Missouri Health Talks

Wendy Rich is from Joplin, Missouri, and was diagnosed four years ago with alpha gal – a tickborne illness that causes allergic reactions to red meat and other products made from mammals. It is transmitted though the bite of a Lone Star tick. Since then, Rich co-founded the Joplin Alpha Gal Awareness group to support others who have been diagnosed with or are looking to learn more about the illnes...

This week we hear from Debbie Morris. She lives in Long Lane – a small town of about 1,000 in south central Missouri. She was diagnosed with alpha gal, a tickborne illness that causes a severe allergic reaction to animal byproducts in June 2020.She spoke about how the disease has impacted her life – including in some unexpected ways.

Evonnia Woods is the Senior Outreach Producer for Reproaction, an advocacy organization focusing on reproductive justice. In Missouri, Black women experience a higher rate of severe maternal morbidities – things that impact the quality of life – than white women, according to the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services. She spoke about how barriers – like a lack of comprehensive sexual edu...

Evonnia Woods is the Senior Outreach Producer for Reproaction, an advocacy organization focusing on reproductive justice. According to the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services, Black women are four times more likely to die within one year of pregnancy than white women in Missouri. She spoke about the way that intersectional issues – like transportation, poverty and racism – can contribu...

Ashley Curtis is the lab director and principal investigator at the Cognition, Aging, Sleep, and Health Lab, or CASH Lab, at the University of Missouri. She studies the relationship between sleep conditions and cognition. She spoke about the misconceptions about insomnia and about some of the ways that sleep hygiene practices could improve everyone’s sleep health.

April Mickens Jolly is the Vice President of Health Equity & Culture at Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri – and a Black mother. According to the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services, Black women in Missouri are 4 times more likely to die within a year of pregnancy than white women.

Sara Humm is the public information specialist for Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services. She spoke about the continued presence of COVID-19 throughout Missouri, and about – some of the ways – people can do their best to keep their family, friends, and community safe during the holiday season.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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...

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.

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.

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.

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 nurs...

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

Dorreen Rardin and Jackie Reed in Columbia are both long-time nurses who spent their careers working in palliative end-of-life care. After they retired, they joined together to co-found Caring Hearts and Hands of Columbia, a social model home for the dying – basically a community-supposed home for terminally ill people. They spoke about what needs to be done to improve the end of folks’ lives and...

Reverend Fred Leist and Teressa Gilbreth both work at Missouri United Methodist church in downtown Columbia. They reflected on the past year or so of the coronavirus pandemic, and spoke about how their congregation remained supportive through an emotionally taxing COVID-19 lockdown and how they’re NOW looking forward to rebuilding their community.

Matthew Mertz and Lee Porterfield both live in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and are both veterans who served in the Army for over two decades. They spoke about how all of their children were born in different places and about it can be complicated to find TRICARE, or military health benefits, in some civilian environments – especially rural ones.