Listen to our conversation with CSULA’s Public Health Professor, Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag, as we take a deep dive into the ongoing health disparities within communities of color. We discuss these disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the serious ramifications that may lie ahead, and how this impacts the CSU campuses post COVID-19.
Dr. Frank Gomez: Hello everyone! I am Dr. Frank Gomez and this is all things STEM.
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Dr. Frank Gomez: Today my guest is Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag, Assistant Professor in the Public Health Department at Cal State Los Angeles.
Dr. Frank Gomez: Dr. Sabado-Liwag’s research focuses on health disparities. Her research efforts include working alongside communities of color and marginalized groups. Her aim is to develop evidence-based, culturally tailored projects and interventions through community-based participatory research methods and mobile health strategies. In 2018, she was named a Cal State LA Faculty Fellow for the Public Good to support her efforts in collaborating with community partners to address social, economic, and health disparities.
Dr. Frank Gomez: Today, in addition to discussing her research, we will discuss health disparities caused by the current COVID-19 pandemic and challenges among communities of color. In addition, we will discuss how public health communication is key in assisting these communities during this time of need.
Dr. Frank Gomez: Hi Melanie, it's great to have you on today!
Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag: Thank you so much Frank for having me on today and really be a part of this conversation that's really important for all our students and our faculty and all that's within our, our community.
Dr. Frank Gomez: Yes, you know certainly the pandemic has affected all of us in a variety of different ways and it certainly brought forth a lot of the long-standing social disparities and structural inequities that have gone really unchecked and unresolved huh for a long time. And know certainly issues of health, housing, equal justice among others. Which are really critical. They are they're part of our everyday lives that have been impacted by covid-19. I mean personally aside from 3 years when I lived in the East Coast. I lived my whole life here in California and certainly have seen how state has changed in all those many years and this will be a time that we will all look back on as we grow older. I am sure you have a variety of different perspectives given your expertise as to some of the huh impacts on the people of California.
Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag: Yea..I definitely would love to talk more about what is happening within various committees and subcommittees specifically utilizing Southern California and LA County as are examples of considering that you know we are living in a very hot bed of multiculturalism and a lot of history in regards to how our country has really moved forward with things politically, socially and culturally especially through the pandemic.
Dr. Frank Gomez: So Melanie why do you feel people of color have been so greatly affected more so than others by Covid-19.
Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag: I think the pandemic has really brought to light disparities in general. I think people that don't realize that Health disparities have always existed but the pandemic has made it more visible and it's now unavoidable to actually address. and communities of color are often put in positions where they have less of vocality so meaning that they are less vocal they have less opportunities to be a part of political representation or representation in general. and so their voices are often not heard and so whenever things are put into place whether their policy or trickle-down of finances project-based evaluations even participation in clinical trials or things that are related to heavy participation from the communities. we often don't see that among communities of color and so when we're talking about communities of color we really are talking about most people in Southern California which are Latinos, African-American black and many of the monolithic subgroups of Asians and Pacific Islanders. and so one of the things you mentioned being on the east coast is what we don't see that we don't talk about often is the federal janadie of culture and how we really contribute to how culture is here in the United States. and how we have been really truly embedded into what really truly is American and I think that's kind of why a lot more uprisings have been really seen during the pandemic. but I think that one of the things that we have to think about is the historical context of Health disparity and when we talked about health disparities we're really trying to explain what are the differences socioeconomically, financially and in that state economically in terms of also education and the potential of attaining those things but we're also talking about health care access, health care utilization and the disparities of healthcare outcomes such as why are certain communities of color and and certain communities geographically that are heavily more communities of color base have lower life expectancy for instance. and why are they more prone to getting specific types of chronic diseases like cancer. and so I think that these are things that we often push aside and say you know these are things that we can talk about overtime. or you know it takes time to develop these types of research questions or data to explain why these things are natural phenomenons but we as communities of color know that this has a very historic route to colonial and imperialistic type of endeavors. redlining within the community such as like urban planning and making sure that certain communities are housed or financed in certain areas. and that discrimination is very much resonating across generations. and I think that it also plays a huge part that a lot of these communities are very collectivistic I think that historically they don't want to disrupt certain hierarchies are bureaucracies hmm we see that a lot among Asian Pacific Community. But one of the things that we often see is the distrust that a lot of these communities of color have historically with leadership. and I think all those things really impact how the pandemic made has really made a huge disaster or emergency aspect of of really calling upon leadership to really give attention to these communities that are often left side.
Dr. Frank Gomez: you said something that made me think of it a have a cousin of mine. about 5 years ago he had stomach cancer and so after he was on the mend he he ate a certain. He behaved a certain way. he didn't do things that would either exacerbate the issue or bring back his symptoms again .and he said something to me very peculiar, he said you know I suffered a great deal when I had my cancer and he was taking care of himself but I know the time will come when I will revert back to what I was doing no eating,smoking ,not taking care of myself because I will forget how bad I was not feeling when I was going under the knife and when I was suffering. so I kind of look at it the same way here that you know covid-19 has brought all these issues that had gone on unchecked for hundreds of years and I've been unresolved or for just as long. How. what we've learned over this past year is is extremely important. how can we find ways to sustain the changes in our way of being from a healthcare perspective and making those systemic changes. and how we deliver healthcare and how we help our communities so that not only those people of color do better but also people that are not of color kind of still remember just how everybody was suffering collectively and that we look at this as covid-19 was everyone's problem at the time it was not a brown purple yellow orange gray problem it was everyone's problem at the time. It was not a purple. Orange, grey problem. It was everyone's problem. so how do we keep the train going once we return to some sort of pseudonormal.
Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag: That is a really great question Frank.As someone who's born and bred here in Los Angeles and a daughter of immigrants and also a first-generation college student. I think it is really important for us to understand that we can only work at specific capacities and everybody does have a responsibility at every different level and what I say every different level is exactly what you had mentioned. Is how do we keep all these levels accountable to the system. it's not just at a personal or individual level and it's not just at a macro policy level but it really requires every single level with its community organizational and federal all these different Municipal entities all play a role in trickle-down this this purpose of equity. And sustaining that perspective that health disparities exist I think everybody has to agree that that week is unavoidable and it's something that we have to address not just address but try to find solutions for. cuz I think that a lot of people talk about it and are not not really putting them where their mouth is in regards to really putting the process and involving community members to be a part of that process for implementation evaluation and the development of these projects and the sustainability within communities. Cuz I think thats the disconnection often times. Theoretically things look good on paper you can we give money here we give money there, but then what happens after a specific amount of time. and I think that in order for us to sustain something we again like I thought I said addressing an acknowledged that these disparities exist but then work with the communities to find ways that is equitable with them and working at their capacities because you know again we can provide the money to push out these different types of endeavors. but if we have no investment in trying to build capacity for the community it's really not going to be sustainable. And then working with again healthcare providers and really communicating with them training them how to really be stewards of the community. cuz I think that they're often trained and in in very technical ways which often is fantastic because they're experts in that field but I think that we need to remove The silo aspects that like I only function as an expert in my field but we're starting to see more and more now with these new generation of you know physicians and open-minded physicians in healthcare providers that there needs to be a holistic approach and a multi-level approach in addressing intervention, outreach and education because of adherence because of trust because of allowing people to be compliant with trying to take the medications or follow up with their physicians about their care and there's a disconnect in terms of that communication So I think we need to rebuild trust with the community with with physicians and healthcare providers but also build empowerment within the community for them to know that their voice really truly matters at a policy level where the money trickle downs from so as an academic which you and I are right. I think we also have a responsibility to be liaisons for that endeavour and empower future leaders whether there are you know people of color that need to be pipelined up. But also people who are low-income and marginalized communities to know that they can find positions where you know they can be a part of this sustainable project
Dr. Frank Gomez: You know that is a very nice segway into every couple hours when I'm watching the news or seeing it on my phone and my computer. we talk about issues of equity and trust with respect to the distribution of the vaccine vaccines. okay and how it's disproportionate in certain areas and certain states are some people don't want to take it they want the Pfizer the moderna won versus the the J&J one. perhaps we are may be a bit biased because we're in academia but I don't that's a negative I think it can certainly be a positive. If you had a wand and we're able to change how things could move more smoothly and given we're dealing with 300 million + people in the world trying to get vaccinated and I think it's pretty amazing that we already have 10% of the US that's received two of the doses and in 18% have received one of the dose as of as of today. and we're now over to almost two and a half million shots a day what would you want to do.
Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag: I think that. That is a loaded question haha. I think to be honest I've been talking to a lot of different people who are waiting in line for their phase to open but also are talking to people who have the opportunity to get vaccinated and I'm literally just listening and I think that's kind of the first step that I encourage people to do is in order for us to really be a part of this discussion so we can identify where people have hesitancies or concerns. is to really listen to where people are and meet people where they are in regards to misinformation or where they're getting their information or feeling about the vaccine in general and I think that one of the things that we have to think about is where people are historically with vaccines and what their behaviors were before Covid and then also trying to understand what is the chain of command in regards to behavior and that we can't change people's behavior overnight right. I mean we can talk about theories and how like there's stages of change and all these different things. but I think that we live in a culture specifically to our communities of color where you have to find out who you trust and the sources of trust and seek those people who you trust and their opinions about it and then go one step further to find out who do they trust and where they getting their information and develop a. I know this is so hard cuz we we get so worked up about our emotions and our passion. is really trying to fully understand people and not close the door on the discussion about whether or not people want to get vaccinated or people want to get tested for covid and if there is no shame or stigma around it. but that we should not impede people from getting the right information so even if you choose not to get it or choose not to get tested or choose not to be a part of this whole public health project of getting everybody towards herd immunity up 70% and you're just not on that train. I ask you not to impede that process because there are people who do want to know more information or that they are really on the fence but they might come off as if they are really headstrong about it but they personally just don't know where it's to stand. and so all it takes is one person. I can give an example when Cal State LA became a FEMA site and was now open up for vaccinations within the area. I made it a point for myself to contact all the professors that I'm very much in contact with whether it was people in my program or people that I have been a part of in terms of committees. and I really urge them to take advantage of the opportunity to discuss and to ask questions to raise their concerns or hesitancy and discuss them with someone. like don't remain silent because that is also a choice is to not have any opinion or not have any action that's also a choice. but also to understand that we all are public health at this point. and we have to empower our own communities through our own action so your ability to not get vaccinated. also speaks volumes but you getting vaccinated also shows your community that you trust something or you believe in something and it makes them ponder then what is that about right what is the hype about. so I know that we live in a community and in a culture right now where there is a lot of litigation and a lot of people are hesitant for X Y and Z or you know feeling sick or waiting for whatever reason or they might just be jaded meaning that they just have seen so much death or negative impact that they feel like them getting the vaccination would make no difference. I've seen that a lot I've heard that a lot of my students and the community in general. I think I want empower people to understand like just makes a huge difference to people who you don't think are looking towards you for guidance and for impact. so I are really highly encouraged communities of color to re-examine what your choices mean and what your actions mean because people are looking and people are looking towards you for some type of direction and if you again don't have a solid opinion about it don't get in the way of people getting that answer try to navigate and help them find their own answers for themselves
Dr. Frank Gomez: You know when I saw that Cal State LA was a site for vaccinations. And mind you, I spent 25 years on the campus and 4 years as an undergrad when you were probably three years old a haha long time ago. I felt a sense of pride because you know there were alot of places that could have been chosen for being a site like that and it is very distinctive and to certainly be placed in the heart of EastLA and certainly I’ve been like you trying to get the word out and I know probably like you probably some of the same faculty you know who lined up and urged them to get the shot as well as some students who somehow were able to get them there through whatever mechanism. Certainly there is a lot of challenges and you know it will be interesting to see how and huh huh I don't want today it is ignorance that there is you know that that maybe part why some people don't want to get the shot the shots but I am just trying to find ways how getting vaccinated can be branded. And I think you made the case, a very good case,that speaks a lot about that person to get the shot or to not get the shot speaks volume about them.
Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag: Yea no I completely agree and it's I'm not saying that in a judgmental way right. I think that people have their reasons and there are people who can't or unable to get vaccinated I mean that's totally respectable. but I think that you're right that the fact that Cal State LA is a FEMA site right in the heart of East LA and on the border of San Gabriel Valley we have an opportunity to step up and it is our time to really show you know what we're made of and I think that often times we don't think about things globally and in a way that understands that California has always been under a microscope in terms of what is California going to do first and then everybody kind of follows after meaning like do we do a bad job do a good job and everybody uses that as a baseline to decide how they want to move forward with specific type of procedures. But I think the reason that I mention you know not even Cal State LA but USC is actually going to open in the next few weeks or a few days as an actual site for South LA. and I think that we need to understand that these placements are chosen for a reason. one is the accessibility of these places for people density wise that mostly an are not accessible to go and get vaccinated through in a pharmacy. and so I think that they have better capacity than just waiting for a local pharmacy. for instance I'm not saying that going to Pharmacy but I think that going into a place where there's better capacity to take on more people who can do it more effectively without having to impede or to be in competition with all the other different medications that people are utilizing other pharmacies for and it's a very dedicated site. I also got vaccinated at a pod and I thought that it was very efficient obviously there's some things that need to be worked out but I don't think that they're there to really stop you in a way too you know hold you up but to really make sure that you know you're not getting an adverse effects and that there is proper documentation and I think that we just got into this mode just not too long ago so I think the rolling out the vaccine in in different pods are going to get better and better as we go along. but I think one of the biggest things that I do want to say about the pods and the fact that USC is going to open soon in and Cal State LA is a FEMA site is the location. so as we know East LA and San Gabriel Valley have the highest proportion of Latinos and Asian Pacific Islanders that is in the center of LA county and LA county is huge we go all the way from West LA, Santa Monica, San Pedro all the way down off the 10 freeway and the 60 Freeway towards Pomona and so that is a wide range so if you really pinpoint it within LA County you know who USC in the South area and the South Central area and then Cal State LA being right dead in the middle of LA County makes it a prime position or that accessibility I think the other thing maybe they're also creating a statement which basically says that they are really trying to invest in communities of color and I think we just need to do a better job within our own communities to help these people get vaccination appointment and make sure that they get to their appointments and that they're reminded in a way that isn't just reliant on technology for instance. because I've seen that a lot more older people obviously that were in that phase previously of 65 and older having an opportunity to go and get vaccinated and many of them needed aid of family members and friends to help them schedule an appointment. it's not easy you have to be very diligent about that process. and I can say that because I helped many of my family and family friends scheduled their appointments before I even scheduled my own. and so I think that is one thing that is a reality that we're not discussing is that we have to help each other and encourage each other to get these vaccinations. And you can't just expect that you send someone a link and have them navigate it and then realize that they are at submit and then they lose that window to get that vaccination appointment. And so I think we need to be diligent as a community to make sure that we are following up so if that's the whole sustainability aspect that we were just talking about. is that we tend to just want to fix the problem with a band-aid but then what happens afterwards where is the long-term effects in the follow-up regarding these communities. do we ask them how they feel do we expect the pcps assuming that they have a PCP is following up with them regarding their post effects or how they are feeling emotionally about it. so these things need to be put into place and we can't expect other people to do it for us and it goes to that effect that you were just talking about is like the bystander effect is like you can't expect people to do it and then you get you just writing on their coats for herd immunity. I have heard it too many times when people are like oh I don't need to get it because other people will get it and those people will protect me. But if we all have that mentality nobody is going to get it because we are assuming that our neighbor is going to get it and that neighbor will assume I am going to get it. And so we can't rely on our neighbor but we can work with our neighbors to make sure that we're doing it together. I know that it seems so theoretical and I am speaking in regards to being more academic but we really do have to remove that aspect that what we're really alone in this process because it's really really a long-term effect. I don't think that COVID and the impact of COVID is going anywhere. Ummm there there's long-term effects that we do need to talk about and vaccinations is just one of the things that we're talking about right now and it and it could totally change in the next couple of weeks because again the new phase is going to open up 50 and older is going to start getting vaccinated soon. Those with preexisting conditions are going to be able to get vaccinated soon and so what are we doing to help them what are we doing to make sure that they're getting vaccinated.
Dr. Frank Gomez: there are certainly a lot of research studies that are going to be going on and funded for many years to come. not only from the outside but you know from the education side the social justice side the housing side. I think you know covid-19 has he certainly has been horrible for the world but I think if there is a positive side it has allowed us to rethink who we are as a species. and to examine those problems that we have tried to brush under the rug or decades or centuries and I think that's an opportunity that only comes once in hundreds of years so that's why as an academic you know as an opportunity where we can let it slide by. You know the vaccine is almost like it's a band-aid and it's not something that is going to solve everything because we've just now have pulled a little bit of the box open and we have not yet seen everything else that's in the box. Their were reasons we closed the box for decades and hundreds of years because we didn't want to deal with it was in the box. and now it's covid-19 is the box for everybody to see all the dirty laundry that has been accumulating for such a long time.
Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag:Yea I completely agree. This actually has woken up many communities to band together. I think that this has really woken up the community to share resources because we know that we're at limited capacity. and I give a shout out to all community-based organizations FHQs and clinics who are really doing more than what they had signed up for. I think that we all thought this was going to be a temporary thing and we had managed to change our you know our workload to be a temporary thing and now this temporary thing has become more normal and now we're dealing with the after-effects. and I am saying that because the community-based organizations, FHQs, and Clinics are working at max capacity. All of them have been really working very diligently to rise up and give back to their community and give attention to their attention to their communities but with very little. and so I definitely wanted to say thank you to these organizations for really doing what they normally do but being recognized for that. The same thing for restaurants and for eateries and small mom-and-pop shops that have remain diligent as places that are feeding communities I know that they are losing money right because they don't have people dining in as they used to but they're still finding ways to still contribute by saying thank you. to their health care workers providing services free services to various different people who are in need. We did not even talk about the kids who are really suffering because of the lack of education but they also look towards going to school for like the subsidy meals and so I want to really give it up to a lot of the community organizations throughout the pandemic who are doing the bare minimum to keep afloat. in addition to try to still do something for the community so we see you.
Dr. Frank Gomez: What you think is... maybe it's a rhetorical question what is the role of the CSU going forward and you know in addition to that how do you think the CSU aside from the pivot to online and hopefully back to no one-on-one instruction. how do you see what the university will be when we return to some sort of normality what will we be emerge as that will look different from what we were pre-covid-19.
Dr. Melanie Sabado Liwag: I think that we first want to recognize the fact that all csu's are often minority-serving institutions we have a very high percentage of students that are immigrants or people of color or experiencing other hardships socially and financially. and so I think that going into the post COVID era. I think we are going to have to be more mindful about what resources are available and making sure that were navigating students towards those resources. I know that we're very Student Center and we care very much about her students and so it's hard for me to say this because I really enjoyed the in-person settings but I'm losing touch of where they are a lot of them going MIA or they're just not showing their face on Zoom or they're requiring more asynchronous type of instruction because they needed they need that flexibility. but as we go back to an in-person thing I think that students might have gotten used to this asynchronous type of mode and getting students back to that face-to-face aspect like how do we have them juggle going back to school full-time. how do we make them juggle some of those academic stresses that are also in combination with financial and familial stresses. and that trauma that might have been induced due to the pandemic whether it is caused by death or post-traumatic issues that might have experienced such as violence we're not talking about that often with the pandemic with multigenerational households and all the other things that might be impacting them. I think that we can't turn a blind eye anymore about these situations that again but they've all existed within our community but I think that's as instructors as professors as staff to the community that we serve such as these students are probably their first line of resources so I think that we will have a very big role in educating ourselves about what is available and so that is also me calling on the leadership of all the CSU system whether it's individual institutions or the CSU Chancellor's office to make sure that these resources are available and that everybody feels protected and has that safety measure put into place because nobody wants to come back to an institution that was exactly the same way before the pandemic. I don't think that's acceptable I don't think that is what students are needing but at the same time on top of the students aspect I think there needs to be resources for faculty to. I think that there needs to be more attention about what we have to go through and our expectations and that we also have mental physical and social responsibility that we are also facing and and and Trauma inducing type of situations that have occurred during the pandemic that we also maybe are closing in a little box that now have been open so I think we have a responsibility to our students to ourselves but also how do we pipeline all those different people now towards that call of interdisciplinary conversation. I think more so than ever we can no longer silo out speak conversation I think there really needs to be more of them to develop more sustainable process. Whether people are coming together for grants for the community. whether it's about task force for institution. I think they're just needs to be more conversation about it. Now I am not saying that I want more work. I don't think anybody wants more work. But I think that we need to find ways to work smarter together instead of having to recreate the wheel over and over and over and I think that's basically what we were used to before Covid and it's just not going to function that same way anymore. I think we have to really really really empower our young folks and our communities of color vulnerable and Young Folks to really look toward their education as a way to make change.
Dr. Frank Gomez: Yea I mean I see these college students and even my own kids who I mean they are not three years old I mean they are post college, and some are in college and you know what have you and they have adopted and you mentioned you know some of these kids are they have adapted almost so well and it is dependent on what grades they are.Some grade levelsI have had a much more difficult time in adapting to virtual learning but there's some that they they just rolled with the flow because there was no option you had to go to school and you had to do it virtually that how would they be able to go back to the one-on-one instruction when they've kind of almost settled in, like in a in a dip like hey this isn't too bad being at home and almost pseudo being being homeschooled so that's kind of..I don't know about the college kids because there's certainly a lot of parts that are missing you know lab instruction for example, field experiences internships there's some things that you just cannot substitute from a virtual perspective.
Dr. Melanie Sabado Liwag: 100 Percent I think that alot of people also miss that social interaction and emotional intelligence that you can only ascertain by being with people in person right like reading body language reading facial expressions that's all things that are needed in the real professional world and I think that's that's really really hard for them and that's an expectation that a lot of employers are going to have right not only do you have these great skill sets with technology and all that but like you have the interpersonal skills that people are really needing. Right now I think that whether you are a public health major a health science major a stem major or a non STEM major and you're in the humanities. I think all of us are educating ourselves more and more about what is happening in covid whether it is the vaccines or more about why we should not to get the vaccines but i think we all have a responsibility to become more literate and when I say literate I mean in that sense of understanding where good information and bad information is coming from vs. fact and our ability to differentiate our expertise and where do we draw that line and the reason I say that is because a lot of my students for instance before the pandemic they were serving as translators to their parents when they were going to doctor's appointments and things like that and if that's not the right but they do have trust with their family members and they do do something about what the doctor or the nurse is asking of their parents to translate back to their parents but I think more so now we need to be able to be multilingual in that aspect I think we have to be able to play various roles for our family members or for our community members without having been trained in person because we all have an opportunity to try to understand where this information is coming from considering that once we do go live in person in the now things are going back slowly is hybrid or in person are roles are going to change I think. There is a lot more adaptability now with the workforce but I don't know I think that that's the only reason that I am saying that that is because I feel like a lot of immigrant families and communities of color are have always been in this position and it's just being recognized now that these things are needed and that we need to empower more of this openness to be more literate on translating being sensitive to people with language barriers understanding that there are different sources of information that there's misinformation everywhere and that people communicate differently there is expectations that people are often unsaid and very much said depending on what field you go into but how do we work around that I know I'm going around in circles but I think like how do we go around that how do we address that both as academics and as people who are hiring people post-pandemic like how do we justify wanting a specific trait from the students or people who are graduating or people who are basically took this pivot athen expecting them to go back how do we expect people to ….I hope you know where I'm going with this hahaha.
Dr. Frank Gomez: Yeah I mean if you're familiar with cotillions okay we're you know people and it's not historically been people of color who participated in cotillions where you learn how to eat with a serving spoon and how to dance the waltz but it's almost like how do we educate people of color. It is like we need a cotillion for life survival 101 where you know they're in school getting educated on chemistry or public health or physics or English or something like that but it's those other parts that you need to be successful or else you're not you know your brains are not going to get you that far i if you don't know how to do the the normal things that are expected to be a successful person in a job or just an everyday things it's almost like you know I once asked my students how many of you know how to change a tire in my 80 students in a class three of them raise their hand and two of them were women which was very very interesting okay but the others had never changed the tire in their lives and I remember you know when I was 16 17 years old whatever I would change granted back then they were not all these sensors compared to what they do now but I am saying it was just part of life were okay and I think there is parts that are missing that we need to inform our students and given the student bodies that we teach in the CSU we need to inform them in order to compete with those other students who are given those opportunities to be successful score or else when they go looking at a grad school, professional school or getting that first job or just meeting people and having those relationships they're going to be out.
Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag: 100 percent so I think it goes back into like where do we go post Covid. I think that is what a lot of people are trying to understand like where do we go from here. And I think that one of the things that I want to encourage faculty, staff, and students alike is to really encourage students to find that mentorship. to find people to who fill a gap for them and who can help them critically analyze where those gaps are for their you know career or professionally or even just being a regular citizen because I think the problems with communities of color and vulnerable populations is that they don't go higher in education such as we don't see that many you know Latinos Asians going higher than a master's for instance or higher than the bachelor is that they're often not guided in that process and I think that with the pandemic it's been harder for people to do that and so I think that we're going to have to recognize that many of these people who we could be loosing in the pipeline could easily be lost if we're not really helping to identify these students has potential you know really gold mines in our specific fields and and pipeline them up because I think that's where diversity is I think you had mentors, I have had many mentors and a lot of those people played critical roles to where we are today but I think that we often think especially when adolescents for instance like their biggest role models are their parents and if they go into High School their biggest role models are their peers but I think that once they go into college they're really trying to find themselves which is great but they're also looking for guidance and Advocates and mentors to help navigate where their professional careers supposed to go and so I think one of the biggest things that we can do is sharing of information sharing of pathways but also explaining and developing this relationship that I have been where you are. And that we are sharing this conversation of you know we're going to have to go against the grain for a while and it's has been that way but there's people who have paved the road for us to because I think that with th pandemic people can fall into this phase where you need to work because financially they need to help their households there okay with possibly pushing back deadlines of their graduation not applying for grad school falling off the face of the Earth because you know in person connection is no longer needed and so people are really sucked into a very narrow perspective that's really heavily filtered by technology because that's kind of their source outlet and I think it's a good thing to keep us connected because we can't be connected physically but it also creates this funnel that we don't realize we're in how do we move back outside of this post covid-19 world in my mind as a health disparities person and as a socially as a social and behavioral interventionist is to really it's so hard for me to say but I think it is really is going to fall back on having us kind of snap each other out of where we have been in the past year and really encouraging people to step up to a new pivot which I know it is hard to hear because we have pivoted and we are going to have to pivot again and I think where we all are.. what's that phrase we are habitual beings we'd like our routines we like where we are we don't we don't we're not creatures of change often so I think that one of the things that we're going to have to be very used to is changing our behavior yet again and I think that's something that I just realized talking to you that I am going to have to do and I don't know how comfortable I'm with it hahaha but I think that I call upon like my ancestors and my family and all the people who come to for me because we're resilient I think that's my biggest hope is that we come from a lineage of resilient people and we have to go back to that aspect if we want to demystify the vaccine if we want to diversify our communities if we want to eliminate health disparities we have to constantly learn how to pivot and rely on our resiliency to really fight against what is trying to keep us down.
Dr. Frank Gomez: Great before we end I do want to touch upon some of the work that you have been doing with UCLA on this site community-based survey that you've been doing with the Filipino community. can you comment a little bit about that.
Dr. Melanie Sabdo-Liwag: Yea it is kind of funny that you have said that cuz a lot of things have changed since then we initially got a grant from Kaiser to do some outreach with the community so that people can really be focused more on protecting themselves and understanding where the resources can be shared within that Filipino community here in LA county and we got a grant to basically try to do that utilizing food establishments as still main centers of communal spaces even though people are not meeting in person people still order food out and like you many communities rely on any of these places like supermarkets and food establishments to be still a center of normalcy and since then that has evolved we've actually created a Collective or the historic Filipino Collective and that's a bunch of different organizations in in historic filipinotown that are really coming together to provide resources for the community both mental and wellness aspects but also attending to the elderly in providing them services regarding some technology issues that they might be having and giving them a space to still be social we've also try to put up tents for like mental health first aid through the Legacy Foundation such as CPHuh and foushsty is also doing some stuff with Filipino communities that are in need for naturalization because immigration is still going and then you have other organizations like you know the Filipino network who is really working with people who are vulnerable workers to this pandemic such as you know illegal people who are being taken advantage or people that are working under the table and really making sure that they have a voice in this process. So I really like I said the Filipino community has really come together to address and understand that these are things that are happening we've gotten some funding here and there from other different places and I'm actually I actually have a assessment as well as an asset survey that's going to be launched in the next week called the Field project that has been financed by the National Cancer Institute through Fred Hutchinson cancer research center in addition to the Department of Mental Health to collect information on Filipinos and their life experiences during COVID hence the word filled and so I want to be able to answer the call to what is happening within the Philippine community and give them a voice during the pandemic because historically Filipinos have been monolithic within the Asain community a lot of people don't realize that Filipinos are the second highest Asian Community here in California second to Chinese but we are just invisible and some of the work we are trying to so is to advocate for all Asian and Pacific Islander communities for data desegregation and making sure that all our communities are very much being heard especially since the Filipinos are being impacted heavily due to their heavy involvement in the healthcare field as nurses and as we know 30% of nurses are had passed away in the United States due to COVID and so its higher than any other ethnic group in the United States and so he want to be able to give visibility and voices to all these different people who are contributors to the fabric of the United States in the American way of life so thank you so much for the opportunity to talk about the amazing work that the community is doing. Also a really big thank you to the Philippine Xao Community task force that was created organically within the past few months I think that there has been a lot of Asian and Pacific Islander task force teams that have been coming together nationally to address their Community needs and really coming together to address local and National level type of Endeavors and so I want to definitely make sure that those communities are really being seen in her and if you are looking for these communities to be a part of you know definitely seek them out because they're out there to do some work so congratulations to all these task forces.
Dr. Frank Gomez: thank you Melanie it's really great to hear about the work you are doing with the Filipino community and now on a lighter note. if you could turn back the clock and talk to your 18 year old self which is probably only about five years ago okay what would you tell her
Dr, Melianie Sabado-Liwag: Wow! it's kind of funny cuz when you had that 18 year old I think I was a lot more energetic back then I think that I would tell this person to keep moving forward I think there's going to be a lot of good and a lot of bad that it's going to happen in your life but all of that should not be regretted because it really has brought you to exactly where you are today and people come and go but people who made the largest impact on your life definitely will have a significant role currently in years to come and so that kind is where I am today especially like you know we've met each other and have paths crossed many years ago Frank and I think that's life is very circular and cyclical and I think that we often have to realize that especially during the times when it seems so dim.
Dr. Frank Gomez: Well, that’s all for today’s episode of “All Things STEM”. Thank you for listening. Many thanks to Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag for speaking with me today and to all of you for being here. Join us again next time. Make sure you subscribe to this podcast on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you may listen to your podcast. Until next time