Missouri Health Talks

Dr. Darrel Ray is the founder of Recovering from Religion, a non-profit working with people experiencing religious trauma, and the Secular Therapy Project, which helps clients find therapists offering secular, science-based therapy. He spoke about how traumatic religious experiences can impact the limbic system, which is involved in behavioral and emotional responses like the “fight or flight” res...

KBIA hosted an event at Douglass High School in October about opioid, overdoses and Narcan in our community. Narcan is the brand name for naloxone and is a lifesaving drug that can reverse an opioid overdose. Pastor Charles Stephenson is the Executive Director of Powerhouse Community Development, which provides a variety of services for people with substance use disorders. He spoke a little about...

Debbie Merciers is the Market Manager at the Downtown Poplar Bluff Farmer’s Market. She spoke with the Missouri on Mic team in July. She spoke about how finding a purpose in helping other mothers who've lost their children has helped her grieve her son Kyle's death in a gun accident.

Dr. Jane McElroy is a professor of family and community medicine at the University of Missouri. She specializes in LGBTQIA healthcare and spoke about how weight and weight loss can take on different significance in lesbian and bisexual communities.

Noel Kopriva is a member of Missouri Moms Demand Action, a nonpartisan group working toward common sense gun regulation. She spoke about how gun owners can keep their families safe and help prevent suicide deaths using the “Be SMART” model of ownership. You can read more about Moms Demand Action in this month's Vox magazine.

Debbie Merciers is the Market Manager at the Downtown Poplar Bluff Famer’s Market. She spoke with the Missouri on Mic team in Poplar Bluff in July. She spoke about losing her son, Kyle, in a gun accident several years ago.

Dr. Catherine Peterson is an Associate Professor of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology at the University of Missouri. She spoke about the safest and most effective way to decide what dietary supplements you should be taking – if any at all.

According to the CDC, Missouri currently has 125 diagnosed cases of monkeypox, but stigma could be preventing people from seeking help. Yerina Ranjit is a health communication researcher and scholar at the University of Missouri, and she spoke about how the stigma that comes from attaching a disease to one at-risk population can be harmful, as well as keep all people at risk of monkeypox from seek...

Angie Rundle lives in St. Louis, Missouri, and her son, Chris, is a student at the University of Missouri. Their family shares a rare inherited genetic condition, called familial adenomatous polyposis, which causes cancer. They spoke about Angie’s own experiences with colorectal cancer and about how this condition impacted them as Chris was growing up.

Shelby Lewis is a recent alum of the University of Missouri. She spoke about her experience growing up with undiagnosed ADHD and her journey to finally getting diagnosed and treated as an adult.

D. Ojeda is a Senior National Organizer for the National Center for Transgender Equality. They spoke about the close relationship that gender-affirming care and abortion have within the healthcare industry, and they explained how anti-transgender and anti-abortion rights legislation leave everyone, but especially transgender people – vulnerable within healthcare.

Shaashawn Dial is the Director of Education and Community Relations with Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which is the local affiliate serving Mid-Missouri. She spoke about the need for quality, comprehensive sexual education especially now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned and Missouri’s trigger law, which bans nearly all abortions has gone into effect.

Heather Harlan is an educator from Columbia/Boone County Public Health & Human Services. She spoke about substance use disorders, as well as how medication-assisted treatment is a real option to consider for those affected.

Shira Berkowitz is the Senior Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at PROMO. They spoke about the importance of being inclusive when talking about the impacts of Roe V. Wade being overturned, as well as about the ways that this decision would impact already vulnerable populations – like trans and nonbinary Missourians. Just as a note - this conversation took place after the Dobbs draft decision...

Quinn Calvert is a Missouri resident who – in the past – had to travel from Columbia to St. Louis to get an abortion. They spoke about the ways that lack of access influenced their choices leading up to that abortion, and about the concerns they have if the procedure becomes even more inaccessible. As a note, this conversation took place after the Dobbs draft decision was leaked. But before the of...

Jason Jarvis spoke with the Missouri on Mic team at Paquin Towers in Columbia in March. He spoke about fire safety and how guardians can have meaningful and helpful conversations about safety with kids – especially heading into the 4th of July holiday.

Jason Jarvis spoke with us at a Missouri on Mic event at Paquin Towers in Columbia in March. He spoke about some injuries that dramatically changed his life and made him passionate about sharing the importance of driving safely with others. Just as a note – this piece includes graphic descriptions of suicide and vehicular accidents.

Alisha Johnson is a Care in Aging Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Sinclair School of Nursing here in Columbia. She spoke about aging in place, and what that means for older adults and long-term care facilities.

Darren Morton and John Trapp both work to combat homelessness in Columbia. Darren is the Managing Director at Turning Point, and John is a principal at 4-A-Change. They spoke about the post winter needs of the unhoused community in Columbia and about some of the barriers they face year-round.

Alisha Johnson is a Care in Aging Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Sinclair School of Nursing here in Columbia. She spoke about the culture of aging in the United States and how that can impact older adults.

Joelle Thompson is an elementary school art teacher from Independence, Missouri. She spoke with the Missouri on Mic team at the State Fair last August. She contracted COVID-19 in September 2020 and shared about her experiences with long COVID and some of the lasting health effects she’s dealt with since then.

Lisha Taylor and Leah Freeman are a mother and daughter duo who spoke with the Missouri on Mic team at the Daniel Boone Regional Library in February. They spoke about a health challenge they both share – fibromyalgia, and about a few of the ways this chronic disease impacts their daily life.

Lima is a freshman at the University of Missouri and a refugee from Afghanistan. Her family came to Mid-Missouri many years ago on a special immigrant visa, or SIV.Since her father worked with the US and Afghan military, we are omitting her last name and the town they live in for safety. We met at a recent baby shower for expectant and new Afghan moms in Columbia where she was interpreting – Engli...

Tyrone Seals, Sr. lives here in Columbia and is currently experiencing homelessness. He spoke with KBIA’s Missouri on Mike team at the Daniel Boone Regional Library, which serves as a day warming center for the community, on February 19th. He spoke about some of the realities of homelessness and how winter weather is impacting the lives of unhoused Columbians.