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[email protected]. You just heard democracy now airing Monday through Friday, high noon central standard time. And now it's time for the locally produced public affairs. Section one, o'clock Monday through Friday, it's catalyst, it's time for your weekly dose of politics and culture. We've got a great candidate running for our city council plus portraits of your frontline workers. I'm Lydia Howell and, and I am a Rico moral Ellis, and this is catalyst Jewish, all politics and culture. And you never know what kind of culture you're going to get. I've never heard that song before highly recommend given the labor theme for the second half of our show, uh, Google Charlie Daniels and his song American farmer, uh, because it's truly wonderful. Well, let's get this.
Speaker 1 00:01:16 Let's get this party started. We've got a special election here in Minneapolis for the city council seat in ward six, which is here in the center of the city, right where KFC is located, the wonderful West bank, sewer, Philips, and Moore. And we're hoping to bring you as many of those candidates as we can over these next week. The special election is August 11th, Mark your calendars. You can get your mail in ballot. If you call, um, (612) 348-3000 or, uh, you know, check out hennepin.us, vote by mail. Um, and again, that date August 11th, the special election primary election, as well as this special seat ward six, I'm delighted to bring you the first of our candidates, Jamal Osman. He's 36. He's lived in Minneapolis 21 years, graduated from our wonderful Metro state university with a degree in sociology, dental kinds of work in the nonprofit sector.
Speaker 1 00:02:24 Um, but one of his biggest focus has been in the last seven to 10 years working on, um, this low income housing crisis that, uh, is so often ignored by our elected officials. Well, uh, Jamal's wins, we're working on it with common bond. He also has focused on youth and their needs, uh, especially how to prevent them from becoming homeless. And he's worked on mental health, doing something. He calls the mental health first aid kit, which is a special training that done including with police. And I hope you'll tell us a little bit about that, cause it sounds kind of inspiring. Um, Jamal Osman, welcome to KVI.
Speaker 2 00:03:10 Thank you so much, Lydia and Rico. Thank you, uh, for having me today and thanks to, uh, KFI K F a I community. Good to hear from you. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 1 00:03:24 So, um, I guess a place to start is, can you tell the listeners where ward six is? They changed it up a little, um, a few years ago. Um, and now I'm not sure what the boundaries are. So what are the, what are the neighborhoods encompassed by ward six in Minneapolis?
Speaker 2 00:03:42 Yes. Uh, what sex is a collection of, uh, neighborhoods, uh, Riverside neighborhood, uh, sewer neighborhood, um, Fincher village, uh, Phillips West, um, Steven square. Um, those are the, uh, some of the communities, uh, that are a member of what six.
Speaker 1 00:04:06 And this would be just South of downtown Minneapolis, very diverse neighborhoods. I've lived on the West bank and I live on the edge of sewer right off the West bank, the very diverse, uh, inner city neighborhoods. Um, so a place to start. What made you, what was it that inspired you to run for city council?
Speaker 2 00:04:29 Well, um, thank you. Um, well I am someone who is from this community. Having lived here for 15 years and raising my family here, my wife and I were five, beautiful children, love this community, and this is our home. And I've worked here, uh, in Seward, uh, neighborhood and also surrounding area for the last 15 years, working in nonprofit organizations. The last seven years, I have worked, um, affordable housing, uh, being a resident advocate and also, um, um, you know, uh, different things like, um, mental health training. So on, I think what inspired me with, uh, people that I work with, uh, people that live here in the community, people, uh, my friends, my family, my colleagues encourage me and say, you know, what, Jamal you all, who are you doing the job that has to be done, uh, from, uh, the city counselor. Uh, if you can run this position and, and have percent of residents that live here, uh, you can achieve a lot and you can help, um, the community.
Speaker 2 00:05:38 So that is why I am running. Um, also, uh, I work in mental health awareness, ending youth homelessness, and, um, also providing a resident education, fighting food insecurity and many other areas. I have spent my time working hands on in the community to improve it. I'm running because I am passionate about this community. I am passionate about continuing to make it better. I view being a council member as being a resident advocate like I'm doing right now in a larger scale where, you know, the people you are, you're every cent I've spent, uh, in the past, uh, you know, um, a different issue that come up and what's the next president. Uh, it could be a immigration issue, a drug overdose. It can be a crime and different things. I'm always, uh, advocating and making sure that we are taking care of our residents.
Speaker 3 00:06:40 Mr. Rozman. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much for that introduction and biography of what, who and how and what you are. Can, can I ask you a couple of questions right away about the homeless encampments, the encampments with our neighbors living outside? Uh, they're not just homeless people. They're our neighbors and our family members living outside in the parks at PB park. And on 24th street, how have you engaged or how have you thought about or address that started started to address that issue?
Speaker 2 00:07:16 Um, this is a issue, uh, uh, that I have worked on, uh, and, uh, collaborated money organization is that really tackle the issue of homelessness. Homelessness is a serious issue we have in Minneapolis and, um, the people that are, um, uh, encampment and attends, popping up everywhere, they did not just get there. Uh, it has to do something, uh, with, um, not having enough, uh, housing available that are affordable housing available in our word. It has to do, uh, mental health challenges. It has to do a chemical dependency. It has to do with money, things that, um, many barriers that our community face. Uh, so I am a member of a organization that really stands, uh, every year, uh, around may, uh, go to the Capitol and talk to the lawmakers and making sure that it's called homeless day on the Hill, uh, making sure that we are, uh, creating programs, uh, for people, uh, that live in our neighborhood, especially families, um, uh, there's programs that I had worked in the County, it's called a coordinated entry system where individuals are able to actually go, uh, go through assessment and be placed, uh, in a shelter and help them find affordable housing.
Speaker 2 00:08:49 So what we need to do is we need to not go around the issue that, uh, that, that the homeless Christ we have, but we need to tackle it. And we need to talk lit by, uh, understanding the issue and creating programs like the coordinated entry system, where, uh, people can actually go and, and help them get help, the help they need and, and the mental health crisis to, you know, um,
Speaker 1 00:09:17 Um, sir, obviously, you know, it's more, it is complex, the things that drive people into homelessness, but in some regards, the bottom line is even if that person, you get them, the mental health they need, or you get them into a treatment program, where are they going to stay? We've got a housing crisis. It's been building for 30 years and I've been hearing people run for mayor and city council say, and they're going to tackle affordable housing. We need housing. I mean, yes, we need to tackle these other issues. But we bought them is we need housing because that person, where are they going to go?
Speaker 2 00:10:03 And a lot of these, a lot of these, uh, people living outside or neighbors living outside, uh, they, they don't access the coordinated entry systems because it's, um, sometimes even more barriers, even more programs, even more hoops to go through or the jumps through, uh, how, how can we, how can you and I, and all of us together, um, physically or not physically reach out and engage is the actual, uh, people and, and connect people to linking services and resources. Um, fairly good question. I think we all have responsibility to, uh, um, take care of the most vulnerable, uh, population in our community. The city has a responsibility to do something about what's going on, but for me, uh, pride in disposition, a and B be in a state of console is affordable. Housing is especially reality. I have worked in this industry for 15 years. I know firsthand the importance of having a safe, affordable house to live for all families.
Speaker 1 00:11:12 Okay. You've worked that you've worked on this for 15 years. See the people that are sleeping in the parks, that's the tip of the iceberg. Those are the most neglected. If you buy, pardon me for putting it this way, dysfunctional, unable to call due to mental illness. And often self-medication, that's the tip of the iceberg. You have thousands of people who were not seeing why they're couch surfing this week, or they found they work on their job and they found a store room at work. And after everybody's gone, they're sleeping in that store room. I mean, there are a thousand ways that people who are homeless survive and we don't see them. So my question to you again, is how do we make it a priority? There's a building, boom, but everything being built is not affordable. You've got condominiums downtown. Half of them that are sold are empty because they were bought as an investment property, just waiting for the price to go up. So again, I know it's complex, but how are we going to finally get the city to make low income? I'm talking for people making 20, $22,000 a year or less often, far less. How do we make that a priority to create that housing? Because out of current many programs you have, if you, if the housing doesn't exist, how are we going to do that? You've been with common bond for years. I mean, are they building housing?
Speaker 2 00:12:46 Um, they are building housing, but they're not building housing here in the area. And I would say this, I think what we need to do is, uh, attract investors, uh, put policies that will help our residents here. Uh, for example, if we have in any, uh, uh, new builders coming up, we need to have a designated units, which means if you are building 50 units, a luxury apartment or market rate apartment, you need to have the signature units for affordable housing. It could be a five or 10 units. We, we need, we can put that policies in the books and making sure that, uh, we are given the tax incentives that those investors need. We can create the housing, we have the space for the housing, but we need to put the policy.
Speaker 1 00:13:35 Okay, let's move on. That, that that's already in place. They've been trying that for years and believe me, somebody who's been living in the park or is living on fixed, you know, they're not going to get the one or two years to be in those units. The two or three units set aside in a luxury condominium building, let's move on. You've done all this great work around mental health. Um, when we spoke earlier, you talked about the mental health first aid kit training you're doing, uh, with all kinds of different sectors and it sounded really exciting and useful, and like you're filling a gap. Could you tell listeners about this mental health first aid training? Is this part of, is this part of the cold cop or no,
Speaker 2 00:14:23 No, no, it's not. Uh, this is, um, uh, mental health first aid. It's a, it's a program that started a few years ago. I had been a mental health first aid trainer certified trainer for last three and a half years. Um, what ha what this program do is, uh, uh, train individuals that work, especially with youth or adults, um, recognize signs and symptoms of mental health, basically trying to get it up, this stigma around it. I assist the individuals that is going crisis and same where we all have a medical, uh, medical first aid it's same as mental health first aid. So this is the eight hour course that I had been teaching in the community. I teach, uh, uh, you know, um, the, why do we see it programs or a boys and girls club or afterschool program coordinators, making sure that they are assisting those individuals.
Speaker 2 00:15:18 That's what this course is about. Um, the police and firefighters, I teach them deescalation. And if they are dealing with somebody with a mental health challenges, uh, how could you assist that individual and not create a chaos of dangerous to their life? That is that, but I think just going, um, all the, all the housing, we talked about, the mental health part, it's very important. If you ha, if you're not getting the resource you need in this community, if you are, uh, as a kid or East African, uh, youth and, and having, uh, opioid crisis or overdosed, um, and you're not getting the assistance you need, you're not getting the programs you need. You're not getting the opportunity you need. You will end up homeless. And also we're not taking care of those individuals that need the most. So mental health awareness and mental health. It's one of the problems that we need to talk with our community.
Speaker 1 00:16:15 What kind of, um, we actions have you gotten working with police on this? Um, 54% of people killed by police are, have a disability, oftentimes, uh, autism or mental health crisis. So the work with police is really important. What kind of response have you gotten?
Speaker 2 00:16:36 I think in a society that, uh, we try, we, we sent a police for every call. We need to stop doing that. If this is a mental health, uh, crisis and mental health challenges, we need to send the professionals that are trained for this to handle as social worker, mental health, advocates, cope, and all those things. Those things that when I teach my class, I teach the class. It feels like the police or the firefighters, they are not trained for the Pacific, how to deal somebody who's, uh, having a mental health challenge and mental health training. That is not what they are trainers. And that is what I was going, what I was changing for the last year and a half years training the community training, the moms training, the, uh, the, the church, the mosque individuals. Hey, if you are seeing your child is struggling, mental health, try to help him.
Speaker 2 00:17:32 Don't push him out. You know, what make, what is making even this kids or this youth issue is that the landlords, when these kids are going through the challenge, they are going through, the landlords are kicking the kids out or kicking him and the parents out. So need to make sure it all comes down to it. If we want to continue to keep our community safe and keep our community, uh, uh, in their homes, we need to make sure that, that we are protecting the resident's rights and transfers rights. 91% of the residents have what? Six hour answers.
Speaker 1 00:18:08 Yeah, mr. Rozman, what is, if, if you are elected and if you win in the election and the seat, what is your first, uh, two priorities for the first six months to a year of your candor of your election?
Speaker 2 00:18:23 My, my two priorities are, um, having stable, affordable housing that can afford. I know we say the word affordable housing, but, uh, that is 30 challenge. We need to make sure the individuals that are working 40 hours a week that are making, uh, either, uh, $15 an hour or so on can afford and can pay at least one bedroom apartments or two bedroom apartment for their families. We need to make sure we put that policies and create that opportunity for what is in it. If we want to make the problems go away. The second is, of course the police reform, you know, that's another thing that is one thing that we have to do something about
Speaker 1 00:19:05 Specifically what, what you'd like to see in terms of specific concrete reforms that the city council could make, that you think would address the problems that we've been seeing for years and years,
Speaker 2 00:19:22 The police is always talking about.
Speaker 1 00:19:24 Yes, yes. You said that's one of your two priorities. What specific, what forms would you work towards?
Speaker 2 00:19:32 Well, thank you. Um, there are, uh, money steps that I will take. If I'm, if I'm getting elected, we all know Minneapolis police is broken and needs to be reform. You know, as you can see George Floyd death left as always feeling in pain, what I would do is create a community driven safety strategy, and this can be just getting cool, like public oversight committee and that can fire and help set the police policies. And I think also what's important is that the community engagement, we want to make sure that a community engage in the local law enforcement. And also
Speaker 1 00:20:10 What is community engagement with law enforcement mean? What do you mean by that?
Speaker 2 00:20:14 But community, no effort to address the police and issue will succeed without this strong partnership and trust between the law enforcement and the communities they serve. So we need to create that trust, the same way our teachers, our social workers are working with us and, and, and doing the job. We want to make sure what police are doing their job and they are getting, um, um, if they misbehave or they, uh, commit a crime, we need to make sure that we are not going around. We want to make sure that we are treating them same way. We treat the social workers.
Speaker 1 00:20:45 How do we do that? Because we're not doing that now. How do you get there? What, what is, what is your plan for getting there? Cause right now, I mean, yeah, what you're saying is those are the goals. What are your specific ideas for how we're going to change that? I mean, what does community driven policing mean? We have, they have a union, so there's a police chief who sets policy. Um, what specific changes are you asking for?
Speaker 2 00:21:14 Okay, thank you. What I would do is get rid of the union that has been gone. It has to be done on also hiring more black and minority officers. That's one creating programs that help hire minors officers, um, making sure that those who work in the police live in Minneapolis and how we get there is training. The people that we have here, the youth that the professionals that are, that live here. If they, if they live in their community, they will take care of their community. I see that also increase investment in nine on one mental health as sponsors, you know, as a, as a mental health trainer, I have the first hand experience knowing the impact of mental health experts can have, if someone is having a crisis. So we need to held accountable, the police action and those steps. If we turn those stops, we can meet our goals and where we're supposed to be. The police right now is militarized. It's a union protected. I feel like they can do everything they want, that has to change. The police has to be part of the community. And it's not right now.
Speaker 1 00:22:22 Well, Jamal Osman, um, it's really been great talking with you. I really want to encourage people to go to Jamal Osmund's website, Jamal osman.org, or if you're on Facebook, Jamal for ward six, uh, on Facebook, Jamal for ward six on Facebook, Jamal osman.org. The special election is August 11th should be getting yourself registered to vote by mail here in Minneapolis, Hennepin County. You can find out more about that by calling six one two three four eight, 3000, um, or just Google vote by mail Hennepin County, Minnesota. Thank you so much, Jamal Osman. Uh, we wish you luck in the election, August 11th, special election. They give so much for your time. Um, well coming up in a few minutes, we'll have, um, a wonderful feature by Rico. Uh, talking with frontline workers,
Speaker 4 00:23:46 We play, we drive, we run three trains. The tire is the cab, and that's an FINI, a saber songwriter,
Speaker 5 00:24:15 The labor organizer at a Pittsburgh P
Speaker 3 00:24:20 Doing, we do the work. Thank you very much, Lydia. I am Rico. Maryella's here for a catalyst every Friday from one until two on cafe and cafe Ida or RG. Well, <inaudible> the Institute for clinical systems. Improvement helps Minnesota health organizations find ways to improve care for patients, families, and communities, ECC initiates conversations and shares strategies that protect and promote the wellbeing of healthcare workers and are now focusing on healthcare for healthcare workers. I interviewed the two, some of the two top leaders in this organization. And here is that audio.
Speaker 5 00:25:02 I'm Claire Neeley. I'm the president and CEO of ICSI. And with me on zoom is Jody Dworkin. Jody, you want to, hi, I'm Jody Jodi, do I need associate medical director at ICSI? Um, we are, uh, an organization that, uh, brings mostly organizations from the healthcare world together to solve problems of common interest. So we bring care systems, health plans, other stakeholders together to look at a variety of, uh, problems that cross organizations. Um, so it's a moment we've been doing a lot of work around the opioid epidemic, trying to, um, help organizations who, uh, work toward decreasing deaths from prescription opioid overdose, a variety of prescribing patterns, and a lot of changes there to help the systems. Um, we're also doing some work in mental health, which I know is what you're talking about there, but we've also done work, um, writing, uh, evidence-based guidelines.
Speaker 5 00:26:03 So we try to understand what the evidence is about the right thing to do, and then figure out how to get it done across the state. Uh, we are a state based organization. We work across Minnesota, primarily, primarily focused on Minnesota. Uh, we have done national projects. There's other organizations that are like ECC and other parts of the country that we work with sometimes on national projects. Um, and the healthcare systems in Minnesota, a lot of them, uh, leak across state borders, right? So, um, the work that we do also impacts Western Wisconsin, North of South Dakota, because Sanford is one of the organizations we work with and also into Iowa because, um, health partners and a variety of organizations also have some operations in Iowa. So we work indirectly with folks who provide direct care and the insurance companies as well. Um, I would also say that while we work with the large systems, we also have worked with a lot of FQHC. And so, um, we do have, it's a broad spectrum of health care organizations, FQHC, federally qualified clinics. So those are the clinics that are serving the uninsured or under insured in federal programs or like community clinics or clinics.
Speaker 6 00:27:18 Absolutely. Yeah. The native American community clinic. Yeah.
Speaker 5 00:27:22 West side who changed their name, South side, all of those, um, it's a, uh, uh, designate a federal designation of clinics that are serving the underserved. So the, the way we work, we, um, you know, topics, like I said, topics of common interest or problems that are working problems across the system, the healthcare system will be brought to us by our membership. Um, so that's how we choose what we work on is what the community that our, our members and supporters say, okay, we need to work on this together and they'll bring it. And then we develop a, um, a cross sector group of experts, both perhaps clinical experts, if it's a clinical problem, operational experts, um, people who have, uh, represented patients or understand specific patient population needs. And, um, those groups get together and think about, um, what our approaches to solve the problem, uh, what other resources might be needed in the community, and then take all of that and go back to their organizations and act.
Speaker 5 00:28:27 So they really do something, um, our groups when they come together and, uh, to create solutions, the whole goal is to implement something and change how it works. We're not an organization that stops at, let's write a white paper about it. We do write white papers cause, uh, you have to start there, but then the white papers are always about, okay, how do you take action to really change outcomes for patients? And we do measure outcomes. Um, we collect different types of data, um, of what's going on with the projects. So we understand if what's being done is really helping improve care. So that's all changed. Both with the COVID epidemic has done a lot of changing of priorities, as well as the murder. George Floyd has helped change priorities and raised up. Um, a lot of the inequity issues that have been longstanding have really brought those to the forefront.
Speaker 5 00:29:22 Um, so right now we're in discussions with the organizations that are part of our membership to think about what actions are the priority actions to take there. Um, for example, the, the work that I know Bonnie talked to you about, um, the supporting work doing to help support the mental health of the healthcare workforce is something that arose out of this. Um, because this, the COBIT epidemic, uh, is stressful medically. Um, and it's very stressful on the folks that are providing care. The people working in the hospitals, both the clinicians who are directly caring for patients and all the other staff that's supporting those people. Um, it's been a difficult time. It was already a difficult time for a lot of folks and this has made it a lot worse. And so that's where that project came from. Again, it came from folks that we were working with saying, we need to do something together about this. Um, and so that's just one example of what we're doing and Jody's been leading that work and can talk a little bit more about it.
Speaker 7 00:30:27 Yeah. I mean, I think that from now to when this first started, there's been a huge increase in attention to mental health, um, for the general population and then specifically focusing on the healthcare workforce. Um, and I think for us, so we've gotten a group, a consistent group together that meets twice a month to come and just talk about what are things that we're doing, how can we share good practices? What are we doing to help our workers? This is a really stressful time. And how has it changed? Is this working? Is it not working? What are we going to do in a month? Um, kind of really. So it's kind of a learning network. If you say inaction, like let's learn, let's repeat it. Let's you keep talking? Um, I think the attention there, I think unfortunately the stresses have not changed the uncertainty, the stress about safety.
Speaker 7 00:31:16 I think it kind of follows the, you know, the COVID in general, right? The peaks and the valleys. And we feel like we're in that wall and we're scared it's going to come back. So I think in is longterm work that will change over time as people adjust. But I think the mental health issue won't go away, but we're excited to see that everybody's definitely on board and really paying attention to the mental health issue. So all of these systems, healthcare systems are aware of it and they really want to help their workers and their patients we're focused more on the workers because we feel like that was an area that we know, well, we're a healthcare kind of organization. Um, but people are definitely paying attention.
Speaker 5 00:31:58 And I think people are realizing that this is different. There's always been an understanding of how first responders are impacted by, um, these kinds of traumatic events. Um, there was a lot of work done after nine 11 and understanding how the folks that responded to those emergencies were impacted psychologically. Um, after hurricanes, there was a lot of work done after Katrina understanding how the healthcare workforce in particular was impacted by that this one is different, this is long lasting. And so part of what this group is trying to do too, is to understand how do we sustain something over the longterm and what needs to be sustained because of the healthcare workforce is going to be under significant stress for months. So I would say we have known for a long time that the outcomes for people of color in health outcomes for particularly chronic disease, um, uh, mother baby mortality, we've known for a long time.
Speaker 5 00:32:59 There have been gaps in outcomes in Minnesota. Minnesota has good health care outcomes, and yet the gaps for people of color are significant and a problem. And, um, so there have been conversations about the structural problems in healthcare and the structural, uh, the structural racism that exists outside of healthcare that impacts health. Uh, we've known that for a long time and there have been, um, a variety of projects and, um, areas of focus, the parts of the healthcare system have worked on to try to decrease those outcome disparities. Um, I think there is a renewed focus and we're developing a deeper understanding of that with all the conversations that are occurring after George Floyd's murder. Um, there types of things that are being uncovered in the, in policing. There's a lot of parallels to those, those same kinds of things that are causing, uh, challenges there.
Speaker 5 00:34:01 Some of those same things exist in healthcare. Um, and we also know how and have been working again for a long time, trying to understand how to impact, um, social determinants of health, how to help people. Um, I know that when my patients haven't had food or stable housing, they can't deal with their kid's asthma. I'm a pediatrician. Um, and so we've known for a long time and I've tried to figure out how to build partnerships with the community agencies that do that work. Um, so yes, healthcare has understood it and has worked at it. And I believe there's a renewed focus and we're going to develop a deeper understanding what the conversations are going on. Now,
Speaker 7 00:34:43 I would echo what Claire said. I think that absolutely it's been known structural racism is a problem. I think there's a varying degree of which, which every coworker in healthcare understands that, or really knows that I think that George Lloyd's murder, then the conversations have brought to light for people to really see it because they're just hearing people's experiences. Right. So I think understanding people's experiences really makes you sit back and think, um, I think it ECC, we have, we have had some of those conversations cause we had a group that has been focusing on social needs. Um, so that has had been talked about in the past year, but I took Clara's point, I think with a little bit now renewed energy and renewed lens, making sure that focus doesn't get lost. Um, so I, we are encouraged about the spotlight and yet it can't just be a spotlight.
Speaker 7 00:35:34 It has to be a longterm commitment to making the change and making sure that it really becomes integrated in the whole system, the culture of a healthcare system changes. Right. And so I think that's what people are starting to understand that it's embedded in the culture and now we have to embed a new culture. Um, and that just is it's gonna take work, but I think there's a commitment to the work that is better than we've seen in the past. Um, unfortunately it takes something bad to kind of bring that out, but we really need to take advantage of that and make sure that we, we change the culture really, really deeply, right. I mean, at the end of the day, it can't be superficial changes. We really have to healthcare systems need to reflect and be able to do that kind of that change. So we'll see. I hope so.
Speaker 8 00:36:22 So, so both of you Jody, maybe more specifically, but both of you, do you see black and Brown people, indigenous people among your coworkers among your cohorts? Or do you see those or hear those voices that are working on the problem? We flatting the people who represent some of this work. Do you see the better reflection or is that still a need to recruit your hire, to train, to, to involve more people of color, more indigenous people, more people with lived experiences of homelessness and chronic illnesses helping to add their voice to,
Speaker 7 00:37:03 Yeah, I'll clarify first. I think there's a need to do more. I do not think that there is enough diverse representation in the workforce. I don't think from in, you know, from the larger leaderships in healthcare and that the workers in healthcare patients being able to interact with, you know, people, you know, diverse healthcare providers, I think we have a LAR a large way to go. We are far from where we need to be. I, I completely agree with that. And I think, um, the other opportunity is to listen to those folks that are already part of our system in a different way. Um,
Speaker 8 00:37:40 I know that now
Speaker 7 00:37:42 Not everyone has been comfortable telling their stories and that's part of the structural problem we need to, that needs to be worked on part of the culture change that Jody's saying. Um, so the, those folks that are already part of our system feel comfortable with really sharing their lived experience in a way that is, um, can help the system. And those of us who are white need to be able to listen in a different way than we have in the past to make sure that we really are listening and pathologically and listening in a way
Speaker 8 00:38:15 That helps us all move forward. So, so I thank you very much. Thank you both of you. So I saw on the internet on social media, so it must be true. That's how this big, large group nationally about healthcare workers, about suicide, about a lot of the concerns of the healthcare workers, the mental, the mental, the mental toll that this pandemic in the global outbreak and there's structural racism work. Some of this work is there's a toll. Is that some of the work that, that, that you want to talk about or work on, or is this the mental health of, of coworkers of mental health of these frontline workers
Speaker 7 00:39:03 Is, um, the work that we're as Jodi said, whereas what the work is right now is, um, sharing learnings between organizations. So, um, folks are working on this within their, uh, mostly the care delivery organizations, but the health plans are too. Um, and so we're trying to understand what works and if something is being done at, um, children's hospital, does that sort of thing apply to perhaps in a line of clinic in Fairbault and just try there. So they're trying to understand, um, successful practices in one place and how that's helping the workforce and how can you move it somewhere else and also help the workforce. I will add onto, I clarify that I, I think, you know, we had some people from university and expert to me, university of Minnesota, come and talk, and one of our webinars, and they talked about how mental health for staff is important right now.
Speaker 7 00:39:54 And here are all the stressors. And then for workers at persons of color, it's even that much more. So take the baseline stress that frontline workers are feeling. And that in all the stresses you're talking about from, you know, implicit bias, structural racism that, you know, from COVID how COVID is disproportionately affecting minorities and it's amplified. So that was I think, a really good conversation that was had and a presentation cause it helped people see that even in this topic, there's that other layer where there's just, you know, inequity and that there is even that much more burden on persons of color. I think too, the other thing, these conversations, it's important to think about who they're thinking about in their workforce. It's not just the physicians and nurses that are the target of these support systems. Um, cleaning crews have had, and housekeeping crews have had significant stress around this as the knowledge about how this virus has spread has changed and uncertainty about protective equipment, very stressful. And some of those, um, support workers. And we know those folks who come from communities of color at a higher proportion than some other jobs. And so, um, I just want to emphasize that this work is, we think about the frontline workers and the people in the pictures are always the doctors and nurses, but really we're talking about the entire workforce that supports the care of patients, which includes a wide variety.
Speaker 8 00:41:26 So, um, thank you very much. What's happening next? Was there a coming upcoming event or a webinar or something can
Speaker 7 00:41:34 Listen to, or watch, or, or is there an organization of your organization that you have another group meetings? Yeah. So for the mental health work, um, we have kind of webinars twice a month and I'm excited because I actually get this asset gets back to a question from earlier, but I have reached out to within Minnesota, lots of kinds of leaders of wellbeing in the organizations or mental health who've come to present. And then I started reaching out nationally just to try, I figure why not. And people have gotten back to me same day. Yes. I'd love to talk. So we have people coming from New York from Baltimore, Johns Hopkins from Missouri. So we're really getting kind of a little bit more of a national kind of presenters, which is helpful to hear how has COVID affect their, their populations and what can we learn from their experiences.
Speaker 7 00:42:23 So we have coming up kind of speakers a little bit more national to help us kind of get for different perspectives, but encourage it. It's been so easy and it has, you know, we, we've tried to get speakers it's existed for 25 years. It is never easy to get speakers. And this is just a different time and people care about this topic and it's like, sure, let me come and tell you what I know cause we want to be in this together and we want to help people. So that for me is different. I'm not used to that being easy. And I'm, I'm excited because these people want to come and share. So I think go up in the next couple of months, we have some, some good things lined up and specifically, um, on January, I mean, uh, July 17th, is it Jody? The Tuesday 14th.
Speaker 7 00:43:04 So July 14th, um, dr. Albert <inaudible> from, uh, Johns Hopkins who is an international expert on this type of thing of understanding of the needs for mental health support after traumatic events, um, is going to be speaking. Um, and these are a zoom calls they're available to anybody. The registration is on the IPCC website, ICSI dot orgy and people can sign up. It's not just for healthcare. Now, the speakers are knowing they're speaking to a healthcare audience and yet, um, we've had people from employee assistance programs and other types of managers who are strictly healthcare, people coming and listening to these to understand what's going on and how they might better support the folks that they serve.
Speaker 3 00:43:53 And that was the Institute for clinical systems improvement. I C S I N D or G with my interview with those two leaders, you can hear this again on the website cafe.org, or go to <inaudible> dot org. And you can look at what they're doing here for healthcare, for the healthcare workers, as well as the supportive workers, such as janitors, cleaners, and all sorts of other wonderful, um, you know, events that they're doing also online webinars that are open to the public. So thank you once again for listening and I am Rico Morales, and I'm still
Speaker 1 00:44:32 Lydia. How want to mention to you that again, we've got other candidates that are going to be coming on the air. And, uh, I just, uh, got a date for, um, our, uh, woman in Congress, representative Ilhan, Omar. And, uh, I'm not giving the date just yet. It's later in the month cause I wanna make sure it's nailed down, but it looks like we're to give, give, build, to hear from her as well as her opponent, um, Antwan Melton mutes, um, later in the month of July. And that's really important that August 11 special election is also a primary meaning Antwan, Melton, mucus, and perhaps other candidates I haven't heard is challenging representative Ilhan Omar for the knob, the democratic party nomination for that seat. Of course, there'll be a Republican and probably an independent and maybe libertarian who knows right. Also running, hoping for that seat, but this special election is a primary.
Speaker 3 00:45:33 Hey, thank you very much, Lydia. And also next week it's coming up on Friday is our, um, biannual membership summer drive. I like to take a summer drive every now and then, you know, just get in the car and drive around,
Speaker 1 00:45:51 Even though, you know, Colvin has changed it. We're not going to be doing, you know, as we did for many years, we're not having phone operators. You won't be calling that special number that's engraved in my brain. Um, no, I won't be making the chili Fox. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 00:46:06 I know I'm going to have to come over for chili or something. I missed it.
Speaker 1 00:46:10 Yeah. Um, so KPI summer membership drive is happening online kfb.org, or you could just do it the old fashioned way, check money order, put it in the mail to KVI 1-808-RIVERSIDE Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota, five five, four, five, four. Uh, but yes, pledge drive kicks off on catalyst next week, Friday, August 17th. We hope you'll be there. We're working on special programming and we very much hope that you'll be, uh, you'll support what we're doing. There's voices and information that, uh, you don't hear anywhere else here on caffeine.
Speaker 3 00:46:58 That's right. Indigenous programming, indigenous reporting, um, black and Brown indigenous people of color LGBTQ. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:47:07 And in fact, next week on the 17th on pledge drive, our guest is going to be at zero <inaudible>. He who was host of
Speaker 3 00:47:16 Somali link radio,
Speaker 1 00:47:17 Which is our only immigrant show in English. This is a dream I've had for 20 years, that we would have more of our immigrant programmers producing some content in English. So we get to know our new neighbors. Uh, he's going to be here. He's also running for city council, but I also hope that I can, he will, um, help folks have more of an understanding of our, our newest Minnesota neighbors. Well, not the newest cause they've been here for 25 years, but they're new to some people, um, at, I want to say to you, vote by mail is something that clock is ticking on. Um, again, that number is (612) 348-3000 or just Google vote by mail Minneapolis. I'm sure the website will pop up. Um, that date is August 11th, but you gotta get it done. Um, well coming up next is Corazon Latino, beautiful music from across Latin America. That's the other great thing about KFN. If there's a kind of music, you like somebody around your place at.
