Root of the Issue

David Waters, CEO of Community Servings, a critical regional program, providing medically tailored meals (MTMs) plans in Massachusetts and Rhode Island joins host Barbara Petee to discuss the role that MTMs play in tackling a variety of issues often facing underserved communities, both in terms of social justice, food insecurity, and health care.

Waters says, “...When we think of trying to right the ship of healthcare in America, nobody in healthcare was talking about medically tailored meals or food as medicine even five years ago. And it seemed so daunting to get anyone's attention. But through groups like Root Cause and Community Servings and the Food Is Medicine Coalition, I rarely go into a meeting anymore where a doctor, or a healthcare leader, or an insurer doesn't already know the term - medically tailored meals - and know of the research that we've published. So when you think that one person or one small agency can't have an impact, we're doing such major work together and things really are changing.”

 Brian Peters, CEO of Michigan Health and Hospital Association (MHA), and Laura Appel, Executive Vice President of Government Relations and Public Policy for MHA, join host Barbara Petee to discuss the role of the Association in addressing the social determinants of health, as well as how hospitals and health systems throughout the state of Michigan are tackling these issue to ensure wholistic and appropriate healthcare for all whom they are privileged to serve.

 Peters says, “...at the end of the day, when we talk about these challenges, including challenges of social determinants of health and health equity, I think that the first issue is sunlight. Sunlight, meaning we recognize the issue and we can focus attention on it. Sunlight is the best disinfectant -- as you've heard. And by focusing on the issues and rallying people around it, combined with this constant evolution in our level of understanding and technology, we are going to continue this long term path towards an improved healthcare infrastructure. And the MHA is going to be a part of that journey. No question about it. And that excites me.”

 Appel adds, “...we didn't know about this yesterday, but every day we get better at this. And that's how I feel about all of the things that we're working on. As many reasons you could have to … despair, every day we're going to get better at this.”

A trailblazer in exploring the roots, implications and consequences of the political determinants of health, as well as a nationally respected voice in the health equity movement, Daniel E. Dawes is highly respected for his work in developing landmark federal policies, including serving as an architect for the Affordable Care Act's Health Equity Focused Provisions.

 “We knew something was going to happen on a larger scale, than what had been attempted in the previous Congress,” remarks Dawes. “When it did happen, and Barack Obama became President, and he became the first President to declare [during the campaign] that he was going to ensure the prioritization of health equity -- the elimination of health disparities – in his health reform agenda …we finally, after 150 years, got this agenda in a major health policy, the Affordable Care Act. Today we have 62 provisions that were included in that law. I have seen how many millions of people, including in my own community, have said, ‘I today am alive because of Obamacare.’ “

 Dawes serves as the Executive Director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine and is a professor of health law, policy and management. He is the author of two notable and widely respected health policy books, 150 Years of Obamacare and The Political Determinants of Health.

After two-and-a-half years of working through the COVID-19 pandemic, Amy Knight, president of the Children’s Hospital Association and Dr. Angelo Giardino, a pediatrics specialist in Salt Lake City, UT, discuss the dimensions of providing quality healthcare to children with an emphasis on mental health.

Knight says, “Our focus has shifted a little bit. I say with pride, children's hospitals have always done a great job of taking care of kids but we're starting to understand that issues are different and that we can still do better. So right now we're spending a lot of time on mental health. That's not only a children's hospital issue, that's a community issue and we feel like we have a voice to to speak on behalf of kids and families.”

Dr. Giardino adds, “In pediatrics we really are starting to shift our focus from health care to children's health. Health care has a lot to do with the visit to the doctor's office, meeting with the doctor and the nurse and the other professionals. But, working with children and families and the communities that they live in it is much more important to focus on social health and emotional health. We're seeing that kids are struggling and particularly in the behavioral health or mental health arena.”

Rachelle Reyes Wenger, System Vice President of Public Policy & Advocacy Engagement for CommonSpirit Health, joins host Barbara Petee to discuss the power of collaboration in the face of seemingly insurmountable societal obstacles. From climate change to social justice reform to health inequity, Rachelle believes that through the determination of many working in lockstep, change is always possible.  

“I think what the beauty is about collaborating with so many different folks within the RCC (Root Cause Coalition), is because we have the advantage of not only looking through our own individual lens, but through the lens of others within healthcare and our friends outside of healthcare. Those who are really committed to this work and who have various ways of looking at the problem, I think that's really what's needed and also what Congress needs to hear.”

Ruth Ann Norton, President and CEO of the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI), joins host Barbara Petee to discuss the importance of a healthy home environment as a determinant to achieving health equity. 

“I think we are doing some of the most groundbreaking work on the intersection of climate, healthy housing and healthcare. Helping to inspire healthcare to invest in occupied housing as an incredible opportunity for justice of equity and a path of a high trajectory for low income families to move out of poverty,”

Michelline Davis, the president and Chief Executive Officer of National Medical Fellowships, Inc. (NMF), leads her organization's mission of creating greater representation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in medical professions.  By advocating for greater representation in the practice and leadership of healthcare, Davis is working for equity in employment, and as a result, greater health equity in in underserved communities.

“Ensuring that there are more black indigenous persons of color — who are at present underrepresented in medicine — are in leadership at healthcare systems and in healthcare structures across this country [will lead to] administrative operational and clinical decisions that help us to eliminate, not just reduce, health disparities,” says Davis 

Katy Crosby, Town Manager of Town of Apex, North Carolina, discusses the dire need for a focus on addressing economic wealth as a core to achieving health equity. 

“I think your access to wealth or your economic condition really does impact your health,” says Crosby. “So I decided to focus on economic justice. And how do you build wealth? Because I felt like that was the foundation of so many of our life conditions, right? The more wealth that you have, the better health outcomes that you have.”

Rep. Jim McGovern, a passionate advocate for food equity, joins Root Cause Coalition president Barbara Petee, for an exclusive interview detailing the goals of the upcoming White House Summit on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.

"One of things that I think will be helpful is the fact that the White House is going to elevate the voices of those with lived experiences," says McGovern. "I think one of the problems we have had in the past is that we talk about initiatives and programs and we throw numbers and statistics and graphs and all kinds of interesting studies. But I think we've lost our human ability to feel what's behind those numbers and statistics."

The 2022 White House Summit on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, will be the first time IN MORE THAN 50 years that the Executive Branch will focus their efforts to "accelerate progress and drive significant change to end hunger, improve nutrition and physical activity, reduce diet-related disease, and close the disparities around them."

Emily Allen, the Interim President and Senior Vice-President, Programs, AARP Foundation, discusses their work ending systemic barriers by “focusing on populations that have historically been marginalized or experienced systemic racism and discrimination.”

In addition to relying on strong data sets to guide their work, AARP Foundation also relies heavily on real-time human interaction with the people they are serving to ensure their insights and their input become part of the Foundation’s action plans  to create equitable outcomes.