Equity in health care Covid-19 has not affected all communities equally.

Why is that and what's being done tonight?

PBS39 proudly presents a community conversation Vaccines and Communities of Color.

Now here's your host, Gen. Ortega.

Welcome to this special presentation, a community conversation on Vaccines and Communities of Color.

We're coming to you live from the PPE Public Media Center in Bethlehem.

In partnership with Capital Blue Cross tonight, we'll take a hard look at health equity and disparities in how people of color receive and gain access to health care, much like how the killing of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests led to a reckoning of police use of force across America.

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed huge gaps in the US health care system.

Some might say Covid-19 is giving some of you in real time of the disproportionate care or lack of care experienced by America's minority populations.

The Covid-19 vaccine rollout and delivery provide the latest examples of this uneven playing field.

Tonight, we'll examine some of the factors at play as well as steps being taken to address this public health crisis.

We have a lot to get to.

Joining us are leaders who throughout this pandemic have had a hand in trying to solve some of these issues and see that everyone has the opportunity to be healthier.

A little later, we'll meet some of the stakeholders and others on the front lines right here in the Lehigh Valley working for greater health care access for people of color.

Let's meet our first round of guests.

Joining us remotely are Mr David Saunders, director of the Pennsylvania Office of Health Equity.

It's an office charged with raising public awareness of health disparities in Pennsylvania and working with state agencies and institutions to eliminate those disparities.

State Senator Art Haywood is a Democrat whose district covers part of Philadelphia and the Abbington area of Montgomery County.

He's minority chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Since February, he's been one of four lawmakers to Democrats and to Republicans on Governor Tom Wolf Covid-19 task force formed specifically to improve vaccine distribution.

Also here is Debra Fraser-Howze.

She's a consultant and former OraSure executive here in Bethlehem who previously served as president and CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS.

She's been adviser to two US presidents and is founder of Choose Healthy Life, a national organization that addresses public health disparities through the black church.

Thank you all for joining us tonight.

Over the past 15 months, Covid-19 has taken 565 thousand lives across America, but it is infecting and killing people of color, stunningly disproportionate rates.

I want to show what we're talking about here.

Look at this data from the CDC among white people, there have been 72 and a half deaths per 100,000 population, but that number is more than double for black and Hispanic people.

Over 150 deaths per hundred thousand for African-Americans and more than 160 for 400,000 for Hispanics.

Blacks make up 14% of the US population and Hispanics 19%.

But they're twice as likely to die from Covid than white people.

That is really eye opening.

Miss Fraser House again, welcome.

Let's start with you as someone who's been studying health equity for a long time, I don't imagine this is a great surprise.

But how can we get serious about closing some of these racial and ethnic divides that are so obvious now in this pandemic?

What needs to happen?

Well, what needs to be one of the things that needs to happen is that we do need to get serious about it.

We know that there have been health disparities in America for forever.

In fact, the Institute of Medicine did a report in the early 2000s that was called Unequal Treatment and the report actually went back and looked at reasons why health disparities was so great.

Among communities of color, particularly I and Latino communities.

And they found that that is an equity in the health care system in general.

We tend to not get the medication that we should be paying for some very specific diseases.

We tend to lose limbs or have amputations more than whites because of diabetes.

There's a level of care there that is played in some part due to racism.

And we need to address that.

We need to address it very seriously and immediately.

And this show is just the first step.

Mr Saunders, thanks again for being here.

This question is for you.

We hear about vaccine hesitancy and distrust of health care in the black and brown communities, but it seems like Pennsylvania had a serious issue with vaccine supply getting vaccine and delivering it to people who wanted it but didn't have a computer or couldn't find appointments.

How is your office working to reach these vulnerable populations?

And are you finding success Gamma I think some of the issues that you've mentioned happen across the country.

So not just here in Pennsylvania.

We've been working since April of last year around our health equity response to Covid-19.

We've engaged partners from across the state both in a racial and ethnic minority community and outside of the racial and ethnic minority community.

We meet on a regular basis.

We have engaged different organizations like a Latino connection to do mobile vaccinations.

We're working with a group out of the southwestern portion of the state, the Black Equity Coalition, to address the folks out on the West End portion of the state.

We've engaged health care academia, nonprofit organizations.

It's something that we pay a great deal of attention to.

It's what I the breathe and that's what a lot of people within the Department of Health are focusing on.

As well as the partners that we engage with.

I definitely want to touch upon the mobile vaccination unit a little later on, but Senator Haywood, I want to come to you now.

Thank you again for your time.

The Covid-19 task force was formed after a rather rocky rollout for vaccine distribution in Pennsylvania.

People were really frustrated.

The task force was instruental in getting teachers and school workers vaccinated.

But what about those people we're talking about tonight?

And I want to share some data here from the non-price nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

These are the updated figures from early this week.

Latinos and the African-American community make up 4%.

Each of all those vaccinated in Pennsylvania.

But that's not proportionate to their share of the state population.

In fact, it's fewer than half.

Meanwhile, white people represent 85% of all those vaccinated, even though they account for just 80% of the population Senator Haywood.

What are lawmakers on the task force doing to bring an end to the disparate in vaccine delivery Gamma So thank you so much.

Let me say first of all, we track those same numbers that you have shown on a weekly basis and have been doing so for the last six weeks.

Here are a few things that are going on.

First, task force has identified the zip codes in the state of Pennsylvania where there are significant number of black and brown people.

And so we have identified a where we need to go.

B, we are allocating a vaccine to providers who are doing more to vaccinate black and brown people.

Third, we have created an allocation specifically for making sure we get vaccine to black and brown people.

Third, we have developing hesitancy campaign and a campaign to deal with the resistance and that messaging campaign should be launched by the end of April.

Third, we are addressing accessibility.

As David mentioned, we're looking to bring in providers such as Latino Connection and other mobile providers that can get vaccine to individuals in need.

Black and Browns and finally, we made a determination to make a priority for grocery store workers, food service workers.

These are a lot of black and brown people as well.

I love to hear that your messaging campaign will be launched at the end of April.

Are there any other concrete vaccination goals or deadlines you're working towards?

Our goal is to vaccinate.

Have each Pennsylvanian have an opportunity to be vaccinated by the end of June.

And our real goal is to have 80% of Pennsylvanians vaccinated this year.

However, we have to we do have to work on compliance.

For instance, I don't think there's anything that a state alone can do to get some black or brown people vaccinated or even some whites who have various ideological reasons.

Antivax.

So we're going to really need partners, church leaders, community leaders, rappers and other leaders who can reach people and let them know that it's important to take the vaccine.

Thank you, Senator Haywood.

At a recent food drive organized by Mega, a Spanish language radio station right here in the Lehigh Valley, I had a chance to ask people about why they would or wouldn't get the vaccine.

Let's take a listen.

Dublin.

I had it.

I had Covid-19 it was hard to thank God we're better both me and my wife.

Oh, both you and your wife had Covid are you thinking of getting vaccinated?

No, no, no.

Why not?

OK, because the vaccine, it goes fine for some and not so good for others.

What a moment.

At the moment I have not been vaccinated but I will be making that decision.

I'll President Trump Geetha.

At the beginning I was indecisive because they talked so many things and you have to be prepared to take that step.

But I spoke with my doctor and we agreed that I should go ahead and make a decision to get vaccinated.

Família out of control.

Yes, I have family members who have died from Covid.

My sister in law, her son.

My nephew also died from that.

I mean, I already received the first vaccine and I'm going to be getting the other one.

And how did it go?

Thank God I feel good, healthy.

Thank God I've been good up to this moment in time.

Yes, of course.

I'm a veteran and the VA has already made an appointment for me to be vaccinated not just for my health but for the health of those around.

It's very important that we get vaccinated.

It's a form of protection.

It's better than nothing if I don't get vaccinated, I am more exposed than if I were vaccinated Covid I had Covid already.

I don't believe there's anything wrong with getting the vaccine.

Many people that I know have already gotten it.

They've gotten symptoms but I'm not afraid to do it.

Nothing Mark Knouse am I think the vaccine is too recent.

It was released too quickly into the market Dominion I already had Covid and they say that if you already had Covid then you're already immune.

So I don't see the point of the vaccine.

I do have a bit of fear.

I've heard so many things in favor as also hurt so many things that have happened to people as my husband Sylvester, I said things like bad reactions.

I have heard of people that supposedly have died after the vaccine, which is why I'm on the fence because well, I didn't I have Covid.

But then if I get the vaccine and I die, then it's because I got the vaccine to prevent Covid.

Deborah, you hear from a lot of people working to chip away at misinformation or distrust and in a few minutes we'll hear from people working on the ground level here in the Lehigh Valley.

But I want to get your thoughts on what we just heard.

Does it sound familiar to you and how is your organization Choose Healthy Life addressing this within black churches?

It's sounds very familiar.

@We hear this every day and I'm concerned with things that specifically that was said that once you catch the virus at once, you get vaccinated, you're immune.

That is not the case.

You can still catch Covid.

So people need to understand that they still mask.

They still need to wash their hands.

They still need to keep their distance.

When you are sort of in your pod with other people who are vaccinated in small numbers, it's OK for you to gather at times without a mask.

But people need to understand you can still Covid even though you have been vaccinated.

The other thing that was said that is not correct is that the vaccine was created too quickly.

This vaccine and this process, the RNA process has been around for 20 years.

People have been working on this.

They were really working on this.

In addition, to working on a vaccine for AIDS and this is not the first Covid source Covid that we have had.

So so researchers have been working on this process for the vaccine for a long time.

Let me just tell you about Choose Healthy Life Choose Healthy Life Life is a program that was developed for the African-American church who the trust leaders in our community and people listen to the two chairmans of the Choose Healthy Life or Reverend Calvin buts from the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York and Reverend Al Sharpton, an activist.

We brought them both together because we felt we needed both spirits and the place we have been working very closely with Dr Anthony Fauci and others CDC places so that churches will have the information they need.

We went out and got funding.

We got 4.7 dollars million and we funded 50 black.

Just each of them now has a full time public navigator on site that gets there every day working to help expand testing and vaccinations.

We've gotten over 100,000 people touch touchpoint, vaccinations, testing events and we've been extremely active and extremely successful.

We've not had any problem in obtaining vaccines because these ministers understand how to pick up phone and call the elected leaders and get what they need into the communities, the mayors and the governors.

They've also been very good at giving correct information.

The information that's coming from Fauci who meet with them on a regular basis.

We can now expanding to Chicago, New Orleans and hopefully we'll be coming to Philadelphia.

I live right here in Pennsylvania, though.

I'm I, I do this work Nashville.

This program came out of the work that we did in AIDS.

I'm the founder of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS and we work in aid for for since 1987 and acquired all sorts of resources that we get into the black community to make the black community whole, including the minority AIDS initiative and other initiatives that are still funding health departments today.

So it is my hope that this program will not just look at what's going on now with Covid Covid is an entry point.

Covid will be gone soon.

Hopefully we have to deal with what the health disparities are that put us in this position in the first place.

Why are black and Latino people so vulnerable?

Why do we die more quickly than anybody else?

That's the question that we have to answer and that's what this program is designed to do.

And that's why education is so important.

Now, Mr Saunders, data is another important part in helping to understand who's most at risk or in targeting outreach and vaccination efforts.

And the state has struggled to get complete race and ethnicity data from vaccine providers, even though there's an order in place to collect that.

What's the problem Gamma What's the Department of Health doing about that?

Again, that is a problem that's faced by other states across the country.

Some of our providers have indicated, you know, the timing of collecting that information.

Sometimes there are language barriers.

We have developed and offered training.

We have provided guidance.

We are now we are poised to send out a provider toolkit and we will include some information as to how best to collect race and ethnic data.

We learn some things from during the testing period and how we're able to provide the training that I indicated based upon what we learned during Tom Rice we anticipate having having better numbers as we go forward.

I mean, this is the speed many in many cases I was trying to get the shots in the arm, but the collection of the data seeing sometimes to take a back seat to the numbers have increased recently.

So we're moving in the right direction.

Senator Haywood is the Covid-19 task force at all involved in this effort to almost definitely we have received information about providers that have been lagging in putting information in and a task force is encouraging Palmerton help to reach out to providers who are struggling in that regard.

I did want to say a couple quick things, though, with respect to the disparities challenge.

One of the reasons we have more black people dying from Covid was we didn't have the testing was not in African-American communities in the same proportion.

Not only that, the number of front line workers was high proportion of front line workers were African American as well.

And what I believe has been exposed here is the failure to have universal health care have we had a universal health care system, our ability to touch and reach those in the greatest need would be far superior in the fragmented network of health care that we have right now.

Even as you look at the provider network, our provider network was created from a request, a request to individuals to join the provider network.

We didn't have a provider network to provide these vaccines.

And so that's been we've had some significant challenges.

I think many of them could have been addressed if we had universal health care.

Thank you, Senator Haywood.

On Tuesday, state health officials and Latino Connection announced a mobile vaccination unit nicknamed Kate that will visit underserved communities.

The plan is to hit all of the 66 counties outside of Philadelphia.

Here's what the organizers had to say.

These vaccines were founded with good science.

They are safe and they are effective.

But more than anything, we also know that it's going to take the community discussing it, discussing how folks post vaccine are safely and effectively going back to being able to be in those small gatherings and the like that we really think will allow folks to reach that point of feeling comfortable with getting vaccinated themselves.

And we're reaching a tipping point in Pennsylvania whereby the supply, while we still need more at this stage, it's going to require us being more convincing of folks.

It's going to require educational efforts like that one that we're in today to allow folks to really address any of the hesitation they have to getting vaccinated.

I feel extremely confident that this type of initiative is going to be successful in reaching communities that have been feeling not at ease for quite some time.

When you present people the access the opportunity of meeting people where they are, where they feel most comfortable.

The success is phenomenal.

It's actually a part of one of the foundations of social determinants of health, which is to meet people where they are.

Mr Sanders, I'm coming to you.

Will the pause on Johnson & Johnson vaccines affect these mobile visits?

I see already from the schedule that some of the first stops are being postponed.

The short answer is yes and that's unfortunate.

We will be able to pick up speed again and it does help, if you will, to a certain extent in the thinks come quickly and the landscape changes so drastically.

So this pause will allow us to plan, you know, ensure that we have appropriate amounts of allocation of the vaccine.

So while we have to take a step back when we get going again, I think we may actually be in better shape than where we were previously.

It's a it's a it should be a short pause.

WHO let me ask you this.

Do you think this J&J issue will play out naturally in the confidence that people of color have in getting vaccinated?

It's already playing out.

I mean, all over the country we have funded these 50 jerkies in Atlanta and New York, Detroit, Newark, New Jersey and Washington, DC and I can tell you that this day and issue has already sort of taken a toll on some of the gains that we made in getting people to understand the importance of taking the vaccine.

This is this is very critical.

Vaccines are important.

They are safe and they have to be taking all this pause is being taken by J&J find a vaccine if you want to take Moderna if you want to take Pfizer Bucks don't walk away from being vaccinated.

That's when you get in trouble that will not make sense.

Find a vaccine that you can access and get vaccinated if you are vaccinatd.

You don't just vaccinate for yourself but you vaccinate for an entire community.

Vaccinated for your family.

You vaccinate for your mother.

You will need to be vaccinated for your grandparents.

You vaccinate for all the people that are in your circle and in your community so that we can become safe, safe and get out and work and do the things that we are used to doing once again because it doesn't help.

But let me tell you the good thing about the cause.

The good thing about the cause is that the federal government realized something was wrong and they stopped it and they said, let's take a pause so we can really study this and find out what's going on.

Why?

Because safety is the number one issue right now.

Everybody involved in the vaccine and they want to make sure that it is safe.

So when you see the federal government at FDA, take a pause, they do so in the best interests of safety and the best interests of taking care the community.

Thank you, Deborah Senator Haywood.

We only have about a minute left, but I want to ask you this about the governor's Covid-19 task force.

How will you measure its overall success Gamma I mean, we've been extremely successful to date.

We've got the teachers vaccinated.

I've been a leading advocate for this equity initiative, a Latino connection and others out into the neighborhoods.

Our core measurement, though, will be to a have we've been able to get 80% of Pennsylvanians vaccinated with equity and that we measure and we see measure every week.

That's our test.

But I would say to date, when the task force began, I think we were 46 the nation in terms of getting vaccine into the arms of individuals.

We're now in the 20s and I can tell you that if you looked at those race numbers back in February and March, they were much worse than where they are today.

We got a long way to go, but I will measure success by getting our people vaccinated with equity.

David Saunders Senator Haywood Debra Fraser-Howze, thank you for your time.

And the work that you're doing to ensure equitable vaccine distribution.

We continue this community conversation on vaccines and communities of color, on PBS39 and streaming on the web and social media.

You can hear the rebroadcast on the radio tomorrow night at 8:00 on 91.3 WLVR and be sure to join us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at four pm on PBS39 for community update on coronavirus health.

Reporter Corps Brittany Sweeney discusses what's happening with the pandemic and how it impacts the community around us.

Now let's meet our next round of guests, the Reverend Benjamin Haley senior is senior pastor at Union Baptist Church.

Allentown Jessica Lee Ortiz is founder and executive director of the Ortiz Ark Foundation, a family run nonprofit in Allentown and Judith Dickerson is co-founder of the African-American Coalition of Easten or ACE, formed this year to combat systemic racism and provide pandemic relief.

Thank you all for being here and in person in our studio, I might add and add a safe social distance.

We're going to get to some questions in just a minute.

But first I wanted to share this.

I paid a visit last month to the first vaccination clinic held by Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley in South Bethlehem.

The center was eager to get vaccines and we found people eager to get them.

I don't have a lot.

We are running a Covid-19 Bucks clinic.

We are going to be administering 200 vaccines.

The idea was to create clinic so Raub Middle School where it was within the community for the community to have.

Do you think that within the local Latino community events like this will help to alleviate any distrust that exists about the vaccine Gamma That's the idea behind these to, you know, to work and hospitals, with other community agencies that we're working together to provide education, making the process in their language.

So that way they know that we are here to support them.

We're trying to simplify the process so we can get back to being healthy and back together and celebrate with our families.

I'm part of the nursing school St Luke's and I was asked to help with Hispanic Center and it was truly an honor to me since I grew up in Puerto Rico and I really poor section, which we have clinics like that to.

And when she told me, I said absolutely, I want to get back to the community.

And that's the whole point about what are you looking for today?

I'm looking just to get as many shot as I can.

I'm thankful for the Hispanic society to give us the opportunity.

I'm feeling a little nervous right now because of the shot itself, just the side effects.

But I mean, you know, you get it and hope for the best or not get it and get the virus.

So many of my friends and family ask me, some of them are afraid like everybody else.

But I always say just go online, read, ask your physician.

The Hispanics.

Kushner has given 1,400 vaccines to Jessica.

Let's start with you.

Would you say that the local Latino community as a whole is hesitant to get vaccinated or does it come down to other factors?

So I been in kind of with both sides of the fence, those that are surrounded by elderly people or have family members that are susceptible to to catching Covid when they feel they have underlying diseases, then they're more receptive looking into the vaccine and getting vaccinated.

But those with younger families who think their immune system might be a little stronger there on the fence about the vaccine now.

Pastor Hailie, again, welcome.

When you look at the numbers you presented earlier showing African-American communities affected at higher rates, you'd think that people would be knocking down the doors to get a shot.

Is that a case?

What are you hearing from your church members?

Well, the issue is, again, a matter of information as a matter of misinformation and the ability to actually have access to the vaccines our people are split.

You have a lot of people who are anxious.

They're ready.

They want vaccine as soon as they can possibly get it.

But then you've got other people who are saying, listen, we've got a history that we are very much in tune with and aware of.

And so I believe that what is necessary is what's happening tonight and the continuance of sharing quality factual information that gives people indication of of the significance of getting the vaccine.

It's important for our people to understand that in order for us to reach what the scientists are calling herd immunity in order for us to get to that point, we need as many people vaccinated as possible.

But again, you've got those underlying factors that give hesitancy to particularly the black community.

Pastor, these reports of six women getting blood clots out of nearly 7 million J&J doses.

Do you think that could be a real blow to the confidence of people already leery about the vaccine?

I think it has caused some trepidation.

There are some people who are very concerned and then with the pause, with the J&J, again, it gives indication to some people that there's a problem with the vaccine.

So it has caused some trepidation in the community.

Now, Judith, your organization combats systemic racism.

We've heard from non-profits and a church here working to address vaccine needs in their communities.

What's the benefit to delegating some of this outreach to these organizations and yours?

And are there any drawbacks to that?

I would not say that there are very many drawbacks.

I would say that primarily it's one of education and it's one of access and the involvement of my organization has been to find key people in in the community to volunteer and to help connect people with registration and with the appointments that are needed.

The challenge has been particularly among the seniors and those over 65, the lack of techie savvy, if you will, early on there was competition with people with chronic illnesses who were also part of that pool, who were a form of competition that needed to be, I think, handled in a more proficient way.

Also lack of transportation.

And so with the coordinated effort of some some really critical volunteers within our organization and with the community, we have had great success in terms of partnering with the churches, with the Board of Education, in terms of providing sites for the hospital to come in and administer the vaccines along with other community organizations who had the facility and the computer equipment and the skills to help whomever were really challenged in trying to access and who were eager to get the vaccine.

I think that it's been a truly grassroots effort and volunteering.

I was, I guess, thrilled to hear that we were able to collaborate with Kate with the testing and the testing is still a necessary tool to combating the virus as well.

So our volunteers have been assisting with the visiting bands from Harrisburg with testing as well.

So it takes a village and that's what we've been about.

I like I like that it takes a village now.

Jessica Lee Ortiz Ark Foundation predominantly serves the Latino community and you're tying in vaccine outreach when you do intake for some of the year programs.

Tell us more about the different ways you're reaching people.

So when the Covid started, one of the things that scared most most of the community was that it was saying people with low immune system.

So one of the reasons that we fight is are is health care issues underlying conditions and food.

So how do we reach people that are having financial insecurities Gamma We started by a food bank feeding our neighbors and we started in in the immediate community where we were all located and it expanded from we started maybe just our block and then we wound up with 50 and then now it's about 500 people about every Friday through the feeding our neighbors, we're educating people.

We are also supplying them with things like elderberry that help boost immune system.

And sometimes it could be mental.

But scientifically these are natural supplements sometimes people can afford.

So we're giving them resources for the vaccine for Covid and we're also providing them with food, helping stay less stressful and we're giving them PPE.

We're giving them hand sanitizers.

We're giving the mask and we're sharing with them the information that we're getting from the hospitals.

Well, what are you hearing from people?

Are they really hesitant in and hesitant getting the vaccine?

Yes, but and again, it's a 50/50.

It's lack of information.

And like Judith said, sometimes the people that we they're not tech savvy.

So they're not online Googling and looking for information.

So what we offer is more one on one basis paper information with statistics and things and positive outcomes.

And how many people and sometimes will have people come in and say, I've had it so that they can give them kind of a play by play on what happened when they got the shot.

And I look for a different kind of people, some people that say, OK, I did get a sore arm or I was a little tired.

And then some people that are like, hey, I didn't even feel a thing so that people not only hearing butterflies and rainbows but those that maybe had mild side effects.

I haven't come across anybody who's been in a mass dramatic side effect.

So we like to share this so that people feel less fearful.

One of the reasons people are so scared is lack of information.

That's education is power and one thing that they take from us as Latinos and black communities is they fail sometimes to educate us.

That's the first thing.

So if we can help educate people with paper forms and systems, I feel like we're getting across more and we have had more people say now we do want the vaccine now like the Hispanic Center and so many other grassroots organizations.

I imagine you're also translating and taking a lot of the responsibility to address any cultural misunderstandings.

But from a nonprofit perspective, it must be taxing to take all of this on.

Do you have the resources you need for this sort of lift Gamma No, but being being in the society and what we've been dealt with all our lives, we're always struggling.

We're always making and meet.

We're always making a dollar out of 50 cents and we're learning how to stretch.

Shall we stretch ourselves and we come out of pocket for a lot of things and we rely on churches like Pastor Haley to to send in his forces and his recruits and community volunteers like Judith to kind of say, OK, this person has free time with this person.

We rely on each other.

As she said, it takes a village.

And fortunately for us, we live in a great village, Orefield of BIPAC.

People who have each other's back through for everything.

Now, Pastor Hayle, I'm coming to you.

Last month you were hoping to get a vaccine clinic running for eligible church members.

Where does that stand now?

And do you think that vaccine clinics organized by churches hold more weight in communities of color?

Absolutely.

I think it's very important that there are partnerships formed with churches because even to this day in the black community, the church is still the main community and the mass gathering of the community every week.

And so in terms of your question, what we've ended up doing is going into partnership with St Luke's Sacred Heart, whereby we're not having a standalone clinic, but we've partnered with Sacred Heart where individuals can call our church and we'll connect them with St Luke's Sacred Heart and then they'll be able to develop a an appointment for their vaccination at their leisure, which is critical sometimes when the mass vaccinations are taking place, say out of Dorney Park or in other places around the valley, they're done at times when people are at work and they don't have access to the clinics and so we've tried to make it as accessible and convenient as possible for people to receive the vaccine.

We're also partnering with a group out of Philadelphia chosen 300 to have an actual on site clinic that's still pending.

We haven't gotten all of the details together with that.

But individuals can call a Union Baptist Church.

I give a plug six one zero four three four three one six one and make an appointment to get your vaccination at Sacred Heart Hospital, which is just two blocks away from our church.

My pastor, I imagine that you have a wide range of people from different age demographics.

And are you seeing that young people are more hesitant people 18 to 35?

How do you reach those people Gamma Again, it's a matter of education.

One of the things we did when the vaccine was becoming readily available to the public, we provided an members of our church in particular.

But we opened it up to the public and we had some significant doctors who were involved with the development of the Moderna vaccine to come on, just give us the science and to give information and to alleviate some of the fears of the people.

Because one of the problems we have is misinformation and is education.

And so I think that's critical as we continue down this vein to continue to provide people with education about the vaccine.

And the critical piece for all of us is it's a necessary evil.

We have this predilection to understand that sometimes we can't look at the government and I'm talking about from the black community, the government's provision for us because of historical problems that we've experienced.

Everybody's talked about the Tuskegee experiment.

Everybody's talked about things that have happened in other areas.

And so we have to really educate our people to understand this vaccine has been worked out for over 20 years.

And so the speed of its turn around, the efficacy of it is actually workin for our benefit and not for our detriment.

And I think that's the message that needs to be conveyed be.

So, Judith, when we talk about solutions, there are deep seated systemic issues that play into health equity problem.

What do you say to people who might feel like nothing is going to change Gamma I think that we just need to be role models.

We need to be persistent and we need to stay engaged and to continue to push forward and to gather and continue.

I would like to say it's almost like skipping a rock on a pond in terms of casting casting your stone in the water and trying to see the rings and the waves continue to capture more people who will be the role models to kind of set the example.

And as more of us remain engaged and do try to practice what will help solve the issues and build relationships that people will come on board as they see the successes and they see the steps that are are paying off or remaining How about you, Jessica?

What do you say to people who might feel like nothing is going to change Gamma So we're seeing change.

We are seeing the numbers being reduced.

We are seeing more things happen within the community.

What I like most is I've gotten to meet doctors who who believe in what they're doing and they're being more in touch with the communities and like Pastor Haley said and the churches they're building relationships with the key grassroots, whether non-profits like myself or churches and they're being in touch with us and they're giving us educational tools, which that's something we've never seen before.

We haven't had, you know, personal phone numbers or connections with hospitals on this level.

So that's changing itself.

And the numbers, although sometimes increasing, have been reduced.

Substantia.

It's about getting information and reaching our people.

Reverend Benjamin Haley Sr, Jessica Ortiz Ortiz and Judith Dickerson, thank you so much for your time today.

Thank you.

Good to be here.

Thank.

We're moving toward the end of the program and I want to introduce our next guest.

Sam Chen is a Lehigh Valley resident.

He's also a Covid-19 patient in his 30s who suffered two collapsed lungs after Osamudiamen Idahosa is a St Luke's pulmonologist who specializes in critical care medicine from the intensive care unit.

He has witnessed the devastating toll Covid-19 takes on patients and their families.

Gentlemen, thank you both for being here and for your patients.

Sam, let's start with you.

You tested positive early in the pandemic.

You ended up in the hospital.

You ended up in the hospital %-Pw about your experience with this virus?

First chances.

Thank you for having me and it's good to see you.

Yeah, you're absolutely correct.

This was over a year ago.

Now, if you can believe that I tested positive, ended up went to the emergency room and ended up in the hospital for three days, was in isolation for 35.

You know, I said that and I'll say and now a year later, we need to take this virus seriously.

And I think one of the things that we've almost forgotten in our everyday life is that this affects real people, real lives are being lost.

And on the other side of the coin, real livelihoods are being impacted.

And so everybody's experiencing the pandemic in one way or the other and it's impacting their livelihoods and I think it's good for all of us to take us seriously, understand that this has been difficult for everybody and show a little bit of grace along the way.

Now, Dr, you've heard the conversation tonight.

You have first-hand experience treating the very worst cases of Covid-19 when you encounter people skeptical of vaccines are not sure it's for them.

What do you tell them Gamma I mean, is it tough decision for some people Gamma Just as the pastor said, given the historical precedents and we in the medical community, we need to be understanding about where they are coming from, you know, but I tell them that the vaccine is safe and that the vaccine is effective and the vaccine has been well studied and the science behind the vaccine is something that is easily explainable.

So I think one of the frustration with this disease is that battled with the worst of the disease and we see our patients dying every day and we see the conditions in the intensive care unit.

And then we also have to deal with all the misinformation that arise, you know, so that's why, you know, going around and working with stakeholders in the community has been one of the main things that St Luke's University Hospital has really been championing in the recent past.

You know, we need to get information to people.

We need to tell them this vaccines are being started.

Well, these vaccines have been shown to be effective and this vaccine would prevent you from getting Covid 1990 to prevent you from being hospitalized and to prevent you from dying.

I think those are things we need to inform people about and to stress continuously.

And people will come around.

We've been talking about it throughout the show.

I think education is key here now.

Doctor, why is it more and more people are getting vaccinated, but we still have rising numbers of hospitalizations in cases in Pennsylvania, another 5000 today.

What's going on there?

Yeah, that's a good question.

So one of the things you have to realize is most of the people that are vaccinated that got vaccinated early where people died 65 and above.

So what we're seeing a predominant off right now is people in the younger age group that have not been vaccinated and those people are getting infected.

So this is something useful.

So we've seen a real life real life situation of the effectiveness of the vaccine.

People are vaccinated and not getting infected, but people that are not vaccinated are getting infected and coming to the hospital and getting hospitalized and getting admitted to the intensive care unit of the Eddie Moran vaccines are available right now.

The one from Pfizer and Moderna.

They've been shown to be 94 to 95% efficacious in preventing disease and almost 100% or even 100% efficacious in preventing hospitalization death.

So we need to continue to tell people that when the vaccines are available for them, they should go ahead and get vaccinated because that's the only way to state that we can stem the tide of this disease.

So the vaccine, which we start looking at the vaccine as a way to give us hope and a way to be hopeful that this situation will be very soon behind us.

Sam, I'm coming to you here.

Are you all the way back from your illness and what would you say you've learned during your recovery Gamma Yes, by the grace of God, you know, we're over a year out and I do feel back to 100%.

But you know, Jenna Ellis, it took a while.

It was 35 days in isolation and then months after that, trying to rebuild lung capacity.

You try and get my energy back.

And it wasn't until this year in 2021 that I was able to return to doing my regular workout schedule and not be winded by it.

So it does take a while to answer your question about what have I learned in that process.

Of recovery?

Well, first, a lot of patients and a little bit humility along the way, but again, I go back to my earlier point that it is so imperative that we take this virus seriously.

Now, I'm not a doctor like my friend over here is, but you know, so I speak just from my experience and I realize that everybody experiences this virus differently.

But that's just it.

We don't know how we're going to experience it.

We have no idea if we're going to get a severe case, if we're going to get a variant.

We have no idea.

I'm a young early 30s, relatively healthy and not someone that should have ended up in the hospital with us.

We don't know what it's going to do to us because everyone's experiences are so different.

So we do need to take it seriously.

Every single one of us.

And it's a community thing when everyone in the community takes this seriously and everyone the community comes together, that's how we can be this some might say this is a personal question, but I'll ask it anyway.

Sam, have you decided to be vaccinated?

Would you mind sharing your thought process on that?

I'd be happy to share my thought process.

I have not received the vaccine I like the doctor said, very supportive of this vaccine.

The science behind it is sound as far as I can.

I can see and we've done a very good job producing to vaccines within one year of this virus being out.

That is something that rarely happens in medicine and even more rarely when you consider the government needs to approve it.

And so certainly operation work speed was work speed and this is a medical miracle in many ways that being said, having had the virus and having the antibodies, I know I have some protection of it from it at the moment.

And certainly there are other people who need the vaccine more than I do.

And so I'm very happy to allow them to get that shot first.

There's going to come a time and it's coming soon.

Where everybody who wants the vaccine can get it.

And at that point I would gladly get my shot.

In the meantime, I'll make sure everybody that needs it more than I do is vaccine first.

Now, Doctor, the past year has brought new meaning to the term health care heroes.

Let me say for all of us, thank you for your work.

When you reflect on the past year personally or professionally, what stands out Gamma Well, it's been a tough year.

I've been doing TikTok medicine since 2012 and I have to say Upper Saucon Yasmeen has been tough.

You know, we've you know, you come into medicine to try to save lives.

You know, and we've had patients that have used very early in the intensive care unit and a lot of these patients die, you know, and one of the things that fell for me is, you know, I believe that when you die, you die with some element of dignity and part of that involves, you know, your family being around you and going in peace.

PSEA, you know, and it's still in the middle of the pandemic.

You know, when family Schuylkill county assets and we had patients dying and you know, they could always see their loved ones or leave, you know, true face time in those particularly painful and at times, you know, Deer Lake, Deer Lake, they take their last breath.

We tell them, you know, a doctor that they never knew before and they never knew before.

And they could even see their faces.

They had mask on all the time.

You that was particularly painful.

And, you know, I think about that often and I just want people to know that this is a deadly disease.

People people die from this disease.

People should not play with Covid-19.

You know, Covid-19 is a deadly disease.

So the way we can get through this whole situation, this pandemic is everybody everybody getting vaccinated.

So so as the pastor said, we can't reach herd immunity and we can go beyond this.

We can get our lives back.

We can get our children to school, get our businesses walking again.

We can go to dinners.

We can't be together.

We worship in our churches.

You know, as some said, you know, this vaccine, you know, I think the right word is a medical miracle.

Actually, You know, and we should see that as that, you know, it's going to give us a lot of hope and we can turn this page and, you know, and get this disease behind us at some point if we all get vaccinated.

Doctor, I can tell this is tough for you and for all of us.

I want to say we really appreciate the work that you're doing on the front lines.

Sam, given our subject matter tonight, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask about how racism manifests in the pandemic.

We hear reports of anti Asian violence and hate crimes.

Is it something you or others in your family feel Gamma Feel?

Yes, I've been grateful and you know, it's been I've been blessed to say that you have experienced it as much with Covid-19 personally, but certainly something that I feel and I've friends and colleagues who are Asian-American who have dealt with it directly.

It is something has not new anti Asian racism has been happening as long as there have been Asians in this country.

It is something that is just not covered as much as other forms of racism and has come to light in light of Covid-19.

And it certainly has escalated in light of Covid-19.

But there are certainly stories from others that I don't know as I let my platform to be a voice for this cause and others have reached out and shared stories, heartbreaking stories, anything from being caught on or spit on in public, being sneezed on and told to go home to being outright attacked, violently and brutally attacked.

And it's targeted people of Chinese descent as well as those who are not of Chinese descent.

And so certainly it's something escalated since the pandemic I started Dr Idahosa how is this pandemic going to end?

When will we know that we're at the end of this.

I think we're having a mic issue.

Dr I think I think the way it is I.

Can you hear me now?

Yes.

I think the way this vaccine is going to end is by everybody getting vaccinated for it, by us reaching what we call herd immunity.

The problem with it is the virus knows no borders.

So, you know, if inasmuch as in the United States of America, we can probably reach herd immunity at some point, you know, because the vaccines are available over a year, but we still have the rest of the world out there.

You know, Africa, Europe, Asia, you know, and all you need is one variant that you the vaccines can to handle come over.

You know, one of the things I keep on telling people is and that's the reason why you have to get vaccinated even if you've been infected with Covid-19 before, is that the virus needs a medium to replicate.

You don't want to give it a medium to replicate by the time the virus does not have a medium to replicate.

That is when we start reaching the end of this pandemic.

So and the way to reach that stage is by getting vaccinated and at some point also ensuring that all the countries in the world have ability to vaccinate their people so that we stop this on and the replication of this bad virus.

That is the way we get to the end of this.

And on that note, we'll end our program there.

Sam Chen, Dr Idahosa, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you.

Jenna Ellis health effects everyone regardless of color or income.

I want to thank all of our guests for participating tonight in this community conversation on vaccines and communities of color.

We hope it provides a better understanding of how our community is responding to improve health outcomes for all of us.

And we want to thank you for joining us tonight from all of us at PBS39.

And 91.3 WLVR.

Thanks for watching, Gen. Ortega.

Stay safe.