Blog 3: Our First Interview

     We had our first interview! Of course, there were technical issues but that's okay! First, the microphone and speaker outputs I wanted wouldn't work together (which I still need to figure out), and then one of the sound engineers helping us had to hook our first guest, Mr. Waverly Willis, through a phone call because Squadcast isn't supported on mobile devices. Nevertheless, it was a success. Mr. Willis talked about his experience being a liaison between his community and the medical community. 

    Mr. Willis opened Urban Kutz Barbershop in 2008, where he has a history of looking out for his community in terms of health. He told Sweta and me about how he started this by simply just checking in with his clients about their health and holding them accountable for their medical responsibilities, such as taking their medication every day/week or listening to their doctor about diet recommendations. I think it's only natural that he started offering vaccinations at his barbershop. Willis told us about his struggles and his clients' struggles in terms of getting the COVID-19 vaccine. He informed us about how there were three evenly split perspectives from his clientele. A desire to get the vaccine, concern about it, and an on-the-fence group. It is also important to note that Willis and most of his clientele are Black, and there is a trend of distrust in medical systems from Black communities that stems from a history of mistreatment. This doesn't mean that all Black people don't want to get the vaccine because of the Tuskegee experiments, but distrust exists. Additionally, getting the vaccine can prove to be difficult for some because of issues with planning it online, not having internet or a computer to book an appointment, transportation to a further available test site, not speaking English, not being able to take time off work to get it, and so on. However, the community trusts Willis, and the access to the vaccine through Willis' barbershop along with Willis acting as a liaison has made a huge difference in helping people get vaccines. Willis also referred us to a client of his that could help give us first-hand experience of Willis' impact in the community as well as a testimony of the obstacles of inequity that exist with respect to vaccine access. I am so happy that Sweta and I were able to have this conversation. 

Next, we have an interview with a research assistant at Cleveland Community Solutions: Taneisha Fair. Taneisha Fair helped write a blog on vaccine hesitancy (linked here) discussing reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Here are some visuals from the article that I found interesting:




Taneisha also has a lot of knowledge and a great perspective about COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, inequity, and disparity within the Cleveland community. She has also given us a lot of other resources to read and consider in our completion of this project. She is also extremely friendly so I am very excited to speak with her on Thursday. We have a few other interviews planned so stay tuned!

-Wilson Ha



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