0:02 Welcome to Advance the Dream, our weekly community chat, where we celebrate legacy makers and family heroes who are actively advancing the dream in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We talk about health, challenges, highlights and heroes in an intergenerational fashion in hopes that his legacy of hope and equality continue to live on. This weekly series, powered by the Force for Health Network, is aired live on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn at 8 a.m. Pacific Time, 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
0:31 Then shared afterwards at AdvanceTheDream.com. Now, let's meet our hosts, Force for Health Network co-founders, Dr. Robert Giglio and Lucy Howell, alongside our National Director, Joshua Williams Jr. as we dive into this week's topic. Hi. Ooh, where was that voice coming from? Hi, everybody. Today is Saturday, April 27th. My name is Lucy Howell, and we are here for our 13th episode of Advance the Dream, our live weekly community chat streaming to YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn. in an effort to continue the conversation and the legacy set forth by the late Dr.
1:14 Martin Luther King as we all strive for health and wealth, equity, and equality. And it's not a bad word, okay? Can we stop, like... playing like a hot potato I feel don't you feel like the word equity has turned into a bad word the last six six months anyways I will restrain I'm joined here with my partner dr robert gilio out of state college and my co-founder in the force for health network and of course with our national coach partner and advisor with this advance the dream initiative joshua williams who is based out of Gadsden, Florida, top panhandle, and sometimes New Orleans.
1:55 So welcome team to our episode today. I always start things off. So I'm going to kind of move to Rob and let you start off the tone of executive ketchup. Today, we are going to talk about this whole digital divide issue. And that's going to take up most of the time, about 30 minutes. But we thought it was really important to go through the 10 things that matter when you have somebody in your family that's not digitally connected. Maybe it's something that you can help them with because it really matters.
2:34 But more on that later. Rob, welcome to the show. Opening thoughts. Well, this week I was struck with my role as a caregiver for my now 93-year-old mother-in-law that experienced two deaths in the last two weeks, one of a niece that she raised like a mother and another of a friend of hers for 70 years, one of her first friends in adulthood when she moved to this town. And I was struck by the sense of isolation that seniors experience and how Part of advancing the dream can be to integrate and support seniors with family, or if they don't have family nearby, the value of friends that become family.
3:20 We can talk more about the role of technology in it, but the isolation of seniors is something, especially in times of not just caregiving, but grieving and how to help support them. Because that was something that took up some of my time this week and Um, thank goodness, um, others recognized and were able to step in, but we'll talk a little later about where technology really failed. Uh, DigitalVide really failed her being able to have a, a better experience, um, and better support. And I believe we have in our virtual library over at the Forest for Health, one of the recent U.S.
4:03 Surgeon General's reports on the fact that this whole loneliness concept, whether you are a middle schooler coming out of COVID or a high schooler displaced post-graduation person, the visible graduation or a senior, it is really an epidemic to be aware of. And that's why things like this that we are trying to do, connect, facilitate, collaborate, it's at the core of what we're trying to solve for. So yes, that was a sad story that you shared with me this week. And we'll talk about it a little bit more when we get to that point in the presentation.
4:43 Josh, what's on your mind this morning? Well, when you talk about the digital divide, you're talking about a situation, especially in some of the deep pocket communities in which we deal with that don't have access to technology. It's a big sore. Having to actually try to bring someone to a different level of understanding something that they know not anything about. A lot of the family members in which I encountered did not have computers or did not work, weren't able to utilize computers while they were coming up.
5:20 So what do we do in that case? Do we actually now try to tell them or bring them to the state of art situation where they now have to actually learn something that they were never taught? Number one is the first obstacle. Number two is actually learning something that may be a little complex for them. And number three is having the person or actual team to train them in the manner in which they need to be trained. Everyone can follow directions on a book. Everyone can't follow the directions on a computer screen.
5:54 So they need that additional attention. And that's why I'm so happy and excited about what we do, what you do matter from the standpoint of it being a piece where people can go to and feel comfortable about learning technology. Because it's not an easy subject. Really, really teach and provide the information necessary for our seniors and now young adults to actually learn and comprehend. So we have to have that personnel that's willing to understand, to appreciate where they are and make them feel comfortable enough to actually find and challenge themselves to learn something that they never had an opportunity of learning.
6:35 I mean, you nailed it on the head, and we have been able to witness that right alongside you and why maybe it's something that we're so passionate about because it doesn't take much to do a little hand-holding with those that need help. Right? I don't care if you're black, white, brown, yellow. If you're a 60, 70, 80, or 90-year-old, you probably don't know computers as well as the generation behind you. But you are also prideful, and you... you don't want to admit that you might need some help.
7:16 But when it's done in the situation that we've done and piloted with you, basically everything that you've dedicated your life towards, we've come in the last couple of years and helped to amplify some of that. But yeah, it's a magical thing to see digitally connected seniors and then have them thrive and get competitive. I mean, that's what we've witnessed with your group. Last week, we had former councilman at large, Jim Singleton, who's actually 90 this year. And actually, it was his first time getting on a digital show or conversation.
7:56 He never had the opportunity of connecting. So, you know, and then some of the questions that they asked, you can't, you know, we may think, Lucy and Dr. Rob, that it might be miniature. some of the questions, but it's really, they don't know. So we have to be patient enough to observe and understand and appreciate what they're trying to do. I was so proud of him just getting connected because he never had the opportunity of learning how to do that piece. And these are like pillar leaders. you know, that have so much knowledge to share.
8:32 And you're absolutely right. I mean, sometimes I forget that our subject is 91. You know, you just expect him to know how to jump on a Zoom, how to be in front of a camera. But again, they are still teachable. You know, I've got your graphic up here from the book that you wrote, I believe. You know, there you go. And I love your tag here, right? It's all aboard for STEAM and everything with science, technology, education, arts, and math. But you know what? It's never too early or too late to energize STEAM for all.
9:12 So I feel like that's really what drives you. You wrote a book about it. really aimed at those who want to maybe step up and mentor and coach, but it's also very, very good for any student that wants to, you know, go through it. And we hosted on our, you know, uh, the force for health network, um, on your behalf. So yeah, I think this, this whole, um, opening conversation lends itself well to the topic. Yeah. I'm just going to continue this conversation unless you want to move on to the other part, but I just responded to something Josh was saying and you were saying.
9:51 The very, very successful senior grew up in a corporate or hospital or educational environment where they had secretaries or administrative assistants as things transitioned from paper and then to dictation to email. Some of them never even needed to learn that. Emails were printed, put on their desk, annotated, and things were sent back. So they were able to get by even the most successful, wealthy, or well-educated, highly employed city councilmen, corporate leaders, bank presidents you've introduced us to, had those kind of active capabilities.
10:32 On the other end of the spectrum, some folks in their jobs never had to learn that. Mm-hmm. I did a project with school nurses a little ways back, but I found that we had created a solution for people that didn't know how to use a mouse. And we'd introduced them and we were giving them a computer program for free funded to help with their students that had all sorts of benefits if they had computer skills. We found they didn't have the digital divide skills, the digital literacy, not even digital health literacy.
11:06 What is a mouse? I'll never forget being on a service call and someone saying, no matter how I move my mouse, it goes the wrong way, upwards or backwards. And my 10-year-old daughter overheard this call and said, I didn't know how to solve it. She said, tell her to turn the mouse around and load and hold it work properly. So the 10-year-old corrected at the time the CEO of the company with a client utilizing the latest in software. So digital divide is an issue. But I also think there's something called, I'm not sure what to call it, but awareness and empathy divide.
11:45 And that is, all right, I sent an email announcing this obituary, let's say, to a bunch of people. But what if that person doesn't have email? And what if nine days goes by after someone is deceased and they never were informed? And what my mother-in-law had happened to her If she opened the newspaper, the little lousy eight-page newspaper we have here, the Daily, and she looks at the obituary and sees her friend of 70 years, that's how she learned of her death. Yeah. It was absolutely tragic.
12:22 And so there's a technology called knocking on the door and making an in-person visit and checking on someone that is important. Or even if you can't do that, a telephone call. So to assume that everyone you're communicating with has email or a Facebook post they're going to get or watching a broadcast like this is naive. So having it everything from on paper to in person to a phone, ordinary telephony is a great way to engage. So anyone who's watching this out there, find the ways that your senior or your colleague engages.
13:01 Connect with them and find the best way to communicate with them. And the bottom line is communicate with them. I love the idea of advancing digital technology literacy. And we were involved with a group in Philadelphia and some other places now that are wanting us to do more. One of our guests is going to be Pastor Campbell. Not today, but probably next week's show or the week after. That is going to show off how his efforts of advancing tech literacy with high school kids, like using a synthesizer to make music.
13:34 Using video cameras to capture dance routines and then how to put them onto the web. And then eventually into virtual reality experiences has gotten him a grant to have a high-tech lab at a church, not too dissimilar from the church you brought me to Josh with your program after, after church program. Um, but inner city Philadelphia or center city Philadelphia, I should say, um, a quarter million dollar lab of technology for training and he's doing All generations. So we'll be talking to him in the next few weeks.
14:08 But his key has just been to have the door open, have people be empathetic, to reach out and communicate by whatever means necessary. Even low-tech. Sounds good. Well, before we kind of lean into the major topic that we want to talk about, you know, my executive perspective was a little lighter than yours. I actually had the opportunity to go see a Broadway in Tucson show and it was called Hairspray. Are you guys familiar with that at all? I had no idea really what it was about. I went in there just happy to be there, and I didn't know that there was like a racial and an integration type of message in there.
15:00 I have zero idea. I did not do any research, so I have no idea if it has any tie to truth at all. But it was just interesting to be there fully, you know, just... enjoy watching a performance and then having an issue of like, wow, kids weren't able to dance together in the 50s, right? White people had to dance over there, Black people. I mean, of course, it's obvious. But that was just kind of like my aha, wow, I'm watching Hairspray in 2024 in Tucson having a little advance the dream moment.
15:35 So that's just kind of what I was bringing to the table. And it was a fabulous performance, by the way. The other thing that I just wanted to maybe just reconfirm is why are we doing this? You know, we are a mixed media company where we have a passion and a mission on certain topics. Of course, Advance the Dream is one very important, you know, brand, community, challenge builder, you know, channel that we are focusing on. And we don't. do this enough. So let me just kind of just look at this and let people know that we are a free virtual health platform.
16:17 OK, so, you know, you can download our app, go search 360 Force for Health Academy and actually download it for free and then connect in with call it the advance the dream community and connect in with certain things that you can challenge yourself. Health, nutrition, challenges, highlights and just connect. right? We have some advanced features for those who might want to be a group leader. Perhaps you're a coach or a teacher or a nonprofit leader, and you'd like more opportunities to see how your group's doing or to to frame some things around challenges.
16:59 We have ambassadors that will give you kind of virtual wellness tools and a custom HRA and 360. But, you know, we are trying to get people to compete both individually as regions across the country and as organizations in this reality health games type of place. So I just wanted to kind of remind people, you know, that we are not only a... broadcasting media channel, we're backed with a platform that if you really do care and want to get involved and connect, that you absolutely can do so at advancedthedream.com or at The Force for Health.
17:40 So those are my opening thoughts. You know, Lucy, I have to comment. You know, today I was, this week I had the pleasure of showing off what we were doing to a gentleman that runs a large foundation that provide services for families of children that are getting cancer treatment or surgeries and things. And he described, you said platform, that we have a large platform. He said, you know, Rob, I really think what you have is an ecosystem of support and education and engagement. And I really like that, because I think that's what Josh is doing with his programs.
18:20 It's an ecosystem where When you join, there's the content, there's the videos, there's the online learning, there's the gamification. But the ability to be in a group where you're in that same discussion group on a topic with someone like Josh or any of his distinguished scholars or guests or influencers or servant leaders, it's an ecosystem. There's what this Advance the Dream movement is, I think, not just a platform. And yeah, it's there for people to join. And you can join for free. It reminds me of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Arizona app that we just launched called 360 SCD Hub.
19:02 And it is really described to serve the ecosystem of the SCD community, which includes those living with the issue. It includes the medical community trying to improve quality care to those people. patients and families, right? Because families are always associated with those living with the condition. And then just the general public, the general community, like why should I care type of thing? And it is, you know, a broader sense of that. Well, I think it's, I think it's worth scheduling a show regarding that specific topic and that specific gap in the near future.
19:38 With Moses Akpan, who is the executive director, president, project leader of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Arizona. A real leader there that has now launched this app and is sharing it with colleagues around the region. If we look at Advance the Dream in concept, one of the groups we're trying to address when we talk about diversity or equity or disparities is people that are born with genetics that make it harder for them to have a life with less pain. and less health issues. So part of answering the dream is putting out their tools for health literacy so people can make the healthiest decisions possible to avoid a sickle cell crisis or to get a treatment early enough that the crisis doesn't become a surgical need or some other organ disaster of some sort.
20:32 So I think the SCD Hub app is something we should be talking about at some point in one of our future shows and featuring that with a focus on sickle cell disease is something that affects the largest proportion from a population health standpoint, African-Americans or Africans are those that are at the greatest risk for sickle cell disease. And so you have a disease with a racial focus And here we're at National Minority Health Month with Dr. King talking about health inequity as one of the greatest injustices.
21:15 If I, you know, I paraphrased him incorrect, paraphrased him, didn't quote him there. Yeah, I brought this up just because we are kind of closing it out, but it is the tone of Advance the Dream all year long, right? So let's go through these 10 items that address the digital divide issue. And after each one, both of you can kind of weigh in if you have any extras, but we've got... you know, 15 minutes to get through about 10 slides here. So I'm going to go ahead and share screen. Let's get this going.
22:00 Okay, so another channel that we have specifically deals with broadband issues and its effects on health is called Broadband Basics. And we will be kind of growing that as we go. But we did this about six months ago and it begs, let's redo this because it's great content. There is, let's set the background, Rob. I mean, so basically the Biden administration has released bunch of money, largest in history, to address this digital divide. I know my state alone got about $990 million to put cables and wire in to really facilitate the connection piece of it.
22:44 And then there was another grant behind, like Louisiana, Josh, you know, was one of the highest per capita granted states in the country, right? But then there was another grant behind it called the Digital Inclusion and Digital Equity. I can't remember the specific name. There were components of it. But that part of the grant dealt with the support and the training for people to get out there to address exactly what we've been talking about the first 20 minutes, like how you turn on a computer, how do you know what reliable information is, how do you know when to click on something or not, how do you reset a password, all of that.
23:24 But as we've been looking into this, there's really been a gap in the market for digital health navigation. So there's digital divide is one thing. Digital literacy is the next thing. Digital health literacy is what we're trying to facilitate and talk about to that next level. So let's just kind of go through this. Top 10 ways the digital divide affects health and wealth outcomes for all. We all know that the advent of technology has put us in this place and COVID really, really, right, accelerated it.
24:07 But there are definitely, I don't wanna read this. I'm kind of going through the main points, right? But the gap who can effectively use technology and those who cannot is growing. So let's just kind of explore these. So number one, growing dependency on broadband and mobile for health technology. And most companies are assuming that you've got contact. Rob, you just finished some courses for our free members this week called Patient Portal. I experienced a family that had no idea that their post-op patient had access to a patient portal because it wasn't presented, right?
24:55 So there's just some assumptions. I don't want to talk the whole time. You guys kind of lay in on here if you've got some quick notes on this. Well, one quick note. You mentioned COVID. COVID changed the whole paradigm of education. Notice Lucia said health and wealth. Education is part of both of those. COVID forced the institutions to find ways to function and individuals find ways to function utilizing digital broadband technologies. It's become an acceptable way now to do some telemedicine and tele-education types of encounters and working from home.
25:35 So COVID was a big influence. And it's a great opportunity to transform society to be able to use this technology. Second thing is, as you talk about access to care with that, they're making the assumption you can access your portal or excuse me, your accounts for knowing about bills or paying bills or signing up for insurance, registering for insurance. You're saying register at health.gov. And if you don't have the health literacy, it's next to impossible to register on a website if you're just learning how to use a mouse, or for that matter, never did anything more than email.
26:19 Go ahead. Yeah, the digital, so number, you're right, digital disparities in rural and urban areas. I mean, you testified at the state legislator, right, there in Pennsylvania on that, this very issue, right? Health will be affected if you guys don't care and get some things going to address the access in a rural population. It has nothing to do with black, white, right? This is rural and it's access. I think it deals with wealth of the, how much revenue can be done at the, with per mile of wire.
27:00 And so I, And by the way, it was testified at the state and at a national congressional committee via Zoom, ironically. But the situation here, though, is how many people can you line up per mile? And so in a rural setting, you're a far distance. Economically, it's harder to support it. And so the companies that are in this business will do the tighter population and lesser in the others. In places like Cleveland, it's been very well documented rboehner, That there are what we'll call red zones red line zones like where the banks don't know money because it's high risk they don't bother to run that cable line down that road from the main street because there's too many renters.
27:44 Rboehner, And it's a it's a flagrant disparity and discrimination that's been well documented. Um, and Josh and right, Josh, you you've been working and we've been doing some virtual zooms with your steam teams. I mean, um, we're feeling this and we can even transition into number three, increased educational, economic disparities. I mean, some of those kids that we had to, uh, train, um, both with your group and other groups, I mean, to come in on the zoom on a phone. you know, they're laying down because they don't have a large screen, you know, the digital divide is more than connectivity.
28:23 It has to do with device and how you consume that content, you know, and how ready you are to consume that content. I think it's a, I think it's a bigger picture than that Lucy to tell you the truth because, um, I happen to be in LA earlier this week and I actually had the opportunity to attend a workshop at Silicon Valley as it relates to emerging technology. And after listening to all of the stuff that's coming down the pipeline as it relates to AI, integrated technology and so forth, one of the basic questions that I had to myself is that is anybody thinking about the people that, not the fact, even though we know that they don't have access to technology, but what about those ones that don't even know anything about technology?
29:07 How do we bridge that gap? Because before we get to the digital divide, we have a gap of people utilizing technology and seeing its benefits. They are available for them. So that was one of the questions that I posed and one of the researchers said, you know, that's a good question because What's the use in doing all this in these rural areas and people still don't know how to use it? And that's, again, why I promote print. Because print still matters. Low-cost ways to collaborate. I used to print 60,000 of these, and we delivered them for free to all of the schools.
29:53 And it was a different time because there was still that balance. But you compare this to a single postcard. um send or you compare this to a lower run type of book or you compare it to a textbook you know for about a dollar or two per family you could just deliver some nice content that would help them bridge that gap not being dependent on having to go to the internet and figure it out like here's a nice hard copy tangible digital health navigator that's going to go through it with me. And oh, wow, you mean I can hold my phone up to this and like it can give me a challenge?
30:34 Cool. I combine that, though, with a technical. We need a tutor or a mentor. And we're turning the whole model around where it's no longer just the teacher mentoring the child, that teenager mentoring mom, dad or grandfather to use that booklet, to use that QR code, to use the tool on the phone. to send money instead of going to the store and paying a much higher fee to do it using a different app. Those kinds of things. It's mentoring the teenager. That's where Josh's program just excels. And I'm so proud to be on with him as you look at You Do Matter with the empowerment of teens to do that.
31:14 I think that there is a huge opportunity as we've also seen with the libraries. There is underutilized space and they're really, I know here in Arizona, they did a pilot on converting some of that space to telehealth hubs so they can have high quality interactions if there was a telehealth visit. The issue though was the lack of support and training for staff who could answer questions about certain things in that. They don't have to be a nurse. But they need to be able to show somebody what a pulse ox is if they are trying to get that measurement in.
31:49 But you know what else, though? They've got the broadband. And I'll just bring it to my daughter uses every day at the hospital is a tablet computer. When they're running into someone and they don't know the answer, they're able to pull an expert out of their system to help answer the question for them in that neonatal unit, including a translator in Swahili, okay, if they needed that for the parents. that's the sort of tool that the hands of that library system, if someone in the library system anywhere in the state had the answer or is the expert for backup, it's that easy to initiate a call similar to this with, you know, Zoom, WebEx team or whatever to people shouldn't feel alone that they're the expert anymore.
32:33 We all have access to other experts. And I think that's part of where the whole ecosystem of Force for Health is, is creating that group of people with various expertises if that's the right word, that can be there to augment the level of knowledge someone has. Reach out and ask someone in a group or a feed. Yeah, and they need to be connected into that first, right? You were taking it at a professional development level of people not feeling alone, right? We're still talking to the 85-year-old that doesn't want to click on a link if you email it to them, right?
33:08 So that whole, again, ecosystem. This is our number fourth reason, right? Exacerbation. I mean, so there's already disparities at risk and at play, whether you're... health or wealth is keeping you from those status points. And I'm going to kind of kick up the speed a little bit here and keep going, but go ahead. I think an example of that is you care for someone, you send them home, and then now the hospital system is geared up very much more efficiently and profitably to do home health monitoring.
33:44 Except if you don't have home health monitoring, they set up a follow-up call appointment And if you don't have a bus or you don't have gas money or you don't have someone to drive you, you can't do the follow up. So that's an exacerbation example. Yes, yes, exactly. And Josh, like jump up and down if you feel like you need me to stop or go back. I'm just going to continue to go through these because they're interesting. You know, then what happens? So you're not digitally connected. You're feeling isolated alone and it's going to exacerbate mental health care issues.
34:15 Right. I mean, whether you're trying to seek help. tele-counseling or whether you're being impacted and going crazy because you feel like you can't get your questions answered but it certainly has a play on mental health care and then I'll just say it you know the girls, the young girls. I have a special place in my heart for young girls. We have a club called My Girl Power that will be launching and will go head to head against your club, Mr. You Do Matters and Advance the Dream. But this whole kind of, if they're not balanced on what they do with that connected information, then they are at risk to really feel the impacts of mental illness because of stupid social media stuff but anyways go ahead josh you know going back to number three lucy that you had brought up and I'm not trying to go back there but I just want to mention something real quick uh that I had on my mind from the standpoint of um how Access to technology works
35:15 In different areas. You're talking about rural and you're talking about inner city. In New Orleans, the way I access technology or the way I train people in New Orleans is totally different than the way I have to train people in Gadsden County. For the simple fact that the library system in New Orleans is built on a platform that is actually being utilized by a lot of the inner city people. In Gadsden County, if you took a survey of all the students that I had, the older adults and the younger students, and asked how many have been to the public library, you probably can count them on one hand out of 50.
35:51 So it's those type of challenges, and it gets to the exacerbation piece, where sometimes people get frustrated and say, I really don't want to do this. And I look at the council of people that you brought in, the 12, 13 community leaders. You know, you had people from the state. You had people from the county. You had people from the city. You had people from, you know, you had doctors on this. And that's really the only way I feel that we can cross sector this, you know, issue and say, like, how do we all work better together?
36:26 You know, yeah. on these things. So the, yeah, exactly. Because every, it just blows my mind at how many silos of people are working towards better health, but there's so much overlap and, or just disconnectedness even between those silos. You know, a lot of it has to do with funding sources and making sure my funding sources, you know, still intact and they're doing something a little similar to us. So we don't really want to work with them. which is counterintuitive to really improving population health issues.
37:03 Anyways, keep going on impacts of social determinants of health. I know Rob has an issue with determinants, that whole number. But go ahead. You can speak to this slide if you'd like, Rob. No, I just want to point out 20% of your health care spend 20% of your outcome is based on your health care system and access to care. The rest deals with barriers or obstacles, as Josh likes to say. I call them barriers, but they certainly aren't determinants. You can get around them, maybe. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a wall you can never surmount.
37:39 These other things affect your health. And especially in my mind, education, economic stability can be affected nicely by broadband. It also, if a neighborhood doesn't have broadband, the value of the house goes down. It's that simple. You choose not to live there. I never would live anywhere where I don't have broadband. Never. And I like how when we talked about this before, we were like, oh, digital divide should be like one of those pieces of the pod. It should be a new, you know, factor, but it really or a new barrier, but it really is an amplifier.
38:13 We were calling it like a super, you know, determinant because connectivity affects every single one of these pies pieces. Yeah. So anyways, just kind of keep going. If you don't know what social determinants of health are, they are real issues that people have to face in order to achieve maximum health for themselves. Go to the force for health. We've got a little badge for you if you'd like to know. That's our goal is for everybody to understand these issues. Okay. Inferior care for vulnerable populations, right?
38:45 Again, if there is that question mark of like... You know, it's pixelated. You can't hear, you know, there is a low quality bandwidth. And how do they expect, A, to do homework, do telehealth monitoring, or to get reliable information? I don't know what else to say other than that. Or to get insurance, or to register to vote, or anything else, or if you're homeless. There's enormous, it increases the disparities unless we bring it down an omni-media approach to all people and with a trained set of folks, trained professionals that can deal on these various levels.
39:33 Yeah. We talk about that, Doc. I was thinking about 9-11. Yes, sir. What a total devastation that was. And then you even go a little farther and you talk about Katrina. which was a totally disaster as well. And then you talk about COVID, which was a total disaster. What have we learned as it relates to technology from those three major events? And do we still stand in the same space as we did back in 2001? That's just a question. Yeah. You know, I think the connectivity, The sharing of information in a reliable and consistent manner.
40:18 We now can share information quicker and better, but we got to make sure it's the right information. And that gets the health literacy. That's a whole nother show, Josh, to get into all those details. But one of the things I'm concerned about is the quality of that health information. So for instance, we had the EPA by telephone and by paper memo at 9-11 saying, Don't wear a mask. It's not necessary. And then we had the state EPA saying it's necessary. Now we have $8 billion being spent on respiratory and other issues.
40:52 Okay. If you look now, you had people who are now on the internet, right? Saying, don't get vaccinated. Don't wear a mask. Don't disgrace yourself by wearing this diaper on your face. And the other side of it saying, don't be a murderer by not wearing a diaper on your face, so to speak. So the idea of digital health literacy involves understanding how to search the web and have reliable information. So we deal with AI coming on with fake news. There's all sorts of biases that some people are trying to sell you something, whether it's a vote or whether it's a product.
41:30 I just built a little mini course with like 10 tips for knowing how to do good searches on the web. What it gets down to, I think, is the individual person needs to be prepared in advance and able to deal with things and have enough literacy to access information and distill in their own head. Does this make sense? Or am I being gaslit or fake newsed or influenced in one way or another? I think the connectivity rate since 2001, you know, popping on, when was Katrina, 11 or 08? 01. No, Katrina. Katrina was 05.
42:10 Okay, so I mean, you're going 01 and 05, right? I launched my very first magazine in 2006, 2007. That was literally just when Facebook was coming onto the scene. So you're going pre-Facebook. on this right pre-google and so the uh you and you had three channels you didn't have like massive cap cable options or you know just endless tick tock scroll so you had reliable sources coming in from your networks and uh you were right there at ground zero. So your data connection was like, let's get these baseline measurements of these New York Police Department people that are coming in complaining about their chests.
42:51 That was your data capture piece, right? Beyond that, though, is it took a heroic effort when we had no resources in New York to solve the problem. And frankly, the CDC wasn't answering the calls. I reached out to Mayo Clinic versus via telephone to get advice on how to advise the NYPD on how to handle anthrax at-risk packages is one of the roles I ended up playing as a doctor there. So reaching out with whatever technology was there, we did set up an internet connection to share data and get advice out of a physician in Texas and at Hershey Medical Center as well.
43:35 But it required jury rigging and breaking rules to connect to the internet. Right. Dial up modems. Let's keep moving here. So basically, yes, if you don't have that skill set and or the connection, you can't play or benefit from things designed to help make your lives easier. Like our virtual wellness app. No, I'm just kidding. Not really. So going to number nine, limited access to health information technology. I mean, some of these do overlap, but it's true. I mean, I've got, where's my pulse ox right here?
44:12 Well, I've actually increased my little, you know, doctor mom station with a pulse ox, you know, a blood pressure and a cardio kit so that they all feed to my phone. And I feel like I've got my little mini monitoring system. you know, session going on here. There's a lot of information that we can share. When you call your doctor and say, I'm having a rough day, a lot of stressful things happen. My Rob was talking again about this other issue. I'm stressed out and I'm having chest discomfort. And you're talking to that nurse, the doctor at the office, on the telephone, even even without even without Internet connectivity, And you say, no, by the way, my cardio is saying I'm in sinus rhythm with a rate of 122.
44:58 My blood pressure is 80 over 60. And my pulse ox used to be 94, but it's 89 today. And would you like me to screenshot that for you and send it to you? Yeah. And even verbally just sharing it is a massive advance for them to be able to say, oh, my gosh, we need to get you into an earliest available appointment next week. Or you need to call 911. Or why don't you just, you know, maybe have a cup of tea and relax a little bit. All right. That kind of data is massive. I want to comment on the previous slide for just a second as well, though, was regards to high tech and health literacy.
45:36 This is important here. Go right here. Just this concept. This piece speaks to your magazine, Lucy, believe it or not. And I'm saying there is we offer internships and opportunities. Josh, you and I and maybe 50 or 60 different student interns and other professionals have used our internet connectivity to create high quality health literacy education material that we have either put online or app or reduced to print. And so the internet connectivity lets experts, we're in three different states, for us to drive to get together this meeting would be $2,000 of flights or 3,000 miles of driving.
46:22 We put things together and with the interns supporting a expert network of internet connected subject matter experts making health literacy material that can be delivered on app, on paper, or online. And this is where putting the internet in the hands of those rural doctors that may not have had it to add to their knowledge, people and other civic leaders and such. So the internet helps create the digital literacy materials that we're trying to share. Awesome. And then, of course, grandma, right?
47:02 If no one's helping her, she has no option if she can't drive and if she cannot access telehealth appointments, which everybody seems to assume everybody has right now, which is not the case, right? That brings to my mind the importance of educational campaigns back with those BEAD grants and health and equity grants. And our governors here in Pennsylvania, the previous governor actually has talked about, you know, getting a 25, a download speed of 25 megabits, which was good enough to quote, quote, stream a movie off of a service.
47:41 All right. Our goal is not to entertain the masses with broadband, although that's a good thing. And I enjoy doing that myself. Our goal is to, once you have this wonderful tool, this is the same as giving everyone a pickup truck. And they can drive their family to church. They can haul one of their crops to the market. Or they can, whatever they want to do with that truck. It's a multi-use tool that can be used in dozens or hundreds of ways. But they'll have to learn how to drive. Yes. A truck.
48:17 And they'll have to know where to go. Yes, ma'am. In that truck. So it's that complex, you know, everyone calls it the... But what do you call it? You call it the last inch. The last inch, yeah. There's that backbone of the internet and then what's sometimes called the last mile, which kind of takes it to the pole outside the house or even from the pole outside the house to the house is sometimes called the last mile. You talk about contracting in the fiber optics or cable space. But that last inch of the plug in the wall that has that, or that last inch between it's on your phone and here's your finger in your mind, those last inches.
48:59 That's where we're at, how to enable that to be very effective. I wonder, it's 8.52, and let's speed through this because part two of this presentation actually contains five things that communities or people can do to start addressing this. So let's see if we can get through those quickly in here. In conclusion, yes, it does affect health and wealth outcomes and disparities of people. Please, if you don't have a large screen computer or if you don't have connectivity, you know, please start reaching out.
49:32 Go to your local library. There are organizations that even rent out or give out, you know, large screen things. And then hopefully the communities will be getting better about supporting digital health navigator training programs. I know we're trying to do our part in the communities that we're in, but, you know, it's... Up to you, your family, and then the community structure to keep going here. So let's see. So I'm just going to go through. So now, right? Top five things to do. Let's see what we had decided on back then.
50:08 This has been a while. Improve affordability of devices and internet connections. So, yes, that's what we were just talking about. Find a source that can either, you can adopt a computer. There are state policies going around. There's also a program right now where you can get $40 off your monthly. I believe that's coming to a close, though. That's what I've heard as well. We'll see what happens. Congress does. I do think that it needs to even be made more affordable. When does broadband turn into utility, right?
50:44 Something that you have a right to. So improve the broadband infrastructure. Obviously, that's what all of the dollars are are doing right now, right? They're coming down and putting things in so that they can connect. Number three, promote digital health literacy for the entire family. This is what I am so passionate about because it really goes along our hypothesis, Rob, that one trained Force for Health ambassador could really improve health outcomes for the whole family and decrease costs, associated costs.
51:12 That's what our whole hypothesis is, right? Just one. And let's take this at a family level. If you have seniors in your family, please, please make sure that they are taking advantage of the things that they need to be connected to. That is your pharmacy, their health care providers, you know, and to me, the Red Cross, because I love the Red Cross. If there is like a disaster about to happen, you're going to get a blink. But those are very important. This will be made available at Advanced Dream and on our website as well, this deck.
51:50 But ensure public access points. Again, hats off to Arizona. We're very proactive with our libraries. I challenge you, Josh, in Florida and in Louisiana and Rob, you in Pennsylvania, where are your state libraries heads in comparison to Arizona's? And build partnerships with tech companies. The for-profit tech companies are not a bad word. Sometimes collaboration can be stifled because private sector, public sector, nonprofit is hard to come together with solutions that they can kind of work on.
52:33 But when it comes to community collaboration, it's almost you need a partner. non-public sector leaders to push community collaboration because leaders change but anyways okay we got through our five and you know closing thoughts on the digital divide and why it still matters and why people need to be cognizant that it matters josh start with you Well, number one is that it's still an obstacle of dealing with several communities as it relates to digital divide and the understanding of health literacy in those communities.
53:17 We must continue to try and as a village, as you would say, continue to enhance our people and then acknowledge the importance of technology and so forth, and always be supportive of what they're trying to do, how they're trying to learn, because it is a challenging piece to teach someone or to teach an older person that may not have known anything about this. especially our day and age, because we already know it. I have to remember sometimes myself. OK, I'm speaking to who I'm speaking to, what I'm speaking about and how I'm presenting it.
53:57 So sometimes before class, I have to go in. I have to talk about what I'm going to talk about in a. in a version that I'm sure that they could understand and comprehend because it's not always that easy. We can get in front of a college class and talk technology, talk digital literacy. But when I get in front of a community spot, it's a whole nother different conversation that has to be had. And if we can do that and see the importance on how to, I think we can actually change. We can definitely change.
54:28 Yeah, I bring up an example of a program that you did that was supported by the county and the city on teaching seniors, right, very simply how to turn off their phone, how to add contacts, how to emergency call, things like that. Absolutely. I just got on with a state legislative state legislator last night on how to do a Zoom call with his with his his his fellow legislators. So, you know, you think that, yeah, this information is already out there. They got it. They got it. But no, they do not.
55:08 Yeah, they really don't. And you really can kind of draw the line on an age level deal and almost say 80% of this age band might need some help and not admit it. But you hit the nail on the head, Doc, when you said that usually they had a secretary to do all that. Councilman Singleton said the same thing. He said, I never had to get on a computer. My secretary did it all. That's right. He didn't have to worry about that. He didn't learn any of that. He wasn't interested in any of that because he had someone to do it for him.
55:36 But now that he's out of that arena, he has to do it for himself. So that's the challenge. That's the obstacle that he's dealing with. And Rob, you know, final, I mean, you are a subject matter expert on this, you know, with your chief medical officer hat on and your experience in rural health disparities, you know, whether it's urban or rural, disconnectedness is disconnected. Digital divide is digital divide. So. You're very kind, and it was a great presentation you put together for this call, Lucy, and I appreciate that.
56:10 I'm going to throw, I don't know, I think the grassroots, someone in the household has to know how to do it. And the encouraging, it's obvious, the benefits, for goodness sakes, it's one of the few bipartisan things that have happened in the last eight years at Congress, all right, that have affected all of us. it's obvious if they, if they can all be convinced that it's a good thing for America, it's, it's, there's so many obvious reasons that it's good. Um, but we need to grassroots at the level of, I've been on with a consultant at a world-class medical center where I get care, where I had to help the neurologist work the zoom because she couldn't figure out how to hear me.
56:53 All right. I was on a court case, um, with something, uh, and it was all being done by zoom and, uh, the judge, it was hilarious, even on a professional level, how someone had to mentor someone else. So the grassroots training at the schools or in a program like ours would be great. I'm going to throw a concept out there. If someone is watching this that has any influence, I'd love to talk to you more. I hate the way it is priced. It's a radical thought, and I don't see people talking about it.
57:29 If you priced water You have an infrastructure of water pipes going by your house at 1,000 gallons per second or per minute, but you pay on how much comes out your tap. So if there's water outside your house and I'm only filling up a cup or two a day, why am I paying for access to 1,000 gallons a minute? With internet, in my neighborhood, we have it going by at 1,000 megabytes a minute, and I can't get a plan that's at the level That is my actual use if I was my mother-in-law. I've got to pay the same $170 rate that I'm paying and I'm doing Zoom calls and running an international health education enterprise.
58:13 Why not make it a utility that's available and have people pay for what they use, have it free at a basic level and pay for what they use above that? Then it's for everybody. Eliminate that obstacle, that barrier. for that senior just getting started. Well, I mentioned that earlier. I may have mentioned her before. One of my very good close girlfriends is Arizona Corporation Commissioner. So, I mean, they oversee the fairness of access for utility, right? So heat, Energy, gas, that's all utility, but the whole internet and broadband connectivity is still over in that luxury zone.
58:58 But when the line went down in Coconino County, one of the largest county in the whole country, by the way, this is Navajo area and Flagstaff, Nobody could transact. None of the merchants could, you know, do business because the lines were down. So it's like, wait a minute. When are we going to tuck that in? And I am on those calls, Rob. And it is interesting. I'm like, why don't we figure out a way where the state just adopts the full cost of connectivity, you know, as a. as a line item so that literally they could be the disbursement or there just needs to be a way that it's just covered.
59:41 I'm looking for the first state that says like everybody's covered in our state. and figure out a way to pay for it. Because that's how important I feel connectivity is at some point. Yes, it is a consumption basis. Like if I leave all the lights on, I'm gonna pay more for it, right? If I don't use it, yeah, it should be based on a consumption deal. But we've got some interesting strategies that we are pitching out right now. And when you can actually look at a rooftop and see what the score of connectivity is, in any given region and have a specific plan on how we can perhaps improve digital access?
1:00:25 Those are cool things to get to play with over the next few months. Yeah. I don't invite any municipality that would be interested in looking at the toolkits we have from what Jalusha just talked about right down to what Josh is doing at the very grassroots level. And somehow I'm doing something in between. Okay, so it is 9.04. We started a couple minutes late, so I let us run a little bit late. But thank you for joining us. Again, you can go to advancedthedream.com. You can go to theforceforhealth.com.
1:00:56 And, you know, just to remind everybody, we've got free... You know, our free memberships, you can just join for free. Our ambassador, which you get all the stuff on here, a wellness club, a customized health risk assessment, full access to our 360 Academy for about a buck a week, right? It's $49 a year. Group leaders is about two bucks a week if you have a classroom or an organization and you want to turn it into a fundraiser. Or if you are in charge of a region organization, then reach out to us.
1:01:27 We are currently seeking partners to activate the reality health games and Olympics is coming up. And so if you're going to be part of our pilot group, come on in. We'd love to talk to you. We've got Arizona. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Louisiana, and we've got some players in New York and California. That's kind of our basis for our domestic reality health games competition. And then we've got some international players that will be coming in from Philippines, a couple countries across Africa, and the Dominican Republic.
1:02:02 So lean in, get your force on, and connect with us. That's basically our ask. this week. So thanks for joining the advanced dream. Again, this is a weekly live interactive show. We'll be joined with some special guests next week, I believe from Philadelphia, which will be very exciting to talk about what he's doing there and have a great weekend. Rob, Josh, final thoughts. Just be kind, even when you use technology. And Josh, final thoughts. That's a good one, Doc. Technology is definitely here to stay.
1:02:43 And we here at the Force for Health and Advance the Dream are willing to try to continue to advance that dream that Dr. King shared with us back during the Civil Rights Movement. Awesome. Perfect note to end on. And we will see you next week. Thanks, everybody. music music
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Advance the Dream · Episode Recap ·