How a day at the office for Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha changed the city of Flint | Women of the Century — Transcript

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1. 0:04Our first sports storyteller for tonight
2. 0:06is Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha.
3. 0:09Mona has a story about a day at the
4. 0:11office that changed a whole city.
5. 0:19Thank you, Felana, and thank you for
6. 0:21this opportunity to share my story.
7. 0:24We can probably all think of those
8. 0:25moments in our lives that have shaped us
9. 0:27and defined us.
10. 0:29They have changed our world view and set
11. 0:31us on our current path.
12. 0:33For me, one of those moments was when I
13. 0:35was just 10 or 11 years old.
14. 0:38My family and I were recent immigrants
15. 0:40to this country, and my parents were
16. 0:42always desperate for any news from back
17. 0:44home.
18. 0:45And I remember sitting one night with my
19. 0:47father, and I can still smell the
20. 0:49cigarette smoke and hear the constant
21. 0:51static of the shortwave wave radio. My
22. 0:54dad was always tuning the knobs hoping
23. 0:56to pick up something, anything, about
24. 0:59what was happening in Iraq.
25. 1:02Although my parents knew firsthand of
26. 1:04the atrocities of Saddam Hussein,
27. 1:07the world had yet to learn his name.
28. 1:10Leafing through a newspaper, my father
29. 1:12then turned to me and shared a
30. 1:14photograph.
31. 1:15It was a picture of a beautiful chubby
32. 1:17baby girl wrapped in a pink blanket
33. 1:20lying on the ground with her father.
34. 1:23They had died in each other's arms.
35. 1:27My parents explained to me that it was a
36. 1:28chemical weapons attack in Halabja, a
37. 1:31Kurdish village in northern Iraq.
38. 1:345,000 people died that day. An entire
39. 1:37city was poisoned
40. 1:40by its own government.
41. 1:42I have never forgotten that moment, and
42. 1:44I never will.
43. 1:46That's when I learned that leaders could
44. 1:48be dangerous, especially towards certain
45. 1:50populations.
46. 1:52And that's when I learned to stay
47. 1:54vigilant against injustice.
48. 1:57But I was an American now, and it was
49. 1:59going to be different. I woke up
50. 2:01literally every day grateful to be in
51. 2:04this country,
52. 2:05and as such committed myself to service,
53. 2:08to medicine,
54. 2:09and to the most vulnerable among us.
55. 2:12I was largely raised in Michigan
56. 2:14and ended up in Flint for my medical
57. 2:16training over 20 years ago.
58. 2:18And you may think of Flint now as that
59. 2:20city with brown water coming out of
60. 2:22their kitchen taps. Do you guys remember
61. 2:24those pictures?
62. 2:26But before the water crisis, Flint was
63. 2:28famously known as the birthplace of cars
64. 2:31and the middle class.
65. 2:33And also for what followed, like in so
66. 2:35many of our cities, disinvestment,
67. 2:37unemployment, poverty, racism, greed,
68. 2:40neglect, and indifference.
69. 2:43Decades of man-made crises.
70. 2:46And that left Flint in a near bankrupt
71. 2:48state.
72. 2:50And if you remember, Flint's democracy
73. 2:52was taken away, and the city became
74. 2:54under the control of unelected emergency
75. 2:57managers.
76. 2:58And they decided that one way to save
77. 3:00money would be to change our water
78. 3:02source from the Great Lakes to the Flint
79. 3:04River.
80. 3:06So in April of 2014, our former mayor
81. 3:08went on TV, pressed a button,
82. 3:11and then surrounded by a bunch of other
83. 3:13men in suits, they raised their glasses
84. 3:16full of Flint water.
85. 3:19As you know, that toast did not herald
86. 3:21good tidings.
87. 3:23The Flint River water was missing an
88. 3:25important ingredient called corrosion
89. 3:28control.
90. 3:29And it was so corrosive that within a
91. 3:31few months, General Motors noticed its
92. 3:34engine parts corroding, and the company
93. 3:36was allowed to switch back to Great
94. 3:38Lakes water.
95. 3:40And I'm going to say that again because
96. 3:41every time I say it, I can't believe it.
97. 3:43Our drinking water was corroding engine
98. 3:46parts.
99. 3:48Yet the people of Flint who knew
100. 3:49something was wrong were told to relax,
101. 3:52that everything was in compliance.
102. 3:55During this time, when all this was
103. 3:57happening, I was wrapped up in my world
104. 3:59as a pediatrician, a busy mom, a wife,
105. 4:01juggling so many balls in the air, just
106. 4:03like so many of you do.
107. 4:05And I remember one day in clinic
108. 4:07when little Nakala came in for her
109. 4:094-month checkup, and I'll never forget
110. 4:11this day.
111. 4:12After listening to her heart and her
112. 4:13lungs and peeking into her tiny ears and
113. 4:16sneaking a smile and a babble,
114. 4:18Nakala's mother shared that she was
115. 4:20going to start formula feeding.
116. 4:23And you make formula by mixing powder
117. 4:24with water.
118. 4:26And then,
119. 4:27with a look in her eyes that I see in
120. 4:29the eyes of all parents who are worried
121. 4:30about their kids,
122. 4:32she asked, "Is the water safe?"
123. 4:35Reflexively, I said, "Of course the
124. 4:37water is safe. How could our water not
125. 4:39be safe?" I thought to myself, "We are
126. 4:42in America. This is the richest country
127. 4:45in the history of the world. It's the
128. 4:4621st century. It's Michigan. We are
129. 4:49literally surrounded by the Great Lakes,
130. 4:52the largest source of fresh water in the
131. 4:54world."
132. 4:56But despite all that, there is rules and
133. 4:58regulations and people, experts and
134. 5:00scientists, who wake up every day to
135. 5:02make sure that when I turn on my tap and
136. 5:04when you turn on your tap, that the
137. 5:05water is safe to drink.
138. 5:08I thought,
139. 5:09but I was wrong.
140. 5:11The water wasn't safe, and by now you
141. 5:14all know about the Flint water crisis.
142. 5:16It's hard to believe, but it's a story
143. 5:17that happened here in one of our great
144. 5:20American cities.
145. 5:22I stopped reassuring my patients when I
146. 5:24heard about the possibility of lead in
147. 5:26our water.
148. 5:27That is when my life changed.
149. 5:30As a pediatrician, I know, and and most
150. 5:32of you know, that that lead is a poison.
151. 5:35It erodes cognition. It twists behavior.
152. 5:38It changes who you are and who you may
153. 5:40become. There is no safe level.
154. 5:44The corrosive water was eating away at
155. 5:46our lead pipes.
156. 5:48And knowing there was lead in our water,
157. 5:50filling baby bottles and sippy cups, ate
158. 5:53away at me, too.
159. 5:55I literally stopped eating. I lost about
160. 5:5730 lb. I couldn't sleep. I drank way too
161. 6:00much coffee.
162. 6:02I was feeling anger and fear and despair
163. 6:04and guilt and heartache, a roller
164. 6:06coaster of emotions.
165. 6:08And I knew that it was not only my
166. 6:10professional obligation as a doctor,
167. 6:13but my moral and ethical duty, my civic
168. 6:15responsibility to do something.
169. 6:18That's how my parents raised me,
170. 6:21to never look away,
171. 6:22to do the right thing,
172. 6:24even if it is the hard thing.
173. 6:26Working around the clock, I analyzed our
174. 6:28hospital medical records to find what I
175. 6:31honestly didn't want to find, that yes,
176. 6:34there was more lead in the blood of our
177. 6:36children.
178. 6:38So armed with that research, I walked
179. 6:40out of my clinic with my white coat on
180. 6:42and stood up at a press conference
181. 6:44sharing that our children were in harm's
182. 6:46way.
183. 6:47And let let me tell you, this is not
184. 6:49something that doctors or scientists
185. 6:51usually do.
186. 6:52And I was pretty sure that everybody
187. 6:54could hear my heart pounding through the
188. 6:56microphone.
189. 6:58I was sharing science and facts,
190. 7:01but I was attacked, dismissed, and
191. 7:03discredited.
192. 7:05Can you imagine being in the middle of a
193. 7:08public health crisis
194. 7:10and ignoring science and the public's
195. 7:12health?
196. 7:14Multiple state officials said I was
197. 7:16wrong, unfortunate, and even hysterical.
198. 7:20I felt defeated and so unbelievably
199. 7:22small.
200. 7:24And for a quick minute, I began to doubt
201. 7:26myself. I started to believe them.
202. 7:29But I also believed in my Flint kids,
203. 7:31like Nakala.
204. 7:33It took a while, but finally
205. 7:35persistence, teamwork, and science
206. 7:38spoke truth to power and helped expose
207. 7:41our disaster.
208. 7:43I can't go into the details of what the
209. 7:45impact of the water crisis and lead
210. 7:47exposure will have on every child
211. 7:49because it will be different for every
212. 7:51kid.
213. 7:52But with the same speed and urgency that
214. 7:55drove the uncovering of the crisis,
215. 7:58it has continued in our recovery.
216. 8:01The damaged pipes are being replaced.
217. 8:02That will be done this year, which is
218. 8:04amazing.
219. 8:06And as for the kids, when I realized
220. 8:08that there was no magic
221. 8:11pill that I could prescribe to take
222. 8:14I went back to the science of what kids
223. 8:16need to be healthy.
224. 8:18So now in Flint, we have things like
225. 8:20expanded health care access and home
226. 8:22delivery of children's books, new child
227. 8:24care centers, school health services,
228. 8:26food prescriptions, trauma-informed
229. 8:28care, living wage to recovery jobs, and
230. 8:32so much more.
231. 8:33But we still have a lot of work ahead of
232. 8:35us.
233. 8:37But you know,
234. 8:38that made me realize that these awesome
235. 8:40things that we are doing in Flint
236. 8:43are the things that all kids need to be
237. 8:45healthy.
238. 8:47Yet across this country, too many of our
239. 8:50children wake up to similar nightmares,
240. 8:53growing up in places poisoned by
241. 8:56inequities,
242. 8:58as if their lives don't matter.
243. 9:01But it doesn't have to be this way, and
244. 9:03that has been the most powerful ripple
245. 9:06effect of my story.
246. 9:08Turning a moment into a movement,
247. 9:11creating a playbook of resistance and
248. 9:13hope,
249. 9:14and demanding that we build a place
250. 9:17where the dreams of all of our children
251. 9:21really do come true.
252. 9:24Thank you.
253. 9:26Thank you so much, Mona, for your story
254. 9:30and for your work and service of Flint's
255. 9:31children, and now your leadership on
256. 9:33behalf of all children.
257. 9:35Thank you.
258. 9:37Thank you. We so appreciate your story.
259. 9:38Mona's story really models civic
260. 9:40leadership at a grassroots level, and
261. 9:43Hey, thanks for watching. If you like
262. 9:45this video, check out these other videos
263. 9:47from USA Today to stay up-to-date with
264. 9:49all the latest news.