The Healthy Project Podcast

Quad Cities advocate Royce Wright gets real about youth mental health, the homelessness crisis, and what it means to show up consistently for kids and communities that the system keeps overlooking.

SHOW NOTES:

Some of the most important public health work doesn't happen in clinics or conference rooms. It happens on street corners, in shelters, and in honest conversations with kids who just need somebody to show up.

This week on The Healthy Project Podcast, Corey Dion Lewis sits down with his cousin Royce Wright — a community advocate based in the Quad Cities who has built a reputation for doing exactly that. Royce works with at-risk youth navigating mental health challenges, behavioral issues, and identity crises, while simultaneously raising his voice about the growing homelessness crisis in his community. His approach is rooted in lived experience, patience, and an unshakeable belief that trust is the foundation of everything.

In this conversation, Royce shares what it's really like to work with kids who are struggling, why the family unit matters just as much as the child, and how a chance encounter while filming a TikTok video led to a viral moment — and a GoFundMe — aimed at opening emergency overflow shelters and youth spaces across the Quad Cities.

What We Cover:

Youth Mental Health & Advocacy

• Why are so many at-risk kids caught in an identity crisis and performing toughness they don't actually feel
• How adverse childhood trauma shapes behavior — and why patience is the most underrated tool in youth work
• What it means to be authentic with young people who can read you in seconds
• The importance of modeling behavior, not just preaching it
• How to advocate for youth mental health even if you're not on the frontline

Homelessness in the Quad Cities

• How policy changes around shelter placement have pushed the unhoused out of safe spaces
• Why people become homeless faster than most of us realize — and why warm weather doesn't solve the problem
• The viral TikTok moment where Royce connected with a young man who had just become homeless and didn't even know a local shelter was open
• Why abandoned buildings in the Quad Cities are at the center of this conversation

Royce's Mission & How You Can Help

• How Royce went from passing out coats from his storage unit to becoming a community voice
• The GoFundMe campaign: Creating Safe Spaces for the Unhoused and At-Risk Youth
• A $100,000 goal to fund emergency overflow shelters and additional youth spaces in the Quad Cities

Resources & Links:

🔗 Royce Wright's GoFundMe — Creating Safe Spaces for the Unhoused and At-Risk Youth

Follow Royce Wright:

• Facebook
• TikTok 
• Instagram
• YouTube
• LinkedIn

About The Healthy Project Podcast The Healthy Project Podcast is hosted by public health storyteller Corey Dion Lewis. Each week, Corey brings honest, community-first conversations about health equity, mental health, social determinants of health, and the people doing the real work in underserved communities across the country.

🎙️ Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.

The CDC is being cut by more than 50%. Over 100 public health programs are being eliminated. And the communities that will feel it first — and hardest — are the same ones who've always been at the back of the line. In this solo episode, Corey breaks down what's actually being dismantled, why the framing of "cutting DEI" is designed to make you look away, and what it means for Black and Brown communities when the safety net has a hole cut through the middle of it. 

After 30 years bridging the gap between public policy and communities, Darolyn Davis knows why most public health engagement efforts fail—and more importantly, how to fix them. In this episode of The Healthy Project Podcast, host Corey Dion Lewis speaks with Darolyn Davis, founder of D&A Communications, about the critical disconnect between well-intentioned public health initiatives and the communities they aim to serve. This conversation goes beyond surface-level community engagement to explore what it really takes to build institutional trust.

Darolyn shares the pivotal moment in her career when she realized that policymakers were making decisions for communities without including the voices of those most affected. Working in the California State Legislature, she witnessed firsthand how missing perspectives—particularly women and people of color—led to unintended harmful consequences in public policy. This realization launched three decades of work focused on equity-first communication strategies, where community voices aren't just heard, but actively shape outcomes.

Key Discussion Points:

Why Traditional Outreach Fails Darolyn explains why treating outreach as a distribution problem rather than a relationship problem dooms most initiatives from the start. Sending mailers, holding meetings, and posting information online doesn't equal meaningful engagement—and communities see right through it.

The Trust Gap in Healthcare. The conversation addresses uncomfortable truths about why communities, particularly communities of color, distrust healthcare institutions. With Black women facing maternal mortality rates 3-4 times higher than white women, and Black Americans comprising only 5-7 percent of clinical trial participants despite representing 14 percent of the population, historical and ongoing systemic failures shape present-day healthcare decisions.

Measuring What Actually Matters Most agencies measure engagement success by counting meetings held or materials distributed. Darolyn argues for a completely different approach: measuring sentiment, behavioral change, and whether you've actually moved people from one understanding to another. She reveals why superficial metrics waste resources and erode trust further.

Real-World Case Study: Six Years to Build Trust Darolyn shares the remarkable story of working with the Bayview Hunters Point community in San Francisco. When a public agency wanted to build a new 62 million dollar community facility, residents initially refused—they didn't trust that promises would be kept. It took six years of consistent relationship-building, honest dialogue, and demonstrating follow-through before the community agreed. The result: a state-of-the-art Southeast Community Facility that now serves as a healthcare, education, workforce training, and community hub.

This case study illustrates a critical truth: meaningful change takes time, and there are no shortcuts to building trust.

Institutional Responsibility vs. Personal Choice One of the most important reframings in this episode is shifting from "Why don't communities trust us?" to "What are we doing that earns trust?" When trust is treated as an institutional responsibility rather than a personal choice, the burden shifts from communities to the organizations that serve them.

What Keeps Failing After 30 Years Darolyn identifies recurring problems: communities brought in too late in the decision-making process, equity treated as a checkbox, budgets too small for genuine engagement, organizations moving faster than relationships allow, and failure to acknowledge historical harms that shape current perceptions.

The Question Every Public Health Leader Should Ask Before launching any campaign or initiative, Darolyn advises asking: "Who is not at the table?" This simple but profound question forces organizations to identify missing voices and perspectives before making decisions that will impact those very communities.

About This Episode's Guest:

Darolyn Davis is the founder of D&A Communications, an equity-first communications agency that has spent three decades specializing in public health, education, transportation, and workforce development. Her work focuses on authentic community engagement that doesn't just inform communities about decisions already made, but involves them in shaping outcomes. She built her agency on the principle that all people deserve a voice in policies that affect their lives.

Why This Conversation Matters:

Public health professionals, healthcare administrators, policy makers, and community organizers face increasing challenges in building trust and achieving meaningful health outcomes. Misinformation spreads rapidly, historical harms create justified skepticism, and communities increasingly push back against initiatives designed "for them" without "with them."

This episode provides both diagnosis and treatment for broken engagement systems. Whether you're launching a vaccination campaign, developing health policy, running a community health center, or working in any capacity where trust matters, this conversation offers practical wisdom earned through decades of on-the-ground experience.

Connect with Darolyn Davis: Website: https://davisimpact.com/

About The Healthy Project Podcast: The Healthy Project Podcast brings you conversations with leaders, innovators, and changemakers in public health who are transforming how we approach community health, equity, and wellbeing.

Host: Corey Dion Lewis

Show Notes

Episode Summary: Darolyn Davis, founder of D&A Communications with 30 years of equity-focused communication experience, reveals why most community engagement efforts fail and shares the six-year journey it took to build trust for a $62 million community facility in San Francisco's Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood.

Key Topics Covered:

• The policy-making disconnect: Why decisions made without community input fail
• Equity-first communication: Moving from "for communities" to "with communities"
• The distribution vs. relationship problem in public health outreach
• Why communities feel ignored despite official "engagement" efforts
• Trust as institutional responsibility rather than personal choice
• Historical context of healthcare distrust in communities of color
• Healthcare disparities: Black maternal mortality, clinical trial participation, pain treatment
• How to measure engagement impact beyond attendance numbers
• The true cost of superficial community engagement
• Case study: Bayview Hunters Point Southeast Community Facility
• What keeps failing after three decades in the field
• How quickly trust can be lost versus how long it takes to build
• Social media's role in spreading both information and misinformation
• The most important question to ask before launching any public health campaign

Notable Statistics Discussed:

• Black women are 3-4 times more likely to die in emergency rooms compared to white women
• Black Americans represent 14% of the U.S. population but only 5-7% of clinical trial participants
• Black patients receive pain treatment approximately 22% less often than white patients
• The Southeast Community Facility project cost: $62 million
• Time investment to build community trust for the facility: 6 years

Featured Case St...

Corey Dion Lewis sits down with Dr. Margot Kushel, a practicing general internist with over 30 years of experience at San Francisco General Hospital and Director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, to explore why homelessness is fundamentally a housing problem—not a healthcare problem—and what this means for medical professionals and communities.

Dr. Kushel shares compelling insights from her three decades of clinical practice and research, revealing how the lack of affordable housing creates impossible situations for healthcare providers trying to treat patients experiencing homelessness. From managing diabetes in a tent to storing insulin without refrigeration, she illustrates why "there is no medicine as powerful as housing."

What You'll Learn:

• Why regions with high homelessness rates are defined by housing affordability, not mental health prevalence
• How structural racism and redlining created the current crisis, with Black Americans 4-5 times overrepresented in homeless populations
• The stark reality: only 36 affordable housing units exist for every 100 extremely low-income households in America
• Why Housing First policies work better than Treatment First approaches, backed by evidence from veteran homelessness reduction
• The hidden homeless population: workers living in cars, college students couch-surfing, and older adults losing housing for the first time
• How the politicization of Housing First policies threatens progress and patient outcomes
• Practical ways healthcare providers can advocate for housing as a health intervention

Key Clinical Insights:

Dr. Kushel explains why treating chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and mental health disorders becomes nearly impossible when patients lack stable housing. She shares real stories from her practice, including a 63-year-old patient who hadn't eaten in four days while fighting eviction, and discusses how readmission penalties unfairly penalize hospitals serving homeless populations.

The Evidence for Housing First:

Learn about the dramatic 85% housing retention rate of Housing First approaches compared to 5-10% success rates of traditional Treatment First models, and why the George W. Bush administration adopted this evidence-based policy. Dr. Kushel also shares findings from California's comprehensive statewide homelessness study, debunking myths about people traveling from other states.

For Medical Professionals:

This episode is essential listening for physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, medical students, residents, community health workers, social workers, case managers, and anyone in healthcare who treats patients experiencing housing instability. Dr. Kushel provides a framework for understanding how to advocate beyond the clinic walls.

About Dr. Margot Kushel:

Dr. Kushel is a physician and researcher who has dedicated her career to understanding and ending homelessness. She directs the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative and the Action Research Center for Health at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research informs policy at local, state, and federal levels.

Resources Mentioned:

• UCSF Benioff Homelessness Initiative: homelessness.ucsf.edu
• California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness
• "There Is No Place" by Brian Goldstone

Episode Takeaway: "There is no medicine as powerful as housing. Homelessness is a housing problem."

Whether you're a healthcare provider frustrated by social determinants of health, a medical student learning about population health, or a community advocate, this conversation will change how you think about the intersection of housing and health.

SHOW NOTES

Episode: Housing as Medicine: Why Homelessness is a Housing Crisis Guest: Dr. Margot Kushel, MD Host: Corey Dion Lewis Category: Medicine Duration: ~49 minutes

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Dr. Margot Kushel, Director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, explains why homelessness is fundamentally a housing crisis and how this understanding transforms medical practice and healthcare advocacy.

GUEST BIO

Dr. Margot Kushel, MD

• Practicing General Internist, San Francisco General Hospital (30+ years)
• Director, UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative
• Director, Action Research Center for Health, UCSF
• Leading researcher on homelessness and health outcomes
• Policy advisor at local, state, and federal levels

KEY TOPICS & TIMESTAMPS

[00:00] Introduction: The Housing-Health Connection

[02:00] Homelessness is a Housing Problem

• Why mental health and substance use don't explain geographic variations
• The role of affordable housing shortages
• Comparing high vs. low homelessness regions

[05:00] The Clinical Reality: Hands Tied Behind Our Backs

• Treating diabetes in patients living in tents
• Why standard medical care fails without stable housing
• The frustration of healthcare providers

[08:17] The Numbers: America's Affordable Housing Crisis

• 36 units per 100 extremely low-income households nationally
• San Francisco: 24 units per 100 households
• One million units short

[09:15] "There is No Medicine as Powerful as Housing"

• Using physician voices in policy advocacy
• The limitations of healthcare alone
• Addressing root causes

[13:55] Hospital Readmissions and Housing Instability

• How readmission penalties penalize safety-net hospitals
• Patients discharged to sidewalks
• The need for systemic change

[17:08] Structural Racism and the Homelessness Crisis

• Black Americans: 4-5 times overrepresented
• The legacy of redlining and housing discrimination
• How wealth gaps perpetuate housing instability
• San Francisco example: 5% population, 37% of homeless

[19:28] Historical Context: How Housing Policy Weaponized Race

• Post-WWII home ownership boom
• Redlining and mortgage discrimination
• Intergenerational wealth transfer blocked
• Ongoing discrimination in rental housing

[23:49] The Hidden Homeless Population

• Workers living in cars (Uber drivers, janitors, fast food workers)
• College students experiencing housing insecurity
• The invisible crisis in CSU, UC, and community colleges
• People with addresses who aren't truly housed

[27:17] Older Adults: The Growing Crisis

• Half of single homeless adults are 50+
• 40% experiencing homelessness for first time after age 50
• Bodies breaking down from physical labor
• The eviction-to-homelessness pipeline

[28:14] Clinical Case: The Amoxicillin Story

• Patient in garage without refrigeration
• Antibiotic treatment failure due to housing
• Why "having an address" doesn't mean housed

[29:11] Debunking the Migration Myth

• California study: 90% lost housing in-state
• 75% in the same county<...

Today’s episode is not the one I planned to release. I was supposed to share an interview I was excited about, but it didn’t feel right to move forward after the tragic killings by ICE agents in Minnesota. Families are grieving. Communities are scared. And pretending everything is normal felt like the wrong move.

In this solo emergency episode, I speak honestly about not having the right words, but choosing to not stay silent. The Healthy Project was created to shine a light on the systems that harm people, and what happened in Minnesota is not just a headline. It is state violence. It is the predictable result of a system built on fear and enforcement.

This episode is about sitting with discomfort, naming what’s happening, and turning awareness into action. I share why immigration enforcement has always been violent, why no human being deserves to die because of documentation status, and what you can do right now to support impacted communities.

We talk about:

• The ICE killings in Minnesota and why this matters to all of us
• How silence protects harmful systems
• The human cost behind immigration enforcement
• Ways you can take action through education, mutual aid, and community support

This is a heavy episode. But it’s a necessary one. You don’t need perfect words to show up. You just need to refuse to look away.

Sister Mary Haddad, President and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, returns to The Healthy Project as 2025 ends with a major coverage threat ahead.

In July 2025, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act with major Medicaid changes that analysts warn will reduce access for millions.
American Medical Association+1 At the same time, enhanced ACA premium tax credits are set to expire on December 31, 2025, which could raise premiums sharply and leave roughly 4 to 5 million more people uninsured in 2026 without an extension.
KFF+2
Thomson Reuters Tax+2

Sister Mary explains what this means for working families, rural hospitals, emergency departments, and telehealth access. Many Medicare telehealth flexibilities are extended only through January 30, 2026, adding pressure for rural patients and health systems.
telehealth.hhs.gov+1

You will hear:

• How Medicaid cuts and expiring ACA subsidies collide
• Why rural communities face higher risk
• What happens to EDs when coverage drops
• Why telehealth policy still feels temporary
• What Congress must do now
• How you can take action beyond awareness

Show Notes
 0:00 – Welcome and why this episode matters right now
 2:10 – What changed with Medicaid in July 2025
American Medical Association+1
6:30 – The ACA subsidy deadline and what families are seeing in open enrollment
KFF+1
11:20 – The size of the coverage risk for 2026
Thomson Reuters Tax+1
16:10 – Why rural markets and lower incomes create a sharper cliff
20:40 – Hospital strain, closures, and service reductions
25:15 – Emergency departments as the fallback system
29:50 – Telehealth lessons from COVID and what the January 30, 2026 deadline means
telehealth.hhs.gov+1
34:10 – Healthcare as dignity and economic justice
38:25 – What Congress can do immediately
41:30 – What you can do as a citizen and advocate
45:00 – Closing and where to learn more

Guest
 Sister Mary Haddad, RSM
 President & CEO, Catholic Health Association of the United States

Resources

Related Episode
 June 2025 – Medicaid at a Crossroads: A Conversation with Sr. Mary Haddad (Part 1)

Call to action
 Follow The Healthy Project Podcast on Apple Podcasts.
 Share this episode with one person who cares about coverage, rural health, and health equity.

This episode explores how technology and healthcare intersect. We talk with Jhonatan Bringas Dimitriades, MD, CEO of Lapsi Health, about Keikku, the first FDA-cleared smart stethoscope with an AI scribe. You will hear how this tool impacts clinical workflows, patient communication, and the broader healthcare system.

Key points covered
• How clinicians use AI during real-world visits
• Measurable time savings in documentation
• Data privacy and HIPAA/GDPR compliance
• Effects on clinician burnout and emotional fatigue
• Future applications of AI in public health and care settings
• Skills health professionals need as tech advances

Why it matters
• You see how AI tools shape medical decision-making and patient engagement
• You get insight into how tech adoption fits into social systems and workplace culture
• You hear practical examples that support ongoing conversations in public health and social science

Think about this
• How does technology influence trust in the patient-provider relationship?
• What skills will workers need as AI expands in healthcare?
• What policies should protect patients and providers as these tools grow?

Listen and reflect on how innovation, behavior, culture, and care systems interact.

Resources Mentioned:

• Website: https://www.keikku.health/
• Connect with Jhonatan: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter/X
• Physician burnout research

Stay Connected & Support the Show:
Want to keep up with conversations like this that challenge the status quo and center community voices? Sign up for The Healthy Project newsletter at www.healthyproject.co for exclusive insights, resources, and updates you won't want to miss.

Love what you're hearing? Support independent podcasting that prioritizes truth over trends. Join THP+ for just $5/month and get bonus content, early access to episodes, and the satisfaction of knowing you're fueling more conversations that matter.
Visit www.healthyproject.co to subscribe and support today.

Dr. Philip Alberti joins Corey Dion Lewis to unpack what organizations risk when they remove words like equity and justice overnight without community input. The conversation focuses on trust, decision-making speed, and the difference between changing language and changing relationships.

You will hear:

• Why fast brand shifts can damage credibility
• What authentic community engagement requires
• How to talk about equity for all communities without creating a zero-sum story
• What leaders can protect when the environment turns hostile
• A practical path to rebuilding trust through process, not slogans

This episode is for health equity leaders, communicators, and community partners who want strategy that keeps values and trust intact.

Show Notes
 0:00 – The post that sparked the conversation and the trust problem
 3:10 – The pressure behind rapid language changes
 5:29 – Why speed sent the wrong signal
 8:18 – Who exited the work and what that reveals
 9:09 – Why equity messaging became more contested in 2025
 11:25 – Equity for all communities and why that framing matters
 13:10 – The myth that equity creates winners and losers
 16:30 – The burden of bridge-building and a fresh way to share it
 18:09 – What should stay non-negotiable in public messaging
 19:00 – Core principles for real community engagement
 22:01 – How to begin partnerships by listening first
 24:43 – The internal systems that make engagement real
 27:57 – Public opinion signals that point to shared ground
 31:49 – Example of cross-community relationship building
 32:14 – Health justice as a practice that treats process as the outcome

Key Resources Mentioned

Guest Bio
 Dr. Philip Alberti is the founding director of the AAMC Center for Health Justice. He focuses on community engagement, health equity research, and policy change, with an emphasis on partnerships that respect community expertise.

Support the Show
The Healthy Project newsletter  
THP+  
healthyproject.co  

83,000 Americans die needlessly every year due to health inequity and systemic racism in healthcare. Dr. George Rust has spent 40 years fighting health disparities in America's most underserved communities, from migrant farmworker clinics in rural Florida to leading public health initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this powerful conversation, Dr. Rust reveals the structural inequities, racial health gaps, and preventable suffering he's witnessed throughout his career in medicine and public health. He shares hard-won lessons about earning trust in marginalized communities, navigating cultural competency challenges, and building coalitions for systemic change in American healthcare.

THE REAL COST OF HEALTH INEQUITY: Research shows that eliminating the Black-white gap in health outcomes would save 83,000 lives annually. In Atlanta alone, closing premature death rates between Black and white populations would restore 43,000 person-years of life every year to Black communities. These aren't just statistics—they represent grandmother-years, wisdom-years, and family-years lost to needless suffering caused by barriers to healthcare access, discrimination in medicine, and social determinants of health.

KEY TOPICS IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why health disparities persist in American healthcare and how systemic racism drives preventable deaths
• The concept of "trust adjacency" and how healthcare providers earn trust in communities of color
• What 40 years serving underserved populations taught one doctor about cultural humility and respect in medicine
• How COVID-19 exposed America's public health vulnerabilities and political interference in science
• The difference between "me all vs. we all" – individual autonomy versus community responsibility in public health
• Real stories of needless suffering: from the $500 hand surgery barrier to cervical cancer from lack of pap smears
• Lessons from Morehouse School of Medicine, Dr. David Satcher, and Dr. Louis Sullivan on health justice
• Why respect matters more than you think in clinical settings and the "Lou Sullivan name tag" story
• The Tallahassee measles case and what happens when ideology trumps evidence-based medicine
• How to avoid physician burnout while fighting for social justice and health equity
• Building coalitions and community partnerships for sustainable systemic change

ABOUT DR. GEORGE RUST: Dr. Rust is a public health physician and professor at Florida State University with over 40 years of experience in community health, health policy, and medical education. His career spans Cook County Hospital in Chicago, the Farmworker Health Association in rural Florida, and 25 years at Morehouse School of Medicine, where he worked alongside public health legends Dr. David Satcher (former U.S. Surgeon General) and Dr. Louis Sullivan (founding president of Morehouse School of Medicine and former Secretary of Health and Human Services).

His new book, "Healing in a Changing America: Doctoring a Nation of Needless Suffering" (Johns Hopkins University Press), examines how America's healthcare system creates preventable suffering through structural inequities, racial discrimination, and barriers to healthcare access. The book offers a roadmap for achieving health justice and eliminating health disparities across race, class, and geography.

WHY THIS MATTERS NOW: America is undergoing demographic transformation into a multicultural, pluralistic democracy, yet health inequities continue to widen. With political polarization affecting public health policy, attacks on diversity initiatives in medical education, and ongoing debates about vaccine mandates, quarantine protocols, and government intervention in healthcare, this conversation offers critical insights for healthcare professionals, policy makers, community organizers, and anyone committed to social justice.

Dr. Rust shares practical strategies for cross-cultural healthcare delivery, building trust with patients from different backgrounds, working within broken systems while advocating for reform, and maintaining resilience as a health equity advocate. His perspective combines clinical experience, public health expertise, academic leadership, and lived experience navigating racism in medicine as a white ally working in predominantly Black and Latino communities.

QUOTABLE MOMENTS: "You don't come into communities carrying trust with you. You have to earn it." "83,000 lives could be saved annually just by eliminating the Black-white health gap." "It's what Fitzhugh Mullen called tin cup medicine: 'Now please sir, may I have some healthcare?'" "Would you rather deal with having somebody not go to work for two weeks, or would you rather be explaining to the public why you let a measles outbreak happen?"

CONNECT WITH DR. RUST: Email: [email protected]
Book: "Healing in a Changing America" available on Amazon and Johns Hopkins University Press

ABOUT THE HEALTHY PROJECT: The Healthy Project Podcast explores the intersection of health, equity, and justice through conversations with leaders transforming healthcare and public health. Host Corey Dion Lewis brings you stories of systemic change, health advocacy, and the fight for health justice in America.

Subscribe for weekly episodes on health equity, racial justice in healthcare, public health policy, community health, and social determinants of health.

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How can families in under-resourced communities access timely, culturally responsive hearing care for infants who are deaf or hard of hearing?

Corey Dion Lewis is joined by Pamela Rowe, MA, CCC-SLP, and Dr. Lauren Ramsey to unpack the barriers that shape early hearing care and where teleaudiology can improve access.

You will hear:

• How health literacy, transportation, and mistrust delay early care
• How policy and insurance shape pediatric hearing access
• Why trusted relationships drive long-term engagement
• Where teleaudiology fits and where it does not
• Practical steps providers, advocates, and policymakers can take now

This episode is for professionals and advocates working in maternal and child health, health policy, early intervention, and community-based care.

Show Notes
 0:00 – Welcome and why early hearing care is a health equity issue
 1:10 – Meet Pamela Rowe and Dr. Lauren Ramsey
 3:00 – The current landscape of early hearing care access
 5:20 – Health literacy gaps and family navigation challenges
 8:10 – Transportation and time barriers for follow-up visits
 11:00 – Medical mistrust and why relationships matter
 14:30 – Insurance and policy drivers of access
 18:00 – What teleaudiology can solve for families
 21:10 – Limits of virtual care and where in-person still leads
 24:00 – Building culturally responsive systems and workflows
 27:10 – Action steps for providers
 30:00 – Action steps for policymakers and advocates
 33:00 – What success looks like for infants and families
 35:10 – Closing and how to connect

About the Guests
 Pamela Rowe, MA, CCC-SLP

• Speech-language pathologist, public health consultant, and advocate for equitable access to communication services
• Founder of a private practice serving diverse populations

Dr. Lauren Ramsey

• Public health researcher and consultant with 20+ years of experience in maternal and child health, health equity, and disparities in care access

Links and Resources
Connect with Pamela Rowe on LinkedIn  
Connect with Dr. Lauren Ramsey on LinkedIn  
Contact: [email protected]  
Join the movement: healthyproject.co  
Follow The Healthy Project Podcast on Apple Podcasts.
 Share this episode with one person working in maternal and child health or early intervention.