Public Health Speaks

Check out the new podcast episode featuring local NPHIC member, Meredith Li-Vollmer, Ph.D, a risk communication specialist for Public Health Seattle and King County, Washington. Dr. Vollmer provides insights on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic from a local public health perspective and how polling data from the Harvard Opinion public surveys, helped them develop their communication strategies and rebuild trust.

Olivia Biggs, of the National Public Health Information Coalition, discusses how Immunization Managers and Public Information Officers can Collaborate to Improve Immunization Policy Outcomes, as the pandemic winds down. We’ll hear from Brent Ewig, Chief Policy and Government Relations Officer, who monitors the immunization policy landscape and develops resources to support the Association of Immunization Managers (AIM) members engaging in effective policy development.

Richard Quartarone, a health communicator in the Immunization Services Division at the CDC, joins the show to discuss the changing landscape of public health communication in the pandemic environment. He also addresses the role vaccine demand strategists play in helping to strengthen public health communications and build public trust in our nation’s immunization efforts.

Longtime NPHIC member Phil Rooney joins the show to discuss the unique communication challenges COVID-19 presents in the nation’s heartland. Rooney, a resource specialist with the Douglas County Health Department in Omaha, Nebraska, is also a former news journalist and was most recently awarded the Nebraska Public Relations Society of America’s Professional of the Year Award. Rooney reflects on his years of experience as a professional communicator and shares some important lessons learned in our nation’s pandemic response efforts.

Joining me today is Dr. Marcus Plescia, Chief Medical Officer at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Dr. Plescia provides medical leadership and expertise across the agency and helps coordinate ASTHO’s work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and each of its other affiliated partners.

In this episode, we sit down with an experienced communications strategist to discuss her role in leading an important initiative that brings together key partners in coordinating and amplifying public health messaging on COVID-19. Guest: Rhea Farberman Director of Strategic Communications and Policy Research Trust for America’s Health.

In this episode, we talk with an architect and designer of public health and social change programs who blends empirical research and consumer experience to engage people’s imagination and passions in the design and implementation of marketing and communication programs that improve health.

In this episode, we sit down with a public health communications professional to discuss how public information officers and journalists have forged important partnerships during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will examine their respective points of view in providing critical messaging during a crisis and learn how both sides rely on each other to overcome the unprecedented challenges this pandemic has presented.

In this episode we talk with Monife Stout, Director of the Territorial Immunization Program for the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Health. We will discuss the important alliance between public health communicators and immunization professionals and ways we can work more effectively together.

In this episode, we talk with Dan Rutz, a veteran public health communications professional and former CNN medical contributor. Dan gives his candid thoughts and perspectives on the impact of the global pandemic, the effectiveness of our nation's COVID-19 public health interventions, and the ways in which public health communicators and other professionals can prepare for future public health threats.

In this episode, we talk with licensed clinical psychologist Tammy McCoy–Arballo about the physical, emotional, and psychological toll this prolonged pandemic response has taken on public health professionals. Listen as she offers her thoughts on practical ways to achieve work- life balance and provides professional advice on ways to protect your physical, emotional and mental well-being.

In this second of a two-part episode, we peek into the trenches of the COVID-19 response with a communications professional who leads the state of Minnesota's public health messaging efforts. His unique insight into the challenges presented by this pandemic brings into clear focus what is needed to build resiliency in our public health messaging efforts and to ensure future crises and emergency risk communications success. Host: Robert L. Jennings Executive Direction National Public Health Information Coalition (NPHIC) Guest: Michael Schommer Communications Director Minnesota Department of Health

In this first of a two-part episode, we look at how well the nation's COVID-19 health messaging is being received by the public and delve into some of the barriers and opportunities to building and maintaining public trust. We also examine how well the Crises and Emergency Risk Communication principles have held up under the intense pressures of the COVID-19 response. Host: Robert L. Jennings Executive Direction National Public Health Information Coalition (NPHIC) Guest: Glen Nowak, Ph.D. Director Grady College Center for Health and Risk Communication Professor Advertising and Public Relations University of Georgia

It is now widely known that communities of color are being disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and African American communities are being hit particularly hard. In this inaugural edition of the National Public Health Information Coalition's podcast series, Public Health Speaks, we will try to understand the reasons behind the higher rates of infections in communities of color, and explore ways in which to break-through the misinformation and provide science-based and culturally appropriate messaging. Host: Shuree Rivera Guest: Garth Walker, M.D.