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The Vitalyst Spark podcast explores what it means to create a healthy community in Arizona.
Episodes
Monday Jul 06, 2020
Monday Jul 06, 2020
We’re back today with another COVID-19 roundtable, in the shadow of some significant statistics: as of July 6, there are 101,441 confirmed cases in Arizona. It took more than four months to hit 25,000 cases, 15 days to double that number to 50,000 cases, and another short 14 days to get over 101,000. In basic terms, COVID-19 is widespread. An at hospitals, inpatient beds are 84% occupied, while 89% of ICU beds are currently filled.
Combine those statistics with where we are in terms of diagnostic testing availability, results turnaround times, and contact tracing, and there can be only one takeaway: now is definitely NOT the time to ease up. Our behaviors remain the most important tools for helping to flatten a steep curve of infections. Stay at home as much as you possibly can; wash up; mask up; maintain social distancing, and keep a heads up for your fellow Arizonans. We need everyone to be in this together in order to get through this together.
Let's get to it. It’s time to talk about healthcare, public health, policy, and community as we move past perhaps the most unusual 4th of July in some time and continue adapting to life with COVID-19.
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
First and foremost everyone here at Vitalyst is thinking about every one of you. Wash up, mask up, maintain social distancing please, and keep a heads up for your fellow Arizonans. As COVID-19 cases are increasing significantly in our state, so are our temperatures – and, sadly, our wildfires. COVID-19 didn’t respond to increasing heat, but our natural resources, our built environments, and our health and well-being most certainly do. Heat is a major challenge for Arizona. We should continuously be talking, innovating, and iterating on it. Today we’re launching Part one of our first two-part dialogue on heat. In two weeks, we’ll be talking about actions being taking by cities and organizations focused on our most vulnerable populations. But first, today we’re talking with three experts about how we should more deeply understand the issues. After all, big challenges are best understood when we take them apart, understand their components, engage authentically with community members, and uncover root causes that affect health and well-being.
So, with that simple but challenging agenda in mind, let’s get to it. It’s time to talk about coalitions, systems, governments, planning, airports, air conditioning, bus stops, communities and health as things heat up for Arizona in the summer of 2020.
Links:
Urban Land Institute "Scorched" Report: Summary Release, Report PDF
Maricopa County Bridging Climate Change and Public Health: Web page, Strategic Plan, Things You Can Do
Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago by Eric Klinenberg
Tuesday Jun 23, 2020
Tuesday Jun 23, 2020
Arizona’s new case rate trend is significantly upward, putting our state in the national spotlight. The Governor issued a new Executive Order allowing local government action regarding face masks. An inexpensive steroid has emerged as a possible COVID-19 treatment. Heck, yesterday it was announced that the Apple Watch will soon give you an automatic 20-second hand washing countdown when it senses the combination of your hand motions and the water’s flow. In other words, it has been just another fairly intense two weeks of COVID time that sometimes felt like two years, and we’re here to help you process and analyze it all. Once again, Dr. Nick Vasquez was unable to join us due to his Emergency Room duties. And Dr. Amish Shah was just barely able to squeeze in a conversation, calling into the podcast while on a short break during his own emergency room shift.
Get more detail on the numbers, new municipal ordinances, and much more. It’s time to talk about healthcare, public health, policy, and community as we move past the longest day of the year and continue adapting to life with COVID-19.
Links:
Wednesday Jun 17, 2020
Wednesday Jun 17, 2020
COVID-19’s effects on our communities are statewide, systemic, and extend far beyond healthcare or jobs. In fact, it is exposing and exacerbating the challenges our communities face when it comes to food. The running joke may have been about toilet paper early on the pandemic, but places like Ajo and the Navajo Nation literally faced empty store shelves and no food for days and weeks. It shouldn’t ever be this way, which is why the women you’re about to meet have been working for years to build stronger local food systems across Arizona – and why they’re working even harder at the moment. Our three guests today are passionate individuals who spend as much time on the land itself as they do pushing for policies, systems, and environmental changes that are crucial to ensuring equitable, local access to healthy, affordable foods. Last week, we promised you an important episode with plenty to chew on. Well, get ready, because we’ve got it right here.
Note: Two of our guests live in rural and tribal areas, connecting via Skype and cellphone with some sound quality issues. It's an example of how quality broadband internet availability is another form of inequity in Arizona that needs to be addressed.
To learn more and support Arizona Food Systems:
- Pinnacle Prevention and COVID-19 Food System Resources
- Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture
- Coffee Pot Farms
- Arizona Agricultural Training Network
- On Facebook: @pinnacleprevention, @AjoCSA, @CoffeePotFarms
- On Twitter: @PinnaclePrevent
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Our COVID19 Roundtable is back, with a little switch up: Dr. Nick Vasquez was unable to join us, but his colleague Dr. Amish Shah is here, and - as an added bonus - brings his perspective from serving as a state legislator.
This episode starts off as it should at this unique moment, at the intersection of public health and race – and the connection to COVID19. Then we get into the numbers – what the data have to say about coronavirus in Arizona. Spoiler alert: the numbers aren’t good right now.
Vitalyst would like to give you this tip: #MaskUpAZ. Cloth masks work. My mask protects you, your mask protects me. So please, don’t stop washing those hands, practicing social distancing whenever possible, and when it’s not possible: #MaskUpAZ.
It’s time to talk about healthcare, public health, policy, and community as we move into another new month of life with COVID-19
Wednesday Jun 03, 2020
Wednesday Jun 03, 2020
Frankly, there is no podcast episode we can release this week that can begin to address the enormity of what has taken place in this country over the past week. What you are about to listen to was initially recorded in January 2020. It’s about the power and the practice of Storytelling, based on a project that key community advocates engaged in starting in 2017. Given the very real need for us to cultivate understanding and empathy, this work and this episode have universal application, but also may deserve a place in your ears at this time.
Listening - truly listening to another person’s life experience - is one possible step that can help us be better than we have been. Storytelling is a fundamental tool for how we can connect to, and learn from, each other. And we are fortunate to Stephanie Luz Cordel and Liz Warren as our guides.
We’ve been waiting for some time to release this episode. Sharing it now seems to make sense because right now we need deeper understanding. And to better understand… we need to listen – intently – to stories.
Publications discussed in this podcast:
Wednesday May 27, 2020
Wednesday May 27, 2020
Two weeks down the timeline from our last dialogue on the pandemic, we are back at it again – following a unique Memorial Day weekend no less – with our next COVID-19 Roundtable. Recorded on May 26th, we start with the numbers, keeping in mind that the story they tell today reflects the actions and community behaviors of roughly 2-5 weeks ago. Roundtable member Nick Vasquez, featured in May 25th’s Arizona Republic in an article on healthcare worker burnout, takes us on a tour of his current emergency room physician life. Will Humble, featured in May 26th’s Arizona Republic article on increases in hospital capacity, continues his insights from a public health perspective. And Marcus Johnson brings it all around with key policy perspectives. If you’re not familiar with the term “pre-vaccine pandemic” yet, that’s probably because we coined it in this episode. But you will be familiar with what it means and what it tells us by the time you’ve listened in. Links:
Tuesday May 19, 2020
Tuesday May 19, 2020
COVID-19 has not only flipped daily life on its ear, it has also exacerbated big challenges that Vitalyst and its partners have been working to solve. Not sure what we mean by big challenges? Well, look no further than issue of available, safe, and affordable housing. Throughout Arizona, supportive shelter was increasingly out of reach for far too many residents B.C. – that’s before COVID. Now, things are far more challenging and urgent. No one yet knows the exact increase in the numbers of Arizonans experiencing homelessness, in need supportive housing, or hoping to not have to choose between say “rent and food,” or “rent and filling a prescription,” but it’s fair to assume that COVID-19 hasn’t made the lack of affordable housing any less of a crisis unto itself.
Many experienced health care and government partners agree: housing IS health care. In fact, there’s another curve out there to flatten: the spike in the numbers of people for whom shelter-in-place is impossible, for whom the concept of a supportive home is a challenge at the least; or even worse a high-cost, high-stress, overwhelming burden.
Here’s the thing: there is opportunity in crisis. Very smart, very dedicated people have been working on housing all over the state. So we asked some of them to join us today. We all need to know what tools we might use to make positive progress when it comes to ensuring that everyone can find a place they can call home.
Links:
Tuesday May 12, 2020
Tuesday May 12, 2020
[Photo Credit: Eli Imadali/The Arizona Republic] As we move towards the middle of May, and the beginnings of statewide re-openings, our COVID Roundtable returns. This time around - as of our March 11 recording date - we’re a feeling much like you are: a little bit worn down by how much – and how fast - things have changed since February and March. And, quite frankly, a little bit frustrated that we still have so little to go on about what will happen next. That said, buckle up. We still found plenty to discuss. The state of our health care and public health systems, testing and tracing, the need for a new rallying cry beyond “flatten the curve,” and so much more.
At its core, the novel coronavirus simply wants to do everything it can to spread from human to human. This podcast at its core simply wants to spread smart thoughts about how we will respond, adapt, and find our way forward. We ALL need to take advantage of every opportunity these days to process where we’ve been – and smartly plan where we want to go together.
So let’s get to it. It’s time to talk about where we are now, and how we move forward, centering health and the Social Determinants of Health in the context of COVID-19.
Tuesday May 05, 2020
Tuesday May 05, 2020
It is truly important right now that we gain a shared understanding of COVID-19’s impact on our people, our systems, our policies, and our places. We’re going through this together. The learning is real-time. No corner of our communities goes untouched. That includes the people whose very job it is to help us. Which is why we’re back today with an episode focused on our first responders.
There has been a lot of coverage of front-line healthcare workers, but little to no discussion of how front-line police, fire and emergency medical services personnel are doing. This episode is for them. You’re about to hear some stunning examples of how an already very stressful and challenging job is now much more stressful – and learn what is being done to address that reality. The human beings we rely upon to help us in an emergency are facing their own unique health challenges, particularly now.
Please note: if you are - or someone you care about is - a first responder, please know that assistance is available. Courtesy of Dr. Dara Rampersad, here is a directory of sources to get help:
- Arizona Resources:
- AZ Crisis Line: 877.756.4090
- 100 Club of Arizona: 602.485.0100
- Be Connected for Veterans/Military/Family: 866.4AZ.VETS (429.8387)
- Fire Crisis Support Line: 602.845.FIRE (3473)
- National Alliance on Mental Illness-AZ (NAMI): 602.244.8166
- Oasis Behavioral Health: 855.351.8939
- BluePaz, LLC: 602.345.1425, bluepaz.com
- Websites:
- Apps:
- National:
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800.273.TALK (8255)
- Safe Call Now (First Responders): 206.459.3020
- Crisis Text Line: Text HELLO to 741741
- Survive First: 844.577.7233
- Copper Springs for First Responders: 866.575.1979
- Chateau Recovery for First Responders: 949.547.7040 - Thayer
- Recovery Ways: 801.803.9962 - Vickie
- Copline: 800.267.5463
- Survival Mindset Consulting: 757.328.5672
- Cop 2 Cop: 866.267.2267
IH2 Foundation: 480.383.9054