Hello and welcome to PBS39 W Elmers Community Update on coronavirus brought to you with help from our community partners Lehigh Valley Health Network.

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

I'm Brittany Sweeney Our guests today include an LVHN psychiatrist who will address the psychological toll of the pandemic.

We're also joined by a family physician from Berks Community Health Center.

They'll be with just a few moments.

If you have a question, you can give us a call.

The phone numbers 4 8 4 8 2 1 0 0 0 8.

Our guests will answer some of your questions live.

Plus, four daily coronavirus updates.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

You can do that at our website coronavirus Lehigh Valley .org.

You can find helpful information there in both English and Spanish.

Let's take a look at today's top headlines.

Up to 110,000 people in Pennsylvania may have their vaccine appointments rescheduled because of a shortage of second doses of the maddern a vaccine.

Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam's said the problem started with vaccine providers inadvertently giving second doses of Moderna as first doses.

This was an issue, a structural issue that actually started in the beginning of January and there was inadvertent use of Moderna second doses and it was an issue that compounded week over week.

This is the week where we've addressed it because it has become so significant that again, the amount of requested second doses of Moderna was almost equal to our entire allocation of Moderna.

And so it was a week over a week structural problem.

We are working to address it this week over the next two to three weeks.

We will have corrected for it and also by increasing our provider communications.

We will hopefully be able to be better aligned with our provider community and allow this to be prevented from happening any further.

Now being wouldn't say which providers were responsible or how many were affected.

She did say the state will expand the window of time between the first and second doses of the Moderna vaccine from 28 days to up to 42 days.

Beam said that timeframe still adheres to CDC guidelines.

The Bethlehem Health Bureau is rescheduling tomorrow's vaccine clinic, the Wind Creek Events Center, because of the Snow forecast.

Vaccinations will be administered instead from 3 to 6pm Friday appointment times Meanwhile, the Allentown Health Bureau earlier this week canceled its vaccinations tomorrow the Allentown Fairgrounds because of the storm.

People with appointments tomorrow are rescheduled for Friday.

The appointment times will remain the same.

Today the state reported an additional 3400 coronavirus cases and 193 deaths.

That brings the total case count since March to more than 9 hundred and 2000 in Pennsylvania.

23,300 19 have died from Covid-19.

The Department of Health says through yesterday more than 1.7 million doses of vaccine have been administered.

State wide and finally Northampton County is offering free rides for seniors to get their vet to their vaccination appointments.

The county partnered with LANTA through the Scherrer ride for seniors program.

You can register by calling 1 880 2 5 3 8 3 3 3 between 8am and 4:30 pm.

Now that phone number again is 880 to 5 3 8 3 3 3.

Nearly 9000 seniors already use the program.

It offers door to door service.

It's time now to meet our guests for the day.

Dr Courtney Shalu practices adult psychiatry as well as child and adolescent psychiatry for Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Also here is Dr Acoma Joy with Berks Community Health Center.

It's a center in the Reading area that provides health care to people regardless of their ability to pay.

Thank you both so much for joining us.

Dr Joy, we'll be with you in just a few minutes.

In the meantime, we want to begin with Dr SHILLUE.

Thank you so much for being here today.

Thank you for inviting me.

Let's start if we can.

Can you please begin with telling us how this pandemic has impacted mental health?

It's taking a huge toll.

And also those seeking treatment for mental health issues.

It's been really complex.

I've seen different things in my patient population.

I treat girls, adults and So I've really seen how the pandemic has affected people throughout the lifespan.

I've really noticed a lot of struggles in our children.

Unfortunately, you know, virtual learning has been really challenging for them losing their extra curricular activities, the routine of school, the schedule school, all of these things have been incredibly challenging for them.

My adult likewise continue to struggle with things like assisting their children with online learning jobs, stress income changes, helping elderly family members.

And I think everyone across the board has struggled with the social isolation.

But I've really seen that more prominently impact some of the kids because I think that socialization for young people is just the critical part of their development and their identity at that point in their life.

So it's been a challenge.

I think, for a lot of people to cope with the pandemic.

But I've also seen people's wonderful resiliency and creativity with coping with all the adversity that's been thrown at them.

I'm always amazed at how people are able to overcome things despite all the challenges.

So I think that they're there has been a lot of positive things come out of it to sure, the silver lining there.

What are some of the Coke coping mechanisms that you offer to children and then to adults Gamma Are they the same or do you have different advice for kids versus, you know, their parents?

I think now is really an important time for all to take a step back and critically analyze how we're doing in terms of coping skills and also talk about them.

I think it's a chance for parents to model appropriate coping skills.

You know, we have good coping skills and we also have coping skills really aren't very helpful for us.

And sometimes can cause harm.

So I think it's really important to minimize the negative coping skills.

You know, using substances limiting social interaction, although we know that social interaction is important as a coping skill, we have to just be more creative with it.

The basics are really important now too.

So it's really important to get enough rest to exercise.

You know, the science really is wonderful to show us the benefits of exercise.

Our psychological well-being.

It's important for attention focussed.

It helps with depression.

It helps with sleep.

It can be a way that we get outside.

There's been challenges, of course, but I always encourage my patients to exercise physically active.

The science also really shows us that things like gratitude, practice, meditation, and these things can make a difference.

And these are things that we can teach our children.

So I think it's an important time for us to have conversations with our kids about what we can do when we're struggling.

No life struggles and we have to learn how to meet them head on and meet them together.

So I think it's an opportunity for parents to kind of model that and have those conversations with our children about when hard times come as we know they always will.

How do we manage it?

Sure.

We've heard depression, anxiety both on the rise.

What other mental health issues or problems are you seeing in people throughout this pandemic besides depression and anxiety Gamma You know, we've really seen changes across the board.

I think there has been trauma.

You know, the pandemic has brought a lot of challenges for people.

They've had loss that they haven't really been able to grieve in the traditional way that we grieve.

You know, when we experienced loss in almost every culture in our world, we surround the person that's experiencing loss.

And there's really a community network of people that reach out to them.

And that has been a challenge.

I have seen the challenges associated with grief and trauma because I think that it does limit some of our access to resources when we aren't as able to be in school with children.

So teachers, counselors might not have as much access to being able to monitor them.

Check in on them.

That has created some challenges for, I think, young kids.

We know that substance use is up to unfortunately.

So I think that these things are all impacted by the pandemic or a socialite trend and the consequences of of the pandemic for all of us.

Sure.

For those parents who have children who are stuck at home right now, what are some what some of the ways that they can kind of help their student, their child, either fight off mental health issues or kind of make them a little bit better?

What can they do for their children Gamma It's important for parents.

This can be an opportunity.

You know, this is a crisis.

We know that the pandemic has been a crisis, but it is also an opportunity to kind of look at our society and look at ourselves and see what maybe can be done differently.

And I think that this is a chance for parents to really educate themselves a bit about Piety and other mental health challenges and be ready if their child ever were to tell them that they were struggling.

I think it's important that a parent create or a family member create an environment of acceptance, validation and understanding.

If the child were to come to them and tell them that they were struggling.

So, you know, it can be surprising and the initial reaction might be skepticism or shock.

But it's important that we kind regulate our emotions when that's happening.

So that they understand that the home is a place where no matter what.

We'll work through it together.

Sure.

And what are some of the signs?

Say your child doesn't come to you and say, you know, I'm really struggling.

What are some of the signs to look out for Gamma Know we can really just see people struggling to function, especially kids.

Depression, anxiety and mental health changes can present a little differently in kids.

It can present as irritable schoolwork, suffering, not taking care of oneself as well as they might normally.

So, you know, not showering as often brushing teeth.

That room is a mass isolating more, feeling more depressed overall, sleeping too much or too little eating too much or too little.

Sometimes that the changes can be a little bit subtle or they might just look, you know, you're playing video games too.

And you're staying in your room too often.

But when it all happens together, it can be a sign that something more is going on.

So really when it's starting to impact functioning is really, you know, not attending school, not going to work, maybe limiting social interaction, isolating oneself, those are I think all concerning risk factors.

Little our kids might present more with just irritability, grumpiness, more tantrums, those types of things.

So it might be a little bit more challenging to recognize in the younger population.

Tour some really helpful information for parents.

But it's not just kids who are feeling this way.

Adults are as well.

Of course, that overwhelming feeling is what a lot of people I know I've spoken to say that overwhelming feeling how do I work through that?

How do I kick that feeling during a global pandemic?

Do you have any advice for them Gamma These are very treatable problems.

I think sometimes people think that mental health things will never change or they won't get better and especially when you're in those moments when you're feeling very depressed, it's easy for your brain to convince you that things won't be different.

But mental health problems are all very treatable problems and there are a lot of resources available for people.

But I think it's important that% people try not to go alone.

I mean, we need help.

So medication therapy, things like I was mentioning before EXorcize meditation, gratitude, practice and developing a social support system.

And people can't help you if you don't know if they don't know that you're struggling.

So, you know, I think it's important that we do look at these as treatable problems that have solutions.

Sure.

I imagine research on this topic is limited.

We've only been in this pandemic about a year.

But is there any is there any prediction as to how this will impact the way we are as a society?

With mental health moving forward?

I think it's going to impact have been changes, according to the CDC, between April and October, we saw an increase in children presenting to the ER for mental health concerns.

So I think that is a bit of the tip of the iceberg about what's going on and it's going to continue to change and develop as the pandemic goes on.

So I really think that this is going to be something that we have to cope with for a long time and along long jeopardy of the pandemic is like something we have not dealt with in the past, like other disasters, natural disasters that have happened.

Before.

So it's kind of a whole new ballgame and it really has impacted the network of our society in almost every way.

So I think that we're gonna be researching it for decades to come.

Sure.

There is definitely a stigma that surrounds mental health mental health issues.

I'm certainly hopeful.

And I thank you for having me here because I really think that these are very treatable things.

And sometimes people suffer in silence.

And this is not something that you should suffer alone doing.

And we know that having extra support is important component of managing a mental health condition.

So I really am very hopeful that there has been a big conversation about Covid-19 impact on mental health in our population.

And I'm really hopeful that will only continue to grow and expand and that we can continue to advocate for mental health resources for children, for adults and that these can be things that people eventually see as like any other medical condition.

Depression is not that different than high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

These are things that we can manage in our lives.

It's really good to hear you say that these are treatable conditions hopefully that bring some people at home some relief, especially as we continue to battle this pandemic.

Thank you so much for joining us, Dr Shalu, and having your input today on today's show.

Thank you so much.

Absolutely.

We continue this community update on coronavirus on PBS39.

You can hear the rebroadcast on the radio tonight at 9:30 on WLVT News.

91 three fm.

Now let's bring in our next guest, Dr Acoma, Joy is a family physician from Berks Community Health Center.

Dr Joy.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Today.

Thank you so much for having me.

Absolutely.

Let's start by talking about vaccines.

There is high demand, limited supply.

What's vaccine rollout been like at Berks Community Health Center?

That's an excellent question.

And I think one question a question that many people are trying to find the answer for.

As you just reported, about the shortage in the Covid vaccine.

Number two, currently that many health centers and pharmacies across the studio are facing at Berks Community Health Center in specific.

We were able to roll out the vaccines in early January.

We have been Modiano vaccine, as you know, is a vaccine that's administered over two series.

It's separated by four weeks.

We have been fortunate to be able to vaccinate the members of the community that are health care workers such as emergency response workers who because they are the first people that sometimes see it's very sick people.

We have been able to baxt, begin vaccinated patients within our own Berks Community Health Center clientele.

We are following the guidelines right now with the one a roll out.

So certainly our elderly patients are being vaccinated.

Patients between the ages 18 and 64 who have other co-morbid conditions such as diabetes.

If there's slobbers or maybe even other chronic health conditions, they're also able to get the vaccine.

We do identify that perhaps our older population and the general community may be at more risk as evidenced by increased deaths in that population.

So we have been able to set aside some time for patients who are older, such as over the age of 85.

And we're hoping to be able to expand that access to the general community as time goes on.

And we have more access to vaccine.

To date, we've been able to provide over 2500 vaccines.

That's including, say, 60% the first dose and then the remaining being the second dose.

We have every week we get confirmation of access to the vaccine and then we're able to to schedule.

SHAW Dr Joyed, do you think if you were able to get more vaccines in from the state, would you be able to administer more then per week Gamma I think I'd like to answer yes for sure.

I know our leadership and administration team is working very hard to make this possible.

It was reported to us yesterday that we've had over 10,000 requests from the general community for the vaccine.

We're working very hard to be able to have more access to that.

So there's a lot of planning and logistics that go into that.

In addition to having vaccines, we need to be able to have staff on hand to be able to contact patients, confirm appointments, scheduled appointments and then present to properly administer the vaccine.

So if we had more availability, I think that we will find a way to make it happen.

Of course, following the guidelines and the rules that have been set in place right now, we are administering to persons in the one category.

Sure.

If you could just explain to those who don't know Berks Community Health Center is a health center that provides health care to people who may not be able to pay one way or the other, may not have insurance.

Can you explain a little bit more about how that works?

Yes, absolutely.

And this is one of my favorite things.

Berks Community Health Center is a federally qualified health center.

So that means that we are designated as a place that patients can come to and be reassured that they will be seen regardless of their ability to pay, regardless of their background, regardless of whether they may be a citizen country or not.

It's a safe place to get health care.

We know that the pandemic has hit people in many different ways, including perhaps losing insurance because they've lost their jobs.

But when they come to our health center, they're able to continue with their health care.

So there there will be any gaps.

We know there there are gaps and chronic health care that there could be long term effects down the line, which may increase acute situations for patients and the health system as in general.

So patients who may not have primary care medical home to go to or primary care provider to go to can certainly come to us for their primary care needs.

But furthermore, because we're a patient centered medical home, we're able to also provide other services such as dental services.

We have optometry here.

Chiropractor re podiatry.

We have mental health, an integrated behavioral health as well as reaching in.

So we're happy to be able to provide a pretty broad spectrum of primary care services to our patients.

So if there is anybody listening who may be in need of health care, may be worried that they don't have the funds to pay or don't have insurance.

What can you do to contact Gamma Check out our website.

Dr Joye, or earlier on the program we talked about how some health care providers inadvertently used the second dose of the Moderna vaccine as first doses.

Were you impacted by that Berks Community Health Center?

No.

And actually, in speaking to our chief medical officer, Dr Kelaher, just very recently, we discussed that and we have not done that because we've been pretty strict about following the rules and the guidelines.

So we know that if we patients came for their first vaccine, the state had guaranteed that they would be able to get their second vaccine.

So we've been able to schedule those people for their second vaccines.

And to date.

To my knowledge, we have not been affected by that shortage.

So I know that there are appointments already set in place for this week which may be impacted by the weather.

But we're able to give second vaccines as of now.

Sure.

You said you had a huge request for people requesting the vaccine.

Like so many other places, have you had any problems when it comes to scheduling people of just because of the limited availability of the vaccines and of schedules and time in general?

We have had to place people on waiting lists and that includes our own patients.

We have special times that we've set aside for our patients and some of them are on waiting lists.

We've had requests from the community and we've had only limited openings and availability to the community.

So we do have people's information.

We are trying very hard to contact people back to give them appropriate information, accurate information about when it may be possible to schedule a Covid vaccine administration from our office.

But fortunately the health centers surrounding us Penn State Health, St Joseph's as well as our health and Summit Hill local pharmacies have been also have some access to the vaccine.

So that's helping to help with community at large.

Sure.

Dr Joy.

The Reading area has a large Latino population.

Of course they were impacted at a greater rate when it came to Covid-19.

So now that the vaccine is out, is the community health center sending out any message to the community, trying to get people in and have them get the vaccine?

Is there any outreach going on right now?

Yes.

Our community outreach department is working actively to get our patients vaccinated.

So one of the things I know that a couple of weeks ago we did was we sent out basically massive text to all our patients who were above the age of 75 at that point, I believe to try to reach them.

We've been making active phone calls as patients call in to schedule appointments.

We're notifying them that we have the vaccine.

We're using every opportunity possible to educate our patients about the vaccine.

They're certainly in general a distrust about the vaccine.

We have to be able to overcome that.

So when we're seeing patients in person, when we're doing telehealth visits with them, we are inquiring about their desire to have the vaccine.

And if they are not interested in the vaccine, to educate them properly as to why they should get the vaccine or why they may be, then appropriate candidate for the vaccine.

We're also using social media such as our Facbook page to post these type of events and try to get the word out to patients.

Sure.

As a family physician.

How do you counsel your patients who may be hesitant about getting that vaccine Gamma Well, I think it's very important to be able to get the word out that the vaccinations are based on science and evidence.

There seems to be some hesitancy, of course, because the vaccine came in less than a year.

But we know that the TikTok Fauci that the vaccine is based on has been studied for a number of years.

It's just this is the first vaccine that's out now based on the MRN a information.

And then I would also let them know that now millions of people have gotten the vaccine.

There's been a very small percentage of any animal reaction.

And I also to be honest with them and to be able to tell them, yes, you're not you are going to feel some type of side effects.

For example, you might have a sore arm, you might have a or body aches.

But that's your immune system working to make those antibodies.

And then I tell them my own story.

You know, I personally Covid back in October.

It was not fun.

It was hard to wheat's.

But I still chose to get the vaccine.

I just got the vaccine a couple weeks ago.

I did not feel well immediately afterwards, but I don't want to get it again.

So maybe sometimes we're some personal information helps people see the bigger picture and also taking into account what other chronic medical conditions that they have that might set them up for a more significant morbidity and mortality if they should get the illness sometimes helps them give them better perspective.

Sure.

Some great advice there.

I just wanted to ask about the protocol throughout this pandemic.

Berks community health centers a place where community members previous to the pandemic would just walk in and seek medical treatment.

What changed?

What protocols are now in place because of the coronavirus in general?

We try to limit walking activity.

Any patient or person that comes to the entrance of any of our four locations does need to have their temperature checked and does need to pass our screen.

In general, patients are encouraged to make telemedicine visits.

We found that in some ways we've actually able to increase access to some patients using telling medicine because some of our patients do have some barriers to access such as transportation.

So the telemedicine protocols I think helped give continued care to our patients, but we do limit walk in traffic.

Now, just because of the concern of increased Covid activity and perhaps transmission, people can still come to the door, perhaps put their requested, but not necessarily be able to be as free as they were a year ago.

Sure, Dr Comma Joy from Berks Community Health Center, thank you so much for all of this great information today.

Thank you.

Britain, we want to thank you for joining us for community update on coronavirus will be here at 4pm each Monday, Wednesday and Friday on PBS39 and on the radio those same nights, 9:30 on WLVT News for PBS39 and WLVT.

I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Stay safe.