Where Can I get Merch?!?

You can get stickers here. Other show merch here :) Please read all details!

ISN’T “PUBLIC HEALTH IS DEAD” NEGATIVE AND SCARY?

Complacency is negative and scary. There are a lot of established norms in public health communications. But “best practices” are sometimes boring or playing-it-safe practices from times long past. Especially in a sea of sameness against an onslaught of disinformation. The sh*t has hit the fan and this podcast is not institutional public health comms. It’s by and for people trying to survive institutional abandonment. No other name felt as true to the spirit of the show and we’re trying something different. We’ve intentionally flipped the rules, acknowledged the shambles the field is in, and we are speaking to people for whom the title resonates (if that’s not you, that’s okay)!

If public health is dead, in our minds the next question is: so what’s next? And that’s infinitely hopeful. What a time to build towards something different. The role of this podcast is to gather the voices of people actively involved in creating a better plan than what’s in front of us and compile something useful and enduring. (And “Public Health is Dead” made you pay attention, didn’t it?) Learn more here.

WHY IS THE SHOW SO FOCUSED ON COVID?

COVID is the public health disaster of our time. Public health leaders spectacularly fumbled this pandemic response even with decades of scientific knowledge and directly transferable lessons from the SARS epidemic. Millions of people died. Hundreds of millions have Long COVID. And they did not transparently course-correct with clear, accurate information. Most people think the pandemic is “over”. But COVID is still here. People are still dying. People are still getting Long COVID. Public health institutions have not effectively communicated the devastating systemic damage it can cause. The plan seems to be to ignore it. COVID is a perfect lens to examine the political choices often made about who lives, who suffers, and who dies. Ignoring COVID is a political choice. Addressing it is, too. Learn more here.

THIS IS AN INDIE SHOW MADE FROM YOUR APARTMENT?

Yep! There’s a small group of folks—The Skeleton Crew—who do key pieces like sound design, mixing, content editing, and fact checking. This is an independent show that runs on listener support. If you’d like to chip in, you can do that here!