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Melanie Cole (Host):    For many months, Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital's classes and seminars have been held online. Now, the hospital is adopting a hybrid model in which class attendees have the option of attending. Joining me, is Charmine Navarro. She's the Community Education Program Coordinator for Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. And she's here to discuss community education classes online and in person, this new approach and the safety precautions the hospital is taking. Welcome to It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.

I'm Melanie Cole and Charmine, I'm so glad to have you back with us. You've been on talking about these classes before, but now you're updating us on this really interesting hybrid model. During COVID, they were mainly online. So, how did that go? First tell us a little bit about how that went. Were people engaged? Were they involved? Tell us about it.

Charmine Navarro, MSN, RN (Guest): We were very lucky. The hospital supported us transitioning over to that Zoom platform. And we were able actually to expand our attendees, the people who were home bound prior or were out of the area could now attend our classes. So, our classes are reaching a broader community. It was great, but we still did miss that personal interaction. But the way that we formatted it, people could ask their questions. They could get engaged either by typing into Zoom or by raising their hand on Zoom and we could unmute them and they could ask the question.

It also gave us the opportunity to record those sessions, leaving out other participants faces and voices, and share those with people that may not have been able to attend the class in person. So, it worked well. We had highs and lows of attendance at the time. Some months were better than others and we continue to have that even as we open.

Host: I'm so glad you were able to reach some members of the community that maybe couldn't come to those in-person classes or that were home bound previous before COVID. So, that's really very cool. And now the hospital's adopting a hybrid model. So people can really attend in person or on Zoom. Right? So tell us about this new approach.

Charmine: Starting in May, we were able to start bringing some limited in-person back. We started with our support groups because we felt that, that was the area that really needed that in-person connection. And so we trialed with that. We spaced out our seating to make sure that there is six feet distance between each participant. We also have set it up that there's no food allowed, no drink. We clean all the surfaces prior to classes and after classes. So, any touch surface is cleaned. A hospital grade cleaner. So, it's not, you know, your Purell wipes, it's the hospital grade wipes. And then in addition, regardless of vaccination status, we continue to follow the hospital guidelines. All participants must wear a mask for the entirety of the program. So, they are not allowed to remove them during the class, unless to take a sip of water. We do allow that.

Host: So, you said regardless of vaccination status. So, are you asking people if they're vaccinated? Tell us a little bit about that. Are you seeing many people that are unvaccinated?

Charmine: So, we are not asking vaccination status. And the reason for that is that everybody must wear a mask when they're in our department at this time. We do screen and ask people, I forgot to add that earlier, but we are doing temperature checks and asking that they're feeling well, when they're signing in for the in-person attendance. So it's just a safety measure to make sure that everybody that's here, regardless of vaccination status is going to be in a safe environment because while we know the vaccine works very well, and it is our number one way of controlling this virus, we also know that people with the vaccine have contracted COVID. So, we want to make sure that everyone's safe and that includes our staff.

Host: Absolutely good point. And certainly what we've learned about the vaccines really is very encouraging. So, I know Henry Mayo Newhall really encourages people to get the vaccine, but we're not talking about that today. We're talking about classes. So, tell us about some of the classes or seminars coming up that you'd like to talk about because there's really some very cool ones coming up about passions and dreams and pain and celiac. I mean, it really runs the gamut. So tell us about some of them.

Charmine: Well, I'm very excited. We do partner with some of our community and we have Emily Owens from Spread Your Wing Foundation who works with disabled personnel to get them more integrated into society. But she has a whole program on understanding your dreams and passions and knowing what you're focusing on. So, she's coming in and providing that to the community in a four part series. So, it's a little bit about the mental health. Where's your mindset? Where's your willingness. We have one of our staff member who is a celiac disease patient, who is teaching people with celiac disease, how to manage their nutrition choices, because while we know a lot of people choose to be gluten free, not everybody has that choice and they have to be when they have celiac disease.

In addition, we continue to offer our diabetes program. Which, what we've noticed, diabetes and weight management, during COVID a lot of us gained that COVID 19 pounds and, you know, we're struggling to get back into a regular routine. And our dieticians are providing that support services with our Mindful Eating Class, our Heart Healthy Nutrition Class, a Mediterranean Versus Dash Diet Nutrition Class.

So, we offer Fueling For Fitness, which is a great one, as we get back and active realizing that you can't just think you can starve yourself to lose that weight and you do have to fuel for activity. So, in addition to our regular cardiac classes and pulmonary classes, we're really wanting to focus on lifestyle and nutrition to help get our community back moving and active and engaged in what we're doing not only for activity but nutrition.

Host: Are we calling it the COVID-19, just like the freshmen-15?

Charmine: Well, that's what I call it.

Host: I mean, that is brilliant. We need to get that trending Charmaine because that is absolutely brilliant. And while none of COVID was funny. At least we can smile about something because I know I put on a few and I'm sure that those are going to be some of your most popular classes. It's going to be those nutrition and mindfulness classes, because I think one of the most interesting aspects of that whole pandemic that we've learned is to look inward at our own strengths and the strengths of the family and our community. Right? And mindfulness has come really top of mind because we were all quarantined and had to do something mindful as opposed to running about our days, without thinking about a thing. Right?

Charmine: Correct. And our Mindfulness Class has maintained its popularity throughout the pandemic, even moving to virtual. And they can do it in the comfort of their home at a convenient time for them. So, the mindfulness was such an important part. And one of the greatest feedbacks that we got during this whole pandemic was thank you for seeing the value of that and the importance of continuing to focus on our mental health and offering this program.

Host: Well, I want to ask you about some of the classes that are meant, I mean, all of these are really meant to educate, educate the community and save lives, but some of them are strictly about saving lives. Like Stop The Bleed. I really think these are such vital classes. Vital? Well, I didn't mean to make a pun there, but you know what I mean? So, tell us about some of the classes that you personally feel are so instructional that they really could help save a life.

Charmine: Well, our Stop The Bleed Class, I'm very happy to say, is back. It is a strictly hands-on class, so it is not a class we were able to offer during the pandemic because the participants have to practice. So, our Stop The Bleed is vital. And we know that our staff that helped train our community helped make a difference, like in the Saugus shooting, that our first responders that were trained by some of our staff were able to use those Stop The Bleed Kits and make a humongous impact in helping save lives.

So, Stop The Bleed being one of them. We're actually looking to revive our Hiking and Venomous Snake Bite Prevention and Treatment Class, which is another one that really is better hands-on, seeing the equipment that they use, being able to visualize the difference between a non venomous snake and a venomous snake, because we do have Frank, one of the Rangers from the Placerita Nature Center coming. Those are very instructional and more hands-on. This is what you need to do. This is what you need to be, where you can make a difference. Our community CPR class. We're trying to get that class back. It's another one that cannot be offered online and we haven't been able to offer it. So, we're excited as we're slowly being able to expand our service line to reopen some of those in-person highly hands-on classes again.

Host: I just cannot tell you listeners how cool this is, these types of community classes that Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital is offering. And whether you're someone who wants to do them online and Zoom, and that's what you're comfortable with, or someone who really wants to get involved and get in there and really be engaged in these in-person, they have it all.

So, Charmaine, wrap it up for us, because I just think it's wonderful. And how lucky the community is that you guys are offering these types of education classes. Wrap it up for us, what you'd like the listeners to know about involvement and engagement in these very important community education classes.

Charmine: Ultimately, I would like to say we're lucky as a community that Henry Mayo supports a program like this to offer free health education by clinical experts. It's not online where you don't know who's giving you the information. This is evidence-based information that we're providing you. It's free to the community. And we do have evidence to show that it's helped make a difference in people's lives to keep them away progressing to diabetes, to keep them from getting sick. And that we're here for you. We care and that we are a resource for the entire community, regardless of your doctor, regardless of your insurance.

And we hope that you will come join us in person, where you can interact with our dieticians, our nurses, our physical therapists, and get that education for free.

Host: For free. And that's a really big one. I mean, that's what makes this so cool is it's just a matter of signing up. So, listeners get involved and to see all of Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital's classes, seminars, and support groups, visit Henrymayo.com/classes and get involved in some of those education classes and bring a friend why don't you. That concludes this episode of It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. Please remember to share these shows with your friends and family on your social channels, because we're learning from the experts at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital together. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Melanie Cole.