00:00Well, hello, everybody. This is Dr. Joya Creer-Perry. Welcome to my kitchen table,
00:05where I get to talk to brilliant, amazing Black folks about this COVID-19 crisis. So today,
00:11I have the honor and privilege of speaking with Dr. Trudy Hall, who's coming from Prince George's
00:17County, where she's really at the epicenter of a crisis that's been impacting Black folks. And I
00:22just really wanted you to talk to us about kind of where we are now, and what we can do to find
00:26peace during this important time and critical time. Thank you so much. And it's my pleasure to
00:33really to talk, I call it to the peeps, which is really our people out there, and our listeners,
00:40as well as our readers for Essence. So I've been a longtime reader, and I know it has educated me
00:50over the years. So where we are right now, so I'm a hospital administrator. So
00:55I run hospitals. And we had to, in the state of Maryland, everyone's handling the surge in
01:03different ways, but pretty much I was asked to stand up 135-bed hospital for our county.
01:10So for those of you who don't know, in Maryland, Prince George's County is about a million residents,
01:17about 65% African-American, 19% Hispanic. It is pretty much known as one of probably the more
01:25affluent African-American neighborhoods or counties, really, in the country. So it's interesting
01:32because if you, you know, you think about this virus, I've been saying this virus is no respecter
01:39of person. And, you know, I've been working on healthcare disparities for years in my state.
01:46I co-wrote the first bill, and healthcare disparities existed before COVID. So, you know,
01:54if it existed before COVID, with African-Americans dying at a higher rate of cancer, more likely to
02:01have diabetes, you know, more likely to die of cardiovascular disease, if we have all of these
02:07underlying morbidity problems that actually makes us more likely to get any virus, whether it's COVID
02:16or not, we're going to see the impact. We're going to see the impact. And I think in the beginning,
02:21when it was really thought to be an old person's disease, you know, they were shutting down nursing
02:26homes and my 91-year-old mother, I couldn't go visit, you know, but, you know, we're seeing 20,
02:3130s and 40s-year-old, you know, getting, coming down with COVID. And I think the hard thing about
02:38looking at this is that the symptoms came fast and pretty much just rapidly, you know, from the
02:47first sign of shortness of breath that, you know, patients were needing to go on breathing machines.
02:53And then once you got on the breathing machine, you know, there was really a low probability of you
02:59coming off. So it was really important that, you know, we get the education of when you see signs
03:06and symptoms, we know how we are, we don't want to go to the doctor, we don't want to go to the
03:11hospital. But I mean, it really was important that you seek medical care as soon as you can. Now, for
03:18interesting, for our county, my healthcare system, we have three emergency rooms. And we saw the first
03:24two months of COVID really 50% drop in emergency room visits. And we're like, you know, there's
03:30still sick people out there, you know, what are they doing? So it was kind of interesting, because
03:34we understood that people were staying home. And maybe, you know, some traumas were less and other
03:39things that would happen with you, you know, going out, but we actually were seeing less people coming
03:45to the hospital for care and, and really coming out at a later period of time. So I think a lot of it
03:51has to do with fear, and really fear about, you know, the unknown, the fear, people are fear about,
04:01you know, not wanting to seek help, because they think they would come to the hospital and get it.
04:05But a lot of our hospitals, I mean, we've created what we call cold and hot zones. So hot zone,
04:10you know, only COVID symptoms, cold zone, other medical problems. So right in the beginning,
04:16we started separating patients, you know, and having the ability to have tents and other things to
04:21separate patients.
04:22What do you think you could do for, for the peace for, to move forward? What are you,
04:27what would be your recommendation for Black people?
04:29So the word peace, because this disease is very isolating, and we've all had to do something that
04:38we never thought. Afro-American people, we are very social creatures. I mean, we, we love our
04:44gatherings. We love our family. We love going to church. We love our fraternities, sororities. I mean,
04:50we're just used to being around each other. Even our, our, our, our, our girl posses, you know,
04:57we're just used to our support system and having now to, to, to be isolated has been very difficult.
05:03So when I, and I want, I would love for the, for the readers to really think of, of peace,
05:09the P stands for protect, protect your house. And that means protecting yourself and protecting
05:17your family. If you have that mind that no matter what, and I know I have really big concerns about
05:23some of the states that are opening up, you know, before they actually really start to see this
05:29disease and, and, and rate decrease that, um, um, you know, we gotta be smart. And, and just because,
05:37you know, it's opening up, still do what makes sense. So wear your mask, um, practice social
05:42distancing, you know, wipe things down, you know, carry gloves and, you know, just really continue
05:48to do that until we are really out of the woods. So P is protect yourself. E is eating. We gotta eat
05:54right. Um, we are joking around about, you know, how much of us are gaining weight being at home,
05:59but you know, we gotta eat properly. I mean, we gotta build up our immune system. We gotta eat fruits
06:03and vegetables, um, you know, take vitamins, um, drink water. Hydration is, has been shown to really
06:10help, um, um, help to decrease the impact of, uh, of getting, um, the disease, really staying hydrated.
06:16Um, also, uh, alkaline diets, you know, really trying to make sure that you can, um, protect yourself
06:22as best and boost your immunity by the foods that you eat, um, which is really important. Next is
06:27activity. I never knew I had so many neighbors until I started seeing everybody outside walking.
06:33And walking and biking and, you know, just doing everything, you know, making sure you keep your
06:39social distancing, but, you know, just putting on a pair of sneakers and just kind of just getting
06:43that exercise, but it's actually boosts, boosts your immune system. Also abuses you, um, just your
06:49emotionally, um, C is connect, like how we're doing now, you know, connect with social media.
06:56You know, me and my girlfriends have a zoom call every Sunday at two, um, you know, connected with church
07:02and, and, um, and, and prayer, you know, we're having our prayer groups, um, just connect in
07:08any way that's possible. Um, and connect with people who don't have, so drop off some groceries
07:13to your elderly neighbor or drop off to a friend who's in healthcare, which I've had some amazing
07:18friends who keep dropping me off food, which is very nice, but just, you know, do that piece
07:22of it. And then the last one is embrace, embrace this time. I don't know if you all remember those
07:28who live in snow country, whenever you had those snow days and it was like, you were shut
07:32down for a couple of days, how much rest that you have embrace this time. This is time that
07:38we're having to reflect on ourselves, getting to know who we are, um, to read, um, you know,
07:46clean, you know, catharsisism, you know, just do, do all the things that usually we're too
07:51busy to do. It's making us slow down. It's literally making us slow down and also remembering
07:58what's important, which is taking care of yourself and your family. So, um, that, I mean,
08:04I can't, I, I, I can't talk about the embrace time, you know, me and my husband and my daughter
08:08played some cards and, you know, it was usually too busy, too tired. Um, but watching movies
08:14together and just really embracing this time to get to know each other and getting to know
08:18yourself. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Trudy Hall for talking to us and thank you for sharing
08:23that important piece that we all need. Um, and it's important. And I'm so honored to know
08:28the person who stood up the Maryland COVID-19 response hospital, the black woman, because
08:33black women are brilliant. And who did the governor need? Needed a black woman. So moving forward
08:41that we appreciate you and we're honored to know you and we, um, continue to physically distance,
08:47but stay socially connected as we all get through this crisis together. Peace and blessings.
08:52Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Comments