Clarence
Appearances
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
Yeah, I want to talk a little bit more about the community engagement aspect of it, because I think you made it very clear that we're growing and not in the right kind of way around these issues. And so in order for us to be able to address them, we're going to have to do something a little bit different. And I know that this plan...
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
But could you talk a little bit more specifically about the need for community engagement, but also a strategy for engaging people and making them feel like they're part of the solution and not just a problem?
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
Yeah, you know, I think one of the things that I like about this broader view of addressing these diseases is the fact that They're so interconnected with other things. You know, you talked about, Courtney, about the group in Alaska. You know, we talk about, you know, and talk about dementia in my group. OK, a lot. But but diabetes, type three diabetes is part of it. hearing is part of that.
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
I mean, you know, we're getting more out of those lanes and, you know, which I think lanes are important as well, but we're trying to get to the finish line. And I think it's only by running alongside of each other versus bumping into each other, I was going to be able to make that. And so, you know, I'm hoping that with this particular a plan.
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
We are talking more about the social determinants of health. We're talking about that broader perspective. And then we're really making people understand how important it is for us to work together versus trying to be, you know, this is just me and that's you and so like that. So I'm hoping that with this plan and looking forward to this plan, working with this plan to show
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
the importance of working together and then how we are, how we definitely are interrelated and these diseases impact one another. So that's just my quick community comment.
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
That's the question. Okay. All right, here we go. Here we go. I want to ask this question because it just popped up in my mind. How did cardiovascular health and diabetes join together to work on this plan? What was the impetus behind that?
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
I am just, I'm glad to hear that. And I'm really hoping because, you know, when I think about community and, you know, I mean, this is important news for people to be talking about, you know, and I'm hoping that there is a plan to talk very clearly about the connection between the two because, you know, we think of them as two different things.
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
Yeah, yeah. So let me say this real quick because I know we're coming to the end of our program. This conversation did not emerge like I thought it was going to. It's very positive though. What I want to tell you is very positive because I think in what you have described has been the community engagement aspect, which I thought was so needed for the work that we're trying to do.
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
I mean, you have not talked so much about the clinical aspect of it as much as about the community engagement. And so I think I feel much more engaged myself with this plan because I see our voices in there. I see the fact that the way that the leadership talks about it, I feel very comfortable that we should be able to do more in terms of our community. So thank you very much from my perspective
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
of being open about community engagement, because I think it's so important, and for you hearing our voice.
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
No, I was going to say, I think if you can give us information on how we could locate the state plan and talk about it, I think our listeners would love to do that.
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
Yeah, Clarence. So both of you talked about joining the program in 2007. And now it's 2023. And we talked about the fact that there have been a lot of changes. I just want to know, walk me through, because I'm a community person, walk me through the changes that have occurred in terms of community engagement and community input as we've talked about these plans and
Health Chatter
2035 Minnesota Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health State Plan
you know, where are we at today and how is the community going to be engaged in this? And we haven't gone very deeply into the plans yet, but I think from a community perspective, although this information is coming out, you know, where is that voice being heard or is it being heard?
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
And so I think when it comes to death, we need to have this conversation and people need to tell you, this is how I grieve. And so it ain't personal. I mean, it is personal. And so don't judge me because I don't grieve like you do.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
You know, interesting enough, though, Stan, I mean, since you talked about your father, I'm going to tell a story about my mother's death. And again, I have always warned the listeners that I'm not being disrespectful. But my mother had relatives that, you know, she grew up with. And when...
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
when they came to the funeral, it's almost like, I don't know, I've read in Jewish culture, there are wailing women. Is that true? There are people that wail? I don't know. Some cultures, they wail. Yeah, those are in the, yeah, ultra-religious aspects. Okay, okay. Well, in my particular case, this relative almost pulled my mother's casket over you know, grabbing on it and wailing.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
But I wanted our audience to know that this is going to be a really different kind of conversation and dialogue. And there are some things that we're talking about. Death is a very serious issue. But some of the things that we say might seem a little bit irreverent, but it's not meant to be that way. It's just meant to be about our experiences with it.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
I'm like, oh, this is crazy. But unfortunately, you know, but what was so funny was that some people said, oh, she really loved her. I'm like, you know, so I'm saying all this stuff to just say that people do things differently and we need to talk about that.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
And I agree with you that we need to have this conversation and say, look, and this is what I told, this is what I told, okay, I'm going to tell you, really tell you the story, because that's what this is about. I told my wife, my family, that when I die, I only want two people to speak at my funeral. And after that, they can go out and have a party. Make me a tree. That's it.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
Because my life, my life would have been lived. You know what I'm saying? And if you, if you're not nice to me while I'm alive, don't come to my funeral. So that's how I feel about it. So I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't be putting this out on the internet, but that's how I feel about it. If you don't like me, leave me alone.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's a great reason for us having this conversation is that, you know, death is certain. You know what I mean? And so I believe that sometimes people feel like life has been unfair to them if somebody dies when they're 27, 28, you know. But I think that that is part of life. the price we pay for life. We just don't know when. And so we have to be prepared for that.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
And that preparation gets into a variety of different things of how people see death, how people see the afterlife. I mean, all those kinds of things are things that are important for people to discuss. But from this perspective, I just think that for those of us who are alive, it's how do we support people during this period of time and how do we want to be supported during this period of time?
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
And so, like I said, Stan, what gets me sometimes is that people think that they know how I feel. People think that they will say things like, well, it's just time to go. People say some really, really strange things and so, But I think that it's important for us to talk about what could be said are things like, you know, I'm so sorry for your loss.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
And as you just talked about, put a hand on the shoulder. Or just sit and be quiet. And don't have any opinion about this person other than the fact that you're there to support them. Or sometimes a hug.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
Yeah, I was gonna say, I was listening to a young man who was talking about, actually talking about death this week. And he was talking about he had his fiance, somebody in his fiance's family died. And for two weeks, the whole family went over to his grandmother's, over her grandmother's house. And they stayed there, you know. And he could not get that.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
Like, man, he said, you know, after two days, you know, I'm like, okay, you know. But there are some people that that's how they grieve. And so when we, you know, in this world in which we live, which is much more diverse than what we have ever, what we've ever, you know, what we've always talked about in the last 20, 30, 40 years.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
We're going to run across people that are going to experience this particular topic in different kinds of ways. And so we have to be open to the fact that people are going to be experiencing this if we want to be supportive. We have to be flexible. And that's how I feel about it. I just got to be flexible. I can't, you know, I don't know how you do it, but hey, I'm here for you.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
You know what, Stan? Let me say this. I think you bring up a good point. I think sometimes in our culture, and this is my personal opinion, I think sometimes in our culture, we think that we can buy our way out of death. Okay, I mean, you know, and I was kind of alluding to the, you know, the person who is, you know, more seasoned, trying to act like they're younger, that kind of thing.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
And they think that that type of thing is going to protect them You know, as long as I stay young in my head, you know, I'm okay. And that's not reality. And so we have, in our culture, we have this disassociation from death. We don't want to talk about it.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
You know, people that are dying, we want to put them in a room and we want them to stay over there because they, you know, they messing up my vibe. They messing up my groove. You know what I'm saying? And so when we get to this point,
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
Once again, why we're talking about it is that there's just so many emotions and there's so many different ways in which to go about this that we think of health chatter as health chatter. We need to just open up the conversation so that if somebody is thinking about it or not thinking about it, perhaps we could provide them with some starting points.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
All right. My first story is this. We can't have life without death. And so it's part of the process or the circle of life. And so therefore we should not be surprised at it. I think the thing that I've learned, one of the things I've learned about death is that it comes at different stages at different times for people. And we sometimes are angry,
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
But you know what, Shane, I want to say this. I want to say this though, Shane. You brought this up before. You talked about, I think your uncle died You know, there'll be a hole in your heart that will never.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
And I think that for a lot of folk, they don't really process that like you did. You know, a lot of people, a lot of people, you know, hold on to that death, you know. 10, 15, 20 years in a way that I think is somewhat unhealthy at times. Okay.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
I mean, I can't tell you how, again, I can't tell you how to grieve, but I think it's okay to not look at it as, you know, as a, necessarily as a disruptor, but as an opportunity to say, I had the opportunity to enjoy this person for whatever period of time that there was. I had a time to enjoy them. They brought joy into my life. I will miss them. But you don't have to agonize, I think.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
And I want to put it like that. Again, this is my personal opinion. You don't have to agonize and beat yourself up for 10, 15, 20 years over something that you had no control over. Or you can't do anything about now. You can't do a thing about it.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
I have, and I've seen things where, you know, I've had a cousin that drowned. And, you know, it's really a, it's a sad time. And I think that part of what happens, I mean, when you first started talking about the suicide piece, Sam, I thought about the fact that, you know, again, now we can talk about, you know, health. in this conversation because there's some people that are mentally unhealthy.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
because we feel like people did not have the opportunity to fully live their lives. But who's to know? I mean, I thought I never lived to be past 16. I mean, I honestly thought I would die before I was 16. And then I thought I would not live to be 21. But then one day I was 28 and I realized, oh, I'm getting old.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
Yeah. And and there are some people that are struggling with some things that they feel like they just cannot overcome. Some people have chronic diseases and they want to just I want to end this. I mean, I'm just I'm just that tired. And I think that when you get to a point where you feel hopeless and helpless.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
Yeah. Then you have to you have to people people make decisions that that we may not agree with. You know, or we may not understand, but the reality is that whatever they do is final. So the thing that I think about this conversation, and I go back to what Sheridan was saying earlier, was that you know, you need to have some kind of plan in place. You need to be, you need to talk to your folk.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
I mean, the reality is that we don't want to talk about it and we don't have to have it as deep as what we're trying to do here. But, you know, you need to be letting people know like, hey, this is, you know, this is, this might happen. I might get, I might be in a car accident. If that happens, you know, this is what I want you to do, you know?
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
as as this is going to be primarily american uh uh i think that we're just scared to talk about this because we think that our materialism will keep us alive forever or that doctors will come up with a pill right that's going to keep us alive or you know or or and i'm like okay i mean i i can't i can't fight with you about how you think i'm just saying though um
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
I don't think it's realistic, but that's my opinion. And I can say it like that.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
Yeah. You know, Stan, I tell you what, I heard that story before and I think I'm revealing myself again. The only pet I don't cry over is squirrels.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
They just happen to be around my neighborhood. But other than that, I understand the dog and the cat, but the squirrel, no.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
And all of a sudden it's like, I realized that, you know, I'm living and I could die. And so it's been quite a journey for me in terms of accepting the fact that you live, you die.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
Interesting enough, I want to just say this. I know this is turning into an advertisement for LifeSource. LifeSource has been one of our oldest and best partners for human. So we have been with them for two centuries. We were in the 20th century with them, 21st century with them. I mean, so we've worked with them for a long time. And so you're absolutely correct in death.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
I mean, one of the ways that we can continue to leave a legacy is to think about organ and tissue donation. So watch this, I love this particular show. I know that for sure.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
Yeah, no, I agree with that. So we have to be attentive to those who are struggling with us and understand what their needs are. I do want to say this, though. I mean, we've been talking about death. I want to say this to the living. Don't work yourself too hard. Because once you finish, somebody else will take your job. You know what I mean?
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
So, you know, in terms of death, I mean, we also want to enjoy life. Absolutely. But we also know that we will have this opportunity. So, yeah.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
And appreciate people. I mean, I think the other part, too, about this thing around death. I mean, there's so many people when death comes, they are grieving over the lost opportunities of having resolved issues. I mean, some of the issues that we have in life are so trivial and so simple. Like, well, I like blue. Well, I like red.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
You know, I mean, let those things separate us from enjoying one another uniqueness because all of us are different.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
you know, all of us have a unique personality and style, but just because I don't like what you like the way exactly the way that you like it doesn't mean that I should make, you know, 20 or 30 years of drama because when that person dies, you're going to go back, you're going to look back and you're going to examine yourself and you're going to say like, I could have done this better.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
So my point is, you know, for the living right now is, uh, You know, give me my flowers. Yeah, give me my flowers now.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
Clarence. Yeah. My last comment is thank you very much, listeners, for listening to us. I know that I have been venting and I've been I don't know what I've been doing. I don't know what you call this kind of show, because I knew that it was going to be different. But and I hope I hope you don't think bad about me because of the way I think. But what I told you is all real.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
I just believe that death is inevitable. But it's also important for us to learn how to live.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
Yeah. So, Sam, I think this is why our conversation started, because we started talking about some cultural things. You know, you talked about Shiva. And I talked I talked about, you know, in my in my my culture, my faith, people come in and everybody is very religious.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
And, you know, they'll come in like they'll say if a young child died, they'll say, well, something like, well, you know, God needed another angel. I'm like, what? You know, or they might say something like, oh, I really understand how you feel. What? You don't understand how I feel. Yeah.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
uh you know uh you need to be strong now i mean it that people come in with this whole idea about when it comes to death people come in and they want to be supported but sometimes we say some of the silliest things and i think that was why how how we got into this conversation again is because of some of our experiences i you know in in you know sometimes in my um
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
In my experience, I'll put it like that, in my experiences, I've seen people that do not necessarily particularly care for the person inside the casket, but they want to put on a show at the funeral to talk about how much they miss them. You know, I mean, and it's like, I don't know. I think when it comes to death, people have different perspectives about it.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
And they sometimes do things that are not helpful, even though they try to be helpful. And so I think this kind of conversation of talking about death is so very, very important because you have to, I believe that you have to have some kind of settledness in it for yourself. I know that in my, I'll tell you my story.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
In my personal life, I have been very clear with my family that when I die, I want to be planted as a tree. And they are like, what are you talking about? Are you crazy? No, I want to be a tree. I'll be an oak tree. I really don't like squirrels, but I'll be an oak tree or I'll be a pecan tree. I'll be something. But I think that, you know, I've come to that place where I've had, uh,
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
the time to get that resolved. I know that in life, the only thing that's certain, taxes and death. Right, right. So having this kind of conversation with you was helpful for me in terms of really kind of sorting through some things.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
You know what, San, I think that, you know, you talk about the uncomfortableness of it, you know, I think in the shared in her research, she talked about the fact that we have somewhat segregated death from ourselves in a certain kind of way is that, you know, when I was younger, I, you know, and you and I both seasoned, so, you know, death was, you know, sometimes people had people in their home that people, they died in their home.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
But now people are dying in, you know, in hospitals. People are dying on their own. I mean, I don't know, euthanasia, I guess, it might be another word for it right now. Everything is so politically charged. But, you know, so we got all these kind of things. People don't like to talk about it because, as you just said, everybody feel like they're going to be immortal.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
You see, okay, I'm going to say this. Okay, so you might not like me after I say this, but you see people who are very, very seasoned trying to look like they're very, very... Generation Z. Is that the last one, Z? I mean, like, come on. Come on, you old. I mean, we're old. So, I mean, let's keep it real.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
But I also think this, is that the language that we use, you know, I'm talking to people right now, and all they talk about is people transitioning. You know, they don't want to say death. They don't want to talk about death. They want to talk about, oh, they transitioned.
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
i'm like okay where they transition to right you know but they won't say that and so i'm right and so i i in my personality and style and i think i have to be very honest about this in my personality and style i always tell people this everybody grieves differently so you can't you know you know a lot of times people think that we all when somebody dies we all go fall out we're going to
Health Chatter
Life Lessons About Death
me, you know, crying, you know, I don't do that. I just sit and I just, and I will cry, but that's how I do it. And so no one can come to me and say, well, you didn't love that person. No, that's just how I grieve. I think that sometimes we don't give people permission to grieve in a way that's most appropriate for them without us having some judgmental thoughts about them.
Health Chatter
Suicide Part 2
Clarence. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Stephanie. I really appreciate this conversation. Um, I, as, as you probably have heard, we talked about this, I come from a community perspective and Stan and I often laugh about the fact that we're very seasoned people. Uh, but I want to share this with you just to maybe a commentary.
Health Chatter
Suicide Part 2
I don't, I don't know when I was a younger man, uh, in my community, we never discussed the issue of suicides. Suicides was not necessarily a conversation that we talked about. We talked about homicides. Or we would talk about death by police.
Health Chatter
Suicide Part 2
And what I recognize now, even though it still is a tough topic, is that we're starting to see more and more young men killing themselves, committing suicide. Is it the result of better record keeping? Or are there some trends that are happening that we need to be, you know, as communities more aware of in order to help to alleviate some of these deaths?
Health Chatter
Suicide Part 2
I know it's kind of a commentary, but it's real for me. It's real for that community. And so just your thoughts.
Health Chatter
Suicide Part 2
I want to say something here. And I know I'm going out on a limb and that's why health chatter is what it is. I think when it comes to this topic, and I'm going to say this word and I don't mean it in any kind of way. I just I'm just going to say it, OK? I think it's more honorable for people to die by homicide than suicide. And that might be one of the.
Health Chatter
Suicide Part 2
cultural, whatever social things that happens while we're not necessarily able to get to get deeper into this topic. You know, so you're depressed, and so your pressure is on somebody else. You know, we talked about that external person. And so I just didn't, I never thought about it until we just started talking about it today.
Health Chatter
Suicide Part 2
And I think that, you know, when it comes to people, you know, suicide, like, that's, nah, that's kind of a coward way out. But homicide, like, hey, you know, there is that other emotion that comes with that. So I just put that out there. It's not scientific. It's just what I was thinking at this moment and we're just held shattering away.
Health Chatter
Suicide Part 2
Yeah. One of the things I'm thinking about with our extensive social networking and things like that, I'm hearing more and more stories about younger people committing suicide. Is that something that is true or am I just reading more stories about them?
Health Chatter
Suicide Part 2
And, you know, I was thinking, I was just thinking, too, you know, I'm reading more and more about, you know, kids that are 10, 11, 12 that are committing suicide over bullying and those kinds of things. And I was just wondering if that was something that is showing up in the, you know, in the reports as well.
Health Chatter
Suicide Part 2
quick dial resources that we really need to uh be aware of clarence last thoughts here i just want to just say stephan thank you uh i thought it was a is excellent conversation uh i i do believe that you know from my perspective that there is more conversation that we need to have and also to make people more aware of the the signs of people that are uh that might be struggling with this issue.
Health Chatter
Suicide Part 2
I know so many times when I hear about someone that did commit suicide, how people say, well, I'm just surprised. And yet at the same time, if there was an awareness of those things that
Health Chatter
Suicide Part 2
uh uh we should be watching for we would uh we we may be able to assist better and so from from my perspective i think it's a it's a great a reminder of what we as as uh health care practitioners need to be doing in order to help to address this issue but so i want to just thank you for you know for the uh for the dialogue well i'm happy to be here thanks for having me and and stefan thanks for um
Health Chatter
Suicide Part 2
I think what I wanted to know, Stephan, as you were talking, you were talking about you look for the drops. You're looking to see the change in the drop. You had a drop in 2019, 2020. I think that was when we were in the pandemic. Am I correct? That was the time of the pandemic. So what do you attribute the drops to? I mean, is it the fact that people weren't out
Health Chatter
The Future and Vision of Public Health Education
No, no, no. I don't want you to feel like it at all. The question is, what is the role of community in public health?
Health Chatter
The Future and Vision of Public Health Education
Nadine Pettigrew, thank you again. There are so many current threats to public health. This is just your personal view. What three threats come to your mind right away when we talk about public health?
Health Chatter
The Future and Vision of Public Health Education
Which leads me to my question, which is community-based participatory research. Where are we going with that? I mean, you kind of mentioned that a little bit earlier. The importance of school, is that going to be a more focused?
Health Chatter
The Future and Vision of Public Health Education
My question wasn't really formed well, but I just thought, see, BPR.
Health Chatter
The Future and Vision of Public Health Education
I actually got my hand up first. I'm very happy to see you and to meet you. I am a community member, and so I come at this from a community perspective. Why is there such a lack of understanding about public health?
Health Chatter
The Future and Vision of Public Health Education
You know, I appreciate, Dean Pettigrew, your candor. You said a lot of things that resonate a lot with me in terms of community, in terms of outreach. And I know that there are many people that...
Health Chatter
The Future and Vision of Public Health Education
We call them treasures in our community that will be more than willing to support the School of Public Health in its work and to be able to help our communities become healthier because that's what we want. We want a healthy community and we realize that it's going to take an academic and community partnership to make that happen. And so, you know, We're here for you.
Health Chatter
The Future and Vision of Public Health Education
Let's say I put it like that. I speak for me and my buddies. Okay.
Health Chatter
The Future and Vision of Public Health Education
I mean, I actually worked in a clinic and you talk about public health thing and it seems like there's such a huge barrier between the biomedical and public health and people don't understand the interconnectionists of them. So why do you think there's such a lack of understanding about public health?
Health Chatter
The Future and Vision of Public Health Education
Mm-hmm. Yeah, Dean Pettigrew, I know that you're new in your position, and I want to build on what Sheridan just asked you. Is there space or conversation for education in those who are not in undergrad, who might be in high school, who might be in elementary school, to talk more about public health? Is there conversations about those kinds of things?
Health Chatter
The Future and Vision of Public Health Education
Because I don't think that people would identify, I mean, from a community perspective, I don't think people talk about it as public health. And so there is not that attachment to it. So anyway, just conversation.
Health Chatter
Food Insecurity
Clarence. Yeah, thank you for those comments. I know that food deserts, those are the things that we talk about, food insecurity. But I want to ask you this question because this is a health chatter. What is the food security conversation with health issues. Recently, we saw some information in the paper that was talking about poor nutrition is a leading cause of cardiovascular diseases.
Health Chatter
Food Insecurity
How is the connection with food insecurity and health, how is that connected so that people can understand the importance of food insecurity?
Health Chatter
Food Insecurity
Sophia, I would like to ask this question because I was just thinking about this as you were talking. I saw an advertisement around ugly vegetables and fruits. And it's like if a lesser fruit is looking perfect, people won't eat it. What are your thoughts? I mean, you know, I don't even know where my conversation is going, but I remember this like, you know, a bunch of ugly vegetables and fruit.
Health Chatter
Food Insecurity
Well, that's really interesting to me because as you're talking about this, I'm thinking about how sometimes when people have this high expectation as well of what I should be receiving, you know, and it's important. I think it's important to enter this conversation to say that we need to sometimes rethink about how we receive or accept food.
Health Chatter
Food Insecurity
Like I said, you know, somebody will say, well, I don't like that fruit because it's ugly. You know, you just talk about the ugly carrot. Yeah, we need to talk about that because if you're hungry, guess what? The ugly carrot works. You know, it has the same nutritional value as a pretty carrot, you know? So I think
Health Chatter
Food Insecurity
So that's a great conversation to start having with people, you know, as a kind of a core conversation. Anyway, that's my thought. I'm just rambling at this point.
Health Chatter
Food Insecurity
Clarence, last thoughts. My last thought, Sophia, is this. Where are the best resources for us who don't necessarily know where to go to go to be able to help or to support others who might be in need of food?
Health Chatter
Food Insecurity
Yeah, yeah. Clarence. Sophia, as I was reading your bio, I was intrigued. And my intrigueness was around the fact, how did you become involved in this? What was your epiphany? Because you have a long history of being involved with food. What happened or what did you discover?
Health Chatter
Food Insecurity
Let me probe you a little bit further. You said getting the right people at the table. Let's talk a little bit about that. Who are the right people?
Health Chatter
Food Insecurity
Sophia, what's your future projection for this issue? I mean, we take a look at the data, we talk about the food cliff, we talk about the progression. What is the food group looking at? How are you looking at this for the future?
Health Chatter
Asthma
Hi, everyone. It's Matthew from Behind the Scenes. And I wanted to let everyone know that we have a new website up and running, HelpChatterPodcast.com. You can go on there. You can interact with us. You can communicate with us, send us a message. You can comment on each episode. You can rate us.
Health Chatter
Asthma
And it's just another way for everyone to communicate with Stan and Clarence and all of us at the Help Chatter team. So definitely check it out. Again, that's HelpChatterPodcast.com.
Health Chatter
Loneliness
Clarence. How is technology connected to loneliness? Oh, okay. Because I was just thinking, I was thinking today, I had this conversation with some other colleagues, and we were talking about the fact that, you know, you talk to younger people, they're just all up in their phones and all up on the computers. They're doing, you know, older guys are doing the whatever they do.
Health Chatter
Loneliness
But anyway, technology, loneliness, is there a connection here with that? Yes.
Health Chatter
Loneliness
You're on mute. Yeah, I was just thinking that you were talking about that book, 1990s High Tech, High Touch. And, you know, it just I mean, so that and that's the only comment I have to make is that it brought to my mind, Dr. Julia, that particular book. I got to go back and read it again because I know that it I know it has something something to do with this conversation today.
Health Chatter
Loneliness
Lawrence. Thank you again, Dr. Julian. It was very insightful. And personally, I think we need to have additional conversations about this because to take a deeper dive into this, because as we started talking about some things, my mind started to think about some factors, but also how we could utilize this information to inform the community.
Health Chatter
Loneliness
I mean, that's really why we want to do this information. So I really do appreciate what you've given to us today.
Health Chatter
Loneliness
So you mentioned, you mentioned the UK. Is this a worldwide phenomenon? I mean, loneliness, is it happening all over the world or is it just, uh, just here in America?
Health Chatter
Minnesota State Cancer Plan
Yeah, so Dr. Simeo, you talked a little bit about challenges. There's always the rural versus urban strategy. Could you talk a little bit more about that? Because were the challenges the same or was there a special strategy that had to be developed for each group, for the rural versus the urban?
Health Chatter
Minnesota State Cancer Plan
Yeah. And I can vouch for that. I want to just say, I can vouch for that. I was involved with the alliance and there was definitely a community engagement aspect of it. So it was great. Yeah. Which is why we're glad that Dr. Samea is here to talk about that.
Health Chatter
Minnesota State Cancer Plan
Yeah. Yeah. Clarence. Yes. So, Dr. Simeo, um, so, you know, this is health chatter. So I'm going to ask you a very, very chattery, chattery question. What's been the biggest challenge with this plan? I mean, you know, you've been, I mean, you've got some, you got, you've got all these, you got 90 strategies, you know, 90 strategies. You got, you've got, uh, a lot of focuses.
Health Chatter
Minnesota State Cancer Plan
Clarence. Yes, Dr. Samia, once again, I know I asked you about the biggest challenges. Now I'm going to ask you in this plan, and I know it doesn't end till 2025, but what are some of your greatest successes? What really stands out for you as a success with this plan?
Health Chatter
Minnesota State Cancer Plan
Well, I just want to say, Dr. Samir, I thank you for the conversation. I mean, there is so much that we need to learn more about. I mean, and I think that one of the important things for us is having people like you who can come on and to help us understand more clearly and also for us to better understand the communities of but also to talk about also how the community can be more engaged.
Health Chatter
Minnesota State Cancer Plan
And so we need to make sure that the community is engaged in this conversation as well. And so I just want to thank you once again, and I'll turn it back to you, Stan.
Health Chatter
Minnesota State Cancer Plan
Clarence, go ahead. Dr. Samia, you spoke in your previous conversation a lot of times about the lack of awareness among groups of people. Could you talk about this plan and how does it plan to address that? I mean, are people not aware or is there a strategy for that or communicating more effectively with people to make them more aware of the risk of cancer?
Health Chatter
AI in Healthcare
Yeah, I think that this is a great, great opportunity for us. I want to go back to the question about technology.
Health Chatter
AI in Healthcare
concerned about ai okay and how do we help people to understand it's going to happen okay so it is happening it's here it's here it's here people just don't see it how do we um how do we help people to understand the importance of it and also um how they can utilize it more effectively for themselves
Health Chatter
AI in Healthcare
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. Clarence? Yeah, let me ask this question. I have only heard stories about this. What is this chat GPT? What is it?
Health Chatter
AI in Healthcare
So Dr. Patel, how quickly is AI going to grow? I mean, you know, I mean, it's quickly, it seems like it's been growing at a pretty quick rate. And so even for those people who are resistant to AI, it appears that it's going to overtake us pretty soon. How rapidly is this growing on a yearly basis? What are some of your projections for the year 2020, 25, 2030?
Health Chatter
AI in Healthcare
We're going to have to call chat up and see what they're going to say.
Health Chatter
AI in Healthcare
Well, I think so. Let me ask this question. Yeah, I'll follow real quick. With all of this brick breaking that technology, it also increases the the possibility of scams, of people being tricked, those kinds of things. And so my question again to you is like, what are some of the things that we should be watching out for or thinking about as we are embracing or engaging with this new technology?
Health Chatter
AI in Healthcare
You know, this has really been interesting. I would love to have another hour with you. Or more. Or more. But I would actually love to have that background you got. You know, I mean, those clouds remind me of our world right about now. Everything is rumbling. But I do thank you. I thank you for this. I thank you for answering my questions.
Health Chatter
AI in Healthcare
And I really believe that our listeners will have an opportunity to learn something from you and to enter into this conversation in a much more informed way.
Health Chatter
AI in Healthcare
Yeah, Dr. Patel, thank you for that. You know, Stan, you started off the conversation. Many people, when they think about AI, they think about Westworld or they think about some other kind of movie that they've seen. It's not necessarily a positive one because, you know, the AI robot, whatever, does something really interesting. So my question to you is this.
Health Chatter
AI in Healthcare
How do we explain this in a way into the community where they see the real value of AI? We're going to use it, okay? But there's always that underlying fear that this is something that's going to take over. So how do you address that?
Health Chatter
AI in Healthcare
So, you know, one of the things, and I appreciate this, one of the things, and again, you know, I read some things, and as a community member, I recently was looking at an article, and you use the term hallucination, okay? There was recently an article that showed some computer-generated bodies. And one of the concerns was that, you know, using...
Health Chatter
AI in Healthcare
AI, we were going to create a false perception for younger women about their bodies. And we're already working with body shaming. We're already talking about health and those kinds of things. What kind of, as a clinician,
Health Chatter
AI in Healthcare
What kind of conversations would you have with people about the use of AI and utilizing it for those types of things and not allowing it to create a false hallucination for you about how life really is?
Health Chatter
Arthritis and Rheumatology
does that yeah yeah well paula since we're going back in time you mentioned century and we talked about 10 15 20 years ago and this is health chatter yes boy i used to remember about the king and him and him having gout gout yes and and now i'm finding some of my friends having gout what in the world is gout
Health Chatter
Arthritis and Rheumatology
So my question, my next question to you is, how do you recognize it? How do you know, you say, if you catch it early enough, how do you, how do you, what are the symptoms that would help a person understand that?
Health Chatter
Arthritis and Rheumatology
Paul, I have another question for you. Lupus. It's interesting to me, and I don't know, I'm going to make a statement. You know, it just seems to me like everyone that I know that has lupus is a female. So, you know, what is it?
Health Chatter
Arthritis and Rheumatology
Clarence, go ahead. So we've talked a lot about the illnesses and things like that. But I think the research that we have also talked about the fact that there are deaths by arthritis. Could you talk a little bit about that?
Health Chatter
Arthritis and Rheumatology
Perfect. Clarence. Thank you, Dr. Paul. I have enjoyed this conversation and I have learned a lot. Good. I try to apply it.
Health Chatter
Arthritis and Rheumatology
I'd like to ask this question. Food. Does food affect arthritis and rheumatology? I mean, I'm inquisitive. I want to know. Okay.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
That makes it better. Zula, let me ask you this question. What are your expectations or hope for the community with this project?
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
I want to go back and ask this question. I think, Teresa, you mentioned the fact that artificial sweeteners was an issue. And I thought artificial sweeteners was really designed to address the issue. And it appears that's some more fake news now for us. What's up?
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
I agree with that. I think that I'm going to pile on with this. I think there's some real systemic issues that we have in our state, in our country, that we need to be honest and try to address. And for me, it is the... That's why I asked you, Julie, about what are your hopes and expectations for the community? Because I think that there is a...
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
This is a bi-directional kind of conversation that we have to have, you know, that people need to understand what are the risks they're taking for utilizing those corner stores and utilizing those foods, as well as we need to talk about why don't we have more access to grocery stores and things like that. Why do we have to travel? Why don't we have access to pharmacies anymore?
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
I mean, you know, you've got, you know, we've got all these different things and these are all factors around health. And so the question for me always is how can we have a, a honest conversation about what we really need to be doing?
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
You know, I think that there is a, there is a politically safe kind of conversation that we can have, but I think that there comes a time where we're starting to see this stuff, uh, it's becoming so prevalent.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
In fact, I think Teresa, we were talking about the fact that when we're talking to Diana Hawthorne, she's talking about a kid that was 13 years old, came in, he was 300 pounds and we couldn't find a coat for him. You know what I mean? So when do we have, when are we going to sit down and have some real hard, hard, hard conversations where we don't feel, where we don't feel attacked?
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
You know what I mean? So that's why I'm asking about the hope for this particular opportunity is can we just talk? I mean, can we talk and then really come up with some activities? So that's my comment. I'm finished.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
I think too, I appreciate that. I think that the, you know, I applaud that because that's what I would like too. And I think that it's going to be important to bring in those voices that may not necessarily be kumbaya because we have to speak truth to a lot of these issues. And sometimes it's not, it doesn't appear to be nice, but it's necessary. And so I just want to put that out there too.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
So I think that, that, that part of the key is identifying who the real messengers are going to be. Because anytime you start talking about money and funding, they're going to be those people that's going to come up with the big voices saying, look at what, you know, look at, we can do this. We can do that. I think to find, um,
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
to go in and find out who are the people that have really been doing the work for a long time, who are the people that are really the influencers, to give them a chance at the table when they've been excluded out is how we're going to really be able to make it. Because these are the people that are really making a difference.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
But their voice is not being heard because they're being overshadowed by others. I know that that's a tricky thing with government because you can't be as selective. You know, and it's what I always talk about. It's like, you know, you got folks been talking about this stuff for 40 years. They ain't done nothing.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
So I'm hoping that I'm hoping that with and I believe I believe this about you, Teresa and Julia. Really, I do. I really believe that you're going to try to find the real treasures in our community that can really help to elevate this conversation. But you have to be much more.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
I'm going to use the term discriminatory in terms of something that people don't like that word, but I chose this red shirt today versus my blue shirt. I was discriminating. No. So discriminatory is not always a bad thing. I'm just talking about trying to really, you know, make a difference in terms of the health of our community.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
We have to be a little bit more selective in who we have out there leading the charge. Yeah.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
I'm taking a risk here, Sam. Go ahead. You know, I have this very, I tell you, I'm a looper. So I think way, you know, crazy stuff anyway. I didn't know that, Clarence. Okay. I think what would be wonderful, just really quick, That when a patient visits a doctor, they walk away with a bag of healthy food. A little small bag. You know, the apple or orange or something like that.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
And you just say like, hey, you know what? I want you to think more about this.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
Yeah, because they'll take that home. I mean, you never know if they're hungry or homeless or anything like that, but they'll probably take it home to their little kids. And so instead of buying a McDonald's, you don't spend the money for that or whatever other program, they got an apple or orange, you know, because that's the better thing.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
So I just think a little bag, a little brown paper bag, you know, with like four or five different items in it saying, hey, take this home. This is healthy food. Might be a good way to promote that.
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
I wanna ask a question. I know that we've known about type one diabetes, type two diabetes, but the state has really made us a effort now to really take a look at this issue of childhood diabetes, like with this grant and stuff like that. What was the tipping point? I mean, what came up that caused the state to say like, okay, we have to deal with this?
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
Yeah, I did. I wanted to kind of follow up because when I take a look at, you know, I look at old videos and things like that, and all the people that I see on those old videos are real fans. I shouldn't say not all of them, but for the majority of the part, they're real, real thin. So what is the cause of this increase in diabetes and weight and obesity?
Health Chatter
Childhood Diabetes
What's going on that we have to really look at it now? I mean, in 20, 30 years, I mean, we're going to have some major issues.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
Yeah, yeah. And I was going to say that, Sam. I mean, I think you bring up a good point is that when people are going through this particular phase of their life, there has to be or there could be some conversations about how do you get through it. You just mentioned the whole idea about taking a walk. I just believe that when you identify that you are in that particular phase,
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And I don't think anybody is happy about being that phase. I think you're looking for ways in which to be able to address it. And I think that's why these kinds of conversations are so important and so helpful is that we're trying to acknowledge the fact that this is a real part of life, that all of us go through it, whether we recognize it or not in some kind of way.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
But when we are at this place that we could take some actions in order to be able to get through it, in a more healthy manner. And I think that's what health chat is about. We're just trying to figure out how do we get through these things in a much more healthier manner.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And so, you know, like you said, taking a walk, you know, uh, being able to talk to your friends, because a lot of times when people are, uh, grieving, they don't really feel like they can talk to anybody that could really understand or could really empathize with them. And so it's it's important. I believe I believe that it's important in our lives that we have.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
We have friends that we could talk to, you know. And many times in our in our in our life, we we become so siloed that when these tough times come, we don't have anybody that we could relate to.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
But let me share this thing with you, though. I think part of what we know, though, is that there are some people that that they grieve for like 20, 30 years, man. Yeah. You know, I mean, that's that that chronic grieving. I mean, and every time you talk to him, I had somebody in my life that every time I talked to them.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
it always got back to how they were brought up and how they felt like they were mistreated. And I'm saying them people are dead. I mean, them people are dead. They've been dead 20, 30 years and you still mad at them? You know what I mean? But I think that there are some things about us as human beings that sometimes,
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
We get caught like that, where we are grieving over things, first of all, that we have no control over, but secondly, over conditions that are long gone, and yet somehow we hold on to those things as though they are ever-present and it's just a continuous sore for people.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And so I think that we need to recognize that there are some people who are grieving, and then the question is, how do you help them to overcome that, or if they choose to overcome it?
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And I can talk about it from my perspective. I don't live that far from the site where it happened. I think my granddaughter, she was driving past it while it was occurring. Wow. But I think that what it does was sometimes...
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
The lifelong experiences that you have gone through or those experiences that you have heard other people discuss or what you've read about can set it up for how you're going to respond when a trigger occurs. triggering event happens. And I think for a lot of folks, that was very much a triggering event that you could visually see.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And a lot of times people with grief, they hear about it and that's how they respond. But when you can both hear about it and you can see about it, it does create a different kind of emotion. I think that's what happened with the George Floyd thing. And interesting enough, this is the thing.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
I just had this conversation this morning with this guy that was talking about this, is that when that event happened, it was a more universal community-wide expression. It wasn't just one group of people that were expressing grief and upsetness with this issue.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
It was a whole bunch of folks, which is, and again, this is my own personal opinion, which is one of the reasons why we didn't see higher rates of deaths with the events because it was so universal. If it would have been one group of folk, I thought it would have been a whole lot of deaths.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
But I think that part of what we experience as human beings, sometimes there are triggering events that cause us to have grief or how to express our grief in a different kind of way. And so for a lot of folks, their grief was expressed through tearing up stuff, which I don't necessarily agree with, but it's how some people responded. Right. And I think
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
Well, I think, Sandy, you're absolutely right. According to our researchers, grief is the anguish experienced after significant loss, usually the death of a beloved person. And I think right now we're in a period of time where there's a lot of grieving. And I believe that we're seeing it at different levels. People are... People are at a loss for a lot of different things.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
Yeah. So let me share this with you. And I think that health chatter is really meant to be politically open. You know, we we don't we don't do things. But I think a lot of people right now, you know, you talk about Minnesota, but I think a lot of people in this country right now are grieving the loss of the perception about who this country is. Exactly right about now.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
I mean, when you talk to people, there is a sense of. Like, I mean, for me, you know, I'm I'm a baby boomer. I never expected to see the country in the in the condition that it's in. Right. I mean, I honestly do grieve. I do grieve when I see when I see the you know, as you say, I see the various things that are happening, the way that people are responding to. news events, those kinds of things.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And I know that other people who don't necessarily hold my view are also responding with grief with what's happening in this country. And I think that part of a conversation like this really is how then do you how then do you continue to move ahead in a way that would be most healthiest for you in spite of the fact that the things that you once held dearly, you find out they really never existed.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
Or they're compromised. Yeah, yeah. And I think for a lot of us, you know, growing, I mean, a lot of people that I know no longer are as idealistic as they once were because there's a loss of what they thought and what they perceived. So grief is why. Yeah, no kidding. Sheridan.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
I think COVID, the pandemic, some of the civic unrest, all those kinds of things have caused us to look at our anguish a little bit different. And so I think this is a great conversation to have, to talk about, and then to give people a chance to process. So I'm glad that we have this conversation.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
adamant that some things need to be done or changed clarence yeah i you know just thinking about a lot of different things and i thank you um uh deandre and sharon for for you sharing those things i think it's it gets to a point where um you you You know, sometimes in this type of environment, and I'm using the universal grief, you have to check your humanness.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
You know, because there's so many things that are going on that, you know, at one time we were able to ignore. We can't ignore them anymore because there's all this information out here that really challenges our worldview, you know, about, you know, we think everybody is nice and kumbaya kind of stuff. And then all of a sudden you find out it ain't kumbaya at all, you know.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
It's a knock you out kind of thing. And so I think that part of that, these kind of conversations are really designed to get us to, first of all, to recognize it, but then to take a look and see how we might, or to talk about some of the things that we might be able to do in order to take care of ourselves in spite of all of the challenges that we face living in this world.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
You know, I mean, you know, like I said, you get back to that point of when you were talking about staying, you know, how do you take care of yourself when you know that, you know, things are not the way that they should be, you know, do you take, you eat better, You become more conscious of exercise.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
You become more conscious of the people that you have around you because in this kind of society, you can increase your grief by who you hang around with. Exactly. So we're challenged now around this topic of taking a look at our grief at how then do we address it because we know that we have it.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And then what is it that we're going to do in order to take care of ourselves to make it better for ourselves and for our community?
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
I think the thing that that that that, you know, we're talking about is the fact that, you know, when people grieve, it does affect them. It affects their their health. It impacts the way that they respond to to questions of. It throws you off balance. I mean, I think we're talking about, you know, the physiological response to grief.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
You know, it changes the hormones in your heart rate, all those kinds of things. Yeah, absolutely. It's really important for people to understand that it's just more than just, you know, feeling sad. There are some other physiological things that are occurring at the same time.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
Yeah. I think saying sometimes too is that when we go through this period around grief, it helps us realize how precious life is. you know, and how we should value each day. I think so many times in this life, we get stuck on automatic pilot. You know, we just do things just to be doing things.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And we don't take advantage of the opportunities that we have to really enjoy those things around us and those people around us. And so sometimes it is in the grief that we have a a deeper appreciation for what we do have. You know what I mean? And so, you know, like you said, you know, you lost your, you know, your, your, your mother and your father.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
I mean, but at the same time, it, it, it, it, it teaches you some things about how to appreciate those people that are in your life. You know, one of the things for me personally is that I just said, I don't want to live my life where, where I would ever say I wished I would have. You know, and I don't want to live my life in a way in which I owe somebody something before I die.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
You know what I mean? Which is that I want to I want to try to, you know, you know, my personal philosophy is to try to. Can I grieve myself or grieve other folks in the life that I live? And so because I realize I realize how important it is for people to have. a semblance of some kind of sanity and some kind of peace.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And so for me, grief, while it is difficult, at the same time, it is also a teacher of life.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
I agree with that. I think that, I think that, that, that's, that's one of the, again, that's one of the life lessons about, about grief is that grief teaches you how to appreciate. And that's, that to me is important, especially when it just seemed like some days that there's nothing to be happy about. Correct.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
Yeah. You know, Stan, I think one of the other things too that we want to say to people is that, you know, a lot of times when we look at grief, it seemed like it's just those people. You know, it's just other people. But this is all of us. All of us at some point will go through experiencing grief, you know, whether it's an acute, acute or chronic.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And hopefully by being able to enter into this kind of conversation, we're able to be, again, more sympathetic and empathetic towards people when we see them going through whatever challenges they may face. I mean, you know, like you talked about, it can be a loss of that dog. It could be the loss of that goldfish. It's not suck it up and you'll be okay. It's a very human emotion.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
It's one that we all experience and we do in different kinds of ways, but it's something that hopefully in our humanness we would be more aware of and that we would be able to talk about it and we'd be able to help people process it because a lot of times when people are going through grief, all they want to do is listen. Yeah.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
Yeah, I think, Sam, we talked in the past, what we talked about is that people grieve differently. And unfortunately, many times when people hear the term grief, they usually think about it as a bunch of wailing and, you know, loud exclamation, those kinds of things. And that's not all the time the way that grief is experienced or that grief is displayed. And so we have...
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
with this particular thing, especially in light of all the things that we're going to talk about, we have to allow people the opportunity to be able to healthily get through their anguish. Because I believe that many times when it comes to certain expectations from others about how we do whatever we do, the fact that you might do it differently sometimes create additional grief
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
a person under difficult anguish because it's not what other people expect. And so I've seen grief and I'm trying to be really clear about it is that it is something that's experiencing. And I think it's more prevalent now than ever.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
I was just talking to a guy recently, actually this morning, and I was talking about the fact that after COVID, I had to go back out and I had to reestablish my relationships with my other colleagues because they were grieving going through this period where they had... They had so many changes in their life.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And so you have to give people the opportunity to be able to express themselves and then to understand that is exactly what they're doing. They're grieving. They're grieving a loss. A loss of what? Loss of, you know, loss of position, a loss of time, whatever.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
I do, and I think that part of what is important to understand is to be able to articulate it, to be able to share it. to be able to express yourself in a way in which people don't feel like they don't feel taken aback by it. You know what I mean? That they understand that I'm, I'm grieving and I might not be responding the same kind of way that you normally expect me to respond.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And it's only because of this level of loss that I'm feeling. And I think that that's, that's really important to think about is that, um, when people are going through this process, there's so many different levels to it.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And you express yourself in so many different kinds of ways and you can't be hard on yourself or, you know, at least, at least for me, I think that, that, that when people are, um, when people are going through, uh, an experience that I know is tough for them, I give them a little bit more grace, you know, because they'll, they'll say some things that might seem inappropriate or whatever.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
But I understand that that is because of the level of, uh, that they might be feeling at that time, or it might be the fact that they can't fully express how they're feeling. Because I think a lot of times when people are in that space, people want you to tell them exactly what you're feeling, so they push you. you know, to say like, well, so how are you really, really feeling?
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
You know what I mean? It's like, I really don't know how I'm feeling. I'm just at this place of transition and I'm just trying to figure it out for myself.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And so I think that the whole idea about grief is that you have to really be able to, not only to articulate for yourself how you're feeling, but you also have to give people the opportunity to be able to share how they're really feeling or not share how they're really feeling because they really don't know how they're feeling.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
I'm going to say something real quick, Stan, because it's kind of funny. But the first time I can remember having real grief was when my goldfish Goldie died. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I like that little goldfish. I remember I set him up in a little special place on top of the cabinet and everything like that. I kept feeding him because I liked him so much.
Health Chatter
Grief and Health
And then one day I got up and Goldie was floating upside down. Yeah. That wrecked my little life, you know, because I thought like, you know, Goldie, you know, I gave you everything that I could. Unfortunately, I gave him too much. And so for me, you know, it sounds funny. But at that but at the same time, it was a it was a first feeling of expression of of loss.