Covid lockdowns. Social media. Early puberty. Cyber-bullying. The possible causes are many. But the undeniable fact is this: Today’s children and adolescents are under greater psychological strain than any previous generation in history. In this episode, two South Puget Sound mental health professionals explain why awareness and education are increasingly important tools.
Danny Fisher-Bruns, a Puget Sound-area consultant, discusses the Tacoma Anchor Network, a coalition of major Pierce County institutions working together to address social, racial and economic inequities of common concern to all South Sound residents.
One in nine girls and one in 53 boys under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse or assault at the hands of an adult, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. Author DeVandra Wheeler, a social worker and victims’ advocate based in Tacoma, Wash., says children and families must protect themselves before it’s too late.
Providing health and social services to underserved and at-risk populations can be difficult even in the best of circumstances. But when the area in need is a rural and geographically isolated peninsula, the stakes increase exponentially. In this episode, we hear from Susan and Ben Paganelli, a husband-and-wife team who are working to help improve whole-person health for residents of Washington’s Key Peninsula, commonly referred to as “the KP.”
Like many other communities across the nation, Pierce County, Washington, is caught in a housing dilemma: A booming population, too little housing, and dramatically rising costs. In this 80/20 episode, Bryan Schmid, Pierce County’s Affordable Housing Supervisor, describes why shelter is essential to any community’s health and explains the strategies underway to address the problem.
More than 3,000 people at any point in time are unsheltered in Pierce County, Wash. In this episode of the Elevate Health 80/20 Project, Delmar Algee, III, a social service supervisor who oversees Homeless Programming, explains the range of initiatives aimed at addressing the problem.
Some 61 million adults – or roughly one in four in the United States – live with some form of disability. Nalani Linder, Interim Executive Director of the Tacoma Area Coalition for Individuals with Disabilities (TACID), explains how virtually all social determinants of health may be affected for those who live with disabilities.
The pandemic further exposed the lack of affordable housing across the nation, especially in Pierce County, Washington. With the transition to a post-Covid “new normal” now underway, Pierce County Rental Assistance Lead Valeri Almony explains the ongoing challenges as well as the path forward.
LGBTQ+ youths in Pierce County, Washington often experience marginalization and discrimination, especially in health care settings. In this second episode of a two-part series focused on social determinants of health in the LGBTQ+ community, Oasis Youth Center Executive Director Matthew Wilson describes how SDOH factors can have negative consequences, particularly for those 21 and under.
According to recent polling, an estimated 10 percent of the U.S. population will soon identify as LGBTQ+ or something other than heterosexual, roughly double from just a decade ago. In the first of two episodes geared toward the LGBTQ+ community, Troy Christensen of Tacoma’s Rainbow Center discusses the significance and challenges associated with ensuring equitable access to health care for all in a changing society.
Data collection and monitoring are essential to understanding a community’s health needs and health trends. Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department Data Analyst Stephanie Wood, also a consultant to the county’s Opioid Task Force, explains how numbers significantly influence important health policy decisions.
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This episode features a conversation with Stephanie Sacks, Clinical Director for Rebuilding Hope, the Sexual Assault Center for Pierce County, Washington, which offers support toward healing through advocacy and therapy for those affected by sexual assault.
