COVID-19's mental health impact – Zack Stoycoff, Dr. Jim Zahniser of Healthy Minds Policy Initiative TulsaPeople Magazine

Welcome to Tulsa Talks presented by Tulsa Regional Chamber. I’m your host Tim Landes.  Tulsa and most of Oklahoma is reopening. For some it’s as if COVID-19 is a thing of the past and they’re ready to move on. 

For others, it’s too soon. They have found safety in their homes and developed a routine. They could be working from home, seeing coworkers faces on a screen. Having virtual hangouts when not building that puzzle that was backordered a couple weeks. Watching Dr. Fauci and reading the news.

Then there are those who are scared. There are those who are alone. We don’t know what future holds and that creates anxiety. Maybe they are one of the 200,000 unemployed Oklahomans. Some who’s business dreams have been abruptly stopped, but the landlord and the bank expects them to keep paying. There are those who had to furlough their employees, who felt like family, without a promise they’d have a job again. 
Some of those folks feel they are being forced to reopen too soon to pay debts while risking lives. Then what if there’s another shutdown or the business fails?
There are those who have lost a loved one to COVID-19. There have been 253 deaths in Oklahoma as of May 6. Any time is a tough time to lose a loved one, but when it's during a pandemic, the normal grieving process is gone.
With a major crisis or disaster comes the quiet tsunami that is the negative mental health impacts on society. 
Zack Stoycoff, Dr. Jim Zahniser and the others at the Tulsa-based Healthy Minds Policy Initiative, examined economic data, emerging national research and historical events to create projections and effects on mental health and addiction in Oklahoma. 
According to their research. It is projected more than 34,000 additional Oklahomans may experience suicidal thoughts and more than 9,400 additional Oklahomans may attempt suicide. If unemployment reaches as high as some experts project, these numbers could be as high as 100,000 and 30,000, respectively.
Healthy Minds projects 14,000 additional Oklahomans may develop a drug use disorder, and an additional 4,500 may develop alcohol use disorder. There could be 260 additional deaths from opioid overdoses.
Childhood mental health needs will increase substantially with as many as 30% of children involved in quarantines may experience post-traumatic stress disorder.
Zack and Dr. Zahniser they reflect on those numbers and how they did the research to make the projections. They share their thoughts on mental health care policies that impact all of us, plus they discuss ways to take care of ourselves without turning to substances and the importance for parents in helping their children navigate the challenges they are facing during the pandemic. 
Following that conversation, I share my interview with Meals on Wheels of Metro Tulsa CEO and President Calvin Moore on how the nonprofit overhauled its system to feed more people. 
 
Let’s get this going. 
This is Tulsa Talks. 
When the COVID-19 pandemic reached Tulsa, for Meals on Wheels it meant most their volunteer base of 2,300 could no longer deliver meals because they too are part of the vulnerable population. So Meals on Wheels got creative and completely revamped their system. They no longer solely focused on feeding the elderly population. They wanted to help make sure everyone got a meal. Meals on Wheels expanded services to the outlying communities as well as Tulsa’s Hispanic population. They found new and important ways to utilize those volunteers. CEO Calvin Moore spoke with me on April 29 about these changes. At TulsaPeople.com, you can read parts of this interview and see photos from a May First meal distribution at Tulsa Dream Center, where volunteers loaded boxes into two lanes of cars that flowed through the parking lot nonstop for hours.