Of all similar, wealthy nations of the world, Americans pay the most for health care (I call it “sick care”) and receive the least back for their investment.

Get out your large, foam finger. We are No. 1 in health care! We're No 1. USA! USA! USA! Right? Wrong!

Infant mortality (death) rate is often used as a proxy indicator of a nation’s health. The U.S. had a higher infant mortality rate than other wealthy countries like us in 2023. Even the Slovak Republic and Chile were better!

The infant death rate in 2013 was 5.9 per 1,000 live births. What was the infant death rate in 2023, ten years into the future? The provisional number provided by the CDC for 2023 (CDC, 2024) was 5.61 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. A major drop, correct? Nope! However, Black infants died the most. I am sure it is the amount of pigment in their skin.

A Vital Statistics Rapid Release report from the National Center for Health Statistics shows that the provisional infant mortality rate for the United States in 2022 rose 3% from 2021, the first year-to-year increase in the rate since 2001 to 2002. You can read the details here: Infant Mortality in United States: Provisional Data from the 2022 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death File

In maternal health, the U.S. has a similar problem. In 2022, the maternal death rate was approximately 22 deaths per 100,000 live births, which again is much higher than other wealthy nations like ours. In fact, the U.S. maternal death rate is 55% greater than that of Chile.

Like their babies, black pregnant moms have the highest death rates.

Are there issues in maternal and child health? Listen as host, Tim Jordan explores these issues and more with our expert guest, Mr. Duane Herron of Georgia.

=================================

Resources for This Podcast:

1) Website: Cobb and Douglass Counties, Public Heath https://cobbanddouglaspublichealth.com/

2) Website: CDC, Maternal and Child Heath. https://www.cdc.gov/maternal-infant-health/infant-mortality/

3) Report: March of Dimes Report Card for the U.S. https://www.marchofdimes.org/peristats/reports/united-states/report-card

4) Website: The World Health Organization. Social Determinants of Health https://www.who.int/health-topics/social-determinants-of-health

5) Podcast to Listen To: The Fractured U.S. Health Care System. https://1795group.com/episode/episode-2/

6) Podcast to Listen To: Is There Racism in the U.S. Health Care System? https://1795group.com/episode/episode-4/

7) Podcast to Listen To: Is There Racism in Maternal and Child Health in the United States? https://1795group.com/episode/episode-24-is-there-racism-and-maternal-and-child-health-in-the-united-states-an-interview-with-duane-herron-tiffiny-jones-and-elizabeth-williams/ 8) Article: Racism Creates Inequities in Maternal and Child Health, Even Before Birth. (2021). https://www.childtrends.org/publications/racism-creates-inequities-maternal-child-health-even-before-birth?

9) Article to Read: Systemic Racism – A Key Risk Factor for Maternal Death and Illness. (2021). https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/news/2021/systemic-racism-key-risk-factor-maternal-death-and-illness?

10) Article to Read: Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Health: Current Status and Efforts to Address Them (2022). https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/racial-disparities-in-maternal-and-infant-health-current-status-and-efforts-to-address-them/?

========================================

interested in becoming a sponsor of this podcast? Contact us at: tjordan@1795group.com

Thoughts? Feedback? Suggestions for topics or guests? Contact: tjordan@1795group.com

• Grass Roots Health is sponsored by the 1795 Group. www.1795group.com
• Grass Roots Health is produced and hosted by Tim Jordan.
• Duane Herron was booked by Tim Jordan.
• Artwork created by Samantha Hruby.
• Audio editing, mixing, and mastering by Suma Recording, Painesville, Ohio https://www.sumarecording.com/
• Website design by Alex Brinkman, Green Tree Media, Perrysburg, Ohio www.greentreemediallc.com

We are born, live, get old, and then die. This is the natural cycle of life. One thing is certain, humans have a 100% mortality rate.

Death is a rite of passage in which we all participate – as a family member, a health care provider, or as a patient.

Healthcare providers often view death through a biomedical lens and define death as a physiological event. As a result, they often view death very narrowly as a medical failure. Therefore, healthcare providers are frequently the worst “death deniers” in American society.

Instead of talking about death and dying openly and honestly and allowing their patients to prepare for their departure, many healthcare providers often put their patients on the “medical treadmill” of another surgery, another amputation, another round of chemotherapy, or more radiation. Such medical treatment is frequently futile and only serves to steal the patient’s quality of life at the end-of-life stage.

In this episode, our host, Tim Jordan, talks to Kelvin Freeman about what he has learned via his research with program directors of accredited physician assistant training programs across the U.S.

Do physician assistant students receive adequate end-of-life education during their training? Listen and find out.

=================================

Resources for This Podcast:

Detroit Michigan Health Department: https://detroitmi.gov/departments/detroit-health-department

Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the U.S. Department of Labor. Emergency Preparedness and Response. https://www.osha.gov/emergency-preparedness

Article: (2024). Applying a Health Equity Lens to Better Understand End-of-Life Prognostication. https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/applying-health-equity-lens-better-understand-end-life-prognostication/2024-10

Blog (2023). Adding Life to One’s Remaining Days. https://1795group.com/adding-life-to-ones-remaining-days/

Article: (2021). The COVID-19 pandemic has changed dying and grief: Will there be a surge of complicated grief? Death Studies, 84-90; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07481187.2021.1929571

Article: (2020). COVID-19 brings a new urgency for advance care planning: Implications for death education. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07481187.2020.1821262

Article: (2019). Dying Well-Informed: The Need for Better Clinical Education Surrounding Facilitating End-of-Life Conversations. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6913833/#:~:text=Moreover%2C%2040%20percent%20of%20medical,informing%20patients%20about%20their%20prognoses

Letter to the Editor: The Uphill Task of Improving End-of-Life Training in U.S. Internal Medicine Residency Programs (2019). https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/fulltext/2019/10000/the_uphill_task_of_improving_end_of_life_training.5.aspx

Article: (2017) Predicting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Advance Care Planning Using the Integrated Behavioral Model. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0030222817691286?casa_token=ksd86v_2QwAAAAAA%3AS6NMzc4Ve_JdlusxbnlPdlYVy-Z4c9a6PtfgofOiAYP39LyxSh0A2eXiqWBjNfeg_NAG-HxhyWXo

Article: (2016). Teaching About Life and Living in Courses on Death and Dying. Death Studies. Written by Charles Corr. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0030222815575902?casa_token=yIb4TUwp3H8AAAAA%3A6CdzEs53Wn65ALnwonTDLydfKDV_HEuiJ4wNn7retxXyRrL1HKpVy8LloywVLzahA1_j18GJjbON

Podcast: Episode 7: Death and Dying from the Perspective of a Hospice Nurse – An Interview with Nurse Penny. https://1795group.com/episode/episode-7-death-and-dying-from-the-perspective-of-a-hospice-nurse-an-interview-with-nurse-penny/

TV interview with Dr. Tim Jordan on bereavement and grief. https://youtu.be/a0QWYEmbw40

Blog: The Mountain that Everyone Must Climb. https://1795group.com/the-mountain-that-everyone-must-climb/

========================================

Interested in becoming a sponsor of this podcast? Contact us at: tjordan@1795group.com

Thoughts? Feedback? Suggestions for topics or guests? Contact: tjordan@1795group.com

Grass Roots Health is sponsored by the 1795 Group. www.1795group.com

Grass Roots Health is produced and hosted by Tim Jordan.

Kelvin Freeman was booked by Tim Jordan. Artwork by Danielle Procopio. Audio editing and mastering by Christopher Stoll of Audio Flare Recording, Toledo, OH: https://www.audioflare.com/

Website design by Alex Brinkman, Green Tree Media, Perrysburg, Ohio www.greentreemediallc.com

We adults have created a plastic pollution disaster for those that will follow in our footsteps. However, you can be part of the solution starting today!

Microplastics, 5 millimeters or less in size, come from a variety of larger plastics such as plastic bottles, car tires, plastic beads (including those in skin-care products), and synthetic fibers. These larger plastics typically break down into smaller and smaller plastics called nano-plastics (less than 1 micrometer in size). Nano-plastics also come from industrial processes.

Plastic pollution is also in our homes. Your carpet and rugs are especially to blame. Clothing, bedding, and other textiles shed microplastics in fiber form and are major contributors to plastic pollution, especially when washed. These microfibers, which are carried off by your drains from your washer, enter the wastewater, eventually end up in the environment.

The problem with plastics is that take up to 1,000 years to decompose. Only 10% of plastic waste is recycled. Most plastic waste just sits there in the soil in landfills as an environmental pollutant. Worse yet, about 11 million tons of plastic enter our oceans yearly. Let’s do something about this plastic disaster! Listen and learn about plastic pollution in our homes as host Tim Jordan interviews Judit Weis Ph.D. about this issue.

Resources for this podcast:

1) Judith Weis, Ph.D.: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Weis

2) Rutgers University Website: www.rutgers.edu

3) Biological Sciences at Rutgers Website: www.biology.rutger.edu

4) Books by Guest, Judith Weis. https://sites.rutgers.edu/judith-weis/books/

5) New Book by Guest, Judith Weis, Ph.D. Marine Pollution: What Everyone Needs to Know. 2nd Edition. (2024). https://global.oup.com/academic/product/marine-pollution-9780197753811?lang=en&cc=us

6) Senator Jeff Merkley, Oregon. https://www.congress.gov/member/jeff-merkley/M001176. Merkley introduces legislation to curb plastic pollution from laundry. https://www.congress.gov/member/jeff-merkley/M001176

7) Podcast Episode 26: Plastic Pollution is All Around Us. Should I Care? An Interview with Janet Brahney, Ph.D. https://1795group.com/episode/episode-26-plastic-pollution-is-all-around-us-should-i-care-an-interview-with-janet-brahney-ph-d/

8) Blog: (2024). Plastic Pollution is All Around Us. You Should Care. https://1795group.com/plastic-pollution-is-all-around-us/

9) Plastic Pollution Coalition (2024). Plastic Pollution Facts. https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/learn/plastic-pollution-facts

10) Article: (2024). Weiss, J. Laundry is a top source of microplastic pollution. Here’s how to clean your clothes more sustainably. PBS News. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/laundry-is-a-top-source-of-microplastic-pollution-heres-how-to-clean-your-clothes-more-sustainably

11) Article: (2023). The National Park Service. Reducing Laundry Microfibers. https://nps.gov/articles/000/laundry_microplastics.htm?utm

12) Article: (2023). Lozanova, S. How To Reduce Microfiber Pollution from Your Laundry. Earth911. https://earth911.com/home-garden/reduce-laundry-microfiber-pollution/

13) Article: (2024). Frank, G. This Washing Machine Filter Gulps Up Microplastics. The Triple Pundit. https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2023/washing-machine-microplastic-filter/782986?utm

14) Article (2024). Engler, S. 10 Ways to Reduce Plastic Pollution. Natural Resources Defense Council. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/10-ways-reduce-plastic-pollution?utm_source

========================================

Interested in becoming a sponsor of this podcast? Contact us at: tjordan@1795group.com

Thoughts? Feedback? Suggestions for topics or guests? Contact: tjordan@1795group.com

Grass Roots Health is sponsored by the 1795 Group. www.1795group.com

Grass Roots Health is produced and hosted by Tim Jordan.

Dr. Weis was booked by Tim Jordan. Artwork by Danielle Procopio. Audio editing and mastering by Christopher Stoll of Audio Flare Recording, Toledo, OH: https://www.audioflare.com/

Website design by Alex Brinkman, Green Tree Media, Perrysburg, Ohio www.greentreemediallc.com