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Public Health Culture

Join Leonore Okwara, MPH as she discusses public health research, initiatives, and how to engage the community in it all.

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  2. 30. Reopening Schools for Kids During a Pandemic: A Health Equity Conversation

30. Reopening Schools for Kids During a Pandemic: A Health Equity Conversation

Aug 10, 2020

Olyvia Phillips is a Public Health Professional focusing on addressing health disparities for children and families. She has experience in children’s health and providing pediatric providers with the education they need to best serve their communities. She lives in Chicago and is working on her MPH. She lives in Chicago and is working on her MPH. She believes that public health is truly a collaborative field that necessitates work across sectors in many fields.

In This Episode We Cover:

  • How COVID-19 is affecting children and families.
  • How COVID-19 is exposing and bringing to light the already deep health inequalities in our communities.
  • How routine well child visits are more important than ever.
  • The questions surrounding how to keep kids and families safe and functioning during this pandemic.
  • The effects of mis-information and how confusing this can be for families.
  • Why the re-opening of schools is such a hard decision.
  • How public health is something that touches all of our lives.
  • The importance of health literacy and making sure we are using language that parents and children can understand.
  • Her biggest frustrations with our current system. 

Stand-Out Quotes:

  • “We want to protect their (children’s) innocence as much as possible.  Let them have imagination and let them play but we also want them to be healthy.”
  • “Schools are central for social and emotional development but when you talk about putting people into this space and the virus spreads, how do we keep people safe?”
  • “Every experience you have is related to public health.”
  • “We need to take care of the basic needs of families.”

Action Steps:

  • Be informed on what to do to be prepared.
  • Work collaboratively to come up with solutions.  We all must work together!

Reach Out:

  • Podcast: Public Health for the Culture - publichealthfortheculture.buzzsprout.com
  • Instagram: @therealpublichealth 
  • Email: publichealthfortheculture@gmail.com

Interested in being a guest on Public Health Culture?  Connect with Leonore at www.publichealthresearchconsulting.com