- [Narrator] "Flatland" is brought to you in part through the generous support of AARP, the Health Forward Foundation, and RSM.

- Hi, I'm D. Rashaan Gilmore.

Welcome to "Flatland", where we take a look into various perspectives on issues that are affecting folks in our region.

It's been a little bit over a year since we started this program, and we thought we'd take the opportunity to reflect on some of the issues we've explored so far.

Welcome to Flatland's Year in Review Special.

(soft music) (upbeat music) The work that goes into producing an episode of "Flatland" does not happen in a vacuum, for sure.

It takes a very dedicated team of reporters to explore the various perspectives on any given issue.

And today, I'm very happy to have that team around the table with me.

And our first guest is our favorite guest, the Emmy.

I want to just celebrate with our friends, colleagues, and you, our viewers, for making this Emmy win possible for us.

We are honored beyond measure to have won for our "Houselessness" episode, and we'll be talking some more about that as we go around the table and introduce our reporters and friends.

First, we have with us Mary Sanchez, along with Cami Koons, Vicky Diaz-Camacho, and Catherine Hoffman.

So I'm so honored to have you all here around the table today.

We have been covering over the past year a number of really big issues and topics.

And so we say on "Flatland" we like to dive into these questions and explore them and answer the curiously unexplored questions.

But I would just wonder, for each of you, what have been the lessons that you've learned in this past year of doing the show that you feel like you've been able to contribute to and take away from?

Mary, how about you?

- Okay.

People want to have deeper understandings of issues.

And especially now, we're often kinda like goed to go one way or the other and to really ratchet down on, "I'm on this side of something."

Or "I'm on that side of something."

And too often people, they're going through off of like maybe one lived experience of their own, and they really don't understand all the nuances of a topic, they're just not given enough.

And that's largely what we've tried to do with most of these larger issues that we've chosen, is how do we give people more, how do we allow them to understand more about a certain topic?

What's generally being missed or skipped over?

- We've covered, as you said, some really big issues.

And one of the ones that I think is one of the biggest has been on marijuana.

After the midterm election, Missouri officially decided to legalize recreational marijuana for adult use.

"Flatland" explored what kinds of equitable concerns could come with this policy change.

- But just for smell alone, you guys gotta smell this.

They're starting to smell a little bit more, the buds are a little bit more developed now.

Full swing, pump out 1,000 pounds a month here.

From there, they cut those buds off onto a table and put 'em all into this cure tube.

And then they'll come right into here.

'Cause that's kind of a real nice nug there, nice finished product.

Still needs to be trimmed up, but other than that, looking pretty good.

- But like if you told little 15 year old Joe, he's just gonna be hanging out, helping grow weed all the time, - Yeah, right, right, - I don't think I would've believed it.

- Yeah, I had a couple misdemeanor charges.

I was over 18, so it'll always be on my record.

It doesn't really make any sense to me that people can make such a big profit off of it.

And my charge still exists, they're not gonna wipe it clean amongst... Again, mine was minor, it was a couple misdemeanor charges.

But for some people that are doing pretty hard jail time, few years, it's kinda insane to me.

- I was incarcerated back in 2017 for a first time marijuana offense in the state of Kansas, sending me to seven years, eight months in prison.

My grandmother had passed away, was just leaving my little eight, nine year old brother going to school.

I ended up getting out there choosing a foster family for him.

And it was the final ride with my brothers, and I never forget it.

We ride in the backseat and you just see two young boys as we get closer to the airport, just bust in tears.

You don't only lose your freedom, you kind of lose access to the loved ones, like the people that are affected by it.

- So, Cami, you were the lead reporter on this episode.

What kind of things did you learn that you would like to share about where things stand today?

- Yeah.

I think one of the most shocking things that I learned while reporting this was that, people by and large were for marijuana legalization.

The folks who were against Amendment 3 were against certain policies of it.

They wanted broader, like blanket legalization without a whole lot of restrictions.

And now that it's passed, that's still the same conversations that people are having.

They're worried that Amendment 3 isn't going to be equitable enough, that the same people who have been most affected by the war on drugs, the prohibition of marijuana are gonna continue to be persecuted for usage, they're gonna be shut out of the business.

And folks are worried that this automatic expungement that it promised is not going to happen.

On the other end of things, people are really excited that marijuana has been legalized.

There's a ton of business opportunities, not just for dispensaries and cultivators, but across the board and pretty much every industry can kinda get in there.

So it's really is still the same kind of discussion.

I think we're just gonna have to see how it plays out as Missouri builds this completely new industry.

- Well, you answered what was gonna be my follow up question, which is who stands to benefit most?

Like the people who are happy about it, why are they happy?

But it is the business opportunities.

But what do you say to the person, speaking of that issue of expungement, because one big part of the legislation was that it would allow for people who've experienced these convictions to have them expunged, but there is a process to that.

Is there a waiting list already?

Are people already excited about it?

Have you had a chance to do any digging into that issue?

- Yeah, so I've tried to do some digging into this issue.

Obviously, it's still very early.

- Very early.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

So I believe that the first date for expungements that they have to begin per the constitutional amendment is in July.

So we still have a little bit of time for the courts to try and figure out that system, figure out how they're going to do it, 'cause they have to, constitutionally, figure out how to get this done.

And the funding for that is supposed to come from tax revenue generated by sales, which are actually expected to begin in February.

- Earlier this year, "Flatland" focused on the issue of houselessness in Kansas City.

And here's a snippet from some of the folks we talk to who are experiencing houselessness and are working to provide housing.

- My name's Jamal Collier, I'm from Kansas City, Missouri, been homeless three years, and now I'm with the Lotus Team, Lotus Care House.

There goes the little Lotus cat.

She's pregnant.

(cat meows) (upbeat music) It makes me feel invincible, it makes me feel like it's the reason why I'm working three jobs, it's the reason I wanna keep going because it gives me an opportunity to be outside of myself, but then also to be able to have somewhere safe to come back and be myself.

And that's everything, man.

- Hey.

How are you?

So what we're trying to do is really define kind of what the values we hold here at Lotus Care House.

What do you think are the six most kind of values that resonate with you?

- Humility, community, creativity, balance, stewardship, compassion, growth, and resilience.

- I think there's been a lot of lessons learned this past year.

The Navigation Center is just one part of a housing employment ecosystem that we're trying to build.

Figuring out how do we all work together, and because we all come from very different points of experiences, different points of expertise, but how do we really work through those challenges so that more importantly no one dies this winter and that we can keep people safe.

- The years of government turn slowly, to be honest, but they do turn, and we are making some progress and we're really excited about over, even the next few weeks, some initiatives that we're gonna announce here to build more permanent housing, things that we've never had before.

And to incorporate it into our standard practices of finding homes for people.

We're still in the final stages of doing the RFP evaluation process on it related to building permanent supportive housing at a large scale in several parts of the city.

We're hopefully soon going to be hiring for the first time, first ever tenant advocates, first ever people dedicated to homelessness, support and reducing homelessness, creating and preserving affordable housing, staff that we've never had dedicated to this stuff.

We're collaborating with KC Tenants to make sure that we get the right structure in place to make sure that those new residents have the rights and responsibilities and authority that they need to live self-sustaining sufficient lives in their homes to make sure that we're doing it right.

- Catherine and Vicky, you have been reporting on this issue and the city's efforts to solve it for some time.

And as colder weather kinda comes into view again, I'm just curious, where do things stand?

Has it gotten better?

Catherine.

- Yeah, that's a great question.

And it's crazy that it's been a whole year since that last episode, but that was October, 2021.

There's been a lot happening since then.

But kind of going back to that time period where we were at, we were seeing still a lot of pandemic-caused evictions, winter was coming, which was really stressful for a lot of folks, and the hotel program had ended.

So people were kinda just in a phase of wondering, what happens now?

So in that episode, City Manager Brian Plat mentioned a lot of different things that the city was interested in pursuing to help alleviate houselessness.

And we've seen pretty much all of those come to fruition, but varying degrees of success, for sure.

So some of the big things to me that have happened in that past year, one, is the creation of a new position.

It's a position with the city.

- The housing czar basically, is that right?

- It's the Homelessness Prevention Coordinator.

And that's been filled by Josh Hinges, who should be a familiar face, if you saw that episode.

When we interviewed him for that episode, he was a case manager, now he's at prevention coordinator with the city.

And so he's been working hard throughout the past year.

Like he mentioned, as we head into winter, people are thinking about this more, but he's trying to do really year round advocacy work and education work and outreach, so it's not just something that comes up in the winter when it feels more life or death.

Another huge thing to come outta this last year is the Zero KC plan.

So that's Kansas City's plan to fully end houselessness in our city.

So there's a couple different elements to that, there's an extreme weather action plan, they wanna do more outreach, and then also they're kind of folding in more service providers, one of which is Lotus Care House, who we also have talked to quite a bit.

So Lotus Care House was in that episode, and they're doing well.

They're fully operational, they're housing 10 to 30 folks at a time and still doing renovations.

But I could go on forever.

There's updates.

- Well, still there's obviously momentum.

I mean the city is trying to be responsive, but I'm curious, Vicky, people who are living on the streets, who are unhoused, are they feeling the impact of some of these promising changes?

- I would say there's somewhat of a disconnect.

So these policies, while they're great and they're rolling out, I mean, we heard from Brian Plat, he said it himself, like the wheels of government, they turn very slowly.

And so the ripple effect of that is that folks on the street or in encampments are not seeing these changes as fast as they need them to happen.

And so there's some level of frustration and desperation that still exists.

And even case workers who've spoken with say that there's no momentum or there's a lack of coordinated efforts.

- So, and this may be a question for either one or both of you, are people living on the streets still at risk of these sweeps, these camp sweeps where they would have these encampments, but the police would come in and kick 'em out, throw all their stuff away, food, the life possessions, is that still an issue or risk?

- Yeah, a 100% it still is.

There is a new ordinance that rolled out in the past year where folks are required to have a 48 hour notice before their camp is swept, and then there's also supposed to be a requirement of some kind of case worker or service provider present, and then there's supposed to be a requirement of minimal police presence.

But folks on the street are saying that those are not necessarily being followed.

- That they're only being given verbal announcements that their camp is going to be picked up, which is a problem.

- Right.

And 48 hours is just not enough time to move your whole life.

That's what a lot of people are saying.

I mean, when you think about it, it's everything you own needs to be moved within 48 hours.

And then you also have that time period to communicate that somehow to your case manager when having a phone access, getting wifi access to use your phone is really difficult.

And then finding a new spot, communicating that's where you are so you can get services at that new place.

People are just saying, it's just not enough time.

- This year saw a massive decision handed down from the US Supreme Court when Roe versus Wade was overturned.

This left it up to the states to decide whether or not abortion would remain legal.

Our episode of reproductive rights focused on the decision Kansas would make on this very issue.

- Well, I know abortions won't end.

Just because they're criminalized will not stop them.

They're safer now than they have ever been.

And so people will somehow get their hands on what they need.

People with privilege will be the most able to get their hands on what they need.

- They can self-manage their abortion.

They could order abortion pills online through services such as Aid Access, which are safe and effective using the same medications that are FDA approved.

However, using these services open people up to legal risks.

- It'll be interesting to see what happens now that abortion opponents are on the defensive and the abortion rights movement is on the offensive.

If it will open up new ways of thinking about abortion in ways that aren't tied to this narrowly cabined constitutional rights framing.

I think the Reproductive Justice framework is going to be becoming much more relevant.

- Reproductive Justice is encompassing of all issues, not just abortion, but those also that are intersectional.

It's about housing, it's about racism, it's about all of those things that impact black and indigenous communities.

- It is much more focused on a grassroots movement, trying to protect reproduction across a broad range of issues giving people the right to exercise bodily autonomy, whether they want to have children or not.

And it considers these issues within larger systems of race, and class, and disability, immigration status, gender identity.

- The initial reaction is how do we repair this?

How do we undo what the Supreme Court has done?

How do we restore reproductive rights for people across the United States?

Burnout is real, and this isn't something that's go, "You don't have to do all the things tomorrow."

This is a long road.

- Where does it...

I mean, that hit like a shockwave, not only Roe V Wade, but Kansas.

Talk about that.

- Well, when Roe V Wade was overturned, what it did is that it turned it back to the states.

And so now what's happening is it's a state by state argument.

And Kansas was highlighted because it was the first state where voters were able to vote on the issue.

And what voters did is to a 60-40 roundabout, they upheld the right to an abortion in Kansas.

That doesn't mean that it's over.

I mean, the issue- - So where's the fight now then?

- Well, it's in all the states.

It's still state by state.

And you could take Kansas as a good example, once again, because now the issue is with telemedicine.

Many abortions now are done by increasing numbers by medication.

And it's generally, it's a two pill protocol that was approved by the FDA back in 2000.

That has been challenged just in November in a lawsuit.

There's that, and then there's also, within the state of Kansas, there was a ban on telemedicine.

Right now, there is, as we speak, there's an injunction against that as it's gonna play out more in the courts.

So you could do telemedicine right now in Kansas, we don't know where that'll go eventually, all the laws that are already on the books could be challenged in that same way.

You have a new Attorney General, Kris Kobach, who has been anti-abortion and has said that he will look at the laws and how they are being upheld.

That is his job.

How far he goes in that, this is not a decided issue.

- And so there's still a lot of politics that are to be played there.

And I wonder too, just in our region, what does that mean for Missouri, we're right next door, what's happening in Jefferson City on this issue?

- Missouri was one of the states that immediately when Roe was overturned, there was a mechanism in place through the legislation.

- Trigger Laws, yeah.

- Trigger Laws that made it illegal immediately.

There is some talk and some planning that's already starting to try and put the issue before the voters by as soon as November of 2023.

The legislature is already talking about reacting and trying to change the laws that govern that process so that that couldn't happen.

And amidst all of this, you have people trying to find care, and Kansas is a state where they can still have care so that the numbers are just astounding.

We have some clinics, there's one in Wichita where they would see maybe 10, 15 people from outta state in one month.

Their numbers were like 200 just in August.

- Wow.

- So there's an overwhelming, just as people moving and trying to find care and as you know, issue with abortion and reproductive health, timing.

If you have to wait too long, it may be too late for you to receive that care.

- At the beginning of the year, COVID was still very much at the forefront of our minds.

We spoke to many healthcare workers about the industry-wide burnout they were experiencing due to the pandemic.

- The kind of beginning of the pandemic we're realizing that it's bad, and fear is mounting and staff are really putting in the work.

We're becoming aware that we are being put on the front lines and that all hell is about to break loose.

- I volunteered to go to the COVID unit.

I figured I would do that for a few months and then we would all get vaccinated and then it would go away.

Then it kept going on and on and on, and then we didn't have a COVID unit anymore, the COVID patients were everywhere.

And I've seen so much death, even in young people with COVID.

And I have seen several of them with young children, 40 year old people with nine year old children, and they have died.

And it's really hard to tell the family of a person who was healthy before that they are not coming home, they're not going to be with their children when they graduate.

That was making me want to consider a different career, for sure.

- I didn't become a nurse to watch people die, I became a nurse to save lives.

I hate to say it, but I've lost more patients than I've saved.

And you just feel helpless.

- We were up against all the misinformation that was out there about the vaccine, about COVID in general.

If you're a clinician, you have these arguments with patients, then you have to go home, and you have those same arguments with extended family who are subject to the same misinformation.

- And there's even been a push toward thinking about a concept called moral injury.

And that comes from the PTSD literature of being asked to carry out things that they believe are actively harmful.

We're trapped in a broken system that is under unprecedented stress.

And even if the leaders of our institution wanna do the right thing, or the leaders at the county or state level wanna do the right thing, we often don't have the resources to do it.

- Are people feeling like, "Okay, I'm ready, "I've got the gusto."

Or is it still this heavy cloud?

- Things are better like now than they were before.

However, I would say, I'm gonna cite one of the nurses who I caught up with fairly recently, Lauren Herrmann, who had mentioned this frustration with the system and not feeling supported and the overwhelm that her and her colleagues were feeling.

- Actually, we have an audio clip of that quote from Lauren, and I'd like for us to hear that and then for you to respond to it on the other side.

- Going through trauma, any trauma, but especially a traumatic event like the pandemic, it did create some serious wounds, mentally, emotionally, and for some of us, physically.

When we got COVID, a lot of people are still dealing with long haulers, symptoms of that.

And so yeah, it creates that wound.

And while it's had the time to heal over, there are occasions where it feels like something is said or something happened and it kind of picks at those wounds.

Maybe they're not all the way healed, it's kind of just a scab.

And so sometimes it can open up, and bring back that hurt and that pain.

But like any scar, as it heals that area just becomes numb, you don't feel the same way.

And I think we can relate that a lot to the apathy and the burnout that we feel.

It's that kind of numbness.

And every now and then that kind of twinge of pain or discomfort, it can come up and stir up those emotions again.

And so I think at this point, healthcare workers, staff, and even the community, we're kinda just covered these scars now.

And they'll never really go away.

We just kinda learn to deal with them.

Whether it's putting a little ointment on, kind of covering it up, but they're there and we need to learn how to heal through those scars together as a community.

- Vicky, Lauren talked about healing through the scars together as a community.

I think that's a very beautiful statement.

How can we support our healthcare workers?

- The biggest thing, and I think this is really multiple layers of issues that have bubbled up in the surface over the course of the pandemic.

So one is that healthcare systems need to prioritize their staff.

And so that's one thing that Lauren actually mentioned, that she has seen the progression of her own employer in supporting them through mental health programs, through giving them time off or the option to have shorter shifts.

That's key, right?

But then we also hear from folks who are studying burnout, like Dr. Samuel Ofei-Dodoo, who researched burnout.

I mean, incredible.

What he said is that according to the recent study that just was released in November, the rate of burnout, it predated COVID, but it got worse.

And so it just shows that we have not supported people as humans first for a long, long time.

- Well, I could not have asked for a better segue in terms of putting people first and thinking about community, because earlier this year, in June, during Pride Month, we did a very special episode on Safe Spaces.

And we also took the time to celebrate and highlight the spaces that are within our own community that are for LBTQI persons, such as myself.

And we also saw very recently what happens when hate is allowed to trumpet its voice and then put its hateful words into action.

And that happened in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

And I just wanna say it's never enough that our thoughts and prayers are with people who experience these sorts of horrendous, heinous acts of violence.

But we must say it.

And then we have to back that up with legislation, policy, and frankly, attitudes that really help shift the way we see one another and the love that we get a chance to bring into the world so that we're not growing up in an environment of hate.

And so I just want to encourage you, all of our wonderful viewers, do your part in the world, bring love into the world, and don't ever, ever let hate drown out your voice.

But for now, that's where we wrap this episode of Flatland In Review.

Endless thanks to our team of reporters, that's Mary Sanchez, Catherine Hoffman, Cami Koons, and Vicky Diaz-Camacho, I am honored to be your colleague.

Thank you to our many, many friends who have watched the show and who have read the articles that we have on the platform.

You can find additional reporting on all of these episodes on flatlandshow.org, and be sure to submit your very own CuriousKC questions to inform our reporting on future topics.

This has been "Flatland."

I'm D. Rashaan Gilmore.

And as always, thank you for the pleasure of your time.

- [Narrator] "Flatland" is brought to you in part through the generous support of AARP, the Health Forward Foundation, and RSM.

(soft music)