12 Oct ‘We lost a generation of elders.’ Panel tackles lasting impacts of COVID on health disparities

By Robert Chappell, Madison365

The lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt for decades to come, and some of those impacts aren’t fully understood yet, according to a panel of health care practitioners and public health experts speaking at the Wisconsin Leadership Summit on Tuesday.

Panelists included:

• • Dr. Lyle Ignace, an internal medicine physician and member of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and the Coeur D’Alene Tribe of Idaho
  • Aurielle Smith, director of policy, planning and evaluation at Public Health Madison and Dane County,
  • Dr. Jasmine Zapata, Chief Medical Officer and State Epidemiologist for Community Health at Wisconsin Department of Health Services Bureau of Community Health Promotion
  • Aaron G. Perry, founder of the Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association and Perry Family Free Clinic

The panel was moderated by Danielle Yancey, director of the Native American Center for Health Professions at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.

Ignace recalled a meeting on March 15, 2020, intended to address the rapidly-unfolding crisis that would become the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more …