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Chris Markham

Chris Markham

Aug 27, 2026

33:20
What about some of the sets that will be re- will be essential as planners deal with the aftermath of a hurricane?
33:27
Oh, that's great, uh, question.
33:29
So one of, uh, the data sets that we, that we think about that's not quite one of those hurricane data, uh, that, that we, uh, that we typically think about that is really essential for, uh, both, both the planning and also the response, uh, further down the road are Medicare data.
33:48
So we, we typically think about Medicare data as being about medical expenses, but they have an off-label use during hurricanes.
33:54
One of the most at-risk populations during emergency response that we n- really need to plan for in advance are individuals with health conditions like emphysema, ALS, or kidney disease and, and they re- th- often, um, those, uh, individuals rely on at-home medical equipment that plugs into the wall.
34:12
Ahead of a hurricane, planners can use, uh, the Health and Human Services, uh, Empower data to map projected power outages, uh, to zones, um, uh, to outage zones and, and to help pre-position mobile generators or staff for medical shelters that can send direct outreach to those vulnerable residents so that no one who's- happens to be relying on self-sustaining medical tech in their home gets left in the dark.
38:39
How much of that is a data problem?
38:43
Yeah.
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5:43
We
5:43
might think of something like the CDCs.
5:46
Of course, the National Vital Statistics System tells us how many people die from Alzheimer's disease every year.
5:51
And that's really the sort of blended data, one of these platypus data, because it's statistical data.
5:57
We have a statistical release.
5:58
There's also administrative data because it's pulled in from information we get from states on death data.
6:05
There's also like this really, really important CDC data set on prevalence called the National Health Interview Survey.
9:01
So, Chris, what happens in practice when someone tries to combine or use these different data sets from the field guide? Do they create their own platypus or they have some other animal that's out there?
8:36
What are you seeing on the ground with the youngins?
8:40
Yeah, so I think with being a youngin, as we say, honestly, when I sat down to interview with Brian for this job, I didn't know anything about propane.
8:53
And I'm younger, and like a lot of people in my generation, I'm environmentally conscious, concerned about stuff like global warming, pollution.
9:05
So not knowing anything about propane, I was like, well, fossil fuels, I guess, fossil fuels, bad, you know, like again, a lot of people in my generation, but I didn't know anything about it really.
9:17
So I went into the interview with an open mind and I asked Brian, what exactly is propane? Like, I'm sorry to ask such a dumb question, but what is propane? And, you know, throughout that interview and then you know my early days on the job i've i've learned more about propane than i ever thought possible and learned that you know it is it is a clean burning fuel um you know it's it's an environmentally friendly fuel and this industry is doing a lot to put out that information and get that message out there and so i went from not knowing anything about propane to now being a massive fan of propane.
9:55
And I feel like a lot of people my age, you know, are probably going through like a similar thought process, I guess, you know, even if they don't know anything about propane, you know, once you get in that world, you learn about it and you learn, wow, this is actually a really good thing for the environment.
10:12
And, you know, this is a great industry to be a part of.

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