(upbeat music) (lens beeping) (gentle electronic music) - Welcome to another edition of "InFocus".

I'm Jennifer Fuller.

We begin this week taking a closer look at access to care across our region.

Access is a common focus in healthcare circles.

How can patients and their families make sure their needs are met even if primary care providers are unavailable in their area?

And what about services outside of traditional wellness checks, specialized services like behavioral health, even dental or vision care?

In this first part of our series looking at access to care, Benjy Jeffords reports on a sometimes overlooked need: dental care.

- [Benjy] In 2019, Illinois expanded a state law requiring students entering kindergarten, second, sixth and ninth grades to have a dental exam by a licensed dentist and provide proof of the exam.

For some parents, finding a pediatric dentist has become difficult.

Jennifer Meyer is a clinical instructor of dental hygiene at SIU School of Health Sciences and says many dentists in the area are maxed out.

- There are a few local areas and some health clinics but we're short providers, I think, is our main issue locally.

And we have some dental offices but we've had retirements, not a lot of dentists moving in to the Southern Illinois area, so just not a lot of health centers can take the overabundance of patients.

- [Benjy] Meyer says that shortage of providers is causing parents to look outside of the area.

- Unfortunately we have patients that are traveling to Effingham, St. Louis and other areas to seek treatment when we should have a place for them to go locally.

- [Benjy] Christine Kindlesparger lives in Johnston City and has two boys that need to have their exam before school starts in August.

- Actually, was going to Harrisburg.

We had a mix up with his appointment and I called they said "It's gonna be September maybe," 'cause they were moving to another place in Galatia, which, or no, his was in Anna, which from Johnston City, still a long drive.

And then our other child, we went to take him to the dentist to get his teeth cleaned in Harrisburg 'cause it's the only two places I could find.

And the lady went into labor and they're not sure when they're gonna get done but those are the only two dentists that I could find.

- [Benjy] Kindlesparger says she spent a lot of time trying to get her kids the required exam so they are ready for school.

- I called for months trying to get a dentist.

They're like, "Oh, we're not accepting new patients at this time."

Or, "We might get somebody who decides not to come just call every single day."

And I'm like, "I've got kids.

I can't call every day to the dentist and hope and pray somebody canceled."

- [Benjy] Kindlesparger discovered SIU's Dental Hygiene Clinic for children ages 3 to 17, which offers exams, cleanings and fluoride treatments free of charge with a state medical card and also fulfills the state's dental requirements.

Meyer says they held the clinic to help parents struggling to find dental care for their kids and to ease the burden for school nurses.

- We're just kind of trying to put a dent and help school nurses because they feel the stress of not receiving those school exam forms and trying to find the children a dental home or a dentist to even see them to provide those exams.

So we're just trying to help parents and families ease into the school year a little bit more.

- [Benjy] And it lifted a big weight off Christine Kindlesparger's shoulders.

- I was excited when I seen this one online so I could get their kids teeth cleaned before school.

- [Benjy] Meyer says they had 25 openings for the clinic and they didn't last long.

- We put the flyer out on Tuesday and we filled our appointments in two hours and we're still taking patients on a waiting list in case we decide to do another event.

- [Benjy] Having clinics like this helps kids get more comfortable going to the dentist and provides more opportunities for the dental hygiene students.

- Our dental hygiene students love interacting with kids so it helps them learn how to see pediatric patients.

A lot of our client base here is adults so they get that interaction with the children and actually the children enjoy the dental hygiene students because it's a provider that's just possibly, you know, 7 to 10 years older than they are.

So they interact well and they tend to be more compliant when there's more of a bond between the hygiene student and the young patient.

- [Benjy] Blake Clark is starting her senior year this fall in SIU's Dental Hygiene Program.

She uses events like this to encourage kids to practice good oral health and calm their fears about going to the dentist.

- I enjoy working with kids, I enjoy talking with them, learning a little bit about them, making them feel comfortable.

And a lot of times the kids that we see at the clinic have never been to the dentist so this could be their first encounter at the dental office.

So we wanna make sure that it's a pleasant experience and that they think the dentist is fun, that they wanna come back because then that's patients for years and years to come.

And protecting their teeth when they're young is very important.

- [Benjy] Meyer says the experience students gain at SIU will be beneficial when they graduate.

- When you can say on a resume that I've seen X number of children or I've had that child interaction, you open the doors for maybe working in a pediatric dental office.

So it kind of opens the door to say I've seen this number of pediatric patients and I've worked in a public health setting and then they can kind of slide right in to a job at a public health department.

- [Benjy] Clark was inspired by her grandmother, who was also a dental hygienist, to pursue this career and feel she made the right choice.

- I love it.

I'm a hands-on learner and so this is honestly perfect for me and the profession's perfect for me because we get to see patients every day and get real experience instead of just, you know, in the textbooks.

We get to see what we're reading about.

And so I really enjoy my time in the clinic.

- [Benjy] And feels she's prepared to start her career after graduation in May next year.

- We have a lot of experience once we graduate here.

We see patients during the school year two days a week for about four hours each day.

And so yeah, we get to see a lot of different things in the clinic.

So it is very good experience for going into the workforce.

- [Benjy] Meyer says the clinic is open all year and every procedure has a flat fee with the most expensive costing $28 and they don't accept insurance.

- We're kind of the hidden gem in the dental world.

People don't know that we are actually here to see them so we try to advertise but we are willing to accept anyone and we're always trying to help you, you know, take care of your teeth and enjoy your actual appointment and we usually have a very good response and feedback from our patients - [Benjy] For "InFocus," I'm Benjy Jeffords.

- We continue our conversation about access to care here on "InFocus" with the Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Dr. Sameer Vohra.

Dr., thank you for joining us.

- Well thanks so much for having me.

- This is something that you're actually very familiar with when it comes to access to care, particularly, in rural areas here in Illinois.

Can you talk a little bit about some of the priorities you have?

You're relatively new to the office what would you like to see?

- Well, I am now a little over four months into the the position and understanding, first and foremost, all of the incredible work that happens in this agency on a day-to-day basis to improve the health of every community in Illinois.

But also really focusing and learning the lessons that we faced during the worst parts of the COVID-19 pandemic around how we can make sure that we're providing the greatest access to care.

We're understanding just why certain individuals are healthier than others, some of the social and structural issues that cause health challenges.

And then also understanding the unique nature of our Illinois communities.

We are such a big diverse state from north, south east and west, and really trying to make sure that we understand the great assets in each of those communities, but also how we can use state resources and state, kind of, technical assistance to make sure that every community is as is as healthy as it can be.

- A lot of times some of those barriers are as simple as geography.

It's a long way to a healthcare provider.

Maybe someone doesn't have access to a car, public transportation is not available to them either.

In what ways do you think public health can help to reach out to those underserved communities and bring some of those services, or even awareness, to the people who need it most?

- Yeah, I think it's a really great question and before this position spending time at Southern Illinois University and really having the chance to understand the needs of the counties across Central and Southern Illinois that the distance between, you know, healthcare providers, specialty services, was a really big challenge for patients being able to get that access to care to be healthy.

But also then understanding some of the kind of social network challenges.

And so even some of the community challenges of the types of things that can make you healthy, right?

Having the right kind of resources, the right education, but also knowing how to access the healthcare system when that's needed.

And part of, I think, our job on a public health level is to understand how we can communicate both making sure that we get the highest quality of care in our hospitals but ensuring that individuals have both the access in terms of trying to find ways to deliver care, making sure that we can sort of address some of those challenges to getting to places like transportation.

But then what are some of the creative ways that communities are coming together to really prevent disease from happening in the first place so that you don't have to go to the hospital and really can be safe and healthy and enjoy the life that you wanna enjoy which we'd want for every resident across the state.

- Some of those collaborations including addressing things like, I'm guessing, food deserts, making sure that healthy food is available to people and they don't have to travel as far to get those sorts of things.

Is that some of the the issues that you're hoping to address?

- Yeah, I mean I think one of the things that, especially when we think of our rural community, is that they do.

They face deserts of essential services.

From, you know, healthy food options to making sure that sometimes they have the right kind of facilities, the recreational facilities, to be healthy, right?

That diet and exercise that we so value.

But also understanding that this goes much broader, right?

We see deserts in certain providers, right?

Certain healthcare and specialty providers especially as we talk about like mental health, you know, shortage areas and even things that we know that are essential for our education like childcare deserts and that in combination with the disconnection that we often have, right?

The lack of, as we have all figured out, right, based on the COVID-19 pandemic, how important just your internet connection can be for so many things.

And despite a lot of efforts being placed, and this being an incredible priority of the governor's office, we still know that there's still work to be done to get those internet connections and that broadband.

And then sometimes just the disconnection that we also can help with our local health department partners of bringing the collaborations between healthcare and social services together, right?

And that connecting our services and organizations because you know, they might fit in different areas on a ledger or in state government but for a family they're all things that they need in order to be as healthy as possible.

- That collaboration is the direction that I wanted to go next.

Even before the pandemic, health departments were really bridging the gap for a lot of families, whether it was through WIC, or connections to things like behavioral health, or other ways that families could kind of get that hand up that they might be looking for.

How important is it in, especially these rural counties, that there is a public health department that's able to at the very minimum, answer questions and provide information to people who need it?

- I think it's absolutely critical and we've been in a time over the last two and a half years where we have thought of public health in relationship to COVID-19 and infectious disease and we've been talking about vaccinations and we've been talking about ways to prevent infectious disease and that's a critical, important piece of what local health departments do, what the state public health department does and what we do on a federal level as well.

But public health is so much more.

It's what keeps your water safe.

It is what allows you to sort of think about broader paths in which you to exercise and be healthy.

But it's really about many of these kinds of services that local health departments provide that really makes sure that you're getting the food that you need, that you're understanding ways that the local health department can work with, you know, the economic sector to help you out.

And it's really even about the importance of taking care of your children or the elder, right?

Public health is in all of those different things.

And what I think the hope a little bit for us and for the local health departments to make sure people understand all those services that those local health departments offer, how much they can kind of connect families with services that they need.

And then really sort of inviting them in to really sort of create the collaborative partnerships and relationships that local health departments can partner with community members to make their community as healthy as possible.

- Certainly, we've mentioned a couple of times now the COVID pandemic, so we can't get out of an interview like this without talking about lessons learned and looking forward.

As you lead public health across the state, what are you glad to see that people have learned or lessons that can be built upon and what are you hoping that people can still get in terms of learning from COVID-19?

- Yeah, I think we have so much that we've already learned and so much that we continue to learn about the challenges of COVID-19.

It placed our public health infrastructure with real challenges.

Could we sort of build up the capacity, right?

And I think part of throughout my career, both as a clinician and in public health, is that we knew we were doing our job in public health when we weren't making the news because we were keeping people safe and they didn't have to struggle with some of the challenges.

But when we faced such a crisis, how important it is to invest in that public health system that's so critical.

It also, I think pointed out especially early in the pandemic, that a virus that was supposed to biologically affect everybody the same, didn't.

And that was based on things like your ethnicity, your income, your geography.

And when those disparities that we saw really sort of caused people to be unhealthier, even though the virus, you know, could affect everybody, you know, the same way.

And then the importance of like your chronic diseases, you know, things that can also affect you if exposed.

And then I think it also sort of taught us how much it it's important to sort of build the partnerships that you're talking about, the collaborative nature.

'Cause a health crisis, right, can affect the local health departments, it can affect the hospitals.

How crucial those partnerships are to build one health system that combines public health and what's going on in our clinics and hospitals.

But also that connection between our health and other sectors of society.

And that's really important, right?

And it's really important also for us to work with our communities to build the trust and the communication knowing that these issues are hard.

We are at a time where we may be facing, you know, the next emerging illness and to be prepared to trust in each other, in our communities, so that we can do everything that we can to face the next set of challenges that come forward.

- Certainly, there is an aspect of what happened with COVID-19 and the partnership with the economy.

Do you think that as public health leaders you're ready for what may come down the pike?

Are there lessons that you were able to learn that may help to mitigate some of the more negative impacts on the economy or on other aspects of society outside of health?

- Yeah, I mean I think we have all seen, right, that both our health system and our healthcare system and our economy has changed because of the pandemic.

How we think about work, how remote work, or even things like telehealth that people rarely used before the pandemic but are using much more now.

And the importance of using our technology in innovative ways to improve our economy, improve our healthcare sector.

But I think it's also a really important indication of how important spending the time building the foundational capacities for us to be prepared to be responsive when those things come in.

There's been a lot of investment placed in our state public health department around being prepared for the next challenge.

And I think we saw a little bit of a preview of that of mpox, right, the monkeypox virus, and how the public health system did learn a lot of lessons there, of course a different disease, but we were able to kind of mobilize much quicker.

But it's also I think for areas like us for our local health departments to really make sure that we are seen as trusted partners in the community.

And that's being able to describe often the complicated things that we're talking about in ways that we can all understand and work together.

And part of that for me growing up in Chicago but then spending so much time in Central and Southern Illinois is that our cultures are different.

And knowing that we're one big, unique state, we can come together on so much, but it's also sort of understanding what those differences are and providing the right solutions for the culture and the the context of the situations that those communities are facing.

- I'm gonna ask you a little bit to look into your crystal ball here.

As we've turned the calendar, or are turning the calendar over from 2022 to 2023, experts have been talking for well over a month now about what they're calling a tripledemic or a multidemic, when we have spiking cases of the virus RSV, flu, COVID, and they're telling people that as we're gathering for the holidays, we need to be more careful.

Do you expect to see a surge in numbers or for that surge to continue, I should say, into 2023?

- I think we're anticipating that the surge will continue into 2023.

We did see, you know, a real rise in childhood infections, especially, respiratory syncytial virus, RSV, where we were seeing lots of hospitalizations for kids and limited beds across the state.

Fortunately, we've reached, through our data, probably the spike of RSV cases.

Pediatric beds, pediatric intensive care unit beds, are really opening up across the state.

But that good news is paired with some challenging news as COVID-19 admissions have been rising for multiple weeks now, and we're seeing many of our counties, the vast majority of them being at elevated risk and many being at very high risk.

And so really important for all of us to take all the preventative measures that we need in this winter season.

That we may get sick, right?

But making sure that we have that bivalent booster, the flu shot, when you're in a crowded place and there's high community transmission, the importance of being tested and bringing out that mask.

So ultimately, we're doing what we all need to do is preventing those hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 and other illnesses.

- And of course you can get more information through the Illinois Department of Public Health's website and your local department of public health.

Dr. Sameer Vohra is the Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Dr. Vohra, thank you so much for your time.

- Thank you so much for having me and for this conversation.

- And thank you for watching "InFocus" on WSIU.

As usual, you can find all of our content at wsiu.org and at our YouTube channel.

For all of us here, I'm Jennifer Fuller.

Thanks for joining us and we'll catch you next time.

(upbeat music) (subdued music) - [Eddie] My daddy was elected mayor twice and I used to walk down the streets holding his hand.

Everybody stopped and pet me on the head and said "How you doing, little mayor?"

(laughs) Yeah, I had a wonderful daddy.

And when I was about 14, he says, "Son, look, you come from a long line of chronic alcoholics.

I'm an alcoholic just waiting for the first drink and I refuse to take it."

He said, "If you do, you'll get away with it for a while but it'll destroy your life and probably kill you."

And he said, "Want you to remember that."

And I said, "Okay, daddy, I'll give it serious thought."

I gave it enough thought that that Halloween, I went trick or treat with my buddy and we passed a horseshoe of frat houses.

Those kids knew who I was.

Everybody knew who my daddy was.

And one of them frat boys said, "Hey, you ever had a drink?"

And I said, "No, I hadn't."

He said, "Now you drank this.

It's gonna burn, but you're gonna like this."

I never felt good in life.

As long as I had alcohol in my system, I was what I always wanted to be: a self-confident, good-looking, witty human being.

And it worked very well for 40 some more years of my life.

- [David] Must take a lot of self-discipline to turn around.

- [Eddie] Well, it took more than that.

I had just been released for my 28th treatment for alcoholism.

The doctor told me when I left, said, "I'll give you two weeks and I'll read your name in the obituaries."

So I went to the cemetery where my mother and daddy were buried and let 'em know that I'm sober, ain't gonna die this way.

So then I came on down to a place I knew where there's an exit ramp of cars come around.

I held a sign there and that's where I met you.

Every time you came by, you stick out a $2 bill and a can of tuna fish.

And it was New Year's Eve and I had nowhere to go.

Couldn't drink, everybody's partying.

And you walked on nowhere and said, "Remember me?"

I said, "Yeah, you're the two dollar bill man.

He said, "I'm gonna take you home with me for a New Year's Eve party.

How would you like that?"

I said, "I don't think that works, sir.

You've got a wife.

She's gonna have a lot to say to you about bringing a homeless, smelly old man home with you."

You said, "My wife will receive you well."

I went to your home and had a shower and you gave me some clean clothes.

And we sit down at the table and I tell you some stories about who I really was and who my daddy was.

There was a lot more to me than you might imagine.

- [David] I hope I was a little bit of a help along your path.

- [Eddie] Well, you know, David, without your kindness, and your family and all, I don't know.

I wouldn't say I'd have gone back drinking again but I'll say it would've been rough.

(contemplative music) (logo chiming)