Scope of veterinary medicine embraces animals and their people – Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

As we all are learning to cope with our current, ever-changing new normal I want to offer some musings and things I have learned through this coronavirus pandemic crisis. It is my sincerest hope that as you read this column, you, too, are overcome with love and compassion for our collective, human and animal suffering and rebounding resilience.

Veterinary medicine has always been touted as a career for animal lovers. However, anyone who remains in the field knows that to be successful one must enjoy interacting with people. After all, pets are always accompanied by their owners.

One of the things I have always loved about general practice is the ability to develop bonds not only with my patients but also their families. I enjoy hearing about the familys joys and triumphs. I have always tried to focus my interactions not only on presenting facts, guidance, and honesty; but also through a lens compassion and understanding for the family.

COVID 19 has shown me that I never realized how much I would miss these interactions until I couldnt be there for my clients in person.

I never realized how much I would miss being able to hug a client during a euthanasia or when were trying to make a difficult decision.

I miss being able to introduce myself to new clients by shaking their hand and inviting them into the exam room.

I miss being able to spend time in the exam room with clients talking them through my exam findings in real time. I miss helping seniors carry their pets to their cars. I even miss letting kids use my stethoscope to listen to their pets heartbeats.

Because at the end of the day yes my job is to do medicine, it is to be a veterinarian. But the best part of my job has, and always will be, interacting with clients and their pets.

The best part is that I get to help maintain and foster a deeper human animal bond through teaching the importance of what were trying to do.

Please know that our curbside check-ins and the way we are structuring appointments is to maintain public health and safety.

However, we feel the absence and change too. May we never take for granted again the power of a hug, a handshake and in-person conversation. I, for one, never will again.

Danielle Carey, a doctor of veterinary medicine, is an associate veterinarian at the Animal Clinic of Walla Walla.

See the article here:

Scope of veterinary medicine embraces animals and their people - Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

50 Years Ago: IHS begins program to train medicine men – Navajo Times

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

Fifty years ago this week, the U.S. Indian Health Service was looking at doing something it had never done before setting up a program to help train new medicine men. IHS officials said they were in discussions with the tribe and leading medicine men to see if such a program could be implemented on the Navajo Reservation much like the program that already existed to train doctors to serve in the U.S.

Public Health Service and in rural areas. Under that program, the federal government agreed to pay the tuition for medical school if the student agreed to serve five years in the Public Health Service or in a rural area. The PHS had been having a difficult time recruiting doctors because of the Vietnam War. The same situation existed within the IHS, which had been having problems for years recruiting doctors to serve in Gallup, much less in places like Tuba City and Crownpoint.

By giving them a break on their education costs, the IHS hoped that after a few years practicing medicine on the Navajo Reservation, they would decide to make this their permanent home.

That philosophy worked in a few cases but it wasnt until the Navajo Area office began encouraging Navajos to go to medical school and agreed to help with expenses that the program took off. Exactly how the IHS got the idea to get involved in training medicine men is not known but by 1970 there was already talk of an upcoming shortage of traditional practitioners as more young Navajos opted to get a regular 8-to-5 job.

Medicine man was a prestigious occupation in the first half of the 20th century when there were few jobs and most Navajos made a living raising sheep. After World War II ended and tribal leaders started encouraging young members to get a college education, the luster of being a medicine man seemed to wear off. Former Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald talked about a time in his life when he considered becoming a medicine man.

But after joining the Marines, he went on to college to study electrical engineering. Over the next 50 years, the Navajo Times would print numerous articles about the problem of getting young Navajos to become medicine men. The first obstacle was the training, which often took years of working with an experienced medicine man and becoming his apprentice.

Since there were a lot of ceremonies, each one required going over the words and protocols over and over again until you had it down to the satisfaction of your mentor. And then there was the financial aspect of the job. Unlike doctors, who made an above-average living, the Times learned that no medicine man made a fortune.

In fact, even the most popular medicine men on the reservation made not much more than a schoolteacher. And while there was a structure of sorts connected, one did not become a medicine man to become rich with each ceremony.

There were times when the family needing the ceremony would only be able to pay by other means, such as with sheep or jewelry. One of the aspects of the education process mentioned in the Navajo Times articles was that this was not an education one could get on their own. There were no books or tape recordings a student could study.

He had to attach himself to a master medicine man and attend ceremony after ceremony, memorizing the words and techniques. Another thing to factor in was reputation. Like in the world of doctors, some medicine men had better reputations than others; also, families became accustomed to going to one medicine man and they sought him out, making it harder for new medicine men to find clients.

This latter was resolved to some extant by the fact that many Navajo families scheduled ceremonies for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays so their children in college could attend when they came home. The demand for medicine men during those times became so great that even young medicine men had no problem finding work.

The Times published a story in the 1980s about concerns from officials of the Navajo Medicinemens Association after they heard reports that some of the newer members of their profession had shortened the length of some of the ceremonies. They called this a very serious problem because the shorter ceremonies were not considered to be as effective as the ones that had been around for generations.

Another problem that greatly affected the number of new medicine men who entered the profession was the fact that many experienced medicine men didnt want to train an apprentice. Not only was it hard work for little pay, they didnt see any benefit to train someone who eventually would be trying to get their clients. That was one of the benefits of the program the IHS would finally establish.

Not only did the prospective student get a stipend each month but so would the medicine man. When the program started, the stipend was $390 a month but it was later increased to $500 in certain situations.

The program also took into account the type of ceremonies the student would be taught. Special emphasis was placed on learning ceremonies that were being offered by only a couple of medicine men so the ceremonies would not be forever lost. The IHS program lasted several years and was eventually taken over by the tribe.

Stanford Medicine’s ‘Stuck@Home’ series closes the distance between medicine and art despite social distancing – The Stanford Daily

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

After almost a month of social distancing, it is difficult to imagine attending a concert. Throwing yourself in a crowd of thousands for the sole purpose of entertainment without worries for your health seems like a distant memory. Thankfully, current media technology has allowed for the arts to be shared with miles in between each audience member, something that communities wouldnt have had a decade ago. Popular artists have been using Instagram Live and daily YouTube uploads to keep their fans entertained. Broadway.com live-streamed a reading of Lips Together, Teeth Apart. Cirque du Soleil has been broadcasting 60-minute specials with highlights from their various shows.

Unfortunately, when you turn on your TV, the first thing you hear is news coverage on the pandemic. With stories about the influx of cases, it is easy to get lost in the medical world. However, there is no rule that states that STEM fields must be separate from the arts and that practitioners cannot engage in creative expression. The Medicine & the Muse Program at Stanford Medicine created the [emailprotected] concert series in late March to converge the worlds of medicine and humanities in front of a virtual audience. The organization is dedicated to continuing this event every week on Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. until the shelter-in-place order in the state of California terminates.

I had the fortune to watch the second [emailprotected] concert aired on April 2. Bryant Lin, a clinical associate professor of primary care and population health, served as the emcee for the entire hour. When asked for his reflection on the series, Lin reflected that [he] was inspired to help start the concert series out of a desire to forge closer human connections during a time when we all have to stay apart. He is amazed by the depth of sharing, warmth and talent in [the] community.

He started off the event by introducing Jacqueline Genovese, the executive director of The Medicine and The Muse Program. She thanked all the medical professionals working on the frontline of the pandemic, acknowledging that this is a difficult time for our community, our country and the world as a whole.

We believe in the strength of music and community to bring healing, Genovese stated as she smiled into the camera. She also commended Lin for being an enthusiastic host, joking lightheartedly that he could rival the famed Ryan Seacrest.

Before starting the program, Lin encouraged the audience to utilize the chat function on Zoom to send in comments and applaud the performers. An unfortunate instance of Zoombombing during the first performance, however, required that Lin and Genovese close the chat for all but the select cohort of performers, reminding those watching live of the importance of kindness and empathy in these trying times.

The concert opened with Matias Bruzoni, a pediatric surgeon, and Rajashree Koppolu, a nurse practitioner with pediatric general surgery, performing a medley of Im on Fire by Bruce Springsteen and Walkaway Joe by Trisha Yearwood. As part of their introduction, Lin asked the duo what has surprised them during this challenging time. Koppolu expressed that its been refreshing and wonderful to reconnect with good friends and family from around the country, while Bruzoni emphasized the impact of these times, adding that music is a good excuse. Weve been playing a lot of music ourselves its a good vent.

This passion for music was clearly exemplified the second that they began performing. As Bruzoni began playing the piano, Koppulus voice cut through the audio of Zoom as her relaxing tone enraptured the audience. The clearness of her voice contrasted so beautifully with the raspy nature of Bruzonis harmony, elevating the dynamic of the piece.

These harmonies were rivaled by Steve Goodman, the associate dean for the School of Medicine, and his son, Eli Goodman 21. In their introductions, Lin stated that Goodman has performed in numerous Bay Area productions and has sung the national anthem for the San Francisco Giants and the Golden State Warriors. This musical talent was not lost in Eli, who is a member of the Stanford a cappella group the Mendicants. The pair performed Brother Can You Spare a Dime, which, as Goodman explained, was the anthem for the unemployed during the Great Depression. As they sang, it was so interesting to listen to the difference in style. Goodman exemplified strong, classical training while Eli had a more contemporary tone (as you would expect of someone in the Mendicants). However, when they sang in unison, it was as if one person was performing.

Following performances by Anita Honiken, Alyssa Burgart, Laurel Braitman, Han Zhu, Jonathan Chen, Dan Li, Paramesh Gopi and his children and Tamara Dunn all exemplified the diverse range of musical talent within Stanford Medicine. There were elements within every performance that related back to the current stress of the pandemic, and these individuals spoke to their audience through their artistic mediums to virtually reassure everyone. In reciting the poem The Weighing by Jane Hirshfield, Laurel Braitman mused, the world asks of us only the strength we have and we give it. Then it asks more and we give it. These were not originally words written by her, but Braitman took them and made them her own with her delivery and audible silences.

Dan Lis performance of Drunken Man by Ruan Ji on the Guqin (a seven-stringed zither) was a form of music that you dont hear every day. The melodies were not what you would call conventionally pretty, but there was something about the chord structure and the form of the song that makes it so unique. There were no patterns that you could infer. As with current times, you had to take the piece as it came and allow yourself to relinquish a little bit of control over your musical expectations.

Another moment that stood out was Paramesh Gopi singing an Indian healing prayer with his entire family. After a stunning rendition of Rise Up by Andra Day performed by his children Kaanchana and Shankaran, the Gopi family crowded around a keyboard to perform said prayer. Prior to the performance, they explained that the prayer was historically used to deliver communities from disease. It was so heartwarming to visualize these individuals coming together to gather their hopes towards a common cause.

The event concluded with a sing-along, an idea crafted by Paul Wang, who acknowledged that in these uncertain times, it is important for all of us to come together as a community. What better way to join together than in song a sing-along. We all felt a bit closer. This part was led by Tamara Dunn, a clinical assistant professor in hematology and program director for hematology fellowship. She sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow, powerfully belting the well-known melody and taking liberties with the tempo of the piece. She added her own special take on the piece by including dips and soaring high notes as well as intentionally getting softer and concentrating the nostalgic tune into a definite close.

In a conversation afterward with Genovese, she remarked that as a non-clinician who works with so many wonderful physicians and medical students, I feel a bit helpless as our medical professionals go in every day and face the enormity of this pandemic. To be able to create community and bring musical joy to the medical community and others, and to provide a space and shine a light on our talented medical students, residents, doctors and staff, especially in such uncertain times, makes me feel just a little less helpless.

While there will undoubtedly be technical interruptions that come from conducting a Zoom concert, the [emailprotected] series has proven that no matter where you are and no matter how many years of experience you have, art is always something you can indulge in. No one knows for certain how much longer this pandemic will last, but this does not mean that each day must be faced with negativity. Creative expression provides an outlet and a method of community contribution for everyone, even if your career is not in the arts. Just as evolving media technology has been shaping the way that we learn, it can also shape the way that we entertain and the way that art is delivered and created.

As stated before, the [emailprotected] series will be every Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. PT until the shelter-in-place order ends. The next concert will be aired on April 9, 2020 (today) at 5:30 p.m. PT. Visit http://med.stanford.edu/medicineandthemuse.html for the Zoom link to attend.

If you are interested in performing in the series, please contact Jacqueline Genovese at [emailprotected].

Contact Chloe Chow at chloe23 at stanford.edu.

Continue reading here:

Stanford Medicine's 'Stuck@Home' series closes the distance between medicine and art despite social distancing - The Stanford Daily

Awareness, Attitudes, and Actions Related to COVID-19 – Annals of Internal Medicine

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

Center for Applied Health Research on Aging, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois (M.S.W., L.O., R.M.O., L.M.C., J.Y.B., G.W., S.B., M.E., P.Z., A.R., M.A., S.C.B.)

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (M.S.)

Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois (D.L., M.K., S.D.P., T.R., J.A.L.)

Grant Support: By grants R01AG030611, R01AG046352, R01DK110172, and R01NR015444 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Disclosures: Dr. Wolf reports grants from the NIH during the conduct of the study; grants from Merck, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the NIH, and Eli Lilly outside the submitted work; and personal fees from Sanofi, Pfizer, and Luto outside the submitted work. Dr. Serper reports personal fees from BioVie outside the submitted work. Ms. Batio reports grants from the NIH during the conduct of the study. Dr. Ladner reports grants from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases during the conduct of the study. Dr. Persell reports grants from Omron Healthcare and Pfizer outside the submitted work. Dr. Bailey reports grants from the NIH during the conduct of the study; grants from Merck, the NIH, and Eli Lilly outside the submitted work; grants and personal fees from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation outside the submitted work; and personal fees from Sanofi, Pfizer, and Luto outside the submitted work. Authors not named here have disclosed no conflicts of interest. Disclosures can also be viewed at http://www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M20-1239.

Editors' Disclosures: Christine Laine, MD, MPH, Editor in Chief, reports that her spouse has stock options/holdings with Targeted Diagnostics and Therapeutics. Darren B. Taichman, MD, PhD, Executive Editor, reports that he has no financial relationships or interests to disclose. Cynthia D. Mulrow, MD, MSc, Senior Deputy Editor, reports that she has no relationships or interests to disclose. Jaya K. Rao, MD, MHS, Deputy Editor, reports that she has stock holdings/options in Eli Lilly and Pfizer. Christina C. Wee, MD, MPH, Deputy Editor, reports employment with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Sankey V. Williams, MD, Deputy Editor, reports that he has no financial relationships or interests to disclose. Yu-Xiao Yang, MD, MSCE, Deputy Editor, reports that he has no financial relationships or interest to disclose.

Reproducible Research Statement: Study protocol and statistical code: Available from Dr. Wolf (e-mail, mswolf@northwestern.edu). Data set: Available to those who meet prespecified criteria; access allowed to deidentified data only. Available from Dr. Wolf (e-mail, mswolf@northwestern.edu).

Corresponding Author: Michael S. Wolf, PhD, MPH, MA, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 750 North Lake Shore Drive, 10th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611; e-mail, mswolf@northwestern.edu.

Current Author Addresses: Drs. Wolf, O'Conor, Arvanitis, Persell, Rowe, Linder, and Bailey; Ms. Opsasnick; Ms. Curtis; Ms. Benavente; Ms. Wismer; Ms. Batio; Ms. Eifler; Ms. Zheng; and Ms. Russell: Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 750 North Lake Shore Drive, 10th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611.

Dr. Serper: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, 2 Dulles, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

Dr. Ladner: Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 676 North Saint Clair Street, Suite 1900, Chicago, IL 60611.

Dr. Kwasny: Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 680 North Lake Shore Drive, Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60611.

Author Contributions: Conception and design: M.S. Wolf, M. Serper, L. Opsasnick, L.M. Curtis, J.Y. Benavente, G. Wismer, D. Ladner, T. Rowe, J.A. Linder, S.C. Bailey.

Analysis and interpretation of the data: M.S. Wolf, M. Serper, L. Opsasnick, R.M. O'Conor, L.M. Curtis, S. Batio, A. Russell, M. Arvanitis, D. Ladner, J.A. Linder, S.C. Bailey.

Drafting of the article: M.S. Wolf, L. Opsasnick, A. Russell, M. Arvanitis, J.A. Linder, S.C. Bailey.

Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content: M.S. Wolf, M. Serper, R.M. O'Conor, L.M. Curtis, D. Ladner, S.D. Persell, T. Rowe, J.A. Linder, S.C. Bailey.

Final approval of the article: M.S. Wolf, M. Serper, L. Opsasnick, R.M. O'Conor, L.M. Curtis, J.Y. Benavente, G. Wismer, S. Batio, M. Eifler, P. Zheng, A. Russell, M. Arvanitis, D. Ladner, M. Kwasny, S.D. Persell, T. Rowe, J.A. Linder, S.C. Bailey.

Provision of study materials or patients: M.S. Wolf, J.Y. Benavente, P. Zheng, D. Ladner.

Statistical expertise: M.S. Wolf, L. Opsasnick, L.M. Curtis, M. Kwasny, J.A. Linder.

Obtaining of funding: M.S. Wolf, D. Ladner, S.C. Bailey.

Administrative, technical, or logistic support: M.S. Wolf, R.M. O'Conor, J.Y. Benavente, G. Wismer, M. Eifler, P. Zheng, S.C. Bailey.

Collection and assembly of data: M.S. Wolf, L. Opsasnick, G. Wismer, M. Eifler, P. Zheng, A. Russell, D. Ladner.

See original here:

Awareness, Attitudes, and Actions Related to COVID-19 - Annals of Internal Medicine

Curfew in Peths affects medicine supply to city – Pune Mirror

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

Most wholesalers are in Sadashiv Peth; association asks shops to stock for a month. Police say bulk supply will be allowed, but storage units should be moved out of the cityThe effects of a more stringent lockdown in the heart of the city have led to a disruption in the supply of medicines to pharmaceutical stores across Pune. Despite these items falling into the essential category, wholesalers are unable to move stocks smoothly out of the Peth areas amid curfew, to deliver to stores.

Now, Chemists Association members have demanded that retailers stock up on medicines for a month and asked that wholesale supply be made available to them. While cops have said theyll facilitate movement, they also asked chemists to relocate their storage spaces for bulk inventory to the outskirts, to avoid crowding.

After PMC sealed several city areas on Monday, the Peths have been very difficult to move in and out of for delivery agents (inset). Chemists in various city areas now fear they are set to run out of of medicines and other health items like sanitary napkins

In this process, Sadashiv Peth has also been sealed off. Since most wholesale chemist stores are located here, they are now finding it difficult to supply medicines as per demand to retailers, resulting in a shortage of medicines at shops across the city.

Preferring to stay unnamed, the owner of Sai Medicals based in Hadapsar shared, Procuring medicines was already difficult due to the lockdown. With this curfew, our delivery boys are now not even able to cross Swargate. Since wholesale shops are in Sadashiv Peth, it has become impossible to get anything. Slowly, we are running out of stock.

With medicines, several other essential health products like sanitary napkins are also elusive. From Sinhagad Road, Chetan Sharma of Chetan Medicals, added, There is lot of confusion in this lockdown. So, many delivery staffers also refused to turn up. There are barricades in several areas. But, we have managed to send our delivery agents to get the required material today. Tomorrow is another story. We are already facing a shortage of supply by 10 per cent.

Meanwhile, wholesalers are struggling to keep up with orders, as police barricades have sealed off all lanes to halt vehicular movement. Next door, Shaniwar Peth and parts of Kasba Peth are also sealed. Considering this, association members have requested all chemists to stock up, so that they will not face issues in coming weeks. Anil Belkar, secretary, Chemists Association, said, Normally, we get as per needs and those amounts are sup-plied. For now, doctors are also asking many patients to continue with the same medication, so demand is measurable. But, chemists need to take a round up and stock for the next 15 days or a month. Delivery boys are reluctant, so supply will get hampered.

Cops have advised chemists to change storage locations. Joint commissioner of police (CP) for Pune city, Ravindra Shisve, clarified, Association members are constantly in touch with our DCPs. We will decide timings for vehicular movement and facilitate only bulk supply. We are also advising chemists to opt for storage for this supply in the outskirts, so that there is minimal human movement in the containment zone. In the given situation, reducing this movement is the need of the hour.

Link:

Curfew in Peths affects medicine supply to city - Pune Mirror

Laugh it off. It might just be the best medicine to battle the coronavirus. – Houston Chronicle

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

Dusti Rhodes has wondered who decides when its OK to laugh at a bad situation.

The Houston comedian and high school teacher said people dont always know when theyre allowed to chuckle at something, especially a collective hardship like COVID-19.

On a conference call with her fellow teachers, Rhodes was surprised when one co-worker announced she let herself watch a comedy. Rhodes said people feel an invisible social obligation to not laugh during this time.

But thats silly.

When the city went on an effective lockdown, Rhodes braced herself for terrible and cheap jokes. They came in every format internet memes mostly and many were cringe-worthy.

But they did make her laugh. And laughing makes her feel better. She realized everybody decides for themselves when theyre comfortable making light of a situation, and it almost always helps to just laugh it out.

When you choose to start making jokes, its how you deal with it; youre able to dismiss the sad feelings you have about it and it makes it a little easier, said Rhodes, 38. Youre not dismissing the terribleness of that news. But you have to laugh.

And laughing has both short-term and long-term benefits for our mental and physical health, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Short-term effects can include the stimulation of organs, like your lungs, heart and core muscles. Laughter can also trigger an endorphin release, which can lead to relief in our stress responses, muscle relaxation and lowered tension.

Studies have shown daily laughter can lead to an improved immune system and overall pain relief. Giggles big and small can help alleviate varying levels of depression, according to the clinic.

Rhodes type of comedy is personal. Its usually about me and the awkwardness of my life, but its not self-deprecation, she said.

Her style is telling a relatable story, from awkward dates to weird sex to growing up ugly. Her goal is for every night on stage to end in mutual laughs.

When the world isnt in a pandemic, she runs Rudyards Open Mic Comedy Night every Monday and has a regular show at The Secret Group in East Downtown, a venue she calls her home club.

Rhodes had plans to record her first comedy album for Sure Thing Records in Austin this month. She postponed the recording date for one reason: she needs an audience to tell jokes.

The strange thing about comedy that is different from being a singer or a band in a music studio is that (for them), it doesnt matter if theres not an audience there, she said. Its awkward if a comedian is telling jokes and theres not an audience there to laugh.

Kevin Cotter will host his Laughter Workout class on Zoom every Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Zoom details:https://us04web.zoom.us/j/738801156

Meeting ID: 738 801 156

Rebecca Fiszer, 54, considers herself a pretty well-adjusted loner. She has an 11-year-old miniature schnauzer named Harley and enjoys quiet time after a days work at a Houston law firm.

But since Fiszer began working from home last month, she realized she misses the sound of one of her co-workers buoyant laughter. Every time he laughed in his office, Fiszer would overhear it and begin laughing herself. She misses it so much that she asked him to record it and send it to her, so she could listen from home.

This is a different level of being alone, Fiszer said. When you go to a store, youre still forced into social interaction. But in this situation, all that is being cut out. Im struggling, too. I need to see somebody.

Last week, Fiszer joined Kevin Cotters Laughter Workout class via Zoom.

Cotter teaches laughter as a form of mental and physical fitness; its akin to laughter yoga, an exercise in laughing developed by Dr. Madan Kataria in India. Kataria found that our bodies dont differentiate between genuine laughter and fake laughter, and our brains release feel-good chemicals like serotonin and dopamine regardless.

Laughter exercises help oxygenate the body and brain due to deep breathing practices and spread contagious laughter and childlike playfulness, according to LaughterYoga.org. It also lowers the presence of cortisol, a hormone that causes stress in our bodies.

Cotter found laughter yoga early in his treatment for clinical depression six years ago. Knowing his background as a class clown, his therapist recommended he try it.

He began teaching in assisted-living facilities and nursing homes, and found that older people need an extra push to laugh again.

The class is broken down into a series of laughs, like the Yee-Haw and Santa Claus.

Were in Texas, so we dont say Aloha here; we say Yee-Haw. We say YEEEE-Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, Cotter said as he starts tall and bends down to holler the ha-has.

For the Santa Claus laugh, Cotter put his hand on his stomach and bellowed out Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho, much faster than a typical Santa.

Once he teaches students how to perform the laughs, they laugh in rapid succession, switching from one to the other.

Even though the laughs start artificially, they quickly become real, he said. People feel ridiculous at first, but then they lose the self-consciousness and feel good.

Sound far-fetched? He thought so, too. But he cant argue with the results.

Fiszer said she felt lighter at the end of class, a feeling she had forgotten in the past few weeks.

Watching or hearing anything funny just does make you feel better. It takes your mind off things, she said. I do think its contagious.

julie.garcia@chron.com

twitter.com/reporterjulie

Read this article:

Laugh it off. It might just be the best medicine to battle the coronavirus. - Houston Chronicle

INTERVIEW: Emergency Medicine Doc In NYC Talks COVID-19, How It’s Different Than The Flu, And What He’s Seeing On The Ground – The Daily Wire

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

On Wednesday, The Daily Wire spoke with Dr. Zachary Blankenship, DO, a fourth year Emergency Medicine resident physician working at St. Barnabas Hospital in The Bronx, New York City, the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

As of publication, New York City has just over 19% of total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States, and nearly 32% of deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) Global Cases map.

[NOTE: The observations/opinions expressed below are that of one doctor in one hospital, and while indicative of what this physician is seeing on the ground in the hospital in which he works, nothing in this interview should be taken as necessarily representative of the experiences of other doctors in other hospitals in New York City and throughout the nation.]

DW: What did you see before on a normal day versus a day during this pandemic?

BLANKENSHIP: The emergency room is always a grab bag. Our specialty consists of really anything and everything that could come through the door. You have a mix of the sickest people youve ever seen in your life, and sometimes you have people who are not so sick, or have more minor ailments, and our job is to figure out which is which, whos who, and where people need to go. Do they need to go to surgery? Do they need to be admitted to the hospital? Can they go home? So, it was just much more of a mix of highs and lows.

Now, what were seeing is everybody is sick. Our ER still has a small area thats dedicated to right now treating people who are coming for non-coronavirus related issues. That section may be a little bit more of business as usual, but thats a small fraction of the patients who are coming in.

What Im seeing now is people who are much, much, much sicker. And every once in a while, I have somebody who is well enough to go home and self-quarantine. Then of course, we give those people what we call return precautions, saying, If this happens, come back to the hospital, or If this happens, call911.

DW: When youre seeing COVID-19 cases on the floor now, what is that like? Whats the procedure when a suspected COVID case comes in?

BLANKENSHIP: Everybody who is suspected COVID is placed in our section for COVID patients because the test doesnt come back immediately, and we presume that they have it. One thing that were doing is were getting a chest X-ray on people as soon as they come in the door. These people all have viral pneumonia, and so were basically judging off of that chest X-ray.

The main thing in resuscitation, the first thing is always airway, breathing, circulation and pretty much all of these people have difficulty breathing. So then we have to decide how we are going to take care of that. Some people can use whats called a nasal cannula, which is the two prongs that go in your nose. Some people require a mask, which is called a non-rebreather. Its the clear mask that has a bag attached to it. Then the sickest of the sickest actually get intubated and put on a ventilator.

DW: Whats the intubation process like?

BLANKENSHIP: The intubation process involves a lot of setup, getting all your equipment ready all around the bedside doctors and nurses, a respiratory therapist, all of the bedside ready to go. You administer medication. Typically, youll do one medication for sedation and one medication for paralysis. Then you insert the endotracheal tube and confirm that with your physical exam and with a chest X-ray. Then you attach the ventilator to the endotracheal tube.

Weve been doing a lot of whats called video-assisted intubation. We have a machine where the blade that youre putting in someones mouth to look at their airway actually has a fiber optic camera attached to it so you can better visualize what youre doing.

DW: From a patient perspective, once one has been intubated, are you kept under after the process is completed?

BLANKENSHIP: You are kept sedated because the procedure can be pretty uncomfortable. On TV, they use the term medically-induced coma. So, youre giving people a combination of pain medication and sedating medication so that they are out of it, that theyre unaware of whats going on, and theyre not responsive to the interventions that youre doing. We dont say medically-induced coma, we just say the patient is sedated.

DW: What are you seeing as it pertains to intubated patients? Are a majority of your intubated patients recovering?

BLANKENSHIP: I would say the majority, as far as I can tell and keep in mind this is not epidemiologic data, these are the observations of one doctor at one hospital. What I have seen is typically the patients who are so sick that they require intubation dont end up doing well, and Ive had many patients die on the ventilator. It seems to me that the patients who are able to get by without being intubated are the ones who are going to make it. That being said, I just heard this morning on one of our conference calls that weve had five patients recently who were able to be extubated and discharged, which is good to hear.

DW: How is this different than the flu, and why should it be taken more seriously?

BLANKENSHIP: Whats frustrating about it is that the flu happens every year, it kills thousands of people, and nobody seems to take it seriously. We cant convince people to get flu shots. We cant convince people to self-medicate as far as getting rest and hydration, and taking Tylenol or Motrin for their fever.

This, though, is not the flu. The flus course is much more predictable. You get sick people over a much longer time period, so that the capacity for our hospitals, our resource limits, are not strained in the way that they are now.

The other thing about the flu is that even though it can affect people in different ways as far as having respiratory symptoms, as far as having GI symptoms, the severity is just not as bad. Whereas the patients that Ive been seeing here in the ER, I was really surprised at just how sick these patients are. And its not simply people with a little cough, a little fever. Its people who are really, critically ill.

These patients have respiratory failure requiring oxygen. Most of the flu patients I see do not require oxygen. Ive seen a lot of heart failure. Ive seen a lot of heart attacks. And I believe theres some evidence that the virus directly affects your heart rather than the heart failure being secondary to respiratory failure. All of my patients have deranged laboratory values, like abnormal electrolytes, kidney failure, liver failure.

There seems to be some effect on your bloods ability to clot and break down clots, which is at a constant balance. And so Ive seen a ton of people who have blood clots. Theyre getting blood clots in the brain, which we call a stroke, blood clots in the heart, or a heart attack. Ive seen people with blood clots in the leg, too. Ive also seen patients with bleeding, gastrointestinal bleeding, blood in the urine.

DW: And these are all COVID cases?

BLANKENSHIP: These are all COVID cases. So, these people are being affected almost from head to toe. Multiple organ systems are all being affected by COVID. And dont get me wrong, there are plenty of people who are getting it, staying at home for 14 days, theyre sick for a few days, and then they feel just fine and they do okay but the ones who are truly sick are much sicker than any flu patient Ive ever seen.

DW: Do you have enough PPE, or are you struggling with supplies?

BLANKENSHIP: Were good. Our hospital has taken good care of us. I think weve also received some private donations. Were not worried about that at all.

DW: Hows the situation with capacity, specifically as it pertains to ventilator access?

BLANKENSHIP: We did have an influx of ventilators. We were able to increase our supply, and we have used most of them. But capacity has been actually improving. This week I worked five nights in a row, and it definitely got better as I went on through the nights as far as number of patients.

DW: What is your stress level like? How has this impacted you as a physician?

BLANKENSHIP: It goes back and forth because as an emergency medicine physician, this is what we were trained for, and weve always seen the sickest of the sick. So there are times when Im in the middle of a shift and Im just working, working, working, I dont really have time to think about the bigger picture, and then maybe you get a little lull and you start to think, Wow, this is really crazy. Sometimes Im more negative and feeling extremely stressed, and then other times I feel more positive and think, At least Im doing something. And the camaraderie between staff has been very good, very high, really supporting each other. So, its good to know youve got other people, and that other people have your back.

DW: How is this impacting your colleagues? How do you see this impacting their behavior or their stress levels?

BLANKENSHIP: It varies from person to person. I think the stress level is definitely higher than baseline. Thats hard to say. I think well know when this is over really just how much people have been affected. But right now, its almost like we dont have time to be stressed because theres so much to be done.

DW: What would you say to those who are downplaying the impact of COVID?

BLANKENSHIP: Please dont. Please dont. That has been one of my big frustrations. Maybe this is some sort of denial. Maybe people are trying to protect themselves because they dont want to face that. Downplaying it doesnt just hurt you, it hurts everybody youve come into contact with. It hurts people who are older than you. It hurts people who are baseline sicker than you. I think its selfish.

DW: We just saw a predicted drop in deaths on the IHME model to approximately 60,400 on the low end, and ICU bed need down to 19,400 or so. Do you think we are effectively flattening the curve?

BLANKENSHIP: That is really hard to say. So much of that depends on where you are because I think there are places that still havent been fully impacted yet. Are we effectively flattening the curve? For starters, we definitely werent at the beginning of this, right? We had months to prepare for this, and we pretty much did nothing. We were told over and over again, Dont worry about it. So I think at the beginning, no, we did not effectively flatten the curve. However, our interventions, our social interventions, made a difference. Now, I think time will tell.

DW: To those who say that if the curve is flattening, its because COVID-19 wasnt a big deal to begin with, what would you say?

BLANKENSHIP: I would say youre wrong. The people who are going to say that are not the ones who have just lost a parent or lost a grandparent. Because for those people, it was as bad as we said it was going to be. With something like this, if you over-prepare and things do end up being not as bad as they said it was going to be, thats a good thing. Thats a good thing to take precautions and save lives. Whats not good is a sense of complacency or not doing anything, and then having the alternative happen, where far too many people die.

DW: Is there something that we havent touched on in this interview that you would want our readership to know about this whole situation?

BLANKENSHIP: I would just say to please think about others. Please think about how your individual actions are affecting others. Think about what you can do to make the situation better. And I know everyones heard it a million times, but please stay home, if you can limit the number of times you leave your home. Ive just seen and heard from far too many people who are still going everywhere they want to go and doing everything they want to do, and think of this whole situation as some big inconvenience to them personally. So, please stay home. And if you have to go out for any reason hopefully its a good reason take precautions. Do the things that you know youre supposed to do.

I dont want to be too negative, but I have just seen so many people die in the last week. Ive seen people who are so sick, and were doing everything we possibly can, and they still die. And so even though I know Im helping a lot of people, I still felt like I needed to do something else, which is why I made that video when I came home the other morning because my family back in Oklahoma, and my friends in Oklahoma, they just dont get it. I think that, I dont know, maybe the news somehow isnt real enough to people. So maybe if they see my face and hear my voice, then maybe itll become real for them.

[The above reference: Dr. Blankenship posted a video to his Facebook on April 7 in which he asked that people stay home, and explained what he is seeing in a daily basis in the emergency room as it relates to COVID-19.]

And I think that if it never really makes it out to certain places, or they end up having a much lower death toll than predicted, then thats wonderful. It means weve done something right. After the fact, they shouldnt then turn around and say, Oh look, this whole thing was some big hoax. Because for 1.4 million people, it has not been a hoax.

The Daily Wire would like to thank Dr. Blankenship for taking the time to speak about this important issue in this critical time. For information pertaining to the current COVID-19 numbers in the United States, as well as the rest of the world, check out the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) Global Cases map here.

More here:

INTERVIEW: Emergency Medicine Doc In NYC Talks COVID-19, How It's Different Than The Flu, And What He's Seeing On The Ground - The Daily Wire

Meet the MEPs returning to medicine amid the coronavirus pandemic – Euronews

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

EU institutions are on lockdown and, while politics goes online, those with medical training are heading to the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I'm working again as a medical doctor in a private practice where I practised until the end of 2002 so it's quite a long time ago," German MEP Peter Liese told Euronews over Skype.

He gives a quick sweep of the room to show the medical equipment at the cabinet practice in Germany, where, he explains, he does the 'easy stuff', such as taking blood samples.

Another former doctor and MEP is Chrysoula Zacharopoulou from France. These days she is working at a military hospital near Paris. Seeing the crisis up close, gives her some perspective on the EU's response.

"In the face of such a huge sanitary crisis, it's normal that we didn't have the right answer at the start. But now, I think, the Commission, the institutions, using modern technology, have stepped up to the plate. I think that we do see European solidarity."

Having a medical background has helped these MEPs see what is needed to protect public health, across borders. Peter Liese says he had already encouraged the Commission to create a contact point where all hospitals that still have capacity could be registered when they are ready to accept patients from abroad.

Both doctors are reluctant to say when life can go back to normal. They acknowledge that lockdowns are difficult for everyone, but emphasise the need to stay put a little bit longer.

"Let's be humble and patient. Let's respect the instructions and stay and home - out of respect for care-givers, for ourselves and society," insists Zacharopoulou.

Originally posted here:

Meet the MEPs returning to medicine amid the coronavirus pandemic - Euronews

COVID-19 coping mechanism: Laughter is the best medicine! – Loop News Jamaica

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

BOSTON (AP) Neil Diamond posts a fireside rendition of Sweet Caroline with its familiar lyrics tweaked to say, Hands ... washing hands.

A news anchor asks when social distancing will end because my husband keeps trying to get into the house.

And a sign outside a neighbourhood church reads: Had not planned on giving up quite this much for Lent.

Are we allowed to chuckle yet? Wed better, psychologists and humourists say.

Laughter can be the best medicine, they argue, so long as its within the bounds of good taste.

And in a crisis, it can be a powerful coping mechanism.

Its more than just medicine, its survival, said Erica Rhodes, a Los Angeles comedian.

Even during the Holocaust, people told jokes, Rhodes said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Laughter is a symbol of hope, and it becomes one of our greatest needs of life, right up there with toilet paper.

Its a physical need people have. You cant underestimate how it heals people and gives them hope.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

Those are scary words and scary prospects.

But, history has shown that its heaviest moments are often leavened by using humour and laughter as conscious choices ways to cope when other things arent working as expected.

Theres so much fear and horror out there. All the hand washing in the world isnt going to clear up your head, said Loretta LaRoche, a suburban Boston stress management consultant whos using humour to help people defuse the anxiety the pandemic has wrought.

Some people will say this is not a time for laughter. The bottom line is, there is always a time for laughter, LaRoche said.

We have 60,000 thoughts a day and many of them are very disturbing. Laughter helps the brain relax.

That explains why social media feeds are peppered with coronavirus-themed memes, cartoons and amusing personal anecdotes.HeresDiamond posting a videoof himself singing Sweet Caroline with the lyrics altered to say: Hands ... washing hands ... dont touch me ... I wont touch you.

TheresFox News anchor Julie Banderas tweeting: How long is this social distancing supposed to last? My husband keeps trying to get into the house.

Heres Austin restaurant El Arroyo, still smarting economically from the outbreak-induced postponement of the South by Southwest music festival,turning its outdoor message board into a mock dating app: Single man w/TP seeks single woman w/hand sanitizer for good clean fun.

And over here, see novelist Curtis Sittenfeld, sharinga photo of herself eating lunch in her wedding dressafter her kids asked her to wear it and I couldnt think of a reason not to.

Take a breather:

For centuries, laughter in tough times has been cathartic, said Wayne Maxwell, a Canadian psychologist who has done extensive research on gallows humour.

The term originated in medieval Britain, where hangings took place in parks near pubs and patrons told jokes at the victims expense.

Even in some of the writings of ancient Egypt, there are descriptions of military personnel returning from the front lines and using humour to cope, said Maxwell, of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

But, he warns, there exists a kind of comedy continuum: While humour can helpfully lighten things up, too much laughter and flippancy can signal a person is trying to escape from reality.

There are also questions of taste. No one wants to poke fun at medical misery or death.

Quarantining and social distancing, though, are fair game, and self-deprecating humour is almost always safe though LaRoche cautions that humour, like beauty, is always in the eye of the beholder.

It all depends on how your brain functions, she said.

Give yourself permission to find humour. Its almost like a spiritual practice, finding ways to laugh at yourself.

For those millions of parents struggling to work from home and teach their housebound children, shes preaching to the choir.

Witnessthis widely shared meme: a photo of an elderly, white-haired woman with the caption: Heres Sue. 31 years old, home schooling her kids for the last 5 days. Great job Sue. Keep it up.

Michael Knight, a 29-year-old musician and a caseworker for people with mental disabilities, has been breaking the tension by posting memes like: They said a mask and gloves were enough to go to the grocery store. They lied. Everyone else had clothes on.

It helps me decompress, said Knight, of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

It kind of offsets the paralyzing effects of the boogeyman that is the pandemic.

Rhodes, whos out more than $30,000 after three festivals and her first taped special were cancelled, is trying to see the humour in her own predicament.

She recently posted an iPhone video of herselfpretending to work a non-existent crowdon an outdoor stage she happened upon during a walk. Hows everyone not doing? she cracks.

The best material comes from a place thats very truthful and somewhat dark, Rhodes added.

Her prediction: When life eventually edges back to normal, Saturday Night Live and the latest Netflix stand-up specials will be powered by quarantine humour.

Just a month ago, who would have appreciated being given a roll of toilet paper? she said. I mean, the whole world is upside down.

Continue reading here:

COVID-19 coping mechanism: Laughter is the best medicine! - Loop News Jamaica

57% of Canadians Say Household Income Negatively Impacted by COVID-19 – Yahoo Finance

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

TransUnion unveils research assessing pandemics effect on consumer finances

TORONTO, April 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nearly three out of five Canadians (57%) said their household income has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The newly released research from TransUnion (TRU) found that an additional 10% of Canadian adults said they expect their household income will suffer in the future.

Alberta (63%) and Saskatchewan (67%) were the provinces which reported the highest percentage of household incomes negatively impacted with both already dealing with economic shocks before COVID-19 as a result of oil price declines.

TransUnion has initiated a survey of adults in Canada and abroad to better understand the financial impact of COVID-19 on consumers. The survey (commenced March 31, 2020) of 1,064 adults marked the first for the country in what will be an ongoing series. Additional details as well as resources for consumers looking to minimize the potential negative impact of the pandemic on their credit, and access to self-serve, educational materials can be found at https://www.transunion.ca/covid-19.

Whether its their health, financial well-being or changes in day-to-day living, the lives of millions of people in Canada and abroad have been dramatically changed. The situation is evolving at an incredibly fast pace and we need to come together as a nation to solve the unique problems and situations that arise, said Todd Skinner, TransUnion Regional President for Canada, Latin America and Caribbean. The aim of our weekly consumer research is to better understand the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and better inform consumers, businesses and government decisions during these unprecedented times. It is important that businesses and consumers are able to continue to transact with confidence and we will do everything in our power to help facilitate the provision of lending and commerce during these uncertain times.

TransUnions research found that the youngest generations, particularly Millennials (those born 1980 to 1994) and Gen Z (born from 1995 onwards), felt most impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. While 70% of consumers who have had their household income impacted by COVID-19 are concerned about paying their bills, this increased to 78% for Millennials and 74% for Gen Z. On average, Canadian respondents said they will be short about $935 in the near future.

Our focus is on supporting Canadian consumers, businesses and the wider economy as a whole. We know this is an extremely difficult time, and were committed to helping people navigate any financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers are facing many unexpected challenges and its natural that people are concerned about their finances. Its really important that there is a dialogue between businesses and their customers at this time of uncertainty. Equally, we encourage consumers looking to minimize potential negative impacts of the pandemic on their credit to visit TransUnions COVID-19 website, concluded Skinner.

TransUnions research and credit education tools will be updated weekly on its COVID-19 website as the company continues to support consumers and businesses from around the globe.

About TransUnion TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible in the modern economy. We do this by providing a comprehensive picture of each person so they can be reliably and safely represented in the marketplace. As a result, businesses and consumers can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good. TransUnion provides solutions that help create economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for hundreds of millions of people in more than 30 countries. Our customers in Canada comprise some of the nations largest banks and card issuers, and TransUnion is a major credit reporting, fraud, and analytics solutions provider across the finance, retail, telecommunications, utilities, government and insurance sectors.

For more information visit: http://www.transunion.ca

57% of Canadians Say Household Income Negatively Impacted by COVID-19 - Yahoo Finance

Religion news April 4 – The Republic

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

Services and studies

Cornerstone Outreach Ministries A nondenominational ministry at 1229 California St., Columbus. The Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m.

Bible study is on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

For more information, call 812-375-4502.

Dayspring Church Apostolic Worship begins at 11:15 a.m. at the church, 2127 Doctors Park Drive, Columbus. Every visitor will receive a free gift.

The Sunday Education Session starts at 10 a.m.

Bible Study is Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. and is a group session sponsored by Heart Changers International, LLC on Depression, Perfection and Anger with hand out questions. These help build our Personal Empowerment and walk.

Our Prayer of Power starts at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and is preceded with requests and instructions on prayer.

Ignite is the Youth Growth Session that happens every third Friday.

For more information, call 812-372-9336, or email dayspringchurch@att.net.

East Columbus United Methodist East Columbus United Methodist Church services and Bible studies are canceled due to the pandemic.

Fairlawn Presbyterian Weekly Worship Service on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. via Zoom (links and numbers below or folks can check fairlawnpc.net or visit our Facebook page for login and phone information).

Please use Zoom to call in by phone and/or login online.

Join the Online Zoom Meeting at https://zoom.us/j/431070245 with the Meeting ID of 431 070 245

Dial in using landline or cell phone: +1 253 215 8782 US; +1 301 715 8592 US; Meeting ID: 431 070 245

For more information, visit Fairlawns Facebook page or website (fairlawnpc.net), email office@fairlawnpc.net or call 812-372-3882.

All are welcome!

Please call or email the church office for most up to date information at 812-372-3882 or office@fairlawnpc.net

The church is located at 2611 Fairlawn Drive, Columbus.

Faith Lutheran Faith Lutheran Church will be streaming Palm Sunday worship on Facebook this Sunday, April 5, at 9 a.m.

During Holy Week, Maundy Thursday worship will stream live on Facebook on Thursday, April 9 at 6:30 p.m.

On Good Friday, April 10, worship will stream live on Facebook at 6:30 p.m.

On Saturday evening, April 11, Easter Vigil worship will stream live at 6:30 p.m. Then on Easter Sunday morning, April 12, we will gather together to worship again at 9 a.m.

Services are available on our Facebook site: Faith Lutheran Church Columbus. More information is at Faithontheweb.org or call 812-342-3587.

The church is located at 6000 W. State Road 46, Columbus.

First Christian Church The church will only be having an online service at 10:30 a.m. on Facebook (www.facebook.com/FCCOC) and at http://www.fccoc.org/sunday/watch-now.

Details at http://www.fccoc.org

First Baptist Columbus will not be holding public worship gatherings at present. The church does offer a live stream worship connection at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays.

First Presbyterian First Presbyterian Church has canceled all in-person gatherings, including worship and committee meetings, and our office is closed until further notice. If you need to be in touch with us, please call (812) 372-3783 and leave a message, and we will be back in touch with you as soon as possible.

Streaming of worship services is available here https://www.facebook.com/groups/56933406910/ each Sunday, until we are meeting back in the church. Join us as we worship together through technology!

Please know that we are praying for our church, our community and the world in this time of crisis, and we encourage you to join us in prayer. God bless you.

Information: fpccolumbus.org

First United Methodist Worship services at First United Methodist Church have been canceled through April 12. We will have a live stream version of worship every Sunday at 10 a.m. on our Facebook page.

The Life Planning Seminar that was scheduled for April 5th has been postponed.

With regards to our Holy Week Services (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday), FUMC will likely have some kind of video/live streaming services to view, but will not have services at the church.

Information: 812-372-2851 or fumccolumbus.org.

Flintwood Wesleyan The church is located at 5300 E. 25th St.

In response to the current Covid-19 (coronavirus) situation, Flintwood Wesleyan Church is canceling all in-person services and activities through April 5th. This includes Sunday worship, choir practice, Celebrate Recovery, I-Kids, Youth, and Bible study. Schools will be closed until May 1st, resulting in all our Wednesday activities being canceled until then.

A Livestream worship service will be available Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. via the Flintwood Wesleyan Church Group Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Please remember to check our various communication spaces Facebook, Website, Mobile App for updates. Your Flintwood staff will be doing everything possible to keep our congregation encouraged. We need to do all we can to keep our staff encouraged.

Above all pray!

For further information about services or our ministries, please call 812.379.4287 or email flintwoodoffice@gmail.com. Church office hours are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Our website is http://www.flintwood.org

Garden City Church of Christ Garden City Church of Christ is canceling services until April 5.

We intend to provide weekly sermons at gardencitychurch.com or on our Facebook page. These sermons will be available at or before 10 a.m. each Sunday morning. In absence of our weekly gatherings, you are encouraged to continue giving your tithes and offerings through the website and the GivePlus app.

The offices will remain open throughout the week. If conditions change, we will provide an update.

Garden City Church of Christ is located at 3245 Jonesville Road, Columbus.

For more information, visit gardencitychurch.com or call 812-372-1766.

Grace Lutheran The Rev. John Armstrong will preach on Sunday. Worship is at 8 a.m. and can be livestreamed at http://www.gracecolumbus.org/livstream/.

The church is located at 3201 Central Ave., Columbus.

New Vision Community Church Friendship Sunday is April 5 at 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. at the church, 1740 State St. The church welcomes everyone. Anointed singing and preaching in both services.

An Easter weekend revival will begin on Good Friday April 10 at 7 p.m. Communion will also be offered on Good Friday.

Saturday night April 11 at 6 p.m. will feature a gospel singing by the Riddells from Pendleton.

Sunday morning April 12 will feature special singing and preaching for Easter service.

Sunday School will be at 11:15 a.m.

For more information, call Chris Rutan at 812-447-2121.

Old Union United Church of Christ The Sunday worship service will being at 10 a.m. Sunday school will be at 9 a.m. with fellowship at 9:40 a.m.

The church is located at 12703 N. County Road 50W, Edinburgh.

Petersville United Methodist Church The Petersville United Methodist Church will be closed until further notice. Persons may check the Petersville United Methodist Church Facebook page for additional information.

Teresa Covert will post a childrens sermon on her Facebook page.

There will not be an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 4.

Information: 812-546-4438; 574-780-2379.

Sandy Hook United Methodist The church will be having a Bible study on the book of Jonah for seven spring Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. from April 1 through May 13. This video-based study is part of the Epic of Eden Bible studies.

Please contact the church office at 812-372-8495 or office@sandyhook.org if interested in participating (so books can be ordered).

The church is located at 1610 Taylor Road in Columbus.

St. Pauls Episcopal Church All in-person activities at the church are suspended until further notice. Sunday worship is being hosted on ZOOM at 10:15 am each Sunday morning (Meeting ID# 2912120372). Wednesday Stations of the Cross are hosted at 5:30 pm on ZOOM (same meeting ID). The First Thursday Ladies Lunch will also be on ZOOM (same meeting ID) April 2nd at 11:30 am. (Friends of Bill W. are still meeting on their regular schedule at this time).

St. Paul Lutheran In response to the Stay at Home order, St. Paul Lutheran Church has suspended regularly scheduled worship services through April 5th. For pastoral care, please contact the church at 812-376-6504.

Open enrollment for the 2020-2021 preschool and kindergarten registration continues. Classes are for children who are 3-, 4- or 5-years old by Aug. 1. Information: 812-376-6504 or stpaulcolumbus.org.

Information: 812-376-6504.

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbus UUCCI building has been closed for services and all other gatherings until further notice.

Many of these programs can be or have already been moved online at https://uucci.org/

The church is at 7850 W. Goeller Blvd., Columbus.

Information: 812-342-6230.

Westside Community Until further notice, all in-person and onsite activities, including Sunday worship, are suspended. Please visit http://www.WCCShareJesus.com for recorded sermons, as well as Facebook for daily Points to Ponder by Pastor Dennis Aud.

When able, WCC has plans to host a community-wide garage sale. Be on the lookout for more details in the upcoming weeks. If interested in participating, while you are stuck at home this might be a good time to clean out your basements, closets, garages, etc.

For more information on studies or small groups that meet throughout the week, contact the church office at 812-342-8464.

Events

Community Church of Columbus An eight-week parenting course entitled Parenting with Love and Logic is designed for parents of children ages 6 and under. The course will be offered at Community Church of Columbus, 3850 N. Marr Road, as part of the Tuesday Connection series. Dinner is also available each week at 5:30 p.m. along with child care at no cost.

Eckankar of Southern Indiana All Eckankar events in Indiana are suspended through May 31, 2020. This is to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. This includes the monthly Eckankar Spiritual Discussion held the third Sunday of the month at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation building in Columbus, Indiana.

Check http://www.eck-indiana.org for the latest update on events in Indiana, and you are invited to browse the main Eckankar website for videos and reading material at http://www.Eckankar.org.

Fairlawn Presbyterian Joint Lenten Study with First Presbyterian Church on Jesus Sees Women on the following dates:

Tuesday, April 7 at First Presbyterian Church 512 Seventh Street about Out of Chaos Hope Presbyterian Disaster Assistance led by Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Kirkpatrick.

Connect via your laptop or computer (if it has video and audio capabilities). Go to your internet browser and enter https://zoom.us/j/668104094 (or just click on the link). It is suggested that you log in a few minutes early because if youve never connected with Zoom, when you log in for the very first time it does require a small download for your browser.

Equally helpful is if you have a smart phone or iPad, then you can download the Zoom app and then join this meeting ID: 668-104-094.

If neither of these are options for you, you can still join via phone. Call (312) 626 6799 (Chicago) and enter this meeting ID when prompted: 668-104-094.

The church is located at 2611 Fairlawn Drive, Columbus.

Hope Community Church The free breakfast and Easter egg hunt on the April 11 is cancelled.

North Christian Church The church is temporarily suspending all church activities, effective immediately and for the foreseeable future due to caution concerning the coronavirus outbreak. The offices of the pastor and staff members will be closed as well. The church will reopen as soon as recommended by health officials.

Link:

Religion news April 4 - The Republic

The ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is Fit for a Pandemic 81 Years Later – Black Girl Nerds

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

The movie starts in the black-and-white humdrum existence of Kansas and soon switches to glorious technicolor when our intrepid heroine Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) gets carried away in a tornado, ending up in the magical Land of Oz. Even now with the advent of high definition screens more than eight decades later, The Wizard of Oz and its incredible effects are just as vibrant as they were back then. In fact, maybe even more so, as digital retouching has allowed for the films radiant color palette to shine even brighter.

The Wizard of Oz follows young Dorothy in Kansas where her biggest problems are boredom and the nasty woman Miss Gulch (Margaret Hamilton), who is at war with Dorothys dog Toto. After Toto attacks Miss Gulch one more time, Gulch goes to the police and gets permission to seize the dog, who she plans on euthanizing herself, with gusto. Toto escapes, and, thinking she has no other way to save his life, Dorothy packs a suitcase and runs away from home. But while shes on her journey, a huge tornado makes its way toward her aunt and uncles house. In her efforts to find them, Dorothy, Toto, and the house get swept off into the skies to land with a solid thump in an entirely new world.

In Oz, Dorothy learns she accidentally killed the Wicked Witch of the East by dropping her house on her. Big oops. Vowing revenge, the Wicked Witch of the West (also played by Margaret Hamilton) tries to kill Dorothy, but cannot because the Good Witch Glinda (Billie Burke) has bestowed upon Dorothy the enchanted ruby slippers once worn by the Witch of the East. Dorothy must make the arduous journey through hallucinatory Oz in order to ask its highest ruler, the Wizard (Frank Morgan), to get her home. Because as marvelous as Oz might be, Dorothy cannot stop missing the Kansas she once wanted to escape so badly.

On her way down the Yellow Brick Road, she collects a strange coterie of friends: the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), the Tin Man (Jack Haley), and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), who also have requests from the Wizard. After more wild hijinks that include Dorothy killing the Witch of the East, she discovers that the power to get back to Kansas was with her all along. Theres no place like home, Dorothy Gale says once she finally returns home after a whirlwind adventure to the Land of Oz. Im not going to leave here ever again! Dorothy promises her family and friends.

While The Wizard of Oz closes with a message of personal empowerment and realizing how much power we have in ourselves if we would access it, it also includes a disturbing nativist lesson of not straying too far from your own back yard a concept that resonates with the MAGA America First crowd which also continues to hold strong eight decades later. In these years, and in particular, since 2016, we have seen the US government exit historic international treaties such as the Paris Agreement, NAFTA, UN Human Rights Council, UNESCO, NATO, and even the G7 in the guise of making America stronger, but this withdrawal has only painfully damaged Americas participation in global politics as well as necessary international oversight, especially with regards to issues of human rights violations and climate change. This nativism has led to increased attacks on immigrants of color where the racist phrase Go home to your country is used against even generations of American-born immigrants. For many of those, the only home they have known is the United States. And with these assaults, the idea of there is no place like home takes on an even more disturbing spin.

But with the current COVID19 global pandemic 81 years later, The Wizard of Ozs notion of theres no place like home has certainly taken on a new meaning as quarantine and stay-at-home orders dominate our lives in the battle to stop the exponential contagion of this viral pathogen. For some, the idea of no other place like home in the midst of a global crisis is a positive one that signifies protection, health, and safety. For many others, though, home has become a new prison as domestic violence reports have spiked dramatically since the first stay-at-home orders were announced.

Theres also a tragic irony in the message of no place like home today: We have thousands of homeless folks who have no place to shelter. Thanks to the toxic capitalism that drives America, they remain homeless and at risk. The city of Las Vegas drew social distancing markers in an empty parking lot as temporary shelters where homeless folks can sleep instead of opening even one of their now-empty hotels for this vulnerable segment of American society. And, just as horrifying, in America 2020 we have concentration camps at the southern border where asylum seekers and refugees are being held with no home to go back or forward to, who are also particularly at risk for coronavirus infection thanks to the degrading conditions theyve been left in. Theres no place like home indeed.

Home isnt just a place, as Dorothy finds out in The Wizard of Oz. It is also the social networks that keep that place thriving and supporting everyone who lives in it. Home is also where we feel we belong, whether that be a country, community, or something else entirely that gives us a sense of connection and can even contribute to our identity. At the same time, the physical shelter of a home, literally speaking, is also vital to our survival and good health. For segments of vulnerable Americans across the spectrum of economics, race, gender, and immigration status, unfortunately, the idea of having no place like home has become a messy notion steeped in many levels of uncertainty. Eighty-one years after The Wizard of Oz first enchanted audiences with its escapist fantasy, theres no place like home has become a multilayered statement for our current times.

The 'The Wizard of Oz' is Fit for a Pandemic 81 Years Later - Black Girl Nerds

St. Olaf celebrates 50 years of ordaining Lutheran women – Manitou Messenger

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

During the first week of March, St. Olaf celebrated the 50-year anniversary of women being ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the 40-year anniversary of women of color being ordained and the 10-year anniversary of LGBTQIA+ individuals serving openly.

The College honored these anniversaries through themed daily chapels and a panel discussion. The anniversary is an opportunity to lament that women have been barred from serving, acknowledge how far women in the ELCA have come and identify what work still needs to be done, according to the Colleges Associate Pastor, Katherine Fick.

The week began with a chapel talk from Kristine Carlson 74, a retired ELCA pastor with nearly 40 years of ministry under her belt. She was one of the first women ordained in the Lutheran tradition, which also meant she was nearly always the first woman to hold any position she had throughout her career. Carlson shared the joys of her time as a pastor, but also the sexism and barriers that came along with it.

Regina Hassanally, the bishop of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod of the ELCA, led chapel on Tuesday. She was the first woman elected as bishop in the synod in which St. Olaf resides and is the youngest person ever elected bishop in the ELCA. She spoke to her vocational story, in which she found empowerment through a non-linear and non-traditional path.

On Wednesday, Fick gave a Lenten Liturgy of the Ordinary talk addressing how it is empowering that from her own personal experience, being a woman pastor is ordinary. Fick also stressed that if we want inclusive leadership not to be the exception, but the norm, we must normalize women of all backgrounds as leaders in the church.

I feel like there are still barriers to women of color, to trans women, to people who dont identify on a gender binary, for people who are gay or lesbian or queer, Fick said. I feel like those identities have not yet been normalized in the church.

Beverly Wallace, an African-American pastor and associate professor of congregational and community care at Luther Seminary, led a chapel talk on Thursday addressing the intersections of being a woman of color and a pastor. She called for the church to continue breaking down enduring structures of racism and sexism. For example, women of color still have longer waiting periods before their first call to serve a congregation than white women.

Thursdays chapel talk was followed by a panel discussion entitled Shes My Pastor: Fifty Years of Ordaining Lutheran Women.

When I think about the future, when we think of pastors, we see this beautiful range of gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity represented, and that we can look at all of them, inclusive of identities and say, These are our leaders, Fick said. Thats what I look forward to.

brinke1@stolaf.edu

Continue reading here:

St. Olaf celebrates 50 years of ordaining Lutheran women - Manitou Messenger

National policy on skill acquisition for youths Part 3 – Guardian

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

Continued from yesterday

With their proficiency, some Tech-U students engage in technical jobs outside the university at their leisure. The Students Start-Up Fund to has been helpful for innovative students who have ideas that have already been transformed into startups.

The fact is that two things happen when the entrepreneurial capacity of youths is developed; the economy is strengthened because it has a direct contribution to the socio-economic development process through the development of indigenous expertise and it also helps to address youth unemployment. Policy and support programmes for TVET, therefore, need to be well-coordinated in Nigeria to achieve desirable results. While awareness for TVET programmes continues to increase, the same cannot be said about the coordination among the different sectors and ministries that offer TVET courses; this is evidenced by their different standards and the many inadequacies being faced. In many centres, the capacity of the trainers themselves still needs to be adequately developed. There is also the issue of financing as well as that of inadequate infrastructure.

Not only should entrepreneurship education be tailored towards the needs of the industry, but it should also be designed and administered according to the need of the target clientele. It should be put in mind that only entrepreneurial faculties will effectively deliver entrepreneurship instructions. The capacity of lecturers will, therefore, have to be developed from time to time. While the country eagerly awaits the formulation of a proper policy on skills acquisition, private enterprises can support collaborative research to identify skill gaps in the industry and also partner the ivory tower to develop training contents for youth development in response to the identified skill gaps. They could also be of help through the provision of opportunities for industrial work experience for students in training as well as the offering of an apprenticeship programme for unemployed youths.

Though youths are being trained in TVET, the outcome is not yet commensurate with the efforts being put in. And the higher a country ranks in terms of TVET training, the better for the country in the world economy. It is therefore not wrong to say that TVET development has a lot to do with economic and national development in the long run. It is obvious that no country develops without developing its science and technology. As such, enduring technological development may not take place without skilled technicians. Skilled technicians play major roles in the development of a technology-driven economy anywhere in the world. And TVET is the key that can ensure the required potential and productive workforce with the right scientific and technological competence. Matthew Lauer in his article titled: The future of work requires a return to apprenticeship, published in The Nation of March 9, 2020, put it succinctly when he noted that the skills required for the skilled jobs are not taught in the traditional university. He argued that the Fourth Industrial Revolution will eliminate many white and blue-collar jobs. This is perhaps the reason many countries are now prioritising TVET, and he cited the example of Switzerland where 2/3 of young people are pursuing dual-track classroom and vocational training.

It is undeniable that Nigeria has adopted TVET as an integral part of her national development strategy. TVET that was rejected by many only a few decades back is fast becoming the cornerstone for the development and transformation of education and training. To ensure, however, that the objectives of TVET, which include the impartation of knowledge and skills for increased efficiency in the world of work, personal empowerment and socio-economic development, are achieved, proper execution and management will be of absolute necessity.

Since TVET involves applying skills to support life, it will make a country technologically relevant and internationally competitive. It will also improve the quality of life through technological improvement. And of course, with those, there will be a reduction of poverty and it will culminate in the reduction of social vices. The absence of a national skills policy calls for urgent attention.

It will do the nation a lot of good for the government to invite stakeholders in the industry and the education sector to formulate a comprehensive national skill acquisition policy that aims at arming the youth against unemployment, building self-reliant youths and ultimately improving the economy. The government should also back this up with appropriate legislative instruments to compel and guide implementation.

The point must be made that nations do not just become great. Greatness is assured only on the heels of concerted investment in their people. Therefore, for Nigeria to emerge as a superpower, as commensurate with its latent potential, there has to be a calculated investment in people and skills. This, of course, will be with a view to fully developing comparative areas of strength and positioning for global relevance.

Nigeria will do well to learn from the stories of such outstandingly successful models as you find in Asia, for instance. The phenomenal progress countries such as China, South Korea and India have made with technology show what is possible when nations own their destinies and follow through with definite strategic roadmap. There are indications that the growth rate of Chinese students studying STEM-related courses in America in the last few decades, for instance, is not unconnected with a covert agenda for technological transfer.

Back home in Nigeria, while it is heartwarming that Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education is increasingly being considered as potent tools for stimulating the economy, it has become necessary to have it codified in a strategic response for achieving national industrial development.

Taking a cue from similar policies deployed in advanced economies like the industrially-rich Germany, the imperativeness of the policy stems from its usefulness in providing sharp strategic direction to the overall formal and informal skills development processes in the country. Covering such broad areas as institution-based skills development and sectoral skills development which includes formal and informal apprenticeship models, the policy would assist to align the developmental priorities of the nation with active measures to produce the relevant manpower for both immediate and future needs of the nation.Sadly, there was a time the country thought better and acted in consonance with best global practices. Just sixty years ago, through the 1959 Ashby Commission Report, the Nigerian government had been counselled on her manpower needs for post-school certificate and higher education over a 20-year period. That report had enunciated both the intermediate and high-level manpower needs of the country, detailing the actual supply rate and estimated capacity of the nations tertiary educational institutions.

Parts of the recommendation of the Eric Ashby-led Commission for the nations educational system were the production of 2,000 graduates a year by 1970, a proposal on the establishment of a National Universities Commission (NUC) and it insisted that enrolment in the universities should reflect national needs in terms of technical and non-technical fields.

Also diligently envisaged in that report were recommendations on teacher production and estimation of enrolment rates in our university system by 1970 and1980. One feels very sad that the country failed to implement the recommendations faithfully and also sustain such enviable planning tradition. But, it is not too late to reinvent that culture of diligence. The formulation of a skills development policy and the proper realignment of existing developmental structures are stepped in that direction.

It should be said that Nigeria needs to now urgently implement thorough skills gap analysis to help provide real-time data and on the actual human capital needs of the country. With such data, the nation is better informed on the extent of skills deficiency and the opportunities available for transformation. Anything short of this is tantamount to paying lip-service to solve the current job crises in the country.

Like Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, said, Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation, there is sure to be a failure. Without a national policy in place, it will yet be a long walk to the ideal situation in skill acquisition.

Concluded.

Professor Salami is Vice-Chancellor, First Technical University, Ibadan.

National policy on skill acquisition for youths Part 3 - Guardian

OUR LOCAL NONPROFITS NEED YOUR HELP | Business – Yes! Weekly

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

GREENSBORO, April 9th, 2020 -- The Annual Human Race event has always been about fundraising, but it has now become a platform for local non-profit organizations to raise the funds needed to aid their missions and the vulnerable populations they serve during this pandemic. The Volunteer Center has a collective goal to raise $157,500 before June 20th, 2020. Over 75 local nonprofits have signed up with teams of fundraisers that can easily be supported online. Several for-profit companies have also created fundraising teams to raise money for nonprofits that align with their values. These organizations are still fundraising and now is more important than ever.

On a regular day, these organizations are serving food to those that are hungry, freeing dogs from heavy chains, empowering the next generation, building homes for those without, showing support for those who need it, gathering resources for veterans, supporting those with disabilities, educating children at every level, offering health and wellness to all, and more. With the effects of the pandemic, fundraising for many of them has completely stopped or reduced significantly. Many have small teams that are trying to reach the masses with small volunteer crews. The number of people knocking on the doors of these organizations has doubled in some cases as more are out of work and in need of resources.

We need your help. Just $25 could feed a family, replenish supplies, pay for gas needed to deliver medications to those in need, and more. You can choose an organization or team to donate to HERE or you can donate to the overall cause HERE.

Participating Non-Profit Organizations include American Cancer Society, After Gateway, Animal Rescue and Foster Program, Break of Life Church, BackPack Beginnings, Beautiful Butterflies, Bingo Pet Hospice, Black Child Development Institute, Break the Chain Kennel Kru, Ronald McDonald House, Child Evangelism Fellowship of Greater Greensboro, Chosen Generation Connection, Church World Service Greensboro, Combat Female Veterans Families United, Communication Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Community Housing Solutions, Corporation of Guardianship, CreateME, Empowered Girls of North Carolina, Epilepsy Alliance NC, FaithAction International House, Feral Cat Assistance Program, Future Hope Single Parents Ministry, GCS American Indian Education, GMCPD, Grandmas Handz, Greensboro Bar Association, Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, Guilford Green Foundation, Hand In Hand Water Safety Awareness, Haynes-Inman Education Center PTA, Helping Hands of High Point, Herald Charters, Herbin-Metz Education Center PTA, Authoracare (formerly Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro), Interactive Resource Center, Kellin Foundation Smiles 4 Miles, Keris Crusade for ALS,

maCares, Manasseh Baptist Church, Mental Health Greensboro, National MS Society, MBCC Foundation, NC African Service Coalition, Nehemiah Community Empowerment Center, One Step Further, Operation Xcel, People to People Liason, Resources for Artful Living, Ruff Love Rescue, Senior Resources of Guilford, SHIELD Mentor Program, Singing Dog Farm, The Sparrows Nest and Black Suit Initiative, TC Mens Ministry, The Arc of Greensboro, The Circle Foundation NC, The Servant Center, The Volunteer Center, This is My Sexy, Tiny House Community Development, Triad Golden Retriever Rescue, Triad Health Project, Triangle Beagle Trotters, United Way of Greater Greensboro, Victory Junction, and the Womens Resource Center.

You can donate to any of these teams HERE. Non-profits not listed above can still create fundraising teams. Contact jordan@volunteergso.org for more information.

For more information about COVID-19, visit the CDC OR NCDHHS. The state also has a special hotline set up where you can call 866-462-3821 for more information on the coronavirus. You can also submit questions online at ncpoisoncontrol.org or select chat to talk with someone about the virus.

________________________________________

Thank you to our sponsors:

Bank of America has sponsored since 2001 and has been the presenting 5k sponsor since 2004 and is returning for this 26th annual Human Race. They also participate as fundraisers for 12 different nonprofit organizations and have been the top company fundraisers ever year.

Additional repeat sponsors are Dicks Broadcasting, WFMY News 2, Arch Mortgage Insurance, Jimmys Plumbing, American National Bank, Griswold Home Care, Zos Kitchen, Kneaded Energy, Little Guys Movers, and Palmetto Equity Group.

New this year, we have support and sponsorship from Novant Health, Renewal By Andersen, Truliant Federal Credit Union, Sequoia Services, Right Fit Storage, Smoothie King, Joy Squad, Shift, YES! Weekly, Hand in Hand Water Safety, Good Health Chiropractic, and Biscuitville.

________________________________________

Registration for timed runners is $35. Day of registrations are $40. Walkers and those utilizing the short-route turnaround will not be timed, and can register at no cost but are encouraged to make a donation at registration. All registrants receive a link for personal fundraising pages as well as a link for the fundraising page for the team they join. These links offer a way for people everywhere to donate and support the cause whether they are near or far, participating or not.

Awards include best times for the top three individuals in each age group and gender, top ten fundraising individuals and teams, most spirited team awards, and more.

________________________________________

About The Volunteer Center

The mission of The Volunteer Center is to strengthen our community by creating meaningful volunteer connections. We connect people, promote volunteerism, support nonprofits, and build partnerships. For more information about TVC, please visit http://www.volunteergso.org

More here:

OUR LOCAL NONPROFITS NEED YOUR HELP | Business - Yes! Weekly

The 19th Century Roots of Modern Medical Denialism – Undark Magazine

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

Miracle cures, detox cleanses, and vaccine denial may seem to be the products of Hollywood and the social media age, but the truth is that medical pseudoscience has been a cultural touchstone in the U.S. since nearly its founding. At the dawn of the 19th century, when medical journals were still written almost entirely in Latin and only a handful of medical schools existed in the country, the populist fervor that animated the Revolutionary War came to the clinic. And while there was no shortage of cranks peddling phony medicine on a raft of dubious conspiracy theories in the early 1800s, none was more successful and celebrated than Samuel Thomson.

Portrait of Samuel Thomson

Visual: Wikimedia Commons

Portraying himself as an illiterate pig farmer (he was neither), Thomson barnstormed the Northeast telling rapt audiences things they wanted to hear: that natural remedies were superior to toxic chemical drugs; that all disease had a single cause, despite its many manifestations; that intuition and divine providence had guided him to botanical panaceas; that corrupt medical elites, blinded by class condescension and education, were persecuting him, a humble, ordinary man, because of the threat his ideas and discoveries posed to their profits.

For decades, Thomson peddled his dubious system of alternative medicine to Americans by playing to their cultural, political, and religious identities. Two centuries later, the era of Thomsonian medicine isnt just a historical curiosity; it continues to provide a playbook for grifters and dissembling politicians peddling pseudoscientific solutions to everything from cancer to Covid-19.

An acquisitive paranoiac with the steely-eyed look of a fundamentalist preacher, Thomson lectured on the same circuit as the Second Great Awakenings theatrical revivalists, one of countless unschooled peoples doctors as the esteemed orthodox physician Daniel Drake called them. In addition to his lectures, Thomson spread his gospel in his mega bestseller, New Guide to Health, a catalog of herbs accompanied by anecdotes testifying to their medicinal utility. Credulous readers learned that simple preparations of herbs like cayenne pepper or Lobelia inflata also known as puke weed not only relieved minor complaints like headaches and coughs but also rapidly cured progressive, terminal diseases like cancer. In breathless testimonials and self-aggrandizing anecdotes, Thomson and his followers attested to individuals being cured of dysentery, smallpox, and measles using the Thomsonian system. Between sales of the book, which went through 13 editions, and the family rights to buy his patented botanical nostrums, Thomson grew fabulously wealthy.

Though he was dismissed at the time as a dangerous fraud by mainstream physicians, Thomson was nevertheless held in high esteem by millions of Americans, who saw him as an avatar of self-reliance and entrepreneurial ambition. His followers wrote songs, poems, and prayers in homage to him. They congregated in Friendly Botanic Societies that more closely resembled churches than scientific seminars. His most zealous supporters, including some state legislators, hailed him alternately as the American Hippocrates or Jesus. That Thomson was regularly accused of killing patients and was even tried for murder once in Massachusetts seemed only to burnish the legend of his persecution and martyrdom.

In retrospect it can be hard to see how Thomson garnered so much influence. None of his botanical remedies were new to medicine, nor were they very effective for treating any serious condition. Yet in some states, such as Ohio and Mississippi, between a third and half of residents were said to have eschewed orthodox medicine in favor of Thomsons patented system. What made the Thomsonian sales pitch so successful was not just its blanket condemnation of the medical establishment, but its populist conception of healing itself. Just as Americans were free to be their own governors, lawyers, and priests, Thomson argued, so too should they be free to act as their own physician and surgeon. In this view, attempts to enforce state licensure laws or raise standards for medical education and practice were merely assaults on therapeutic choice and medical freedom as anti-American as government establishment of religion.

The parallels between our post-truth era and the age in which Thomsonian medicine prospered are striking. Though rural Americans were highly literate by the standards of the time, they had quickly come to associate intellectualism with the hated urban ruling class. The Thomsonians, the sociologist Paul Starr has written, viewed knowledge as an element in class conflict. In other words, Americans then, as today, were deeply distrustful of an ostensibly egalitarian government led by learned patricians or at least by those who looked and spoke the part. The simplicity of Thomsons system and his elaborate pantomime of socioeconomic solidarity were thus vital elements of his commercial success.

Thomsonian medicine could only succeed in a nation lacking scientific medicine and sharing a widespread belief in the superiority of inborn, intuitive, folkish wisdom over the cultivated, over-sophisticated, and self-interested knowledge of the literati and well-to-do, as Richard Hofstadter put it in his landmark Anti-intellectualism in American Life. Glorification of what one Thomson biographer later called the native practical sense of the ordinary man with direct access to truth would later reach its zenith in national icons like Andrew Jackson and Davy Crockett. But Thomson provided a template thats still followed today.

The parallels between todays post-truth era and the age in which Thomsonian medicine prospered are striking.

Thomson and his followers also shared the conviction that access to information is not only an adequate substitute for formal education but preferable and superior to it. As steam-powered presses enabled the mass production of newspapers, early 19th century Americans were deluged with information of questionable provenance and reliability. The effect, as with the internet today, was to generate pervasive cynicism about what can actually be known; truth becomes whatever is believed most widely or fervently. Nowhere was this more evident, and to some extent warranted, than in pre-scientific medicine. In 1825, you might well have been better off seeing a pig farmer about your headaches than seeing an M.D., who probably would have recommended mercury-based purgatives and bleeding to ooze you back to humoral harmony and health.

Yet today, when medicine can claim more successes than ever and is among the most respected professions, people of all political persuasions are embracing pseudoscientific alternative therapies in truly staggering numbers. In 2012, the last year for which authoritative statistics are available, Americans spent over $30 billion out-of-pocket on so-called complementary and alternative medicine, despite a dearth of evidence suggesting any of it works. In fact, about the same proportion of Americans use such products and services today as used Thomsonian medicine in the 1830s. And despite the perception, even among some physicians, that alternative medicine is harmless, its use today is associated with significant adverse public health outcomes, such as vaccine noncompliance and a greater risk of death in cancer patients. How did we arrive at this strange place, where so many educated Americans in the 21st century reject proven, evidence-based medicine in favor of 19th century magic?

The answer is complex. Surely part of it is that we have become victims of our own success. Life expectancy is long. Infant mortality is low. Most of us get more than enough to eat and, at least prior to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, have worried little about dying in an infectious disease outbreak, as so many of our ancestors did. Since we enjoy a relatively high standard of health, were free to focus on newer and harder problems like chronic diseases and developmental disorders precisely the conditions that modern medicine lacks good treatments for. Then there are the long-term crises of knowledge and authority that have been well-chronicled by others: the glut of misinformation online, declining trust in institutions, the devaluation of expertise, and the disturbingly common belief that much if not most of what happens in our world is the result of vast, invisible conspiracies.

But Americans embrace of pseudomedicine is also a reaction to less abstract and more personal problems: the inaccessibility of proper care, the alienating experience many have receiving it, and its intolerably burdensome costs. Research has shown that patients in highly commodified health care systems like ours express the highest mistrust of physicians, and while the exact reasons for this are unclear, its reasonable to suppose that perceived conflicts of interest play a role. Enter the white-coated naturopath or chiropractor, resembling a physician in all but training, education, and experience, and eager to confirm the worst suspicions of their frustrated marks. Just as in Thomsons time, dissatisfaction and distrust drive otherwise reasonable people into the arms of unregulated quacks who, in Hofstadters words, flatter their intuitive, folkish wisdom, provide an outlet for their political anger, and sell them an expensive illusion of empowerment and control over their health.

If we hope to limit the spread of modern medical denialism and the predatory industry feeding on and profiting from it, we must acknowledge this reality. Until we do, the neo-Thomsonians among us will continue to rake in cash and put all of us at risk with their pre-scientific, 19th century ideas.

John Charpentier is a Ph.D. candidate and immunology researcher at the University of Michigan.

See more here:

The 19th Century Roots of Modern Medical Denialism - Undark Magazine

What does COVID-19 mean for the social fabric of our nations? – BFPG

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

As much of the world has entered into a bleak period of social confinement and dramatic economic decline, there has been an understandable urge to identify the upshot of this dark moment in global history. In particular, the desire to regard the pandemic as an opportunity to spark a kind of social, economic and political reset, reinstating a nostalgic vision of a simpler, more community-focused time.

In 1887, Friedrich Engels predicted that only a brutal war would provide the necessary chaos and economic disruption to precipitate a revolution. In 2020, these kinds of hopefully utilitarian aspirations for the pandemic are not confined to any one political tradition. In Western nations in particular, COVID-19 has been portrayed as the Great Leveller. Yet, it is difficult to afford this notion any credence beyond the superficial universal requirements of behavioural change.

The flagrant use of this term reveals much about the social challenges in Western liberal democracies, which pre-dated this pandemic. As our societies have become more diverse in every sense, and more empowered, the task of conjuring the imagined community that Benedict Anderson espoused has become more difficult. And with the arrival of pandemic, the public sphere itself is reconfigured to some degree, with millions tuning in to watch national broadcasts from leaders and their advisers, providing the backdrop of that most elusive quality of modern life: a shared reality.

A survey I published just before the crisis showed that the desire for a greater degree of national unity was one of the few consensus positions in European nations. The outsized salience of nostalgia in Western politics and its cultural resonance at least in part captures the absence of community-forging national tests over recent decades, and strengthens the potency of historical crises such as the Second World War. Leaders and citizens alike have been desperate to chart a course towards a rejuvenation of social ties, because the fragmentation of communities on the back of economic and technological change has made it more difficult to govern and embedded a persistent sense of insecurity.

Over recent years, new identities have emerged and assumed an astonishing degree of power and influence, with societies polarising around generational, socio-economic, educational, regional and gender lines. Over the past five years, policy-makers and researchers and have frequently discussed how an effective invocation of the community underpinning the nation could provide the key to softening some of these seemingly insurmountable barriers repairing the atomising effects of our late-stage capitalist, digital era lives.

There was a considerable desire amongst citizens, too, to believe in the crisis alchemy of social trust. At the outbreak of the crisis I appeared on Sky News discussing, amongst other things, the feverish stockpiling of toilet paper and penne pasta that had consumed the United Kingdom. It was suggested that this behaviour, disadvantaging the elderly and vulnerable, was completely out of character this is, after all, the land of the Blitz Spirit. When I made the point that the Blitz saw moments of great heroism and selflessness, but also precipitated astonishing spikes in the levels of violent, sexual and petty crime, I received a torrent of threats and abuse on social media and via email for having tarnished the legacy of this crucial period in the national consciousness.

There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought out some of the best traits of the people of the United Kingdom, a nation that prides itself on its generosity; not least of all, the staggering number of applications to volunteer for the National Health Service. Yet, it cannot come as a surprise that stressful situations that inspire a degree of competition around access to scarce resources do not always lead to the highest expression of the immense capacities of human nature. Many other less visible and more troubling forms of destructive social behaviour, whether child abuse, domestic violence, or the tinder box compelled in council estates by confining large families in cramped, unsatisfactory accommodations have predictably flared, with devastating and lasting consequences for the victims.

As I discussed last week, there is nothing endemic in this crisis that naturally suggests that populism in the West will fall by the wayside in its aftermath even despite the rallying we have seen around the flag in many nations, and the renewed empowerment of our institutions. Similarly, any sense of national unity the pandemic inspires is vulnerable to erosion as we over-compensate for our confinement in the transition, and in the face of the acceleration of social conflict and competition seething beneath the surface of this collective test. At the heart of this pandemic is in fact a very unevenly experienced situation.

While it began as the globalists disease, striking down politicians and political staff, those attending international conferences, or partaking in skiing holidays in the Dolomites, the citizens who bear the brunt of hospitalisations, and indeed deaths, are those with underlying medical and health conditions. Conditions that often reflect deep structural inequalities including the higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking and respiratory illness affecting citizens from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Those in cities are especially vulnerable, with air pollution linked to a higher propensity for complications and even death. As are those with mental health conditions. In some nations, including the United States, socio-economic disparities are fused onto racial inequalities meaning citizens from BAME backgrounds are disproportionately likely to be hospitalised, and to pass away.

The trauma of another economic recession of this nature will be collectively shared, yet ultimately, the personal financial impacts of this pandemic will also be asymmetrical. While governments are offering unprecedented interventions to help shield workers and employers from the brunt of the disruption, as in the 2008-09 Financial Crisis, it will be the young who are most vulnerable to its immediate and long-term effects. As the Resolution Foundation noted, The Government is rightly socialising much of the costs of this crisis [] But these approaches create insider/outsider dynamics in which the young come off worst compensating people for the earnings they already had rather than the potential earnings they would otherwise have received. So too are many women, already disadvantaged in their career earnings by the structural inequalities of child-bearing, housework and family caring responsibilities, bearing the brunt of burden of this crisis to the working lives of parents.

The daily experience of this allegedly unifying crisis is also deeply subject to personal circumstance. While we all must undertake social distancing, limiting many of the pleasures of life and certainly the fall is greatest for those who are able to regularly partake in a vibrant social calendar, excursions to restaurants and the theatre, and overseas travel the environment in which we live through this lockdown varies tremendously. While abuse and violence are of course the extreme, though distressingly common, expressions of disadvantage, many citizens safe in their homes are also due to prohibitive housing costs living in small, dark flats with no outdoor spaces. Contrast this with the experience of those living in the countryside, or with large gardens, and the scale of the disparities of constraint and sacrifice become clear.

While images of middle-class runners sprinting buoyantly through parks in their Lululemon athletic gear feature heavily on the news, policy-makers are all too aware that every day that the lockdown continues, many other citizens are eating more, smoking more, drinking more, and experiencing a greater degree of mental strain than they would in their ordinary lives. The elderly have lost many of the activities and support services that maintain their quality of life. Children are forced to confront dark sides of the world previously unbeknownst to their innocent minds. Those who rely on medical support and interventions, including cancer patients, are treading water, and those with undiagnosed conditions may now only discover their illnesses at a dangerous moment in their spread.

The costs to society, and to the state, mount day by day forcing governments to balance choices about which groups of individuals, and which types of afflictions, are to be privileged.

Worryingly, many of the groups disproportionately affected in a negative manner by the economic, social and daily experiences of the crisis, are those most vulnerable to political disengagement. If there is an eventual backlash from this crisis and remembering that the lag on shaping political behaviour can be relatively long it could potentially deepen and embed disenfranchisement amongst certain social groups, or equally, create the conditions for a new wave of anti-establishment movements predicated on correcting injustices and inequalities revealed by the crisis. Depending on your personal politics, this second scenario may appear to be a positive option; however, simply from the perspective of governance and social cohesion, it would undoubtedly foretell more rocky years ahead.

I do not wish to appear to forecast only lasting doom and gloom from this crisis. Indeed, there are many ways in which it could indeed offer a pathway towards some profound social reckonings lighting a fire under burgeoning movements towards a recalculation of our relationship with nature, with work, and with one another. Amidst the obvious stresses, parents are given the chance of a modern lifetime to bond with their children. There will be tremendous opportunities for third sector organisations to have their work more visible and valued, and to build on the momentum of charitable and community acts compelled by the pandemics swift hand. It also feels inevitable to some extent that lower-paid workers (often described as unskilled) on the frontline of this crisis will be afforded a greater degree of respect, and that there will be increased public pressure to reduce the pernicious environmental impacts of industry and transport.

The pandemic has already compelled a surge in public sector innovation and an unprecedented degree of speed in policy responses, and enacted changes to the welfare state that will be difficult to reverse including the long-called-for adjustments to the payment level and access period of Universal Credit, the UK Governments flagship centralised welfare payment system. It is also difficult to imagine that the red lines of the first iteration of the UK Governments new immigration policy will remain as fixed, with thousands of desperately needed frontline NHS migrant workers having had their visas extended in the heat of the crisis.

Ultimately, governments will need to ask themselves why is it unacceptable for citizens to experience acute poverty or social deprivation during a pandemic, and acceptable at other times? Why must social media organisations intervene to combat conspiracy theories about the coronavirus, but are allowed wash their hands of the harmful proliferation of conspiracy theories that work daily to undermine social and political trust? Why is it outrageous for a woman to suffer at the hands of her partner during a lockdown, and somehow not worthy of our outrage on a normal day? Is it because the circumstances conjured by the pandemic are seen as so outside of reasonable individual agency? In asking ourselves these questions, we may well begin to expand our common societal understanding of what is beyond a persons control, and in doing so, find ourselves willing to look with fresh and frank eyes at some of the more enduring structural barriers that have persisted in plain sight.

Yet, it is nonetheless important to caution and particularly in light of the very human desire for this crisis to somehow, naturally lead us towards salvation that its harmful social effects will be profound and potentially long-lasting. And that governments will find themselves at the end of all of this, with a list of unresolved problems that pre-dated the crisis, as well as these more recent consequences of the pandemic itself.

While it is perfectly possible that leaders can rise to this tremendous challenge, we do not have ample evidence from the past five years which has brought up the bodies of many simmering tensions and conflicts and inequalities of their will and capacity to do so. Perhaps the trauma and jolt of this fast-moving, wide-reaching pandemic will provide the grist to the mill to support this in a manner that was not possible before its emergence. It is too early to say. All we can assert with certainty, is that no outcomes are inevitable.

What does COVID-19 mean for the social fabric of our nations? - BFPG

How Cisco’s Nonprofit Partners Are Pivoting and Innovating to Address Unexpected Needs – CSRwire.com

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

Apr. 08 /CSRwire/ - Cisco Blogs | Corporate Social Responsibility

We know that the most vulnerable populations are disproportionately affected by the economic impacts of global crises, and continue to be impacted after a crisis is over. Those who are unemployed or underemployed. Small business owners. Women. The poor. People who are un/underbanked. At Cisco, we bring to bear all our available resources our funding, our technology, and our expertise to support nonprofit organizations that have technology-based solutions to connect the unconnected and help people become economically self-sufficient.

Ciscos model of investing in innovative organizations with early-stage, technology-based initiatives means that our nonprofit partners are already using technology to deliver many of their programs and services. This has enabled them to quickly pivot to deliver different types of services to address new and emerging needs, and also to rapidly accelerate their reach to meet increased needs of the individuals and communities they are serving.

These are some of nonprofits Cisco supports through our economic empowerment portfolio, and how they are responding to support people and communities in need right now:

Skills Training

Anudip:Provides technology skills training, professional development skills, mentoring, and employment opportunities to low-income and underserved populations (youth, women, people with disabilities) in India, delivered both face-to-face and online. Cisco has supportedAnudips work with cash grant investments, donations of WebEx and other Cisco technologies, and our expertise.How are they helping?Anudip has temporarily transitioned their services to 100 percent remote learning.

AnnieCannons:Provides technology skills training, professional development skills, mentoring, and employment opportunities to survivors of human trafficking in the Bay Area of California. We have supported AnnieCannons with cash grant investments, and donations of WebEx and other Cisco technologies.How are they helping?AnnieCannons has temporarily transitioned its online technology skills training to 100% remote learning. In addition, their staff have increased their outreach to human trafficking and domestic violence survivors who are particularly vulnerable during times of crises.

Upwardly Global (UpGlo):Provides training and support to skilled refugees and immigrants to eliminate barriers and help them integrate into the professional American workforce. Cisco has supported this work via an initial cash grant investment, and we are partnering to support virtual networking and mentoring opportunities with our employees.How are they helping?UpGlo is scaling its online skills training and job readiness resources, enhancing virtual coaching and volunteer services, and helping clients find immediate jobs in high demand areas like healthcare.

Financial Inclusion

Opportunity International (Opportunity):Provides financial products (regular and emergency loans, savings accounts, insurance) and services (capacity building for entrepreneurs, educators, farmers, and financial literacy training) to low income populations in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. With Cisco support,Opportunitydesigned, implemented, and scaled mobile enabled financial products and services to more than 20 million people across Africa and Asia.How are they helping?Access to these types of financial products and services is critically important for vulnerable populations who now are unemployed or without a steady source of income.

Kiva:Expands financial access through its peer-to-peer lending platform that enables individuals to make interest-free loans to students and entrepreneurs globally. Small businesses are already being negatively impacted by the spread of COVID-19, including many members of the Kiva community.How are they helping?In the United States, Kiva isofferinglarger loans, flexible repayment schedules, and expanded eligibility. They are working to provide support to their partner financial institutions and individuals outside the United States.

Social Enterprise

Vispala:Started by the CEO of Anudip, Vispala uses 3D printing technology to print low cost prosthetic arms for underserved populations in India. Cisco provided early stage funding to help them develop and test their products, scale, and become a financially sustainable social enterprise.How are they helping?They have now pivoted their focus to 3D printing surgical masks for healthcare providers.

NESsT:NESsT develops sustainable social enterprises that solve critical social problems in emerging market economies, likePIXED, a Peruvian social enterprise that manufactures 3D-printed prosthetics.How are they helping?PIXEDhas shifted its manufacturing of prostheses into personal protective equipment (PPE) for physicians and hospitals in Peru. NESsT is working closely with PIXED management (and all of its portfolio companies) to create contingency plans that address short- and longer-term needs that must be addressed during an impending global recession.

To accelerate global problem solving, we need financially sustainable solutions that address different issues in different parts of the world. Thats why Cisco invests in early-stage solutions that leverage technology to create meaningful impact at scale.

Our nonprofit partners in economic empowerment are able to quickly adapt to the way they serve others in order to address the biggest challenges that we face. To learn more about these amazing nonprofits and how you can get involved, please visit oureconomic empowermentpage.

Here is the original post:

How Cisco's Nonprofit Partners Are Pivoting and Innovating to Address Unexpected Needs - CSRwire.com

Covid-19 and the Conspiracy Theorists | Asharq AL-awsat – Asharq Al-awsat English

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

Even conspiracy theories need to be partly built on facts in order to be plausible enough to market.

It is impossible to convince any sane person with blatant nonsense, or pathological illusions that ignore solid developments, and actions and quotes by authorities with well-known experience in their fields. Indeed, this is exactly what we are witnessing in these exceptional times as Covid-19 sweeps the world, bringing down all barriers.

A few days ago, a friend of mine sent me a recorded interview with a controversial British personality self-regarded as a visionary crusader against forces of global hegemony. This interview almost appeared with two valuable contributions by Jacques Attali, the Algerian-born French economist, thinker and political adviser, and Yuval Noah Harari, the Israeli (of Lebanese origin) historian and professor.

I had followed the career of the British personality since his early days as footballer, and then as a prominent sports journalist. His next step, however, took him to a totally different career; as he became an anti-establishment activist, first becoming an environmentalist with The Greens, and later a campaigner against political and economic elites, which he doubts and ruthlessly demonizes, and feels that it is his mission to uncover and warn against its evil conspiracies!

In his interview, the British conspiracy theorist dismisses the Covid-19 virus, and sees it as a new chapter in the global 1% elites conspiracy designed to strengthen its world domination. This is done as he claims by destroying the current world economys institutions and rebuild them in a way that further serves their interests.

In his argument, in addition to the global companies, and Davos World Economic Forum, he includes the World Health Organization (WHO), among the leading co-conspirators!

Some of the data mentioned by the controversial gentleman is true; more so for any political and economic researcher or expert, who understands the dynamics of the market economy and the role of accumulation, concentration, monopoly and speculation in capitalism.

Furthermore, anybody who has been following the progress of technology through the centuries would know the impact of technologies, from the discovery of the gunpowder and paper, the invention of printing, and recently, the development of the computer, genetic engineering and artificial intelligence (AI).

What I mean to say is that with or without Covid-19 we have been marching towards a new world. The only thing this pandemic has done is merely accelerating this march, and negating all reservations against it.

This is where Harari hits his target. He acknowledges the historical importance of the world crisis we are all facing.

Humankind is now facing a global crisis, he says, adding, perhaps the biggest crisis of our generation. The decisions people and governments take in the next few weeks will probably shape the world for years to come. They will shape not just our healthcare systems but also our economy, politics and culture. We must act quickly and decisively. We should also take into account the long-term consequences of our actions. When choosing between alternatives, we should ask ourselves not only how to overcome the immediate threat, but also what kind of world we will inhabit once the storm passes. Yes, the storm will pass, humankind will survive, most of us will still be alive but we will live in a different world.

Harari goes on many short-term emergency measures will become a fixture of life. That is the nature of emergencies. They fast-forward historical processes. Decisions that in normal times could take years of deliberation are passed in a matter of hours. Immature and even dangerous technologies are pressed into service, because the risks of doing nothing are bigger. Entire countries serve as guinea-pigs in large-scale social experiments. What happens when everybody works from home and communicates only at a distance? What happens when entire schools and universities go online? In normal times, governments, businesses and educational boards would never agree to conduct such experiments. But these arent normal times. In this time of crisis, we face two particularly important choices. The first is between totalitarian surveillance and citizen empowerment. The second is between nationalist isolation and global solidarity.

The first choice therefore is between a Chinese model of totalitarian surveillance and the respect of human rights, including personal privacy; and the second is between isolationism and globalization.

Jacques Attali, who was the first head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in 1991-1993, and a former adviser to ex-French President Francois Mitterrand, seems somehow to agree with Harari on more than one issue. He also believes that great historical disasters caused by various plagues led to profound changes in the political structures of nations, as well as the cultures embodied in those structures.

Talking of the bubonic plague (The Black Death) of the 14th century, which killed almost one third of Europes population, Attali says that among its most significant repercussions was the change in the position of the clergy. The clergy lost out influence to the benefit of the police, which became the only protector of the people after the churchs failure to protect them.

However, as Attali explains, this situation did not last long either; after the real power shifted from the authority of religion as represented by the Church to the authority of enforcement as represented by the police, it shifted again from the authority of enforcement to the authority of the state and the laws.

This point, in particular, will bring us back to ongoing argument about who would be the main beneficiary from the repercussions of Covid-19 in the Arab World. Is it the political and security, which has decisively taken the initiative in confronting the pandemic? Or is it some religious groups which are waiting until the worst passes, and then emerge to say Well, where were your science and scientists when God attempted to test our beliefs?

Indeed, contradicting theories and arguments about our lives and futures mushroom here and there, as the world, as a whole finds itself fighting against time.

From one side there are voices insisting that the top priority now must be saving lives, as saving the economies can wait, especially, that they are built on lending and debts, and can be rebuilt after recessions. From the opposite direction, many voices argue that life and death are existential facts, and the world must never sacrifice its economic well-being for the many to save the lives of the few.

Personally, I am - without hesitation - with the first opinion.

Read the original here:

Covid-19 and the Conspiracy Theorists | Asharq AL-awsat - Asharq Al-awsat English

Rise in domestic abuse cases as families forced to stay home – The New Paper

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Danzig

Since she started telecommuting a few weeks ago, she has faced more verbal and physical abuse from her husband, who has always worked from home.

Friction between the couple has become worse now that they are together almost all the time, the woman's social worker, Ms Kristine Lam, told The New Paper.

One of the flashpoints is her husband's harsh disciplining of their two young children, who stopped going to kindergarten a while ago because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

When she tries to help them, he would turn his anger towards her and become violent.

"Her husband would accuse her of being a lousy mother who was incapable of managing the kids," said Ms Lam, who declined to reveal their personal details due to confidentiality.

"He would push her and bang her head against the wall. He also hit her with his hands."

She said the man had always been abusive and controlling, such as checking his wife's phone and laptop, but the frequency of his violence rose after she began working at home.

Ms Lam, a lead social worker at Care Corner's Project StART, and advocacy groups are concerned about a potential rise in domestic abuse as families are forced to stay home during this circuit breaker month.

Minister for Social and Family Development Desmond Lee addressed this issue in Parliament on Monday when he noted a trend in "higher rates of domestic violence, domestic quarrels and friction in the family" in countries that had imposed movement restrictions.

He said a national care hotline will be set up for callers to get support from psychologists, counsellors and others.

Family Violence Specialist Centres (FVSC) and Child Protection Specialist Centres will be "adequately resourced during this time" as they are essential services, Mr Lee added.

The Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) said it received 619 inquiries last month, a 35 per cent jump from March last year.

Aware's head of research and advocacy Shailey Hingorani told TNP: "Crises, such as pandemics or economic recessions, have historically corresponded with a surge in domestic violence cases."

She said social workers told Aware last month that they had observed a rise in family violence cases.

One social worker said 60 per cent of her daily referrals were family violence-related, up from 30 per cent last year.

United Women Singapore president Georgette Tan said such cases may continue to rise as virus containment measures may inadvertently trigger domestic violence.

Nanyang Technological University's associate professor of psychology, Dr Andy Ho, noted that physical isolation also makes it harder for victims to get help.

He said: "Victims are now constantly in close physical proximity with their abusers. This exposes them to a higher likelihood of abuse.

"And they might not have the privacy and personal space to contact their support network for help even if they have one."

Stress arising from the Covid-19 crisis may also result in more abusive behaviour by perpetrators, said Ms Hingorani of Aware.

She added: "Abusers may seek a sense of control in their disrupted and uncertain lives, which may trigger them to lash out at those around them."

Ms Lam, whose centre is one of two FVSCs here, said she has seen a recurrence of violence in cases involving those who were previously on stay-home notices or quarantine orders.

Like NTU's Dr Ho, she feels that victims are now more isolated from their support networks. For example, school counsellors and teachers can no longer monitor how potential child abuse victims are doing now that they are not in school.

Work-from-home arrangements may also impact victims' level of empowerment, as many find their identity through their jobs, and this could affect whether they seek help, said Ms Lam.

Stressing that physical isolation does not mean social isolation, Dr Ho said: "It is crucial for victims to have a contact point that checks in on them. Technology makes that possible, but only if they can have privacy or time alone."

Link:

Rise in domestic abuse cases as families forced to stay home - The New Paper

Futurist Transhuman News Blog

Monthly Archives: April 2020

Scope of veterinary medicine embraces animals and their people – Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

50 Years Ago: IHS begins program to train medicine men – Navajo Times

Stanford Medicine’s ‘Stuck@Home’ series closes the distance between medicine and art despite social distancing – The Stanford Daily

Awareness, Attitudes, and Actions Related to COVID-19 – Annals of Internal Medicine

Curfew in Peths affects medicine supply to city – Pune Mirror

Laugh it off. It might just be the best medicine to battle the coronavirus. – Houston Chronicle

INTERVIEW: Emergency Medicine Doc In NYC Talks COVID-19, How It’s Different Than The Flu, And What He’s Seeing On The Ground – The Daily Wire

Meet the MEPs returning to medicine amid the coronavirus pandemic – Euronews

COVID-19 coping mechanism: Laughter is the best medicine! – Loop News Jamaica

57% of Canadians Say Household Income Negatively Impacted by COVID-19 – Yahoo Finance

Religion news April 4 – The Republic

The ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is Fit for a Pandemic 81 Years Later – Black Girl Nerds

St. Olaf celebrates 50 years of ordaining Lutheran women – Manitou Messenger

National policy on skill acquisition for youths Part 3 – Guardian

OUR LOCAL NONPROFITS NEED YOUR HELP | Business – Yes! Weekly

The 19th Century Roots of Modern Medical Denialism – Undark Magazine

What does COVID-19 mean for the social fabric of our nations? – BFPG

How Cisco’s Nonprofit Partners Are Pivoting and Innovating to Address Unexpected Needs – CSRwire.com

Covid-19 and the Conspiracy Theorists | Asharq AL-awsat – Asharq Al-awsat English

Rise in domestic abuse cases as families forced to stay home – The New Paper