Monument Health’s popular Doc Talk podcast premiered its first spinoff, Vital Conversations: A Doc Talk Community Series, hosted by Stephen Tamang, M.D., Director of Addiction Medicine and Community Health Services at Rapid City Hospital.
The eight-episode miniseries began March 27 and features discussions between Dr. Tamang and Black Hills community and organizational leaders covering topics that the area currently faces.
“Listeners can expect unfiltered, thought-provoking discourse on public health and the systems that shape our community’s most pressing challenges,” says Dr. Tamang.
For the first episode, Dr. Tamang welcomes Rapid City Mayor, Jason Salamun for an exploration of housing, homelessness, city expansion and the philosophy behind local government.
Upcoming episodes will feature such topics and guests as: mental health challenges and the growing role of technology with Amy Iversen, CEO of West River Mental Health; key health care challenges in the region, such as access to care and insurance barriers with Tim Trithart, Chief Executive Officer of Complete Health and homelessness and local immigration enforcement with Pennington County Sheriff Brian Mueller.
Future episodes will also feature Mark Harlow, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Oyate Health Center, Charity Doyle, Chief Executive Officer, OneHeart, Inc and Paulette Davidson, President And Chief Executive Officer of Monument Health.
In the final episode of the season, Dr. Tamang himself takes the guest seat opposite Doc Talk host Mark Houston so that Dr. Tamang can give his own take on issues of crucial and timely importance within the Black Hills region and also recount what he’s learned through talking with his podcast guests.
As with Doc Talk, Vital Conversations can be found on your favorite podcast app, such as Spotify or Apple Music, or can be watched on our YouTube channel.