Mary Beth Miller is the lab director and principal investigator for the Health Intervention and Treatment Research Lab, or HIT Lab where she studies the relationship between alcohol and sleep.She spoke about how drinking alcohol can impact the quality of sleep people get each night and how it may even be the reason you are waking up.

Missouri Health Talks

Alcohol & Sleep: ‘If you can reduce your drinking, it will probably help your sleep, also.’

Lisa and Gary Kremer spoke with KBIA’s Missouri on Mic team at the Missouri State Fair back in August. They reflected on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the way they live their lives, and Lisa reflected on losing her mother in the winter of 2020 to the disease.

Loss During the COVID-19 Pandemic: 'It’s just this very large reset and reminder of every day – of counting every day.’

Dr. Olugbemisola Obi is the medical director for the NICU, or neonatal intensive care unit, at MU Health Care in Columbia.She says the hospital has seen some mothers lately who are very sick from COVID-19 – so sick in fact that their babies are delivered pre-term. She spoke about the impact that having a premature baby in the NICU – while also being COVID-19 positive – can impact a family.

COVID-19 & New Mothers: ‘There's a lot of guilt with the mothers.’

Lydia Olmstead and Dr. Jacque Sample work together on the Columbia Disabilities Commission. Lydia is a person who happens to be deaf/blind, and Dr. Sample has a son with a disability.They spoke about Columbia’s sidewalks and about improvements that would make the community more inclusive – and perhaps even more environmentally friendly.

Accessibility in Columbia: ‘Sidewalks are not just for people with disabilities, they impact everyone.’

Matthew Huffman is the Public Affairs Director for the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, and Joan Masters is the Senior Coordinator of Partners in Prevention – a coalition of 24 Missouri colleges and universities working toward healthy and safe campuses.They spoke about drug-facilitated sexual assaults and how those have changed during the last few decades – from perpetration using illegal substances like rohypnol, or roofies, to legally obtainable drugs and even – just alcohol

‘The reality is that it's alcohol as the number one thing used for a drug-facilitated sexual assault.”

Dr. Laura Vricella is an OB-GYN and a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis. She spoke about how the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has impacted her and her staff, and about some of the ways that COVID-19 infections seem to be impacting expectant mothers and their babies.

'We Have Seen Stillbirths in COVID Women – We Are Worried it Could Be Because of COVID.'

Susan Good is a retired nurse who spent most of her career and the beginning of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic working in Tacoma, Washington.She spoke with KBIA’s Missouri on Mic team at the Columbia Bicentennial event back on July 4th about what nursing during the pandemic in Washington state was like, and a little bit about why she’s chosen to retire to Columbia, Missouri.

Retired Nurse Reflects on Pandemic with Missouri on Mic: 'Somehow, We Got Through One of the Greatest Ordeals I've Lived Through'

‘With the Delta Variant, We Became a Hotspot, But Very Shortly Thereafter, Everybody Else Became a Hotspot.’

Kennedi Barker is a public health nurse for Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services. We spoke a few weeks ago during a mobile outreach vaccine clinic that she was working about how the more than 17 months of the pandemic – and working with Columbians from all walks of life – has impacted her.

Nursing Through the Pandemic Has ‘Really Made a Bigger Place Seem Smaller’

Jeanee’ Kennedy is the Chief Nursing Officer for Freeman Health Systems in Joplin. For several weeks now, Joplin has had the worst COVID-19 hospitalization rates in the county. In fact, Jeanee’ said their hospital recently had to open a third COVID unit to accommodate all of their patients.She spoke about what she’s seeing in her community and about how this current surge is taking a toll on nurses and other frontline health workers.

‘Nurses Are Seeing More Patients Die On a Weekend of Working Than in a Year in Pre-COVID Time’

Jeremy Drinkwitz is the President of the Mercy Hospital in Joplin. Joplin currently has the worst rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county and three of the surrounding counties it serves are also in the top 10.

COVID-19 Hospitalizations in Joplin: 'If You Love Your Community – It Causes You to do Action. One of Those Actions is Getting the Vaccine'

Trina Teacutter is the nursing supervisor for Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services. She spoke about how they have changed their tactics when it comes to vaccinations, and how “coming to people where they are” – though community-based vaccination clinics – is allowing them to reach more members of the community.

Columbia’s Community Vaccine Clinics: ‘We Can Reach People Where They Are’

Amanda Hedgpeth is the vice president of hospital operations for the CoxHealth Hospital System based in Springfield, as well as their assistant commander for COVID-19 response.

In SW Missouri: ‘It’s Becoming a Staffing Challenge to Take Care of the Rising Number of COVID Patients’

Steve Hollis and Darren Morton work closely together combating the issue of homelessness in Columbia. Hollis is the Human Services Manager of Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services, and Morton is the Director of Turning Point, an organization that works with people experiencing homelessness.They spoke about breaking the stigmas surrounding unhoused people, and about how important it is for the entire community to understand how difficult it can be to “pull yourself up” when there are no more bootstraps.

Fighting the Stigma of Homelessness: ‘Imagine Yourself with No Money, No Job, No Transportation – How Would You Pull Yourself Up?’

Andrew Pham and Alice Yu are both members of the Mizzou Asian American Association.They spoke about the challenges of rallying a historically disconnected Asian American community in the aftermath of recent hate crimes – and about how their generation might be the ones to overcome those challenges.

Building Asian American Community: ‘It’s Important to Recognize the Intersectionalities That We Have’

Missouri Health Talks travels throughout the state gathering conversations between Missourians about issues of access to healthcare.

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Missouri Health Talks

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