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Celebrating Two Amazing Women of History

3/17/2021

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Celebrating Two Amazing Women of History

In the month of March, we celebrate Women’s history. We celebrate to acknowledge and give thanks to the awesome women whose accomplishments have given hope and pride to generations of women of all races.  Although we are celebrating the history of accomplished women from the past, I wanted to write about a history-making woman who was at the forefront of developing a COVID-19 vaccine.  She is fast becoming a household name. Her name is Kizzmekia Corbett, a Viral Immunologist and senior research fellow at the National  Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Vaccine Research Center (VRC). As a researcher, she is part of a team that creates and conducts research to improve, develop theories, and techniques for research and development projects.  This fast-paced, groundbreaking successful Moderna vaccine Dr. Corbett and her colleagues developed from trial phases into our arms are like the dawn of light on a new day.  Dr. Corbett grew up in Hillsborough, North Carolina.  She became interested and decided to pursue a career in research after meeting a scientist while attending a science camp at the age of 16.  Hurrah Dr. Corbett for your continued effort to protect us from the constantly emerging viruses, that are unfortunately inevitable, and making history!

The Stonewall riots in New York City were started because of a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village.  The police raided the bar in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969.  Sylvia Rae Rivera, a transgender activist, and civil rights pioneer, was a regular at the Stonewall Inn. She and the other occupants of the Inn fought back.  This caused demonstrations over the course of several days.  The protesters fought against a long history of systematic, institutionalized harassment and arrests in the gay communities.  Rivera was key in organizing these protests. This made Rivera an important icon in mobilizing and uniting the gay community in New York.  As a result of the protest, she is credited for igniting the modern LGBTQ movement.  Ms. Rivera was involved in the fight for gay rights with the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) until they abandoned the idea to protect the right of transgender people.  According to a livescience article on the “10 Amazing Women Turned the Tide of History.” This fueled her work to promote rights and visibility for gender-nonconforming people, especially those in the community who were young or at risk.  Stonewall Inn and the surrounding streets were designated by President Barack Obama in 2016 as a national monument for the contribution to gay rights.

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The Silent Partner on the Front Line during the Pandemic

12/26/2020

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The Silent Partner on the Front Line during the Pandemic

By DeLoise Gambrell


A Respiratory Therapist is the other professional in the trenches, and on the frontline risking their lives alongside the doctors and nurses who are keeping patients alive who have contracted COVID-19. Oftentimes we do not hear about Respiratory Therapists, they’re the silent partners in this fight to heal the patients stricken with CoronaVirus. It is my intention in this article to educate those who are unaware of the role of the Respiratory Therapist and to say thank you for all that you're doing for your patients.


The CoronaVirus is a respiratory disease, which affects the upper respiratory and lower respiratory tracts. The nose, sinus, and throat are part of the upper tract, and the windpipe and lungs make up the lower tract. COVID-19 can cause Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome or ARDS. It causes damage to the lungs such as scarring. This damage causes fluid to leak into the lungs making it difficult for oxygen to transfer from the bloodstream.


Through a questionnaire, I had the opportunity to ask several Respiratory Therapists questions about what is a Respiratory Therapist, their role, and to help us understand what it means to be on the frontline during this CoronaVirus Pandemic. They also answered questions about what they want the general public and elected leaders to know about the seriousness of the virus. Finally, I wanted to know how they de-escalated from the day to day routine and seeing the growing numbers of deaths from COVID-19.


A Respiratory Therapist, RT, is a certified medical professional that provides specialized care to help patients with chronic cardio-pulmonary illnesses. Many have associate, bachelor, and master’s degrees in respiratory care. Their role is to work in collaboration, as part of the patient’s team, alongside nurses, doctors, and other healthcare providers to treat, care, and help improve the patient’s outcome. They administer respiratory medication, operate ventilators, and review and test the patient’s lung capacity, among other duties. The use of a ventilator helps to get more oxygen into the bloodstream.


I asked what made these dedicated professionals decide to become Respiratory Therapists? The majority agreed it was their desire to help people suffering from cardio-respiratory illnesses, and the ability to save lives. One question asked, what does it mean to be an RT during the COVID-19 pandemic? The overwhelming answer was scary, yet rewarding. One RT said it was the most unexpected, scary, and very demanding time in their life. Another RT answered it’s unbelievable, and heartbreaking to not be able to do as much as you can to save a life. Sadly, the answer to this question by one brave RT said it meant being there for a patient who is ill and without family present.


I wanted to know the emotional, physical, and mental issues that they faced during this time. Many answered watching patients die, especially without family. They all agree that staff shortage and long working hours caused physical exhaustion. Another question put to them was how do you as an RT prepare yourself mentally each day before work in such an environment? They responded praying, listening to music, just do it, and happy to see their dedicated co-workers beside them. Others responded making sure they take proper precautions, and most importantly to eat well and take care of themselves so that they can be effective in doing their jobs. I asked what do they do to deescalate after their shift? Some answered that they relax by hiking, counting their blessings, listening to music, spending time with family, and reading.


I inquired about what they wanted the general public or elected leaders to know about the virus. The majority said to take this virus more seriously, to educate yourselves about the virus, stop making it political, and follow the CDC’s recommendations.


I want to end this article with a thank you and a word from Tosha Lawson, a Respiratory Therapist whom I had the pleasure of speaking to in a telephone interview. She agreed to share her thoughts about being an RT during the early stages of this pandemic. “This pandemic is scary for everyone involved, patients, family, and health care workers. We, as Respiratory Therapists, do everything we possibly can for our patients. We never neglect any patient even though we are afraid of the virus, and its uncertainties. A typical day would start with a shift of 8-9 therapists, geared up in bunny suits, N95’s, face shields, head, and shoe coverings. We see every patient and do everything required as a respiratory therapist. This is our job, and we do the best that we can as dedicated RT’s.”


To the silent partners on the frontline, saying thank you doesn’t seem sufficient enough to express our sentiments for what you are doing to save lives. Thank you for sharing your experiences and educating us about what you do, and how you are doing it.   BE SAFE
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HAVING AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

11/21/2020

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AS WE ENTER INTO THIS SEASON OF THANKSGIVING, ADVENT, AND CHRISTMAS; IT’S IMPORTANT TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT OUR ATTITIUDES AND HOW THEY AFFECT OUR ABILITY TO BE GRATEFUL OR SHALL I SAY DEMONSTRATE GRATITUDE.

            THE YEAR 2020 WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR THE COIVD-19 PANDEMIC, FOR THE OVER 11 MILLION LIVES AFFECTED BY A DEADLY VIRUS AND OVER 250,000 SOULS LOST DURING THIS PANDEMIC AND THAT IS JUST IN THE UNITED STATES.  DUR THE PANDEMIC WE HAVE HAD TO LEARN NEW NORMS: QUARENTINE, STAYING SIX FEET APART/SOCIAL DISTANCING, WEARING A MASK, AND TO WASH YOUR HANDS FREQUENTLY.  WE NO LONGER HUG, SHAKE HANDS, PARTICIPATE IN LARGE GATHERINGS; BUT THAT IS ONLY IF YOU BELIEVE THAT THIS PANDEMIC IS REAL.
          
  OUR CHILDREN FOR THE MOST PART ATTEND SCHOOL ON-LINE, OUR COMMUNITES HAVE SUFFERED GREATLY DUR TO UNEMPLOYMENT, HOUSING, ISOLATION, AND THE INABILITY TO FEED THEIR FAMILIES AND THE HOMELESS POPULATION HAS INCREASED.

            ACCORDING TO JAMES MOORE IN HIS BOOK: ATTITUDE IS YOUR PAINTBRUSH: IT COLORS EVERY SITUATION; “THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE I KNOW ARE THE GRATEFUL PEOPLE; THE STRONGEST, MOST FULFILLED PEOPLE I KNOW ARE THE THANKFUL PEOPLE.” (p. 10, 1998).

            THE APOSTLE PAUL PUT IT LIKE THIS:” GIVE THANKS IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES; FOR THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS FOR YOU. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:18).  IN EVERYTHING, GIVE THANKS, PAUL SAYS.  IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, GIVE THANKS.  

            THIS PASSAGE IS VERY PERSONAL AS I USED IT IN A EULOGY FOR MY MOM WHO WENT HOME TO BE WITH THE LORD ON 10/23/18.  I REMEMBER CRYING THROUGHOUT MOST OF THE MEMORIAL SERVICE TOUCHED BY THE PRAYERS, THE SONGS AND THE PRESENCE OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS.  WHEN I STOOD UP TO SPEAK MY ATTITUDE WAS ONE OF GREAT APPRECIATION FOR THE LOVE I FELT, THE GRATITUDE FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT DURING MY TIME OF BEREAVEMENT.  I WAS OVERWHELMED WITH GRATITUDE AND I KNEW I WAS NOT ALONE.
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            HAVING AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE IS INTENTIONAL.  IT TAKES TIME; TIME WITH GOD IN PRAYER, TIME IN GOD’S WORD, AND TIME WITH OTHERS- VIA ZOOM, FACE TIME.  HOWEVER, YOU CAN CONNECT KNOWING THAT YOU ARE NOT ALONE, WE ARE NOT ALONE, AND YES, WE CAN ALL DO BETTER.  VIEW EACH DAY AS A GIFT FROM GOD AND GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD, BECAUSE HE IS GOOD, HIS MERCY IS EVERLASTING, AND HIS TRUTH ENDURES TO ALL GENERATIONS. (PSALM 100).
                                                                                                REV. DEBORAH WEST-JONES
                                                                                                NOV. 19. 2020
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The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation for Babyboomers

9/7/2020

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    We are living in a chaotic world and time. A time that is plagued with many unanswered questions, which run rampant through our minds.  Since the beginning of spring 2020, we have had to deal with the COVID-19 virus and the consequences of its uncertainties. Early on scientists warned that the Babyboomers generation was the most at risk. We dealt with a stay at home orders, watched the injustice of police brutality on tv, a rise in unemployment, and navigated a new platform of teaching.  So we perseverated on these issues and the residue. These issues cause anxiety, stress, and other mental health concerns.  Many Babyboomers were already dealing with stressful situations before the pandemic.  Some of the challenges for Babyboomers that may cause anxiety or depression are ongoing health issues and the rising cost of healthcare, coping with isolation and loneliness, and the bewilderment of retirement. There are many coping skills and strategies to combat the negative thoughts circulating in our minds. Managing stress effectively helps you feel better mentally and physically.  Meditation is a way to manage stress.  There are many meditation practices to relieve stress.  I would like to share the benefits of Mindfulness Meditation.

    Mindfulness Meditation is a type of meditation where you are focusing on your consciousness, being in the moment, and aware of your feelings. Focusing on the present, instead of the past or imagining an uncertain future helps to eliminate fear, and anxiety which causes stress. Mindfulness Meditation is described as building upon concentration practices, by observing the flow of your inner thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations, good or bad, without judgment.  It engages breathing methods, guided imagery, and relaxation methods to relax the body and mind.

    It is a simple technique that can be done almost anywhere and at any time, with or without sound.  Life can be chaotic, and difficult to manage. Our thoughts, if not controlled can contribute to the chaos. Taking 15 to 20 minutes out of your day to be still, to go within, and focus on your inner thoughts.  To visualize a better you, and a better world is beneficial to the knowledge of self, self-control, relaxation, and wisdom. Give it a try, and remember the more you practice the better you become.  Good Luck!

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By DeLoise Gambrell
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Where Do We Go From Here?

7/17/2020

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Where do I begin? I will begin with two deadly forces threatening the black community and go from there.  Before I delve into my thoughts about these forces, I just want to share my thoughts about the memorial service and the home going service for George Floyd.  I do not like funerals or memorials.  However, I was drawn to these services because I was connected, just because I am a black sister who felt the pain, the anguish, the humility, the cause.  It was a conglomerate of emotions.  Thus, the need to write.  Need I go further.  If you black and your reading this, there’s no need, you know!  I begin with the Pandemic, and then the killing of my brother George Floyd, where do we go from here, and what are you going to do about it?
 
How many of us have felt the isolation, the fear, and questioned the uncertainties of our future because of an entity that we had very little control over, the Covid-19!  The Pandemic.  Wow, it hit the black community, like a storm out of hell.  We were not prepared for an attack so fierce that it literally took our breath and lives away.  A storm that swept through our communities without remorse.  It claimed thousands of black lives.  Lives that should not have been taken but were taken because of the disparity caused by a systemic intersectional race of people who are afraid of anyone who looks different and believe it or not is different than them. A race of people who were taught to hate. Who systematically created a society of injustice, and inequality to foster their own idea of a superiority?  My brothers and sisters unrighteously died from an unproportionally number of cases of the virus due to the inequality of poverty created again by a race of people who just don’t give a damn about black people. Where do we go from here?  We must lobby for better health care, which includes prenatal care, infant care, and gynecological, women’s care, up to and including geriatric care in our communities.  Fight to keep our hospitals and medical care facilities accessible. Educate our communities about nutrition to maintain a healthy lifestyle to combat those conditions that create obesity and cause diseases that unfortunately adhere to the onslaught of the viruses such as Covid-19, and other life threatening illnesses that eradicate our communities.
 
And so here we are dealing with again the injustice of a white man killing a black man, because he felt the need to demonstrate his false superiority, which is really a fear of a black man.  How many times must we cry out, get your knee off my neck, take that rope from around my neck, call off the dogs and put away the hoses, I can’t breathe. What about the mental abuse? How many times have you heard, you're not smart enough, educated enough, you just don’t fit, you're not what we are looking for, you come across as an angry black person? We were told you're lazy, shiftless, not motivated. Yet, we got an education, got a better job, voted, prayed and became a better person, yet you still kept your knee on our necks, and found new ways to keep us oppressed. 
 
We want to thank You.  It was humbling to see all races for marching with us, for showing compassion, and trying to understand what we have been screaming for over 400 “Damn” years.  But where do we go from here?  Are you willing to bleed, or die for the injustices that we have endured?  Are you willing to educate your sons, your daughters, your co-workers, your friends, clergy and anyone you know to change the injustice, or will you be content for now?  Hoping that this will all go away, so that you can be complacent once again and ignore the ugly truth, and go back to what is your “American Dream?”

Where do we go from here?  This has to be the question on all our minds.  But more than where do we go from here, the question should be, but what can I do? Can you step out of your comfort zone and contribute to the cause, or be the cause? My question to you, where do you go from here?
 

Written By 
SUE Contributor 
Deloise G. Y
dloisgg21@gmail.com


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The Steps of a Good Wo-Man are Orderd by the Lord

3/2/2020

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The Steps of a Good Wo-Man are Ordered by the Lord
 
Most recently, to be transparent I have been going through what one my say a storm (a low period).  Where funds are low being discouraged, a state of being perplexed and being shaken.  It seems like when I make two to three steps forward something pulls me back.  I truly know the WORD, that his GRACE IS SUFFICIENT, Yet I must reduce the emotional side and live in the spirit.  
 
But for those who can understand I press to the mark and try not to let it get me down.   For I know that there are others who have gone through much worst.   Like my friends passing of her 28 yr old son.  After spending time with her days after the funeral  while help her to fold clothes in the laundry.   I was very moved by the sharing of the journey and holding on to her faith which remains steadfast knowing that the Best is still yet to come.  You see he never complained and wanted to be the strong man to hold it down for his Mom.
 
I praise God for my sight, limbs having the ability to move around and about. Hearing music, loud songs and all.   I also know that each day I can BE.   He is giving me another day to live out my purpose.  My Mother use to say, just another day that the Lord has Kept me.  She would also tell me don’t get bitter about life’s CURVES, GET BETTER.   As you can see, I come from a praying family with strong ties.
 
I truly believe that when it is my time for all the gifts and visions to line up, I will see it come to fruition.
 
So, when life backs me into a wall, I will just wait on my turn to see it ALL COME together and STEP INTO GREATNESS.  

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