Marshall Islands - Secretary of Health Jack Niedenthal

Conversations about the Islands: the U.S. Territories and the Freely Associated States.

Join us in this conversation series to learn more about the islands - the people, the work,  reminiscences, and what lies ahead. What do you know about islands? Let's have some conversations and learn together.

In this conversation we have the pleasure to converse with Jack Niedenthal, Secretary of Health for the Republic of the Marshall Islands. He discusses how the Marshall Islands has been battling dengue and now prepping for COVID-19. He tells of the pressure being one of the first to close their borders, the challenges for those stranded overseas, repatriation, vaccination efforts door-to-door and more!

There's more to islands ...

Hosted by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) Deputy Policy Director and Communications Lead Tanya Harris Joshua, this conversation series highlights people and issues of importance to the U.S. territories and the freely associated states.

This audio-recorded conversation is derived from the OIA Conversations series available on YouTube and is provided as a public service to bring more awareness and information about the Office of Insular Affairs and the insular areas with which it works and the programs in the insular areas to which it provides funding. These conversations do not meet requirements for financial reporting nor are they endorsed by the U.S. Department of the Interior or the Office of Insular Affairs.

OIA Conversation Series  |  #WhatWeDoIslands  |  www.doi.gov/oia  |  @InsularAffairs

Transcript

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hi my name is tanya joshua

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i'm the deputy director of policy at the

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office of insular affairs in the us

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department of the interior

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thank you for joining us today for

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another episode of oia conversations

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where we speak with leaders and

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officials

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to learn more about programs and issues

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that are important and relevant to the

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us territories

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and the freely associated states the

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marshall islands remains one of the few

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areas in the world without cases of

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covet 19

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and its borders have been closed to

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travel since march of last year

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today we are speaking with the secretary

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of health for the republic of marshall

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islands

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mr jack niedenthal Iakwe 

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secretary

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thank you for joining us on you thank

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you for having me today

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um so please maybe could you start by

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telling us give

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paint a picture for us please uh what

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has been happening in the marshall

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islands

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uh since the beginning of of the the

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pandemic

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well it's quite a picture to paint one

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thing people have to understand about

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the marshall islands right now with

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regard to health

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is we've been in a state of health

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emergency for 20 almost 20 months

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we had an issue in august of 2019 when

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we had an outbreak a very serious

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outbreak of dengue fever

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dengue fever when you only have one case

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it's considered

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an outbreak and this happened in august

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of 19 uh 2019

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started on ebay came to madro we

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declared a state of health emergency

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and it was brutal we had to date

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over 4 400 cases and those are cases

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that are reported dengue fever has a 70

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asymptomatic rate where nobody gets

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symptoms so we probably had over 10 000

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cases

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and it was very scary our hospital was

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packed

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um at one point we were having over 200

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cases a week

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and this was went right into the end of

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the year of december

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and out here in the marshalls we have

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christmas time and people practice their

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dances and everything so

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by the time we hit january of 2020

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um it was the worst part of the uh the

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outbreak

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and during that time the other thing

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people have to understand about what was

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going on here with regard to health

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this was at a time when there was flu

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season so we kept having outbreaks of

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flu which presents in

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much the same manner as dengue fever did

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so we really had our work cut out for us

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and so we had two

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two flu outbreaks during that time and

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if you remember also

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late in 2019 there was a

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huge outbreak of measles that swept

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throughout the pacific it killed 82

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people in samoa

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most of those little kids so in early

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early december

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we closed our borders you could not come

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in here if you did not show

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evidence that you either had measles or

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you've been had two uh

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doses of uh the vaccine for measles

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and that went right through to march so

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before before covet even hit you were

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already battling

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um disease and and working that way yeah

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and dengue fever is a very serious

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disease because when somebody gets that

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you have to monitor

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the platelets of the the patient every

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hour so our

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hospital was packed and the amazing

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thing was

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we were now down to zero or one case a

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week we're almost done with it

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but we're still fighting it um it's a

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dangerous disease

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and i can still remember late in 2019

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we had our first death it was a little

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11 to 12 year old girl

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and i can tell you that when we had the

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meeting that day after that happened uh

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everybody was in tears

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even just one death it was a horrible

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thing for us

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and we became really determined not to

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let that happen again

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the statistics statistically when you

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look at dengue fever it has

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there's a lot of fatalities and even

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though we had somewhere around 10

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000 cases if you count the asymptomatic

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cases we only had a total

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of two unfortunate deaths and that's a

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real

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big tribute to the people i work with

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really incredible people

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um i'm really impressed um but but

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going into january we were really

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struggling

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and all of a sudden we started hearing

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about this

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outbreak in muhan and we became really

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concerned about that

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and as we moved into february and it was

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spreading very quickly we were putting

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countries we were

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issuing travel advisories and putting

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countries on our list every

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couple of days at one point um when in

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the beginning it was like italy and

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of course china and japan and uh

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iran in the beginning and so we were as

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soon as we saw community spread in the

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country we put it on a travel advisory

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and that became really critical for us

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and it became

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people were really what are you doing

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this for you're blocking these people

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from coming even here people

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really upset with us and then in

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early march we had our first what's

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called a person

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under investigation of pui this person

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had come from the u.s

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washington state where you had that

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first initial breakout in the u.s

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and he presented at the hospital with

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all the symptoms

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and we immediately went into this

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massive panic

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we were because we had been being told

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by cdc and who

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it's coming next week you are going to

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get this your planes are coming in and

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out you are going to get this disease

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you have to be ready we had no testing

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capability we had

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nothing and we're seeing this thing this

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disease

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spread from a couple of countries to a

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hundred countries in a very short amount

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of time

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and we were terrified so when we got

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this initial person

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who presented and we went through

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just a terrifying experience isolating

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them

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we only have one isolation unit at the

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time

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so we isolated that person and

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when it turned out he was negative we

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just said okay we're not going to

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deal with this anymore we're closing the

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border it was a very drastic measure

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nobody else had done this people had

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talked about it

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but we did it we were one of the first

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in the pacific may have been

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the first and we closed their border

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really people were really criticizing us

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i came into lunch one day and one of my

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american friends said how does it feel

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to be the most hated person in madrid

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i mean that's what it was like for me as

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secretary of health even though

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i was acting on a lot of advice from my

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medical personnel here my public health

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health personnel who are tremendous

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you had an airplane a united air flight

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that i think you even blocked

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at one right that was a uh big

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controversy too um but uh yeah

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before that we had that happen and we

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stood out there at the airport just said

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you're not getting off no one's getting

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off that plane and even coming into our

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lounge

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um and united airlines was really upset

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with us

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but we had a country to protect and

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quite frankly i didn't care about

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what anyone thought about could you tell

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me

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um what would have happened if you what

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what would you what did you think would

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have happened if

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if you did not close the borders and you

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you did get a positive case how would

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how would you have handled it well that

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was the problem at the time a lot of

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times

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these days we built all these facilities

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now we have an eight person

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i icu unit now with ventilators and

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everything else we've really beefed up

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our hospital both here on evite

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but we just had no testing capability we

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had no way of knowing if that disease

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was coming

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and uh it was quite scary because we

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weren't sure what to do nobody knew what

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to do everybody the whole world was in a

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panic at that time

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and i can tell you that even who was

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telling us when we closed the border

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that

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border closures don't work they said

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that more than once

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and thank god i as secretary i just

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listened to my own people they said we

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don't care about what people are saying

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let's just do it

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so in the beginning it was very

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controversial but within two weeks

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all of a sudden a lot of the other

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pacific countries saw what we were doing

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and they just said we're doing that too

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because it's an island and you have that

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advantage

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and so our public health team worked up

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a bunch of protocols

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and things we we had shipping courts

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with one of the busiest shipping courts

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in the northern pacific maybe in all of

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the pacific

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we have a huge ship registry so we we

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uh a lot of fishing goes on here so we

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had to deal with airports and seaports

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and

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it became quite intense because a lot of

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people didn't like it it was

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economically it was hard for us because

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we depend on that

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but we figured if the cola got in here

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for us it would be worse

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economically than if it did and so you

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right now there are no flights still

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coming into the madro as well as ships

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it's it's all shut down

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is that the currency we have ships

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but no one can get off of them like for

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example

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uh our container ships come there's no

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human to human contact they offload the

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containers

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some of fishing is stilling uh going on

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in the region

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we have one flight a week for a month

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from united where we're bringing in

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people and a repatriation effort

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it's very strict it's uh two weeks in

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honolulu where

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you get tested twice um once before you

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get in

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and actually twice when you are in so

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you're actually tested three times

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including an

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antibody test it's very strict it's

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single key entry

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uh into the room you can't leave the

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room they bring you your fruit and leave

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it at your doorstep and then leave again

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and then you come into our kwajalein

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military base

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um here in the marshalls and we spend

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another three weeks

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again very strict quarantine my wife's

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up there in kwajalein right now in

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quarantine i haven't seen her in a year

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she's been stuck in oregon

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um so um it's and that that's the only

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to me it's one of the biggest um

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downfall the heart the biggest

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hardship for us is a lot of our family

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members are stuck outside the marshals

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we allow 40 people in a month at this

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point

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on united but again by the time you're

0:09:58.240,0:10:02.560

released from quarantine on kwajalein

0:10:00.320,0:10:04.480

you will have been in quarantine for

0:10:02.560,0:10:05.839

five total weeks including the hawaii

0:10:04.480,0:10:09.760

quarantine and you've been tested

0:10:05.839,0:10:11.440

five times so anybody so anybody who's

0:10:09.760,0:10:13.040

anywhere in the us and wants to come

0:10:11.440,0:10:16.160

back home to the marshals comes to

0:10:13.040,0:10:18.800

honolulu for a quarantine where are you

0:10:16.160,0:10:20.480

where are people quarantining in hawaii

0:10:18.800,0:10:22.399

it's a call right now we're using the

0:10:20.480,0:10:24.240

pacific monarch hotel

0:10:22.399,0:10:26.160

a lot of the hotels in hawaii because

0:10:24.240,0:10:28.560

their tourism industry was

0:10:26.160,0:10:30.560

heavily hit they're really happy to use

0:10:28.560,0:10:32.000

their hotels for quarantine because you

0:10:30.560,0:10:34.000

know you have a steady people in there

0:10:32.000,0:10:35.839

for two weeks we take up a lot of rooms

0:10:34.000,0:10:38.560

imagine 40 people

0:10:35.839,0:10:40.880

um so that's how we've been doing it so

0:10:38.560,0:10:42.000

how many people have you repatriated so

0:10:40.880,0:10:44.040

far

0:10:42.000,0:10:45.200

well if you count the us military

0:10:44.040,0:10:49.360

repatriations

0:10:45.200,0:10:52.000

we've repatriated over 700 people

0:10:49.360,0:10:54.000

um the u.s military is coming in once a

0:10:52.000,0:10:55.600

week with about roughly 20 people

0:10:54.000,0:10:57.120

and i just want to say this right off

0:10:55.600,0:11:00.160

the bat that uh

0:10:57.120,0:11:00.880

colonel bartel is a most beloved

0:11:00.160,0:11:02.880

character

0:11:00.880,0:11:05.200

out here in the marshall islands he's

0:11:02.880,0:11:06.800

been really tremendous to work with

0:11:05.200,0:11:09.200

he's helped us set up our that

0:11:06.800,0:11:10.320

quarantine facility on the military base

0:11:09.200,0:11:12.800

up there

0:11:10.320,0:11:14.480

um and anytime we want to change in

0:11:12.800,0:11:15.519

protocols which we've done a couple of

0:11:14.480,0:11:17.120

times he's been

0:11:15.519,0:11:19.040

really cooperative and happy to do

0:11:17.120,0:11:21.440

anything he's very strict with his own

0:11:19.040,0:11:23.040

people just like we're strict with ours

0:11:21.440,0:11:24.800

so it's something that's really worked

0:11:23.040,0:11:26.640

well for everybody and

0:11:24.800,0:11:28.560

uh really really proud of the way that's

0:11:26.640,0:11:30.160

worked out and colonel bartel i think he

0:11:28.560,0:11:32.000

leaves in june it's going to be a sad

0:11:30.160,0:11:34.000

day when he leaves

0:11:32.000,0:11:36.160

i'm very happy to hear that that you

0:11:34.000,0:11:38.079

have that support from kwajalein

0:11:36.160,0:11:40.000

uh and the and the military uh

0:11:38.079,0:11:41.920

commanders there commander

0:11:40.000,0:11:44.000

um can you tell us a little bit more

0:11:41.920,0:11:44.720

about other federal support that you've

0:11:44.000,0:11:47.920

received

0:11:44.720,0:11:50.480

in in these efforts uh

0:11:47.920,0:11:52.800

quite honestly um and again i worked for

0:11:50.480,0:11:56.000

bikini for 33 years and so

0:11:52.800,0:11:57.279

i was a little bit of an antagonist

0:11:56.000,0:11:59.040

in that role because we were

0:11:57.279,0:12:01.120

representing the bikinians and what

0:11:59.040,0:12:04.160

happened during the nuclear testing

0:12:01.120,0:12:05.680

so when i compliment the u.s

0:12:04.160,0:12:08.399

it's more than just when anybody would

0:12:05.680,0:12:10.240

do it because i spent most of my life

0:12:08.399,0:12:11.680

actually in very good relationships with

0:12:10.240,0:12:12.560

people in the u.s government and

0:12:11.680,0:12:14.320

congress and

0:12:12.560,0:12:16.560

you know a lot of lobbying effort we

0:12:14.320,0:12:18.800

were always very cordial and

0:12:16.560,0:12:21.360

very nice but it was still you were

0:12:18.800,0:12:24.240

trying to rectify it wrong

0:12:21.360,0:12:25.760

but uh i can say unequivocally that the

0:12:24.240,0:12:27.760

united states

0:12:25.760,0:12:30.399

uh what they've done for the region uh

0:12:27.760,0:12:33.680

the federated states of micronesia

0:12:30.399,0:12:36.639

and uh also palau has been tremendous

0:12:33.680,0:12:38.560

we had testing in april they got us we

0:12:36.639,0:12:41.519

have we've had now 54

0:12:38.560,0:12:42.800

55 u.s api calls we do it every week we

0:12:41.519,0:12:46.240

had one yesterday

0:12:42.800,0:12:47.680

uh dr thane dr brostrom uh from cdc

0:12:46.240,0:12:48.399

getting on those calls a lot of people

0:12:47.680,0:12:51.440

from like

0:12:48.399,0:12:53.040

yesterday fema was on there they got us

0:12:51.440,0:12:57.440

testing in april

0:12:53.040,0:12:59.600

and uh we were uh doing a lot of testing

0:12:57.440,0:13:02.480

and i look at the united states my i

0:12:59.600,0:13:04.959

know we had so many martiales in the us

0:13:02.480,0:13:07.279

that just got hammered our communities

0:13:04.959,0:13:10.079

in arkansas a lot of deaths

0:13:07.279,0:13:11.760

my wife was in oregon we saw koba just

0:13:10.079,0:13:12.160

ripped through the apartment complexes

0:13:11.760,0:13:14.800

there

0:13:12.160,0:13:16.320

and we had a really close relative die

0:13:14.800,0:13:17.839

and almost every anyone in the marshall

0:13:16.320,0:13:19.519

islands now can tell you a story of

0:13:17.839,0:13:21.920

someone who's died in the u.s

0:13:19.519,0:13:23.839

from this disease the pacific islanders

0:13:21.920,0:13:26.000

marshallese were

0:13:23.839,0:13:28.079

much harder hit than most other

0:13:26.000,0:13:31.360

communities in the us by huge amount

0:13:28.079,0:13:33.680

margin so we knew this was a really

0:13:31.360,0:13:35.519

bad disease for us and that's one of the

0:13:33.680,0:13:37.279

things that drove us to close it off so

0:13:35.519,0:13:39.920

the us gave us the testing

0:13:37.279,0:13:41.680

right away which was huge because now we

0:13:39.920,0:13:42.480

didn't have to wait for a week if we had

0:13:41.680,0:13:44.320

someone who was

0:13:42.480,0:13:45.680

uh suspicious of maybe having the

0:13:44.320,0:13:46.880

disease even though we had closed the

0:13:45.680,0:13:49.199

borders

0:13:46.880,0:13:50.959

that gave us everything we needed and

0:13:49.199,0:13:53.519

when we got on those calls

0:13:50.959,0:13:54.480

um together with uh secretary well now

0:13:53.519,0:13:56.079

uh secretary

0:13:54.480,0:13:58.079

livingston died this week uh the

0:13:56.079,0:14:00.480

secretary of health for the fsm and

0:13:58.079,0:14:01.760

uh deputy uh gaffar from palau every

0:14:00.480,0:14:03.440

week we would get on and we would

0:14:01.760,0:14:05.519

mention about the testing

0:14:03.440,0:14:08.000

and the us really came through and the

0:14:05.519,0:14:10.480

same thing happened with the vaccines

0:14:08.000,0:14:11.279

we have had such a tremendous start

0:14:10.480,0:14:12.959

we're

0:14:11.279,0:14:14.560

we're one of the best in the pacific

0:14:12.959,0:14:16.560

right now according to cdc

0:14:14.560,0:14:18.639

reports yesterday i know uh the

0:14:16.560,0:14:20.720

marshalls is pretty near the top and

0:14:18.639,0:14:22.959

the rest of the micronesia we're far

0:14:20.720,0:14:26.480

ahead of the rest of the world really

0:14:22.959,0:14:29.440

um we've done

0:14:26.480,0:14:31.040

a good portion of our most vulnerable

0:14:29.440,0:14:32.880

people already

0:14:31.040,0:14:34.639

so we're really happy about the us have

0:14:32.880,0:14:35.040

gotten us those vaccines we're doing

0:14:34.639,0:14:38.720

them on

0:14:35.040,0:14:39.600

moderna vaccine um so uh it's just been

0:14:38.720,0:14:42.240

a really

0:14:39.600,0:14:42.880

the u.s has been incredibly supportive i

0:14:42.240,0:14:44.959

have to

0:14:42.880,0:14:46.800

give kudos to my own department and my

0:14:44.959,0:14:47.920

own leadership for helping with uh

0:14:46.800,0:14:51.440

making sure that

0:14:47.920,0:14:52.560

uh testing kits uh came through to you

0:14:51.440,0:14:54.720

and i know that we

0:14:52.560,0:14:56.639

uh interior worked with uh works closely

0:14:54.720,0:14:58.240

with cdc and and pahoa

0:14:56.639,0:15:00.399

the pacific island health officers

0:14:58.240,0:15:02.480

association and um

0:15:00.399,0:15:03.519

that was actually you know when you shut

0:15:02.480,0:15:05.360

down the borders

0:15:03.519,0:15:08.000

i mean because previously you were

0:15:05.360,0:15:10.240

sending all your tests back to atlanta

0:15:08.000,0:15:12.480

so that was just perfect that now you

0:15:10.240,0:15:16.160

can everybody all the islands can test

0:15:12.480,0:15:18.399

locally right right

0:15:16.160,0:15:19.760

and one of the most critical aspects of

0:15:18.399,0:15:21.279

uh when i look

0:15:19.760,0:15:22.880

look at this now you know i don't know

0:15:21.279,0:15:24.880

what's going to happen tomorrow

0:15:22.880,0:15:26.320

but i think someday when we look back at

0:15:24.880,0:15:27.839

history and

0:15:26.320,0:15:29.519

what's happened in the world and

0:15:27.839,0:15:32.000

especially in this region this is going

0:15:29.519,0:15:33.759

to be known as micronesia's finest hour

0:15:32.000,0:15:36.160

i'm really proud of the people i work

0:15:33.759,0:15:38.720

with because the way we succeeded

0:15:36.160,0:15:40.160

is cooperation and i know in the united

0:15:38.720,0:15:40.800

states you've had a lot of issues with

0:15:40.160,0:15:43.279

that

0:15:40.800,0:15:45.040

but out here it was top down we had

0:15:43.279,0:15:48.240

president we had the cabinet

0:15:45.040,0:15:49.920

we had the president kabua our minister

0:15:48.240,0:15:51.920

of health bruce billingman has been

0:15:49.920,0:15:54.399

fantastic during this time

0:15:51.920,0:15:56.240

and we have the national disaster

0:15:54.399,0:15:57.759

committee headed by chief secretary

0:15:56.240,0:16:00.959

kennel kabula

0:15:57.759,0:16:03.680

we we don't always agree but

0:16:00.959,0:16:05.680

we've made some really just outstanding

0:16:03.680,0:16:07.680

decisions and it involved

0:16:05.680,0:16:09.600

all even now with the vaccine rollout

0:16:07.680,0:16:10.399

when we when we opened up for that

0:16:09.600,0:16:12.880

vaccine

0:16:10.399,0:16:14.079

the very first day on december 29th when

0:16:12.880,0:16:16.399

we got those vaccines

0:16:14.079,0:16:18.959

the day we got the vaccines is the day

0:16:16.399,0:16:21.839

we rolled it out that's how fast we went

0:16:18.959,0:16:22.800

and we had um minister bruce uh our

0:16:21.839,0:16:24.880

minister

0:16:22.800,0:16:26.079

we had the chief justice of high court

0:16:24.880,0:16:28.560

carl engram

0:16:26.079,0:16:30.639

we had uh the leader of the traditional

0:16:28.560,0:16:32.639

community uh kotak loyak

0:16:30.639,0:16:33.920

we had uh reverend johnny from the

0:16:32.639,0:16:35.839

religious community

0:16:33.920,0:16:37.199

and then we had myself and a bunch of

0:16:35.839,0:16:39.600

doctors and and

0:16:37.199,0:16:40.560

our public health nurses our dr frank dr

0:16:39.600,0:16:43.519

robert

0:16:40.560,0:16:44.399

um and we just did this big ceremony

0:16:43.519,0:16:46.959

saying

0:16:44.399,0:16:48.560

we're doing this vaccine um because you

0:16:46.959,0:16:50.320

know there's a lot of things on facebook

0:16:48.560,0:16:51.680

and a lot of misinformation out there

0:16:50.320,0:16:53.600

about the vaccine

0:16:51.680,0:16:55.680

so we decided to have a big roll out

0:16:53.600,0:16:58.079

they did the same thing on ebuy

0:16:55.680,0:16:59.199

so we made it very prominent we had

0:16:58.079,0:17:00.720

facebook tv

0:16:59.199,0:17:02.240

i guess you would call it you know live

0:17:00.720,0:17:05.839

broadcast we had

0:17:02.240,0:17:07.679

national radio and so we we i felt as

0:17:05.839,0:17:09.760

secretary of health if i'm asking

0:17:07.679,0:17:11.039

everybody else to get the vaccine well

0:17:09.760,0:17:13.600

then i better go

0:17:11.039,0:17:15.439

you know at the beginning and uh that

0:17:13.600,0:17:17.039

turned out to be a really good decision

0:17:15.439,0:17:19.760

because we've been

0:17:17.039,0:17:21.360

um we're now going door to door

0:17:19.760,0:17:23.039

throughout our communities here i don't

0:17:21.360,0:17:25.679

think anyone else is doing that

0:17:23.039,0:17:28.000

if you're 18 and above i know in the u.s

0:17:25.679,0:17:29.840

my mother's 86 she's in pennsylvania she

0:17:28.000,0:17:31.760

still can't get a vaccine

0:17:29.840,0:17:33.120

and what we're doing is door-to-door if

0:17:31.760,0:17:35.520

you're 18 and above

0:17:33.120,0:17:37.840

we've and you want a vaccine you can get

0:17:35.520,0:17:39.840

it you can walk into our clinic today if

0:17:37.840,0:17:41.039

you want to if you're 18 and above and

0:17:39.840,0:17:44.320

get a vaccine

0:17:41.039,0:17:46.000

we're already moving into second doses

0:17:44.320,0:17:47.600

fantastic what percentage of your

0:17:46.000,0:17:50.080

population has

0:17:47.600,0:17:51.919

has received the first dose and and how

0:17:50.080,0:17:54.080

much further do you need to go

0:17:51.919,0:17:55.280

well the first dose worried about we're

0:17:54.080,0:17:56.799

over 8 000

0:17:55.280,0:17:59.600

and that doesn't count yesterday we're

0:17:56.799,0:18:01.280

doing uh anywhere from 300 to 500 people

0:17:59.600,0:18:03.320

a day going door to door it may not

0:18:01.280,0:18:07.039

sound like a lot in your

0:18:03.320,0:18:08.160

330 million people in the u.s but for us

0:18:07.039,0:18:10.320

that's a lot we have

0:18:08.160,0:18:11.200

about 26 000 in our community here in

0:18:10.320,0:18:13.919

madrid

0:18:11.200,0:18:15.679

and we've adding ebuy and here we've

0:18:13.919,0:18:17.679

done about 8 000

0:18:15.679,0:18:19.520

and already we have about i would say

0:18:17.679,0:18:20.960

close to 2 000 people have already got

0:18:19.520,0:18:22.880

the second dose i've already had my

0:18:20.960,0:18:25.520

second dose for three weeks

0:18:22.880,0:18:27.600

so you're about 25 of the way roughly at

0:18:25.520,0:18:29.679

least for initial shots

0:18:27.600,0:18:30.640

and every day we're doing it six days a

0:18:29.679,0:18:34.000

week door-to-door

0:18:30.640,0:18:34.720

i just wanted to say that um your

0:18:34.000,0:18:36.640

efforts

0:18:34.720,0:18:38.240

in the marshall islands i remember

0:18:36.640,0:18:41.280

hearing at a meeting

0:18:38.240,0:18:43.600

how uh impressed the cdc was with

0:18:41.280,0:18:45.200

how you were handling dengue and it

0:18:43.600,0:18:47.919

sounds like a lot of those

0:18:45.200,0:18:48.720

same practices you're doing the same

0:18:47.919,0:18:50.480

with kovid

0:18:48.720,0:18:51.760

there's 600 people in the ministry

0:18:50.480,0:18:53.600

health here and i've been

0:18:51.760,0:18:56.880

i've been the secretary of health for a

0:18:53.600,0:18:59.360

little over two years uh

0:18:56.880,0:19:00.960

i have not missed a day for either

0:18:59.360,0:19:03.120

illness or vacation

0:19:00.960,0:19:04.320

we have not been able to take days off

0:19:03.120,0:19:07.280

it's every day you

0:19:04.320,0:19:10.000

it honestly it's been like uh 20 months

0:19:07.280,0:19:12.000

in a foxhole with 600 people

0:19:10.000,0:19:14.000

and it's and we call ourselves when we

0:19:12.000,0:19:14.720

talk about each other in meetings and we

0:19:14.000,0:19:18.000

talk

0:19:14.720,0:19:19.039

it's not teamwork it's not a ministry we

0:19:18.000,0:19:21.760

talk about being

0:19:19.039,0:19:23.280

a big family and our approach that

0:19:21.760,0:19:24.080

really helps in our approach because

0:19:23.280,0:19:25.840

when you're

0:19:24.080,0:19:27.120

when you're approaching it as a family

0:19:25.840,0:19:29.120

and that's really the way it is

0:19:27.120,0:19:30.400

out here in the marshalls i have five

0:19:29.120,0:19:32.080

kids and five

0:19:30.400,0:19:34.160

grandkids so i've got all these

0:19:32.080,0:19:36.000

connections into the community no

0:19:34.160,0:19:38.320

people don't look at me as jack the

0:19:36.000,0:19:38.960

american you know ex-american i have

0:19:38.320,0:19:40.559

both

0:19:38.960,0:19:42.240

citizenships that it's just you know

0:19:40.559,0:19:44.640

secretary jack

0:19:42.240,0:19:47.039

and we have uh i work with these i have

0:19:44.640,0:19:49.679

deputy secretaries uh both women uh

0:19:47.039,0:19:51.919

deputy secretary myleen is our

0:19:49.679,0:19:53.520

deputy secretary for public health she's

0:19:51.919,0:19:54.000

led a tremendous effort she was one of

0:19:53.520,0:19:56.320

my

0:19:54.000,0:19:58.080

biggest advisors in the beginning she

0:19:56.320,0:19:59.919

was one of the people along with dr aina

0:19:58.080,0:20:01.280

that were pushing pushing pushing to

0:19:59.919,0:20:04.080

close this border

0:20:01.280,0:20:04.799

and we have uh deputy secretary matu who

0:20:04.080,0:20:06.960

runs our

0:20:04.799,0:20:09.120

planning division and is one of the best

0:20:06.960,0:20:11.039

bureaucrats i've ever been around so

0:20:09.120,0:20:13.039

i'm certain and we have a dr frank

0:20:11.039,0:20:15.120

underwood who's been our public health

0:20:13.039,0:20:16.480

currently and also dr robert who's our

0:20:15.120,0:20:19.120

director of health

0:20:16.480,0:20:20.320

i mean our chief of staff and up on ebay

0:20:19.120,0:20:23.039

we have uh our

0:20:20.320,0:20:23.600

assistant secretary gloria and dr nasa

0:20:23.039,0:20:26.159

we have

0:20:23.600,0:20:28.400

tremendous tremendous people it's a very

0:20:26.159,0:20:30.799

international community here

0:20:28.400,0:20:32.400

um and sometimes that runs into issues

0:20:30.799,0:20:34.480

dr frank is from fiji

0:20:32.400,0:20:36.240

we've got a lot of filipino doctors and

0:20:34.480,0:20:38.000

virginia nurses

0:20:36.240,0:20:39.760

but it's when you're fighting a battle

0:20:38.000,0:20:42.480

like this it's

0:20:39.760,0:20:44.159

it's family and i really appreciate all

0:20:42.480,0:20:46.159

these people i've been working with just

0:20:44.159,0:20:47.760

they just really knocked themselves out

0:20:46.159,0:20:49.760

they made me look great but they're the

0:20:47.760,0:20:51.200

ones doing all this work

0:20:49.760,0:20:53.039

i happen to know a couple of the people

0:20:51.200,0:20:54.400

you've mentioned and and uh

0:20:53.039,0:20:57.440

i know you commended them in another

0:20:54.400,0:20:59.200

meeting i was part of and uh

0:20:57.440,0:21:00.480

congratulations to to you and your

0:20:59.200,0:21:02.320

entire team

0:21:00.480,0:21:03.760

um so can you tell me in terms of

0:21:02.320,0:21:06.320

repatriation how many

0:21:03.760,0:21:07.200

uh folks would you estimate still want

0:21:06.320,0:21:10.480

to come home

0:21:07.200,0:21:12.240

and are still waiting um this is

0:21:10.480,0:21:14.320

this is the heart like i've said before

0:21:12.240,0:21:15.520

this is the hardest aspect of the border

0:21:14.320,0:21:18.640

closure

0:21:15.520,0:21:22.159

and most people are are

0:21:18.640,0:21:25.600

very understanding about it um

0:21:22.159,0:21:27.280

but i personally my wife and daughter

0:21:25.600,0:21:28.960

left just before the border closure

0:21:27.280,0:21:30.480

because my daughter had a problem

0:21:28.960,0:21:32.720

pregnancy and

0:21:30.480,0:21:33.840

we just felt she she wanted to leave and

0:21:32.720,0:21:36.720

it's her baby so

0:21:33.840,0:21:38.880

off she went um and then three days

0:21:36.720,0:21:41.520

after they left we closed the border

0:21:38.880,0:21:42.159

wow so they've been living there and

0:21:41.520,0:21:45.360

it's been

0:21:42.159,0:21:45.760

really hard on me especially not we we

0:21:45.360,0:21:48.799

talk

0:21:45.760,0:21:52.080

every single day and still do but

0:21:48.799,0:21:54.799

it's it's it's torture

0:21:52.080,0:21:55.760

and it's it's really hard uh for a lot

0:21:54.799,0:21:57.679

of people

0:21:55.760,0:22:00.000

where every we had a meeting uh

0:21:57.679,0:22:01.760

yesterday uh chief secretary kenno

0:22:00.000,0:22:02.720

really wants to bring back more people

0:22:01.760,0:22:05.520

we're working with

0:22:02.720,0:22:06.080

colonel bartel to try to figure this out

0:22:05.520,0:22:07.679

because

0:22:06.080,0:22:09.440

it's not just a matter of sticking a

0:22:07.679,0:22:10.080

bunch of people in rooms you have to

0:22:09.440,0:22:12.559

have

0:22:10.080,0:22:14.240

the ability to test you know right now

0:22:12.559,0:22:14.880

we're testing 40 people when they come

0:22:14.240,0:22:16.799

in

0:22:14.880,0:22:18.559

imagine 80 people you have to have the

0:22:16.799,0:22:18.960

equipment and the machines to do the

0:22:18.559,0:22:21.039

code

0:22:18.960,0:22:22.320

testing we're still working on trying to

0:22:21.039,0:22:24.159

source some of these

0:22:22.320,0:22:26.240

uh they're called gene expert machines

0:22:24.159,0:22:28.559

where you can do 16 different tests

0:22:26.240,0:22:30.080

over the course of an hour right now we

0:22:28.559,0:22:31.039

can only do three an hour with our

0:22:30.080,0:22:34.240

machines

0:22:31.039,0:22:37.200

um so and you also have to have staff

0:22:34.240,0:22:39.360

when you're having people in quarantine

0:22:37.200,0:22:41.360

as a nurse or a doctor and you're taking

0:22:39.360,0:22:43.919

care of these people over a course of

0:22:41.360,0:22:46.320

three weeks you can't go anywhere either

0:22:43.919,0:22:48.799

so our doctors and nurses mostly nurses

0:22:46.320,0:22:50.799

are like on kwajalein right now they're

0:22:48.799,0:22:52.159

in quarantine too for three weeks and

0:22:50.799,0:22:54.000

they're dealing with people who want

0:22:52.159,0:22:55.760

different kinds of food

0:22:54.000,0:22:57.520

and all kinds of other issues you know

0:22:55.760,0:22:59.120

your personal issues that have my wife's

0:22:57.520,0:23:00.960

calling and she needs baby food and

0:22:59.120,0:23:02.799

things like that you know so

0:23:00.960,0:23:04.720

it's it's a real struggle for a lot of

0:23:02.799,0:23:06.080

different people so we want to make sure

0:23:04.720,0:23:07.840

that when we get those people in the

0:23:06.080,0:23:09.280

quarantine we're able to take care of

0:23:07.840,0:23:11.679

them that's one of the main

0:23:09.280,0:23:13.440

things and also the testing issue thank

0:23:11.679,0:23:15.280

you for for sharing your personal

0:23:13.440,0:23:17.840

example just to kind of highlight

0:23:15.280,0:23:19.919

the the hardships that that that that

0:23:17.840,0:23:22.000

are associated with this whole

0:23:19.919,0:23:24.240

repatriation um so you will have a new

0:23:22.000,0:23:26.000

grandchild to welcome home

0:23:24.240,0:23:28.000

yeah he's 10 months old he's already

0:23:26.000,0:23:29.200

standing up and he can wave to me and

0:23:28.000,0:23:31.200

you know

0:23:29.200,0:23:33.039

when i grew up my father never got to

0:23:31.200,0:23:34.840

see his grandchildren and now all of my

0:23:33.039,0:23:36.480

grandchildren pretty much live in my

0:23:34.840,0:23:38.799

house

0:23:36.480,0:23:40.400

and it's i go home i rush home at the

0:23:38.799,0:23:41.840

end of the day those grandchildren are

0:23:40.400,0:23:43.520

everything to me and we have a lot of

0:23:41.840,0:23:45.039

fun so i just can't wait to meet this

0:23:43.520,0:23:47.520

little guy

0:23:45.039,0:23:49.039

um secretary nedenthal so you touched a

0:23:47.520,0:23:52.000

little bit earlier on

0:23:49.039,0:23:53.679

uh bikini what what is your relationship

0:23:52.000,0:23:55.840

with the marshall island i came out as a

0:23:53.679,0:23:57.919

us peace corps volunteer

0:23:55.840,0:23:59.279

uh the day i landed here i knew i would

0:23:57.919,0:24:01.520

never leave

0:23:59.279,0:24:02.559

um i just became complete and i that's

0:24:01.520,0:24:04.880

that's a true story

0:24:02.559,0:24:06.720

i was completely enchanted by the place

0:24:04.880,0:24:08.080

marshall these people are incredibly

0:24:06.720,0:24:10.720

incredibly warm people

0:24:08.080,0:24:12.559

it's not a perfect society but when i

0:24:10.720,0:24:14.799

saw this place and how people treat

0:24:12.559,0:24:16.480

each other uh i thought this is the way

0:24:14.799,0:24:18.240

life is supposed to be

0:24:16.480,0:24:20.000

and i lived on an outer island my first

0:24:18.240,0:24:21.760

three years peace corps is only two

0:24:20.000,0:24:23.679

years i asked for the third year i was

0:24:21.760,0:24:26.720

having such a great time

0:24:23.679,0:24:29.200

uh no airport you're out there uh

0:24:26.720,0:24:30.960

five months before a boat comes we went

0:24:29.200,0:24:32.000

through a really bad typhoon there that

0:24:30.960,0:24:34.240

destroyed almost every

0:24:32.000,0:24:35.760

house most peace corps or other people

0:24:34.240,0:24:36.640

living in that situation i think would

0:24:35.760,0:24:39.840

have left but i

0:24:36.640,0:24:42.559

i just love those people out there

0:24:39.840,0:24:43.200

and i just decided that this was for me

0:24:42.559,0:24:46.240

and i

0:24:43.200,0:24:47.919

spent an extra year there um really

0:24:46.240,0:24:48.880

learn the language well because out

0:24:47.919,0:24:50.880

there at that time

0:24:48.880,0:24:52.480

the early 1980s if you didn't learn the

0:24:50.880,0:24:54.240

language you were pretty much talking to

0:24:52.480,0:24:55.840

yourself most of the time

0:24:54.240,0:24:58.159

so you had to learn the language and

0:24:55.840,0:24:59.840

there were fantastic storytellers i'm a

0:24:58.159,0:25:00.640

storyteller myself i've done a lot of

0:24:59.840,0:25:03.520

films

0:25:00.640,0:25:04.880

written so i love the storytelling and

0:25:03.520,0:25:06.640

then what happened was

0:25:04.880,0:25:08.880

i was just about to leave the marshall

0:25:06.640,0:25:10.400

islands after those three years

0:25:08.880,0:25:12.720

and somebody heard me speaking

0:25:10.400,0:25:14.960

marshallese in a restaurant a bikini

0:25:12.720,0:25:16.880

and they said hey we really need

0:25:14.960,0:25:18.720

somebody like you you know we're trying

0:25:16.880,0:25:20.240

to negotiate with this trust fund and we

0:25:18.720,0:25:21.279

have lawyers and trustees and money

0:25:20.240,0:25:23.360

managers

0:25:21.279,0:25:25.120

um and we were thinking about moving to

0:25:23.360,0:25:26.559

maui could you go to kelly

0:25:25.120,0:25:28.240

where they were living at the time and

0:25:26.559,0:25:30.080

be a teacher so

0:25:28.240,0:25:31.520

i said okay one more year on the outer

0:25:30.080,0:25:32.799

islands well that turned into three

0:25:31.520,0:25:34.720

years

0:25:32.799,0:25:36.720

um working with the people of bikini and

0:25:34.720,0:25:39.200

then unfortunately ralph waltz who was

0:25:36.720,0:25:41.600

the liaison between the bikinis

0:25:39.200,0:25:43.120

and the u.s government passed away and

0:25:41.600,0:25:45.120

the mayor bikini at the times

0:25:43.120,0:25:47.039

monkey judah just said to me you go do

0:25:45.120,0:25:47.840

what ralph was doing i had no idea what

0:25:47.039,0:25:50.240

that was

0:25:47.840,0:25:53.840

necessarily but i went in there and that

0:25:50.240,0:25:57.039

was 19th day very late 1986

0:25:53.840,0:25:59.919

and i did that job for 30 years um

0:25:57.039,0:26:01.600

so and i was an advocate for them and i

0:25:59.919,0:26:03.279

translated for them i worked with their

0:26:01.600,0:26:05.520

old people which was just one of the

0:26:03.279,0:26:07.679

most marvelous experiences of my life

0:26:05.520,0:26:09.440

and i went to college for four years but

0:26:07.679,0:26:11.279

the education i got from those older

0:26:09.440,0:26:14.159

bikini and men and women

0:26:11.279,0:26:15.840

was 10 times more valuable to me the

0:26:14.159,0:26:18.880

lessons i learned from those people

0:26:15.840,0:26:20.240

than what i learned in college so i was

0:26:18.880,0:26:23.520

really well taught

0:26:20.240,0:26:26.880

and so i did that for 33 years

0:26:23.520,0:26:28.960

and then i decided i would retire

0:26:26.880,0:26:30.640

uh that lasted about eight months

0:26:28.960,0:26:32.159

because my youngest son decided he

0:26:30.640,0:26:33.840

wanted to go to medical school and i

0:26:32.159,0:26:37.279

figured i'd better find an income

0:26:33.840,0:26:39.760

somewhere um so i went off

0:26:37.279,0:26:42.159

and started looking for a job and they

0:26:39.760,0:26:43.600

had just started the red cross here they

0:26:42.159,0:26:44.400

still were not recognized by the

0:26:43.600,0:26:47.520

international

0:26:44.400,0:26:49.120

committee of the red cross so i decided

0:26:47.520,0:26:50.000

that would be a good thing for me to do

0:26:49.120,0:26:51.760

i like

0:26:50.000,0:26:53.600

when i do a job i like doing jobs that

0:26:51.760,0:26:55.919

have a purpose and a meaning

0:26:53.600,0:26:56.720

so we did that and within five or six

0:26:55.919,0:26:59.679

months

0:26:56.720,0:27:01.600

we made we achieved all the requirements

0:26:59.679,0:27:02.799

to get recognized by the international

0:27:01.600,0:27:05.679

uh

0:27:02.799,0:27:06.000

red cross and so we were recognized i

0:27:05.679,0:27:09.200

think

0:27:06.000,0:27:10.720

uh it's a long process but uh that was

0:27:09.200,0:27:12.240

something that was really gratifying i

0:27:10.720,0:27:14.080

did that for two years

0:27:12.240,0:27:16.400

a tremendous experience and then all of

0:27:14.080,0:27:17.760

a sudden i saw the secretary of health

0:27:16.400,0:27:19.600

position open up

0:27:17.760,0:27:20.880

and i just said to myself that's what i

0:27:19.600,0:27:23.440

want to do you know

0:27:20.880,0:27:24.720

63 now that's what i want to do with my

0:27:23.440,0:27:26.159

life and i can still remember the

0:27:24.720,0:27:27.440

interview

0:27:26.159,0:27:28.799

i went into the public service

0:27:27.440,0:27:31.600

commission and they asked me the first

0:27:28.799,0:27:33.919

question and i spoke for 35 minutes

0:27:31.600,0:27:36.240

and they caught me and they said jack we

0:27:33.919,0:27:38.960

still have like 19 more questions

0:27:36.240,0:27:40.559

um that's how badly i wanted this job so

0:27:38.960,0:27:41.919

i'm really happy that they gave it to me

0:27:40.559,0:27:44.559

yeah i'm going to ask um

0:27:41.919,0:27:46.640

philippe he he works with me and

0:27:44.559,0:27:48.159

supports this project if he would like

0:27:46.640,0:27:50.799

to ask a question

0:27:48.159,0:27:52.320

well thank you so much tanya secretary

0:27:50.799,0:27:55.039

nedenthal one question for you

0:27:52.320,0:27:56.159

how does your office coordinate health

0:27:55.039,0:27:59.279

services with the

0:27:56.159,0:27:59.679

outer islands of the marshall islands we

0:27:59.279,0:28:02.720

have

0:27:59.679,0:28:04.159

an entire division that we have just for

0:28:02.720,0:28:06.799

the outer islands

0:28:04.159,0:28:07.919

and right now we're training 18 new

0:28:06.799,0:28:09.360

health aides

0:28:07.919,0:28:12.559

that's one of the things that's been

0:28:09.360,0:28:14.720

very also very gratifying about my job

0:28:12.559,0:28:16.799

i get to read the hippocratic oath to

0:28:14.720,0:28:18.640

new doctors and we we i've sworn in now

0:28:16.799,0:28:20.960

four new marshallese doctors

0:28:18.640,0:28:22.640

um in the past a year and a half and we

0:28:20.960,0:28:24.480

also just did ten

0:28:22.640,0:28:26.080

marshalls nurse practitioners which is

0:28:24.480,0:28:26.960

kind of a level between a nurse and a

0:28:26.080,0:28:30.720

doctor

0:28:26.960,0:28:32.640

um really really uh big events for us

0:28:30.720,0:28:33.120

and we have more doctors in training my

0:28:32.640,0:28:35.919

son's

0:28:33.120,0:28:36.880

going to go to medical school um so we

0:28:35.919,0:28:39.919

really want to

0:28:36.880,0:28:41.279

get the marshallese involved and these

0:28:39.919,0:28:43.279

health aides that we're training they're

0:28:41.279,0:28:44.000

all young people i've spoken to them

0:28:43.279,0:28:47.200

several times

0:28:44.000,0:28:49.760

now um to see these 18

0:28:47.200,0:28:51.120

20 young people who are willing to learn

0:28:49.760,0:28:53.039

these things and when you're

0:28:51.120,0:28:54.640

i spent six years on the outer island

0:28:53.039,0:28:56.880

when you're on an outer island and you

0:28:54.640,0:28:58.640

have a health aid there

0:28:56.880,0:29:00.240

and sometimes you don't have airplanes

0:28:58.640,0:29:02.320

airplanes are down or you're on one of

0:29:00.240,0:29:04.159

these islands that don't have an airport

0:29:02.320,0:29:05.360

those health aides are extremely

0:29:04.159,0:29:07.279

important and they have to be

0:29:05.360,0:29:09.360

really well trained we have a woman

0:29:07.279,0:29:10.960

named dr aina a marshallese training

0:29:09.360,0:29:13.600

those people right now

0:29:10.960,0:29:15.200

and they're learning a lot i've been

0:29:13.600,0:29:17.039

down there so

0:29:15.200,0:29:19.200

the outer islands are really important

0:29:17.039,0:29:20.960

and like i said the medical care out

0:29:19.200,0:29:23.760

there you have a little dispensary

0:29:20.960,0:29:25.760

and it's going to be really hard when we

0:29:23.760,0:29:27.600

actually to get back to the coven thing

0:29:25.760,0:29:29.600

we want to immunize people on the outer

0:29:27.600,0:29:31.120

islands but you can imagine we have 29

0:29:29.600,0:29:33.360

at tolls out here

0:29:31.120,0:29:35.520

and we have to be able to go out there

0:29:33.360,0:29:38.399

and if it's two doses

0:29:35.520,0:29:39.279

logistically to send our teams out to do

0:29:38.399,0:29:41.919

that

0:29:39.279,0:29:43.440

is really challenging so now we're

0:29:41.919,0:29:46.720

hearing that the johnson

0:29:43.440,0:29:47.200

johnson vaccine may be uh approved by

0:29:46.720,0:29:50.559

the

0:29:47.200,0:29:52.240

the fda very soon so the single dose

0:29:50.559,0:29:52.880

vaccine for outer islands would be

0:29:52.240,0:29:55.679

perfect

0:29:52.880,0:29:56.399

because yeah snake people and then we're

0:29:55.679,0:29:58.399

done

0:29:56.399,0:30:00.640

yes and thank you for that question

0:29:58.399,0:30:02.399

philippe because it points out that

0:30:00.640,0:30:04.640

the marshall islands you mentioned mr

0:30:02.399,0:30:07.440

secretary 29 atolls

0:30:04.640,0:30:08.000

over a huge probably half the size of

0:30:07.440,0:30:11.039

the united

0:30:08.000,0:30:11.360

states yeah and that's the when you when

0:30:11.039,0:30:13.120

we

0:30:11.360,0:30:14.880

hit had the dengue upgrade that's the

0:30:13.120,0:30:16.000

other thing we had to do no one could go

0:30:14.880,0:30:17.760

to outer england

0:30:16.000,0:30:19.520

so this is like around christmas time

0:30:17.760,0:30:22.480

all these people christmas is a

0:30:19.520,0:30:24.080

really big holiday here and we were just

0:30:22.480,0:30:25.520

preventing these people from going out

0:30:24.080,0:30:27.600

because we didn't want that disease on

0:30:25.520,0:30:29.360

our islands we did eventually

0:30:27.600,0:30:31.360

we just had to let people start going

0:30:29.360,0:30:32.640

back and we have had a few outbreaks on

0:30:31.360,0:30:34.399

the outer islands but

0:30:32.640,0:30:36.000

we send those nurse practitioners out

0:30:34.399,0:30:38.080

there it's almost like a medical swat

0:30:36.000,0:30:39.679

team and they put that down every time

0:30:38.080,0:30:42.000

we've had a little outbreak

0:30:39.679,0:30:43.600

we put it down every single time how do

0:30:42.000,0:30:45.679

you travel

0:30:43.600,0:30:46.799

how do you how is the travel uh mr

0:30:45.679,0:30:50.159

secretary what what

0:30:46.799,0:30:52.799

do you use to travel well we most of the

0:30:50.159,0:30:54.880

islands outer souls have airports but

0:30:52.799,0:30:56.559

what you have to understand is there's a

0:30:54.880,0:30:59.519

you have a toll with a bunch of little

0:30:56.559,0:31:00.240

islands and so there's usually a center

0:30:59.519,0:31:02.080

island where

0:31:00.240,0:31:04.399

most people live but then you have outer

0:31:02.080,0:31:04.399

islands

0:31:05.039,0:31:10.720

so to get to those people with regard to

0:31:08.399,0:31:12.799

medical care and you have to use boats

0:31:10.720,0:31:14.559

and we use we've used boats to medevac

0:31:12.799,0:31:17.279

people also some of the atolls that are

0:31:14.559,0:31:19.120

closer by so it's boats and planes

0:31:17.279,0:31:20.480

um generally that's really the only

0:31:19.120,0:31:24.080

options we have

0:31:20.480,0:31:24.960

how important um our com are compact

0:31:24.080,0:31:26.559

funds for for

0:31:24.960,0:31:28.720

for the sec for the ministry of health

0:31:26.559,0:31:31.039

compact funds are life and death

0:31:28.720,0:31:32.080

to be honest with you they're absolutely

0:31:31.039,0:31:34.240

necessary

0:31:32.080,0:31:35.120

the support the u.s gives the ministry

0:31:34.240,0:31:38.159

of health is

0:31:35.120,0:31:39.679

absolutely critical and we hope it

0:31:38.159,0:31:42.480

continues i know they're starting to

0:31:39.679,0:31:44.559

renegotiate another contact with the u.s

0:31:42.480,0:31:47.760

um i was here for the very first compact

0:31:44.559,0:31:49.360

vote um namuto holded a hundred percent

0:31:47.760,0:31:50.799

to approve the compact and you know it

0:31:49.360,0:31:52.000

was only a toll on the marshall lands

0:31:50.799,0:31:53.600

that did that i don't know how that

0:31:52.000,0:31:56.240

happened

0:31:53.600,0:31:57.519

we were really uh proud of that um i

0:31:56.240,0:32:00.159

remember that vote

0:31:57.519,0:32:01.600

but uh people in here have a really good

0:32:00.159,0:32:03.840

relationship with the us

0:32:01.600,0:32:06.320

over i think like 30 percent of our

0:32:03.840,0:32:08.640

people actually live in the us now

0:32:06.320,0:32:10.880

um so it's it's a really really

0:32:08.640,0:32:13.200

important relationship to us

0:32:10.880,0:32:14.799

and as i've said it hasn't been a

0:32:13.200,0:32:16.559

perfect relationship

0:32:14.799,0:32:18.320

but i can tell you now like the us

0:32:16.559,0:32:21.279

ambassador that's here roxanne

0:32:18.320,0:32:22.960

cabral and jeremy bartel colonel the

0:32:21.279,0:32:23.840

colonel upon kwajalein these are really

0:32:22.960,0:32:26.240

great people

0:32:23.840,0:32:27.919

i i really if i if i could give out

0:32:26.240,0:32:28.559

medals of honor as the secretary of

0:32:27.919,0:32:30.320

health

0:32:28.559,0:32:32.159

both of them would get one because

0:32:30.320,0:32:33.279

they've been so important taiwan's been

0:32:32.159,0:32:34.399

a good help too they

0:32:33.279,0:32:36.559

they've come through with a lot of the

0:32:34.399,0:32:38.240

refrigeration things and uh

0:32:36.559,0:32:40.880

i really want to say something nice

0:32:38.240,0:32:43.279

about them too because taiwan has been

0:32:40.880,0:32:44.720

they come to me and say what do you need

0:32:43.279,0:32:46.240

all the time

0:32:44.720,0:32:48.000

and that's a really nice thing it's been

0:32:46.240,0:32:49.120

the same with the us ambassador and

0:32:48.000,0:32:51.039

colonel bartel

0:32:49.120,0:32:52.399

just just incredibly supportive and i'm

0:32:51.039,0:32:54.720

not just saying that

0:32:52.399,0:32:55.679

i really mean it it's it's literally

0:32:54.720,0:32:57.600

been life

0:32:55.679,0:32:58.960

and death for us when i think about what

0:32:57.600,0:33:00.080

would have happened to this place if

0:32:58.960,0:33:02.240

that disease has gotten

0:33:00.080,0:33:03.440

gotten in here and it may still get in

0:33:02.240,0:33:06.000

here but we're

0:33:03.440,0:33:08.399

so better prepared now we've built

0:33:06.000,0:33:08.840

facilities we have testing capability we

0:33:08.399,0:33:12.240

have

0:33:08.840,0:33:14.880

vaccines and all of that is

0:33:12.240,0:33:16.320

is the us government and with some a lot

0:33:14.880,0:33:19.519

of support from taiwan too

0:33:16.320,0:33:21.120

so um wow i mean like i said

0:33:19.519,0:33:22.720

someday and they're going to look back

0:33:21.120,0:33:24.399

at this time and and

0:33:22.720,0:33:26.320

this is going to be the finest hour for

0:33:24.399,0:33:28.480

not just us but i think the us

0:33:26.320,0:33:31.600

in terms of helping this region how

0:33:28.480,0:33:34.000

about um non-profit organizations

0:33:31.600,0:33:34.960

the ministry health gets the result uh

0:33:34.000,0:33:36.880

an organization

0:33:34.960,0:33:39.120

for example called with me here woman

0:33:36.880,0:33:40.240

women united uh together in the marshall

0:33:39.120,0:33:44.640

islands

0:33:40.240,0:33:48.240

um that has been really um helpful to us

0:33:44.640,0:33:50.240

and um they help us with like the cancer

0:33:48.240,0:33:51.760

drives cancer you know cervical cancer

0:33:50.240,0:33:52.000

is the number one killer of women out

0:33:51.760,0:33:53.840

here

0:33:52.000,0:33:56.399

so we've been trying to get this hpv

0:33:53.840,0:33:58.159

vaccine out to the young girls and boys

0:33:56.399,0:33:58.799

here that's a really hard thing to do

0:33:58.159,0:34:00.559

here

0:33:58.799,0:34:02.399

but we've been working on that so that

0:34:00.559,0:34:03.760

that particular organization has been

0:34:02.399,0:34:04.559

one of the most critical ones that have

0:34:03.760,0:34:06.480

helped us

0:34:04.559,0:34:08.240

and a lot of other people just we have

0:34:06.480,0:34:10.000

businesses here yesterday we had an

0:34:08.240,0:34:11.919

uh business called easy price they knew

0:34:10.000,0:34:14.720

our people were out in the field

0:34:11.919,0:34:15.599

um doing vaccinations from door to door

0:34:14.720,0:34:17.599

i can't

0:34:15.599,0:34:19.359

you you have to understand how hard that

0:34:17.599,0:34:21.440

is going knocking on people's doors

0:34:19.359,0:34:23.119

saying you want a kobe vaccine

0:34:21.440,0:34:25.280

and this business just came in and gave

0:34:23.119,0:34:28.079

us like 10 cases of water

0:34:25.280,0:34:29.280

um things like that and like i said it's

0:34:28.079,0:34:30.960

this uh

0:34:29.280,0:34:32.639

big it's just a huge amount of

0:34:30.960,0:34:34.000

cooperation throughout our entire

0:34:32.639,0:34:37.040

community that's that's

0:34:34.000,0:34:39.679

helped us succeed

0:34:37.040,0:34:40.639

um we've been speaking with secretary

0:34:39.679,0:34:42.560

jack niedenthal

0:34:40.639,0:34:44.159

secretary of health in the republic of

0:34:42.560,0:34:47.520

the marshall islands

0:34:44.159,0:34:49.119

mr secretary do you have any additional

0:34:47.520,0:34:50.800

thoughts that you want to share with us

0:34:49.119,0:34:54.159

maybe that we haven't covered or

0:34:50.800,0:34:54.159

that you wanted to re-emphasize

0:34:55.200,0:35:00.880

wow um you know i i'd like to

0:34:59.119,0:35:02.400

especially thank our public health

0:35:00.880,0:35:05.440

nurses uh

0:35:02.400,0:35:09.040

chief nurse heroku and charles lemai

0:35:05.440,0:35:09.440

and all of these nurses who have gone

0:35:09.040,0:35:13.200

out

0:35:09.440,0:35:16.240

every day gone door to door those to me

0:35:13.200,0:35:18.800

are very heroic people

0:35:16.240,0:35:20.400

it's it's being being anything in the

0:35:18.800,0:35:21.599

health field here in the martial arts is

0:35:20.400,0:35:24.079

tremendously hard

0:35:21.599,0:35:25.520

we have pressure on us all the time so i

0:35:24.079,0:35:26.880

just want to thank those people and

0:35:25.520,0:35:30.079

especially uh

0:35:26.880,0:35:30.880

i want to thank our minister bruce who's

0:35:30.079,0:35:33.040

uh you know

0:35:30.880,0:35:34.480

politicians are what they are but when

0:35:33.040,0:35:37.920

you have somebody

0:35:34.480,0:35:40.720

uh who supports you i mean often times

0:35:37.920,0:35:41.599

you see the problem and you can see the

0:35:40.720,0:35:43.760

solution

0:35:41.599,0:35:45.359

but in between there there are money

0:35:43.760,0:35:47.680

issues and sometimes it's not even a

0:35:45.359,0:35:49.680

money issue it's bureaucracy

0:35:47.680,0:35:51.040

and that's when the politicians if

0:35:49.680,0:35:52.320

they're good they can help you get

0:35:51.040,0:35:54.240

through that so he's been

0:35:52.320,0:35:56.320

really helpful all of us here really

0:35:54.240,0:35:57.520

think a lot of him for helping us like

0:35:56.320,0:35:59.680

that

0:35:57.520,0:36:01.280

so i i just think that there's a lot of

0:35:59.680,0:36:02.240

people here i wish i could name

0:36:01.280,0:36:04.720

everybody

0:36:02.240,0:36:05.760

um when i start saying names sometimes i

0:36:04.720,0:36:07.359

worry because i'm going to forget

0:36:05.760,0:36:09.520

somebody but

0:36:07.359,0:36:10.880

i think they understand i'm 63 and

0:36:09.520,0:36:12.000

that's part of the game when you're this

0:36:10.880,0:36:14.480

sold

0:36:12.000,0:36:16.400

but i think just a lot of people who

0:36:14.480,0:36:17.920

have done a lot of work here and have

0:36:16.400,0:36:19.040

been very helpful i just really

0:36:17.920,0:36:22.000

appreciate

0:36:19.040,0:36:25.280

what they've done i'm really proud to be

0:36:22.000,0:36:25.280

a marshall island citizen

0:36:25.599,0:36:29.440

and and it sounds like you're also proud

0:36:27.520,0:36:30.720

to be an american citizen given the

0:36:29.440,0:36:34.160

important uh

0:36:30.720,0:36:38.960

uh collaboration that has taken place

0:36:34.160,0:36:39.440

oh yes i wish the cooperation we have

0:36:38.960,0:36:42.560

here

0:36:39.440,0:36:44.160

would go back to the us for all you know

0:36:42.560,0:36:44.640

that's really something people have to

0:36:44.160,0:36:47.520

start

0:36:44.640,0:36:49.440

looking for the advantages of their

0:36:47.520,0:36:51.040

similarities instead of the differences

0:36:49.440,0:36:53.359

i think that's what's happened in the us

0:36:51.040,0:36:55.280

and it's very sad to watch from out here

0:36:53.359,0:36:57.440

but i think with good leadership and as

0:36:55.280,0:36:59.440

time goes on i have faith that i think

0:36:57.440,0:37:00.720

that the united states can sort this out

0:36:59.440,0:37:02.480

that's the great thing about that

0:37:00.720,0:37:04.320

country we've always managed somehow to

0:37:02.480,0:37:05.839

get through a lot of these things

0:37:04.320,0:37:07.359

so people start looking for the

0:37:05.839,0:37:09.200

similarities and

0:37:07.359,0:37:10.800

and get together and decide they're

0:37:09.200,0:37:12.720

going to fight as one group of people i

0:37:10.800,0:37:14.800

think they can accomplish a lot

0:37:12.720,0:37:16.079

yeah actually mr secretary before i let

0:37:14.800,0:37:18.480

you go how

0:37:16.079,0:37:21.359

um what communications platforms do you

0:37:18.480,0:37:24.640

use how do you communicate

0:37:21.359,0:37:27.599

well i do zoom calls you know very

0:37:24.640,0:37:30.400

interesting uh we were doing zoom calls

0:37:27.599,0:37:32.079

right from the start we have a weekly

0:37:30.400,0:37:33.119

meeting that lasts about three hours

0:37:32.079,0:37:35.599

every week

0:37:33.119,0:37:37.040

and for our hospital staff and none of

0:37:35.599,0:37:40.240

us are in the same room

0:37:37.040,0:37:41.680

it's a zoom screen of 15 screens

0:37:40.240,0:37:43.359

there's a few of us that are in the same

0:37:41.680,0:37:44.960

room together but most of us because we

0:37:43.359,0:37:47.119

were worried that if we had to meet

0:37:44.960,0:37:48.880

under a state of emergency where this

0:37:47.119,0:37:50.400

disease was here we wouldn't be able to

0:37:48.880,0:37:53.920

sit in a room together

0:37:50.400,0:37:55.599

so every week since for over a year

0:37:53.920,0:37:57.440

we've been meeting by zoom just in our

0:37:55.599,0:38:00.400

own ministry so

0:37:57.440,0:38:01.440

zoom calls and things like that are like

0:38:00.400,0:38:05.760

gold

0:38:01.440,0:38:07.520

and we're all really good at it so uh

0:38:05.760,0:38:09.200

that that's important i mean it's it's

0:38:07.520,0:38:10.880

preparation right i mean you

0:38:09.200,0:38:12.640

you have to be prepared that's the

0:38:10.880,0:38:15.599

single most important element

0:38:12.640,0:38:17.040

uh with this disease that i think we

0:38:15.599,0:38:18.720

again

0:38:17.040,0:38:20.800

i think we're we're ahead of most

0:38:18.720,0:38:24.960

countries in the world with regard to

0:38:20.800,0:38:28.480

what we did to prepare ourselves so um

0:38:24.960,0:38:30.880

that kind of of course if you i'm not

0:38:28.480,0:38:32.800

exaggerating i get somewhere around 200

0:38:30.880,0:38:36.160

emails a day we have google chat

0:38:32.800,0:38:36.720

rooms we have text messages uh phone

0:38:36.160,0:38:38.560

calls

0:38:36.720,0:38:40.560

the amount of communication as the

0:38:38.560,0:38:42.480

ministry that we do every day

0:38:40.560,0:38:44.400

is amazing and we're re like i said

0:38:42.480,0:38:46.000

we're really really good at it

0:38:44.400,0:38:47.920

if someone's not answering one of my

0:38:46.000,0:38:49.839

questions within five minutes

0:38:47.920,0:38:51.119

i'm i'm shocked and sometimes i'm

0:38:49.839,0:38:53.119

talking about three o'clock in the

0:38:51.119,0:38:55.040

morning four o'clock in the morning

0:38:53.119,0:38:57.040

i hear my phone going off people are

0:38:55.040,0:38:58.000

communicating me with each other over an

0:38:57.040,0:39:00.240

issue it's not

0:38:58.000,0:39:01.119

it's very common for me to wake up and

0:39:00.240,0:39:03.440

not just me

0:39:01.119,0:39:05.280

everybody here to start communicating at

0:39:03.440,0:39:08.160

three o'clock in the morning it's it's

0:39:05.280,0:39:09.359

it's common uh so we're tired and drink

0:39:08.160,0:39:11.599

a lot of coffee but

0:39:09.359,0:39:12.640

you know we the communications has been

0:39:11.599,0:39:15.599

absolutely

0:39:12.640,0:39:16.079

essential in all this thank you very

0:39:15.599,0:39:17.839

much and

0:39:16.079,0:39:19.119

and you mentioned that you do on

0:39:17.839,0:39:22.400

facebook tv

0:39:19.119,0:39:24.000

earlier as well yeah well that's helped

0:39:22.400,0:39:27.280

us connect with our community

0:39:24.000,0:39:29.920

who are out there in the us they

0:39:27.280,0:39:30.960

they it doesn't matter if you're in the

0:39:29.920,0:39:32.720

us

0:39:30.960,0:39:34.400

people are very proud of being

0:39:32.720,0:39:37.760

martialees and they take

0:39:34.400,0:39:39.680

huge uh uh amount of pride in

0:39:37.760,0:39:41.359

taking part in the politics and the

0:39:39.680,0:39:42.720

issues of the day here in the in the

0:39:41.359,0:39:45.119

marshall islands

0:39:42.720,0:39:45.839

and i get calls and text messages from

0:39:45.119,0:39:48.800

those people

0:39:45.839,0:39:49.359

all the time and that that's good

0:39:48.800,0:39:51.520

because

0:39:49.359,0:39:53.599

it's uh it's important for those people

0:39:51.520,0:39:54.640

to remain connected to their culture out

0:39:53.599,0:39:57.119

here because

0:39:54.640,0:39:58.960

like i said i don't mean this to be i

0:39:57.119,0:40:00.960

don't know whatever the word is but

0:39:58.960,0:40:03.040

i feel like we live in a superior

0:40:00.960,0:40:05.440

culture not without problems

0:40:03.040,0:40:06.640

but but the idea that everything is

0:40:05.440,0:40:08.880

family here

0:40:06.640,0:40:10.160

makes everything a lot better for for

0:40:08.880,0:40:13.040

our people here too

0:40:10.160,0:40:15.200

i mean the way the society is well you

0:40:13.040,0:40:15.440

know mr secretary we had a conversation

0:40:15.200,0:40:17.520

an

0:40:15.440,0:40:19.839

oia conversation with the ambassador the

0:40:17.520,0:40:22.720

marshall islands ambassador to the u.s

0:40:19.839,0:40:23.280

and his oia conversation has been one of

0:40:22.720,0:40:25.440

our most

0:40:23.280,0:40:26.560

popular conversations that's on our

0:40:25.440,0:40:29.440

youtube channel

0:40:26.560,0:40:31.040

uh right now over a thousand and most of

0:40:29.440,0:40:33.200

the viewers are from the united states

0:40:31.040,0:40:34.880

so i'm imagining that that there

0:40:33.200,0:40:36.960

there are a lot of marshallese who are

0:40:34.880,0:40:39.040

watching uh to hear what the ambassador

0:40:36.960,0:40:40.400

has to say right well that's what i'm

0:40:39.040,0:40:42.880

saying it's uh

0:40:40.400,0:40:45.040

we we did when when we had our first we

0:40:42.880,0:40:46.720

had four border cases back in october

0:40:45.040,0:40:50.319

november time frame

0:40:46.720,0:40:51.680

and we did a live uh facebook feed for

0:40:50.319,0:40:55.680

that

0:40:51.680,0:40:58.480

it's had over 70 000 views

0:40:55.680,0:40:59.200

and we're only a country of 56 000

0:40:58.480,0:41:02.319

people

0:40:59.200,0:41:03.520

i mean you know it's uh that means you

0:41:02.319,0:41:05.599

have a lot of friends

0:41:03.520,0:41:07.200

you have a lot of friends and most of

0:41:05.599,0:41:08.800

that was in marshallese so i don't know

0:41:07.200,0:41:11.280

how many americans

0:41:08.800,0:41:12.720

but uh this is all the former peace

0:41:11.280,0:41:16.560

corps mr secretary

0:41:12.720,0:41:18.640

yes but uh and they always make me speak

0:41:16.560,0:41:20.640

marshallese and it's uh

0:41:18.640,0:41:23.119

and it's okay um as long as i'm not

0:41:20.640,0:41:24.720

tired uh i can speak really well

0:41:23.119,0:41:26.319

but sometimes when i'm tired that the

0:41:24.720,0:41:28.000

tongue doesn't work right

0:41:26.319,0:41:29.680

that's really interesting mr mr

0:41:28.000,0:41:31.280

secretary because we had a conversation

0:41:29.680,0:41:33.200

with the congresswoman from american

0:41:31.280,0:41:35.920

samoa and she was talking about

0:41:33.200,0:41:37.119

the success of their videos and their

0:41:35.920,0:41:39.520

communication

0:41:37.119,0:41:41.200

as they use samoan so are you seeing

0:41:39.520,0:41:44.560

that your communications

0:41:41.200,0:41:45.839

are uh drastically uh you know more more

0:41:44.560,0:41:47.200

viewed when you when you do the

0:41:45.839,0:41:49.359

translation i mean

0:41:47.200,0:41:51.200

it goes without saying i suppose um the

0:41:49.359,0:41:52.000

ministry has always had a policy of

0:41:51.200,0:41:54.079

doing both

0:41:52.000,0:41:56.079

like when we do the newspaper ads or any

0:41:54.079,0:41:56.480

kind of communications text messages we

0:41:56.079,0:41:59.680

do

0:41:56.480,0:42:01.040

we do both languages because well there

0:41:59.680,0:42:02.400

are a lot of people here who aren't

0:42:01.040,0:42:04.400

marshallese

0:42:02.400,0:42:06.240

and and a lot of martialees now these

0:42:04.400,0:42:07.040

days in the us don't speak marshallese

0:42:06.240,0:42:08.560

there's there's

0:42:07.040,0:42:10.560

you know a lot of these kids are growing

0:42:08.560,0:42:11.440

up in u.s schools and yeah that's just

0:42:10.560,0:42:14.480

the natural

0:42:11.440,0:42:18.240

i think transfer of

0:42:14.480,0:42:18.560

cultures but uh we're really proud of

0:42:18.240,0:42:20.640

our

0:42:18.560,0:42:21.920

our language here i love the language

0:42:20.640,0:42:23.920

it's i've i

0:42:21.920,0:42:25.520

it's changed my life because i was able

0:42:23.920,0:42:27.040

to listen to the old people

0:42:25.520,0:42:28.560

that was the biggest advantage for me of

0:42:27.040,0:42:30.079

learning the language it was one of my

0:42:28.560,0:42:31.920

primary motivations

0:42:30.079,0:42:33.680

so after now when i then when i went to

0:42:31.920,0:42:34.160

bikini and these bikinis were telling

0:42:33.680,0:42:37.280

these

0:42:34.160,0:42:38.880

incredible exodus stories i was just

0:42:37.280,0:42:40.079

like thanking god every day that i

0:42:38.880,0:42:42.400

learned that language because

0:42:40.079,0:42:43.839

i couldn't imagine not listening to that

0:42:42.400,0:42:45.839

that's that was actually the book i

0:42:43.839,0:42:48.560

wrote for the good of mankind

0:42:45.839,0:42:49.920

um that had all the stories that had

0:42:48.560,0:42:51.920

been told to me

0:42:49.920,0:42:53.119

so it was like an oral history of the

0:42:51.920,0:42:55.119

bikinis and

0:42:53.119,0:42:57.839

that that to me was like what an

0:42:55.119,0:42:59.440

education for a young guy

0:42:57.839,0:43:01.200

even when i took over that job in bikini

0:42:59.440,0:43:02.079

i was only in my 20s and i had all these

0:43:01.200,0:43:03.920

old men

0:43:02.079,0:43:05.440

and women relying on me and the

0:43:03.920,0:43:08.079

leadership of bikini

0:43:05.440,0:43:08.800

it was a real heady experience and a

0:43:08.079,0:43:10.640

very

0:43:08.800,0:43:12.560

challenging experience for a very young

0:43:10.640,0:43:14.480

guy but

0:43:12.560,0:43:16.160

the mayor at that time tamaki judah just

0:43:14.480,0:43:18.880

said just do the best you can

0:43:16.160,0:43:20.560

and someone like that says that to you

0:43:18.880,0:43:21.359

it's all the motivation you need was

0:43:20.560,0:43:24.000

really

0:43:21.359,0:43:24.400

transformative for me as a young person

0:43:24.000,0:43:26.319

well

0:43:24.400,0:43:28.400

uh you know you're an example of the

0:43:26.319,0:43:29.760

important relationship that the united

0:43:28.400,0:43:32.000

states has

0:43:29.760,0:43:33.680

with uh the pacific and and especially

0:43:32.000,0:43:36.240

the marshall islands so

0:43:33.680,0:43:36.800

uh thank you mr secretary for uh you

0:43:36.240,0:43:39.920

know we

0:43:36.800,0:43:42.400

at oia are trying new platforms as well

0:43:39.920,0:43:44.400

forced by covet but also forced by

0:43:42.400,0:43:46.640

uh trends in communication where social

0:43:44.400,0:43:48.800

media is playing such an important role

0:43:46.640,0:43:50.480

for connecting people so you know we

0:43:48.800,0:43:52.640

ourselves are experimenting with new

0:43:50.480,0:43:54.560

platforms and how to get information out

0:43:52.640,0:43:56.560

about the island so we thank you very

0:43:54.560,0:43:58.240

much for uh for your time

0:43:56.560,0:44:00.079

taking the time to speak with us today

0:43:58.240,0:44:01.760

and and maybe we can follow up with you

0:44:00.079,0:44:02.720

in in a few months and see how things

0:44:01.760,0:44:04.640

are going

0:44:02.720,0:44:06.640

yeah like i said to this point we've

0:44:04.640,0:44:08.960

been very very fortunate

0:44:06.640,0:44:10.640

thanks to people like yourself and the

0:44:08.960,0:44:12.160

people in the u.s government

0:44:10.640,0:44:14.079

and i can't say thank you enough i'm

0:44:12.160,0:44:16.480

sure everybody here in the marshawn

0:44:14.079,0:44:17.760

has the exact same sentiment like i said

0:44:16.480,0:44:19.280

uh

0:44:17.760,0:44:21.440

we think really highly of the people

0:44:19.280,0:44:23.760

that out here that are helping us now

0:44:21.440,0:44:25.599

and i think going forward we hope the

0:44:23.760,0:44:26.000

support stays there i'm pretty sure it

0:44:25.599,0:44:28.319

will

0:44:26.000,0:44:30.720

i have a lot of confidence in that but

0:44:28.319,0:44:34.079

uh these are moments that make me

0:44:30.720,0:44:36.480

very proud as my american heritage is

0:44:34.079,0:44:38.000

something that i'm really proud of

0:44:36.480,0:44:40.560

because like i said for a long time it

0:44:38.000,0:44:43.040

was something i had to struggle with

0:44:40.560,0:44:43.680

but these days i can't say enough good

0:44:43.040,0:44:45.520

things about

0:44:43.680,0:44:46.880

the way we've been supported out here

0:44:45.520,0:44:50.640

throughout the region i know

0:44:46.880,0:44:51.920

all my fellow health people throughout

0:44:50.640,0:44:53.680

the region throughout the freely

0:44:51.920,0:44:55.839

associated states i know we're

0:44:53.680,0:44:58.400

all really appreciative the way that the

0:44:55.839,0:45:01.599

way the us has come through

0:44:58.400,0:45:02.800

for us because it was very very very

0:45:01.599,0:45:05.440

scary

0:45:02.800,0:45:06.400

i just can't you just can't imagine the

0:45:05.440,0:45:12.079

way we were

0:45:06.400,0:45:12.079

so scared here thank you very much mr

0:45:16.839,0:45:19.839

secretary

0:45:40.960,0:45:43.040

you