Solidarity HealthShare President Chris Faddis joins The BS Show to discuss the recent multistate salmonella outbreak, practical ways families can protect themselves from foodborne illness, and how resources like telehealth can make everyday healthcare more accessible and affordable. Listen to the interview or read the transcript below.

Bob Sansevere (00:00):

We are joined by Christopher Faddis, co-founder and president of the nonprofit healthcare sharing ministry, Solidarity HealthShare, which is an ethical, affordable alternative to traditional health insurance and is faithful to the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. Chris, I wanted to talk to you about what happened up here in Colorado and basically more than two dozen states around the country. There was a multi-state salmonella outbreak traced to a grower in Sinaloa, Mexico. Jalapeno peppers, 345 people in at least 27 states had been reported getting sick. And most had been in Minnesota and Colorado, no deaths reported. But these chili peppers, they all were identified by the CDC as coming from the same distributor and the same farm area or farms in that Sinaloa, Mexico area. And the reason I bring it up is I have a policy. I love grapes, love tomatoes. Last night I bought some tomatoes and I took a look and if I saw it was coming out of Mexico, I moved on.

(01:04):

I found one out of Canada, some tomatoes out of Canada. I bought those without hesitation. Now I get them home and I wash them, but if it’s out of Mexico, I know I’ve been to Mexico every time I’ve been to Mexico, I had a stomach bug within a week. And my thought is, wait a minute, if I go down there, why wouldn’t I get it if I buy stuff that’s coming up here? I mean, I don’t know how much you know about the FBA and restrictions, but aren’t there some sort of restrictions on these companies from all countries? Anything imported, it should be a lot stricter. I don’t know if there’s any. Maybe they need taste testers when this food comes over the border to find out what’s wrong. Do you know much at all about this?

Chris Faddis (01:45):

I believe there’s a certain amount of product that has to be tested as things come in and all that. But the biggest thing I think with stuff, there’s a lot of product. I live in Arizona, so we get a lot of product from Mexico and Arizona. And as long as typically if it’s a good reputable supplier, you don’t see a lot of these issues, but it does happen. So the biggest thing is washing with clean water. Obviously cooking the food helps a ton and making sure that you cook through it. It doesn’t work if you’re trying to make a salsa, I guess. The Chipotle thing, I wasn’t sure if that’s what it was in their salsas or those kind of things. The other thing I wonder is, I mean, you can get salmonella and cross-contamination in kitchens in the US too. So there’s a lot of those kind of things that you don’t know.

(02:33):

But if you’re using, I know even in Mexico, I mean, I’ve been there several times in the last couple of years, and if you go to good quality restaurants, they’re typically using filtered water. I think the number one issue there is the water. You go to a taco stand and you don’t know where they pulled their water from, and it could be not a potable source for our standards. And that’s typically where most people get the issues. I’ve had this scenario you mentioned too, where most trips I’ve not gotten sick in Mexico, but I’ve had the scenario where I did eat some of the salsa or something and sure enough get a little sick. But I now travel with a certain probiotic that helped me when I was sick. And if I’m in Mexico, I just take that every day in addition to my regular probiotic just to make sure that I’m fighting that off.

Bob Sansevere (03:16):

Well, I mean, because I take a probiotic too, and it is a good idea to be doing that because it’s, I mean, anything we could do to protect ourselves. And I don’t do a great job of protecting myself when, for instance, I love grapes and we have a place up here, and I’m sure you don’t have one in Arizona. It’s called KwikTrip. It’s the best thing.

Chris Faddis (03:36):

Yeah, we have them.

Bob Sansevere (03:36):

Yeah. You have them down in Arizona?

Chris Faddis (03:38):

Yeah, yeah.

Bob Sansevere (03:38):

Oh, all right. Well, I think it’s the best of the convenience stores because their food is good. It’s made fresh right there or they make it right there. It’s not like something that goes just in a microwave. But anyway, they have grapes and I check, make sure they’re not Mexico. When they’re not, they’ve got usually have a sink in KwikTrip. I just go and help myself to the sink to run some water. But that’s not enough. I mean, I’m just running water over it. And I was thinking about it the other night.

Chris Faddis (04:00):

It’s interesting. There’s lots of things. My wife has gotten into certain vegetables. If you wash them with baking soda, you soak them in water.

Bob Sansevere (04:07):

Oh!

Chris Faddis (04:07):

With Baking soda, that helps to get more of the potential contaminants off and even some of the pesticides and things. I mean, I don’t have time to go down that rabbit hole, but my family has, and we haven’t had any issues. They wash everything when the food comes in and they do more than that. I’m like you, I just rinse it underwater for a second and pop it in my mouth.

Bob Sansevere (04:28):

 I think it’s better than nothing.

Chris Faddis (04:30):

I think the bottom line is being careful. You also have to be careful because you don’t want to overdo it. I know some people are like, “Oh, there’s a lettuce thing, so I’m never going to eat lettuce again.” Well, it was a one-time thing. It only affected certain states,

Bob Sansevere (04:43):

Certain

Chris Faddis (04:43):

Products, that kind of thing. But I had the same feeling you did. I was in the grocery store where I needed a quick dinner. I was picking up a couple salads to go with dinner and right away I went, “Wait a minute, where’s this lettuce outbreak again?” And luckily the store had a sign posted explaining the risk and all that. So you’ve got to pay attention to those things and then follow all the different steps to help protect yourself. And I think you fare well. But I do think, and I don’t remember the name of the probiotic, Bob, that my doctor had told me to take when I got sick in Mexico, but people can look it up. I’m sure they can find. And I have a bottle and that just sits in my medicine cabinet. And when I’m going down there, I bring it with me and I just start taking it.

(05:24):

And so far, I’ve actually taken probably three or four trips since the last time I got sick and I have not got sick down there. So maybe that’s what you need to do when you get those Mexican tomatoes next time, just take a different probiotic.

Bob Sansevere (05:34):

No, I’m not going near those Mexican tomatoes. But with the grapes though, what I love to do is take them in the car if I’m going on a trip and just pop them in. And I know that, but again, the little bit of water.

Chris Faddis (05:46):

It’s a good way to stay awake on the drive too

Bob Sansevere (05:47):

It’s better than eating candy. Well, then I have to pull over and use the restroom though because it goes right through you, that sort of thing. But there’s just so many things we have to be aware and be aware of when you’re talking about anything that’s fresh like that. So I think it’s very important that we do that. And I wanted to also talk to you about Solidarity HealthShare, solidarityhealthshare.org if you want more information. Your group and your team, I know you’ve had, we talked about the 10-year anniversary, which was recently, but you’ve done so many things. For instance, if I were to call and say, do you have a department where if I called and asked about certain foods that are safe or not safe that people could answer questions or certain things? Like you mentioned probiotic. Is there anything if I called and said, “Hey, I’m looking for something to deal with,” what do you recommend?

(06:45):

Do you guys make recommendations or would I be better off calling your

Chris Faddis (06:48):

Dial care? Yeah, you’re better off calling dial care. We don’t have that right now. There are some things for folks that are on the Solidarity Well program, they’ll be working with a health coach and they’ll get into some of that medical because they’re doing kind of a medical consult, a nutrition consult. So they will get into that, but not for the general sense. Occasionally we’ll do obviously some articles and things

Bob Sansevere (07:12):

From

Chris Faddis (07:12):

Our chief medical officer and the like. But yeah, there are a lot of places to find the info and definitely DialCare is one place.

Bob Sansevere (07:21):

Great, by the way.

Chris Faddis (07:22):

Especially if it’s specific. Great service. The telehealth –

Bob Sansevere (07:24):

Phenomenal. Your telehealth is terrific. And I wanted to give a big plug for that because fortunately my family has not had any. We haven’t had to submit any issues with the family because after a run of some surgeries, for the last few years, we’ve had nothing that was serious. But we have used DialCare. And for people that are spending hundreds, I mean, if you go to the doctor, it could be 600 or more just for a visit. Dialcare, you call them up, let’s say you think you have strep throat, you give the symptoms and one of your doctors will, if you have the symptoms of strep or any type of issue like that, they will prescribe a med for it and it doesn’t cost anything. It’s part of solidarity. And that to me is phenomenal. The amount of money, I mean, when you have a family with children, the number of times you might have to run to the doctor, it’s just a great, great savings.

(08:22):

There’s many reasons, but one of the big reasons that I advise people to look into Solidarity HealthShare. And you’ve had DialCare almost since the beginning, right? Or was it since the beginning?

Chris Faddis (08:33):

Yeah, I mean, not quite that close. Yeah, within a couple years, I think 2018, 2019, somewhere in there. And yeah, they’ve been a great partner. And I was just telling someone about that today. I’ve never had a. Even just going to the doctor, we all have experiences where like, eh, that was okay. I’ve never had that. It’s always been pretty good for us and for my family. And sometimes they’re telling you, “Don’t worry about that. You don’t need to go to the hospital.” And sometimes they’re like, “Hey, get off the phone and get your butt.” Oh,

Bob Sansevere (08:59):

They’ll be

Chris Faddis (09:00):

Honest. Or whatever. And they’re honest with you. And I think it’s always good, and it’s been great for my kids to help us assess things with them. So I love using it. It’s a great service. We have a great relationship with them. So yeah, our members are definitely, it’s a great benefit. And to your point, Bob, things like this outbreak, just like when COVID happened, if you remember, I mean, having dial care was a huge help during that time. Absolutely. No one knew what to do, and they were just a phone call away. And it actually helped a lot of people to realize that telehealth actually is a very good benefit and good program for them.

Bob Sansevere (09:36):

And the other thing I wanted to mention while we’re on the topic is the number of things that you’ve done over the last number of years to make things more affordable for people. Now, dial care, there’s no cost to it, but I think among the things you’ve done that are terrific is you’re making it more affordable for young people who are relatively healthy, that you pay a very small premium a month, the deductible might be higher, but I mean, a lot of young people don’t have a lot of issues, and you’ve added tiers that make things so much more affordable for the different demographics of people that need to have some sort of health protection.

Chris Faddis (10:12):

Yeah, we’ve got great options for young people, like you said, which really does our most comprehensive plan, but strips out a few of the things they’re ever going to use. But it also focuses on telehealth. An easy prescription program for them as well with $0 copays for generics. So for you, people like you who have adult children who you’re trying to keep them focused on being responsible in healthcare.

Bob Sansevere (10:36):

Yes

Chris Faddis (10:36):

It’s a great option because it’s not a lot of money for them. And then on top of it, if you add that generic prescription add-on to that program, you know that, hey, they’re at least going to have a telehealth consult if they get sick and they can go get the prescriptions. And that’s always a great benefit. So yeah, we’re very pleased with those programs. But next time we talk, hopefully I’ll be able to tell you about a new program we’re launching for Medicare, which –

Bob Sansevere (10:57):

Absolutely. I want to hear about that. Yeah. Because I’m of Medicare age, I hate to admit, but I am.

Chris Faddis (11:04):

 I didn’t tell anyone. I kept it a secret this whole time.

Bob Sansevere (11:05): I know you did. All right. Well, thank you so much, sir. Chris Faddis, president and co-founder of Solidarity HealthShare, solidarityhealthshare.org. Check it out if you want a great alternative to traditional healthcare. We’ll take a quick break. The BS Show’ll be right back