Mandates ‘Turbocharging’ Vaccination Rates: US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Vaccine Requirements, Boosters and Vaccinating Kids

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

[ Music ]

Female: Welcome to Conversations on Health Care with Mark Mas s elli a nd
Margaret Flinter , a show where we speak to the top thought leaders
in health innovation, health policy , care delivery, and the great minds
who are shaping the healthcare of the future.

This week Mark and Margaret speak with U . S . Surgeon General Dr.
Vivek Murthy , n ow in his second stint as the Nation's Doctor and a key
member of the Biden White House COVID Response Team. They've
unveiled an ambitious plan to prepare for vaccinatin g the nation's
younger children aged 5 to 11. He talks about the pandemic , threat of
coming flu season and the Nation's Opioid Crisis which has
accelerated during the pandemic.

L ori Robertson checks in , the Managing Editor of Fact C heck.org looks
at mis stat e ment s spoken about health policy in the public domain
separating the fake from the facts . And w e end with a bright idea
that's improving health and well - b eing in everyday lives.

If you have comments, please email us at [email protected] or
find us on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Now stay tuned for our interview with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy here on Conversations on Health Care.

Mark Masselli: We're speaking today with Dr. Vivek Murthy, the 21 st Surgeon
General of the United States, the Nation's Doctor , he is the co - chair of
President Biden's White House COVID Response Team . And he
previously served as the 19th U . S . Surgeon General under President
Obama.

Margaret Flinter: Dr. Mur thy is Vice Admiral of the United States Public Health
Commission's Service Corps commanding 6000 Public Health Officers around the country in the world. He's the author of ‘ Together : The
Healing Power of Human Connection i n a Sometimes Lonely World . ’
Dr. Murthy, welcome back to Conversations on Health C are.

Dr. Vivek Murthy: Well, thank you so much. It's really nice to see both of you again .

Mark Masselli: Dr. Murthy , Pfizer just release d safety data on vaccines for older teens
that 12 to 18 year old group , showing significant protective effect
against severe diseases, hospitalizations and deaths about 97% efficacy . But there i s still a large sector of unvaccinated teens.

I was surprised to see this recent Kaiser poll that showed only about
30% of parents o f younger children plan to vaccinate their children
right away. Obviously, more work , more education to do , as that is
such a large gap. But once the vaccines are approved for all school
aged children, will the White House be in support of State vaccine
ma ndates for children?

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

Dr. Vivek Murthy: Well, I'm glad you ask ed this question , Mark . And I want to put some
of these numbers in context, because the 30% , you mentioned that
parents who according to a recent poll are ready to go out and get
their child vacc inated , today under 12 , kids under 12 if the vaccine is
made available . I want you to think about that in the context of this
same poll that was done for adults , prior to an adult vaccine being
available. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of about 35% o f
adults who said that they were ready to go out and get vaccinated
once that became available.

But what happened , in the next few months, number one, t he vaccine
became available, and people had a chance to have their questions
answered. And they saw fami ly and friends who got vaccinated , and
who did well. And so that's why today we've got 80% of eligible
individuals in America who have either been vaccinated or ready to do
so as soon as possible.

And so I think with it , when it comes to vaccine for kids u nder 12,
once it comes out, we are going to focus heavily on making sure that
not only do people have access to the vaccine through tens of
thousands of places, doctor's offices, schools, pharmacies around the
country, but also making sure that they have a ccess to accurate
information, which is why we're building a National Outreach and
Information Initiative .

Margaret Flinter: Well, Dr. Murthy one dat e that is circled on the calendar is October
26. It's the day the FDA Advisory Committee is taking up the i ssue of
the vaccines for the 5 to 11 year old group. And as you just
referenced , a moment ago, this is going to be a little bit different and
maybe rely much more on the vast network of pediatric practices
around the country as well as Community Health Cen t e rs and
hospitals. And I think you've promised smaller needles and shorter
lines t hat wi ll sound good both to the kids and to the parents.

But I'm wondering, how will this effort be different , I think this is new,
really engaging the pediatric practices a round the country. And I think
some shied away from the complications of storage and ordering and
reporting. What have you done to make it easier for this very
widespread distribution , and in places that parents are used to taking
their kids for vaccines?

Dr. Viveky Murthy: Yeah. Well, Margaret, the current plan that the White House has been
working on to roll vaccines out to kids, even when the CDC and FDA
recommend that this has been under development for a while, but it
builds on the learnings that we ha ve from the last year , where we've
been distributing vaccine to adults and adolescents through a variety
of channels from large scale events, to mobile units , to doctors’
offices and pharmacies.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

And one of the things that we know from parents and their fee dback
is that they would like to ideally get vaccinated in places that they're
familiar with. They want to have conversations with people they trust,
and it's why we're not only doubling and tripling down on our efforts
with doctors’ offices to make sure f amily docs and pediatricians can
have vaccine in their office, but we're also making sure that when it
comes to people actually getting information, they can get it from
sources they trust, like their school teachers , there at school
administrators , and th eir healthcare providers.

We've also been working with schools to setup On Site Vaccine
Delivery options so that ideally, a parent could go to school , to get
vaccinated, go to their doctor ’ s office, go to a pharmacy , go to the
local children's hospital. An d the partnerships we're setting up are
also ready to work with other community organi z ations like f aith
organi z ations to setup vaccination clinics.

So the motto here is “ to leave no stone unturned .” To provide options
for people , t o help them understand t hat we've got enough supply for
all 28 million children , who have fall into the 5 to 11 range, and we'll
stand ready to get those vaccines to kids and to their parents.

Mark Masselli: Well, that's really great. And I know Dr. Murthy, we run around 200
scho ol - based health cent e rs , and I think that will be such a great value
for parents. But there was some good news , the FDA just has given
approval for the M o derna and the J&J booster shot , with a sort of an
interesting twist, based on the study by NIH recipie nts can mix and
match their booster vaccines. And this move offers consumers , I think
a lot of flexibility , in particular, in the case of the Johnson & Johnson
vaccine, much higher protective effect when mixed with mRNA
booster such as Moderna or Pfizer . T he CDC still has to approve this
latest decision, but maybe help the public understand what all of this
means.

Dr. Vivek Murthy: There are four steps to this process that FDA ’ s Advisory Committee
meets. And second, the FDA makes a decision . Th ird the CDC ’s
Advisory Committee meets . And then fourth, and finally, the CDC will
make its recommendation. And that's how we move forward. We're
more than halfway through that process. We're on step three, where
the CDC Advisory Committee is meeting , when the FDA rend ered its
decision , and did provide authorization for boosters f rom Moderna
and Johnson & Johnson recipients , who fall into a high - risk category.
So that means people above 65 , people with other illnesses like heart
disease and diabetes that put them at hig her risk , and people who live
or work in places where they a re at higher risk of exposure , to COVID -
19, healthcare workers, grocery store workers and others .

B ut the mix and match is also interesting , because what they also
authori z ed was for an individual who gets one of the three vaccines to

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

potentially get boosted with one of the other two vaccines. Now why
is that important? Well, it does give people more flexibility. And we
know that some individuals have wanted the choice to potentially get
a separate one. We also know that logistically, if someone is in a
circumstance where they can get one vaccine and not another, we
want them to be able to get vaccinated, as opposed to foregoing a
chance to get the protection , that a booster would provide. So the
CD C, again is going to weigh in on this . So over the next couple of
days , but that is what the mix and match was about , and that the data
for that came from an NIH Study to look specifically at the mix and
match. And at the end again, look around issues of s afety , look at
efficacy a nd that's what the FDA opined on.

Margaret Flinter: Well, Dr. Murthy, it's always on our mind that this COVID pandemic
has already taken lives of 720,000 Americans , and we're glad to see
the numbers are again, slowly coming down. B ut we're heading into
winter , with colder temperatures, the holidays, you have such a
powerful voice as the Nation's Doctor, what are you saying to people
this fall , about how we prepare for this next phase of the pandemic
which we know could involve a twi n demic of both influenza and
COVID. And I know people are going to be asking, this year, what can I
do? How do I celebrate?

Dr. Vivek Murthy: Well, it's a great question, Margaret, and we are coming into a colder
season. We know respiratory viruses do tend to spread during cold
weather season. But there's something we have this winter that we
didn't have last winter and that is millions and millions of people who
are vaccinated. It's a big deal . You know in January, mid to late
January we had about 2 millio n people in the country who are fully
vaccinated. Now we have 1 1 9 million people who are fully vaccinated .
T ens and millions of more who have got one shot and are on their
way to getting fully vaccinated . And we're on the verge of having a
decision around vaccines for kids under 12 which will mean
potentially another 2 8 million people will become eligible for vaccine ,
so that is a big deal. It's a big reason why I think we will be better off
than we were last winter.

But here is some things for people to ke ep in mind :

1) There is still 65 million people in our country who are not
vaccinated . We need to make sure that they get protection as well. So
talk to your family and friends , remind them that especially after
everything we saw with Delta, it is not too late and more urgent than
ever to get vaccinated .

2) Remember what we learned from COVID, about what helps you
reduce spread , is still important for COVID and for flu. We know that
wearing masks i n indoor spaces help , we know that good hygiene is
important . We know that ventilation is really essential, which is why

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

the billions of dollars made available to school s to improve ventilation
was so important.

And finally, remember this , we've got a flu vaccine too. It's really
important that people take that as well . You can get it at the same
time. So let that not be a barrier to stopping people from getting
protected against both COVID and the flu.

Mark Masselli: We're speaking today with Dr. Vivek Murthy, the 21st Surgeon
General of the United States . Dr. Murt hy, the other pandemics that
are rolling across the country are addiction and mental health
problems and the epidemic of loneliness, which have been really core
to the issues , for you as Surgeon General and was central to your
theme in your very powerful b ook together. You know, these issues
have reached a really critical mass during the pandemic. And we've
seen over 100,000 overdose deaths , just in the past year. And
recently, the American Academy of P ediatrics, just issued a sobering
report that the menta l health crisis among our young children has
reached this critical tipping point . There has to be a better strategy for
tackling these issues. I know you have plans , can you share with our
listeners some of your thoughts about how we might address these
ve ry difficult, very important issues.

Dr. Vivek Murthy: Mark, I'm so glad you brought this up , b ecause these are the issues
they don't get nearly as much airtime as they deserve. But they are
the silent pandemics, if you will, that are costing us in terms o f lives ,
in terms of well - being , of both adults and children in our country .

We were struggling with mental health and substance use disorders
long before COVID - 19 came. But it has really dealt a significant blow ,
to many of those efforts , b ecause, this ha s been an incredibly stressful
time . People have been taken away from people and social
connections, which is one of the forces that we lean on to help us
during difficult times , people's care has been disrupted whether it's
through medication assisted tre atment, or whether it's the
counselling services that they need during the pandemic. And so
putting this all together, what you find is we've had an increase in
overdoses and overdose deaths and why we're also seeing increased
rates of anxiety and depressi on.

But I do think that the pandemic , both creates an opportunity as well
as urgency for us to act. And we can do that thinking about a few
things. One is, this still remains an urgent imperative to expand our
treatment efforts , for substance use disorders and for mental health ,
and to integrate them with primary care, which is something that
historically we have done very poorly as a country at a very
fragmented system.

The second thing that it emphasi z es to us is that we've got to invest in

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

prevention . W e actually have programs that we know if instituted in
schools can be remarkably effective at reducing substance use
disorders and mental health concerns down the line. And they're also
remarkably cost effective. When I issue d the 2016 Surgeon General's
Re port on Alcohol , Drugs and He a l th, we actually detail ed many of
these preventive program, but they were not really invested in , in the
years that followed in the way that our country really needs .

But finally, let's just keep this in mind. There i s a cultu ral challenge
that we have to solve here, which is that for far too long, we have
looked at mental illness . We have looked at it as something to be
ashamed of. And the result of that people have not come forward and
admitted not just others, but sometimes even to themselves that
they're struggling. And they've gone without help. And sadly, that's
ended up far too often, i n people losing their lives and their families
have obviously suffered in the process . We can't afford to walk down
that path anymore. We need to shift culturally on how we look at
substance use disorders and mental illness across the board.

And finally, Mark and Marg aret , we ’ve got to reali z e that this is about
more than preventing mental illness , i t's also about recogni z ing that
we have a lot we can do to enhance emotional well - being. It's sort of
the difference between thinking about like one - half of the scale,
which is about mental illness, but reali z ing if you're free for illness, it
doesn't mean you're functioning at the top of your gam e. So we need
to be thinking about how to invest in emotional well - being .

I t's one of the reasons my office is actually working on an initiative
around mental health for the country because we reali z e that, look,
this is an opportunity for us to really dou ble - down on our
commitment and on our actions that we're taking to address mental
health. But to really spur what I think is a deeper cultural shift that
needs to take place that impacts not just policy, but how schools and
workplaces design their curricul a , and their work environments to
ultimately promote well - being , support mental health and create the
h appy , healthy community that we need all across America.

Margaret Flinter: Well, Dr. Murthy, I wonder if I can ask you to comment on another
group that i s really in distress . And that is a lot of nation’s frontline
healthcare workers. Certainly the COVID pandemic pushed people to
their limits maybe 4000 health care workers actually lost their lives to
COVID during the pandemic . But there i s certainly eviden ce of some
widespread clinician burnout.

And I wonder if your office and you are putting some particular
thought or focus into how we address this in both address the
burnout that ma y exist this today , but also build resilience for the
future . We are not g oing to have a great healthy country without a
great healthcare workforce. And this issue of building resilience and

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

preventing burnout seems to really require our attention and focus as
well.

Dr. Vivek Murthy: Well, I really appreciate you bringing up cli nicians and their well -
being , the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, and
others who have been on the frontlines in this pandemic , it really hit
hard. And I should also mention it, the public health workers in our
departments of public he alth all across the country have also been hit
hard . They ha ve put their lives at risk. They have work ed
extraordinary hours . They ha ve done so on the face of just incredible
demands and uncertainty a nd far too often, especially for our public
health worke rs t hey ha ve been bent actually with attacks , with
political attacks with other abuses, which are really terrible, because
we should be thanking them, not attacking them.

But with our clinicians in particular, look, this has been a problem
that's been grow ing for years, in our country . We have an incredibly
high rate of burnout among nurses and doctors . We have an
extraordinarily high rate of depression and suicide. And it's not just
because we need to equip individuals with better practices for self -
care , but the deeper , but I think even bigger part of their problem is
systemic and cultural.

We have a system setup in healthcare that is not really designed to
provide doctors and patients the kind of time that they actually need
with each other. We sort of ov erwhelm clinicians with paperwork and
other administrative burdens at a time when their patients are asking,
why don't I have more time with my doctor. And so we've taken a lot
of the meaning out of medicine and healthcare . We've also operated
in a culture that too often looks at any source of or sign of mental
illness or struggle as a sign of weakness , and not being tough enough
or not being able to cut it and get it done. And which is utterly
counterproductive.

So if we really want to build a future where clinicians are taking care
of , where we care for the people who have been caring for us then we
will need to engage institutions, healthcare institutions, and
healthcare educational institutions as well, in the work of changing
culture and changing practi ce . They also have important roles that
payers have here as well, because we know that so much of the
administrative burden that clinicians are under , comes from payers as
well. I'm talking about both private payers and public payers. So we've
got to do be tter.

My office is working on this issue . We are actually looking to put
together a blueprint for the country on clinician well - being that will
lay out a pathway for wh at government, individual clinicians,
healthcare institutions , payers can all do to help create the future that
our healthcare workers need, and frankly, that all of us as patients

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

require.

Mark Masselli: Well, I think that prescription for healthcare workers will be very
welcomed. And we look forward to it. Dr. Murthy , while the President
ha s not issued a nationwide vaccine mandate h e did issue a mandate
for federal workers and federal contractors as well as businesses with
a hundred employees or more. I've noticed recently that around the
world and in particularly, Italy has just issued a ru ling that all people
must be vaccinated before returning to work. And we've seen such
positive results with mandates that have been put in place, what's the
likelihood we might see a similar measure here in the United States?

Dr. Vivek Murthy: Well, it's a good question. The President's goal from the beginning, as
he stated publicly, and to many of us privately is to ultimately make
sure we get through this pandemic and protect people from the
scourge of COVID - 19. The vaccine really is the best way to do th at. It's
not just about protecting people's health, it's also about getting back
to our way of life, make sure our kids can stay in school and making
sure that the economy can actually function, making sure that we
have the peace of mind , of knowing that w e can see our family and
friends and get together without worrying w e're going to get sick.

When you look at other examples in our history of when we've had an
illness , and then fortunately been able to develop a vaccine. The way
we got to very high vaccin ation rates for measles, mumps, rubella,
polio, is actually through vaccine requirements by in fact, nearly all of
our schools in America require children to get a vaccine before they
enroll . That's why we have 90 plus percent vaccination rates for those
i llnesses that I just mentioned. So vaccine requirements are not new,
and they also are very effective.

It turns out just even with COVID - 19 like the workplaces and
institutions have put in requirements for COVID - 19 vaccine , saw an
average of 20% jump in va ccination rates , m any of them pushing
them to soar into the 90s of folks who were compliant with the
vaccine requirements. So the f ederal g overnment , as the President
said, w i ll use every lever it has to advance the vaccination effort,
because that is esse ntial to public health. That's what science and
public health are telling us that they will do so in a way that's
respectful of the law . What the President announce d , he's absolutely
within the jurisdiction of the fe deral g overnment to require federal
work ers, for example, to get vaccinated, to use its authority with CMS ,
and its authority with OSHA , also ensure that our hospitals and our
workplaces are safe as well.

So you're going to see more and more data, I think that comes out
about how these vaccine r equirements are in f act, really turbo
charging and jumpstarting our vaccination rates to very high levels .
And what that will translate to, it's just more protection across the

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

country.

And finally, just consider this , if you're a worker out there who's be en
a remote . And you're thinking about coming back to the workplace,
certainly you want to know that the workplace is safe. If you're a child
or a parent of a child who's coming back to school, we want to know
that your school is going to be as safe as pos sible. We all want to
come back to the shop, to work , to study in places that we know are
going to be safe. This is why the requirements make sense. It's why so
many localities and states are considering them as well.

Margaret Flinter: We've been speaking today with U . S . Surgeon General Dr. Vivek
Murthy, Vice Admiral of the U . S . Public Health Commission's Service
Corps. He's the author of ‘ Together : The Healing Power of Human
Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World . ’ Learn more about his
vitally important [email protected] or follow him on
Twitter @S urgeon _G eneral or @vivek_murthy.

Surgeon General Murthy , we want to thank you for your dedication to
improving the health and the well - being of our enti re nation a nd for
joining us again, on Conversations on Health Care .

Dr. Vivek Murthy: Margaret, thank you so much. And Mark, I appreciate it. Can I share one last thought? You know, that's been on my mind here .

You know, somebody asked me recently he said , “W hat keeps you up
at night , w ith all of these efforts on COVID? ” And thinking about it,
what came out in this COVID effort for as long as I have, and I reali z e
that the thing that concerns me most of the division and polari z ation
that we've, in society right now, because it stands in the way of us
getting people information they need , making sure people get access
to life saving treatments and vaccines. And that's really a tragedy.

But to me, it points out something that COVID taught us, which is the imp ortance of our connection with one another, our relationships
with one another . When we were separated from people, we can see
neighbors and friends and family members who reminded us that we truly do need each other. And we're better off when we have each other . W hen people were struggling in the course of pandemic , folks
lost jobs and others were trying to figure out how to care for their children at home , while also teleworking. So many people have
stepped up to help one another. That is actually who we are at our
best. When we look out for one another recogni z ing we are truly
stronger , when we're together.

But as I see , some of the forces out there that are lending themselves
to polari z ation, some of the misinformation that's driving people to
turn again st one another , i t worries me , because it means that we're
the most important thing we need, which is s t ick by one another , is

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

something that's under threat , d uring one of the worst pandemics
that any of us has seen.

I raised that just because I think it i s up to all of us, in whatever role
we play, whether we're in government or not, but it's incumbent
upon all of us to think about what we can do to strengthen our
connections , to ensure that we have environments where people can
actually speak and dialogue honestly , though, respectfully recogni z ing
we have a common mission here, which is to get through this
pandemic.

Our enemy is the virus, it is not each other. And we have to make sure
that the way we engage in dialogue with each other , the way we
approach for decision making reflects th e reality that we truly do
need each other during this pandemic and we will long after it's over .

Mark Masselli: What an important message. Thank you for sharing .

Margaret Flinter: Thank you so much.

Mark Masselli: That agai n for all of your leadership.

Margaret Flinter: Thank you both so much.

[Music]

Mark Masselli: At C onversations on Health Care we want our audience to be truly in
the know when it comes to the facts about healthcare reform and
policy . Lori R obertson is an award winning journalist and Managing
Editor of F act C heck .org a nonpartisan, nonprofit consumer advocate
for voters that aim to reduce the level of deception in U . S . politics.
L ori , what have you got for us this week?

Lori Robertson: Infectious disease exp erts say low vaccination rates , resistance to
protective measures, such as wearing a mask , and the highly
transmissible Delta variant are driving the recent surge of COVID - 19
cases in the United States . But many Americans apparently believe
immigrants are driving the ris e in cases.

A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 55% of
Republicans say immigrants and tourists bringing COVID - 19 into the
U . S . is a major reason for the high number of cases. There was a surge
of new COVID - 19 cases tha t began in mid to late summer. The
number of new cases per day jumped from about 12,000 in mid - June
to about 160,000 in late - August and early September, according to
the Cent e rs for Disease Control and Preventions COVID Data Tracker .
Simultaneously, there has been a surge of illegal immigration at the
Southwest border , with apprehensions of illegal border crossers ,
jumping from about 75,000 in January to more than 200,000 in July.

But experts say the la tter is not driving the former. According to the

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

CDC, virtually all of the new cases emerging in the U . S are caused by
the Delta variant. Emma Hod c roft, a researcher at the University of
Bern in Switzerland and a co - developer of a virus tracking site , told us
she hasn't seen evidence that Delta arrived from M exico or South
America. In fact, the dominant variants , south of the U . S . have been
different from Delta a nd those variants haven't been dominant in the
U . S. Instead, Ho d croft said Delta was “ very likely ” introduced from the
UK and India initially and then the world soon after .

Dr. Michel e Heisler medical director at Physicians for Human Rights
agreed. She told us there was no epidemiological evidence that
immigrants at the Southwest border were driving a surge in cases.
Instead, the hotspots of infection i n the U . S are locations that have
very low rates of vaccination, she said .

In early August, the City of McAllen, Texas said Catholic Charities and
American Medical Response identified more than 7 , 000 COVID - 19
positive immigrants brought to the city since m id - February. Officials
for the county that includes McAllen have said that while the surge of
immigration has become a crisis, it's incorrect to blame immigrants
for rising COVID - 19 cases in the county. And that's my fact check for
this week. I'm L or i Robe rtson, Managing Editor of F act C heck.org .

Margaret Flinter: FactCheck.org is committed to factual accuracy from the country's
major political players and is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy
Center at the University of Pennsylvania. If you have a fac t that you'd
like checked, email us at C HCR adio .com we'll have F act C heck.org ’s
Lori Robertso n , check it out for you here on C onversations on H ealth
C are.

[Music]

Mark Masselli: Each week C onversations highlights a bright idea about how to make
wellness a p art of our communities and everyday lives. A sthma is one
of the leading causes of trips to the emergency room for children. And
there are often a correlation between high density, low - income
neighborhoods and more trips to the hospital for treatment and
in tervention.

When officials at Boston Children's Hospital noticed a spike in asthma
outbreaks in certain neighborhood clusters , t hey decided to do
something about it. They launched the Community Asthma Initiative .
They reali z ed that if you could treat the e nvironments in the patient's
home that might reduce the need to treat the patient in the
emergency room.

Dr. Elizabeth Wood: The home visiting efforts work with children and families that have
been identified through their hospitalization ’ s emergency room visits
as an identification of having poorly controlled asthma , and also it's a

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

teachable moment.

Mark Masselli: Dr. Elizabeth Wood , heads the program and says the first step is to
identify the frequent - fl y ers , those kids who make repeated trips to
the eme rgency room. Then they match with the community health
worker who visit ed their home several times and assesses the home
for asthma triggers .

Dr. Elizabeth Wood: And they work on three areas understanding as much s o
understanding the medications and the ne ed for control medications
a nd then working on environmental issues.

Mark Masselli: Families are given everything from HEPA filter vacuum cleaners to air
purifiers . They are told not to clean with certain toxic products . And
the homes are monitored for the presence of pests or rodents. The
result says Dr. Wood has been pretty dramatic.

Dr. Elizabeth Wood: What's remarkable is that there was a 56% reduction in patients with
any emergency department visits , and 80% reduction in patients with
any hospitali z ati on.

Mark Masselli: And while this program is expensive, there is a return - on - investment
in reduced hospital costs and healthier children. The program has
been so successful it's being deployed in other hospital communities
around the country.

The Community Asthma Initiative, a simple re - shifting of resources
aimed at removing the cause of disease outbreaks in the community,
leading to healthier patient populations. Now that's a bright idea.

[Music]

Mark Masselli: You've been listening to Conversations on He alth Care. I'm Mark
Masselli.

Margaret Flinter: And I'm Margaret Flinter.

Mark Masselli: Peace and Health .

[Music]

Female : Conversations on Health Care is recorded at WESU at Wesleyan
University, streaming live at ww w.chcradio.com , iTunes, or wherever
you listen to podcasts. If you have comments, please email us at
[email protected] or find us on Facebook or Twitter. We love
hearing from you. This show is brought to y ou by the Community
Health Center .