On this week’s 51%, a doctor tells what happened when she offered her help during the COVID-19 pandemic, a migraine sufferer shares her journey; and hear from a woman who co-founded a community dance class that helps senior citizens fight inactivity and isolation.
A doctor from Pensacola, Florida answered the call for healthcare workers to sign up in other states to help with the COVID-19 crisis. The thing is, she ran into an unexpected barrier that she hopes no longer exists the next time such a call arises. 51%’s Bob Barrett has her story.
Some states have been gradually reopening as they seek to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Restaurants, retailers and other businesses in Tennessee began reopening at the end of April. A group of senior citizens in Nashville still had their activity on pause at the time of this show’s production. Loneliness and social isolation affect millions of senior citizens across the U.S., and this was before coronavirus, which exacerbated such feelings with social distancing and quarantines. In Nashville's historically black Hadley Park neighborhood, older adults bond over their shared love of an activity that many of them have been doing their entire lives. Here's the story of one of the group's founding members and how she was fighting to keep this community together before COVID-19 hit.
David Condos produced this piece as part of the Transom traveling workshop at WPLN in Nashville. You can find out more about the Hadley Park Dancers and their upcoming classes and performances at facebook.com/HPLDancers.
Albany, New York resident Nancy Harris Bonk suffers from migraine headaches. A lot. The 58-year-old is a migraine patient advocate and vice president of the nonprofit Chronic Migraine Awareness. Harris Bonk also founded the Western New York Migraine and Headache Disorder Support Group and is a moderator and contributor at Health Union’s Migraine.com. Nancy Harris Bonk is a migraine patient advocate and educator.
That’s our show for this week. Thanks to Tina Renick for production assistance. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock. Our theme music is Glow in the Dark by Kevin Bartlett. This show is a national production of Northeast Public Radio. If you’d like to hear this show again, sign up for our podcast, or visit the 51% archives on our web site at wamc.org. And follow us on Twitter @51PercentRadio
