Short Wave - Doctor Finds Hope In Helping Inform And Vaccinate Her Community

Episode Date: January 5, 2022

On today's show, Emily Kwong checks in with infectious disease physician Dr. Jasmine Marcelin at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Jasmine spoke to Short Wave last year about how COVID-19 affected her as a doctor. In part one of a two part episode, Emily talks with her about how she's feeling a year in and how getting involved in community vaccination clinics has made a difference in her life. You can follow Emily on Twitter @EmilyKwong1234. E-mail Short Wave at [e-mail]. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Last December, the coronavirus was sweeping across the U.S. There weren't vaccines, not even for medical professionals, and one of the areas that was hardest hit in this country was the Midwest. At one point, Nebraska had the most cases per capita of any state. So we called up Dr. Jasmine Marcellan, an infectious disease specialist in Omaha. she treated serious COVID cases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. And day after day, the pandemic was taking a toll.

We are trying to do our jobs. And it is just, I think, exhausting is the word. And I used to tell people that I was fine when people would ask me how I'm doing. And I don't anymore. About a week after this conversation, the first vaccine dose was given to Sandra Lindsay, a nurse in the U.S., and it felt like hope to Dr. Marcellan and her colleagues. There was anticipation that maybe there was a light at the end of the tunnel. As time went on, more people in Omaha would get vaccinated.

But Dr. Marcellan didn't see it making a difference for all of her patients. The hospital was still full. She was getting too many COVID cases. among black and Latino patients especially. By the time people get to the hospital to see me in the hospital as an infectious disease doctor, it's too late. I mean, we had to be out there trying to figure out where is the need and the need is not in the hospital.

So we wanted to be able to prevent people from ever having to come to the hospital and have to see my face. And so we had to get out into the community And it was important for it to not be a group of doctors trying to do things because that's not how community engagement and public health really works. It starts in the community with the community leaders. And in many cases, it is religious leaders who are the ones who have the handle on where the needs are. They're the ones that we need to be uplifting because people in the communities listen to them.

Dr. Marcelin is still treating patients in the hospital, but it's not enough for her. Today on the show, how getting involved in the community is making a difference in her life and in the fight against COVID. You're listening to Shortwave, the Daily Science podcast from NPR. After the vaccines came out last year, things still weren't okay at the hospital. Dr. Jasmine Marcellin was treating a disproportionate number. of black and Latino patients, patients who weren't vaccinated. And it bothered her,

because by the time someone gets to her, their case of COVID is serious. So she had to dig deep and do something she didn't learn in medical school, community organizing. I texted a few people and I sent a couple emails complaining. And then

a couple folks responded to me and then I said, can we meet to talk about it? And so then the next thing, you know, we had a Zoom call with several of my physician colleagues, other doctorate bearing individuals, other community members, religious leaders. And we just called ourselves a community COVID collaborative. We didn't even have like a fancy name. But we all had the same goal of trying to figure out how we can get vaccines to our community. And a huge shout out to the Mocha docs here in OUKHA.

Omaha, which is that group of black women with doctorate degrees, and then past the Portia Cavett, who is probably the heart and soul of this North Omaha community. She was the one who stood up to the Board of Health and said, why are there not vaccines in North Omaha where the predominantly black community lives? I have been patient long enough and have listened to every statement of weight and why we are in our current situation. And she was told that they didn't have buildings large enough to hold vaccine clinics. And there were a lot of other reasons. Between her reaching out and getting that feedback and us talking with her about how can we

strategize, we were able to pull in the health department vaccine coordinator and kind hold them accountable. And then we brainstormed on how we could just do it ourselves. Dr. Marcellan started making more phone calls discussing how to bring the vaccine to more places in Omaha and how to work on the front end of this pandemic and intercept people before they ever got so sick that the hospital was their only option. If you look at successful stories across the nation where vaccines are rolled out into places that were previously, quote unquote underserved or hard to reach in quotes. When you look at what those success stories are, it's people partnering with the leaders who are already embedded in the community and making

sure that the leaders are understanding what is needed from the medical standpoint, that the medical people are understanding from the community leaders, what is needed from the community standpoint. And then everybody working together to be able to provide that need for members of the community. What did that do to your spirit to go from seeing people at the very extreme of experiencing COVID to talking to people who weren't infected at all that were just kind of out grocery shopping or living their lives? The whole experience really lifts me up. this brings me energy, being able to organize and mobilize within the community to get the vaccines to people. Just the act of doing that energizes me. You're making me realize something, Dr. Marsal, and if there's any good to come out of the situation we're in,

it's realizing that we need some other ways to get through to people who will not and cannot imagine themselves getting, certain kinds of medical interventions. Yes. There aren't just populations left out when it comes to this vaccine. There's populations that aren't getting medical care on multiple fronts. Is there any part of this experience

that you think you'll carry with you as a doctor? Has it changed you in any way? Yeah, it has. It really has underscored for me the importance of moving out of the ivory tower of hospital and of the machine of medicine and how important community involvement is for community

health. And one of the reasons why this is a huge takeaway from me is, you know, when I work these vaccine clinics, not everybody that I meet actually is receptive to having conversations. about vaccines. One encounter that stands out to me was with a group of young people who were protesting the vaccines. And they had some, you know, a lot of stuff to say and were not going to be, they were not really going to listen despite what, you know, I was discussing with them. And that's okay. This young man said to me, I don't understand where you all came from. You never paid attention to us. And then suddenly there's a pandemic and then now all of a sudden y'all are everywhere and you want to be giving us vaccines like in the road or like on the side of

the road or something like that. And where were you before? And I was, what could I say to that? Right? Because where have the medical institutions been before in the last, you know, 50, 60 years, an epidemic of hypertension, diabetes, you know, asthma, all sorts of other diseases that are people are feeling like they're just being neglected, right? Can you blame somebody who is skeptical of vans coming into a community where the people who are giving vaccines don't look like them? and they're coming in and saying, you must get vaccinated. And so what does that mean in the grand scheme of things?

It means that we have to do a better job as healthcare professionals to get into the community before there is an emergency so that people know that we're here to stay, that we actually care, that we want them to be healthy. And so that they don't feel like we're swooping in at specific times and then turning our backs on them. I am just, I don't live in Nebraska, but I am so grateful for the work you're doing in the world. It's hard to look at this pandemic continue, but to know that folks like you are doing this work in the world is really, it's like the biggest fulfillment of what a doctor could do.

So keeping people safe, like the reason you got into it in the first place you were saying earlier. And I just want to, you know, it's not, this is not a me thing at all. This is a, you know, our power of prevention collaborative that we've called ourselves that are really dedicated to the health and well-being of this community that we live in. and all of the other folks who really have the boots on the ground here in Omaha, and it's collaborative, and it has to be collaborative. Being able to do this takes more than just one person, and it's not about me. That's the real stuff. Thank you so much for opening up so much.

Thank you. I don't know about you all, but I felt a lot of relief talking. talking to Dr. Marcellin, about the public health strategies that work and reaching for unvaccinated folks in a way that's compassionate. She and I just kept going, getting more specific about how to actually turn the tide of this pandemic person to person. We're going to bring you the rest of our conversation tomorrow. She and I talk about something I've wanted to get into for a long time, how to navigate

those sensitive conversations about the vaccine with. loved ones who haven't gotten it. This episode was produced by Britt Hansen and Thomas Liu, edited by Sarah Saracen and fact-checked by Indy Kara. The audio engineer for this episode was Josh Newell. I'm Emily Kwong, and you've been listening to Shorewave, the Daily Science Podcast from NPR.