February 16, 2024 • 30 mins
This week on the show: Chief medical officer Dr. Lakshmi Emory of Aetna Better Health of Illinois discusses cervical cancer awareness, Robert Ginyard, Former Chairman of the Board of Directors for Zero Prostate Cancer discusses Zero Prostate Cancer’s mission to bring awareness, advocacy, and resources to the fight against prostate cancer, and we discuss the one year anniversary of Chicago’s social service line 211.
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(00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the weeklyshow here on iHeartRadio, a ninety three
nine LIGHTFM, one of three fiveKiss FM, and Rock ninety five to
five. I'm Paulina, and everyweek we're here to discuss a variety of
topics that matter to Chicago land.Today on the show, Ryan Gorman chats
with Robert Ginyard, former chairman ofthe Board of Directors for Zero Prostate Cancer,
and he'll be sharing his personal experiencebattling prostate cancer and discussing Zero Prostate
(00:23):
Cancer's mission to bring awareness, advocacy, and resources to the fight against prostate
cancer. And I'll be chatting withour friends at two one one Metro Chicago.
We'll be talking about two one oneday or on the show, and
I'll be talking to our friends fromETNA Better Health of Illinois, and we'll
be talking all about Cervical Cancer AwarenessMonth. So let's kick off the show.
(00:47):
Hi, It's Paulina here with iHeartMediaChicago, and today I am chatting
with our friends at two on oneMetro Chicago. I am speaking with Anna
Lee, vice president Strategic Initiatives,You New Way of Metro Chicago and Rich
Laprete, Executive director of two oneone Metro Chicago. How are you both
doing today? Hi, thanks somuch for having us. Of course,
(01:11):
thank you for being here. Iappreciate it so much. So we are
talking about the two on one MetroChicago one year anniversary, which is so
exciting. We have a lot tocover today. I do believe the one
universary was on the twenty seventh ofJanuary, is that correct? That's right?
Awesome, awesome, And we're celebratingthe impact of the twenty four to
(01:32):
seven helpline now through February eleventh,which is of course to eleven day.
So let's talk about both of youfirst, if you don't mind, Anna,
if you don't mind kicking it offfor us, tell us about yourself
and your current role. Sure.My name is Anna Lee, and I'm
currently the vice president at United Wayof Metro Chicago, and I have the
(01:55):
great privilege of working with rich Leapratton two on one Metro Chicago. Much
of my job is working on strategicinitiatives and engaging with partners to further and
advance the mission of United Way,which is building stronger communities here in the
(02:15):
Chicago region. That's wonderful. Thankyou so much for sharing and Rich can
you tell us about yourself and yourcurrent role as well. So, my
name is Ritrick Lpratt and I amthe executive director for two on one metri
Chicago. I oversee our team ofapproximately forty five individuals that run and manage
the contact center on a daily basis. We also look at the database to
(02:38):
making sure that we are adjusting andmaking sure that each community member is getting
the most out of our service andgetting to the services that they are most
in need of. We are lookingalso at expanding our role and making sure
that we're working in every type ofneed across the region and making sure that
we're serving those in the best capacitythat we can. Absolutely, and I'm
(03:00):
reading here through some of my mykeynotes as well, and I wanted to
share this with our listeners who arejust tuning in. More than one hundred
and fifteen thousand contexts have called,texted or web chatted with your resource navigators
since the launch of two on oneMetro Chicago, and they've gotten connected with
health and social services, which isso important. And then on these obviously
(03:23):
covered like the food, housing,healthcare, utility payment assistance and much more
so, I think the work herethat's being done is truly incredible in the
city. So Rich, I'd loveto start with you what led to the
launch of two on one Metro Chicagoand what challenges or needs does two one
one address. So the advent oftwo on one and metros in the Metro
(03:46):
Chicago suburban cook region was really hasbeen as something in the works for the
past ten years. Is really kindof working the community, kind of figuring
out what it is the community reallywanted from such a service and what were
the resources that were really going tobe in play. But it really took
the pandemic to really showcase what twoone one could serve the community with.
(04:10):
So when you were looking at thepandemic and everything that was occurring, there
was a myriad of numbers that peoplehad to memorize, they had to discover
for various services that were not normallyavailable or during regular periods of time,
And the community really came together andsaid, how can we simplify this,
How can we really work with thecommunity at large to provide them with the
(04:32):
information that they need to help advocatefor clients, to help advocate in the
system for our needed services that arein areas where there may not be services
available, So two one one wasreally used alongside with community agencies as an
idea that could be put forward tohave one centralized place for individuals to call
(04:55):
twenty four to seven, three hundredand sixty five day, three hundred and
sixty five days the year by justcalling to one one from their phones free
of charge, and the advent ofthe service in January twenty twenty three offered
us the ability to see what servicesreally individuals were needing. Centered around a
lot of the cases with housing,utility, bill of payment assistance or food.
(05:18):
You know you might find other typesof needs such as legal assistance or
needing federally qualified health clinics in theircommunities. All of these services that we
provide in our database now were thedatabase of anywhere between twenty one hundred and
thirty two hundred agencies and between twelveto sixteen thousand services. Serve to better
(05:40):
help our community at large to getto what they need, live their lives
better, and recover from issues ina quicker fashion. Absolutely and anna really
quickly as well. Sort of pivotingto you, how did United Way bring
together public and private partners to maketwo and one a reality. Thanks for
that question. As Rich mentioned,United Way has been working to bring two
(06:06):
on one metro Chicago for over adecade, and this is really a culmination
of having all of the right partnersat the right time. Two one one
is a powerful example of successful crosssector partnerships with the City of Chicago,
Cook County and led by our twoone one advisory co chairs. We are
(06:30):
just so proud of bringing all ofour partners together to bring this service to
the Chicago region. Absolutely, andRich sort of kind of going through the
process right for somebody who maybe isn'tas familiar or maybe would just like to
learn more information, can you kindof guide us and walk us through the
(06:50):
process of when somebody contacts two oneone. So essentially what will happen is
when someone calls to one one dayor night, they are going to talk
with one of our specially trained agentsor what we call resource navigators. These
individuals will provide an assessment from theindividual themselves and figuring out what's actually going
(07:15):
on in the home, what istheir family structure, what are the issues
that they're currently perceiving that are occurringin the home. The individual is also
going to be looking for or hearingfor secondary instances like are they hearing children
in the household? Are they hearingmaybe some stress in their voice, or
are there other things that are actuallyoccurring, So they'll use their active listening
(07:36):
skills to kind of figure out whatare the other needs that are occurring as
well. So with that assessment,the resource navigator will work with the individual
to find the services that are bestattuned to their needs. So if someone's
calling in for say help or theutility bills, we're going to be asking
them are there other types of needsin the house as well? Do you
(07:59):
need food? Can we get youto a local food pantry? Do you
currently have insurance? Are there thingsthat we can do to kind of get
you to a clinic in town?What are the things that our agents are
really trying to do is really tryingto get to the core of the problem
and making sure that we're getting whatthey need most in front of them right
away. In addition, once weprovide that assessment and then looking at the
(08:22):
resources overall, we are then goingto provide referrals to them that the individual
themselves can self advocate. They cango to those individual services find out if
they're completely eligible with their paperwork thatthey bring in, and then we also
offer follow up to making sure thatthe services were efficient and making sure that
they were able to get what theyneeded, and when they don't get what
(08:45):
they need, we can work withthem further on additional resources in the community
to see where those might have beenmissed. All of that data goes into
our system to help improve our overalldatabase efficiencies and making sure that when we
take the next call, we're usingthat approach to making sure that we're constantly
improving the overall service for the client. Absolutely, and you did mention you
(09:07):
know the needs of those who arecalling, so Anna, I'm curious what
are the greatest needs that people whohave contacted too on one What were they
or what are they? Yeah,So we've learned so much in the past
year and as we started the beginningof the interview, we've now reached over
one hundred and fifteen thousand residents andfrom that we have learned that the top
(09:31):
needs are housing, utility, paymentassistance, employment, and food. We
while two one one Metro Chicago isa free confidential service, we've been able
to collect data on what those highestneeds are, especially during the natural disasters
(09:54):
like the flooding this past summer,we saw that many people reached out.
We're also adding more Spanish speaking resourcenavigators as we are fielding more and more
calls from people who speak Spanish,and also for those who need assistance in
another language. We provide support througha language line where there are over two
(10:18):
hundred and fifty languages that are availablefor translation. That's incredible and I'm sure
super helpful, especially to a lotof our residents here in Chicago and the
surrounding areas so rich. What impactshave you seen since the launch of two
on one in January. I thinkthe biggest impact that we are seeing now
(10:39):
is more communication amongst the agencies themselveswhen it comes to the needs that are
occurring in the community. We've startedthe discussion. We've started the whole partnership
efforts with these entities to kind offigure out where are the best referrals,
Are we making these in the rightdirection, What are the types of partnerships
that we need to build that thatwe haven't looked at. What are the
(11:01):
needs that people are calling in aboutthat maybe we're not kind of seeing from
a regular basis that we need tofill into our database. I think the
other impact that we're starting to seeis really looking at the service array versus
the service gaps. How can wemap that out? How can we best
advocate for new services in the community, How can we best advocate for those
(11:24):
individuals that are nowhere near active service? You know, I think the biggest
lesson that two one one is learningwith the Cook County, City of Chicago
suburban Cook region is that one sizedoes not sit all. How can we
look at this from a strategic andpragmatic view to making sure that we're meeting
the needs of the individuals every singleday with those services that they need.
(11:46):
And what two to one one doesis provide a window into that so that
we can see what's available, wecan see where things are needed, and
we can use the voice in thecommunity themselves to help advocate for new services,
to help advocate for those that cannotadvocate for themselves. Absolutely, and
my last and final question for you, Rich, where does two on one
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go from here? Right? Howwill it continue to grow and of course
have greater impact across Cook County?I think where do we grow is beyond
the contact center itself. How canwe put the power of two on one
into people's hands. You know,we're looking for the future of enhancing our
current website, to making sure thatpeople know that there are other resources out
(12:31):
there, maybe putting up banners,to making sure that we're giving them extra
resources on top of what they're providing. We're looking at possibly building an app
later this year so that we canput the two on one service in front
of case managers and social workers andour community, and then really looking at
how do we kind of partner withthe entire community at large to build out
(12:54):
kind of a community information in exchangeso that everybody can see what's going on
with the clients and making sure orthat we're all working in the same direction.
But two one one is the initialvoice. Two one one is the
entryway, and through the information thatwe can provide, we can further assist
the communians seeing what we need andwhat's lacking for the future. Yeah,
(13:16):
absolutely so, Rich and Anna,thank you so much for being here with
us today. We certainly do appreciateit. Where can we go? One
last question? Where can we gofor more information? Or if you have
a social media handle we can follow. But for those who are tuning in
and would love to explore more.Where can they go do that? They
can go directly to our website attwo one one Metro Chicago dot org.
(13:37):
And certainly, if you are inneed of services, you can call two
one one on your phone. AndI just want to also finish and thank
all of our generous funders and supporters. We're also so grateful for all of
the partnerships that make that allow oneone to happen. Absolutely, thank you
(14:01):
both for being here with us today. We are super appreciative and we always
love to support as well, Sothank you for your time today. Thank
you, Paulina, thank you.I'm joined now by Robert Ginyard, a
prostate cancer survivor and patient advocate whowas recently chair of Zero Prostate Cancer's board
of directors. He's also the hostof the Intentionally Overheard podcast. You can
(14:22):
learn more about zero Prostay Cancer atzero cancer dot org. Robert, thank
you so much for coming on theshow, and let's begin with your personal
story of overcoming a prostaate cancer diagnosis. Yes, well, thank you Ryan
for having me as a guest today. I really appreciate the opportunity and sure
my story starts out as a fortyeight year old young man who was diagnosed
(14:46):
with prostate cancer. I am nowsixty one, but that diagnosis at forty
eight took me for quite the tailspin. I didn't have any symptoms leading up
to my prostate cancer diagnosed. OnceI found out, for my primary physiciantion,
we followed the appropriate steps to geta second opinion. Consequently, we
(15:07):
did deal with the surgery, followedup by some other treatments. But I
am happy to say that here intwenty twenty four, I am doing well,
no signs of cancer, and Iwas originally diagnosed in twenty ten.
And I would really chalk that up, Ryan, to a relationship with my
primary care physician, but also theimportance of early detection, because I'm living
(15:31):
proof that it does save lives andextends lives in many cases. Let me
ask you this, at that age, was prostate cancer even on your radar?
Was that something you ever even thoughtabout, Ryan, Not at all.
I was healthy, you know,I went to the gym and worked
out at least three or four daysa week, eating well. So it
(15:52):
was a surprise and shocked to mysystem that this was even there in my
body. And the other thing aboutit is that I had found out years
later that my dad had about aprostate cancer. But you know, and
then my dad's from a different generation. Ryan, he didn't want the family
to know about his diagnosis because hewas worried about us and we would think
(16:15):
that something's wrong with him and he'sgoing to die. And so he really
wanted to keep that a secret fromus because he didn't want us to endure
that kind of emotional pain. Butit would have been good to know that
that was something that runs through thefamily. And so my advocacy work now
is of course early detection, butalso having that honest conversation with family members
(16:37):
to say, hey, you knowyour uncle had this, or your brother
had this, your dad had this. Because the sooner we know about that,
the better we can prepare in termsof early detection and at least keeping
it on the radar screen. Sohow did you end up getting involved with
this organization Zero Prostate Cancer. Well, Ryan, here's a quick story.
I got involved with the organization bysay State and a little bit of a
(17:02):
mistake. My wife suggested that Igo to a run walk event that they
had ZERO had in my hometown ofBaltimore. Ryan, I really wasn't feeling
it. It was a rainy morning, and I figured that I would dodge
into a coffee shop, hang outfor about three or four hours, and
(17:22):
then go home and tell my wifeit was a great event. But my
heart would not allow me to dothat. My wife is like an investigative
reporter. She would have tore meto shred. So I figured, let's
go to this event. And againit was raining, it was cold.
Ryan. I get to the eventand it was like the heavens opened up,
the sun came out, you couldsee a rainbow, and here I
(17:44):
was amongst all these other prostate cancersurvivors and their families and of course members
of the organization. That's how Ibecame familiar with Zero, and I really
loved their mission so much that Iwanted to get involved. Served as a
board member, and then it eventuallybecame the Boyd chaired many years later.
So that's how that relationship began.So I owe it really to my wife
(18:06):
and that cup of coffee that Ididn't have. That's an amazing story.
I'm Ryan Gorman here on Iharradio Communitieswith Robert Ginyard, the prostate cancer survivor
and patient advocate who was recently chairof Zero Prostate Cancer's Board of Directors.
You can learn more at zero cancerdot org. So tell us about the
work this organization does and the workyou did when you were in that role.
(18:27):
My role now is to continue tobe an advocate for the organization and
support them in many ways that Ican. My years as the board chair,
I really again tried to concentrate onresearch funding and spreading the word about
advocacy and racial disparities, and sothose were my key and core ad missions.
(18:51):
And the new Board of Director's chair, Tom Bonnano, has taken up
that helm and doing a terrific job. So now they pushed me out of
that seat and now I get todo some of the other fun stuff like
be a part of the Blue Jacketfashion show that will be happening on February
first in New York. And thisfashion show that's taking place again, like
you said, February first in NewYork City, this is something that everyone
(19:17):
can be a part of, Yesthey can. Ryan. While the event
will take place in New York,it will be available via live stream and
so you'll get to see many ofus who really have no player for fashion.
But we've come together for this eventto bring the fashion industry, the
media industry, and the entertainment industrytogether to really bring awareness to this issue.
(19:41):
And I talk about this event beingthat, yeah, fashion is about
the outward appearance, but we hopewhat we do that night, we'll focus
on the inward piece of our livesin terms of our good health and making
sure that we live the best livesthat we can for our family members.
Final question for you, how canpeople learn more about the word zero prostate
cancer does and also how can theysupport the work your organization's doing. Ryan,
(20:04):
Thank you so much for that askingme that question. Your listeners can
visit zero cancer dot org. That'szero cancer dot org, and you can
find any information you want to knowabout prostly cancer, what we're doing,
what we do in terms of advocatingon the hill, in terms of more
research dollars for prostate cancer, andso you can find any and most information
(20:29):
that you would like on that website, zero cancer dot org. And I'm
pretty sure there's something for everybody.And if you're not a prostate cancer patient
or survivor, you're still your spouseor anybody looking for information about prostate cancer
and how they can support the organization. You can find all of that information
on that website, and plus,like the event that you went to,
(20:52):
you can find events near where youlive, support groups resources on the website,
you'll be to find out different runwalk evens that are occurring across the
country, and we have many ofthem this time of the year. Ryan,
we're really gearing up for all ofthese drum walk sheries that typically began
a round March and they go throughalmost until the end of the year.
(21:14):
So we've got a lot of championsout there in various communities across the country,
and we hope we can bring onmore. Robert Kinyard, prostay cancer
survivor, patient advocate and former chairof Zero Prostate Cancer's board of Directors.
He also host of the Intentionally Overheardpodcast. You can learn more about this
organization and again support the work theydo at zero cancer dot org. Robert,
(21:37):
thank you so much for coming onand sharing your story, and thank
you so much for the great workyou're doing on this important issue. Thank
you, Ran, thank you forhaving me. Hi. It's Paulina here
with iHeartMedia Chicago and today on theshow, I am chatting with doctor Lakshmi
Emory, chief medical Officer of ATNABetterhealth of Illinois, and we are talking
Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. How areyou, doctor, I'm well, thank
(22:00):
you. How are you? I'mso good. Thank you for joining me
today. Such an important topic,especially to our you know, those who
are currently tuning in listening for thefirst time. So I'm so happy you're
here to talk about it. Yes, I think it's great that there is
a month for civical health awareness becausethere's so much to learn about, you
know, all of the different cancers, especially that we are all susceptible to.
(22:25):
So thanks for having me. Absolutely, I'm doctor. If you don't
mind, can you give us alittle bit of a just like a brief
summary kind of of your current roleand sort of you know who you are
for our listeners. Sure, yes, So I'm a medical doctor. I'm
actually a family medicine physician, beenin practice for over twenty years, and
(22:45):
I am now the chief medical officeras you said at IN the Better Health
of Illinois, which is a statewideMedicaid managed care organization, and so we
take care of people who have Medicaidinsurance. You know, all of their
health from dental to physical to behavioralhealth. And so we're the insurer with
the insurance plan that helps to providethe care along with the physicians and providers.
(23:11):
Wonderful. Thank you so much,and thank you again for being here
today. So you know, onthe topic of cervical cancer, right,
I do believe that it is treatablewhen found early, which is really you
know, but I would love totalk further about how cervical cancer even develops,
right, and the symptoms aware ofOkay, So the way that it
develops is usually through a viral infection. Interestingly, and a lot of people
(23:34):
aren't aware of that, but youmay have heard of HPV virus or human
papaloma virus, and this is avirus that can be spread through sexual contact.
And there is now actually a vaccineand so several years ago, you
know, there were no vaccines,but with you know, modern science,
we've developed a vaccine that can begiven as early as age nine and can
(23:57):
be given all the way through ageforty five. So it's important that people
know that there's a vaccine out there. And it's not just for women,
it's also for men. So aswe know, you know, women have
a cervix, but men, youknow, if there is sexual contact with
a man who carries HPV virus,it can cause the early stages of changes
(24:19):
in the cells on the cervix thatcan lead to cervical cancer. So that's
why it's important every year, youknow, for women to check with their
physician when they get their physical asto whether they need a pap smear.
You know when to start getting papsmears based on their sexual history and on
their age, and then the regularinterlope which they should get the pap smeear.
(24:42):
So the pap smear is where changesthat can lead to cervical cancer can
be detected. Now, some womenwho you know already have cervical cancer may
have symptoms like unusual vaginal bleeding.There may be pain, especially pain with
intercourse or discomfort. And then ofcourse, if it's a later stage cancer,
(25:03):
there may be unexplained weight loss orfatigue. But sometimes that early cancer
doesn't have you know, a lotof symptoms. So that's why it's so
important to get screened and to understandyour risk and to use protection too when
having sexual contact in terms of barrierslike a condom. Absolutely, So what
does like the screening process look likeif somebody was to go and start that
(25:26):
sure, so that would be thepap smear that a woman would have with
her provider, and so that wouldinvolve taking a little scraping of cells on
the cervix, which is the openingto the uterus, and you know,
it could be a little bit justyou know, uncomfortable in the beginning,
especially if someone doesn't have a lotof you know, sexual experience. But
(25:51):
it's it's manageable and it's something thata primary care physician does also obeguidy can
do, but it's very important tohave that done and then you'll get the
result back and they'll tell you whetherthere are any changes or whether there is
a presence of HPV, you know, human papaloma virus, in which case
there are steps that they'll take toscreen further or they may recommend further tests
(26:12):
like what we call a colposcopy,which is where you take a little biopsy
of the cervix to see if thereis the presence of cancer or changes towards
cancer. Well, that's really goodto know. And also accordions of the
research that I came across I do, it was informed that it is typically
Black women and Hispanic Latino women whohave the highest mortality rate from the illness.
(26:36):
Right unfortunately, Yes, why isthat? Well? So, yes,
as you said, African American womenare twice as likely to die from
cervical cancer as opposed to white women, and then Hispanic women are the second
highest in terms of dying from cervicalcancer. And a lot of this has
to do with what we call healthdisparities. So these have to do with
(26:57):
socioeconomic factors, which may mean thatthere's a lack of access to timely,
high quality care. There may belimited access you know, to transportation,
lower screening rates, and in somecases language barriers. So all of this,
you know, it's something that wework to combat every day at the
Health Plan to make sure that ourmembers have access to the screenings that they
(27:19):
need, to the vaccines against HPVthat they need in order to prevent these
things from happening. Right. No, that's very true. And what about
any kind of tips that you canprovide us doctor to avoid contributing risk factors?
Right? So, you know we'reat risk as women maybe a sertain
(27:40):
age demographic like you mentioned, Whatcan we do lifestyle wise that can help
kind of lower that, you know, great questions. So with any cancer,
there are certain things that you cando to lower your risk of contracting
it. So one thing is healthyeating and of course you know diets that
are rich in fruits and vegetables arepreferred, whole grains, you know,
less fats, less fast food.That would be helpful in avoiding any cancer,
(28:07):
including cervical cancer. Also avoiding habitslike smoking. You know, we
know that tobacco is a risk factorfor many cancers, and that also includes
cervical cancer. So anything you cando to reduce those risks like smoking,
like poor eating habits, even obesity, we know is linked to all kinds
of cancers, so that would bereally important, but in particular for cervical
(28:29):
cancer. Safe sex, as Imentioned before, is very important, So
that barrier protection to prevent the spreadof HPV and you know, prevent you
from catching HPV through sexual contact isvery important. Absolutely. The other thing
I wanted to mention for our membersat at a Better Hope of Illinois,
we actually have an incentive for themto get a PAP test. So it's
(28:51):
a twenty five dollars incentive and ifyou go to your doctor and have that
test completed. We will send thatout to you. So just for everyone,
just make sure to prioritize your yourhealth, your reproductive health. You
know, women should understand the symptomsand get checked regularly and be proactive.
So early detection is key. Thesooner it's caught, the more we can
do and the better your life willbe. Absolutely, doctor, thank you
(29:17):
so much for discussing the importance ofyou know, getting getting checked and of
looking out for any kind of symptomsyou know that that could you know,
be possibly leading to this as wellfor cervical cancer. Where can we go
for more information if anybody wanted toyou know, kind of do that and
look more further into it with theirhealthcare provider. How can they do that?
(29:37):
Yeah, well, so especially forend and Better Health members, you
can call one eight sixty six threetwo nine four seven zero one and you
can talk with someone about you know, any questions you have. You can
schedule an appointment to get your pathsmear or to get your HPV vaccine,
and you can arrange transportation for bothof those. So just want to let
you know of that number. Awesome, Thank you so much for being here
(29:59):
with us today. We I appreciateit, all right. Thank you so
much, Pelena, thank you somuch for listening, and thank you for
always tuning into the Weekly Show hereon iHeartRadio. We placed this episode and
all previous episodes upright on our freeiheartapp. Just search for the Weekly Show.
Thank you so much, and we'lltalk to you again next weekend.
Hello, and welcome to the weeklyshow here on iHeartRadio, a ninety three
nine LIGHTFM, one of three fiveKiss FM, and Rock ninety five to
five. I'm Paulina, and everyweek we're here to discuss a variety of
topics that matter to Chicago land.Today on the show, Ryan Gorman chats
with Robert Ginyard, former chairman ofthe Board of Directors for Zero Prostate Cancer,
and he'll be sharing his personal experiencebattling prostate cancer and discussing Zero Prostate
(00:23):
Cancer's mission to bring awareness, advocacy, and resources to the fight against prostate
cancer. And I'll be chatting withour friends at two one one Metro Chicago.
We'll be talking about two one oneday or on the show, and
I'll be talking to our friends fromETNA Better Health of Illinois, and we'll
be talking all about Cervical Cancer AwarenessMonth. So let's kick off the show.
(00:47):
Hi, It's Paulina here with iHeartMediaChicago, and today I am chatting
with our friends at two on oneMetro Chicago. I am speaking with Anna
Lee, vice president Strategic Initiatives,You New Way of Metro Chicago and Rich
Laprete, Executive director of two oneone Metro Chicago. How are you both
doing today? Hi, thanks somuch for having us. Of course,
(01:11):
thank you for being here. Iappreciate it so much. So we are
talking about the two on one MetroChicago one year anniversary, which is so
exciting. We have a lot tocover today. I do believe the one
universary was on the twenty seventh ofJanuary, is that correct? That's right?
Awesome, awesome, And we're celebratingthe impact of the twenty four to
(01:32):
seven helpline now through February eleventh,which is of course to eleven day.
So let's talk about both of youfirst, if you don't mind, Anna,
if you don't mind kicking it offfor us, tell us about yourself
and your current role. Sure.My name is Anna Lee, and I'm
currently the vice president at United Wayof Metro Chicago, and I have the
(01:55):
great privilege of working with rich Leapratton two on one Metro Chicago. Much
of my job is working on strategicinitiatives and engaging with partners to further and
advance the mission of United Way,which is building stronger communities here in the
(02:15):
Chicago region. That's wonderful. Thankyou so much for sharing and Rich can
you tell us about yourself and yourcurrent role as well. So, my
name is Ritrick Lpratt and I amthe executive director for two on one metri
Chicago. I oversee our team ofapproximately forty five individuals that run and manage
the contact center on a daily basis. We also look at the database to
(02:38):
making sure that we are adjusting andmaking sure that each community member is getting
the most out of our service andgetting to the services that they are most
in need of. We are lookingalso at expanding our role and making sure
that we're working in every type ofneed across the region and making sure that
we're serving those in the best capacitythat we can. Absolutely, and I'm
(03:00):
reading here through some of my mykeynotes as well, and I wanted to
share this with our listeners who arejust tuning in. More than one hundred
and fifteen thousand contexts have called,texted or web chatted with your resource navigators
since the launch of two on oneMetro Chicago, and they've gotten connected with
health and social services, which isso important. And then on these obviously
(03:23):
covered like the food, housing,healthcare, utility payment assistance and much more
so, I think the work herethat's being done is truly incredible in the
city. So Rich, I'd loveto start with you what led to the
launch of two on one Metro Chicagoand what challenges or needs does two one
one address. So the advent oftwo on one and metros in the Metro
(03:46):
Chicago suburban cook region was really hasbeen as something in the works for the
past ten years. Is really kindof working the community, kind of figuring
out what it is the community reallywanted from such a service and what were
the resources that were really going tobe in play. But it really took
the pandemic to really showcase what twoone one could serve the community with.
(04:10):
So when you were looking at thepandemic and everything that was occurring, there
was a myriad of numbers that peoplehad to memorize, they had to discover
for various services that were not normallyavailable or during regular periods of time,
And the community really came together andsaid, how can we simplify this,
How can we really work with thecommunity at large to provide them with the
(04:32):
information that they need to help advocatefor clients, to help advocate in the
system for our needed services that arein areas where there may not be services
available, So two one one wasreally used alongside with community agencies as an
idea that could be put forward tohave one centralized place for individuals to call
(04:55):
twenty four to seven, three hundredand sixty five day, three hundred and
sixty five days the year by justcalling to one one from their phones free
of charge, and the advent ofthe service in January twenty twenty three offered
us the ability to see what servicesreally individuals were needing. Centered around a
lot of the cases with housing,utility, bill of payment assistance or food.
(05:18):
You know you might find other typesof needs such as legal assistance or
needing federally qualified health clinics in theircommunities. All of these services that we
provide in our database now were thedatabase of anywhere between twenty one hundred and
thirty two hundred agencies and between twelveto sixteen thousand services. Serve to better
(05:40):
help our community at large to getto what they need, live their lives
better, and recover from issues ina quicker fashion. Absolutely and anna really
quickly as well. Sort of pivotingto you, how did United Way bring
together public and private partners to maketwo and one a reality. Thanks for
that question. As Rich mentioned,United Way has been working to bring two
(06:06):
on one metro Chicago for over adecade, and this is really a culmination
of having all of the right partnersat the right time. Two one one
is a powerful example of successful crosssector partnerships with the City of Chicago,
Cook County and led by our twoone one advisory co chairs. We are
(06:30):
just so proud of bringing all ofour partners together to bring this service to
the Chicago region. Absolutely, andRich sort of kind of going through the
process right for somebody who maybe isn'tas familiar or maybe would just like to
learn more information, can you kindof guide us and walk us through the
(06:50):
process of when somebody contacts two oneone. So essentially what will happen is
when someone calls to one one dayor night, they are going to talk
with one of our specially trained agentsor what we call resource navigators. These
individuals will provide an assessment from theindividual themselves and figuring out what's actually going
(07:15):
on in the home, what istheir family structure, what are the issues
that they're currently perceiving that are occurringin the home. The individual is also
going to be looking for or hearingfor secondary instances like are they hearing children
in the household? Are they hearingmaybe some stress in their voice, or
are there other things that are actuallyoccurring, So they'll use their active listening
(07:36):
skills to kind of figure out whatare the other needs that are occurring as
well. So with that assessment,the resource navigator will work with the individual
to find the services that are bestattuned to their needs. So if someone's
calling in for say help or theutility bills, we're going to be asking
them are there other types of needsin the house as well? Do you
(07:59):
need food? Can we get youto a local food pantry? Do you
currently have insurance? Are there thingsthat we can do to kind of get
you to a clinic in town?What are the things that our agents are
really trying to do is really tryingto get to the core of the problem
and making sure that we're getting whatthey need most in front of them right
away. In addition, once weprovide that assessment and then looking at the
(08:22):
resources overall, we are then goingto provide referrals to them that the individual
themselves can self advocate. They cango to those individual services find out if
they're completely eligible with their paperwork thatthey bring in, and then we also
offer follow up to making sure thatthe services were efficient and making sure that
they were able to get what theyneeded, and when they don't get what
(08:45):
they need, we can work withthem further on additional resources in the community
to see where those might have beenmissed. All of that data goes into
our system to help improve our overalldatabase efficiencies and making sure that when we
take the next call, we're usingthat approach to making sure that we're constantly
improving the overall service for the client. Absolutely, and you did mention you
(09:07):
know the needs of those who arecalling, so Anna, I'm curious what
are the greatest needs that people whohave contacted too on one What were they
or what are they? Yeah,So we've learned so much in the past
year and as we started the beginningof the interview, we've now reached over
one hundred and fifteen thousand residents andfrom that we have learned that the top
(09:31):
needs are housing, utility, paymentassistance, employment, and food. We
while two one one Metro Chicago isa free confidential service, we've been able
to collect data on what those highestneeds are, especially during the natural disasters
(09:54):
like the flooding this past summer,we saw that many people reached out.
We're also adding more Spanish speaking resourcenavigators as we are fielding more and more
calls from people who speak Spanish,and also for those who need assistance in
another language. We provide support througha language line where there are over two
(10:18):
hundred and fifty languages that are availablefor translation. That's incredible and I'm sure
super helpful, especially to a lotof our residents here in Chicago and the
surrounding areas so rich. What impactshave you seen since the launch of two
on one in January. I thinkthe biggest impact that we are seeing now
(10:39):
is more communication amongst the agencies themselveswhen it comes to the needs that are
occurring in the community. We've startedthe discussion. We've started the whole partnership
efforts with these entities to kind offigure out where are the best referrals,
Are we making these in the rightdirection, What are the types of partnerships
that we need to build that thatwe haven't looked at. What are the
(11:01):
needs that people are calling in aboutthat maybe we're not kind of seeing from
a regular basis that we need tofill into our database. I think the
other impact that we're starting to seeis really looking at the service array versus
the service gaps. How can wemap that out? How can we best
advocate for new services in the community, How can we best advocate for those
(11:24):
individuals that are nowhere near active service? You know, I think the biggest
lesson that two one one is learningwith the Cook County, City of Chicago
suburban Cook region is that one sizedoes not sit all. How can we
look at this from a strategic andpragmatic view to making sure that we're meeting
the needs of the individuals every singleday with those services that they need.
(11:46):
And what two to one one doesis provide a window into that so that
we can see what's available, wecan see where things are needed, and
we can use the voice in thecommunity themselves to help advocate for new services,
to help advocate for those that cannotadvocate for themselves. Absolutely, and
my last and final question for you, Rich, where does two on one
(12:09):
go from here? Right? Howwill it continue to grow and of course
have greater impact across Cook County?I think where do we grow is beyond
the contact center itself. How canwe put the power of two on one
into people's hands. You know,we're looking for the future of enhancing our
current website, to making sure thatpeople know that there are other resources out
(12:31):
there, maybe putting up banners,to making sure that we're giving them extra
resources on top of what they're providing. We're looking at possibly building an app
later this year so that we canput the two on one service in front
of case managers and social workers andour community, and then really looking at
how do we kind of partner withthe entire community at large to build out
(12:54):
kind of a community information in exchangeso that everybody can see what's going on
with the clients and making sure orthat we're all working in the same direction.
But two one one is the initialvoice. Two one one is the
entryway, and through the information thatwe can provide, we can further assist
the communians seeing what we need andwhat's lacking for the future. Yeah,
(13:16):
absolutely so, Rich and Anna,thank you so much for being here with
us today. We certainly do appreciateit. Where can we go? One
last question? Where can we gofor more information? Or if you have
a social media handle we can follow. But for those who are tuning in
and would love to explore more.Where can they go do that? They
can go directly to our website attwo one one Metro Chicago dot org.
(13:37):
And certainly, if you are inneed of services, you can call two
one one on your phone. AndI just want to also finish and thank
all of our generous funders and supporters. We're also so grateful for all of
the partnerships that make that allow oneone to happen. Absolutely, thank you
(14:01):
both for being here with us today. We are super appreciative and we always
love to support as well, Sothank you for your time today. Thank
you, Paulina, thank you.I'm joined now by Robert Ginyard, a
prostate cancer survivor and patient advocate whowas recently chair of Zero Prostate Cancer's board
of directors. He's also the hostof the Intentionally Overheard podcast. You can
(14:22):
learn more about zero Prostay Cancer atzero cancer dot org. Robert, thank
you so much for coming on theshow, and let's begin with your personal
story of overcoming a prostaate cancer diagnosis. Yes, well, thank you Ryan
for having me as a guest today. I really appreciate the opportunity and sure
my story starts out as a fortyeight year old young man who was diagnosed
(14:46):
with prostate cancer. I am nowsixty one, but that diagnosis at forty
eight took me for quite the tailspin. I didn't have any symptoms leading up
to my prostate cancer diagnosed. OnceI found out, for my primary physiciantion,
we followed the appropriate steps to geta second opinion. Consequently, we
(15:07):
did deal with the surgery, followedup by some other treatments. But I
am happy to say that here intwenty twenty four, I am doing well,
no signs of cancer, and Iwas originally diagnosed in twenty ten.
And I would really chalk that up, Ryan, to a relationship with my
primary care physician, but also theimportance of early detection, because I'm living
(15:31):
proof that it does save lives andextends lives in many cases. Let me
ask you this, at that age, was prostate cancer even on your radar?
Was that something you ever even thoughtabout, Ryan, Not at all.
I was healthy, you know,I went to the gym and worked
out at least three or four daysa week, eating well. So it
(15:52):
was a surprise and shocked to mysystem that this was even there in my
body. And the other thing aboutit is that I had found out years
later that my dad had about aprostate cancer. But you know, and
then my dad's from a different generation. Ryan, he didn't want the family
to know about his diagnosis because hewas worried about us and we would think
(16:15):
that something's wrong with him and he'sgoing to die. And so he really
wanted to keep that a secret fromus because he didn't want us to endure
that kind of emotional pain. Butit would have been good to know that
that was something that runs through thefamily. And so my advocacy work now
is of course early detection, butalso having that honest conversation with family members
(16:37):
to say, hey, you knowyour uncle had this, or your brother
had this, your dad had this. Because the sooner we know about that,
the better we can prepare in termsof early detection and at least keeping
it on the radar screen. Sohow did you end up getting involved with
this organization Zero Prostate Cancer. Well, Ryan, here's a quick story.
I got involved with the organization bysay State and a little bit of a
(17:02):
mistake. My wife suggested that Igo to a run walk event that they
had ZERO had in my hometown ofBaltimore. Ryan, I really wasn't feeling
it. It was a rainy morning, and I figured that I would dodge
into a coffee shop, hang outfor about three or four hours, and
(17:22):
then go home and tell my wifeit was a great event. But my
heart would not allow me to dothat. My wife is like an investigative
reporter. She would have tore meto shred. So I figured, let's
go to this event. And againit was raining, it was cold.
Ryan. I get to the eventand it was like the heavens opened up,
the sun came out, you couldsee a rainbow, and here I
(17:44):
was amongst all these other prostate cancersurvivors and their families and of course members
of the organization. That's how Ibecame familiar with Zero, and I really
loved their mission so much that Iwanted to get involved. Served as a
board member, and then it eventuallybecame the Boyd chaired many years later.
So that's how that relationship began.So I owe it really to my wife
(18:06):
and that cup of coffee that Ididn't have. That's an amazing story.
I'm Ryan Gorman here on Iharradio Communitieswith Robert Ginyard, the prostate cancer survivor
and patient advocate who was recently chairof Zero Prostate Cancer's Board of Directors.
You can learn more at zero cancerdot org. So tell us about the
work this organization does and the workyou did when you were in that role.
(18:27):
My role now is to continue tobe an advocate for the organization and
support them in many ways that Ican. My years as the board chair,
I really again tried to concentrate onresearch funding and spreading the word about
advocacy and racial disparities, and sothose were my key and core ad missions.
(18:51):
And the new Board of Director's chair, Tom Bonnano, has taken up
that helm and doing a terrific job. So now they pushed me out of
that seat and now I get todo some of the other fun stuff like
be a part of the Blue Jacketfashion show that will be happening on February
first in New York. And thisfashion show that's taking place again, like
you said, February first in NewYork City, this is something that everyone
(19:17):
can be a part of, Yesthey can. Ryan. While the event
will take place in New York,it will be available via live stream and
so you'll get to see many ofus who really have no player for fashion.
But we've come together for this eventto bring the fashion industry, the
media industry, and the entertainment industrytogether to really bring awareness to this issue.
(19:41):
And I talk about this event beingthat, yeah, fashion is about
the outward appearance, but we hopewhat we do that night, we'll focus
on the inward piece of our livesin terms of our good health and making
sure that we live the best livesthat we can for our family members.
Final question for you, how canpeople learn more about the word zero prostate
cancer does and also how can theysupport the work your organization's doing. Ryan,
(20:04):
Thank you so much for that askingme that question. Your listeners can
visit zero cancer dot org. That'szero cancer dot org, and you can
find any information you want to knowabout prostly cancer, what we're doing,
what we do in terms of advocatingon the hill, in terms of more
research dollars for prostate cancer, andso you can find any and most information
(20:29):
that you would like on that website, zero cancer dot org. And I'm
pretty sure there's something for everybody.And if you're not a prostate cancer patient
or survivor, you're still your spouseor anybody looking for information about prostate cancer
and how they can support the organization. You can find all of that information
on that website, and plus,like the event that you went to,
(20:52):
you can find events near where youlive, support groups resources on the website,
you'll be to find out different runwalk evens that are occurring across the
country, and we have many ofthem this time of the year. Ryan,
we're really gearing up for all ofthese drum walk sheries that typically began
a round March and they go throughalmost until the end of the year.
(21:14):
So we've got a lot of championsout there in various communities across the country,
and we hope we can bring onmore. Robert Kinyard, prostay cancer
survivor, patient advocate and former chairof Zero Prostate Cancer's board of Directors.
He also host of the Intentionally Overheardpodcast. You can learn more about this
organization and again support the work theydo at zero cancer dot org. Robert,
(21:37):
thank you so much for coming onand sharing your story, and thank
you so much for the great workyou're doing on this important issue. Thank
you, Ran, thank you forhaving me. Hi. It's Paulina here
with iHeartMedia Chicago and today on theshow, I am chatting with doctor Lakshmi
Emory, chief medical Officer of ATNABetterhealth of Illinois, and we are talking
Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. How areyou, doctor, I'm well, thank
(22:00):
you. How are you? I'mso good. Thank you for joining me
today. Such an important topic,especially to our you know, those who
are currently tuning in listening for thefirst time. So I'm so happy you're
here to talk about it. Yes, I think it's great that there is
a month for civical health awareness becausethere's so much to learn about, you
know, all of the different cancers, especially that we are all susceptible to.
(22:25):
So thanks for having me. Absolutely, I'm doctor. If you don't
mind, can you give us alittle bit of a just like a brief
summary kind of of your current roleand sort of you know who you are
for our listeners. Sure, yes, So I'm a medical doctor. I'm
actually a family medicine physician, beenin practice for over twenty years, and
(22:45):
I am now the chief medical officeras you said at IN the Better Health
of Illinois, which is a statewideMedicaid managed care organization, and so we
take care of people who have Medicaidinsurance. You know, all of their
health from dental to physical to behavioralhealth. And so we're the insurer with
the insurance plan that helps to providethe care along with the physicians and providers.
(23:11):
Wonderful. Thank you so much,and thank you again for being here
today. So you know, onthe topic of cervical cancer, right,
I do believe that it is treatablewhen found early, which is really you
know, but I would love totalk further about how cervical cancer even develops,
right, and the symptoms aware ofOkay, So the way that it
develops is usually through a viral infection. Interestingly, and a lot of people
(23:34):
aren't aware of that, but youmay have heard of HPV virus or human
papaloma virus, and this is avirus that can be spread through sexual contact.
And there is now actually a vaccineand so several years ago, you
know, there were no vaccines,but with you know, modern science,
we've developed a vaccine that can begiven as early as age nine and can
(23:57):
be given all the way through ageforty five. So it's important that people
know that there's a vaccine out there. And it's not just for women,
it's also for men. So aswe know, you know, women have
a cervix, but men, youknow, if there is sexual contact with
a man who carries HPV virus,it can cause the early stages of changes
(24:19):
in the cells on the cervix thatcan lead to cervical cancer. So that's
why it's important every year, youknow, for women to check with their
physician when they get their physical asto whether they need a pap smear.
You know when to start getting papsmears based on their sexual history and on
their age, and then the regularinterlope which they should get the pap smeear.
(24:42):
So the pap smear is where changesthat can lead to cervical cancer can
be detected. Now, some womenwho you know already have cervical cancer may
have symptoms like unusual vaginal bleeding.There may be pain, especially pain with
intercourse or discomfort. And then ofcourse, if it's a later stage cancer,
(25:03):
there may be unexplained weight loss orfatigue. But sometimes that early cancer
doesn't have you know, a lotof symptoms. So that's why it's so
important to get screened and to understandyour risk and to use protection too when
having sexual contact in terms of barrierslike a condom. Absolutely, So what
does like the screening process look likeif somebody was to go and start that
(25:26):
sure, so that would be thepap smear that a woman would have with
her provider, and so that wouldinvolve taking a little scraping of cells on
the cervix, which is the openingto the uterus, and you know,
it could be a little bit justyou know, uncomfortable in the beginning,
especially if someone doesn't have a lotof you know, sexual experience. But
(25:51):
it's it's manageable and it's something thata primary care physician does also obeguidy can
do, but it's very important tohave that done and then you'll get the
result back and they'll tell you whetherthere are any changes or whether there is
a presence of HPV, you know, human papaloma virus, in which case
there are steps that they'll take toscreen further or they may recommend further tests
(26:12):
like what we call a colposcopy,which is where you take a little biopsy
of the cervix to see if thereis the presence of cancer or changes towards
cancer. Well, that's really goodto know. And also accordions of the
research that I came across I do, it was informed that it is typically
Black women and Hispanic Latino women whohave the highest mortality rate from the illness.
(26:36):
Right unfortunately, Yes, why isthat? Well? So, yes,
as you said, African American womenare twice as likely to die from
cervical cancer as opposed to white women, and then Hispanic women are the second
highest in terms of dying from cervicalcancer. And a lot of this has
to do with what we call healthdisparities. So these have to do with
(26:57):
socioeconomic factors, which may mean thatthere's a lack of access to timely,
high quality care. There may belimited access you know, to transportation,
lower screening rates, and in somecases language barriers. So all of this,
you know, it's something that wework to combat every day at the
Health Plan to make sure that ourmembers have access to the screenings that they
(27:19):
need, to the vaccines against HPVthat they need in order to prevent these
things from happening. Right. No, that's very true. And what about
any kind of tips that you canprovide us doctor to avoid contributing risk factors?
Right? So, you know we'reat risk as women maybe a sertain
(27:40):
age demographic like you mentioned, Whatcan we do lifestyle wise that can help
kind of lower that, you know, great questions. So with any cancer,
there are certain things that you cando to lower your risk of contracting
it. So one thing is healthyeating and of course you know diets that
are rich in fruits and vegetables arepreferred, whole grains, you know,
less fats, less fast food.That would be helpful in avoiding any cancer,
(28:07):
including cervical cancer. Also avoiding habitslike smoking. You know, we
know that tobacco is a risk factorfor many cancers, and that also includes
cervical cancer. So anything you cando to reduce those risks like smoking,
like poor eating habits, even obesity, we know is linked to all kinds
of cancers, so that would bereally important, but in particular for cervical
(28:29):
cancer. Safe sex, as Imentioned before, is very important, So
that barrier protection to prevent the spreadof HPV and you know, prevent you
from catching HPV through sexual contact isvery important. Absolutely. The other thing
I wanted to mention for our membersat at a Better Hope of Illinois,
we actually have an incentive for themto get a PAP test. So it's
(28:51):
a twenty five dollars incentive and ifyou go to your doctor and have that
test completed. We will send thatout to you. So just for everyone,
just make sure to prioritize your yourhealth, your reproductive health. You
know, women should understand the symptomsand get checked regularly and be proactive.
So early detection is key. Thesooner it's caught, the more we can
do and the better your life willbe. Absolutely, doctor, thank you
(29:17):
so much for discussing the importance ofyou know, getting getting checked and of
looking out for any kind of symptomsyou know that that could you know,
be possibly leading to this as wellfor cervical cancer. Where can we go
for more information if anybody wanted toyou know, kind of do that and
look more further into it with theirhealthcare provider. How can they do that?
(29:37):
Yeah, well, so especially forend and Better Health members, you
can call one eight sixty six threetwo nine four seven zero one and you
can talk with someone about you know, any questions you have. You can
schedule an appointment to get your pathsmear or to get your HPV vaccine,
and you can arrange transportation for bothof those. So just want to let
you know of that number. Awesome, Thank you so much for being here
(29:59):
with us today. We I appreciateit, all right. Thank you so
much, Pelena, thank you somuch for listening, and thank you for
always tuning into the Weekly Show hereon iHeartRadio. We placed this episode and
all previous episodes upright on our freeiheartapp. Just search for the Weekly Show.
Thank you so much, and we'lltalk to you again next weekend.
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