Earlier this summer we met Ann Brooks and Renee Hitchcock who are associates at the Walmart in Ashland, Kentucky. Like any Walmart associate, their days are spent making sure customers have a good experience while shopping in their store. But over the course of the last several months, they’ve also become social media influencers. 

To build awareness for seasonal merchandise or weekly specials, Renee gets behind the camera while Ann will share with the store’s 28,000 followers on it’s Facebook page what they need to know and invites them to "come on down." What started out as a project to have fun with the customers has grown into something quite special. In fact, Renee recently informed me that one of their videos has reached more than 5 million views.

Renee, Ann and the Ashland Walmart store manager Bradley Bartley join us to talk about their social media adventure.

The faculty and staff at Missouri Connections Academy, a statewide, tuition-free, online school recently welcomed new and returning students in grades K through 12 for the 2024-2025 academic year – it’s fifth since it opened in 2020. 

 Virtual school is a great fit for a variety of students and each student is unique. Those who attend Missouri Connections Academy come from different backgrounds and choose full-time online school for various reasons. Some students prefer to take ownership of their education and benefit from the flexibility that virtual school offers, while others are looking for a consistent, safe learning environment.

Joining us today is school leader Lynsie Hunt who will describe how the virtual classroom has evolved over the years and how more students and parents are finding it to be an effective alternative to the traditional classroom. Lynsie will also discuss her experiences in the virtual classroom and how teachers engage students.

The Immunization Advocacy Network of Ohio, a statewide network of Ohio immunization providers and supporters who advocate for the value of vaccines, recently partnered with the Ohio Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics (Ohio AAP) to host an Immunization Summit in Columbus that focused on childhood vaccines. The Summit convened a small group of healthcare providers including pediatricians, pharmacists, and nurses as well as public health officials and vaccine advocates. 

While Ohio’s rates of immunization among children are decreasing, the Summit allowed for robust discussion and the sharing of ideas for the best ways to address issues such as vaccine hesitancy, data collection, and education.  

Joining us for today’s podcast are Melissa Wervey Arnold, CEO of the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and Dr. David Karas, a pediatrician at Akron Children’s Pediatrics and is medical director of Ambulatory Quality and Clinical Outcomes Improvement at Akron Children’s, who discuss the Summit and how experts and advocates are working to improve vaccine rates in Ohio.

Great River Connections Academy® (GRCA) is a unique, tuition-free, online public school that offers a high-quality educational experience that keeps students motivated and engaged in a safe, virtual learning environment. With the help of specially trained teachers and their parents/learning coaches, students gain the skills and confidence they need to direct their own educational journey, learning to thrive in the real world by first learning how to be resourceful and resilient.

Great River Connections Academy® also supports middle and high school students throughout Ohio in their journey toward discovering and achieving their career goals. GRCA offers a unique combination of traditional courses and industry-specific electives in fields such as Information Technology, Business, and Healthcare. These programs are designed to prepare students for both college and the workforce, providing them with the knowledge, skills, and connections needed to succeed. Additionally, the academy's partnerships with leading companies and institutions offer students meaningful, real-world experiences. The aim is to help students find their direction in life, making the future less intimidating and more attainable.

Today were joined by Great River Connections Academy Principal Jason Swinehart who discussed this College and Career Readiness offering and the pathway its providing students.

It's back-to-school season once again, a time filled with excitement for students and parents as they gear up for the new academic year. However, the only people perhaps more eager than the students themselves are the teachers. In traditional classrooms, teachers are busy getting their spaces ready—arranging desks and chairs, decorating bulletin boards, organizing school supplies, and finalizing lesson plans. But what about online classrooms? How do teachers in a virtual environment prepare for a new school year? To explore this, we’re joined by three teachers from Ohio Connections Academy, who are currently getting ready for their new school year, which begins on August 19th.

Over the last few years, Walmart has been on what the company calls a transformational journey, where hundreds of stores across the country have been transformed and redesigned to amplify the physical, human and digital design elements in the stores to elevate the overall shopping experience.

 As Walmart considers itself a member of every community it serves, there is another element to these store transformations that celebrates those communities.  During each remodel, Walmart will unveil a community-inspired mural that is installed near the store entrance. This Community Mural Program is an important part of every new or newly transformed facility as it is inspired by the community and reflects the local diversity and cultural references. 

Today, community murals are featured in hundreds of Walmart stores, and original artworks are unveiled weekly in newly transformed stores. Every store mural is unique, and we are joined today by artist Lisa Quine of Hudson, OH who was asked to create a couple mural installations in Ohio and she recently completed another in a Walmart store in Minnesota.

When Ohio Connections Academy first opened, full-time online learning for grades K-12 was not as prevalent as it is today, and students were seen as trailblazers for this type of learning. Today, with 20 years of online learning expertise and a program built specifically for the virtual environment, the school serves more than 5,000 students in grades K-12 from every county in the state of Ohio.  Ohio Connections Academy Superintendent Marie Hanna, and Dawnelle Criss, Ohio Connections Academy math teacher and 2012 graduate, share their insights on how the online classroom has evolved over the years and how attitudes have changed about the virtual learning. Ohio Connections Academy provides a personalized education that is supported by teachers who are specially trained in online learning. The curriculum is designed to have real-world value by focusing on preparing each student for wherever life takes them. As a public school, the school requires students to meet the same state standards as their traditional school counterparts.

As communities across Ohio and the rest of the country will host celebrations, parades, and ceremonies to honor Veterans of our United States Armed Forces, we are joined by Jason White, Operations Manager at Walmart's East Transportation Command Center in Grove City, OH. Jason served the U.S. Army from 2002 until 2018 when he transitioned to the Ohio Army National Guard and currently serves as Sergeant First Class. We asked Jason to share a little about his military experience and how he made the transition from active duty to the national guard and the career path he embarked upon with Walmart.  In 2013 Walmart launched the Veterans Welcome Home Commitment which guaranteed a job offer to any eligible, honorably discharged U.S. veteran. Walmart’s original goal was 250,000 hires – and in 2020 the company reached that benchmark. Since then, more than 520,000 veterans and military spouses have joined Walmart.

The costs for rare disease therapies are often very expensive for the patients. While some get help to cover a portion of their high out-of-pocket costs, health insurers have a policy called copay accumulators that prevent the assistance from counting toward the patient's copay or deductible requirements for the year. There is a legislative effort underway in Ohio (House Bill 177) that would address the issue. Sam Cox, State Government Relations Manager with the National Psoriasis Foundation, discusses the issue, the proposed fix and what patients and advocates can do to get involved.

For this episode we are pleased to be joined by Greene County Health Commissioner Melissa Howell and Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, Director of the Ohio Department of Health who share their perspectives and deep knowledge of immunizations and the importance of utilizing public health data.

As school children are all heading back to the classroom we talk about what resources are available for parents and caretakers to make sure their children are ready with the proper immunizations.

We also discus why vaccine registries such a critical tool in healthcare.

Additional information:   
Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Immunization Program
Greene County Public Health