Ep. 9: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha | PCA America 2023 National Conference Podcast

Subscribe for more episodes

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:17):
Welcome to the official broadcast of PCAA
America's National Conference.
I'm Nathan Fink, and I'll beyour host for the next four days
as we embark on thistransformative journey and hear
from experts in prevention, andtogether discover innovative
family-focused policies,cutting-edge research programs,
and practices that help drivethe field toward upstream
thinking so every child has theopportunity to grow up safe and

(00:40):
nurtured.
As Prevent Child Abuse America'sfirst in-person meeting of state
chapters and home visitingnetworks, policy and community
partners, and othercollaborators since 2019, the
2023 conference offers nearly 90sessions, three keynote
speakers, workshops, symposia,and presentations focusing on
effective prevention strategieswith nationally recognized

(01:00):
experts and leaders.
So tune in to hear fromprofessionals, advocates, and
innovators in child abuse andneglect prevention, because each
day is an opportunity to buildfoundations for our future.
Hello, and welcome to the PCAAmerica National Conference
Podcast.
I'm excited to be here withpediatrician, professor, and
public health advocate Dr.

(01:20):
Mona Hannah Aticia, also keynotespeaker at PCA America's 2023
Together for PreventionConference.
Dr.
Mona, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 (01:27):
Nathan, it's wonderful to be here with you.

SPEAKER_00 (01:29):
Oh, and author, I should mention your book, What
the Eyes Don't See, a rivetingand deeply personal account of
the Flintwater Crisis and inmany ways a tale of hope.
But to get to hope, no matterwhat crisis, we need to know
what we're dealing with.
Our time is brief, but I thinkit's also critical because we
have a way of forgetting, eitherwillfully or otherwise, our

(01:49):
recent past.
So, can you give me, will yougive me a thumbnail sketch?
How did we get here?
How did lead get in the water?

SPEAKER_01 (01:57):
Oh, Nathan, that's a great question.
And I'll only spend about twohours on this response.
So, um, you know, history is soimportant, and you're spot on.
We we close our eyes to history,we forget quickly, and then we
tend to repeat the samemistakes.
So, one of the reasons that Iwrote this book and that I'm
here with you today is to kindof keep sharing history.
Uh, without that history, um, wecan't move forward.

(02:20):
And I and you are all aboutmoving forward, especially on
behalf of our kiddos.
So, Flint's story is a longstory, but I'm gonna try to make
it brief.
But you know, Flint was thebirthplace of cars, the auto
industry once the birthplace ofprosperity and the middle class,
but for decades has been incrisis because of disinvestment,
unemployment, plants closing,loss of manufacturing,
automation, globalization.

(02:41):
The list goes on of why Flinthas kind of lost population and
has become one of the poorestcities in our state.
Because we were so poor, we werenear bankrupt, and the state
took over the city.
We became under the control offinancial emergency management,
which is this anti-democraticlaw that was pushed through by
our gerrymandered legislatureand became law in our state.

(03:01):
And fairly quickly, many citiesin Michigan, predominantly
majority and minority cities,lost democracy.
Like this is bizarre.
50% of our African Americanpopulation in Michigan became
under the control of anemergency manager, unelected,
unaccountable.
So folks were already scratchingtheir head like, wait a minute,
this is not how America runs itscities.
We have democracy.

(03:21):
We elect people, we hold themaccountable.
So an emergency manager came inin 2011 and it was all about
cutting costs.
It was all about austerity.
Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.
And they decided that the waterthat Flint had been getting for
half a century from the GreatLakes.
So I'm holding up my hand andyou can't see it.
But for all those folks outthere, I'm holding up my hand
because Michigan is the mittenstate.

(03:42):
We are surrounded by the largestsource of fresh water in the
world.
21% of the fresh water in theworld is around Michigan.
And that's where we used to getour drinking water in Flint.
But the emergency managersdecided, hey, that's now too
expensive for this predominantlypoor, near bankrupt minority
city.
And in April of 2014, changedour drinking water from the
Great Lakes, high quality,pre-treated, to the local Flint

(04:06):
River without proper treatment.
Uh so that happened for about itwas for a year and a half.
We were on Flint River water,lots of problems.
It was corroding car parts atthe GM plant, color, odor, skin
issues, like the list went on ofthe problems with this water.
But throughout, everybody ingovernment was reassuring,
saying everything was okay andin compliance.

(04:26):
And I um heard about thepossibility of lead being in the
water, and that's and this was ayear and a half after our water
switch.
And that's the moment my lifechanged when I heard that lead
was in the box.

SPEAKER_00 (04:37):
What is it about lead then that changes the
discussion where you say, Oh,I'm getting involved here?

SPEAKER_01 (04:41):
Oh, um, you know, lead is probably the oldest and
most well-studied neurotoxins.
Um, we're actually here inBaltimore where so much of the
pivotal research was done onlead poisoning, but it's also an
environmental injusticecommunity.
Um, we now know that there's nosafe level of lead.
We thought decades ago, um,especially pushed by industry

(05:01):
that it was safe for folks.
Dervomotors in the 1920s calledlead a gift from God when they
put lead in gasoline, eventhough we even we even knew then
over a century ago it was apoison.
Um, so incredible science hastaught us that there's no safe
level, that it can impact thecognition of children, how kids
think.
It can impact their behavior, itcan alter impulsivity and

(05:24):
attention and focusing, and itcan lead to lifelong
consequences, including adultconditions like high blood
pressure, um chronic diseases,gout, uh early dementia.
So there's these life,potentially life-altering
consequences.
But we've done a good job as anation in decreasing children's
exposure because of amazing momsand dads and activists and
scientists.

(05:45):
We finally got let out of paintand got let out of plumbing and
restricted its use in um ingasoline.
But even though we stopped usingnew lead, we continue to live
with the legacy of lead.
Um, in older communities,especially in the Northeast and
the Midwest, you know, underlayers of dirt, underneath
layers of paint, delivering ourdrinking water continues to be
lead and it continues to impactour most vulnerable children.

(06:07):
Lead is a form of environmentalracism.
The burden does not fall equallyof who's exposed.

SPEAKER_00 (06:13):
Now, I want to pick up on that because whether it's
forever chemicals, these arecrises of access, justice,
equity, and family.
So, how did then this become thecrux of access and environmental
justice and equity?

SPEAKER_01 (06:28):
Yeah, so you know, this is one example in a long
list of examples of inequity.
And I think the pandemic isanother example of how not
everybody bore the same burdento this public health crisis.
And to me, the lessons are thesame.
It's about who we value and howwe value people and really the

(06:48):
role of prevention.
Uh, this conference is all aboutprevention.
What can we do to do primaryprevention, which means you
know, making sure kids uh thatwe protect kids as much as
possible before they're exposedto abuse or neglect or lead or
whatever.
Um, so you know, as a nation,we're we are we are very
reactive and we do a lot ofband-aiding, and we don't often

(07:10):
get at the crux of the issue andto prevent those issues.
Um, I mentioned at theconference um one of my favorite
quotes uh by Frederick Douglass,um, abolitionists over a century
ago said, It's easier to buildstrong children than to repair
broken men.
I love that quote because it isso true.
It is so much easier to investand protect children than to

(07:32):
spend so much money and so muchtime on the consequences of our
inaction uh because we fail toprotect children.

SPEAKER_00 (07:40):
It's cheaper too.

SPEAKER_01 (07:40):
It's it is cheaper.
We also um I just published apaper in health affairs about
the cost savings of lead pipereplacements.
So I, you know, I would sp Ispoke if testified before
Congress and policymakers arelike, we cannot dig up lead
pipes across the country.
That's too expensive.
I'm like, no, it's actually not.
Um there is a cost to ourinaction when we add up the

(08:02):
health care and specialeducation, the criminal justice,
and the economic productivity.
There is a cost, not just theyou know, what costs the child
and their life, but it's there'sactually an economic cost to um
not acting and protectingchildren.

SPEAKER_00 (08:16):
Now, this whole conversation, you know, your
keynote, uh all of it does ring,it rings of hope because you're
finding these opportunities,right?
You're you're finding ways uh inwhich we can look upstream.
Yes.
So when you look upstream, whatis it that we're seeing?

SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
Yeah, Nathan, that's a great question.
And that's kind of what um how Iget to spend my day and how I've
been able to um, you know, sinceexposing the water crisis, my my
work has been on recovery andmaking sure that we don't repeat
history and making sure that wecan proactively protect kids and
families by addressing upstreamupstream issues.
So I mentioned testifying beforeCongress um about replacing

(08:54):
pipes all over the country.
And that passed theInfrastructure Act is a law, and
we are replacing lead pipesacross the country.
That's primary prevention.
That is what it means to investin prevention.
Um, another project I am leadingright now is called RX Kids.
We are giving pregnant moms andbabies in the entire city of
Flynn universal unconditionalcash allowances.

(09:18):
Amazing.
Like this has never been donebefore in the country, and we
are addressing an upstreamissue, poverty.
Like poverty makes people sick.
If you are born into and yougrow up in poverty, it can alter
your entire life course,especially when it happens in
this critical prenatal toinfancy window.
So I I was sick of not beingable to prescribe something to

(09:38):
treat poverty.
Um, I'm sick of band-aiding, allthe consequences of poverty.
So we're like, we're gonna dosomething.
We, we, I am an optimist.
I have I am in a city with avillage of amazing, you know,
collaborators, moms and kids,and nonprofit partners and
government.
And we're like, we're gonnaprescribe away poverty.
So this is launching in January.

(09:59):
We've already raised about 40million dollars.
It's a public-privatepartnership.
We still have a little more toraise.
So if any listeners out therewant to donate, flintrxkids.com.
So, uh, but we are every, everystarting in January, every
pregnant mom and every baby isgoing to get universal cash
allowances.
And it's it's not just aboutmoney and economic stability,
it's also about telling peoplewe love you and we see you and

(10:21):
we hear you, and we know it ishard to be a parent.
And there's a village walkingalongside you.

SPEAKER_00 (10:28):
My goodness.
If if these are your days, whatdo your nights look like?

SPEAKER_01 (10:33):
I'm a I'm a mom.
I'm a mom, and I go to soccermeetings.

SPEAKER_00 (10:38):
And stay tuned for more interviews from PCA
America's National ConferencePodcast.