POD for the People!

In this episode, Dr. Chris Chanyasulkit shares exciting national events and calls to action in celebration of National Public Health Week. This year's NPHW is Sunday, April 3-Saturday, April 6, and is committed to "Centering and Celebrating Cultures in Health". To learn more and to celebrate with us, go to NPHW.org.

In this episode, Dr. Chris Chanyasulkit helps us explore the power of working together to solve our most pressing problems through a deep love for justice, reading, voting, and public service. Chris highlights the important ways libraries support our health, dignity, and well-being and how we can leverage public health practice and volunteerism to help us see the humanity in each other. 

In this episode, Carla B. Monteiro gets real about her financial and personal struggles as a single mom, her experiences with depression and anxiety, and what it was like working as a social worker through Covid. She highlights the myriad ways that people overlook and miscommunicate the symptoms of depression and anxiety, leading to late diagnosis and missed treatment opportunities. She shares stories and offers timely and strategic solutions to the challenges facing the mental health care workforce and the structural burdens — from income and housing insecurity to gun violence — many social work students of color and those from low socio-economic backgrounds carry as they complete their degrees and enter the workforce. She offers a list of resources to help you find treatment for yourself or a loved one.

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Natalia Linos, Executive Director at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard and 2020 Candidate for the 4th Congressional District in Massachusetts. Dr. Linos shares her experience running for Congress and stories about the power of listening and engaging across political ideology to find common ground. I think you will be delighted to hear about how her experience growing up in Greece and working at the UN and NYC helped shape her work in public health at the intersection of science and equity. We also discuss climate change, racial justice, ranked-choice voting, and the distractions and distortions created by money in politics.

In this bonus issue of Dr.'s Orders on POD for the People! I share my definition of leadership, what is missing in American and Massachusetts politics in terms of leadership, and the similarities between the qualities that make someone a good friend and the qualities that make someone a good leader. 

In this introduction to POD for the People!, I am psyched that my dear friend, Brian Muldoon, helps me introduce myself. He asks me some awesome questions about my experiences growing up in Lowell, Massachusetts, my work as a social worker and doctor of public health, the challenges I faced as a single parent, my service as a State Representative in the House of Representatives, and my campaign for Lt. Governor of Massachusetts. Oh! And we also talk about why I decided to launch POD for the People! and Dr.’s Orders.

I am excited to engage in this work with you as we build a future so that everyone can thrive. I am in the process of planning virtual and live events. So, stay tuned, subscribe to my Substack newsletter — Dr.’s Orders — at tamigouveia.us/substack, and check out my social media (@TamiGouveiaMA).

Welcome to POD for the People! where everyday people share stories and insights about the power of democracy, dignity, and health for everyone's well-being. Release date: January 1, 2023.