The fourth monthly “360° SCD Hub Insights” broadcast opens on a celebration of an extraordinarily busy June, and a running theme: connection beats isolation. Every quote below plays the exact moment from the broadcast — just tap it. (Video link is being finalized — quotes and timestamps are ready to go live the moment it’s attached.)
A June worth celebrating
Co-hosts Lucy Howell and Moses Akpan walked viewers through a nine-minute recap of the June 7 Community Roundtable at the Dunbar Pavilion — roughly 60–65 attendees, and a striking share of them downloading the new 360° SCD Hub app on the spot — plus the two-day family education conference on June 29–30. Moses returned again and again to a single idea.
It also shows that a person with sickle cell can live and do live a normal, functional life, and should be an encouragement to others.
Community health worker Akilah Gilbert, who lives with sickle cell herself, joined live from her monthly infusion chair with a message for every family watching.
The Sickle Cell Foundation of Arizona is here. We have your back.
Ten reasons to get screened
Lucy and Akilah walked through the app’s “Ten Reasons to Get Screened” course, featuring first-year University of Arizona resident Dr. Linda Osmond, who grounded the case in the numbers.
In the United States, the hemoglobin S gene is carried by eight percent of the African-American population.
The June recap also featured partners who anchor the work all year. Courtney Slanacker of the Red Cross of Southern Arizona framed the mission as collective.
We came together today to talk about it, to eliminate it. It's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take collective action to do that, and this is a great start.
And Crystal Jackson of the American Red Cross named the lever that moves donors.
Education is key to get people to come in to donate, to understand those stigmas, to debunk those, to understand that we're here to save lives.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
Lucy closed the hour on the show’s signature sign-off — the whole ethos in one breath.
Know your blood, move your blood, give your blood, be kind, be compassionate and take care of yourself.