Episode 788
REACH: Health Equity in Action
Why watch: Episode 788 is about health equity: making good health possible in the communities that have had the hardest road to it.
Episode 788 is about health equity: making good health possible in the communities that have had the hardest road to it. It centers on CDC's Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health program, REACH, which began in 1999 and has worked with more than 160 urban, rural, and tribal communities with the highest rates of chronic disease, using locally based, culturally tailored solutions. REACH: Improving Lives, Inspiring Hope and the 2019 REACH 20th Anniversary video show what that work looks like, from healthier food and safer places to be active to smoke-free spaces and links between clinics and neighborhoods. In I Am CDC, Dr. Chastity Walker, DrPH, MPH, shares her own path in public health, and Expanding Media Reach and A Public Health Career for a Lifetime close the half-hour with the people and messages that carry this work forward. For viewers, the program says that where you live should not decide how well you live. For community organizations, health systems, universities, broadcasters, sponsors, and funders, it shows that community-led prevention produces measurable results, and it invites young people to consider careers in public health.
In this program
- REACH Improving Lives, Inspiring Hope
- REACH 20th Anniversary
- I Am CDC - Chastity Walker
- Expanding Media Reach
- A Public Health Career for a Lifetime
Sound Tips™ Companion
Hearing health is an equity issue too. Hearing loss can affect anyone, but access to hearing care is not equal. National studies of older Americans found that Black adults were more likely than white adults to have had a recent hearing test, yet were not more likely to use hearing aids; white adults and people with higher incomes and more education were more likely to use them. Research among Hispanic and Latino older adults has also found low hearing aid use. Cost, insurance coverage, transportation, language, and trust all play a role. The good news: since 2022, the FDA has allowed hearing aids to be sold over the counter without a prescription or exam for adults 18 and older with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss, which can lower cost and make them easier to get. REACH-style solutions apply to hearing too: bring hearing screening to churches, health fairs, and community centers; offer information in people's own languages; train community health workers to recognize hearing loss; and make captions and interpreters standard at every health event. Sound Tips™ for families: get a hearing test, ask about lower-cost options, and remember that treating hearing loss helps you stay connected at work, at home, and in your community.
- Source: CDC — REACH History
- Source: CDC — REACH Program Impact
- Source: CDC — I Am CDC: Chastity Walker (public-domain video)
- Source: Journal of Aging and Health (2015) — Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in hearing health care
- Source: JAMA Otolaryngology (2019) — Hearing aid use among Hispanic/Latino older adults
- Source: JAMA Health Forum (2024) — Hearing aid use, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status
- Source: FDA — Over-the-counter hearing aids
Watch American Abilities: Sundays 10 AM ET · CW-WHAM Spectrum 16/1212 · WHAMDT2 (CW) 13.2 On the Air · DirecTV Ch. 14