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Healthy Communities News

Author: CVS Health

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All across the United States, people are banding together to create a healthier future. State by state, city by city, and street by street, visionary local leaders strive to solve the nation's most persistent health challenges. Each month, we’ll bring you an inside view of a different community-based health initiative — an honest look at the challenges communities face and the outstanding solutions they’ve found to address them.

Melissa Eagan is the host of the Healthy Communities News podcast, a seasoned audio producer and storyteller, Melissa was a journalist in Rhode Island before joining public radio, where she executive produced talk shows like New York & Company. During her career she has won AP Best Interview and James Beard awards, as well as a Peabody. Now she swims and hikes when she can.

Presented by CVS Health.
16 Episodes
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In this episode, we head to Houston to learn about the integral role this small clinic has been playing in the community for almost a century. When the pandemic hit, the staff quickly adapted to ensure their patients could continue to access the care they needed.
The coronavirus has touched all of our lives in one way or another. Children, in particular, are in an ongoing state of flux. Many classes in schools and colleges across the country have been upended. We did find an oasis in South Florida where an organization called Branches has been working diligently for over 25 years to serve the neighborhood’s youth and their families.For the podcast (below) we spoke with executive director Brent McLaughlin and Kim Torres, Director of Student Services, and Branches partner Rosa Santiago — as well as students Kelson Baptiste, Vicshonda “Vicky” Bellany, and Melvin Amaya.Aetna Better Health®, a Medicaid managed care plan in Florida, has a long-standing relationship with Branches as a community partner.
Community Servings in Boston, Massachusetts, started in 1990 as a program to feed a small group of AIDS patients suffering from malnutrition. It has turned into a community hub that provides thousands of medically tailored meals each month, job training, and so much more. The COVID-19 pandemic has not slowed their work. In fact, it’s increased demand and CVS Health stepped up to help them hire a temporary workforce of kitchen staff and delivery drivers. In this month’s podcast episode, we speak with David Waters, CEO, as well as COO Kevin Conner, executive chef Brian Hillmer, and Training Kitchen program graduates Ricardo Mercado and Jermaine McNeill, who explain how they make it all happen.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which is more important now than ever before. Recent national unemployment rates for individuals with disabilities is more than double that of abled people, so we thought it was a perfect opportunity to highlight ways people with untapped talents can thrive — even in challenging times like these.David L. Casey, Vice President for Workforce Strategies & Chief Diversity Officer, kicks off this episode with some remarkably personal stories about his family and military history, both of which fuel David’s commitment to the Abilities in Abundance program. We also connected Duane Rohr, an advisor in CVS Health’s Workforce Initiatives department and Renee Smith, a graduate of the Abilities in Abundance program and colleague at one of our CVS Pharmacy locations in Baltimore, Maryland.A very special thanks to Dana, Stacey Butler, The Maryland State Department of Education’s Division of Rehabilitation Services and the local Workforce & Technology Center. Thank you for the wonderful and inspiring work that you do.
In the podcast, we explore these topics even more deeply with Breanna Lathrop. We also caught up with Dr. Bill Warren, the visionary who founded Good Samaritan some 21-and-a-half years ago. John Ahmann is the president of the Westside Future Fund and an Atlanta native who brings an historical perspective to the discussion before closing the loop with Makeda Johnson, director and founder of the Sisters Action Team, who draws from her faith and the power of collective action over individualism in supporting her community.
New Orleans is no stranger to adversity, and relies on its deep community roots to unite residents as they band together to respond to the pandemic. In this month’s podcast episode, we spoke to Danielle Taylor, a CVS Pharmacy District Leader and both of her parents, Jessie and Thais Ardouin, who were hospitalized at the same time with COVID-19. We also hear from Reinaldo Martinez, a CVS store manager, who is coping with loss in his family and leaning on his love of New Orleans, his coworkers, and staying busy with work to cope.
You can be young, look and feel healthy and still be at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Surprised? Healthy Communities News spoke with Dr. Mosca, a volunteer medical expert with the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women movement, to get a better of understanding of women’s heart health. We also sat down with Jenny Petz and Nicole Murray, two of the inspiring heart disease and stroke survivors chosen for Go Red for Women’s 2020 class of Real Women to hear their powerful stories of survival and recovery.
To really know what a community needs, you have to live there. Talk with your neighbors over the back fence. See the issues with your own eyes. That’s what makes the Live Healthy Little Havana program a success. Neighborhood residents, working as community liaisons, are at the heart of the work to improve life for those in the community. And everyone’s got a seat at the table, from government representatives to health workers to lifelong residents. It’s a model that’s driving change — and one that other communities can replicate.
Workforce training that takes a single mom of five from homeless to hopeful in Cleveland. Students debating how to go tobacco-free on a Philadelphia campus. These are two of the exciting stories we’ve covered this past year on our Healthy Communities News podcast. And now you can sample them all on our year-end episode. Whether it’s been about faith leaders joining forces with their congregants to shed weight, or a former sex worker who draws upon her own hard-earned experience with opioids to help others struggling with addiction and recovery, we’ve gone around the country to shine a light on people and programs who are bringing change to their communities. We hope they will inspire you, and we look forward to bringing you more stories of hope this coming year.
In Nashville, Tennessee, there’s a low-slung brick building nestled among fast food shops and a gas station on Clarksville Pike. It’s proudly painted red, white, and blue – a comfortable, well-worn spot that’s become a cultural hub for generations of African-American customers. And now, patrons of the barbershop can get more than a shave and a haircut. High rates of hypertension in this community are compounded by the fact that African-American men often aren’t receiving regular medical care. A group of partners, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Nashville Health, and CVS Health, are setting out to address this by placing pharmacists inside barbershops to screen for high blood pressure and recommend necessary treatments.
Medical services are only part of staying healthy. Your community plays an even larger role: whether you have access to safe streets and fresh food, whether you can breathe clean air and drink untainted water, whether you can find places to exercise and socialize. These “social determinants of health” are critical to the well-being of communities and their residents. However, getting them right can be a real challenging. Hear from the places and people who are making a difference. © 2019 CVS Health and/or one of its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Carrie Robinson is a 28-year-old single mom living outside of Cleveland, Ohio. She’s a pharmacy technician – but not too long ago, she and her five kids found themselves homeless. She shared her story about how CVS Health’s Workforce Innovation and Talent Center changed her life. The centers provide people in under served communities with the training, resources and support network they need to be successful. Like Carrie.
Gina is an individual in recovery from opioid use disorder and a former sex worker. Today, she’s a Linkage to Care Coordinator in rural North Carolina, a job funded by an Aetna Foundation grant. Each day, Gina uses her street smarts and lively personality to connect residents struggling with opioid use disorder with the help and resources they need.
Faith leaders, county health officials, the local health system and community groups have proven that it takes a village to address local health issues. The Village HeartBEAT program created a fitness challenge in local congregations. The goal? To help residents battling heart disease and diabetes. The program uses exercise, nutrition and community gardens to help raise the spirits and lower the weight of participants.
Small businesses can revitalize neighborhoods – so the Bridgeport OIC is lending a hand to local entrepreneurs. We talk to Jeff Nelson of Seeding Knowledge, a start-up that plants and maintains gardens and sells produce. He’s expanding his services to the East End Pop Up Market, where he’ll offer not only fruits and vegetables, but cooking classes and gardening instruction.
As the economy struggles and poverty rises in Bridgeport, manufacturing jobs are not the only thing leaving town: Residents have had to go farther and farther to find fresh food. But a group of local businesspeople is looking to reverse that trend. They’re opening the new East End Pop Up Market, which will offer not only fresh food, but also job training and wellness workshops. It’s a solution that can be a model for food deserts across the country. 
Comments (5)

Lois Reavis

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Oct 1st
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Sheon McLeod

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Sep 6th
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