The Scoop with Tanya Flanagan

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU NV studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Tanya Flanagan 0:19
Good morning and thank you for joining me for the scoop with Tanya Flanagan, I'm so happy you decided to wake up and start your day with me here on the scoop, where we talk about life, joy, funny moments, trending topics and so much more. We promise to keep you in the know and find out what you know. So let's get started. You

Tanya Flanagan 0:47
Good morning Las Vegas, and thank you for tuning in once again to the scoop with me. Tanya Flanagan, right here on KU nv 91.5 jazz and more. As always, I'm delighted to have a conversation with you early on a Sunday morning, and I try to bring you interesting people and interesting things that are going on around the Las Vegas Valley. I know we have some listeners all over the state, as well as all over the world. I'm so excited that the show has gone international. Today, I am delighted to welcome to the studio a phenomenal woman as we're getting ready to go into March's Women's History Month. So this is a very timely conversation for me to begin to welcome women to the studio this month. And yes, I talk to women all the time, but it's really cool just to highlight that this month is focused and dedicated to recognizing the contributions that women make to our community, to our society, to make a difference. So it is a pleasure to have Dr Christy means in the studio with me. This morning, good morning.

Christie Means 1:42
Good morning, good morning. Tanya, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Tanya Flanagan 1:46
Thank you for stopping by and spending some time with me. I was looking at your bio, and it is lengthy and it's awesome, but I was like, Wow. I didn't know all these cool things. I might even realize that you were a pharmacist by trade, and that you have these various levels of specialization within it to look at pharmacological care in its totality, to help patients and to help families. How like Did that come to be your your place of calling? Wow.

Christie Means 2:13
So I knew I wanted to be a doctor, I just wasn't sure which way, so I went to Howard University, yeah, and and I started in the Allied Health. And then once I actually decided which way I wanted to go, pharmacy seemed like the place I needed to be, the clinical part of it. And just to be able to, I wanted to have more interaction with patients. And not that, you know, doctors don't, but I like the instruction part, right? Get a diagnosis, or you get though, this is the therapy that you're going to be and then, as a pharmacist, a clinical pharmacist, I get to come in and talk you through things. Tell you this is how you use your medication, this is when you use your medication. And actually get to listen more. We get a little bit more time. Let me say that. So that's I started. Well, I started in hospital, then to retail, then I hopped into retail, honestly, just more money, and then I ended up in long term where, that's where I really ended up getting into what I love. MT was called MTM, which is medication therapy management. So that's where I really get to. I get to shine, and I get to let the patient shine, because we can talk. We have time to talk. We have time to go through your medications and talk about the things that actually affect your medications as well.

Tanya Flanagan 3:58
So I love it. As I was looking at your your story and what you do, I thought, how in this day and age, we are so Medically Dependent in so many different ways, and there are so many, you know, drugs on the market, prescription drugs, and we need them. And then there's the crossover. I mean, I have quite the medical history, which I've shared before on the show. So 30 different surgeries later, right here I am still kicking. But when I went through the round that included the chemotherapy and the targeted, you know, medications, I wanted to look at everything. So it was interesting to me to read about the medications I was being prescribed, and then all of the different illnesses that it can treat, and to find out that this is the breadth of your you know expertise, to look at what people are taking to have really honest conversations, because I think a lot of times we don't have those conversations. We go to the doctor. They determine what's wrong with you, they prescribe a medication. Conversation, and you go home and you blindly take it, and they say, take it twice a day. So you take it in the morning, you take it in you know what I'm saying. You don't necessarily, you do what you can, but it's nice to have an intelligent conversation that would further arm you to understand what other things you could couple with that therapy that's that's prescribed for you, yeah, to give you a greater advantage, right? You know, greater path to success,

Christie Means 5:25
and that's exactly why I like MTM, which is actually relatively new as a concept that is being used by in private insurance companies now, it started with Medicare and Medicaid patients, and they made it a part of that process. It not only is good theoretically, but it's actually really good practically as well, because there's just little things, little tweaks you can make to your medication. And more importantly, like I said, I get the time to talk to the patients, and we get to talk about stuff where they're like, Okay, why isn't my blood pressure medication working? Or I've changed it, and I did this, that, and the third, and when you actually get to really, really talk. And again, another thing also is it's, it can be very cultural, right? So I talk to people and I'm like, Okay, well, tell me, what are you doing? Like, what are you eating, or whatever. Well, I don't have that much salt. Okay, well, tell me about you know, you have to take your diet into consideration. Well, I don't make anything. I don't have any salt. But okay, let's talk about this. So if you're making your dirty rice and you use your butter that you're going to saute your onions and your green peppers in, but is it unsalted butter? Right? So there's these little things in your diet along the way, and it's like, oh, I never thought about that well, but yeah, so you really are getting the salt in your diet. So it's just little conversations that you can have like that that also help, where you know, talking about the pharmacy thing, this

Tanya Flanagan 6:57
is the education and you mentioned that my father was recently diagnosed with congestive heart failure, and so part of the conversation and happened early January, has been working with him to understand, even though you think you aren't seasoning your food, and he doesn't season food heavily, it's the other things that you thought you could just grab for a snack, because it's some you know, old staple that you have loved all your life, whether it's a quick bologna sandwich or a hot dog, right? The processed meat has too much sodium in it, and so it was getting him, it's getting him to understand, these are the things that are putting the salt in your diet. And I know you don't think of to let them go, because you don't realize the connection, and it's just, and I've had several people now that I find myself in this space, that's why your work is absolutely fascinating to me. It's just, it is, and things become so front and center. When you find yourself in the space dealing with it on your own right. It becomes a thing you care about, a passion, a place where you want to do some work, you need to engage Yes. So having this scare put before me at the beginning of the year, him always being so strong, and now me needing to help him modify and understand, right, the work that you do, yeah, is appreciated and so valued. So thank you for the conversation. Thank you. You've taken this work that you do and expanded on it to bring to the community the black family Wellness Expo.

Christie Means 8:29
Yes, yes. So first I just want to tell you the black family Wellness Expo is hosted by my organization. So if you're okay with me talking about, oh, absolutely okay. So I am. I'm a member of the Las Vegas chapter of the links Incorporated. And the links Incorporated is an international not for profit corporation that was established in 1946 and our membership consists of 17,000 professional women in 302 chapters located 41 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and the United Kingdom. So we're an international organization. So that makes us one of the the largest violent, one of the oldest and the largest volunteer or service organizations of extraordinary women. And so again, the the I'm a part of the Las Vegas Nevada chapter, and we were established in 1976 so that means that we've been serving the Las Vegas community for 50 years, yes. And so I find that that's amazing. Isn't that amazing? It's amazing that we've had that that long, Dave, because I was six years now,

Tanya Flanagan 9:50
as I tell my age, the hairs are gray, yeah, yeah. Legacy, congratulations, yes. Thank you. And thank you for your service to. The community.

Christie Means 10:00
Thank you. Okay, so I have to get the good stuff out the way, so I have to say this. So I am talking on behalf of my chapter. I am the chairperson of the black family Wellness Expo. So this is our third year. Okay, we're getting bigger and better stronger. So this year, question, yes, yes.

Tanya Flanagan 10:23
What was the motivation like as you sat down as an organization, and you said, because things happen in communities all the time, but as an organization, is it that there was a national component to the program? And then you said, here in Las Vegas, I think this is how we can make manifest of the national platform, right?

Christie Means 10:42
So you're exactly right. That's how it started. So our our current national president, okay, now you just made me forget her name, like ETHEL. She thought that we needed to engage our community and not just a health fair. So that's one of the things that I was going to talk about. So our the Wellness Expo is not a fancy name for a health fair, right? So when we talk about wellness, we have the components of melt wellness. It's a multi faceted concept that covers your whole person, so, right? That includes your physical health, your emotional health, your financial health, occupational and intellectual health, right? So all of those things about your person need to be in sync,

Tanya Flanagan 11:43
so give it to give, give, give it to me again, okay? Physical, emotional,

Christie Means 11:47
physical, emotional, financial, occupational and intellectual, right? So not only your body has to be in good shape, right? Your mind, you know, your mental faculties need to be you need to take care of that. You know, yes, are we feeling sad or depressed or just in a bad space? So that needs to be taken care of as well. And your financial health, right? If you don't have the means, right, if you don't have the means, you know, what can you do? Can you start small? You know what I mean, like and to know that it's okay. And there are people out there that can help you through that, or help you help your mindset with how can I get the things that I need to happen if I'm barely making it? And so we have some community resources for that as well. And then occupational So, hey, gotta have a job, right? You know, those are, those are important things. You have to have a job. You have to have some place to live. So we have community resources and this expo as well. And then, hey, you got to engage your brain, right? So we have the NSU CSN coming out to engage and to get people to say, hey, you can do this, not just if you're graduating from high school. You know what? I mean? Like, we have programs. So the resources, those, the those people are going to be there so that you can engage and find out. You know, hey, this is where I am. This is what age I am. Is there anything, you know? So they have, they have, what's the word I'm looking for? They have the resources there. Or they're going to explain to you how, how you can get to the next step, if you're if that's what you want to do. So that's what this is about, is to bring all of those community resources to one place at one time, and we're going to have some fun as well, right? So the the Expo has three so we break it down in three venues. We have community resources. We have entertainment. So we have DJ and Beast, he's going to be our DJ for this. And so DJ, food trucks, and then we also have a marketplace. So we have a place for small business owners to be able to sell there.

Tanya Flanagan 14:14
Yeah, it also promotes Small Business Yes, exactly yes. Yes. I'm really nice. It sounds super comprehensive and to community, everyone is welcome. Is it free? Is it Yes?

Christie Means 14:24
So it is open to the public, and yes, it is free. And, oh, I did I say we're okay? So it's March. It's Saturday, March, 14, from 11 to four. The location is West Prep Academy. So we're going to be on the elementary school side. It's going to be in the parking lot, and then the two grassy areas the playground, and then the grassy area adjacent. And so let's see. I don't even know where to begin. So first, everybody from the babies to grandma and grandpa and. And everyone in between. So we all have, okay, so we are, even though we're not just a health fair, we are very heavily health based. So we're going to have, we have everything from asa snhd out there, they're going to have five different departments, Southern Nevada Health District, Southern Nevada health district, we have the black Southern Nevada black Nursing Society. They're going to be doing some of the screenings. So let me say we're having screenings. We're having blood pressure. We have a mobile dental unit coming. We're going to be doing, can community is one of our vendors that's going to be doing HIV resources, rapid testing as well, snhd, immunization, stroke prevention information off of Office of preparedness, which is a new one to me. I was like, Oh, wow. I didn't even know we have that. So they're going to be there, they're also going to have a sexual health Okay, so because we matter, which is one of my favorites, right? Smoking cessation, chronic diseases, that's going to be talking about the stroke prevention, immunization, sexual health. And we have the state of Nevada, Health and Human Services, American Cancer Society, and they're also going to have an extra table with the voices of black women are going to be there. Oh, we just had another one join us yesterday, which I'm ecstatic about, the American Foundation of suicide prevention, yeah. So, I mean, we have, like, like I said, a plethora of community resources. So educational. I talked about that with CSN NSU financial, so we have scholarship solutions is going to be there and be treasury. It's going to be there Crawford management, so, and then I already talked about occupational right? So Nevada workforce is going to be there as well. And then we have a couple of what I what I put in the category of others. An important component is Southern Nevada regional housing authority. It's going to be there. And then one organization that our chapter partners with quite a bit, which is olive crest. And I don't know if a lot of people know about olive crust, they help with they help prepare families if they're going to do foster care or adoption. So they help you get through the process with the paperwork. But most importantly, which is, what, what we what the Las Vegas, Nevada links chapter, is we help with. They help children when they're aging out of foster care, which, you know, we just don't think about or like, oh, when they turn 18, they get kicked off, they don't have any benefits and things of that. So they help the children when they're about to age out of foster care. Help them find a place to live. They help with they give them seminars, financial seminars, how to save your money, what to do, blah, blah, blah, help them do their applications for college. So it's important. That's one of my favorite organizations that we partner with. So I don't actually have, I'm talking talking, talking

Tanya Flanagan 18:27
so much really good information. And the black family Wellness Expo. And yes, it does say black family. But of course, anyone can come. Yes, absolutely, march 14, over at Charles I West, the address for anyone who might not have caught it, we haven't shared it. It's 1950 pink Rose Street. Charles I West major cross streets are like Lake Mead and Martin Luther King Boulevard. So over in that area of comprehensive presentation of resources, yes, that everyone can benefit from accessing and just have the chance to learn. Yes, the Las Vegas links chapter that is putting this on as a historical organization, also allowing people to learn more about what you do, because we we see groups working in the community, but we don't always know exactly. People don't always know exactly what the organization does, where it comes from, so it's a chance to learn about those things too. How is there social media spaces that people can track information?

Christie Means 19:32
Yes, yes, yes. So March 14 event, yes. So there are some flyers out in the community, the Senior Center, or the Pearson center. If you can get your hands on the flyer, that's fine. If not, we do have a website just to Las Vegas. The links incorporated Las Vegas chapter, it'll come up. The flyer for the event is on there. There's a QR code if you'd like to pre register as well. Um. Hmm. And then,

Tanya Flanagan 20:02
speaking of pre registration, I just had a question. Are there any segments of it that pre registration are recommended for a like people might be seen in a client based, or is it just always going to all of it will be on a first come first serve?

Christie Means 20:15
Yeah? This is going to be Yeah. Everything's on a first come first serve basis. The pre registration is really for our our raffle prizes, which will include, we have the from Nevada treasury. We have the, well, it's a basket, but it really includes the words are not coming through my mouth, the bond that you can start your child off with. So they give you, I'm not sure exactly the exact amount of the bond, but it's a basket, and it has a bond that you can put in and you can so you can start saving for college. Yes. And then we'll have some other raffle prizes, which, you know what? That's the one thing I didn't have on my notes today. So I'm not really sure

Tanya Flanagan 21:07
we already heard what we heard black family Wellness Expo on March 14. What time is it taking place? So it's from 11 to four, okay? At Charles I West Academy, over near Lake Mead off of Lake Mead near Martin Luther King Boulevard, 1950 pink Rose Street. Yes, yes. We're still at the beginning of a new year. We're, you know, in the first quarter. But it's never too late to always change course. Yes. Push restart. I heard some wonderful things that you talked about, getting people together, from the career perspective, getting people together financially, I think a lot of times, we don't have enough conversation about finances. Yes, and as the economy is changing, it's a really good time to engage on these issues and to increase your understanding and to know that even if maybe you're not in the ideal job right now, making the money you would love to be making, or like to one day make, you can do something with what you have to prepare for tomorrow, but it's having the overall understanding of finances, and that's, you know, one component that I think family wealth is so important. So it's nice that this will touch on that, as well as education opportunities and then health care opportunities the third year, the links chapter has brought this to the community. For those who aren't as familiar with the links, what are some of the other things that the organization does in the community?

Christie Means 22:31
Oh, wow. Okay, so you put me on the spot here just a little bit. So we have what we call facets. So we have five different areas in which we work in the community. We have the arts, we have services to youth, we have national trends and services international trends and services, and health and human services. And so each one of those programs works within the community in their own way. We have a school that we do reading buddies with and then, like I said, we pair, we partner with olive crest. We Well, one of our biggest things is we have our annual fundraiser. So we currently have five young ladies that have four year scholarships, as long as they keep up their grades and you know what I mean, then it's a recurring scholarship. They don't have to again apply for it every year, but a recurring scholarship that they get. We also sponsor two children when they go on the HBCU tour with Dr Kelsey West, yes, Dr Kelsey West, we sponsor two students each year. Let me see, I'm trying to think of what else. Oh, we have one of our the members, Viva wells, she does a program at her church, and they talk about, like sickle cell and the all kind of activities. Now I know my members are going to be mad at me, but of course, I'm HHS. So we have our program is something that we do. We do a theme every month. So in September, we have our Healthy Living walk. October, we do breast cancer. November, we have something called donor Sabbath. So that's where we go into the community, and we've been to several churches in that area. But on the second Sunday of November, we do donor Sabbath, and this is where we talk about how important it is for African Americans to to donate tissue, organ, blood. And so we talk about transplants and how important it is because, as we learn through the. Years, it does make a difference. Ethnicity makes a difference when it comes to if you need any blood products. So and then we have December is our HIV awareness. February is Heart Month, heart healthy. And then let's see. April, we do mental health. And every year we do something, we try to do something different. Sometimes we just have in services, but sometimes we're actually out in the community providing a seminar or some type of activity. Okay?

Tanya Flanagan 25:35
And I wanted you to share that, because I wanted people to hear the breadth of the work that the organization is doing, because while the black family Wellness Expo is a big visual visual, it's good to know all that an organization is doing to give back, and to know that all year long, ladies are working for the betterment of the community and working tirelessly. And so I wanted to give you a chance to just highlight the different things that the organization does in the community. It's so important to know that we're getting into the end of the show. So I like to make sure any contact information that you'd like to share, where people can go for information, is provided and you're not rushed while you're doing Oh, okay.

Christie Means 26:16
Well, the first thing I really, really need to do is I have to acknowledge the people who help make this event happen. So we have a big media spark sponsor, which is live you, equals you. And again, they're one of our they are our media sponsor. And then our other sponsors are anthem, Optum shook and stone and astronomy health care of Nevada. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Because without those sponsorships and our media partners, this would be much harder to make happen. And again, you can go to our website, Las Vegas Nevada. I'm sorry the links incorporated Las Vegas, Nevada chapter, we have a website. The flyer is up that also has a QR code on it, and our sponsors are on there as well, with the hyperlinks, if you would, or if you're interested in any of those organizations. And let's see. Um, okay, so our our media blitz is going to start. It should be coming up on our Facebook feed, on Facebook feed and Tiktok and Instagram. Okay, so

Tanya Flanagan 27:28
we can check all the normal social platforms, and they'll be able to find info. Well, Christy, dr, means thank you for being here. Thank you to share with us today this good information again, folks, it's the black family Wellness Expo. It's taking place on Saturday, March 14. I mean, it will be over at the Charles I West Preparatory Academy. 1950 pink Rose Street. Major cross streets are Lake Mead and Martin Luther King Boulevard. So 11 to 411, to 4:11am, to 4pm and just to come out and have a chance to enjoy the community. The weather is beautiful. I expect it to to continue to be. So as we get further into a month ahead, into spring, it has again been a pleasure to bring you another episode of the scoop with me right here on KU nv 91.5 jazz and more. Have a great weekend until next time, hydrate, stay safe, and we'll talk soon, and you can find it on my Facebook page as well.

Christie Means 28:25
Thank you again. Appreciate it. Thank you. I

Tanya Flanagan 28:31
want to thank you for tuning into the scoop with me. Tonya Flanagan, and I want to invite you to get social with me. I'm on Facebook and Twitter. My name is my handle, T, a n, y, A F, l, a n, a G, A N. You can also find me on Instagram at Tonya almond eyes Flanagan, and if you have a thought, an opinion or a suggestion, don't hesitate to shoot me an email to tonya.flanagan@unlv.edu Thanks again for joining in. Stay safe and have a great week. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai