Health Equity and Mental Health: Key Issues to Reduce Inequities
Recent studies show that the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a dramatic rise in the number of people experiencing anxiety and depressive disorders around the world. Not only did COVID-19 increase the widespread presence of mental health disorders, it also brought to the forefront the necessity for accessibility to support, treatment, and services for those in need. Duane Reynolds and Maria Hernandez’s conservation with Dr. Alexander Salerno, and Chuck Ingoglia, shed light on the enormity of the challenges those suffering with mental illness can encounter while seeking the appropriate care and navigating the fragmented mental health system. They also discuss the integrated healthcare model where physical and mental health needs can be addressed in the same setting, contributing to a better distribution of health outcomes and enhanced quality of life.
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About Our Guests
Dr. Alexander Salerno
Alexander Salerno provides healthcare and education to urban communities in the metropolitan area. He is the founder and lead strategist of two community-based programs UHIP and SHOP, both aimed at providing healthcare education and medical treatment to those in underserved urban communities.
Urban Healthcare Initiative Program, or UHIP, a non-profit, 501(c) 3 organization that aims to increase healthcare literacy and education on common diseases that are inflicting the urban population. Through its partnership with Salerno Medical Associates, UHIP provides screenings, treatments, and preventative medical service.
The Senior Health Outreach Program, or SHOP as it is frequently referred to, was founded in 2002 to provide in-home healthcare to elderly patients who would otherwise have difficulty obtaining such services due to a number of common barriers including lack of transportation, poor weather, fear of physician's offices.
Dr. Salerno specializes in Internal Medicine with an emphasis on preventative medicine. He is the lead physician in a multi-specialty group and a second-generation owned and operated medical practice in Newark and East Orange, New Jersey.
Dr. Salerno is an expert, public speaker, author, and commentator and is available for broadcast and editorial.
Chuck Ingoglia, MSW
President and CEO of National Council for Mental Wellbeing
As president and CEO of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, Chuck Ingoglia leads the national charge to ensure people living with mental illness and addictions have access to comprehensive, high-quality care that affords every opportunity for recovery. To accomplish this, he harnesses the voices and support of the more than 3,000 National Council members who serve over 10 million individuals nationwide.
Prior to being named president and CEO, Chuck led the National Council’s policy and practice improvement work, directing the organization’s federal and state policy efforts and overseeing trainings and programs offered to more than 500,000 behavioral health professionals across the U.S.
Chuck draws from personal experience and a deep knowledge of the field acquired from more than 26 years’ professional experience to provide services, including site-of-service technical assistance, to members. He effects change at both the national and state level by playing a major role in policy advocacy and analyses on issues relevant to behavioral health. His efforts center on key issues such as parity, health care reform and improving access to behavioral health treatment in communities.
Before joining the National Council, Chuck provided policy and program design guidance to the Center for Mental Health Services at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Earlier in his career, he directed state government relations and service system improvement projects for the National Mental Health Association (now Mental Health America), performed policy analysis for the National Association of Social Workers and designed educational programs for mental health and addictions professionals for the Association of Ambulatory Behavioral Healthcare. He has also served as an adjunct faculty member of the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management.
Chuck holds a Master of Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work, both from The Catholic University of America.
