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Margo Snipe - Health Equity Reporter
Margo Snipe

Health Equity Reporter

It is a passion of mine to report stories that give a voice to under-served and underrepresented communities. As a health equity reporter, I get to do just that — tell stories that make you feel something, spark dialogue, inspire deep thinking and reflection. I’m not a Florida native. In fact, I’m not really a native anywhere. I’ve lived in a handful of cities across the country and even spent 3.5 years living in Rome. When I’m not reporting, I’m chugging coffee, listening to music or figuring how to work out now that my days of playing collegiate volleyball are over. Reach out to me if you want to share your story or just chat.

  1. Black pastors: Florida’s COVID response ‘neglected’ their communities
    Yesterday• Health
    Residents wait in line to be vaccinated at the Historic Bethel AME Church in St. Petersburg on Jan. 30, 2021. A group of Black pastors is urging Gov. Ron DeSantis to deliver adequate COVID-19 resources to communities disproportionately impacted by the virus.
  2. A record 1,101 Florida manatees died in 2021. When will it end?
    Jan. 10• Environment
    A manatee swims at Hunter Spring Park on Kings Bay in Crystal River in 2021.
  3. As child tax credits expire, here’s how families used the money for ‘survival’
    Jan. 7• Health
    Child tax credits approved by Congress to help families during the pandemic end Friday.
  5. New St. Petersburg mayor, City Council members sworn in on historic day
    Jan. 6• St. Petersburg
    St. Petersburg's 54th Mayor, Kenneth T. Welch, was officially sworn into office Thursday morning with daughter Kenya Welch holding the bible. Watch the Mayor's live address at noon here.
  6. St. Petersburg racism study: Black residents face higher mortality, lower wages
    Jan. 3• St. Petersburg
    Motorists join about 100 protesters at an April 16 march in solidarity against racism and police brutality in St. Petersburg. A study of structural racism in the city explains how a lack of affordable housing, health care, stable jobs and other factors degrade the health of St. Petersburg's Black residents.
  7. Florida hits record 42,600 COVID infections a day as omicron rages
    Jan. 1• Health
    People wait in a long line to get tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday at the West Tampa Community Resource Center. The line wrapped around the building. Tampa Bay governments scrambled this week to open more public testing sites to meet the surging demand for testing as the omicron variant drives record infections.
  8. 5 things Tampa General Hospital wants you to know about omicron
    Dec. 29, 2021• Health
    Dr. Seetha Lakshmi, center foreground, works with a multidisciplinary team of hospital staff and University of South Florida infectious disease doctors in the COVID-19 unit at Tampa General Hospital in August.
  9. Tampa needle exchange saves lives by preventing overdoses, infections
    Dec. 28, 2021• Health
    Syringe services supervisor Micah Boyer of Pinellas Park discards syringes at IDEA Exchange Tampa’s University Mall parking garage location on Dec. 13.
  10. American health care is ‘broken’ and ‘expensive,’ Floridians say
    Dec. 23, 2021• Health
    Nurse Alix Zacharski, right, sanitizes her hands as others care for a patient in the Medical Intensive Care Unit for COVID-19 patients at Jackson Memorial Hospital on July 23. Floridians are growing increasingly anxious about health care costs and unequal access to care as the pandemic continues with no end in sight, according to a new national survey.
  11. Tampa’s Black youth share hopes and dreams in poetry book
    Dec. 22, 2021• Tampa
    Tavis Myrick, front center, is pictured along with 19 high school age students from Gentlemen's Quest of Tampa as they display the book of poems that the group has written about what it’s like to be in their shoes titled “I am… a Young Black Man” at the entrance of the Audrey L. Spotford Center Youth and Family Center on Dec. 15 in Tampa. Myrick is the executive director of the Gentlemen’s Quest of Tampa, a local organization that provides mentorship, academic support and expansive opportunities to young Black teens.
  12. Tampa Bay doctor’s program aims to boost minority representation in medicine
    Nov. 29, 2021• Tampa
    Dexter Frederick speaks with volunteer nurse and USF doctoral student Morgan Butts regarding a patient at Grace Community Medical Center on Nov. 10.
  13. Jacksonville-based agency appointed to run foster care in Pinellas, Pasco
    Nov. 24, 2021• Pinellas
    The Florida Department of Children and Families appointed Family Support Services of Northeast Florida as the agency to run child welfare in Pinellas and Pasco counties. Some child welfare experts fear it is rushing the decision.
  14. Florida on verge of 1,000 manatee deaths
    Nov. 11, 2021• Environment
    Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologists examine the corpses of manatees in Indian River Lagoon in March. The number of Florida manatee deaths recorded this year is about to surpass 1,000.
  15. 25 years after police killed TyRon Lewis, family’s pain persists
    Oct. 28, 2021• St. Petersburg
    Pamela Lewis, center, and her family listen during an Oct. 24 rally held by the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement to mark the death of her son 25 years ago. His image appears on their T-shirts. TyRon Lewis was shot and killed by a St. Petersburg police officer in 1996 at the intersection where the rally was held, 18th Avenue S and 16th Street S. His death sparked rioting, and more unrest when the shooting was later ruled justified. The family gathers every year on the anniversary of his death to remember him.
  16. Overdose deaths in Tampa Bay’s Black community are skyrocketing
    Oct. 7, 2021• Health
    Former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Keith McCants poses for a portrait on June 2 at Coffee Pot Park in St. Petersburg. He died at the age of 53 on Sept. 2.
  17. Children face racial disparities as COVID-19 infections rise
    Sep. 22, 2021• Health
    Mha’siyah Blake, 12, prepares to receive a COVID-19 vaccine administered by first year USF physician’s assistant student Caroline Cubero at a back to school health clinic at Middleton High School in Tampa on July 31.
  18. St. Pete gun violence may break records this year. Can this father end it?
    Sep. 21, 2021• St. Petersburg
    A 7-year-old boy reads the Black St. Pete Pledge during an August event at Lake Vista Recreation Center in St. Petersburg. The anti-gun violence pledge was created by Maress Scott, the father of Marquis Scott, who was shot and killed in the fall of 2019. The father has been asking community members to sign the pledge, which states: "I pledge not to murder another black person for the rest of this year. Instead of using a gun (or any other weapon), I will use my mind, my heart, and my mouth to solve any issues."
  19. Health care for U.S. mothers shows little improvement, new report says
    Sep. 15, 2021• Health
    Black women in the U.S. are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women, data shows.
  20. Is Florida vaccinating racial groups equitably? It’s hard to tell
    Sep. 13, 2021• Health
    Mha’siyah Blake, 12, waits to receive a COVID-19 vaccination while his father Tshambe Blake, 44, of Tampa, fills out paperwork at a back-to-school health clinic at Middleton High School in Tampa on Saturday, July 31, 2021.
  21. In Tampa Bay, it takes three minimum wage jobs to make rent, report says
    Sep. 7, 2021• Real Estate
    Bridget Cunningham stands in front of the Tampa duplex she's been renting on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. Her landlord is raising her rent by $1,000, she said. The lack of affordable rent options are motivating her to buy a property instead.
  22. Florida averages 250 COVID deaths a day; children top infections, positivity rates
    Aug. 27, 2021• Health
    Frontline workers at AdventHealth Daytona Beach hospital work in the COVID care unit. Many coronavirus patients there are surrounded by a tangle of machines and tubing that help keep them alive.
  23. Climate change will make heat even deadlier for outdoor workers, study says
    Aug. 19, 2021• News
    Carpenter Steven Miller, of Brooksville, takes a moment to clear the sweat from his face while framing interior walls at the Sutherland Trails development Thursday in Palm Harbor.
  24. Got questions about the contagious delta variant? Here’s some answers.
    Aug. 16, 2021• Health
    County health department nurse Orlyn Grace prepares a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Guatemalan Maya Center in Lake Worth, Florida on August 13, 2021.