NYC Health + Hospitals Releases Seventh Episode of Season 2 of The Remedy, a Podcast from the Largest Safety Net Health Care System in the United States
Season 2 Episode 7: No Wrong Door: Addiction Care in NYC covers how NYC Health + Hospitals is treating substance use disorder with a comprehensive, approach—whether someone walks into an emergency room, seeks help at a methadone clinic, or connects through community outreach The health care system’s role as a public hospital system and a major safety net health care system for New York City offers a singular voice that no other health care podcast can The Remedy is available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio and other platforms
Jun 03, 2025
New York, NY — NYC Health + Hospitals today released the seventh episode of season 2 of its podcast, The Remedy, featuring leaders and health care providers from the nation’s largest municipal health care system. Season 2 Episode 7: No Wrong Door: Addiction Care in NYC covers how NYC Health + Hospitals is treating substance use disorder with a comprehensive approach—whether someone walks into an emergency room, seeks help at a methadone clinic, or connects through community outreach. In this episode, host Dr. Michael Shen is joined by Dr. Dan Schatz, Medical Director of Addiction Services for NYC Health + Hospitals, and Sasha Ashton, Director of Addiction Services at NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County in Brooklyn. They discuss the devastating rise of fentanyl in the drug supply, the role of peer support in recovery, and how stigma continues to prevent many New Yorkers from seeking care. Ashton and Dr. Schatz also talk about the importance of offering flexible, harm reduction-based treatment options, from walk-in care and bridge clinics to sober social spaces that include dance parties. The episode also highlights innovative programs that support pregnant and postpartum patients, and the upcoming RISE Center in the South Bronx, which will offer integrated services for families impacted by addiction. Season 2 of The Remedy includes seven episodes focused on frontline workers who often provide care outside the walls of public hospitals and health centers, with a new episode released every two weeks. Season 2 Episode 7: No Wrong Door: Addiction Care in NYC is available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio and other podcast platforms.
“It’s not just the treatment you receive, it’s how you’re treated that can make the difference to engage someone in addiction care,” said The Remedy Host Dr. Michael Shen. “NYC Health + Hospitals is on the forefront of treating addiction, having treated thousands of patients experiencing addiction with compassion and evidence-based care.”
“We want to be there for patients experiencing addiction however we can – whether that’s medication-assisted treatment or harm reduction,” said Dr. Dan Schatz, Medical Director of Addiction Services for NYC Health + Hospitals. “And we want to engage patients wherever they interact with our system. For instance, all of our hospital emergency departments have social workers and peers to engage patients who come in with addiction-related health issues. We can’t just launch into a medication-based model, we need to earn their trust and earn their time. What do they need? What can we help with right now? Together, we can engage our patients in the care they deserve, help them be safe, and even begin to rebuild bridges with their loved ones.”
“The Kings County outpatient addiction program is dynamic and we have been able to inspire a village of professionals who are interested in building trust and building community to help our patients heal, transform, and reinvent themselves,” said Sasha Ashton, Director of Addiction Services at NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County. “Our rich staffing model meets the needs of diverse patients who utilize, creative arts, spiritual care, mental health treatment, social determinants of health assistance and many other services. To add, our patient satisfaction events are top tier to include sober socialization parties, karaoke, dancing and musical instruments.”
NYC Health + Hospitals’ role as a public hospital system and the major safety net health care system for New York City offers a singular voice that no other health care podcast can. It shows how the public health care system provides care for all patients, regardless of their ability to pay; offers exciting ways to support patients, including dance and music therapy and support navigating benefits; and responds to the challenges that face New York City, including homelessness, gun violence, and the asylum seeker crisis. The host and guests are all health care system employees with a special perspective on the work they do for patients.
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest provider of behavioral health in New York City. The system provides almost 60% of behavioral health services citywide serving 78,000 patients annually across emergency, inpatient and outpatient care. Substance use services include 10 outpatient substance use disorder clinics, four ancillary withdrawal programs, and four Opioid Treatment Programs.
Previous episodes of The Remedy cover the following topics:
Season 2
- Season 2 Episode 1: Community Health Workers covers these workers’ vital role in bridging the gap between medical care and social needs like housing, food, and transportation. With over 250 community health workers, NYC Health + Hospitals has built one of the largest programs in the nation. Host Dr. Michael Shen sits down with Natasha McIntosh-Whyte, a Community Health Worker Supervisor, and Nkrumah Powell, a Community Health Worker, to discuss how they help patients navigate a complex system.
- Season 2 Episode 2: How NYC Care Helps Uninsured New Yorkers highlights how the program provides health care to low-income and uninsured New Yorkers — regardless of immigration status or ability to pay. Host Dr. Michael Shen speaks with Dr. Jonathan Jiménez, Executive Director of NYC Care, and Maritza Terrones, Health Care Director at La Jornada to discuss how NYC Care started, the importance of outreach through trusted community groups like La Jornada, and the program’s incredible outcomes after five years, including improvements for New Yorkers with diabetes and hypertension.
- Season 2 Episode 3: Treating Violence covers the critical work the public health system’s Hospital Violence Interruption programs (HVIP) do to prevent violence, save lives, and heal communities. Host Dr. Michael Shen speaks with James Dobbins, Executive Director of Guns Down Life Up, Dr. Robert Gore, Attending ER Physician at NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings and Founder of Kings Against Violence Initiative (KAVI), and Yahsef Johnson, KAVI Kings Hospital Program Coordinator, to discuss the work their programs do to break cycles of violence and create lasting positive change in the lives of impacted young people and their communities.
- Season 2 Episode 4: The New Ellis Island highlights the historic work of NYC Health + Hospitals’ Arrival Center, a central intake facility for all newly arriving asylum seekers run by NYC Health + Hospitals’ Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center (HERRC) program. Host Dr. Michael Shen speaks with Shane Hanlon, Director of the Arrival Center, and Besa Rexmira, Deputy Director of the Arrival Center, to discuss their work providing critical medical, social, and behavioral health services to over 180,000 newly arriving asylum seekers.
- Season 2 Episode 5: Street Medicine in NYC covers the efforts of social workers the public health system’s Street Health Outreach + Wellness (SHOW) program, a street medicine program that provides medical care, behavioral health, and social services to New Yorkers who are experiencing homelessness or historically disconnected from care. Host Dr. Michael Shen sits down with SHOW social workers Barney Chow, Chloe Frankel, and Eric Trujillo to learn about their work bringing social services to vulnerable patients and building the trust necessary to connect them to behavioral health, social, and harm reduction services.
- Season 2 Episode 6: How AI Will Transform Healthcare in NYCcovers how the public health system is using artificial intelligence to enhance patient care, improve efficiency, and support its workforce. In this episode, host Dr. Michael Shen sits down with Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer Divya Pathak and Chief Medical Officer of Ambulatory Care Dr. Andrew Wallach to discuss the ways AI technologies support clinical workflows, address health equity, and provide a more personalized patient experience, as well as ethical considerations for responsible adoption.
Season 1
- Season 1 Episode 1: The Power of Primary Care features three primary care doctors on how working with their patients informs their roles in leadership at NYC Health + Hospitals. The episode features Dr. Mitchell Katz, President and Chief Executive Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals and a primary care physician at NYC Health + Hospitals/Gouverneur; Dr. Andrew Wallach, Ambulatory Care Chief Medical Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals and Chief of Ambulatory Care at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue; and Dr. Michelle Soto, then-Chief of Ambulatory Care at NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health.
- Season 1 Episode 2: Food is Medicine recognizes that plant-based eating is powerful medicine – it can lower high blood pressure and bring type 2 diabetes into remission – and considers how hospitals can help their patients pursue a plant-based diet. The episode features Dr. Michelle McMacken, Executive Director of Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine, and the health care system’s Executive Chef Phil DeMaiolo.
- Season 1 Episode 3: Ready for the Next Pandemic considers how New York City’s public hospital system has consistently answered the challenge of Ebola, COVID-19, and Mpox all while staying ahead of the latest health crisis. The episode features Dr. Syra Madad, then the Senior Director of System-Wide Special Pathogens Program and now the system’s Chief Biopreparedness Officer, and Dr. Richard James Salway, then-Senior Director of Emergency Management.
- Season 1 Episode 4: Women’s Health considers how New York City’s public hospital system is expanding access to women’s health care in a time when many women across the country are facing restricted access to care. The episode features Dr. Marisa Nadas, Reproductive Health Clinical Lead, and Dr. Wendy Wilcox, Chief Women’s Health Officer. Together, they discuss how NYC Health + Hospitals is expanding telehealth and in-person reproductive health services for everyone who needs them.
- Season 1 Episode 5: Caring for the Newest New Yorkers covers how the staff at NYC Health + Hospitals are rising to the challenge of caring for the over 175,000 asylum seekers who have come to our city since spring 2022. Host Dr. Michael Shen is joined by Dr. Ted Long, Senior Vice President of Ambulatory Care and Population Health, and Dr. Natalie Davis, Associate Medical Director of Ambulatory Women’s Health Services at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, to discuss NYC Health + Hospitals’ humanitarian centers, providing access to healthcare for asylum seekers, helping migrants deal with trauma they’ve experienced on their journeys, and much more.
- Season 1 Episode 6: Caring for Homeless Patients covers how NYC Health + Hospitals serves its over 70,000 patients who are experiencing homelessness. Host Dr. Michael Shen is joined by Dr. Amanda Johnson, Assistant Vice President of Ambulatory Care and Population Health at NYC Health + Hospitals, and Leora Jontef, Assistant Vice President of Housing and Real Estate at NYC Health + Hospitals, to delve into New York City’s housing crisis, explain how safety net clinics and mobile vans are providing care to patients experiencing homelessness, and why New York City’s public health care system now has a path connecting hundreds of patients to their own homes.
- Season 1 Episode 7: Helping Healers Heal covershow NYC Health + Hospitals supports the mental health of its more than 40,000 health care workers. Host Dr. Michael Shen is joined by Dr. Eric Wei, Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals, and Jeremy Segall, the System Chief Wellness Officer, to delve into how the pressures of a healthcare job can often lead to stress, burnout, and depression, addressing the stigma around mental health, the system’s Helping Healers Heal program, using the arts to de-stress, and more.
About the Host
Michael S. Shen, MD is a primary care doctor at NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull and the Medical Director of Woodhull Hospital’s Adult Primary Care and Geriatrics clinics. Dr. Shen was previously a Health Affairs Podcast Fellow where he created a 3-episode series about safety net hospitals. He is also an artist who works in watercolor, acrylic, mixed media, and digital media. His illustrative work has been published by National Geographic Books, the American Medical Association’s Journal of Ethics, and the Annals of Internal Medicine. Find him on Twitter @MikeShenMD.
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MEDIA CONTACT: PressOffice@nychhc.org
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About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 43,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
