4-part PBS documentary sequence “The Invisible Protect” (premieres 10-11 p.m. March 26, KCTS-TV) depicts the essential however typically misunderstood and underfunded work of America’s public well being system and its lifesaving response to public well being crises, together with cholera, smallpox, HIV/AIDS and the COVID-19 pandemic.“Invisible Protect” largely facilities on lifesaving efforts in the course of the pandemic within the Puget Sound area by way of interviews with Dr. Anthony Chen, former director of well being for the Tacoma-Pierce County Well being Division, and Abigail Echo-Hawk, enrolled citizen of the Pawnee Nation and govt vp of the Seattle Indian Well being Board.The sequence premiere, “The Previous Playbook,” chronicles the historical past of public well being improvements, from crosswalks to vaccines to fashionable sanitation.In Episode 2, “Comply with the Knowledge” (10 p.m. April 9, KCTS-TV), Echo-Hawk describes her expertise within the COVID-19 pandemic, together with when she ordered private protecting gear to assist Native American communities — and as a substitute obtained physique bogs.“They offer us assets to bury our folks, however not to make sure that they stay,” says Echo-Hawk, who can be director of the City Indian Well being Institute, the analysis arm of the Seattle Indian Well being Board that’s a public well being authority and one in all 12 Tribal Epidemiology Facilities, the one one which particularly serves city American Indians and Alaska Natives. “We couldn’t get affirmation from anyone throughout the federal authorities, however that’s the place we assume [the body bags] got here from. We did obtain an apology from the producer of these physique baggage, who couldn’t affirm who their shopper was.”
Echo-Hawk says she labored to collect knowledge from Washington state and nationally for the 78% of American Indians and Alaska Natives residing in city settings.“What we found is that there was no knowledge,” she says. “I used to be co-author on one of many very first papers ever printed on present [COVID-19] an infection charges amongst American Indians and Alaska Natives and in that we had been solely in a position to analyze knowledge from 23 states within the nation, as a result of the remaining weren’t amassing.”Echo-Hawk printed a report titled “Knowledge Genocide.”“With out the information, the proper allocation of assets didn’t stream into our communities and other people died as a direct consequence,” she says. “This has been an ongoing problem. COVID-19 simply introduced it to the floor and we had been in additional of a disaster than we usually are, however this has been a long-standing problem and it’s going to require long-term funding and group collaborations to right.”Producers of “The Invisible Protect” adopted Echo-Hawk for seven months throughout 2020 and early 2021.“I used to be in such a piece mode making an attempt to simply serve our communities that it’s a time I barely bear in mind in truth,” Echo-Hawk says. “My folks had been dying; my household, my group.”
“Invisible Protect” exhibits Echo-Hawk at work on a ribbon gown utilizing these physique baggage and toe tags, an effort beforehand documented by The Seattle Instances and lined by Vogue journal. (“I feel for the very first time my nieces had been impressed with me,” Echo-Hawk says.)“I bear in mind pondering, I can not settle for physique baggage for our folks, I can solely settle for life,” she remembers. “A ribbon gown is a life-affirming prayer. I made a decision I might make a ribbon gown out of the physique baggage and solely settle for life for our group.”Chen, who retired however nonetheless works on a contract foundation as well being officer and director of well being emeritus for the Tacoma-Pierce County Well being Division, is proven in “The Invisible Protect” assembly with Gregory Christopher, pastor of Tacoma’s Shiloh Baptist Church. Chen, featured in episodes 1 and three of “The Invisible Protect,” met Christopher years in the past, and having that established relationship proved essential within the pandemic.“He knew COVID was closely impacting the various communities, however on the similar time the entire legacy of Tuskegee, the legacy of racism — there’s quite a lot of suspicion,” Chen says. “I needed to cope with this after I was in apply as a household doc. The Black group was all the time asking, are you actually making an attempt to assist us or is that this a part of what you’ve finished to us prior to now?”When the COVID-19 vaccine was developed, Chen had a frank dialog with Christopher concerning the significance of getting vaccinations into the Black group.“I mentioned to him, ‘I’ll promise you the well being division won’t ever distribute something we don’t really feel is protected and efficient,’ ” Chen says. “That usually goes with out saying … however that is the place the non-public relationship got here in. He mentioned, ‘OK, I can belief you,’ and he grew to become an enormous advocate for vaccination and his church not solely sponsored vaccine clinics they’d folks going door-to-door telling seniors and members of the group, ‘We’re having a vaccine clinic, come on down.’ ”
Chen says he hopes viewers will come away from watching “The Invisible Protect” with a greater understanding of the significance of public well being efforts, which helped increase American life expectancy by way of the addition of seat belts in autos and messaging concerning the well being risks of smoking cigarettes and vaping.“A part of the problem in public well being is you’re not solely coping with public well being, you’re additionally coping with political and social and monetary points,” Chen says. “Public well being is chronically underfunded, undervalued and misunderstood.”Chen says taking part in “The Invisible Protect” gave him a behind-the-scenes perspective on how a docuseries will get made.“On the geeky aspect, it provides you a little bit perception about how they do that filming and manufacturing. Numerous work goes into that and I obtained to know the movie crew effectively,” he says. “I felt privileged to be filmed and interviewed for this and for them to have the ability to get a few of the story out concerning the well being division and what public well being does. That’s why we made time for it.”
“The Invisible Protect”
The primary episode of the four-part documentary sequence premieres 10 p.m. March 26 on KCTS-TV. The second episode premieres 10 p.m. April 9 on KCTS-TV. Episodes three and 4 won’t air on linear TV however might be accessible by way of streaming at pbs.org on March 26.
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