The Home Health Care Today Show: S1, E19: National Influenza Week - Guest: Kenetra Young, PhD.

In Season 1, Episode 19 of The Home Health Care Today Show, Dr. Kenetra Young, Community Health Navigator Manager at the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) in Detroit visits the show to discuss the importance of influenza vaccinations during flu season in Detroit and beyond.

The show's goal is to inform, inspire, influence, and educate Metropolitan Detroiters on the importance of the flu vaccine, COVID 19 vaccines and boosters, for themselves, their families, caregivers, communities, and the greater society at large.

Cleamon Moorer:

“It is December and in December we have the opportunity to focus on National Influenza Vaccination Week. Dr. Kenetra Young is a long time epidemiologist. She was a communicable disease manager with the Detroit health department.

She also had a role with Henry Ford health system as an infection prevention specialist. Dr. Young is an educator at multiple universities all around the country.

A. (Question #1: Dr. Young, do you mind elaborating a little bit on your background and your passion for helping Detroiters and with specific emphasis on epidemiology?)

Dr. Kenetra Young:

“I am a native of Detroiter. I was born and raised on the eastside of Detroit and I'm a first generation college student, still on both sides of my family. I always had a passion for helping to prevent diseases versus treatment. When I went to college of Michigan state, I was pre-med. I was able to right science, but my passion turned to why people get sick. I don’t want to treat them when they get sick, I want to prevent them from getting sick. So after I did my degree studies and then more resurging about things and it guided me into epidemiology.”

Cleamon Moorer:

B. (Question #2: “Wonderful! What were some of the challenges along your path in pursuing epidemiology? And then how did you overcome those challenges?)

Dr. Kenetra Young:

“I didn't know about epidemiology prior to, then as a first generation, I didn't know anyone who went to college. And you only hear about lawyers, doctors, you hear about teachers. But I didn't know what epidemiologists were, I didn't know about researchers. I didn't know about those different things. So I learned that in college. But it was after college that I pursued that track. That just came with just trying to understand, trying to figure out what worked best for work-life-balance and what my ultimate goal was and what I wanted to do. So the challenge was just finding out and seeking the information mostly. I had support from friends and family and they would just support me. They never said I couldn't do it. I didn't have any mentors. So I just hustled and bustled and made it happen.”

Cleamon Moorer:

C. (Question #3: “Very nice! Dr. Young, for some of the younger listeners, some of the students out there that may not quite know what epidemiology is, as we segue into the conversation about vaccinations in the city of Detroit in layman's terms, could you explain to some of the viewers out there, what is epidemiology and what does an epidemiologist do?)

Dr. Kenetra Young:

“Well, unfortunately with the pandemic, people know what I do now because it’s highlighted a lot. So we study diseases and the trends of different concepts or with public health about what is going on. There's different types of epidemiologists and I'm an infectious disease. You have people that have cancer epidemiologists, you have some that do like numerical data research. I like doing surveillance and looking at different things. So it's different for us epidemiologists.”

?Cleamon Moorer:

D. (Question #4: “Dr. Young, as we think about this being flu season and now a booster shot for adults as related to COVID 19 vaccines.?What advice as an epidemiologist, would you give to Detroiters that may be somewhat reluctant about getting vaccinated?)

Dr. Kenetra Young:

“Don't be scared! The flu vaccine has been around a lot longer, of course, we've been fighting the flu for a long time. Flu has claimed many lives as well. Fortunately and unfortunately, with the COVID pandemic, we’re not seeing many flu cases because people start doing things to prevent COVID or, which is the same thing to help prevent the flu like washing your hands. Don't be around people if you're sick. Those different aspects. So with the flu, that right now across the country, the rate is low. When COVID first hit, it was during the flu season. And so when I was in the field working for the health department and trained many people to deal with this, it was like, okay, it's new. So different things, but it is transmitted the same way. The flu is a respiratory virus. People should get the shot. I do not believe the myths. Some people say, oh, if I get the flu shot, I'll get the flu. No, that is not true!

People should do it with the boosters and since this is a new strand of a Coronavirus, which is not a new disease, because of the different strength, we don't know the immunity and how long to keep it like other things. As you saw on the news, the new variant is out. Boosters are so that we can keep up our body's antibody response when we are exposed to it again, and the thing is that people who are fully vaccinated get boosters is good. The vaccine does not prevent you from being infected. But if you are affected with a new strand, it makes it where your symptoms are not as severe. It lightens the blow and the negative impact. Not everybody makes it out and people shortchange the idea of like, oh, I'm not going to get it. People should just be safe. Get it and protect yourself and others.”

Cleamon Moorer:

E. (Question #5: Dr. Young, tell us a little bit about your organization that you're currently affiliated with, its mission and its focus on Detroiters.)

Dr. Kenetra Young:

“Development centers have been around for over 30 years. There’s different locations throughout Detroit. The location I'm at is on Burt Road at the McKinney Center. The goal for development centers is to improve the lives of children, adults, and to basically have them be healthy and happy. They focus a lot on mental health. And so if someone seeks help for that, then development centers can help. And with the (CCBHC) program, we emphasize that a lot and we are out in a community doing wonderful events. So like the World Aids Day yesterday, that event we went to serve the community and that's the main focus. We also do referrals for physical health. If we know that someone needs physical health services as well.”

Cleamon Moorer:

“Dr. Young in view of homebound patients, we're American Advantage Home Care and we take care of a lot of patients who are homebound that are in need of vaccinations of course. They do have some of those health and mental health related challenges and issues.”

F. (Question #6: Do you have any recommendations for the homebound community out there that need to be vaccinated at home and need to perhaps try to live a better lifestyle?)

Dr. Kenetra Young:

“With everyday primary care physicians, it's getting referrals for people to come help them. That goes for occupational physical therapy, whatever it may be. There are different hospital systems or clinics that go to mobile homes to get the vaccines and to keep home-bound patients safe. If they can't get out, we then find the resource to help them but it's important for them to do it.?And so not to think, oh I'm just in a house I'm not out there, I don't need to. But yes, they should still get the vaccines.”

Cleamon Moorer:

“Let us in and our community partners Wayne County Health Department and other venues that could actually distribute the vaccination at home.”

G. (Question #7: Dr. Young, with the wealth of experience that you have in this particular community organization and the work that you've done with the city of Detroit health department and Henry Ford health systems, are there any other resources, specialists and or clinics that you would recommend to the Detroiters to live a healthier lifestyle?)

Dr. Kenetra Young:

“I would suggest that they look at the different resources from the health department. So let it be Wayne County Health Department, Detroit health department, Oakland county health department and different organizations. There’s a lot of organizations out here to help and people just have to search for it. They don't know about them. They can look for things such as mission disease, health and human services to understand what's going on and they have some resources.

When it comes to the information, to understand more about the vaccines and more about the diseases, they should go to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website. They should look at those things. They want to know what’s going around across the world. They can go to the world health organization (WHO). So it's a lot of resources. It's a lot of things being published, the help it's out there. They just have to seek it and receive it.”

Cleamon Moorer:

“Dr. Young, thank you for joining our show today. Thank you for all the work that you do in the community to improve the lives of Detroiters. Happy Holiday Season to you and your family!”?

The Home Health Care Today Show was launched in 2021 to inform, inspire, influence, and educate viewers and listeners about a variety of health and wellness topics important to home health care clients, caregivers, and family members in Metro Detroit and beyond.

Sponsored by American Advantage Home Care, Inc.

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