vaccine conflicts descend into violence and harassment

PARTICIPATE:

Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752 (statewide) during the live broadcast (10–11 a.m.).

Send an email to [email protected] before, during or after the live broadcast (e-mails may be read on air).

LIVE BROADCAST: Wednesday, March 30, 2022, at 10 a.m. AKDT

REPEAT BROADCAST: Wednesday, March 30, 2022, at 8 p.m. AKDT

LINE ONE’S FAVORITE HEALTH AND SCIENCE LINKS:

• Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic offer extensive health information libraries
• MedlinePlus has a guide to finding reliable health information on the internet
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI)
• Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit and common logical fallacies

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