And now the 419 with Gretchen DeBacker Matt Kiillam Kevin Mullen.

Welcome into the 419.

It's a wellness Wednesday edition.

The 419, of course.

Powered by WGTE presented by we Whetro Wealth Management.

I'm Kevin Mullen, alongside Gretchen DeBecker.

Matt Killam we've got an exciting show for you.

Like I said, it's Wellness Wednesday, presented by Work Spring.

And so we're going to be joined again by Paige Johnston with Work Spring.

We'll also have Reverend Willie Perryman, on to talk to us about some of his own health journey.

And of course, we will have fellow WGTE talent and in this case, I mean it with a capital T. She's actual talent.

Riley Runnels will be joining us as well.

Yeah.

What are we what are we talking about?

This wellness Wednesday.

So screenings, and preventative, maintenance, if you will, is, is certainly, paramount.

And I think it's something that we're all aware of.

It is certainly something that we all buck simultaneously.

But the reason why Gretchen and I wanted to make sure that we got this on the forefront is because we're very concerned about, Kevin missing.

Missing the show.

For those of you who've tuned in, it's probably obvious that, Kevin is the linchpin and, the professional of not only transitions.

And he has the actual radio and or television, voice.

Right.

So if he goes and he's watch TV, we, you know, we don't we don't know anything about what we're doing.

Yeah.

So that so we want to make sure that you keep we keep you propped up, or at least figure out how to replace you with an eye.

So.

So I need to be taking fierce.

Know this seriously.

That's right.

So, yeah.

Pages.

Become a friend and a friend of the show.

Before we go into a. Do you believe you're on top of your screenings?

No, no, no no, I know that I'm behind.

We've yeah, we've talked about this with my own health journey.

I just full admission start like I think it's been now 2 or 3 years that the insurance companies like, hey, who's your primary care physician?

And I had one.

And then insurance changed and I lost access to that primary care physician.

Yeah.

And so I just didn't replace them.

Sure.

I only see specialist and urgent care.

Yeah.

That is the extent of my health care journey, which is not great.

Like, I admittedly, if my mother's watching this, I see the primary care physician twice a year.

Okay.

But for everybody else also, this lighting has made me concerned about both of your health.

Yeah, to be perfectly honest.

So I, I know everyone is the same.

We talked about resolutions and, you know, that the, the upsides and downsides of that.

But we are all of a certain age, right?

So having this be part of our lives is important.

I also consistently, do not tell my mother the truth about my, my maintenance plan, if you will.

And that's just from a health or a doctor perspective.

You know, a dentist is an entirely other ball of wax.

Yeah.

I don't I don't want to get into that.

Sure.

Yeah.

That's for a different show.

Yeah.

But but I think it's a it's an easy thing to overlook.

And I think, you know, for me and maybe this is me sort of justifying my own bad behavior.

Yeah.

Right.

But it's like, you know, I'm, I'm worried about all of the, all of it.

Right.

Yeah.

And so it just becomes one more thing that, you know, this is a far lesser extent.

Right.

But when I get when I get a haircut, if I don't schedule the next haircut, I'm going to be late for it.

Right, right.

Is that I'm not it's not going to happen on time.

But with your health stuff, next thing you know, it's been a year.

That's right.

Right.

And then it's been too.

And then it's like, oh wait, was I supposed to do that?

Maybe I'm just talking about myself right now, but it's easy.

Let the time pass and miss those deadlines.

So we're going to be talking about that.

And again, Reverend Willie Pearman has his own kind of health, health journey and health story that we'll talk a little bit about as well.

As well as I'm sure we'll dive into some of his great work in the community.

Absolutely.

And then, you know, who knows where it's going to go with Riley Reynolds.

Anything is possible, but hopefully it'll go fast.

All right.

It's a wellness Wednesday edition presented by Work Spring.

Stay with us here on the 419.

Support for the 419 comes from Whetro Wealth Management, where we understand that your financial path is personal.

Advisory services are offered through capital investment advisory services LLC, securities offered through Capital Investment Group member Finra, SIPC.

More information at whetroadvisors.com The 419, powered by WGTE is made possible in part by supporters like you.

Thank you.

Introducing The Local Thread, a community news series uniting voices and storytellers from across the region in partnership with La Prensa, the Toledo Free Press, the Sojourner Truth, Toledo Public Schools, and veteran journalist Jerry Anderson.

The Local Thread brings you stories and conversations that connect our community.

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Welcome back into the 419.

It's wellness Wednesday presented by Work Spring.

And so we're joined by our good friend from work spring Page Johnson Page.

Welcome back to the show.

Thanks for having me.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Page, friend of the show.

And certainly at this table, a much needed voice of reason.

We talked, last time about a myriad of things, but I think, you know, in the new year does bring about, the idea of starting fresh, or setting goals for yourself.

The things you aspire to.

But there is certainly a preventative component of it and just a regular schedule of screenings.

Right.

Those are things that are easily put off, and then it becomes six months to a year, then it's almost a decade.

I will spare you what we were talking about before the show.

But some of us, myself included, had found that it had been five years to ten years before having some sort of interaction with a health care professional.

Right.

Which was maybe.

Okay, although not, not a desirable approach in your 20s.

But we have long since been looking at our 20s in the rearview.

So, how how should this look?

What do adults.

Which, again, is a flexible term, how should people be looking at this and what what is the sort of all of the things that people should be putting on their calendars?

So there are a lot of screenings based on your age.

So really making sure the first thing is getting that appointment with a primary care physician.

And if you don't have one, it is really easy to find one.

Most health care providers have a tool on their website where you can find providers in their network.

So one thing with an employer is letting people know, hey, this is your insurance carrier.

These are the benefits that are available to you.

And this is what's covered at no cost to you, because a lot of times one of the barriers is the cost.

And people don't want to pay extra to go see a doctor and have all these medical bills because you went to get a well check.

Right?

So if you know what your benefits are and what's available to you, it makes it a lot easier to kind of seek out those screenings.

What age should people start thinking about regular screenings?

Right?

I mean, everyone feels young forever.

Other than the average.

Look at me.

Sorry, what you do.

That was, the accusatory theory.

No, for Kevin, that has terrible vision also.

So he had no idea what happens on the side of the desk.

So we'll get back to vision, checkups in a second.

But what age is you should start thinking about.

Well, when you think about it, when you have kids, you're going to a pediatrician on the regular, and you kind of have to do that with children because they're constantly growing.

So the minute you turn 18 and you're not seeing necessarily a pediatrician anymore, it's really important to find like an adult primary care provider at that age.

And then going from there, you have something set up with a provider.

And a lot of times, I know you mentioned earlier you changed carriers and then they're out of network.

So one good thing is going to your new carrier getting on their website.

They have most carriers have like a find a provider tool where you type in I'm in Toledo, Ohio.

Here's my zip code and it'll give you providers that have actual appointments available.

And it's very easy.

Now you just click on the link, it'll take you to available appointments.

It'll give you their number information to really make it seamless to find that provider.

But employees don't know about that because it's not something a lot of employers are really pushing or talking about.

Yeah.

So just bringing awareness to that is huge.

Yeah, that's great advice.

And I guess the litany of things from screenings, I mean, some of that depends on gender, things of that variety.

But can you kind of walk us through, I mean, I'm almost 50.

There's some certain things have already been flagged based on my family history, which I'm more than comfortable talking about, but what are the spectrum of things to sort of be monitoring?

The biggest things is making sure you're getting any type of testing for your age.

So if you're in your 50s, especially for men and women, like breast cancer screening awareness is huge.

So even if you've had a history of breast cancer in your family, you can go to your primary care physician and say, hey, I am really just concerned about this.

Being in my medical history with my family.

I'd really like to keep an eye on this.

And having that relationship where your doctor can order these tests that are medically necessary is important.

Prostate cancer screenings are huge, too.

Colonoscopies are really big.

And it's it's hard because you there's also some association with age with those too, where people are like, oh, I don't want to get my colonoscopy or things because you've hit in a certain age where you need it.

It's really important to do it because without early detection, you're kind of putting things off, and then people are really at risk for even more chronic conditions, different cancers, and you're not getting ahead of it.

It's it's really important to get ahead of things, which I know can be hard.

Yeah, absolutely.

So we've talked about it on the podcast, you know, my kind of my family's health journey.

My father had a heart transplant seven and a half years ago.

We've got a, you know, multi-generation family history of heart disease.

Four years ago last week, I actually got out of the hospital with my own.

I was four years of kind of diagnosis, with with heart issues.

But I remember I was, you know, fresh out of college, my dad was having some, some heart issues, and, went to go see, I had you know, scheduled to go see a cardiologist and do a 24 hour Holter monitor tests and all of these things.

And I remember the conversation with my brother because I told him I was I was like, I was afraid of the test and I didn't want to go.

Sure.

Anyway, I do this.

And my brother said something that, you know, rarely does he say something intelligent.

Yeah, but yes, yes, yes.

But in this moment he said, well, whether you go or not the answer's the same.

Yeah.

And so like whatever's happening is happening whether your doctor tells you it's happening or not.

Yeah.

So there's really nothing to be afraid of there.

Go get the information.

Yes.

And use the information to make an informed decision and, and get the care you need.

Yeah.

And if you have something to and you're not seeing a doctor, you're not managing it.

And then if you have, good relationship with the doctor and you're getting the tests and the things that they're recommending, then you have better management of whatever condition you may have, and you may have the opportunity to if especially if it's things with biometrics, you have the ability to somewhat change that with different lifestyle changes and those types of things.

So it's really just having knowledge is power for those who may not know, biometrics is it's where you're actually getting like a blood draw, where you know, what your cholesterol levels are, your blood pressure, BMI, waist circumference, just getting a baseline of where you are at, your kind of health numbers of where where you see.

So you can do that in a variety of ways, whether it's with your primary care physician.

Biometric screenings is a big one for companies.

And then also there's a lot of like labs that you could just walk into and get some of those testing done.

You, you know, you, I guess, to an individual, I understand them kind of the personal responsibility to, to schedule these things, to do all this from an employer's perspective, what what role should they could they play and yeah, where's that line where maybe they're going too far to say, like, hey, I'm actually going to require you to do this.

So especially the work we do at work spring, one of the things we do is work with employers a lot to put in the wellness programing and make sure that biometrics are kind of a requirement for a company just so employees know what they are kind of having is going through a good baseline.

So for an employer, it's not necessarily policing someone to go to the doctor.

It's making sure they're aware of their benefits.

And there's a communication piece to that.

So it is an employer's responsibility to let people know here's what's covered under your insurance.

Here's what's available to you, and here's how you can get those things.

I'm not sure if you guys are aware of the healthy Ohio Business Council know they are in, or does it look like we're we are we are actually the executive committee.

Oh, perfect.

Yeah.

That's right.

Yeah.

This council, We're screwed.

We meet.

That's right.

We meet in the Keebler tree.

So the Keebler elves, they make cookies?

That's funny, I got it.

They save the show.

They, are an organization in the state of Ohio where they're actually giving different offerings for companies that are promoting these screenings and promoting wellness programs, and they give different levels of warning.

So this year, work spring, we got a platinum award.

And it's an easy it's free to apply.

And it just goes to show, hey, what types of things are you offering your employees?

Do they know about the benefits?

Are you promoting different screenings?

There's a cancer Screening Excellence Award as well that they do through the Healthy Ohio Business Council.

It's free to just apply and get into these benefits that they have.

And then your organization can kind of see where they lie against other organizations with throughout the state.

Interesting gives you a lot of different tips on things you can do and how you can help support employees and their health while not policing them necessarily, despite being unfair.

Question.

Page but what's your Social Security number in the, from state to state?

There's the philosophy change.

Very.

I mean, just something I don't know is certainly is north and south.

I mean, what is from state to state, how much is it the same and how different is it?

It it's pretty similar in Ohio and Michigan, at least Indiana two, just because we're so close and are somewhat of a similar community, similar style.

So that's typically the same.

And they have it does tie back to like your insurance carriers and what type of like federal regulations are tied into the states.

But most of it's pretty similar.

Sure.

You know, coming in kind of zooming even closer just up within Ohio.

Yeah.

How different are you seeing things?

Because works for you isn't just, a northwest Ohio organization you're working with, with businesses and employers across the state.

Are you seeing differences in the way that, you know, Lucas County approaches this versus the Columbus area?

Yeah.

What the hell is wrong with Putnam County?

I mean, it just it's all about access and what you have around you.

So you'll see here, here in Lucas County, we have a lot of really great local resources available to us.

And then some of the rural counties, they may not have access to the same thing.

So just as an example, like having access to the Metroparks here is huge because there is more about that.

There's one everywhere.

There's just and and anyone can go.

There's a lot of programs and things that you can interact with.

But in Putnam County, Henry County, like some of the smaller counties here in northwest Ohio, it is harder to have access to things because it's not as close knit as as others.

Seems like we have apps and and online tools and things on our phones to help with management of all kinds of things.

Oh yeah.

Today, is there anything available to help?

Simple questions, manage these, manage these appointments, find out what their bills are.

I mean, I know we've a lot of people have, the apps where they can look in their the what is it, my chart.

But to help figure out this is the date.

This is the this is the next thing I'm supposed to do.

Figure out what their screenings are.

And then also they might be managing for kids and it's it's big.

The the biggest thing depends on who your primary care provider is.

And like my chart is a great example.

So if you have some an organization that you're going to for your primary care and they use my chart, you can go in there and you can manage all of your children's appointments.

It'll send you calendar notifications.

You can set up a lot of different permissions to to remind you.

Or like for example, if you haven't, I didn't schedule my well Woman exam in necessarily the right amount of time last year.

So I kept getting notifications like, hey, you need to call and schedule this, which is nice because you do get just caught up in life and work and it's good.

So if you have some of these reminders and I know it can be frustrating to get them constantly, but it's really to help you get on that calendar and use that cadence.

I never understood why.

And maybe there's doctors out there that do this in offices that do, but I've never had a doctor's office that actually, like, took the lead on, hey, your insurance is going to pay us to do these 12 things with you.

This year.

Let's get them all scheduled so that we as a business, maximize the revenue we can get from your insurance company.

Because I feel like they have just as much of an incentive.

Oh yeah.

For me to get these things as as I do, and with the shifting way that health care is, is focused more on, you know, well, care rather than sick care, there's a there's a financial incentive for them to do this stuff as well that it's it's a good segue into, what from advocacy.

Right.

I'm not a very good patient advocate.

You know, I go in, and I want to get out as soon as possible if it goes left, right or center, I just wanted I'm like, okay, I just want to go.

But I think that to just say or to coattail off of that, can you talk a little bit about making a plan to that degree and making sure that, no, I need to get a prostate exam because it is in my family.

And I'm sort of I'm not leaving here without having this.

Yeah, something like that.

You need to take this by the reins, right?

And you need to to do that.

One of the the biggest things you can do.

And it is hard because you want you're kind of looking at your provider for guidance of what do I need.

What types of things can I have.

One nice thing about that, my chart and I do it a lot with my PCP, is I'll message her and say, hey, I know I am at this age, I need to make sure I have certain screenings I'd like to get some different things done and they'll message you back and give you suggestions.

But it does depend on the provider.

Sure.

And that's a huge factor.

So one of the big things that we can do is just setting up different, like just looking at your health, making it a priority to look at, okay, I'm 40, I need these things at this age, I'm 50.

I need these things.

It is more on the individual.

Unfortunately, just because a provider works with a bunch of different insurance companies, they work with the state.

They work with a lot of different things where they're not really able, I think, to take that on and in a way, and that's why you somewhat do have to be your own health.

That's right.

Sure.

But it's hard to do.

It's hard.

Yeah.

As an employer, it's really important for you as well to be releasing this information.

And that's something that there's a lot of different wellness companies out there.

There's a lot of free apps and things.

One thing we try to do is here, here are the things that you need for these ages and just have it as a community resource.

So that way people know, okay, you don't necessarily have to be in the work spring wellness program.

We just want this information out there because if you don't know where to even find the basic information from a reputable source, right, it it's hard to know where to start.

Where would somebody find that information?

We have a work spring wellness.

What like on our website we'll be able to have information about different things that we can do for organizations.

And that's something we can help with.

The Healthy Ohio Business Council is another one too.

They have a whole list of recommended screenings.

And then to it's it's a free membership there to to sign up and join.

Good.

That's really helpful writing that down.

And the website is work spring dot board.

Yes.

Walker Funeral home that's what I do.

Do you guys like I don't know I this is maybe I'm looking to justify my own bad behavior.

Do you guys even know your blood type?

University.

I don't have one.

Okay, no, the answer is no.

No.

Yeah, like, I mean, I think, like, some of those just basic that, like when I go when I, when I go to the doctor, and they ask me these like, family history questions and.

Yeah, I mean, I, I struggle when somebody asks me how old I am, I've got to like, oh yeah, yeah, let me think about this.

Yeah.

And so I certainly appreciate kind of the reminder to keep this as a priority page Johnston with work spring.

Thank you so much.

Yes, thanks for having me.

And of course, thanks to work Spring for their support of Wellness Wednesday here on the 419.

When we come back, we're going to be talking with Reverend Willie Perriman.

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Welcome back into the 419.

It's a wellness Wednesday edition presented by Work Spring.

We're joined now by the Reverend Willie Perriman.

Thank you so much for being with us.

Thank you for the invitation.

Just wonderful to be here for the new year.

And we've been talking about screenings and kind of just, you know, preventative health care maintenance.

And I know that you've got, kind of your own, as we all do.

Right?

Our own sort of history and journey through this.

But we appreciate your willingness to, to come on and share some of that story.

Right.

So, it's my segment, Reverend.

So I get that.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank.

So we could do an entire program of, about your advocacy in many different ways.

All right.

on some of that today.

Okay.

But today on Wellness Wednesday, I'm certainly proud, to call you a friend.

But I'm even more proud and by no means surprised.

By no means surprised that you are an advocate for for screening.

Yes.

Right.

So this isn't just a health care, component.

I do want to get you it kicked off and tell you about that, but there is, there's a racial component to this that people need to be educated.

And it's really something that you care about.

You and I, have lunch of a some regularity, and there have been people that pass by our table.

And you mentioned to young African-American.

Yes.

So to tee it up, though, talk to me a little bit about health care screening, its role in your life, both positively and negatively.

Yeah.

So, screening is important.

Screening literally is life changing.

In my own journey, I was doing regular screenings and, nothing, nothing abnormal showed up.

But I continued on that journey of screening just to make sure, because I had been working with some, some groups around the state of Ohio, African-American, wellness walk, in Toledo in Columbus and, Cleveland.

And, just wanted to bring make sure that, my community was aware of how important it was.

And, so I was doing my normal, normal journey, my normal grind and, no problems.

Then all of a sudden I started having just a few, what I would call minor issues that did not appear to be anything special.

I was doing regular screenings, regular blood test, and, then it started, had, just a few more, a little bad symptoms, and I said, I need to take it a step further and so I did a little further testing and wow, it hit me like, like a ton of bricks and it was life changing, literally.

My, physicians that were caring for me said, we got two weeks to start some treatment or else you won't make it.

Wow.

And for folks that aren't familiar with the story, what?

What was that?

I was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

October 23rd, 2023.

I was, went right into chemotherapy, infusion, chemotherapy.

Three weeks later, went through, six very aggressive, treatment, chemo, chemotherapy treatment.

Following that, I had to go through 21, radiation treatment and and I came out pretty good so far.

Still have some challenges as a result of the treatment.

And you were getting regular screenings?

Yes.

An annual I was getting, I was getting you were sort of on I was on it, I was getting I was getting regular annual, screenings, specifically around the blood testing.

But then some, some symptoms showed up.

Even though I was doing that, the numbers didn't say that.

And so I went to a little further, investigation, you say, examination and the the second examination did not look good.

And so we did some further blood tests, then had to do MRI, Pet scans and wow is there, was there a family history that.

No, that had you doing this regular screening?

Was this a you were doing this because of some of your advocacy work?

Yes, I was doing it because some of the work I was doing around the community, I wanted to make sure that, African-American males, as we know, prostate cancer is, a very high risk.

And in our community and with our genetics.

So, I was just doing the work.

I just wanted to be a voice to make sure.

Hey, man, let's stay healthy.

Let's stay healthy.

And then, also, I had some symptoms of see it, but not.

No, no generic issues.

I found out right in the middle of my treatment.

I had a younger brother, who was diagnosed immediately after I was, but we both did genetic testing.

I've got two other brothers there has been no, no symptoms.

So they're in good shape so far.

I had an older brother who passed away from another type of disease was not cancer related.

But no genetics.

It just showed up.

What was it, your diagnosis that sent your brother in for further testing?

No.

Okay.

He had his own little minor issue here.

He said, I'm going to go get checked out.

I says, yeah, I talk a little bit about that.

I mean, we were just talking with page about advocating for yourself, right?

Yes, yes.

So and often it's easy to set aside these symptoms that we see or self-diagnose.

Right.

Or.

Yes.

Oh I must have done this or this must be something else.

But you obviously paid attention to that idea.

I paid attention to it because I did some research.

I was doing that kind of work, for our community.

I wanted to make sure I was educated on it.

And so some of my education that I gathered from it, I seen some symptoms.

And so I wanted to be, you know, really transparent, not only with myself, but with my family.

Sure.

And with my, work at the church.

Because, I found out even through treatment, it affected my family, it affected my church, it affect my community involvement.

Right?

It, affected my employment.

And so consequently, I'm even more so now, determined to make sure that, African-American men, not only get screened, but screened annually.

Can you talk a little bit more about that?

Those support systems, your church, your family, your work, when you were going through all these treatments?

So, my wife is a champion.

So she was a champion, and chemotherapy.

And I had a very aggressive, treatment of chemotherapy.

I mean, I would have chemotherapy one day and for the next nine days, I was just done down.

It's poison.

Poison.

Right.

And, my challenge was that the cancer did spread, beyond my, prostate sac to other parts of my body.

I was blessed it did not go into any of my organs.

And so, yes, my wife was a champion.

She literally had to, physically get me up and bathe me.

I church was so supportive because I was not able to, and do some of those, duties that I was accustomed to.

I had a great, clerics, staff, great administrative staff to kind of keep things going, while I was there.

But I wasn't there.

And then, my community partners, people who I worked in the community with, with different projects and different boards and organizations, they really understood and I was able to share with them and consequently they were able to, share, my story with others.

If you're a person of faith, right?

Yes.

It's a big part of your life.

Yeah.

Yes.

I just, you know, I, I can't imagine, you know, hearing the c word from a doctor.

How how quickly did you fall back on on faith?

How?

You know, what was that?

What was that journey?

So initially, when I was diagnosed, and my wife had been wanted a doctor with me, all of my appointments.

Just one, just one appointment she could not make.

Oh my goodness.

And so, so I was diagnosed, I. Can you blame her?

So.

Y y and so I got, I got to c news by myself.

That that was.

Traumatic.

And so I had to drive all the way from Miami to home.

And I was on the phone and I told her so I got to talk to you.

Talk to me about what.

And she says something wrong with you.

I says, yeah, it's bad news and I've got like two weeks to get it, get started on this or else we're going to be in trouble.

If you hadn't been doing the regular screenings, I mean, do you have?

Well, I mean, I hate to walk down that road, right.

So, it's hard to say because I've done a lot of education on it.

Now, talk with my urologist, my oncologist.

There's so much data out there now.

Okay.

And so, believe it or not, testing really is not a high priority with medical professionals for a number of reasons.

They can test 500,000 men and maybe only 2% or 3% of those men that they tested.

It's not diagnosed at some point.

The data says, do we continue to test all of these people?

Without any results.

And so the data says that the medical professionals are doing less testing.

So you got to do some more, personal, individual and, examinations, those type of things.

I think it speaks to that conversation we were having about like this, you know, isn't a priority for the doctors, but it needs to be a priority for us.

Yes, absolutely.

It's got to be a priority and advocate for yourself.

You got to be an advocate for yourself.

You got to know, what to look for.

You got to kind of sense out some symptoms.

And in prostate cancer, those systems are not very noticeable.

They're not visible.

It it just sneaks up on you and it grabs you.

And I would tell all men, all all, all men, specifically African-American men, make sure you get as many opinions as you can, develop a relationship with the medical professionals.

It's something I get a little emotional about this.

Of course, because I've lost four African-American men in the last year that I was pretty close with, and I was diagnosed before them.

And so consequently, every case is different.

Yeah.

I mean, it's just okay, I got prostate cancer.

This is how are we going to treat it?

It doesn't work that way.

It depends on on your own DNA, your own genetics.

And there's some there's several ways of treating it.

You just pray and pray that the treatment that your, medical professionals have selected for you is the right treatment.

Right?

So there so there is, there's a diagnosis and then there is a plan with a, with a medical professional professionals.

But one of the most challenging things to me in all things is sort of the muscle between your ears.

Yes.

So talk to me about, your support group.

You are a man of the people, the community.

You know, a lot of people depend on you for all sorts of things.

So being away from that or not being able to be is available is you want to be you're accustomed to all of that goes into the blender, the things you're dealing with.

Can you walk us through all of the all all of that goes, you need support.

It can't be your alone.

It's all that goes into that.

I really lean and depend on my family and my, faith leaders and my church family.

I literally from my own cycle kind of put some of the community stuff on the back burner.

Sure.

In fact, when I was diagnosed, I was the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, and, and we'd going right into the Freedom Fund, our biggest fundraiser of the year.

It's a lot of work.

We bring a lot of people together.

And, immediately I got diagnosed like that Thursday.

And the, Freedom Fund dinner was like that Saturday.

Oh, my goodness.

And I had to walk around.

Yeah.

Kind of mask it.

I'm doing great doing great.

But only me and my wife had that secret.

And then immediately after, I had to immediately go into a transition.

What's going to happen over the course of the next six months?

And so, consequently, I chose to, not seek, the reelection of the presidency because I had to concentrate on myself.

I had to think about give yourself permission to do that.

Yeah, I had to think about, you know, what?

What was priority family church?

I have, two, three children, four grandchildren and you got to kind of put things out.

Things prioritize things.

We could, we could.

I mean, I think we've got another hour of conversation that we could have with you.

Yeah, right.

Well, let us do that.

Sorry.

But as we close out this segment, what's the message that you want folks in the community to take from from your story and in your journey from my story?

Have a good relationship with your medical professionals.

Whatever your diagnosis is, whatever your health, challenges, whatever that is, have a good relationship, communication with your, medical professional and always, do audio screenings, all of your blood test, all of your examinations do not hide, behind any health issue.

Stay out in front of it as much as you can.

Thank you so much.

It thank you.

Matt.

Matt.

And I've had this conversation that, you know, extroverts kind of feel this this additional burden of bringing people along with our health journeys that our, our personal stuff to, to make.

I mean, this guy has some good conversations.

Yeah.

But we appreciate it.

Thank you.

Nice to do that.

The continued advocacy, you do such incredible work in the community.

I hope you come back on the program.

I certainly we can talk more about some of that, that exciting and happy stuff too.

So remember Willie Perriman, thank you so much.

When we come back here on the 419, Riley Reynolds, a fellow host talent, local celebrity, all of the things he's going to join us here on the 419.

We'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the 419.

We're talking now with Owen Riley Runnels.

Riley.

I know we've had you on the podcast, but, yes.

Your first time here on the 419.

Wow.

I know, and man, look at the new digs.

You guys are moving on up.

How about it?

I love it.

We talked about, in the break before you coming on, we got some incredible gifts from some of our favorite people.

One of them being the pink gold pink folks from your mom, Chris Peters.

And she was so excited to give that to you guys.

I said, I can't believe you're giving up yours.

I couldn't, I couldn't for the race.

Yeah.

She said, it's okay, I'll get a new one.

They can have the original.

She pulled it out of the bag and I was like, that can't be that.

I. We just got done cleaning up the feathers.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Three days ago.

Are you upset at all that she likes us more than she likes you?

Well, no.

Only because I like you more than I like her.

Also, even it's like that is a how are and death your first?

Yes.

And the first 19.

So you're, You know, obviously you're from a degree standpoint, studied journalism at Ohio University, somewhat following in the footsteps of your mother.

Yes, but but paving your own path.

Certainly.

Yeah, she definitely was more on the broadcast side of things.

Whereas I focus more on print and magazine journalism.

Our growth industry.

Yes, absolutely.

You know, really career stability.

Yeah.

That's what I was going for.

Yeah.

I graduated VCR repair.

No.

Genuinely funny.

Funny enough, I was going to study musical theater, and then I chose journalism because it felt more stable, so.

Haha.

Yeah.

But I did.

Yeah.

I made the same joke to my parents when I was going away to college.

They were like, what do you study?

I was like, musical theater.

And my dad, I remember my dad saying something and he denies this to this day.

But some of the effects, he's like, you will not get a degree in unemployment.

Yeah.

And I was like, joke's on you.

My degrees in communications.

Yeah, it's for 100%.

It's nice that that has so many transferable skills that I've been able to use.

I mean, out of college, I was the editor of the Toledo City Paper for two years, and then I went from that role into epic Toledo with the Toledo Chamber of Commerce.

And it's been really interesting to see how the editor of a magazine can kind of transfer.

Then to running a young professionals group and some of that leadership development, the teaching, networking and communication skills, because I think a lot of those skills are things that with Covid especially, people are lacking in some of that practice.

Now with epic, you just, I believe, kicked off the mentorship program for 2026.

You talk a little bit about that.

So I really wanted to find a project that was my own when I came into the role.

Obviously, epic has been around for a couple almost two decades.

And so I wanted to have a project that was kind of putting my own stamp on the program, and I created this mentor program, which the framework was already in existence.

And then I took it and kind of ran with it.

We have four mentors that mentor, 4 to 5 mentees each, and it's over from April to July.

They have individual meetings.

They have group meetings.

They do on site visits at the mentors work so that they can kind of see a day in their life.

It's a really incredible program, not only for these mentees to be connected with opportunity, but also they have somebody who's built into the community that is an advocate for them.

That's such a good idea, and I'm wisely not choosing the three of us to be part of that.

Right?

Right now it just seems like.

No.

You agree?

Yeah.

You agreed way too quickly.

You know, you guys, but you guys definitely are on my shortlist for lots of epic things I have.

Well, very diplomatic.

Yeah, it's certainly it's a very short list.

Yeah.

I have done a part of it, but I've had a number mentor programs I've never done, like in a, in a group session, like that where they get, you know, one mentor for mentees, I kind of like that idea from a because oftentimes it feels like at least when I've been paired with professionals, or I've had young professionals paired with me there feels like this, somewhat of like a status barrier.

Yeah.

That I think when you bring for young professionals some of that, this concern imposter syndrome.

Yeah.

Well, and we try to provide kind of a soft networking opportunity first for them to break a little bit of that ice.

And that's kind of the whole epic motto is we provide these networking opportunities where we are breaking the ice for you.

Yeah.

So that it's not as intimidating as some of the other opportunities.

But essentially with our mentor program, it's just been really amazing to see our mentees connect with these different generations.

And in that first meeting, you're seeing how they all kind of build off of each other's ideas and goal setting.

And, you know, some person might say, I want to get better at this skill.

And then another person says, oh, I didn't even think of that.

I want to work on this too.

So it's really nice to see that transfer of ideas.

But it's a big part of the epic mission to kind of connect generations.

I mean, we are geared toward young professionals, but we we want those young professionals to feel comfortable advocating for themselves to different generations.

And then feeling confident to approach people that are not within the young professional landscape.

And I think that's something, too, that reflects in my work with, with on the Come Up, which is the podcast they do through the Voices Around Us project, and we we work really hard to connect young professionals on our show to different generations through what we're topically covering with, you know, their education component.

So what's on the come up?

What is that?

What is when you think about that title, what does that mean to you?

Who is that person?

Yeah.

So I mean, we see it.

To me, that's just all of our young professionals in Toledo.

I mean, we see and I know you all see it too.

The hustle in our young people here working day and night, trying to get out into the community, make a name for themselves and better yet, change our community for the better.

I mean, they are obviously want to have some sort of status or some sort of fulfilling job for themselves, but it's always really geared toward making Toledo a better place.

And so we have individuals.

My co-host Libby Cassidy and I, we have individuals on our podcast who are either in an industry where they're doing huge things, like a former guest of yours as well, Isabella White, we have her on to talk about, you know, she's the CEO and president of our own company, and she's our same age, 25.

And then we have people who, you know, were laid off from a career job, and now they're completely changing what they're doing.

And their entire life path looks different.

So every young professional we are all at kind of a same age range, completely different phases of life.

And I think you can really glean a lot no matter what generation you're in.

We want young professionals to hear this advice and run with it and take it.

But you know other generations as well.

Why are you doing this?

I mean, of all the things you can spend with your time, right?

Why is why is this show, this podcast important to you?

Well, I mean, to me, let me ask you guys, this isn't it so fun to do a podcast with your best friends that also okay, I do, I do that if I could get them here.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But no it is you guys.

You guys are as much as you joke close friends outside of the show and it's really fun, obviously, to do that with somebody that you're close with and friends with.

But then the education component of it as well, I mean, there's nothing better than feeling like you've impacted someone from a story that you've told.

It's why I studied journalism.

I'm so people motivated, and I really want everyone to experience the walks of life that they might not get to experience in their day to day.

I think one thing that you, mentioned wrote strongly resonates with me.

If nothing else, it's also important for everyone, I guess, almost indiscriminate of their age to know that it is a long journey.

Your professional career.

Yeah, right.

So there are some people who hit the ground running immediately, or there are rarely, but there are certainly people who know what they are going.

They have a calling to do something right.

But that's a rare thing.

Right?

So you'll catch up on people.

Go ahead.

You know that there there is comfort in the fact that we're all in this journey together.

Yeah.

And your career is is a path, right.

So I my first job out of college was I was a busboy, and my parents were, of course, thrilled.

And I was embarrassed.

Right.

I didn't know what direction I really wanted to go in.

And that's how people were like, I'm, I'm I'm failing here.

But that's not the case, right?

That is it.

There's comfort in that education that in those and the reality that many people are in different phases.

So I think that's certainly a real value for people to commune together about that.

But you talked a little bit about networking.

That is an integral part even in today's day and age, some tips, as fundamental as you think they may be, you are a very charismatic person, naturally, but, that just was written here for me to say to you.

Right.

Tips for, for young people, or of any age.

What what are just some things that are are good lessons to be learned when you're connecting with others.

Yeah.

I mean, first, the biggest one to me is approachability, making yourself approachable.

So if you're at a networking event, you're not sitting kind of slouched in the corner, arms crossed, like looking like you don't want to talk to people because there are other people.

If you if you are an introvert, there are people who are extroverted who will approach you and who will kind of take some of that onus off of you to do the hard work in that.

And I think always going into a networking event with a goal in mind and saying to yourself, like, I really want to meet, somebody from this industry, or I really want to meet three people today and, and have three new business cards or three new contacts.

That's really key.

I going into a networking event.

Sure.

What was your goal coming in this morning?

To have fun, to see.

My faves.

Yeah, because I just love you guys.

Well, I hope that you get to do both of those things.

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

I'm sorry.

Oh my God.

See?

Yeah.

Yeah.

One less goal is when we can hear your podcast.

When and where?

Yeah.

So we usually release every other Tuesday.

That's the way to do it once a week.

Those are the days.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

So we have, our link that we always say at the end of our episode as well, dot org slash come up or wherever you stream your podcast, I love it.

So you can, you can check us out anywhere that you stream podcasts.

But really, I recommend not only checking out on the come up, but checking out voices around us, the whole project.

There are podcasts on there for everybody to listen to.

I mean, there's things about medical importance or things about history of our region.

There's I mean, just absolutely anything that you can imagine within voices around us.

And it's exactly as it sounds.

It's the voices around us in our region telling our story.

And there's nothing more powerful than that.

There's there's a push, obviously, for Choose Local.

Right.

And you think about that from a retail standpoint.

I think about that from a restaurant standpoint.

But I also think that there's an important component of that from a from a media standpoint as well, that, you know, when you're looking at, you know, killing time on a road trip.

And you could choose a, you know, you're going to go choose a podcast.

Yeah.

Choose a local podcast.

Right.

I think that that the voices around us is a great opportunity with a phenomenal, phenomenally diverse offering.

And especially in this, this tumultuous time for journalism as an industry where we don't know really who we can trust and what outlets are putting out what information, having such strong local journalism has never been more important than it is right now.

It's always important, but never than right now.

Speaking of law, local journalism, the rapid fire questions.

It's time, it's time, it's time for Gretchen.

Wacky quiz.

I thought you would do that with me, Matt.

I thought we were ready.

We need to workshop it.

Okay.

Yeah.

Ready?

One, two.

I'm just kidding.

All right, here we go.

I'm gonna ask you for rapid fire questions.

Gretchen's going to ask you for your favorite thing in the region.

Matt is going to ask you to.

Medical history.

Yep.

Through security number.

Perfect.

All right.

What's your favorite color?

Purple.

Yes.

What's the kindest thing that you have seen?

Oh.

Actually, it's a story about my mom.

She taught me growing up that, no matter what was going on in my life or how down I was, that if I saw someone who was in need on, just local streets or when we were out of town, if they needed food or money to give them anything that we had.

So I always, especially with our Toledo Street newspaper, give some money to to them when I see them.

What's your go to movie when you need a mood boost?

Holidate.

On Netflix.

It's not cinema, but it's fabulous and very fun.

It makes me happy every read.

My wife is obsessed with the like, terrible like hallmark defense Christmas.

No, it is terrible.

It really is.

It's not at all cinema, but it's great.

Yeah, yeah.

But we watch I think we watch it almost every year.

Yeah.

It's bad.

Classic.

Yeah.

All right, here we go.

What is the most ridiculous thing your parents ever did to embarrass you?

Oh, boy.

Oh, my gosh, that's such a tough question.

I would say making me saying take me out to the ballgame at a, minor league Sky Sox game for the Rockies organization when my dad was coaching there.

That'll do.

And then they were filming it.

My dad was so just embarrassing.

The whole thing was very stressful.

That's a whole podcast in himself.

Yeah.

Number one.

Best thing.

Favorite thing about the region?

You're gonna say it's a cop out answer, but it is the people here and the opportunities that they bring to our region.

You'd be surprised how many people say that name saying, no, I wouldn't.

Yeah, that's right, it's fabulous.

Okay.

Nine words to describe Toledo.

Okay.

Big city opportunities with small town charm and friendliness.

Nailed it.

How about it?

Wow, that's going to go viral.

That's right.

You.

That's how it's done, right?

Riley, thank you so much for that.

One more time.

Tell us again, name of the podcast and where pe can find it.

Yes.

On the come up.org/come up or wherever you stream your podcast.

I mean sing us out in the national anthem.

Oh, nope.

Nope.

That's right.

Yep yep.

That'll that'll wrap up the show.

And, you know, when you come back, Riley is going to be the official host of the 400, and it'll be the best show ever.

All right, when we come back, we'll wrap up this Wellness Wednesday edition of the 419.

If you missed any part of the show, of course, we've got tons of opportunities to find it.

And you can find our show online at dot org slash the 419.

Riley, thank you so much.

We appreciate you.

Appreciate your family.

Thanks for letting us borrow your mom and guys time as well.

Oh of course.

And the work you guys are doing is so important.

Thank you.

All right, we'll be right back on the 419.

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Welcome back into the 419.

It's a wellness Wednesday edition here on the 419, powered by GT presence files are open.

The door open at the end of the show.

Can we can we talk about your note taking system here back?

Because I feel like for the folks that enjoy the show on YouTube and on W GT connects channel 30.4, that they're watching the video from time to time, they will see you, reached down and just, just, you know, put a little line on your paper cuz this is your manifesto.

Can you tell us what that what that means?

Yeah.

So for those of you who, enjoy the show, you're probably already incarcerated or have some mental defect anyway, so this, we'll be writing wheelhouse every time I want to say something awful digression or something that might infringe on FCC violations and make one slash on my paper what we're actually almost every time Gretchen in answer asks a question every time I speak.

Yeah.

That's right.

Right.

It so I just I just draw a line.

And today is like day.

Yeah.

But they progressively have gotten larger.

So it started as just a small little line.

And now like, it's I mean, it is, you know, it's bad.

It's 2,020% of the page is is an aggressive line.

Sure.

It's you know we're going to send them off to be studied okay by a team of psychiatrists and see what we can come up with.

Sure.

Perfect.

That's that'll be a quick study.

Yeah.

Exciting conversation today.

Obviously a heavy a heavy conversation with Reverend Perriman.

A rare career coaching show for us.

What I mean by that is there's a lot of exciting things that we like to talk about, and sometimes they fit in order, you know, from work spring to, our friend, and certainly community advocate, Reverend Perriman.

So that's like a real time, real action thing.

And he was into my standards.

You know, rarity, he was actually on it, and it still happened.

So my anecdote about him is a truthful one.

He and I have lunch regularly, and he will stop, or as people walk by, he'll ask them if they've they've had screenings done.

So, that that is what, wellness is about, right?

We're not health care professionals and we're learning the ropes of proper interviewing, but we can emphasize this enough.

We care about this community, and we want everyone to be well in all manners of well.

So, Reverend, a great man.

I can't wait to have him come back and talk about the other advocacy work he does and the Raleigh Reynolds.

Of though I'm not kind enough to pronounce your last name correctly.

Reynolds.

You know, on the show, a bright, bright light here, talking about all the great stuff that's going on.

And her story is an exciting one.

Somebody who, you know, gets up every morning.

I don't know when she sleeps.

To plug in so.

Well, when you.

And when you look to the future of our community and you see leaders like Riley, like Isabella, like, you know, I get excited about where where things are going.

A great, exciting conversation, thanks to spring for their support of Wellness Wednesday.

Thanks to you for joining us.

If you missed any part of the show, you can catch it!

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