Bonus episode: Building health equity-focused public health organizations
May 02, 2023Season 1 of Mind the Disruption was a success! We’ve decided to release bonus content from three episodes. This standalone episode features more from Chief Nursing Officer Heather Lokko who was a reflective guest on Episode 3 Disrupting the Status Quo in Public Health. Listen to this episode to learn about implementing health equity and anti-racism strategies at a public health organization from Heather who has worked at the Middlesex London Health Unit in southern Ontario for 25 years.
Guests
Heather Lokko has been a direct service provider, professional practice lead, program manager, and senior leader during her public health career. She is currently seconded to London Health Science Centre where she is the Corporate Nursing Executive and also provides executive support for the Office of Health Ethics and the Office of Inclusion and Social Accountability. At the time of this interview, she was the Director of the Healthy Start Division at the Middlesex-London Health Unit. Additionally, she was MLHU’s Chief Nursing Officer. In this role, Heather led health equity strategy, promoted practice excellence, and provided nursing leadership in local, regional, provincial, and national initiatives. Heather is the Community Co-Director of Western University’s Centre for Research on Health Equity and Social Inclusion, is on the board of directors for the London Intercommunity Health Centre and is an Adjunct Research Professor at Western University. Heather is passionate about health equity, collective action, and building healthy families and communities.
Episode Credits
This episode is produced by Rebecca Cheff, Carolina Jimenez, and our host Bernice Yanful (NCCDH). Special thanks to our episode guest Heather Lokko. Coordination of communications, webpage development and dissemination are led by Caralyn Vossen (NCCDH). Thanks to Claire Betker and the rest of the NCCDH team for their support. Technical production and original music by Chris Perry. Artwork by comet art + design.