Podcast Episode 17: "Public Health Ain't No Drag: Serving Up Patient Care Realness in Performance Spaces"

Host: Bevin Amira, Deputy Director, NaRCAD

A conversation with Zack Jenio, Program Manager, Mile High Behavioral Health/"Dr." Zacharina Jenny-hoe, Drag Queen

For patients who don't feel safe inside the clinic,
​how can we bring the best of public health outreach to them?

Join us for the tea on how to interweave public health initiatives into artistic spaces where community members feel safe, seen, and understood. Zack Jenio, Program Manager of Mile High Behavioral Health in Denver, Colorado, who also hails as Drag Queen Dr. Zacharina Jenny-hoe, discusses the impact of meeting patient needs by bringing harm reduction, including HIV prevention tools and naloxone, to performance spaces.

We also discuss challenges queer patients face in primary care clinics where trust can be unintentionally eroded by stigma; the allure of drag as a celebration of femininity and glamour; and the ways that clinicians can start thinking creatively about patient needs, identity, and access to care--OUTSIDE of the traditional healthcare space. 

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Click here for the audio transcription.

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"It liberates you as a person to be able to learn more and be open to learning more.
​And I think that's the first part. The second part is, and it's something that I always talk about with harm reduction principles: providing resources and care in a non-judgmental, noncoercive way is what's so important."
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-Zack Jenio/Zacharina Jenny-hoe
Mile High Behavioral Health

Biography.
F. Zack Jenio (any pronouns)
Program Manager, Mile High Behavioral Healthcare
Zack Jenio is the Program Manager for Bee the Vibe, a harm reduction program of Mile High Behavioral Healthcare in Denver, CO. His work in harm reduction lies at the intersection of safer-sex/safer-drug use and Queer communities, ensuring that LGBTQ+ people have access to resources and education to live safer lives. Zack also works as a local drag queen in Denver as Dr. Zackarina Jenny-hoe (not a doctor) in order to bring his harm reduction advocacy into the LGBTQ+ community through the camp and glamour of drag. She organizes and hosts drag events where audiences can get naloxone or STI testing and watch a fun show. She also trains other local Colorado drag artists in prevention principles to create a health advocate network of Queer harm reductionists!

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