Building Vibrant Health: IEHP Foundation's Greg Bradbard on Equity, Advocacy, and Collective Action

Greg Bradbard, CEO of the IEHP Foundation, joins Erin to discuss building healthier communities through advocacy, nonprofit leadership, and place-based health initiatives like the Blue Zones Project. A powerful look at health equity, systems change, and the human side of healthcare.

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Episode Transcript

Erin Brinker (00:00):
Erin, welcome everyone to the making hope

(00:09):
happen radio show. I'm ErinBrinker, do you ever just watch
human behavior, either online orin person? When we were first
married, my husband and I wouldgo to public spaces just to
watch people. And it wasfascinating. Body language can
communicate so much. We'd watch,you know, who was holding hands,
kind of what people werewearing, you know, did they have

(00:30):
kids, and what did that looklike, and which stores were they
going to? And it was reallyinteresting. They have pets with
them, etc. It was an, it was aninteresting and fascinating way
to spend a little time online isa different experience, but it
can still tell you a lot abouthow human beings interact with
one another. I was on Xrecently, and it was
fascinating. The most innocuousof statements can bring

(00:54):
vitriolic and profane responses.
Most of them I ignore becausethere's an active percentage of
the population that likes to setfires just to watch them burn.
Occasionally, I'll makeclarifying statements, and I did
that yesterday, someone hadposted a video from an airport
that was largely empty, or of anairport that was largely empty.
A man was sitting in his spotwith his things around him, and

(01:15):
another man sat down right nextto him, not one space away, or
two spaces away, or the other,you know, the other side of
where the chairs were. He satright next to him in a largely
empty terminal, which is weirdin the US, right? That's not the
cultural norm. The originalpassenger responded with grossly
outsized anger. Dude was mad. Hewas pretty bent out of shape.

(01:39):
The second guy took a second andthen backed away and that that,
you know, kind of he lookedstunned, mostly at the level of
anger, but he didn't even seethat what he had done was out of
the cultural norm. So the twomen were of different races, so
the usual racist vitriol fromposters on X ensued, as you
might imagine, to me, the issuewas a lack of observance of a

(02:03):
cultural norm. To them, it wassomething more nefarious. And
again, please keep in mind thatsome people will see that,
because that's how they see theworld. And there's nothing that
you can say or do really,especially on that platform
that's going to change theirmind. They're going to set a
fire and watch it burn. And Ireally I'm not interested in
those people, because there'snothing I can do right where, at
least I'm not sure what to do. Ithink that's a fair statement.

(02:27):
So my statement made no commentabout the flash of anger of the
first passenger hat. I simplycommented that I didn't think
that anger was down to raceanother poster on X became
enraged and defensive that I hadthe temerity to say that, you
see, he thought I was callinghim a racist because we
disagreed. I wasn't, but hecalled me a few colorful names

(02:49):
in his response, and forwhatever reason, I had the
presence of mind not to respondin kind. I acknowledged his
point and said that I shouldhave assumed his inference and
been clearer. So his main pointwas, well, you didn't say that
the behavior that you that youdisagreed with the behavior of
the first guy you know goingoff. Well, I didn't make a

(03:10):
statement about his behavior atall. I was just making a
statement about a cultural norm.
But okay, I get that, and you'reright. I see that. I can see why
you would assume that that wasmy point of view, and I should
have been clear. Then that'spretty much what I said in a
short tweet. You know, heapologized to me, and we ended

(03:34):
the conversation on a positivenote. And it got me thinking,
there is a there is tremendouspower, rather, in extending an
olive branch, and it reallycosts you nothing. If it's not
taken or reciprocated, you're nobetter or worse off than when it
was extended in the first place.
If, however, it is wellreceived, you are both better
off and so is the other person,which is great, right? And

(04:00):
perhaps they'll come to the nextinteraction with a little more
kindness. So I'm grateful forkindness today, and I want to
put it out there that maybewe're all a little too
defensive. And I'm not saying wedon't have reason to be that's
true, but maybe we're all alittle defensive, and maybe we

(04:22):
really are wearing ourselves outjumping to conclusions, and we
should probably stop that andremember that the other person,
usually, sometimes they're bots,but a good you know, you have to
assume at least some of thepeople that you're talking to
online are actually people Allright, now on to our guests.

(04:42):
Well, I am very pleased towelcome to the show Greg
bradbard. He is the CEO,Executive Director for the IE HP
foundation. That's the InlandEmpire Health Plan Foundation,
and he's been a fixture in theInland Empire for a long time,
from the United Way to. Hopethrough housing national core to
IE HP Foundation, if you've beeninvolved in really moving the

(05:04):
needle in the Inland Empire, youknow. Greg bradbard. Greg
bradbard, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much. Erin, greatto be here today. So I told him,
I said a little bit about whoyou are, but why don't you? Why
don't you tell our listeners,kind of who you are and how you
ended up and how you made it tothe IHP foundation? Yeah,

Unknown (05:22):
sure, well, well, first off, I'm a husband and a dad,
and so that's, that's theimportant place to start and
have two daughters, and that's,that's an important thing. But
my, my, you know, my historywas, I started, really was my
degree in psychology and socialbehavior back at UC Irvine, and
didn't know exactly where thatwas going to take me, but what I

(05:45):
knew was that I wanted to helppeople. I wanted to do something
that made a difference in mycommunity and that made people,
lot people's lives better, andI've been on this interesting
path since then. And really myfirst job was actually I had
done an internship while inschool for an organization that
worked with low income andhomeless families, and there was
a food pantry and counselingservices and transitional

(06:07):
housing. And as I was about tograduate, didn't know what I was
going to do with my life, theexecutive director offered me a
job, and that changed my life.
Excellent, really, truly. Andshe ended up becoming a terrific
mentor. Her name was MargieWacom, and she was on the school
board and was executivedirector, very connected in town
and but really became a mentorfor me, and introduced me to
this idea of working in thenonprofit field, which I never

(06:29):
understood before. I rememberactually asking her early on, so
like, help me understand thisnonprofit thing, like, Is it
government? Is it business? Andshe explained it to me, and I
kind of came to the conclusionit's kind of

Erin Brinker (06:44):
someplace in between. I was going to say yes

Unknown (06:47):
to the same day. It's like running a small business,
but where your mission is tochange a life, rather than to
turn a profit, right? Many ofthe same you know, principles
and skills you need to run abusiness successful. You need in
the nonprofit world as well.
Anyways, fell in love with itand I worked, had the blessing
of work in a number of differentorganizations, then an

(07:08):
educational foundation. I workedwith kids in the foster care
system at Casa of Orange Countyfor about nine years. Wow.
Really powerful work there, ifyou know, providing mentors and
advocates for abused andneglected kids in the foster
care system. Yeah,

Erin Brinker (07:24):
and I want to, I so love their mission, because
in family court, the parents arerepresented, the state is
represented, or the county andthe CASA volunteer. And they're
volunteers who commit to a lotof training two years at a
minimum. They are the they'rethe voice for the child in that
courtroom where life changingdecisions are being made.

Unknown (07:47):
You're exactly right, yeah. And what I saw was that
those volunteers, many times,got to know that child better
than anyone else. And to yourpoint, Erin, what those kids
also realize many times, is thatthat cost of volunteer was maybe
the only person in their lifewho wasn't paid to be there,
their social worker, theirattorney, their foster parent,
everybody else was getting apayment. But the cost of
volunteer was there simply outof the kindness of their heart,

(08:09):
and when those kids realizedthat the relationship and the
bond that was formed was sopowerful. So those cost of
volunteers, you know, inadvocating for those kids in
court, was so powerful. So I wasthere for about nine years.
Loved that time in 2010 wasgiven the opportunity to run
Inland Empire United Way. Thatwas my chance to come back to
the Inland Empire area. That'swhen I moved my family up to

(08:32):
rancher Cucamonga area, and hadthe opportunity to run United
Way, where I think we metinitially, yes, and and there we
did things like beating programsfor hungry kids in schools. We
had a school tools program thatput school supplies in the hands
of teachers in low incomeclassrooms. We ran the two on

(08:52):
one call center, which hopefullylisteners know, is a 24/7 free
community resource line. Andthen we did a lot around college
career access as well, collegereadiness as well, to introduce
kids from lower incomecommunities who are maybe be the
first in their family to go tocollege, for them to understand
the benefits of going college,that there's dollars available

(09:14):
to go to college, and to helpthem actually head down that
path. And so, so

Erin Brinker (09:19):
let's talk about that. 211, for a second. And I
sorry, I didn't mean tointerrupt you. Were there when
they really were putting thiswhole infrastructure together,
if I remember correctly. Andthen, and this, the counties had
kind of decided, and probably atthe state's behest, to put
together a number that could becalled for any kind of resources
from you need housing, you needfood, you need, you know, rent,

(09:40):
just rental assistance, or youneed help with utility bill, or,
you know, whatever. And you allthat, all that infrastructure
had to be built and created sothat there would be something
for there would be a network forfamilies to call. And you were
part of that developing thatinfrastructure, correct? Yeah,

Unknown (09:55):
to some extent, yeah. I mean, it was the the basic
infrastructure was in place. Ihave to give a. Shout out to
Gary Madden, who is the directorof 211 at the time. And Gary,
particularly in San BernardinoCounty, did a lot of work
actually, to develop differentkind of specialty areas. And so
we had a program specificallyaround the re entry population.
So those leaving prison, how dowe connect them with the

(10:16):
resources they need so they canbe successful when they return
back to their community, so

Erin Brinker (10:20):
they don't end up reoffending and going back to
prison. Because nobody wantsthat. They don't want that.
Society doesn't want that. Wewant them to become productive
and have families and live alife. No, that's exactly true,

Unknown (10:30):
and unfortunately, we've also created a system that
makes it very difficult forpeople to come back and be
successful, so that to make surethat they have the resources to
do that, we also had a VeteransProgram that was specifically
focused on meeting the needs ofveterans, both those who had
just returned from duty as wellthose who have been out of the
service for, you know, decades.
And what we did is we hired inboth of those programs, hired

(10:51):
peers to do that work, so asthey understand exactly in the
re entry population, it waspeople who had spent time in
jail that understood, you know,kind of the culture and the
mindset, and then the veteransas well. We hired veterans to
answer those calls as well. Buttwo on one's a great, you know,
it's a great resource.
Unfortunately, there are notenough resources in our

(11:14):
community across the InlandEmpire area to meet all the
needs that exist. And so, youknow, 211 is able to connect
people with the resources thatexist, but if the capacity is
not there to provide thoseservices, then two on one is
limited, sometimes really to theservices that are available.

Erin Brinker (11:33):
So from the Inland Empire United Way, you made
another jump, yes.

Unknown (11:38):
So had the opportunity to work for the last seven years
or so with national core and thehope through Housing Foundation.
National Core is an incredibledeveloper and operator of
affordable housing, and theyhave about 100 affordable
housing communities throughoutSouthern California, Florida and
Texas. My role was running thehope through Housing Foundation,
which was a separate 501, c3that specifically provided the

(12:01):
on site services. So while thesefamilies and seniors were on
these properties, we providedthings like after school
programs for kids, financialmanagement and job assistance
for adults, health and wellnessprograms for seniors on those
sites. So right on site wherepeople lived, we provided those

(12:23):
really fulfilling, but terrificorganization. And then it was
about a year ago that I had theopportunity to join IHP
Foundation, incredible place,and I plan on being here
forever.

Erin Brinker (12:37):
That's great.
That's great. You found yourspot so so talk to me about what
the Inland Empire Health Planis, and then differentiate it
from the foundation yourmissions. How are they
different?

Unknown (12:47):
Yes, yeah. So, so many people know IHP, which stands
for Inland Empire Health Plan.
And Inland Empire Health Plan isthe primary Medi Cal provider in
the counties of San Bernardinoand Riverside County. So you
might note the federal level, werefer to it as Medicaid, and
Medicaid is typically healthinsurance for low income or

(13:07):
those with disabilities. InCalifornia, just to confuse
everyone, we call it Medi Cal.
And

Erin Brinker (13:15):
they're getting cute, you know, it's branding.

Unknown (13:18):
They're there. It's good branding, though, but
there's some enhancements thereand what as well. So, so
something that a lot of peopledon't know is that about 43% of
residents in the Inland Empirerely on Medi Cal for their
insurance. A full 43% of thatIHP provides insurance and
healthcare services for aboutone in three across the region,

(13:42):
or about 1.5 million residentsacross San Bernardino and
Riverside counties. And sothat's IHP as a health plan, the
health plan's job has a wholenetwork of providers to provide
the quality direct healthcareservices, whether that's
physical health, that's mentalhealth, whatever the specialties
are hospital services to their1.5 million members. So

Erin Brinker (14:05):
are they also a Medicare supplemental provider?
Or do or when people hit 65 andthey've maybe they've had IHP,
do they age out and they have tofind another supplemental or
another Medicare provider?

Unknown (14:17):
Great question. So to a certain extent, yes, there, are
some people that that qualifyfor both Medicare and Medi Cal
and so there's a smallpopulation where that is true.
However, IHP currently does nothave a Medicare Advantage Plan,
which means it would be forthose who are just on Medicare,
who are 65 and over. So thegreat majority are children and

(14:39):
families under 65 years old.

Erin Brinker (14:42):
So I'm reeling at that 43% number that just seems
that seems unbelievable to me,that that such a high percentage
of the population requiresgovernment assistance for basic
needs, and health care is abasic need. And, you know, I
just. Got to sit with that for asecond, because, you know,
ultimately, we want people tobe, to be to gain affluence, and

(15:06):
be affluent enough to be able toto not rely on the largest and
as we're seeing largess ofgovernment, and we're seeing now
with the changes in federalgovernment and how they're
spending money, and all of thatthat, all of that I assume, is
at risk. So we can talk aboutthat in a minute, and kind of
what, what that means on a very,a very human level for the
families who are facing thischallenge. But talk continue,

(15:29):
talking about the IHP foundationand kind of what your mission

Unknown (15:33):
is, yeah, so about three years ago, the leadership
of the health plan had thewisdom of launching this
foundation and said, Hey, look,we, in addition to the work we
do directly for our residents,we really need an entity here in
the region that's dedicatedspecifically to improving the
health of all people across SanBernardino and Riverside County,

(15:56):
regardless of insurance,regardless of income level. And
this so they established thisfoundation. They funded it
initially with about $100million which is the initial
endowment. And if you know howan endowment works, that doesn't
mean that we have $100 millionto spend, no capital sit there
in perpetuity. And the beauty ofthat is those dollars will be

(16:18):
retained for decades andpotentially generations to come,
and will grow over time as welland continue to work for the
region. And what we are able toinvest then is the investment
return off of that initialendowment. And so the mission
really is focused, like I said,across the region. How do we
create a place? And this placebeing San Bernardin, Riverside

(16:41):
County. How do we make it aplace where everyone has the
ability to experience what wecall vibrant health, and vibrant
health is full physical health,mental health, overall, well
being, and it's really what allof us want for our families. And
what we know is that, and theresearch tells us this, that
about 60 to 80% of one's healthoutcomes are not simply what
takes place in a doctor's officeor in a hospital, and at the

(17:05):
contrary, that's 60 to 80% ofour health actually is what
happens in our communities, ourneighborhoods, in our homes, and
it's our personal choices. Soit's this combination of our
environment and the personalbehaviors and choices that we
make that make up much of ourhealth care. And the reality is,
when we walk into a doctor'soffice, much of what needs to

(17:27):
happen for us to be healthy hasalready happened or is happening
in in our home and in ourcommunity.

Erin Brinker (17:33):
And that's huge, right? So we especially when
you're talking about changingpeople's knowledge, their
attitudes and their behavior, alot of people know, well, you
know, maybe a certain percentageof the population don't, but a
lot of people know that you thatyou eat whole foods that you
don't. You know you don't. Youstay away from the package stuff
that you need to get out andmove your body every day, that
you need to get enough sleep anddrink enough water try to keep

(17:55):
stress at bay, although my dadwould say stress makes the world
go round, but you don't. Youdon't want to be so stressed out
that you're having a mentalhealth crisis, and we know all
of those things, changing theattitudes, and, more
importantly, changing behavior,that is really hard. It

Unknown (18:09):
is, you know, it's interesting. So I was just
having a conversation with aphysician, and I was talking
with him about what makes itdifficult to treat patients
sometimes, and he said, youknow? He said, If we're not
careful, what happens issomebody walks into a doctor's
office, they present a certainissue, whether it's a headache
or they have high blood pressureor whatever it might be. We look
at what the medication is. Wegive them the mechanic

(18:31):
medication. They go home, theytake the medication. Nothing
else changes. They come back.
They're really not in any betterplace than they were previously.
And he said, if we don't takethe time to really understand
their life circumstances and theother life and social factors.
He said, we often miss out on hesaid what what really is
impacting their condition iseverything else. Yeah, and the

(18:52):
everything else is. He said itmight be that they're working
two jobs. It might be that theyjust lost a job. It might be
that they're a caregiver. Itmight be that they have unstable
housing, or they feel unsafe intheir neighborhood, and all of
those things are impacting, youknow, one's ability to take care
of themselves, if they're notsleeping well, if they don't
have a place to keep, you know,their medications, if they're in

(19:14):
a stressful situation wherethey're not able to keep up with
taking that medication on aregular basis, but all those
things being a major factor. Andhe actually said he goes. You
know, he goes? We make 1000s ofmicro decisions every day, which
I've since learned the number isabout 35,000 is what the
research tells us. Holy

Erin Brinker (19:33):
cow. Seriously, a day i know i just

Unknown (19:37):
think about is that even when to blink my eyes, I
don't know what the researchsays you make 35,000 day and and
what we know is that ourenvironment nudges us one
direction or the other. Are wegoing to make a healthy choice?
Are we not going to make ahealthy choice? And so, Erin, to
your point, it is reallydifficult, you know, to change

(19:58):
human behavior. And what. Knowis that it's one thing to know
what the right thing is to do.
It's something else to actuallydo it. And what the research
tells us is that one of the keysthere is you have to change the
environment. You have to make iteasy for people to make healthy
choices. You know, create anenvironment where they're
naturally going to they're goingto have more healthy food
options, for instance, orthey're naturally going to walk

(20:18):
instead of, you know, taking acar, taking the stairs, instead
of that the elevator, forinstance,

Erin Brinker (20:25):
you know it. It makes me think, you know, in
communities, and you went toschool in Irvine. So Irvine is
completely walkable. Wherepeople live, there are nice
sidewalks. There areeverything's well lit, there's,
it's it's clean, there's not,you know, they're not people
living all over the streets.
They're not, you know, it's avery, very walkable space. And
you go into lower income or moreurban communities, and that's

(20:49):
not at all the case. They maynot have sidewalks there. It's
just, it's just a completelydifferent environment. And so
consequently, people don't walk.
They they're not out there withtheir kids. They don't feel safe
in the parks. They don't youknow, they're not out there
experiencing the same way thatin the higher end communities,
people are experiencing life.
Also in the lower incomecommunities, you're much more

(21:12):
likely to see fast food and minimarts and you know, all of the
things that you know, if you'reworking 60 hours a week and
trying to get your kid, youknow, from here or there to
school, make sure they're takencare of. And let's just say
you're just working the 40 hoursa week trying to get your kid
here or there, and there's aMcDonald's or a taco bell or
whatever on every corner, and,you know, you don't have time to

(21:33):
get home and cook, you're goingto stop and get the Taco Bell.

Unknown (21:37):
Yes, yeah, and you're exactly right. It's about what's
accessible to us, right? What'swhat's nearby. And you
mentioned, you know, if peopledon't feel safe on their
streets, if there aren'tsidewalks, you know, it's, it's,
we obviously have weather hereduring the summer where it gets
very warm, very, very warm. Yes,when people can exercise is
either early morning or late inthe evening, when it might be

(21:58):
dark as well. If you don't havestreet lights, then people
aren't going to feel safe. Andthat also impacts, well, that
whether they whether theyexercise, and

Erin Brinker (22:05):
I'm not scapegoating the unhoused. They
have their that's a populationthat has, you know, obviously,
very a lot to deal with, and alot of challenges in their own
lives. And as a society, wecould do a much better job in
managing that, that challenge.
But if you know, as if, fromcoming from the standpoint of a
mom, if you're seeing, I've notbeen a single mom, but if I were
a single mom, and you're havingto make choices about what you

(22:29):
can and cannot control, you knowyou're not going to take your
kids out if it's not safe.

Unknown (22:36):
Yes, no, absolutely.
Yeah. So,

Erin Brinker (22:39):
so the foundation is really focused on the all the
things that lead to health. Whatare some of your art to good
health? Because, like you said,ultimately, by the time you're
sitting in your doctor's officewith diabetes and high blood
pressure, there's a whole lot ofof things that could have
happened before then, and theycan treat those individual
symptoms, but they're not goingto treat the underlying problems
without major lifestyle change.
So kind of talk about what i, h,p, s, mission is, and, and you

(23:01):
know what specifically you'redoing?

Unknown (23:06):
Yeah, exactly. So. So the way we carry our mission,
and the mission is to ignite andinspire health across the Inland
Empire. So what does that looklike, along the lines of what
we've been talking about, youknow? So first of all, you know,
we have some priority areas.
Those priority areas arespecifically low income
communities, those that arerural or remote, and those that
have the greatest health needsin them. So we're focusing

(23:26):
geographically on those areaswhere we need to know the needs
are greatest. Secondly, we'veidentified a group of kind of
priority issue areas that we'rereally interested in investing
in. We'd love to be able toinvest in everything, but we
have limited resources. So weneed, we need, we know we need
to focus those resources. We doutilize the vital conditions

(23:46):
framework. So Erin, you mightknow the vital conditions is a
federal framework that's usedby, I think, over 40 federal
agencies and others, but it'sreally an easy way to talk about
the social determinants ofhealth, which is what we've been
talking about. And there arethree of those in particular
that we focus on. The first oneis basic needs for health and
safety, and we've kind of twoemphasis there. One is food

(24:08):
insecurity. So how do we makesure people have access to
nutritious foods, as we weretalking about, which is
critical. The second one isaround access to health care,
both physical health and mentalhealth care as well. The second
priority there is humanehousing. And so this is focused
on, you talked about homeless,but really access to quality
housing, and that's bothaffordable rental housing, but

(24:30):
also home ownership, because weknow that one of America's
greatest wealth building toolsis home ownership. And so we
also, you know, are reallysupportive of those programs
that allow down paymentassistance, that help build
credit, that help get peopleready to purchase their first
home and build that generationalwealth for their family. And

(24:50):
then the last area is aroundwhat we call meaningful work and
wealth. It's really focused onworkforce development, and for
us, that focus. Is on developingthe pipeline of future
healthcare professionals andsocial service professionals as
the two areas we're reallyfocused on are our nonprofit
organizations and make sure wehave enough physicians and other

(25:12):
healthcare professionals to meetthe needs of our region well.

Erin Brinker (25:16):
And that's a growing challenge right
nationwide, having practitionersboth in the physical health when
you think of health care, andalso on the mental health side,
there are huge challenges,especially in lower income or
rural remote areas, findingenough people to care for them.
Yes, yeah,

Unknown (25:35):
absolutely. If you look at the numbers of our ratio of
physician to residents in InlandEmpire compared to San Diego,
Orange County, LA, we have amuch, well, I guess larger ratio
meaning we have fewer physiciansor professionals. And you're
exactly right, not justphysicians, but also mental
health clinicians as well. Mywife is a mental health

(25:56):
condition, and I can tell youevery day what she sees is that
there are more people seekingservices than there are
available clinicians, and manypeople have to wait, you know,
weeks or months in order to getin to get an appointment. What I

Erin Brinker (26:09):
think is interesting, and that certainly
has the has to take a toll,first of all on the
practitioners. I imagine thatbecause of the number of people
they're having to see and thequick way they have to chart,
because they have to documenteverything in a very particular
way. And and then they, theythey're left, they're set,
because they're human andthey're empathetic humans.
They're left with all of thethings that have been given to

(26:31):
them to to process with theirpatients. And then they have to
take that somewhere and dosomething with it. And so then
they need mental healthprofessionals to support them.
And so it is, it is, it's a lot,

Unknown (26:42):
yeah, yeah. Somebody was said to me, every counselor
needs a counselor,

Erin Brinker (26:46):
indeed. Well, they absolutely do, absolutely do, to
protect themselves, you know,from the burden. I actually
thought about being I really,really thought about going into
mental health, doing that. Andmy husband's like, Erin, you
take every patient that youwould take home, every single
thing that ever you know, thatthey ever told you, because I
would, I would, I would not beable to shut it off. And so my,

(27:07):
my, my hats off to people whocan't because they're
desperately needed. No, it's

Unknown (27:11):
heavy, heavy work, but really important work. Indeed,

Erin Brinker (27:13):
100% not. I've mad respect for anybody who does
that. So one of the challenge asyou're talking about, there's,
there's not enough mental healthpractitioners. But we've got
medical school, a relatively newmedical school at UCR we have
the one that's at the ArrowheadRegional Medical Center. There's
the the there's one in Pomona,an osteopathic medical school in

(27:36):
Pomona, Cal State, SanBernardino has just fall. Will
be there. Fall 25 will be theirfirst cohort, of physicians
assistance. There are nursepractitioner schools, I think,
at Loma Linda, and a few otherplaces. And also, Loma Linda, of
course, has a medical school andallied health professionals. Is
that enough? And can weincentivize and is there a
place, and I'm putting you onthe spot, is there a place for

(27:57):
the IE HP foundation toincentivize people who graduate
from these programs to get localresidencies and stay Yeah,

Unknown (28:04):
great question. And so what I'll say is, and this is an
area where the health planactually makes much larger
investments than the foundationand IHP is a health plan
actually invests in pretty muchevery program you just mentioned
by scholarshipping in students.
And one of the things that we'rereally emphasizing is, first
off, how do we recruit more kidsfrom our region? So how do we

(28:27):
make those sure that thosecoming into the program who are
scholarshiping are from this,this place, because we know
they're much more likely to stayhere if they have roots here and
have family here and then, andthen many of those programs as
well also require, if youreceive the funding, you do have
to stay for a certain number ofyears and serve this community
after completing, aftercompleting your residency. That

(28:52):
being said, you know, what I'velearned is that it's not just a
matter of, I mean, one of allit, part of it is a number of,
you know, the number ofavailable slots in medical
schools, and they are limited. Iwas just at California
University for science andmedicine, which is affiliated
with AMRC, as you mentioned. Andyou know, they were sharing how

(29:14):
many applicants they have fromaround the entire country and
how selective they have to be.
The very cool thing is, theyreally do prioritize local
students into their programs, sothat, you know, the kid from
Fontana actually is a muchgreater chance of being accepted
than the, you know, the rockstar from from Virginia, for

(29:36):
instance. And so they areprioritizing that that's great,
very limited slots. The secondpiece is having enough spots,
though, for residency so thatonce those students go through,
I'm going to call it theClassroom program, that they
need to be placed into localhospitals, and we do a limited
residency slots as well, andreally funding for those
residency slots. So it's abigger picture, but there are,

(29:59):
there are many people. Focusingon that. There are some dollars
flowing into that, the healthplans investing in that as well,
but a big one that we're slowlychipping away at. So

Erin Brinker (30:07):
one of the things that that you all have done in
the last year is put together acohort of nonprofit leaders that
will be kind of shepherded andstewarded to be to tackle some
of the most pervasive problemsand impacting the social
determinants of health. Whydon't you talk about that?

Unknown (30:26):
Yeah, so really exciting, actually. And so, you
know, one of the things that Ireally value is that, when I
came on board, my board ofdirectors said, Hey, Greg, one
of the things we're interestedin is non profit capacity
building, which I absolutelylove. You know, I spent the last
25 years running non profits,and what I learned through that
is that there is no perfectnonprofit. Every nonprofit has
challenges, and even as good asthey are, there's room for

(30:46):
growth above that. We also knowacross this region, we have many
small to mid size nonprofitorganizations that need just
based basic development ofnonprofit skills as well. And so
first, what we did is we wedeveloped a program in
partnership with the care ofanswer I project, which provided
a 10 session series of basic,you know, nonprofit business

(31:11):
management training for smallerorganizations, where those
organizations would go throughthat program. This was
specifically for organizationswith the budget less than
$500,000 many of them werefounder led organizations.
They'd go through that training,and then at the end of it, as a
carrot, we provided a $5,000grant. So no, it's great
retraining, but they got a grantat the end of it, and we got

(31:31):
fabulous feedback from that. Sothe program you were referring
to, though, is actually a newerprogram, which we call our
champions for vibrant healthleadership network. This is a
group of 40 organizations. Weactually had about 120
organizations that applied forit. Very difficult decision, but
we were able to whittle it downto 40 organizations. And each

(31:51):
one of those 40 organizations,who are selected, nominated an
Executive leader and an emergingleader to be part of it. So
there's two leaders from everyorganization. And we did that
really intentionally. You know,when I came on board, I did a
series of listening sessionsaround the region. My board of
directors and the staff who werehere before me did a bunch of

(32:12):
that as well. And we really havebuilt our programs based on the
feedback that we received fromnonprofit leaders. And one of
the things we heard was we needto invest in that next tier of
nonprofit leaders in the region.
How do we make sure we'rebuilding those folks who can be
executive directors in thefuture? And so this program
intentionally does that. Youknow, what we ask for is, who do
you see in your organizationthat's talented has the ability

(32:33):
to move up either in yourorganization or someplace else,
because it might be someplaceelse, but in the region, what we
would want to do, invest in theleadership of Inland Empire
nonprofit leaders, and so it's atwo year program. It's focused
on first, leadershipdevelopment. So we actually
hired someone who ran themaster's program in leadership
at USC, oh, wow, building thiswhole Leadership Development

(32:54):
Program. Secondly, they also geta grant. So each of those
organizations got a grant. Thesmaller organizations got
$25,000 the larger ones got$65,000 and they got that for
the first year. They'll get thatagain in the second year as
well. So it's a two year grant.
And part of what we heard toofrom organizations was, hey,
what we need is unrestricted,multi year funding. And so this

(33:17):
was a step in that direction.
We're gonna say at least it's atwo year grant. It's
unrestricted. It's intended tohelp you build capacity in your
organization. What can you spendit on that's going to help
prepare your organization toexpand, to reach more people, to
do your work better? But it'sreally up to the organization to
decide what that is. And thenthe final component of this
program is around public policy.

(33:39):
And so one of the things we knowis that our nonprofit
organizations have the abilityto lift their voices and to
advocate for issues that arereally important to the Inland
Empire, and they're on theground every day with children,
with families, with those withdisabilities, those who are
unhoused, those who aren'tworking. And they know the
issues, and they have theability to raise their voices at

(34:01):
this the the local level, countylevel, state and federal level
as well. And so we built thisprogram to really build the
public policy muscle of thatgroup. What's been really
exciting, it was, it was kind ofdisheartening, but exciting at
the same time is that of those80 leaders in our first session,
I asked them, How many of youever been to Sacramento before
or have ever advocated, youknow, to to local leaders on

(34:24):
behalf of your organization oran issue you care about. And
only about 15 hands went up inthat entire room, 80 leaders, 15
of them, many of these areexecutive directors who had
never really advocated before,and so we have put them through
a whole kind of advocacytraining program about a month
ago, we took them up toSacramento. We took that whole
group of 80 leaders. We walkedthe halls of what's called a

(34:48):
swing space now, but it'sessentially it's the capital
where all the assembly andsenators are for the state. They
all did meetings that morning.
They were all very nervous. Youcan feel the tension in the
room. How nervous. Were to gomeet with these important, you
know, elected officials. And bylunchtime, it was really cool to
see just this confidence. Oh,that's great in that they had

(35:10):
done the meetings, and they'relike, We can do this. It's just
having a conversation. And theseassembly, you know, members or
the senators or their staffers,they're just people. They're
people a lot of influence, butthey're just people, and it's a
conversation about issues thatwe care about and that these
nonprofit leaders know a lotabout as well. And so the idea

(35:31):
is to build those skills so thatthose leaders will continue to
advocate for whatever issues aremost important moving forward.

Erin Brinker (35:39):
Lot of nonprofit believe, nonprofit
organizational leaders believethat they can't engage in
advocacy because it's seen aslobbying and as 501, C, threes.
We're not supposed to endorsecandidates. We're not supposed
to, you know, have that kind ofinfluence, except when you're
advocating for the populationthat you serve. That is a
different thing entirely. And weare absolutely able to do that.

(36:01):
And we should do that, you know.
So if somebody has their idea,and I had picked on the unhoused
position before, so, you know,they assume that, well, all the
unhoused it's they're just lazy,and they're just on drugs and
it, and you say, Now, wait aminute, the fastest growing
population of unhoused in thestate of California are women
over 50 years. Yeah, and, and solet me, let me disabuse you of

(36:22):
some misconceptions, and we canmove forward on what a solution
might look like. And that is avery different conversation than
you know then I support thiscandidate. You know what I mean?
It's they're not all the same,and that's

Unknown (36:37):
considered education.
And so nonprofits can dounlimited education. Lobbying is
when we're saying, hey,specifically, we want you to
vote no on this bill, or we wantyou to support this particular,
you know program, you know,government program. And most of
what we do, the lobbying is verylimited. It's really more
education. It's bringing andit's also bringing kind of the

(36:57):
face and the stories of ourcommunity into those legislators
offices. Because I think a lotof times we talk about these
issues at this level, but to beable to bring it down to ground
level and say, let me tell youspecifically about Cynthia and
her family, single mom with fourkids, and the way that this
program made a difference forher, and if it goes away, what
that's going to mean for otherfamilies like her, and

Erin Brinker (37:22):
that is a beautiful segue into what we
kind of teased at the beginningof the conversation about some
of the changes that arehappening on the federal level,
and what that's going to meanfor the 40 What did you say? 46%
of California Inland Empireresidents, 43% who are on Medi
Cal. And for those of you not inCalifornia, just to remind you
that's Medicaid, it's, it's,it's healthcare for people who

(37:44):
who need a little help withtheir budget. And so kind of
talk about what some of thosechanges are and what what you're
worried about. Yeah,

Unknown (37:50):
so, so right now, there's pressure on Medi Cal or
Medicaid at both the state andfederal levels. So first on the
state level, you know the bottomline is as we came out of COVID.
As you can imagine, duringCOVID, a lot of people, everyone
stayed home. They were notseeking medical services. And
during that time, what thatmeans is that there were many
fewer services being used. Aswe've come out of COVID, people

(38:14):
have obviously come back to reallife. So they're using they're
going to their doctor when theyneed to. We also have deferred I
want to call it deferredmaintenance now as well. So, you
know, issues that probablyshould have been addressed. You
know, 2020, to 2022, that weredeferred. Now we have more of
those people in the system whoare really accessing services
the same time, mental health,you know, pro and con. I think

(38:39):
people have gotten much morecomfortable with seeking mental
health services, but that's alsoincreased that pressure on the
system as well. What all of thatmeans is increased costs on the
system, and so over the last twoyears across the state, the cost
of Medi Cal has increased beyondwhat the state has budgeted,

(38:59):
essentially, for that system. Sothe state is looking at, how do
we reduce costs and make surethat we can continue to support
Medi Cal moving forward? Now onthe federal side, about 70% of
funding into Medi Cal at thestate level comes from the feds.
It comes from the federalbudget. And as we know right
now, many changes beingconsidered at the federal level,

(39:21):
we know the federal governmentis looking at cutting about $880
billion out of the federalbudget over the next 10 years,
of

Erin Brinker (39:29):
money. I can't even, I can't even picture that
amount of money. It's a lot.

Unknown (39:33):
Indeed, the portion of the budget that that, that
800,000,000,800 $80 billionneeds to come from is the
portion that includes Medicare,Social Security and Medicaid.
And as we know, those servicesfor seniors, Medicare is
unlikely to be significantlytouched Social Security as well,

(39:58):
but Medicaid is one. That isbeing looked at. You know, the
President and others have said,we're not going to cut Medicaid.
However, there are some changesthat are, you know, being
considered in terms ofeligibility, or the types of
services that would be included,or reimbursable, which we know
will will reduce those peoplewho are eligible or those people

(40:20):
who are able to have thatinsurance and the services that
they're able to to takeadvantage of,

Erin Brinker (40:26):
and if you change the reimbursement rate. So right
now, Medicare, meta, Medicaid,or Medi Cal, reimbursement rates
are low, but if they're madelower, then fewer doctors are
going to participate. So you'veessentially taken away health
care from people who live inthat area. So say you're in
Blythe and or, you know, noteven necessarily that far flung
you're but you're out in a ruralarea, and there's one Medicare

(40:48):
or Medicaid, rather, Medi Calprovider, and the reimbursement
rates are changed so that he canno longer survive out there,
because it's not enough moneyper patient. And so all of a
sudden that that the familiesthat this this doctor was
serving, they no longer haveaccess to health care.

Unknown (41:04):
That's right, yeah, and, and so let's just play that
out. If that was also a doctorwho was serving 50% medical and
50% let's say employer sponsoredinsurance, and they now go, I
just lost this piece or a goodportion of it. I can't afford
to, you know, run services thatdoesn't just affect those that
were on Medi Cal, it's alsoaffecting access to care for

(41:25):
those that have higher incomesand that, you know, have
employer sponsored so. Soanother layer of that is we know
that when people don't havehealth insurance, they're not
going to see a PCP or primarycare physician, and when they
have health care needs, where dothey go? The er, er, exactly, so
the emergency room, and that'sthe same emergency room that

(41:48):
people with insurance are goingto be using as well, except for
now, you're not just going tohave people with emergencies.
You're going to have people withall kinds of other issues, but
they don't have another place togo. And law says when you walk
into an emergency room thathospital must serve you,
regardless of insurance,

Erin Brinker (42:04):
so you break a leg, you might be sitting in
there, or an arm you might besitting in that doctor's
emergency room for 1518, 20hours waiting to get served.

Unknown (42:13):
Yeah, so Exactly. So it will impact everyone in the
community in that way, not tomention it also puts the burden
of cost on the hospital, becausethe hospital still has to
provide that service, whetherthey're receiving any insurance
reimbursement or not for that.
And some hospitals, particularlythose in more rural and remote
areas, have said, we're not surewe can sustain that, which means
that we might have to close andagain, then it reduces that

(42:35):
access for everyone across thatcommunity. And so Jared
McNaughton, this, the CEO ofIHP, often says it's kind of a,
it's kind of a house of cards,you know, and you pull out one
card, it doesn't just affectthat one card of that one
population. It affects the wholething, because it's all, it's
all, you know, the healthcaresystem. And if you look at
hospitals or doctors, they relyon those multiple sources of

(42:58):
funding. So if you reduce themedical or the Medicaid funding,
it is going to impact thosedaughters, doctors, the quality
of service and access foreveryone else as well, and

Erin Brinker (43:11):
then you have more sick people in the community,
right? So whether it's acommunicable disease or not,
they're they're out there inschools, and that's the example
that pops into my head. I'mmarried to a teacher and work
for an educational foundation.
So you know that having sickkids in school is not ideal, but
if they don't have any way totreat what they have you have,

(43:31):
they have no choice to sendjunior to school, or he's not
coming to school at all becausehe's too sick to come to school,
where the infection, or whateverit was, could have been treated
in a physician's office prettyeasily with some penicillin or
similar antibiotic. And thatthen creates problems in the
education system. It createsproblems in other infrastructure
as well. So I mean this rulereally, healthcare is a very

(43:54):
basic need, and the system sofar in California, although it
we need more, it has beenworking, but disrupting that
system, as you say, could causea major collapse. Yeah,

Unknown (44:08):
yeah. You know, somebody once said to me, you
don't have your health. Youdon't have anything. Indeed, I'm
not sure I fully appreciated itat that time, but it's true, and
it's exactly what you said. Imean, if you have a child who's
sick, then that child can't goto school and learn and build
their future. It means thatthey're that parent also can't
go to work and earn, you know, aliving to be able to support all

(44:29):
the other expenses of food andrent and, you know, shoes for
their child. And so it is. It'scritical, it is to keep keep
people healthy. So

Erin Brinker (44:41):
one of the biggest issues, and this is not it's
it's part of the vitalconditions. It's a social
determinant of health, and it'san area that you clearly know a
lot about because of your workwith hope through housing, is is
humane housing in the region.
And then there are healthsystems that are working on this
issue, dignity. Had this, thesekinds of grants and others. What
is IHP? What is the IHPfoundation doing to address the

(45:04):
housing crisis?

Unknown (45:08):
Yeah, so right now, and I'll tell you, in, you know,
just to go back, I'm about, Idon't know, 15 months in
something like that. And so weare just, we're just getting
started, and we actually thepriorities I shared with you
earlier, we just nailed down inDecember, so we're just
beginning to roll out exactly in

Erin Brinker (45:24):
the framework you're doing the bedrock, the
bedrock stuff. So

Unknown (45:28):
right, right now our investment in housing is really
about investing in thoseorganizations. We have a number
of organizations that are partof the leadership network that
are either investing in homelessservices, transitional housing
or long term permanent housingas well. So it's really
investment in thoseorganizations. In the future,

(45:49):
we'll see what, what other areaswe're able to, you know, be
additive in. You know, one ofour values as an organization is
we really want to be a goodpartner in the community and be
a partner to our nonprofits thatwe know we don't have all the
answers, we don't have it allfigured out, but want to come
alongside and say, hey, wherecan we be additive to some of

(46:10):
these efforts? And so we arereally interested in some of the
collaboratives that exist rightnow. We're working with inland
So Cal housing collective, whichyou might know as a
collaborative of housers, to seehow we can support some of their
work. So we'll see, we'll seethat grow. But what I know,
though, from my history workingwith hope through housing and

(46:32):
others, is, you know, housing iscritical, but it's also very
expensive, and it's a it's agiant, it's a giant issue that
no one organization is going tosolve

Erin Brinker (46:42):
well, and I love your answer that that you want
to lift up other organizationswho are already in the space,
rather than reinventing thewheel. And that's been a trend
over the last, I would say,decade, and that in the
nonprofit sector that people maynot be aware of is this
collective impact approach. Andso we've seen collective impact
initiatives around the state,but in our region, there's
growing inland achievement.
There's the IE So Cal housingcollective. There's the micro

(47:04):
enterprise collaborative. Thereare, you know, in each one, one
small business. One is educationuplift San Bernardino, which is
hitting a lot of differentlittle a lot of different
issues. I know that you all do alot to educate beyond the your
grant, your grantees, you do alot to educate the community. So
I went to an absolutely fabulouscrisis communications workshop,

(47:27):
I want to say was late last yearat IHP, and really talented
people who work for yourorganization. I learned so much,
and it's great networking, andit was wonderful. So thank you
for that. Yeah. So we

Unknown (47:42):
have a series, which we call our vibrant health forums.
And the idea of these are reallyto be educational workshops. We
are fortunate that IHP has areally terrific conference space
here, and so we can bringtogether about 120 community
leaders at a time to focus on agiven topic. And so last year,
we did a couple. One was focusedon the governor's May revise of

(48:03):
the state budget to educatelocal leaders on what's in that
budget and what they might needto be paying attention to. The
last one that we just did comemonths ago was specifically
focused on diversifying yourfunding base. And this was
focused on nonprofitorganizations, focused on
building a stronger individualand major gifts program. So what
we know is that manyorganizations in the Inland

(48:25):
Empire rely heavily on state andfederal grants, some county
grants, and don't have a verystrong individual giving base.
And what we know is thatindividual giving does two
things. One, it diversifies youryour portfolio, if you will,
just like you would aninvestment portfolio, you want a
diversified funding base in anonprofit, but it also provides

(48:46):
that ongoing, recurring revenuethat's typically unrestricted
into your budget that canprovide that base for
organizations. And so we held aforum really well, received over
100 leaders in there, and one ofthe things we got out of that
was, and, like I said, we try tobe responsive. We did a survey
and heard from everyone, youknow, the those who attended,

(49:07):
saying, what's the next step?
How do we get more of this?
Like, like, Okay, you convincedme here the things I need to do.
How do I actually do that,though? And so we just built,
we're offering, and theapplications are open right now.
It's our vibrant health trainingon major, I'm sorry, individual
and major giving. We're going tochoose just 20 organizations to
be part of that, and it will bea combination of a series of

(49:30):
workshops and then someindividual coaching as well,
from two individuals, LisaWright and Lana Wilson, who you
might know, who are experienceddevelopment professionals in the
region, and they're going toshare their expertise very
practically with eitherexecutive directors or
development people in localnonprofits to help them figure

(49:53):
out, okay, I have a basic baseof individuals, how do I expand
that? How do I grow that, andhow do I take those donors?
Being $100 donor to a $10,000donor. You

Erin Brinker (50:03):
know, it's interesting, because in the in
the Inland Empire, there arepockets of wealth, but there's
also a lot of there are lots ofpockets of need, and there's a
perception that you the pocketsof need that you don't want to
approach them, except that theywant to participate too. I mean,
I, you know, as a developmentperson, I have even my small
gift, I have tremendous joy whenI give. And one exhort

(50:25):
organization that I supportthat's not in this area. It's
called holding out help. Andit's it. It is a safe haven for
men and women leaving polypolygamous cults in in Utah. And
so they come out. They losetheir they leave this their
family. They have nothing,everything that they've ever
known. They're leaving itbehind. And so they need a safe

(50:46):
haven, and they need a place tobe deprogrammed, and they need
they need food and shelter. Theyneed privacy. And I give it's
like $25 a month. It's not a bigamount, but I feel a love and
ownership for the people thatthat we're helping, I say we and
I, that is a gift. So the donorsitting on the other side, they
want that opportunity too, evenif it's $10 yes, they want to

(51:10):
participate, and they want tofeel connected that they're
investing some in somethingimportant.

Unknown (51:16):
And that makes such a difference. And like you said,
it's not a ton of money, and itcould be $25 it could be $5 a
month, but that adds up over thecourse of a year, and it
provides that base where thatorganization knows, okay, every
month, if I have 100 donorsdoing that, it's providing that
steady revenue into myorganization that I know I can
rely on, that provides thatstability, which is so

(51:37):
incredibly

Erin Brinker (51:38):
important. So you know that if you annualize, and
I think it's a if I did the matha long time ago, but if you
annualize a $35 donation from6000 donors, that's a lot of
donors, but 6000 donors, theannualized revenue is $2.2
million

Unknown (51:54):
there you go. And right now, when we have so many
organizations that are fearfulof what might be coming, of lost
revenue. For those who havestate federal grants, some of
them, many of them, are lettingus know they've already received
letters that they're losingfunding right now. That means

(52:14):
cutting programs and such. Andif those organizations had a
much stronger individual givingbase, I think that they, they
would be fair on the feelingit's never good when you lose
those grants, but a little bitmore secure. And would provide
that base. And this is the timeto go back to those organs, to
those individuals, where you cansay, hey, look, we just lost
this funding for this particularprogram. We need your help. And

(52:37):
if you can, can you step it up abit, or make a special gift or
make your $10 a month, 15 or $20a month.

Erin Brinker (52:43):
Yep. And I'm thinking, you know, a lot of
organizations that rely on thatfederal funding, a lot of more
research, healthcare,universities, you know that kind
there are small there are othernonprofits as well. But I'm
thinking, if you're doing grandground groundbreaking cancer
research, and all of a suddenyou're told that your next round
of funding is not coming, howdevastating that would be, both

(53:04):
to the organization and theindividuals taking part, being a
part of that, but also to thescience that's not being done,
yeah and yeah, and the outcomesthat are not being realized. So

Unknown (53:15):
we do have that application open right now for
anybody who's listening for thatupcoming training. And then we
also have our next vibranthealth forum, which is focused
on narrative and storytellingfor advocacy and fundraising.
Great that one is scheduled forMay 22 and both of those
opportunities can be found onour website, which is IHP
foundation.org,

Erin Brinker (53:35):
so we just have about five minutes left if you
were giving an elevator pitch tothe our listening audience. Now,
of course, we've been on the airfor a while, but to our
listening audience, what are themost important things that you
would say the IHP Foundationhas, let's say, in the next 18
months, that they kind ofsummarize that for us. Yeah,
well,

Unknown (53:55):
we talked about a little bit, and then there's a
big piece that we missed. Was soa lot of it is building the
capacity of our nonprofitorganizations we've talked about
and that that's going tocontinue to be a major focus.
How do we help thoseorganizations that are on the
ground meeting daily needs thatlay the foundation for our
community to experience betterhealth every day? The other side
of the place, based side, youknow, something that's a major

(54:16):
initiative for us, not just overthe next 18 months, but over the
next five years, is the BlueZones project that we're working
on. Oh, that's huge Riverside,and so many people may might
know the Blue Zones. There's aNetflix series called Live to
100 a great four, just fourepisode series. But there's a
National Geographic researcherwho did a bunch of research
around the globe and identifiedfive different communities where

(54:38):
people live exceptionally,longer. Interestingly, one of
those communities is Loma Linda,California, the only one in
North America. Yes, the only onein North America. But he
identified these, these fourprinciples, very simply that
say, Hey, look, it's about, youknow how you eat, mostly plant
based diet. Secondly, how youexercise, and having natural
movement in your day everysingle. Day. Thirdly, being in

(55:02):
community and having social,social connections. And then
finally, having purpose, knowingwhy you get up every single day.
I love that. It's very simple.
What I would say is, there'ssimple concepts to understand.
They're not always easy to putinto place. And so we've been
partnering with the Blue Zonesorganization. Just launched this
effort. It's in the county ofRiverside, in five specific

(55:22):
communities, the city ofRiverside, banning Coachella,
Palm Springs and unincorporatedof me that Mead Valley. And the
idea is for us to reverseengineer a Blue Zone. In other
words, how do we change thebuilt environment, local
policies, school policies,workplace policies, so that it
makes the healthy choice theeasy choice, that makes it

(55:44):
easier for people to choosethose principles we just talked
about. I

Erin Brinker (55:49):
absolutely love that. And you know, it reminds
me, have you seen thedocumentary called happy? No,
but oh, it's fantastic. It'sprobably been out 20 years, and
the documentarians go all aroundthe world looking for the
happiest people. And thehappiest person was, I think,
either in India or Bangladesh.
He's a rickshaw driver. He's gotnothing, but what he has is a

(56:12):
family who loves him and that heloves, and he just exudes joy.
He is just he loves his life.
Now, of course, he's activebecause he's he's carrying
people around in his rickshawand but and he they, they
clearly have, obviously therehave some food, but it's not an
overabundance of food. But he'ssurrounded by people who love

(56:35):
him. The people who were theleast happy are the ones that
were essentially stuck in a rattrap. You know, the the in the
United States was not very highin the list. Japan, I think, was
the lowest as far as a happinessindex. And one of the things
that in that movie that they orthat document documentary that
they showed, was somethingcalled co housing, which we

(56:57):
don't have in this immediatearea, although I think there's a
community being built in Chino,where it's an intentional
community, where people decidenow they have their own space,
but there are also communalspaces, and they decide to have
communal meals at least a coupleof times a week, to do communal
things, to celebrate together.
They get to know each other andessentially act like communities
used to act 150 years ago. Andthis intentional community, they

(57:20):
talk to seniors and single momswho live there who are able to
support one another. It wasbeautiful.

Unknown (57:27):
Yes, no. And maybe the next time we have a
conversation, we talk more aboutmental health. We know are you?
A Surgeon General has saidloneliness is a national
epidemic,

Erin Brinker (57:36):
and it's like smoking two packs of cigarettes,
cigarettes a day,

Unknown (57:39):
so that connectedness and living in community is is
absolutely critical.

Erin Brinker (57:44):
Wow. So well I am.
I'm so grateful that you spentthis time with me. We're just
about out of time. Gregbradbard, thank you for the
incredible work that you and theIHP foundation and IHP are doing
in the community. How do peoplefind and follow you on social
media and where they where canthey go for more information?
Yeah. So the best

Unknown (58:01):
place is just go to our web our website, which is IE HP
foundation.org, and on there,you can both sign up for our
newsletter. And the newsletter,we push out all of our
opportunities, trainings, thatkind of thing. And then all of
our social media handles are onthere as well. All the social
media handles are also IHP

Erin Brinker (58:18):
foundation. Greg bradbar, thank you so much for
joining me today.

Unknown (58:22):
Thanks so much, Erin.
Take care.

Erin Brinker (58:25):
Well, that is all we have time for today. You've
been listening to the makinghope happen radio show, and I'm
Erin Brinker, for moreinformation about the making
hope happen Foundation, pleasevisit www.makinghope.org That's
www.makinghope.org Have a greatweek, everyone, and enjoy the
warmth and beauty of spring.
I'll talk to you next week.

Unknown (58:46):
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(59:09):
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(59:30):
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