Join us for an eye-opening conversation about the intersection of community and health equity with special guest, Pam Clark, the Minority Health Initiative Director at Community Action of Southern Indiana (CASI). We'll discuss how social factors and systemic issues can impact health outcomes and what we can do to promote health equity for all. Don't miss this insightful discussion!
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#healthyrelationships #healthequity #communityengagement
[MUSIC]
Speaker:Start It up
Speaker:Yo Welcome
Speaker:Yo, this is your boy, Guelly Guel.
Speaker:This is Common Convo
Speaker:And as you know, we've started this
Speaker:project with
Speaker:Clark County Health Department.
Speaker:As we're talking about health equity,
Speaker:we're talking about
Speaker:the challenges that we
Speaker:face right here in Clark County and
Speaker:surrounding areas
Speaker:with opioid addiction or
Speaker:just substance abuse as a whole, where
Speaker:we are in our mental health journeys,
Speaker:our wellness journeys.
Speaker:And so I'm excited to consistently be
Speaker:able to bring in different leaders,
Speaker:different health activists, if we will,
Speaker:into the studio and
Speaker:have an opportunity to talk about where
Speaker:we are in our community specifically.
Speaker:Things that we're doing right, things
Speaker:that we're doing wrong,
Speaker:things we can do different.
Speaker:And I think it's super important that
Speaker:we stay focused on
Speaker:the task of how do we
Speaker:heal, right?
Speaker:And for that, that's gonna mean
Speaker:different things for different people.
Speaker:And so today, I have the amazing, and
Speaker:Pam Clark with me, I say
Speaker:that super amazing,
Speaker:cuz I mean, she is phenomenal and does
Speaker:a lot in our community.
Speaker:I'm gonna let her explain a lot of it.
Speaker:And as we have this conversation about
Speaker:how you play a significant part
Speaker:of making sure that we do have equity
Speaker:in all communities across what,
Speaker:all racial boundaries, all ethnicities,
Speaker:LGBTQ plus, etc, etc.
Speaker:So Pam, we, and excuse the loud trucks
Speaker:and airplanes that are gonna go by,
Speaker:because we're in my studio and
Speaker:apparently there's
Speaker:construction down the street.
Speaker:And when you have that, it's there.
Speaker:So if I don't delete it, you
Speaker:heard it, it's not my fault.
Speaker:You didn't know who's watching, or if
Speaker:you're listening to the podcast.
Speaker:So but Pam, getting into here, will you
Speaker:tell our audience, who are you?
Speaker:And what do you do?
Speaker:Hey, Miguel, thank you
Speaker:so much for having me.
Speaker:As he said, I am Pamela Clark.
Speaker:I'm the Minority Health Initiative
Speaker:Director at Community
Speaker:Action of Southern Indiana.
Speaker:I am funded through the Indiana
Speaker:Minority Health
Speaker:Coalition out of Indianapolis.
Speaker:Who am I?
Speaker:I have been in public
Speaker:health for over 25 years, Miguel.
Speaker:Wow, you don't look older than I think
Speaker:you are in 25 years.
Speaker:I know it.
Speaker:[LAUGH] Thank you so much.
Speaker:But 25 years, my
Speaker:son, I think was three.
Speaker:And someone asked if I was interested
Speaker:in an HIV AIDS coordinator's position.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:At that time, I said, sure.
Speaker:I had no clue about public health.
Speaker:I wanted to go into business.
Speaker:So I did that job for two weeks.
Speaker:And then there was a
Speaker:position open up to pay more money.
Speaker:And the immunization
Speaker:coordinator paid good money, okay?
Speaker:All right, let's go.
Speaker:So I took that position to immunize
Speaker:every child by age two.
Speaker:After I took that position, I adored
Speaker:open an opportunity for me
Speaker:to have my own nonprofit.
Speaker:My own nonprofit, 501c3, was Southern
Speaker:Indiana Minority Health Coalition.
Speaker:Under Indiana
Speaker:Minority Health Coalition.
Speaker:I tell you, I had 13
Speaker:diseases to address.
Speaker:I wrote grants.
Speaker:I had that coalition for 14 years.
Speaker:I had plenty of volunteers, and it was
Speaker:located in Clark County.
Speaker:After that, I went to work, after I
Speaker:lost my mom to cancer.
Speaker:I went to work for the American Cancer
Speaker:Society for nine years.
Speaker:I covered the Mid-South Division down
Speaker:in the Black Belt,
Speaker:Alabama, Mississippi.
Speaker:And that program was a
Speaker:community-based program where we
Speaker:educated women on breast cancer.
Speaker:So, but Miguel, I have, this has been
Speaker:like a roller coaster ride for me.
Speaker:Because public health and losing so
Speaker:many family members to
Speaker:cancer, it became personal.
Speaker:My job became personal to where I've
Speaker:gotta make a
Speaker:difference in my community,
Speaker:where I live, where my children are
Speaker:growing up, where my family lives,
Speaker:where my friends live.
Speaker:I wanted to make a difference.
Speaker:You ever did something, I think you do.
Speaker:You ever did something where it's work,
Speaker:but you enjoy it so much.
Speaker:Absolutely, doing this right here.
Speaker:This is, I mean, it is.
Speaker:It's a tedious amount of work, and just
Speaker:on the technical side, being in it.
Speaker:But the other part is, is that this
Speaker:work for me is still
Speaker:about social justice.
Speaker:So much of what I cover, I had a
Speaker:conversation with
Speaker:Tia some years ago, and
Speaker:was like, man, if I could just get
Speaker:paid, figure out how to
Speaker:get paid, earn an income.
Speaker:Having conversations about how we fix
Speaker:the problems in our community,
Speaker:I'd be cool.
Speaker:And so yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Good, so you know exactly what I mean.
Speaker:When I start talking about even
Speaker:relationships, when I start,
Speaker:because you can't do
Speaker:this job by yourself.
Speaker:When I had my nonprofit, I
Speaker:was the only one on staff.
Speaker:But the key was community partners.
Speaker:Clark Memorial Hospital,
Speaker:Clark County Health Department.
Speaker:Just churches and other nonprofits.
Speaker:Sitting at the table and representing
Speaker:the people you look like.
Speaker:I represent, whenever I sit at the
Speaker:table, I don't care where I am or
Speaker:whose table it is, I
Speaker:represent minority health.
Speaker:I represent people of color.
Speaker:I represent Clark County.
Speaker:And when I say that, that's also to
Speaker:identify resources
Speaker:that in our community,
Speaker:that our residents can use those
Speaker:resources to help them feel better.
Speaker:To help them get their screenings, to
Speaker:help them get their medication.
Speaker:But it's not always that easy, Miguel.
Speaker:We talk about that.
Speaker:We always had these
Speaker:conversations about access.
Speaker:We're saying, well, medical supplies is
Speaker:out there, hospitals are out there,
Speaker:doctors are out there,
Speaker:nurses are out there.
Speaker:Why is it that one community is saying,
Speaker:hey, I have access,
Speaker:or another part of the community
Speaker:saying, I don't have access?
Speaker:What makes it so complicated?
Speaker:The difference is that when we look at
Speaker:certain areas of Clark County,
Speaker:there are bus lines, there are
Speaker:daycares, there are jobs.
Speaker:But when we look at some of the other
Speaker:communities, there's not a bus line.
Speaker:There's folks who may not have
Speaker:completed a college education.
Speaker:Education becomes an
Speaker:issue, they may be low income.
Speaker:There are people, Miguel, I would go
Speaker:door to door in some of the communities
Speaker:in Clark County, and I would ask people
Speaker:about their health.
Speaker:I want to know how you're doing.
Speaker:I want to know if you know about the
Speaker:family health center that's over across
Speaker:the street.
Speaker:Have you used their services?
Speaker:So what I would do is I
Speaker:would ask those questions.
Speaker:If some women may need a mammogram, I
Speaker:had one woman that
Speaker:did need a mammogram,
Speaker:found a lump in her
Speaker:breast, but she was comfortable.
Speaker:She said, I'm okay, what I
Speaker:don't know won't hurt me.
Speaker:Well, see, as black folks, we do have a
Speaker:tendency to continue with those myths,
Speaker:to continue to say what I don't know
Speaker:won't hurt me, and that's not true.
Speaker:So I stood there and had a conversation
Speaker:with her, told her
Speaker:about the family health
Speaker:center, told her about the breast and
Speaker:cervical cancer program.
Speaker:How many people do you see?
Speaker:And I know I don't hate to say this,
Speaker:because you gotta go
Speaker:to where people are.
Speaker:And I know that may sound old cliche,
Speaker:but you have to go and
Speaker:you have to have that conversation.
Speaker:This lady did end up going to the
Speaker:family health center.
Speaker:She did end up receiving services.
Speaker:But if I had not knocked on her door,
Speaker:she may not have went.
Speaker:You're saying you have
Speaker:to go to where people are.
Speaker:And we talk about services, we talk
Speaker:about opportunities.
Speaker:So I think there's a couple things that
Speaker:come to mind for me.
Speaker:And one is sometimes we
Speaker:don't know the services existed.
Speaker:The other part is, is there something
Speaker:that happens in the black community or
Speaker:economically challenged communities
Speaker:where there's a trust issue?
Speaker:And so what I don't know
Speaker:won't hurt me is more so
Speaker:of a reflection of the
Speaker:trust in the community.
Speaker:I don't trust this facility.
Speaker:I may not trust this doctor, I may not
Speaker:trust this service.
Speaker:I wanna remain private and I don't
Speaker:trust that they won't share.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:And part of that trust, when you start
Speaker:talking about trusting your doctors and
Speaker:trusting your provider, it goes back to
Speaker:the Tuskegee experiment.
Speaker:It goes back to history because we pass
Speaker:that information down
Speaker:through generations.
Speaker:And what we have to do is to make sure
Speaker:that we continue to
Speaker:educate individuals on speaking up for
Speaker:themselves when
Speaker:you're talking about trust.
Speaker:My own personal experience of trust
Speaker:with a doctor was when
Speaker:my son was an infant.
Speaker:And they assumed I was on Medicaid
Speaker:instead of having health insurance.
Speaker:They didn't ask for my health insurance
Speaker:card, they asked for my Medicaid card.
Speaker:And I've never been on Medicaid, but
Speaker:when I talk about trust,
Speaker:I'm referring to making sure that we
Speaker:have that open
Speaker:dialogue between our provider.
Speaker:And making sure that some people don't
Speaker:trust the prescriptions
Speaker:that their doctors give them.
Speaker:The conversations that I have are, if
Speaker:your doctor gives you a prescription,
Speaker:do you understand what a
Speaker:teaspoon, a tablespoon is?
Speaker:A lot of people don't understand that.
Speaker:It's really about health literacy and
Speaker:again being your own advocate when
Speaker:you're talking about
Speaker:trusting your own provider.
Speaker:Another example is I had a person in
Speaker:the community said that they did not go
Speaker:to this particular place for
Speaker:care because no one looked like them.
Speaker:And she was a woman, a black woman.
Speaker:And being a part of the community and
Speaker:having this particular
Speaker:organization on my board,
Speaker:I had a conversation with the executive
Speaker:director and she made changes.
Speaker:She made changes because you're not,
Speaker:again, you're working in the community.
Speaker:You're connecting them to resources,
Speaker:but you're also being that ear.
Speaker:You're also, as I said, when I sit down
Speaker:at the table, I represent
Speaker:the people that I serve.
Speaker:I represent the community.
Speaker:Let's address that sitting at the table
Speaker:because I know sitting at the many
Speaker:tables in this community,
Speaker:we might be the only ones.
Speaker:And what you just identified is why it
Speaker:is important for us
Speaker:sometimes to, for us as brown,
Speaker:black people to be in
Speaker:an awkward space, right?
Speaker:Being the only one at the table because
Speaker:when we do voice something, it may be
Speaker:the first time that anyone on that
Speaker:board or on that committee has ever
Speaker:heard of that issue.
Speaker:And if you don't advocate, if we can't
Speaker:give agency to the
Speaker:people who don't have agency,
Speaker:then the growth that we
Speaker:hope will come doesn't.
Speaker:And you deliver that.
Speaker:And so you can sit here and say, yes,
Speaker:things have changed.
Speaker:And I've worked with directors and
Speaker:programs who said, man, we don't have
Speaker:people of color who work here,
Speaker:so we'll adjust that.
Speaker:Now, not everybody does that.
Speaker:Some people don't care or
Speaker:they have rhyme and reason.
Speaker:We'll just leave it like that.
Speaker:As I said, I was going
Speaker:to play nice on this.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:You are being really good.
Speaker:You are because I know I
Speaker:know how this could go.
Speaker:But yeah, you are.
Speaker:That's OK.
Speaker:You know, sometimes there's a time to
Speaker:carry a spear and
Speaker:sometimes carry a pen in the book.
Speaker:And on this series, I think it's more
Speaker:about let's educate.
Speaker:It's a hard conversation
Speaker:no matter how we look at it.
Speaker:And because go ahead.
Speaker:Because you have to you have to have
Speaker:that conversation about systemic
Speaker:racism, discrimination.
Speaker:If I feel it, if someone in your office
Speaker:mistreated me and I just leave,
Speaker:you're not going to hear about what
Speaker:happened or why I left.
Speaker:You're not going to follow up with me.
Speaker:But if I see Pam on the street and Pam,
Speaker:this is what happened.
Speaker:I'm going to go back and we're going to
Speaker:have that conversation.
Speaker:It's a conversation
Speaker:that we have to have.
Speaker:When you're talking about
Speaker:discrimination, stress
Speaker:brings on a lot of issues.
Speaker:Stress brings on headaches,
Speaker:hypertension, heart disease.
Speaker:It plays a role in a
Speaker:lot of chronic diseases.
Speaker:So if I'm feeling-- and I know you
Speaker:understand this from 2020.
Speaker:Because I keep going back with--
Speaker:I know we're being recorded.
Speaker:But (Maurice) Miguel, I keep going back to the
Speaker:stress that I felt in 2020.
Speaker:The marches that-- the headaches that I
Speaker:had, the concerns I had.
Speaker:Now see, that brings
Speaker:social determinants of health.
Speaker:So when I don't feel safe or if I'm
Speaker:concerned about my teenage child,
Speaker:that's part of public health.
Speaker:Feeling safe is part of public health.
Speaker:So I have to make sure that I address
Speaker:those issues when it comes to safety,
Speaker:when it comes to
Speaker:discrimination, when it comes to--
Speaker:so when I'm being mistreated, when I
Speaker:don't feel like I'm getting the care
Speaker:that I need.
Speaker:And it's OK to speak up.
Speaker:Just like you guys marched.
Speaker:Y'all spoke up in 2020.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, I think 2020, 19, it changed a
Speaker:lot for a lot of people.
Speaker:And I think for some of us--
Speaker:and I'll backtrack a little bit.
Speaker:I had a couple of clients that said you
Speaker:shouldn't be out there.
Speaker:And most people don't even
Speaker:know how I got to the fact
Speaker:that I was protesting anyway.
Speaker:And it was weird because my daughter
Speaker:wanted to go protest
Speaker:in the first night the things that were
Speaker:going on in Louisville
Speaker:in terms of Breonna Taylor.
Speaker:And so we're in night two, and I'm
Speaker:watching it in the office.
Speaker:And Teah and shug call.
Speaker:I want to go downtown, and I have a
Speaker:voice, and I want to
Speaker:voice it in my head.
Speaker:I said no.
Speaker:And I've been telling this story.
Speaker:And I was like, nah,
Speaker:I'm not taking you down.
Speaker:You have no idea what
Speaker:that is going to look like.
Speaker:And they said, well, who
Speaker:better to take me than you, Dad?
Speaker:You know what it's going to look like.
Speaker:You know what it's going to feel like.
Speaker:And I was like, you know what?
Speaker:You're right.
Speaker:What we don't later
Speaker:understand is the amount of trauma
Speaker:that we cause to ourselves being in a
Speaker:volatile environment.
Speaker:It was a war environment, right?
Speaker:Brought on by both
Speaker:government and people.
Speaker:And so we have to address that.
Speaker:But it gave such a new voice.
Speaker:I remember sitting on one
Speaker:SI's board for some years,
Speaker:and we would introduce this thing about
Speaker:social racism or social equity
Speaker:or economics and the fact that black
Speaker:folks were being excluded and yada,
Speaker:yada, yada, and so on.
Speaker:And we would continue to
Speaker:have these conversations.
Speaker:And they wouldn't really go anywhere.
Speaker:It's the math didn't math at the time.
Speaker:And I think what 2020 showed the US,
Speaker:but very specifically at home,
Speaker:was that we are not far removed from
Speaker:the racial inequities that
Speaker:happen across the country.
Speaker:And in Clark County, Floyd
Speaker:County, and across the river,
Speaker:in Jefferson County, Lou, there are a
Speaker:lot that are happening
Speaker:that's intentional.
Speaker:And it does create home, right?
Speaker:It is a continuation of the inequities
Speaker:that we face systematically.
Speaker:And no matter how many
Speaker:PAM's are in the place,
Speaker:no matter how many Miguel's are in a
Speaker:place, if the powers don't be,
Speaker:if our mayors and our governors, people
Speaker:who are ahead of our health
Speaker:departments, people who are ahead of
Speaker:organizations and banks
Speaker:are not paying attention or don't want
Speaker:a culture of equity,
Speaker:then we have to
Speaker:address these things, right?
Speaker:Because we were not--
Speaker:I would like to say we're not safe.
Speaker:For a lot of people, safety in this
Speaker:community, being Black or Brown,
Speaker:doesn't exist, right?
Speaker:We leave the home with a concern that
Speaker:we live in an unsafe environment,
Speaker:both from institution and individuals.
Speaker:And I think part of this
Speaker:conversation, I think the fact
Speaker:that Clark County Health Department
Speaker:said, let's have a conversation,
Speaker:let's have an open dialogue about what
Speaker:health equity looks like.
Speaker:I asked the conversation--
Speaker:during the 2020, we were all sitting in
Speaker:these Zoom meetings because of COVID.
Speaker:And I asked the question there, we
Speaker:weren't talking about health equity.
Speaker:We were talking about wealth and
Speaker:economic positioning of the community
Speaker:as a whole.
Speaker:And I remember asking a lot of the
Speaker:leadership in that room,
Speaker:what does equity look like?
Speaker:You're saying you want to create it,
Speaker:but what does it look like?
Speaker:And that conversation never happened.
Speaker:The answer never came.
Speaker:And we're in 2023.
Speaker:I want to say the
Speaker:answer still has yet been--
Speaker:I have yet to hear it, but what I have
Speaker:seen is a few people,
Speaker:a few organizations say, let's step out
Speaker:here and see if we can figure it out.
Speaker:Because we don't
Speaker:know what it looks like.
Speaker:And we don't have a plan.
Speaker:Now, there are some folks like Mayor
Speaker:Treva Hodges or Mayor Treva Hodges
Speaker:over in Charlestown (Indiana) has done some
Speaker:really unique things in terms
Speaker:of hiring practices and programming.
Speaker:And she's been boisterous about it.
Speaker:Yes, she has.
Speaker:You've got CASI, who is
Speaker:doing a great deal of things.
Speaker:And so we have pockets
Speaker:of folks in the community.
Speaker:The fact that Dr. Yezel
Speaker:with the Health Department
Speaker:is out here looking at it
Speaker:and saying, how do we fix it?
Speaker:How do we implement things?
Speaker:What's missing?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And we have to fix it together.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We can't-- we have to have--
Speaker:when I say together, not just
Speaker:with the health professionals and not
Speaker:just with those folks who
Speaker:are community health workers, we have
Speaker:to bring those folks
Speaker:to the table from the community.
Speaker:We have to have that discussion, that
Speaker:raw discussion from those
Speaker:that it really impacts.
Speaker:Because black men are still
Speaker:dying from chronic diseases,
Speaker:from hypertension, from strokes,
Speaker:from seven years
Speaker:earlier than white men.
Speaker:And till this day, this is 2022.
Speaker:And we are still at
Speaker:the top of the chart
Speaker:when it comes to health disparities.
Speaker:The gap has not been closed.
Speaker:I remember when I first started, we
Speaker:talked about healthy people--
Speaker:I think it was Healthy People 2018,
Speaker:Healthy People 2016.
Speaker:We're talking about
Speaker:Healthy People Close to Health
Speaker:Disparities Gap.
Speaker:How are we going to do that?
Speaker:We have to also-- we can't leave out
Speaker:the part of advocacy.
Speaker:We can't leave the part out
Speaker:of going to the state house
Speaker:and being that voice and being heard.
Speaker:There was one time they wanted to--
Speaker:you ever talk about cutting the Breast
Speaker:and Cervical Cancer
Speaker:Program dollars.
Speaker:Who do you think
Speaker:that's going to impact?
Speaker:That's going to impact women of color.
Speaker:And I don't know if you
Speaker:want to delete this part,
Speaker:but we're also talking about abortion.
Speaker:At the state level,
Speaker:we're talking about abortion.
Speaker:We're talking about now--
Speaker:we're talking about women of color
Speaker:now going back to the alley to get this
Speaker:botched up job done.
Speaker:Because we are passing laws that are
Speaker:going to be so strict
Speaker:in the state of Indiana.
Speaker:Even if a woman has been raped, she's
Speaker:not going to be able
Speaker:to get an abortion.
Speaker:We've had this conversation
Speaker:on a couple of the podcasts,
Speaker:and what does the world
Speaker:look like post-Rovy Way?
Speaker:But here's the even
Speaker:crazier question is,
Speaker:what does our community
Speaker:look like during Rovy Way?
Speaker:Some communities were already bad,
Speaker:Indiana being one of them.
Speaker:I had Dr. Rita on
Speaker:here in the last session,
Speaker:and we talked about the
Speaker:fact that one out of every four
Speaker:young women will be
Speaker:sexually assaulted and abused
Speaker:before she leaves middle
Speaker:school, and men one out of six
Speaker:young boys.
Speaker:And these are reported.
Speaker:So we already live in an environment
Speaker:that is dangerous in that relationship,
Speaker:but here we are
Speaker:passing laws that will--
Speaker:a lot of times they
Speaker:say we're passing laws
Speaker:because we want to protect
Speaker:an unborn child or a fetus,
Speaker:and I respect that.
Speaker:But at the same time, we're also
Speaker:passing laws, I think,
Speaker:who are protecting predators.
Speaker:And I once asked a question
Speaker:of some elected officials.
Speaker:I said, when you pass
Speaker:this law, who are you really
Speaker:protecting your friends, who you know
Speaker:are out here raping
Speaker:and pillaging, or
Speaker:the people that you're
Speaker:supposed to legitimately protect?
Speaker:And I think we have to
Speaker:continue to have that conversation,
Speaker:because there's--
Speaker:I'm firm believer that we have to
Speaker:protect women's rights.
Speaker:There's no reason we
Speaker:should be making laws that
Speaker:dictate what a woman
Speaker:should or can or can't
Speaker:do with their own body.
Speaker:That is not freedom.
Speaker:That's not independence.
Speaker:And that goes against the American
Speaker:concept, in my opinion.
Speaker:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker:And another, we don't know how we're
Speaker:going to come out post-COVID with
Speaker:mental health in our youth.
Speaker:That's another topic.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:We've had an increase.
Speaker:And to me, one suicide is too much.
Speaker:That's too many.
Speaker:So this past summer for our
Speaker:annual Back to School event,
Speaker:I had Center Stone set
Speaker:up a table just for them
Speaker:to talk to parents and
Speaker:to follow up with parents.
Speaker:Because I want to make sure that our
Speaker:kids are feeling safe,
Speaker:able to have a conversation with
Speaker:someone, some adults,
Speaker:somewhere.
Speaker:They've lost friends.
Speaker:They've lost family to COVID.
Speaker:So we don't know how this
Speaker:COVID is going to impact
Speaker:is going to have on our
Speaker:children, the isolation.
Speaker:I think still with going to school
Speaker:and sitting in a
Speaker:classroom for some is a challenge.
Speaker:Is it safe to say that
Speaker:COVID, the last couple of years,
Speaker:there's no going back to a norm.
Speaker:This is our new norm.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And we have to figure out how
Speaker:to thrive and be safe in it.
Speaker:I wonder, even in
Speaker:that, I wonder how many,
Speaker:when we look at the
Speaker:diversity of our community,
Speaker:how many therapists, how many
Speaker:psychologists do we have?
Speaker:Are there black, brown, or women who
Speaker:are of other ethnicities?
Speaker:Because we're not just a
Speaker:black, white community.
Speaker:We have Africans.
Speaker:We have Hispanics from
Speaker:all different regions.
Speaker:So we really have a plethora of folks.
Speaker:And are we really addressing the needs
Speaker:of the people in the cultures?
Speaker:Is there anything you want to share?
Speaker:As we have these conversations.
Speaker:I would like for
Speaker:people to just get involved.
Speaker:Something that I'm working on,
Speaker:and I don't know when I'm going to be
Speaker:able to implement this,
Speaker:but it's been near
Speaker:and dear to my heart,
Speaker:which is crime in the
Speaker:African-American community.
Speaker:Something that I would
Speaker:like to do is to start out
Speaker:with a panel of discussion,
Speaker:but I like doing things out the box.
Speaker:I don't like doing the normal things.
Speaker:I want to have someone
Speaker:there from the trauma center,
Speaker:from the funeral home.
Speaker:I want to have a parent there.
Speaker:I want to have, I want
Speaker:to have a real discussion,
Speaker:but I don't want it to end just there.
Speaker:A lot of times we
Speaker:have town hall meetings
Speaker:and we voice our concerns.
Speaker:We get up, we testify, we tell all
Speaker:these great stories.
Speaker:And then it just sits there.
Speaker:And what happens after that?
Speaker:Again, I'm only one person,
Speaker:but if I can get the
Speaker:community involved,
Speaker:the community to share.
Speaker:And when I say that community,
Speaker:I'm talking about folks
Speaker:that live in public housing,
Speaker:folks that live in a
Speaker:million dollar homes.
Speaker:I want to get all these
Speaker:people together in one room
Speaker:so we can talk about it.
Speaker:And then we come up with a plan.
Speaker:Bring our mayors,
Speaker:our local politicians,
Speaker:bring all of those folks in
Speaker:to have that conversation.
Speaker:Is it going to happen overnight?
Speaker:No, it's not going to happen overnight.
Speaker:But Clark County always
Speaker:say we're not in Oz anymore.
Speaker:- No, no.
Speaker:- It's not where I grew up.
Speaker:I've been here all my life.
Speaker:And it is not, when
Speaker:I'm going to tell you,
Speaker:I was in the hospital, I
Speaker:was diagnosed with epilepsy
Speaker:when I was three.
Speaker:I was in the hospital.
Speaker:I was in the basement.
Speaker:- Basement?
Speaker:- Yeah, I was in the basement
Speaker:because black kids could not go.
Speaker:Black people couldn't go.
Speaker:If you went to the
Speaker:hospital and you were admitted,
Speaker:you were admitted in the basement.
Speaker:- That's unheard of.
Speaker:- No.
Speaker:- I mean, it's not unheard of clearly.
Speaker:That's crazy.
Speaker:- No, I remember that.
Speaker:- Wow.
Speaker:- Yes, yes.
Speaker:My mother never had any complaints
Speaker:in terms of how I was treated.
Speaker:She didn't have any
Speaker:complaints about that.
Speaker:But things have changed,
Speaker:but then again, things haven't changed.
Speaker:Things have been covered up.
Speaker:- Okay.
Speaker:- So we have to talk about that.
Speaker:And you talk about Dr. Yazone,
Speaker:you talk about Rita Fleming,
Speaker:and you talk about Treva Hodges,
Speaker:and those are just to name a few,
Speaker:that are, I call,
Speaker:they're on the front line
Speaker:for all people, for people of color.
Speaker:They're easy to approach.
Speaker:They're approachable to discuss issues
Speaker:that even one
Speaker:individual has a concern about.
Speaker:How can we get together
Speaker:and have those conversations?
Speaker:And sometimes we think,
Speaker:oh, I'm just one person.
Speaker:That's okay.
Speaker:- You can be one person.
Speaker:- One person can do a lot.
Speaker:- That's right.
Speaker:- It's the spark that moves things.
Speaker:And I love the fact you said,
Speaker:hey, let's move beyond conversation.
Speaker:We have to have action plans in place.
Speaker:And so if we're gonna
Speaker:address equity at any level,
Speaker:if we're gonna address the crime levels
Speaker:that are increasing in key communities,
Speaker:then how do we address that?
Speaker:And it's not just about policing.
Speaker:It is about those who are in the
Speaker:community owning it.
Speaker:Having some degree of ownership,
Speaker:whether you have a
Speaker:mortgage or you're renting it.
Speaker:There's different levels of ownership.
Speaker:And I think the other piece is,
Speaker:is that we have to look at opportunity.
Speaker:Why does crime happen?
Speaker:What are the reasons?
Speaker:What are the things
Speaker:causing for things to occur?
Speaker:And how do we begin to address that
Speaker:versus just saying,
Speaker:hey, this is
Speaker:something we need to police
Speaker:and somebody needs to go to jail.
Speaker:I think that has to be a thing too,
Speaker:because when we live in a community
Speaker:that is focused on economic growth,
Speaker:economic means, financial value,
Speaker:and we have
Speaker:communities that are ignored.
Speaker:And we have communities that are
Speaker:intentionally ignored.
Speaker:And we have to address that as well.
Speaker:- Because that's their problem.
Speaker:- Yes.
Speaker:- That's not really our problem.
Speaker:- Yes, when tax
Speaker:dollars came from everybody.
Speaker:- That's right, that's right.
Speaker:And something else I
Speaker:wanna bring up real quick
Speaker:is that I served on a policy
Speaker:that the state of Indiana is working on
Speaker:called direct service workers.
Speaker:And direct service
Speaker:workers, as you know,
Speaker:are usually, they're like our CNAs
Speaker:and folks that are
Speaker:caregivers, even, you know,
Speaker:I was a caregiver to my mom and
Speaker:caregiver to my husband.
Speaker:And caregivers, I'm
Speaker:paid a lot of money.
Speaker:If we could get,
Speaker:if what they're talking about doing
Speaker:is identifying a
Speaker:career track, a career path,
Speaker:but also making sure that
Speaker:they have the resources.
Speaker:If a CNA wants to become a nurse,
Speaker:to make sure that she has those
Speaker:resources to become a nurse.
Speaker:Because if we can pull
Speaker:them up to another level,
Speaker:because we have more people aging,
Speaker:we have an aging population as well.
Speaker:- Yes.
Speaker:- Okay, now we don't like to put our
Speaker:folks in nursing homes.
Speaker:They're trying to keep
Speaker:folks out of nursing homes.
Speaker:So if we can get our family members,
Speaker:if we can take care for our loved ones,
Speaker:if we can also get our
Speaker:direct service workers,
Speaker:if we can get behind them
Speaker:and the state can pass those policies
Speaker:to help our direct service workers
Speaker:to become more self-sufficient,
Speaker:that would also help
Speaker:our economy as well.
Speaker:- We've got a nice, we've
Speaker:got a lot to think about.
Speaker:- We've got a lot to think about.
Speaker:- We've got a lot to work on.
Speaker:- But that's my day.
Speaker:- Yes, wow.
Speaker:- If you ask me, Pam,
Speaker:what are you doing today?
Speaker:- That's a long list of things.
Speaker:- I'm also working on infant mortality.
Speaker:I was telling you about the local food
Speaker:purchase the excess
Speaker:grant that Community Action
Speaker:just received and
Speaker:working with BIPOC farmers
Speaker:and working with black farmers
Speaker:and working those 20 counties
Speaker:and getting fresh fruits and
Speaker:vegetables to those counties,
Speaker:to those folks that
Speaker:live in those 20 counties
Speaker:and that there's only five grants in
Speaker:the state of Indiana
Speaker:that Community Action
Speaker:is the lead agency on.
Speaker:So if you ask me about that,
Speaker:I'm also over here working with doulas.
Speaker:I'm writing a grant to try to get,
Speaker:I have a couple of doulas
Speaker:that are gonna be working
Speaker:with our Head Start families.
Speaker:I have doulas that's gonna be working
Speaker:and talking about breastfeeding
Speaker:and talking about
Speaker:nutrition and physical activity
Speaker:and really focusing on
Speaker:that, the low income families
Speaker:and making sure that those
Speaker:women have what they need
Speaker:and connect them to resources as well.
Speaker:- How do we get all of
Speaker:that out there into the ether?
Speaker:- Ooh.
Speaker:- Like, I mean, I'm in certain spaces
Speaker:and I don't always get to hear about
Speaker:the different programs.
Speaker:When I do pick up a newspaper,
Speaker:I don't always hear about
Speaker:the different new programs
Speaker:and in Clark and Floyd County, we
Speaker:really don't have news.
Speaker:- We don't have news.
Speaker:- So how do we get that
Speaker:information out to the people
Speaker:on an ongoing basis?
Speaker:- We had over a thousand people,
Speaker:individuals that attended
Speaker:the Back to School event,
Speaker:a thousand, every year
Speaker:there's more and more.
Speaker:We went to the media,
Speaker:our community partners,
Speaker:we were on TV, radio,
Speaker:just trying to get that
Speaker:information out there.
Speaker:That's because people are
Speaker:having a difficult time,
Speaker:hard time with getting
Speaker:jobs or even retaining the job
Speaker:because so many people have been home.
Speaker:It's hard to sit at a desk when you've
Speaker:been home for a long time.
Speaker:- That hustle is different now.
Speaker:- It is, it's a little different, it's
Speaker:a little different.
Speaker:So what we do is we use
Speaker:our community partners,
Speaker:we use our churches to
Speaker:try to get the word out.
Speaker:I just started diabetes class last
Speaker:week, every Wednesday.
Speaker:A lot of us, we
Speaker:still call it the sugar.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- I don't want to have a late,
Speaker:she told me she was
Speaker:diagnosed with diabetes,
Speaker:but she said, "You know
Speaker:what I call it, sugar?
Speaker:I can't say the word diabetes."
Speaker:- Don't wanna own that disease.
Speaker:- Don't wanna own it.
Speaker:- Well, I'm in this already.
Speaker:- And we're still, we've got people
Speaker:still, that's okay.
Speaker:- We don't have to quiet enough.
Speaker:- Because we can address that.
Speaker:But how do you, so are you teaching,
Speaker:and I know we gotta wrap up,
Speaker:so in that diabetes
Speaker:class and that sugar class.
Speaker:- In that sugar class, probably.
Speaker:- Are we teaching new ways of eating?
Speaker:- Yes, we are.
Speaker:And it's not, when I
Speaker:say I'm having a class
Speaker:and it's facilitated by
Speaker:an RN, registered nurse,
Speaker:when I say I'm having a class,
Speaker:it's not where she's coming in and
Speaker:she's lecturing you.
Speaker:This is interactive.
Speaker:We're actually doing food demonstration
Speaker:and we bring in partners to do this.
Speaker:- Can I come film that one?
Speaker:- You can come and you
Speaker:get a little blender.
Speaker:I mean, you're getting
Speaker:some things to take home.
Speaker:Every class that you attend,
Speaker:you will get something to take home.
Speaker:We have activities that you do.
Speaker:We play bingo, you get a game,
Speaker:but yet, and still, it's educational.
Speaker:If you have free
Speaker:diabetes, if you have diabetes,
Speaker:or if you're a caregiver
Speaker:to someone with diabetes,
Speaker:please come out to our
Speaker:class at Community Action.
Speaker:We start at that class
Speaker:every Wednesday at 4.30.
Speaker:- So how do I get it out?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I think people just call me and say,
Speaker:"Pam, what are you doing?"
Speaker:Sometimes I don't know where to start.
Speaker:- What if they don't know a Pam?
Speaker:How do they find you?
Speaker:- They can call Community
Speaker:Action, just ask for Pam.
Speaker:- Just ask for Pam.
Speaker:- And they'll say, "Pam,
Speaker:the minority health girl,"
Speaker:and they'll put you through.
Speaker:- And we need your help.
Speaker:- We need your help, yes.
Speaker:- From service to farm.
Speaker:So when does the
Speaker:farming program launch?
Speaker:- That we started, we received our,
Speaker:I'm gonna say in four months.
Speaker:- In four months?
Speaker:- Mm-hmm.
Speaker:- You're gonna look for that as well.
Speaker:You're gonna look
Speaker:for some fresh produce
Speaker:here in Clark County.
Speaker:- Well, thank you for joining me.
Speaker:- Thank you for having me.
Speaker:- It's been most informative.
Speaker:I hope that if you're
Speaker:listening or you get to watch,
Speaker:you picked up some information.
Speaker:This is specific to
Speaker:Clark County, Indiana.
Speaker:But if you are watching somewhere else
Speaker:or listening somewhere else,
Speaker:ask yourself, what are you doing in
Speaker:your own community?
Speaker:What information do you have?
Speaker:What information don't you have?
Speaker:Are you not getting it
Speaker:because you're not at the table?
Speaker:And sometimes we have to
Speaker:move out of our comfort zones
Speaker:and show up in spaces so that we can
Speaker:get the information
Speaker:and then bring it
Speaker:back to our community.
Speaker:I'm with Pam Clark, we're at CASI
Speaker:This is your boy, Guelly Guel
Speaker:This is "Common Conversations"
Speaker:with the Health Equity Story.
Speaker:Thank you very much, and
Speaker:we'll see you next show.