Podcasts about hurricanes irma

Hannah Upp, a 32-year-old teacher, disappeared from St. Thomas on September 14, 2017, after a swim, amidst Hurricanes Irma and Maria. She had dissociative fugue, a condition causing identity loss, and had vanished twice before—once in 2008 in New York, found in the Hudson River after three weeks, and in 2012 in Maryland, found in a creek after two days—both times with no memory. Her 2017 disappearance left her clothes and car at Sapphire Beach, but despite extensive searches, she wasn't found. Theories include drowning, fleeing on a ship, or staging her exit, but none are proven. Her mother remains hopeful; Hannah, now 39, is still missing.   Timestamps: Main Content - 9:30 Branch of Hope - 1:07:10   Sources: Kenton, L. (2023, April 3). Chilling note left by missing Hannah Upp points to ‘two options' of what happened to her. . . The US Sun. https://www.the-sun.com/news/7757272/hannah-upp-amnesia-missing-jason-bourne-irma/ Barcella, L. (2021, March 30). What Happened to Hannah Upp? The Mystery Around the Young Woman's Disappearance Continues. A&E. https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/what-happened-to-hannah-upp-the-mystery-around-the-young-womans-disappearance-continues Villines, Z. (2023, September 6). Dissociative fugue: Symptoms and treatment. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/dissociative-fugue Ashley, M. (2022, January 6). Missing Person Hannah Upp May Not Know She is Missing. Medium. https://truecrimemysteries.medium.com/missing-person-hannah-upp-may-not-know-she-is-missing-88d3d882ba5f Jennifer. (2024, November 14). The bizarre disappearance of Hannah Upp - Jennifer - medium. Medium. https://wherearetheypodcast.medium.com/the-bizarre-disappearance-of-hannah-upp-6367f858ce10 Mystery, M. O. (2023, August 7). The very, very, strange case of Hannah Upp. Mind Over Mystery. https://mindovermystery.com/the-very-very-strange-case-of-hannah-upp/ Join The Dark Oak Discussion: Patreon The Dark Oak Podcast Website Facebook Instagram Twitter TikTok Youtube This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep

Join us for an inspiring podcast featuring John McInnis III, the dynamic CEO of McInnis Industries and co-owner of the iconic Flora-Bama Lounge, as he shares his remarkable entrepreneurial journey and deeply personal faith walk. This episode dives into the life of a third-generation business leader who transformed a family legacy in construction into a multifaceted empire spanning heavy infrastructure, disaster recovery, and entertainment, all while staying rooted in his Christian beliefs. Born in Mobile, Alabama, John stepped into the family business—founded by his grandfather in 1970—after graduating from the University of Alabama in 2000. Under his leadership, McInnis Industries has completed over $1 billion in projects, including bridges, roads, and major disaster relief efforts like the Hurricane Katrina cleanup. But John's story goes beyond business success. In 2009, he took a bold step into the entertainment world, becoming the majority owner of the Flora-Bama, a legendary beach bar straddling the Alabama-Florida line. With his vision, the Flora-Bama has thrived, hosting massive events like Kenny Chesney's 2014 concert for 40,000 fans, cementing its status as a cultural landmark. What sets John apart is how his faith guides every decision. Raised with a strong moral compass by his father and grandfather, he sees his work as a calling to serve others. Whether rebuilding communities after natural disasters or fostering a sense of unity at the Flora-Bama, John believes in putting faith into action. His partnership with Kenny Chesney's Love for Love City Foundation after Hurricanes Irma and Maria showcased this commitment, as he spearheaded relief efforts in the Virgin Islands, blending his expertise in disaster management with a heart for helping those in need. In this podcast, John opens up about the challenges of balancing ambition with purpose, the lessons learned from high-stakes ventures, and how his belief in God has sustained him through it all. Perfect for listeners seeking inspiration, this episode offers a raw, authentic look at a man who's built a legacy not just of profit, but of impact—proving that business can be a powerful force for good when grounded in a higher purpose. Tune in to hear John McInnis III's unforgettable story.

Join us for an inspiring podcast featuring John McInnis III, the dynamic CEO of McInnis Industries and co-owner of the iconic Flora-Bama Lounge, as he shares his remarkable entrepreneurial journey and deeply personal faith walk. This episode dives into the life of a third-generation business leader who transformed a family legacy in construction into a multifaceted empire spanning heavy infrastructure, disaster recovery, and entertainment, all while staying rooted in his Christian beliefs. Born in Mobile, Alabama, John stepped into the family business—founded by his grandfather in 1970—after graduating from the University of Alabama in 2000. Under his leadership, McInnis Industries has completed over $1 billion in projects, including bridges, roads, and major disaster relief efforts like the Hurricane Katrina cleanup. But John's story goes beyond business success. In 2009, he took a bold step into the entertainment world, becoming the majority owner of the Flora-Bama, a legendary beach bar straddling the Alabama-Florida line. With his vision, the Flora-Bama has thrived, hosting massive events like Kenny Chesney's 2014 concert for 40,000 fans, cementing its status as a cultural landmark. What sets John apart is how his faith guides every decision. Raised with a strong moral compass by his father and grandfather, he sees his work as a calling to serve others. Whether rebuilding communities after natural disasters or fostering a sense of unity at the Flora-Bama, John believes in putting faith into action. His partnership with Kenny Chesney's Love for Love City Foundation after Hurricanes Irma and Maria showcased this commitment, as he spearheaded relief efforts in the Virgin Islands, blending his expertise in disaster management with a heart for helping those in need. In this podcast, John opens up about the challenges of balancing ambition with purpose, the lessons learned from high-stakes ventures, and how his belief in God has sustained him through it all. Perfect for listeners seeking inspiration, this episode offers a raw, authentic look at a man who's built a legacy not just of profit, but of impact—proving that business can be a powerful force for good when grounded in a higher purpose. Tune in to hear John McInnis III's unforgettable story.

Welcome to the One CA Podcast. Today, Brian Hancock interviewed Ismael Lopez about OHDACA and Humanitarian Relief and his experiences as a Marine Civil Affairs Officer.  Brian's profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-j-hancock/ Ismael's profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishrlopez/  Transcript available below. --- One CA is a product of the civil affairs association  and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on the ground with a partner nation's people and leadership. We aim to inspire anyone interested in working in the "last three feet" of U.S. foreign relations.  To contact the show, email us at CApodcasting@gmail.com  or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www civilaffairsassoc.org --- Great news! Feedspot, the podcast industry ranking system rated One CA Podcast as one of the top 10 shows on foreign policy. Check it out at: https://podcast.feedspot.com/foreign_policy_podcasts/ --- Special Thanks to the creators of Jazz & Bossa Cafe for the sample of Positive March Music. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHeCxa0rMQ4 --- Transcript: 00:00:05 BRIAN HANCOCK Welcome to One Civil Affairs Podcast. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Brian Hancock, and I will be your host for this session. Today we have with us Major Ismael Lopez to discuss civil affairs, special missions, and the ongoing relief effort in the Gaza Strip. Mr. Lopez is the Excess Property Program Manager for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. He's also a major in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. where he serves as the Latin American Foreign Area Officer and Detachment Commander with the 1st Civil Affairs Group. At DSCA, he oversees ODACA -funded Humanitarian Assistance, HA, supporting disaster relief and capacity -building efforts in over 28 countries, including the responses in the Afghanistan refugee crisis, the Ukrainian crisis, and humanitarian support to Gaza. In his expanded role, he acts as a liaison for civil affairs, focusing on training, project continuity, and aligning civil affairs efforts with strategic goals. 00:01:09 BRIAN HANCOCK With over 15 years of experience in security cooperation, Mr. Lopez has supported humanitarian assistance operations globally, including key relief efforts following Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and Iota. Major Lopez, welcome to the show. 00:01:25 ISMAEL LOPEZ Thank you, Brian. 00:01:26 BRIAN HANCOCK Boy, you've been busy. 00:01:27 ISMAEL LOPEZ I certainly have. Unfortunately, I've been really busy to do the things that I love. 00:01:32 BRIAN HANCOCK Now, let's talk a little bit about this mysterious full -time job that you do, the excess property manager for a defense security cooperation agency. Security cooperation being one of the three most important missions in the world, in my opinion. Can you tell us a little bit about what you do as the excess property manager? And if you're in the business of giving away property, how do I sign up for this? 00:01:54 ISMAEL LOPEZ What's funny is that, as you mentioned that, There is a running joke down at the Southcom HA office where they say, if you need a new refrigerator, Ish is the guy to call. Basically, what I do in a nutshell is I work with the combat commands and all the way down to the country teams to identify partners, to provide them non -lethal excess property in an effort to achieve very specific objectives in the country. What the program does is it'll take items that are basically pretty much brand new to a little bit of wear and tear, which we can refurbish in our warehouses. And then we issue them out or we donate them to the partner with the intention of meeting a very specific objective in that country. So aside from that, I also support DOD humanitarian aid efforts for any initiatives that are... utilizing the overseas humanitarian disaster and civic aid. So in a nutshell, that's pretty much what I do. And yeah, if you need a fridge, if you need a microwave, if there is an effect that could be achieved by me donating it to you, sure. 00:03:06 BRIAN HANCOCK We're expanding NATO a little bit. And many of the NATO countries, about 32 of them, they're putting a little bit more money into defense these days for a wide variety of reasons. And if they decide they want to send up a new office somewhere in Poland or something like that, How would they go about saying, hey, all those esks and chairs and things that you have in Dermo, we'd like some of that. And who pays the shipping? 00:03:29 ISMAEL LOPEZ The folks sitting in NATO would have to work with ODC and Poland first. They will validate that requirement, then submit it on up to UCOM. UCOM will have their lawyers look at it. And then from there, it will make its way up to DSCA for execution. Now, what pays for all this is the Odaka appropriations that gets earmarked from the Odaka budget that provides transportation for this program. So the program comes at no cost. It's all funded exclusively through the Odaka appropriation. 00:04:05 BRIAN HANCOCK Awesome. Let me talk a little bit more about that and ask you a few questions. Odaka is kind of a hidden gem that a number of us in the civil affairs community know about. Many other people don't, and you can definitely achieve effects with this, especially in competition, which is something that we're, I think, as a joint combined army, really struggling with, is how we get after having those influence and deterrence effects in the competition phase. ODACA is one of those tools that's available to us. It's the Overseas Humanitarian Disaster and Civic Aid Fund. Now, I have very limited experience with that program. Can you tell the audience a little bit more about the ODACA creation, how large it is, what it usually funds? 00:04:54 ISMAEL LOPEZ Yeah, absolutely. I'm able to see it from two perspectives, right? I'm able to see this from my seat at DSCA and then my seat in the reserve component as a civil affairs officer, where to your earlier point, ODACA is a bit of this hidden gem and it could be leveraged to help. achieving effects in the competition phase, but where there are issues is the lack of understanding of what you can and cannot do with the appropriation or how you can actually link it to creating those effects. And I get that because rewind the clock back to 2013 when I first delved into civil affairs, one of the metrics that are utilized to determine our success in country is How many projects can you nominate or how many projects did you complete? So then when you're aiming to achieve or hit that metric, you're not necessarily looking at the linkage. You're almost betting on that someone will create that linkage for you that you're providing the activity in support of. So Odaka, generally speaking, we're looking at about $26 to $30 million a year. But then that money... gets divvied up across the combatant commands and is prioritized based off of national defense strategy. So if it's called out very specifically country X or region Y is the priority when it comes to DoD humanitarian aid efforts, then preponderance of that money will be earmarked for that country or that region globally. Once you pull the thread on that, then there's different tiers. for the countries that are located in that combatant command or in that region of the world, and we're able to allocate money for those countries as well. Where it gets tricky is that what will factor into it is how proactive and how thorough the ODCs and the SCOs are with executing those HA projects and then the end -use monitoring piece of it. So their requirements are tied to these project nominations. The country team, the HA managers, the civil affairs teams that are assigned to or are deployed in that country are not providing the feedback necessary to determine the return on investment. Then the following year, what could end up happening is this country is a priority, but what we're not able to tell Congress is, are we actually achieving the effects that we're desiring in that country or in that region? And if we can't answer that with tangible metrics, then that will factor into a reduction of ODACA funding for the following year. Recently, in Indo -PACOM, the focus has been very heavy on the mill -to -mill engagement piece. What is starting to catch up now is the sieve mill piece. And so we have money allocated, but they're sort of playing catch up with the rest of the COCOMs as it pertains to. getting those funds and then executing projects and us being able to sustain them over an extended period of time. 00:08:01 BRIAN HANCOCK Yeah, it is a challenging problem set. One of the taskers that we get annually here in our command is to measure the strategic effect of DACA projects, which are largely tactical, in a bunch of different countries. and were given one week. Now you've got a rotational force here of about 15 civil affairs folks of various persuasions. Maybe a couple of them can be dedicated to that task. They had nothing to do with the inception of these projects. They were not part of the construction. They saw none of the... assessment or staff estimate documents related to them. All they saw was probably, if they're lucky, the proposal that went into the website to get them. And they don't have time to do extensive interviews or measurement. And it's pretty tricky to take something very tactical and then indicate not as an MOP you completed the project, but as an MOE it actually influenced the local populace towards U .S. and NATO objectives. That is a very tough thing to do mathematically, especially without the data, documents, and time to be able to do that. 00:09:18 ISMAEL LOPEZ is a 00:09:28 BRIAN HANCOCK What is the standard that is accepted by the panel who's controlling those funding and appropriations? What realistically do you have to prove? 00:09:39 ISMAEL LOPEZ So this has been a challenge for several years now. I saw it firsthand. As a civil affairs team leader in the South Com AOR, where I deployed to support a very specific commander, but as a, hey, by the way, while you're down there, there's these products that were funded several years ago. Do you mind taking a look? No context behind it. I can't do pre and post surveys on the local populace because I don't know what it was or what the baseline was prior to the construction or the completion. And then now. So it was very arbitrary. It was very much, yeah, it's good. Is the government still funding it? Sure. Are they employing people that are maintaining it? Sure. And I think back then, 2013, 2014 timeframe, I think the blanket answer to all that was, we're countering Russia, China. And so as long as you were saying that, then it was all gravy. And we've obviously have evolved from that to we're now tying these very tactical actions. to operational objectives, right? So are we supporting CoCom LOEs? And if we're supporting CoCom LOEs at the minimum, we understand that we should be integrated into strategic objectives, right? Because the LOEs are derived from those strategic documents. And we've gotten to that point, but now where we are able or unable to get that data or the metrics. really falls on the lack of funding to do it. So the easy button is, well, you have your security cooperation professionals that are assigned to the embassies. They should be. They can do that. Yeah. But the reality is all embassies, regardless of the size, they are overextended and under -resourced. So they're always dealing with VIP visitors. They're dealing with taskings from the State Department. They have their steady state activities they have to be supporting, and they're falling in on, let's just say, 30 projects over the last three years. And, oh, by the way, all these assessments need to be done, but your TDY funds are X. And there's no way of doing it. So then it trickles down to, hey, do we have any civil affairs teams coming downrange? Can they support? And I think we've gotten to a bit of a sweet spot. is this mutual understanding that civil affairs teams in country, as long as they're not being detracted from their main mission, are able to provide some sort of support in conducting those surveys and assessments. However, it's still not the right answer because they're falling in on rudimentary information, background information, and it's still very much from their perspective. At DSCA, we have increased our budget for AM &E purposes to help country teams that are in the red, so to speak, when it comes to conducting these assessments, especially countries that are a priority where we understand, hey, we need to continue engaging on the HA side of things and not the MIL side of things. So we need to get as close to valid or reality as we can. So we have contractors now that are assigned to the combat commands, folks within my office that can. be requested to go out and support. And again, we're working across the command and commands to see as appropriate where we can support. So a lot of work still has to be done there. But again, looking back to 10 years ago, even five years ago, I think across the board, DOD has gotten significantly better at providing metrics to validate activities vice. simply stating we're countering Russia and China and we're going to call it good. 00:13:35 BRIAN HANCOCK As they should. All of these projects should be tied to a line of effort, tied to a strategic effect that's in line both with the COCOM and the chief of mission. And then you would need a way to measure them at a granular level and then aggregate them to measure progress against a line of effort aligned to strategic intent. I don't think that framework has been built. I hope we eventually get there. If you ask some of the SCAs in the embassy, at best, they're going to give you anecdotal information. So there's a lot of things that we would have to do. And if we send a civil affairs team, depending on their training and background, that can be more or less successful. Now, you're probably tracking that in the Army side of civil affairs, we've built that 38 golf program where I can have an engineer with 20 years of experience. It seems to me that's the guy we should be attaching. to a civil affairs team to go do one of these assessments. What do you think? 00:14:33 ISMAEL LOPEZ I completely agree with that. And that's 100 % a step in the right direction. On the Marine side of the house, we sell the capability for civil affairs to do engineering assessments, bridge assessments. And I'm like, who here is an engineer? Who amongst us realistically do that? I mean, one example is I got asked to do a port assessment in Panama. And if you look at the J -SIMS form, It's very, very specific, very detailed, talking depth of water. And how am I supposed to do that? But A, because you're in the environment and you're there, you claim as a capability that you're able to do that, then go on and do great things. And I think one of two things need to happen. Either one, we need to re -wicker the capability to a more realistic set or... Very similar to the 38 golf program is start incorporating or cross -training those specialized folks that can actually bring that capability to bear and then have that as part of the team. And then now we're being more honest with what it is that we can do in our assessments and the information that we're providing to hire. Right. 00:15:41 BRIAN HANCOCK I appreciate that. I watched as the Navy discontinued its civil affairs program. Obviously, the Marines are part of the Department of the Navy, so I don't want to. miscommunicate that. But the Navy had its own civil affairs for a while. And when we as the Army Civil Affairs came out and were asked to do port assessments in Rim of the Pacific, quite frankly, we couldn't do it. And we had functional specialists because there's quite a bit of difference between a great engineer who's used to large infrastructure and other things go out and assess the full range of capabilities of a port, especially after a major disaster. We had to bridge that gap. We had to go to German portmasters, which is great when you're working with combined partners. I think that's an opportunity. And they knew this business, soup and nails. They went out there and everything on the Jason and more they did and could even do follow -ups to see the progress as repair work was going on. That was fantastic that we had a joint partner. I don't think we have an organic capability in DOD to do things like that. And when we're talking having to project power to your port of debarkation, that seems like a gap that we need to fill right now. 00:16:59 ISMAEL LOPEZ Yeah, I agree. And I have some good news for you. The Navy is reconstituting their civil affairs program. When we were out at Balakatan in the Philippines last spring, we had a full -up Navy civil affairs team. I was the first of its kind in this reconstituted form, but I was part of a combined Marine Navy team in the Philippines. So Big Navy has realized that understanding where we're going as DOD, that they're bringing it back. And hopefully that's part of the equation there. I hope so. One of the reasons it was closed down is because the way they scoped their mission for Naval Civil Affairs. 00:17:34 BRIAN HANCOCK of the reasons it was closed down is because the way they scoped their mission for Naval Civil Affairs. was somewhat redundant with what the Army and the Marine Corps were already doing. So instead of focusing on those things where they have almost unique capabilities, such as assessing aquaculture and water -based commerce and those effects and the port stuff, they were doing a lot of land -based types of assessments and other things. And I think they became a victim of budget shortfall if they were seen as a redundant capability. both in the Army and the Marine Corps, you and I both have responsibility since we both need naval partners to do our job to help shape their burgeoning program and make sure as it's resetting that it doesn't make some of the mistakes that were made previously and help them be a vibrant addition to our larger civil affairs community because I think we really need them. 00:18:32 ISMAEL LOPEZ I wholeheartedly agree. There are fortunate scenarios. When you look at the reserve component where you can have these very uniquely trained individuals that can come in. I had a ship captain as a corporal, so he could speak to that. But that is luck, right? I shouldn't be planning on, I'm going to have these uniquely talented and experienced folks that are going to be able to pour a mission set. Now, 00:19:01 BRIAN HANCOCK you're a major in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. and you serve as commander of Detachment 3, the first civil affairs group. What is that like? What's a day look like on that job for you? 00:19:15 ISMAEL LOPEZ So at first, it's been the funnest job that I've had. I was a civil affairs team leader before, but as a commander, it's been more fulfilling because I'm able to... lead and mentor Marines who are interested in this space or really want to make a difference and have a better understanding of how their actions support operational and strategic objectives. I think that's often missed by the less experienced civil affairs Marines. My typical day as a commander is just dealing with admin, to be honest. It's making sure that my Marines are able and ready to deploy, enabling them to be able to go and execute the mission. is really what I spend a majority of my time doing. 00:20:01 BRIAN HANCOCK Let's talk a little bit more about that training piece. I know you kind of build it. A lot of things you do as admin, but part of readiness is being able to do your job. The Marine is an expeditionary force, perhaps becoming even more expeditionary with the expeditionary advanced base operations construct the chief of the Navy signed off on. So very interesting training opportunities for the fleet right now. And you mentioned Balakatan and some of those other exercise -type missions that you've done. And I know you've probably done Marine Corps Warfighting exercise and mentioned JRTC. But what are some of these other missions you've done? You've talked about a dock -up. A dock -up is joined at the hip with Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, HADR. The Navy has a huge role in HADR for just a whole bunch of reasons. Has your detachment participated in any HADR missions? Is that another training opportunity that you have with your Marines and detachment?

Part 2 - Neville is joined by  Mr. Alex Bruney Managing Engineer at the Virgin Islands Waste Management Agency, also Mr. Zachary Robertson Engineer & Project Manager as well as Engineer Mr. Glen Wallace for a discussion on the reconstruction of the Saint Croix LBJ Watershed Project following the destruction caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. 

Part 2 - Neville James continues his interview with RT Park's Executive Director Peter Chapman.  Neville reflects on the importance of the RT Park, local events and traumas from Hurricanes Irma and Maria.  

Lourdes Santaballa is a community activist and organizer, with a background in domestic violence, affordable housing, and economic equity advocacy. A La Leche League leader from 2009 to 2017 and IBCLC since 2011, she was the founder of the lactation program at sePARE, providing coordinated services to low-income families, leading it to receive the ILCA Care Award and received the Wilson-Clay Hoover Award for Research. Lourdes received the notorious Drs. Ruth Lawrence and Audrey Naylor Legacy Scholarship in 2016 by the United States Breastfeeding Committee, the Miriam H. Labbok Award for Excellence at the Breastfeeding and Feminism conference in 2018 and is currently completing her master's degree in clinical nutrition. In October 2017, following Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Lourdes founded Alimentación Segura Infantil or ASI, an Infant and Young Child feeding program focused on increasing breastfeeding, leadership and training in marginalized communities in Puerto Rico. She also hosts a podcast called Teta y Pecho. More: - Link tree: https://linktr.ee/problematica - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ibclcpuertorico/ - APPLE PODCAST: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teta-y-pecho-lactancia-interseccional/id1465491540 - Gold Learning: https://www.goldlearning.com/speaker/643/lourdes-santaballa - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lourdes-santaballa-msc-ibclc-claas-iycfs-081957b3/ - Alimentación Segura Infantil (servicios y certificación) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asi_iycf/ - Media Company Problematic Media Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/problematicamedia/Follow Us:Instagram: @mr.dreaminspireobtainhttps://www.instagram.com/mr.dreaminspireobtain/ @dreaminspireobtain @diotalkpodcastMore info:- Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/dreaminspireobtain- Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d-i-o-talk-podcast/id1562933810?uo=4- Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/54SDtx0CFJ58FfpDoSg4Bz- Google podcast:https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy82NmI3MTVjYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==- Anchor F.M. Podcast:https://anchor.fm/s/66b715cc/podcast/rss

Our guest in this episode of the Leadership Under Fire Humanizing the Narrative Podcast is John Rabin. Mr. Rabin currently serves as the FEMA Assistant Administrator for Response, where he is responsible for the delivery of a coordinated Federal emergency management response to state, local, tribal and territorial communities that have been impacted by natural disasters, acts of terrorism or other emergencies. This includes the leadership and management of the National Urban Search and Rescue System, Disaster Emergency Communications, the National Response Coordination Center and numerous national planning, warning and reporting organizations. He was on the ground in Puerto Rico and in the U.S. Virgin Islands for Hurricanes Irma and Maria, leading the region in complex lifesaving and life-sustaining operations. Mr. Rabin also served as Deputy Assistant Administrator for National Preparedness. In this role, he led the day-to-day operations that provided the guidance, training, exercises and programs to prepare the Nation to prevent, protect from, respond to and recover from all hazards. A volunteer firefighter and EMT, he is also a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and the Executive Leaders Program at the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

Part 2 - Neville James continues his interview with Dr. Sean Krigger and their discussion of historical buildings and architecture and the impact of the Hurricanes Irma and Maria. 

On today's podcast, I talk with Tania Silva Meléndez  and Tamara Trinidad González, CPM, birth workers and Evidence Based Birth® Instructors about giving birth and midwifery care in Puerto Rico.   Tania Silva Meléndez  is a certified birth, postpartum, and abortion doula serving families in Puerto Rico since 2009. She's also a certified childbirth educator and breastfeeding/chestfeeding educator and counselor. She is the general coordinator of the team of Caderamen, a nonprofit community-based organization that works towards reducing inequalities in reproductive care, and she also supports Alimentación Segura Infantil, a community-based organization born after the impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 to support breastfeeding and chestfeeding families in their lactation journeys, help them relactate their children when needed. Tania is also a human rights activist and advocate in her community and part of the Observatorio de Violencia Obstétrica in Puerto Rico and Las Mingas de Aborto, an abortion doula collective that offers free support in Puerto Rico.   Tamara Trinidad González, CPM, is a community parteira/midwife, perinatal educator and herbalist born and raised in Puerto Rico. Tamara is a mother of two children who were born at home with midwives and has been actively involved in birth work for 10 years. She holds a Master of Science in midwifery with foundations in botanical medicine from Bastyr University and is a certified professional midwife. Her midwifery and herbal practice is called Semilla Creciente, Midwifery & Herbalism.   In this episode, Tania and Tamara have a very candid conversation about the realities of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum care in Puerto Rico. They speak to how Puerto Rico's birth landscape has been negatively impacted by the island's history of colonialism, economic crisis', environmental changes, and changes in political power. This has culminated in a system with far too few midwives and obstetricians, as well as high surgical birth rates, low VBAC rates, high prematurity rates, and more. Both Tania and Tamara educate our listeners on these issues but also raise awareness to the community organizations who have the trust of the pregnant and postpartum families they serve and the work being done to better support the families of Puerto Rico.   If you are interested in joining with Tania and Tamara and volunteering your time or skills to help them reform the maternal health system in Puerto Rico, they are currently looking for volunteers with experience in law, public relations, funding, data collection, research, and writing. OR if you have resources, or access to connections that could help fund their work, please email puertoricobirthrights@gmail.com.     Resources: Read about the history of Puerto Rico: ·  How to hide an empire by Daniel Immerwahr ·  Puerto Rico: What everyone needs to know by Jorge Duany   · Learn more about Caderamen, a nonprofit organization that has a service program that is called SePARE, which offers education and doula services, midwifery services and naturopathic medicine services, social workers, mental health by clicking here. · Learn more about the Asociación de Parteras of Puerto Rico here. · Learn more about Alimentación Segura Infantil, a community-based organization born after the impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 to support breastfeeding and chestfeeding families in their lactation journeys by clicking here.  · Learn more about Observatorio de Violencia Obstétrica in Puerto Rico here. · Learn more about Las Mingas de Aborto, an abortion doula collective that offers free support in Puerto Rico here.    Check out the work by Puerto Rican journalist Biana Graulau here: https://www.youtube.com/@BiancaGraulau/videos   If you would like to read a transcript of this episode in Spanish, please visit the blog post here or you can watch the captions in Spanish on YouTube.   For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Follow us on:  TikTok Instagram Pinterest Want to get involved at EBB?  Check out our Professional Membership (including scholarship options) here  Find an EBB Instructor here  Click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class

Part 1 - Neville James reflects on the 6th anniversary of Hurricane Maria and it's long lasting impact on the territory.  He engages with the National Weather Service as they discuss Hurricanes Irma and Maria and they destruction wrought on the territory and Puerto Rico.  He is then joined by Commissioner Dionne Wells-Hedrington and Insular Superintendent Ericilda Ottley-Herman as they discuss the update the public on the revised school schedule for schools on St. Croix and the challenges they are facing with the heat. 

In this episode, Christine hosts a soulful conversation with award-winning travel and tourism executive Carla Campos, who served as the Government of Puerto Rico's Tourism Minister.Through her own consulting practice, Carla supports governments and organizations as a destination manager, strategist, and sustainability specialist. Carla's practical experience in tourism development throughout Latin America and the Caribbean has positioned her as a fiercely determined and purpose-driven industry leader capable of transforming challenging circumstances as catalysts for tourism growth. Carla is recognized as a key driving force behind the recent transformation of Puerto Rico into an avant-garde destination that has overcome historical challenges, including Zika virus, Hurricanes Irma and Maria, earthquakes, political unrest, and most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the implementation of destination management plans, sound public policy, and building strategic public-private alliances, the island has been able to bounce back and report record-breaking travel and tourism performance repeatedly.Carla is a strong supporter of women's leadership in travel and tourism and believes that sustainability must serve as a pillar for operational excellence in travel and tourism.Christine and Carla discuss:Sustainable tourism and shifting perspectivesMindset shifts we can make when responding to crisesNavigating transitions in our career and personal lifeExperiencing early career successAligning our work with our purpose, values, and identityJoin Christine now for this soulful conversation with Carla Campos.

This episode of Next City delves into the impact of natural disasters such as hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and how they affect people even years later.In the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, two organizations provide solutions to the displacement crisis. The Florida Keys Community Land Trust was initiated by two altruistic individuals and creates housing that is far more affordable than market rate. The Houston Community Land Trust was created with $52 million of public funds and provides disaster resilient housing.

Municipalities in Puerto Rico sue the biggest fossil fuel companies for damages from category 5 Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The cities and towns allege the fossil fuel companies knew their products would change the climate and intensify storms and colluded to lie about it to the public. And following the devastation of Hurricane Maria many communities in Puerto Rico were isolated for months so they looked to each other for solace and sustenance. Also, Coquí frogs were heavily affected by Hurricane Maria, but within months of the storm, they could once again be heard making their iconic calls across the island. -- Thanks to our sponsor, Four Sigmatic: Don't miss our special offer to get 30% off your order of premium organic coffee blended with superfood mushrooms. Visit go.foursigmatic.com/earth and use code EARTH at checkout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adrienne Williams-Octalien, is the Director of the Office of Disaster Recovery for the U.S. Virgin Islands. Except in her case the job was – and is – arguably more daunting, five years after back-to-back hits by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Both of them were ferocious Category 5 storms that destroyed everything from schools and hospitals to the energy grid and key hotels for the critically important tourism industry. Ms. Williams was tapped by Governor Albert Bryan Jr. just weeks after he took office in 2019 and has since been focused on managing upwards of $10 billion in federal disaster recovery funds for well over a thousand  projects big and small. In the podcast we discuss all the aspects of setting up and running billions of dollars of projects, from staffing to project management. Merit is a first-of-its-kind, all-hazards, digital credentialing platform that equips emergency responders with innovative tools to securely manage their personnel on-site, no matter the situation. Merit's platform is relied on in mission-critical situations such as the Surfside building collapse and at secure Health and Human Service facilities and is trusted by a growing network of thousands of partners.Eric Holdeman is a professional emergency manager who is passionate about providing information that can help families, businesses & governments become better prepared for disasters of all types. Hear first hand expert insights from Eric on his Podcast, Blog & EricHoldeman.com.

Today's guest Eric Horstmeyer is a health insurance professional with USHEALTH Advisors. He is the Divisional Sales Leader of his office on Miami Beach which currently supports 65 licensed agents.  Eric attended law school at NYU where he attained his LLM in Tax law and practiced law for 10 years in Kentucky, Tennessee and the US Virgin Islands.  In 2004 Eric decided to pursue his "foodie passion" and opened his first of what would soon be 8 restaurants and bars on the island of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. He served as CEO of Blue Shore Restaurant Group for over 14 years until Hurricanes Irma and Maria wiped out St. Thomas in 2017. Those hurricanes turned out to be the biggest blessing of his life as they indirectly led him to his current role at USHEALTH Advisors.  Buckle Up! You can find Eric on IG @eric_theagent and by phone: 305 - 570 - 8411 Let's connect! Subscribe to buckleUp! podcast and follow @nataliaearle on all social media platforms and on FB @thenataliaearleWould you like to be a guest on buckleUp! podcast and share your story? Please email us at buckleupne@gmail.comThis episode is brought to you by SOBE Promos www.sobepromos.com

Special Episode: Youth Preparedness with Sam JohnsonCrisis. Conflict. Emergency Management Podcast Join us for global perspectives and conversations about international crisis, preparedness, and how to build more resilient societies in a challenging and ever-changing world. As the world moves to reduce the risk of global threats, we need to recognize the vulnerabilities, connectivity, and perspectives that drive instability. Join us for international conversations addressing key challenges and risks that undermine our efforts to build more resilient societies. This podcast is brought to you by Capacity Building International (CBI) and sponsored by The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS). In our next episode, we are joined by Sam Johnson. Sam is the Program Lead for Youth Preparedness for National Headquarters at the American Red Cross. She manages two emergency and disaster preparedness education programs, https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redcross.org%2Fget-help%2Fhow-to-prepare-for-emergencies%2Fteaching-kids-about-emergency-preparedness%2Fprepare-with-pedro.html&data=05%7C01%7Ckyle.king%40capacitybuildingint.com%7C744dce31136943bf7d3308da9100f6c1%7Cf10f5b98d09d4797abf41654efd52e64%7C0%7C0%7C637981730597857276%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=jPyNmY0EKKKseJ8hlSTue%2Bs8ebLgwTEbBttNMjSqSSc%3D&reserved=0 (Prepare with Pedro) (Kindergarten – 2nd grade) and https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redcross.org%2Fget-help%2Fhow-to-prepare-for-emergencies%2Fteaching-kids-about-emergency-preparedness%2Fpillowcase-project.html&data=05%7C01%7Ckyle.king%40capacitybuildingint.com%7C744dce31136943bf7d3308da9100f6c1%7Cf10f5b98d09d4797abf41654efd52e64%7C0%7C0%7C637981730597857276%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=7u3sX1GAEd2riyKRFhXmCube9n8Hp0o0j0cfdaDtmIA%3D&reserved=0 (The Pillowcase Project) (3rd-5th grade) that have reached over 1.4 million students across the continental US and on military bases abroad. She began her career as an AmeriCorps member with the American Red Cross of Alaska and supported long term recovery efforts in the US Virgin Islands after Hurricanes Irma and Maria. She has a Master of Science from Tulane University in Disaster Resilience Leadership. You can learn more about her programs at https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redcross.org%2Fget-help%2Fhow-to-prepare-for-emergencies%2Fteaching-kids-about-emergency-preparedness.html&data=05%7C01%7Ckyle.king%40capacitybuildingint.com%7C744dce31136943bf7d3308da9100f6c1%7Cf10f5b98d09d4797abf41654efd52e64%7C0%7C0%7C637981730597857276%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2Fsdl4f8T%2Fdcx9Ul41M%2FbR6J0YghgW4uQTBYfCgqFX7Y%3D&reserved=0 (redcross.org/youthprep). LinkedIn: https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fsamkjohnson%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ckyle.king%40capacitybuildingint.com%7C744dce31136943bf7d3308da9100f6c1%7Cf10f5b98d09d4797abf41654efd52e64%7C0%7C0%7C637981730598013511%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=WJe8cCtS4ErYpZp4o%2F8qa4Ghk1LQC4WjSJvpW9llfDM%3D&reserved=0 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/samkjohnson/) Sam Johnson | Senior Associate Community Preparedness Education and Youth Preparedness Program Lead, Youth Preparedness | youthprep@redcross.org American Red Cross | National Headquarters sam.johnson@redcross.org This podcast is brought to you in partnership between Capacity Building International (CBI) and The International Emergency Management Society...

Special Episode: Youth Preparedness with Sam JohnsonCrisis. Conflict. Emergency Management Podcast Join us for global perspectives and conversations about international crisis, preparedness, and how to build more resilient societies in a challenging and ever-changing world. As the world moves to reduce the risk of global threats, we need to recognize the vulnerabilities, connectivity, and perspectives that drive instability. Join us for international conversations addressing key challenges and risks that undermine our efforts to build more resilient societies. This podcast is brought to you by Capacity Building International (CBI) and sponsored by The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS). In our next episode, we are joined by Sam Johnson. Sam is the Program Lead for Youth Preparedness for National Headquarters at the American Red Cross. She manages two emergency and disaster preparedness education programs, https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redcross.org%2Fget-help%2Fhow-to-prepare-for-emergencies%2Fteaching-kids-about-emergency-preparedness%2Fprepare-with-pedro.html&data=05%7C01%7Ckyle.king%40capacitybuildingint.com%7C744dce31136943bf7d3308da9100f6c1%7Cf10f5b98d09d4797abf41654efd52e64%7C0%7C0%7C637981730597857276%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=jPyNmY0EKKKseJ8hlSTue%2Bs8ebLgwTEbBttNMjSqSSc%3D&reserved=0 (Prepare with Pedro) (Kindergarten – 2nd grade) and https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redcross.org%2Fget-help%2Fhow-to-prepare-for-emergencies%2Fteaching-kids-about-emergency-preparedness%2Fpillowcase-project.html&data=05%7C01%7Ckyle.king%40capacitybuildingint.com%7C744dce31136943bf7d3308da9100f6c1%7Cf10f5b98d09d4797abf41654efd52e64%7C0%7C0%7C637981730597857276%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=7u3sX1GAEd2riyKRFhXmCube9n8Hp0o0j0cfdaDtmIA%3D&reserved=0 (The Pillowcase Project) (3rd-5th grade) that have reached over 1.4 million students across the continental US and on military bases abroad. She began her career as an AmeriCorps member with the American Red Cross of Alaska and supported long term recovery efforts in the US Virgin Islands after Hurricanes Irma and Maria. She has a Master of Science from Tulane University in Disaster Resilience Leadership. You can learn more about her programs at https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redcross.org%2Fget-help%2Fhow-to-prepare-for-emergencies%2Fteaching-kids-about-emergency-preparedness.html&data=05%7C01%7Ckyle.king%40capacitybuildingint.com%7C744dce31136943bf7d3308da9100f6c1%7Cf10f5b98d09d4797abf41654efd52e64%7C0%7C0%7C637981730597857276%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2Fsdl4f8T%2Fdcx9Ul41M%2FbR6J0YghgW4uQTBYfCgqFX7Y%3D&reserved=0 (redcross.org/youthprep).  LinkedIn: https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fsamkjohnson%2F&data=05%7C01%7Ckyle.king%40capacitybuildingint.com%7C744dce31136943bf7d3308da9100f6c1%7Cf10f5b98d09d4797abf41654efd52e64%7C0%7C0%7C637981730598013511%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=WJe8cCtS4ErYpZp4o%2F8qa4Ghk1LQC4WjSJvpW9llfDM%3D&reserved=0 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/samkjohnson/) Sam Johnson | Senior Associate Community Preparedness Education and Youth Preparedness  Program Lead, Youth Preparedness | youthprep@redcross.org American Red Cross | National Headquarters  sam.johnson@redcross.org  This podcast is brought to you in partnership between Capacity Building International (CBI) and The International Emergency Management Society...

Part 2 - As we mark the five-year anniversary of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Neville James continues his comprehensive discussion on the Territory's recovery efforts with Director Adrienne Williams-Octalien of the Office of Disaster Recovery.

"Embrace your journey, and it will take you to where you are supposed to be." Dayvee Sutton When we reflect on our journeys to where we are, we see how different events and experiences led to our current positions. Therefore, we must embrace our journey to find meaning and fulfillment in life. This is according to our guest today, Dayvee Sutton, who believes that her present is largely explained by everything she has experienced in her previous experiences.  Dayvee Sutton is an investigative storyteller who travels the world uncovering the unseen in the most picturesque places. From hunting for pink dolphins and black caiman in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest to riding a motorbike through the streets of Hanoi, Vietnam, and gritty reporting in the infamous La Perla neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after Hurricanes Irma and Maria. She uses travel adventures as the gateway to draw in audiences. Her reporting range covers everything from fun holiday travel tips to breaking news stories like navigating trips in the pandemic and important issues like the climate crisis. Dayvee's unique perspective as a black woman in this space allows her to explore how the climate crisis affects the lives of women, indigenous people, people of color, and others whose needs and welfare tend to come last around the world. Her storytelling approach is relatable and tangible for audiences from her years as a journalist and not a scientist. Dayvee's work can be seen on NBC News and TODAY Show, CNN, Dr. Oz, and The Weather Channel. She produced and hosted two seasons of an adventure travel show for Amazon Prime Video called "Beyond the Usual'', the series "Extraordinary Experiences" for USA TODAY Network, and is a Pathfinder host for "Lonely Planet." Dayvee also is one of the producers for "Health Minute" and "Consumer Watch'' for CNN New source. In today's episode, our guest will discuss her travel experiences and how her journey has led her to discover her art, which is entrepreneurial journalism. Listen in! Social Media https://twitter.com/dayveesutton   https://facebook.com/dayveesutton   https://twitter.com/dayveesutton   https://www.DayveeSutton.com So my background is as a traditional local news journalist, and most of my career was spent in sports, which I did for about 12 years. [4:01] I then co-hosted a lifestyle and entertainment show locally, and that is where I really kind of found what I like to do. [4:13] Everything in my background is like a full circle to making sense to right now, starting from where I was born and raised. [4:24] I grew up in south of the suburbs of Los Angeles, where I was exposed to all kinds of cultures just being in a diverse friend group, and I was always so curious. [4:30] Come to curving a whole journey of 15 years in news media, making a career pivot about six years ago to start my production company and go full-on in and tell travel stories. [5:28] My background and even my college education help me take a deeper dive because what I learned as having a degree in world religions are empathy and perspective. [5:48] One of my kind of taglines is that my job is to inspire you to go, and the audience consists of people who want to be inspired to try and go, but most of the audience are just interested in learning. [7:54] Another underlying mission in my work is to dismantle colonialism in travel, and I know that can be triggering, but the whole industry is based on that. [8:20] That means everything is set up to accommodate your comfort and your standards instead of allowing you to immerse yourself into how they do things. [8:50] In my stories, whether they are the short, fun ones or on video, or if they're a longer, deeper dive one, I kind of try to unpack the impact and how to do it better. [9:11] Being humble is a better approach than demanding that somebody tend your way just because you are who you are. [12:45] You stand out and probably will get treated more favorably if you are humble in your approach because they aren't used to it. [13:18] Basic manners and kindness does go a long way. [14:20] Commercial Break. [17:15] Travel is the best education, I think, and so whenever I touched the ground into a new place, I have my ears and eyes wide open, and I try to just soak it all up. [19:34] I recently unearthed and digitized these VHS tapes of when my dad took us to different places, and it was a bit surreal seeing little me and doing what I do now. [20:04] Talk about a full circle is just learning about this child me, and what I do now has just been amazing. [21:30] I love the world and learning about how people live, and it is those human bits anywhere around the world that inspire me to encourage people to travel. [21:45] Whatever little box we have grown up in, when we start to see that people are all the same, it breaks down all stigma, stereotypes, and bigotry that they might have grown up with. [22:38] I was working in a traditional newsroom when I became inspired by another journalist who is a celebrity journalist, Soledad O'Brien. [23:50] I started to investigate the idea of entrepreneurial journalists, which is different than a freelance journalist. [ 54:51] In my company, we create ideas like programs segments, and we produce particular content for different networks and outlets, and my approach is a little deeper. [25:12] One of the things that I do pretty regularly is I am on-air contributor to several national programs. People are curious about how to do that, so I'm coming up with an e-course to show people that any expertise is fit for TV. [25:38] Your dream is your dream, and there are lots of obstacles along the way, but if it were easy, everyone would do it. So keep going. [29:40] …………………………………………………………………………………… Thank You to our August Sponsor! Tired of the time and expense to get a manicure or pedicure? Try Color Street today! Base, color, and top coats of high-quality liquid nail polish in each strip results in a brilliant, salon-quality manicure in just minutes. No dry time, smudges, or streaks, and your mani/pedi lasts up to 10 days. Color Street is 100% real nail polish, not stickers. Learn More: https://www.colorstreet.com/bhroberts/party/2095611    

The hosts for this episode are psychology undergraduate students, Kiara White and Mckenzie Schwartz, interning at Advanced Therapeutic Solutions for Anxiety. Here, they interview Samantha and Jackie about their experiences in graduate school. Samantha Addante is a 5th-year Ph.D. Doctoral Clinical Psychology student at Oklahoma State University and Jackie Pabis is a 5th-year Ph.D. Clinical Psychology student at Northern Illinois University. We wanted to include some links below to some of the publications from both Samantha and Jackie that we discussed, links to graduate programs from both colleges and a link to the ATSA website: Samantha Addante: Family-Centered Care Approaches for Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: Caring for Mothers and Infants - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348683996_Family-Centered_Care_Approaches_for_Neonatal_Abstinence_Syndrome_Caring_for_Mothers_and_Infants Stigma Moderates the Relation Between Peer Victimization, Thwarted Belongingness, and Depressive Symptoms in Youth with Inflammatory Bowel Disease - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350961738_Stigma_Moderates_the_Relation_Between_Peer_Victimization_Thwarted_Belongingness_and_Depressive_Symptoms_in_Youth_with_Inflammatory_Bowel_Disease Oklahoma State University Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Program - https://go.okstate.edu/graduate-academics/programs/doctoral/psychology-option-in-clinical-phd.html Jacqueline Pabis: Parent–Adolescent Communication Influences on Anxious and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341583580_Parent-Adolescent_Communication_Influences_on_Anxious_and_Depressive_Symptoms_in_Early_Adolescence Coping Strategies and Psychological Symptoms Among Children on St. Thomas in the Aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria: Coping and Psychological Symptoms Among Children - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337751410_Coping_Strategies_and_Psychological_Symptoms_Among_Children_on_St_Thomas_in_the_Aftermath_of_Hurricanes_Irma_and_Maria_Coping_and_Psychological_Symptoms_Among_Children Northern Illinois University Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Program - https://www.niu.edu/clas/psychology/academics/graduate/clinical/index.shtml ATSA Website: https://www.advancedtherapeuticsolutions.org/

When recent podcast guest Tracy Falkenthal suggested we talk with Napoleon Griffin, we chased the lead. A decorated middle distance track runner who learned to scull as an adult, Napoleon beat male breast cancer and today strives to get as much out of life as possible. He also survived Hurricanes Irma and Maria which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, causing long-lasting power outages and leaving residents without access to clean water. Motivated by a desire for more training and racing opportunities, Napoleon relocated to Texas, where he now splits his time between Austin and Dallas.

#NotSureOkay Story 23/100 features Kalyn (Risker) Fahie Kalyn shared how her commitment and work as founder of Sisters Acquiring Financial Empowerment (SAFE), national advocate / mentor, Virgin Islands Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Council (VIDVSAC); love for family; faith-walk; and focus on self-care has been enhanced in unimaginable ways — through several of life's storms (domestic violence survivor, loss of parents, illness, Hurricanes Irma and Maria).

Today I'm visiting the #botanical #garden of #us #virginislands in #stcroix Meet my new friend and Park Director, Amy DeSorbo. Her bubbly and outgoing personality is infectious. We had so much fun hopping in a golf cart for a personal tour of the gardens, checking out the succulents, old sugar plantation, and finding out about the 2,000-year-old history of people and plants.⏱TIMESTAMPS⏱1:27 Tour Begins3:07 Bromiliead Garden4:25 Sugar Plantation Ruins4:50 Adopting a spot5:10 Blacksmith Shop6:40 Sausage Tree7:11 Hurricanes Irma & Maria7:38 Flamboyant and Kapok Trees8:54 Jasmine in Bloom9:07 Autograph Tree10:17 Museum and how to become a memberFor more information https://sgvbg.org/To Donatehttps://sgvbg.org/donate/WAYS TO SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL & UPCOMING ADVENTURES...✅ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/travelwithwendy

On September 19, 2017 hurricane Marie hit Puerto Rico and the next day Vickie Machaud committed herself to helping a small island city of Vieques off the mainland. A world where every home is filled with Hope We believe, Vieques should have access to safe, sanitary and sustainable housing. We believe in giving opportunities to gain knowledge and skills to create economic development. Our common goal is to repair 100's of damaged homes and to construct sustainable concrete homes across the island. Focusing our efforts on supporting the elderly, bed ridden, and families with young children. With an estimated 2,555 households on the island and 36% of individuals living below the poverty line, we're aiming to provide a long-term strategy to establish and implement a workforce development and vocational training program. Our long term objectives are ambitious, but we believe they are achievable. Our mission is demonstrating Gods love, building homes, communities and hope. We invite you to join us to make this vision a reality by donating time, expertise, money, or tools in support of our work on Vieques. Hurricanes Irma and Maria wrought damage across the island and revealed the fragility of our community. Hope Builders is dedicated to hurricane recovery and to supporting the community to prosper. We work in partnership with other organizations and with hundreds of volunteers who dedicate their time and effort to bring this vision forward. Everyone can be part of this effort. Resources: www.hopebuildersinc.org Hope Builders Inc. 787-631-4500 info@hopebuildersinc.org Facebook link for Hope Builders Inc.

Update: So last week, we finished our drug dealer series and wow what an incredible experience. It was so interesting to dive into this underground world and it was awesome to see so many new listeners come to the podcast. Finding Founders is growing more and more every day and if you’d like to support us, just share with a friend or post a screenshot to your socials. It really helps. Anyway, finishing up this series reminded me of first one that we ever did. I actually traveled over to Puerto Rico to interview leaders in the community and hear how the entrepreneurial community recovered after the 2017 hurricanes. Today I wanted to do a rebroadcast of the 1st episode in a three part series on Puerto Rico. I hope you enjoy. Puerto Rico Series Part 2 Puerto Rico Series Part 3 When all is smooth sailing, community is something that we often take for granted. But when the waves get rocky, there’s truth in the saying “it takes a village” -- after all, difficult times are made easier when we know we have others to lean on. Today, we sit down with Nelson Colón, CEO of the Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Community Foundation) and Honorary Recipient of the 2014 Martin Luther King and Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” Awards for his work in social responsibility and justice. In his 20-year role as President of the Puerto Rico Community Foundation, Nelson has effectively spearheaded disaster-relief strategies throughout Puerto Rico, from community restoration in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and María, to providing critical medical response during COVID-19. Tune in now as we have a candid conversation with Nelson about the racial and socio-economic challenges he faced growing up as a black Puerto-Rican; how his upbringing in a protective, tight-knit family inspired a lifelong dedication towards helping others in need; the experiences that continue to mold his passion for community-service-oriented projects in afflicted, at-risk areas of Puerto Rico; and personal advice on how we can each foster stronger communities in times of trial through continual provisions of compassion, support, and hope.

This week on the Future of Tourism, David is joined by Brad Dean, CEO of Discover Puerto Rico, to learn how the organization has embraced stakeholder engagement to recover quicker from the challenges posed by the Zika Virus, Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and now COVID-19.

Sam Johnson was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington and spent her childhood exploring and kayaking along the Puget Sound. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology and minor in Chemistry from the University of Portland where she fostered her love of all artisanal ice cream and baked goods Oregon had to offer. She then did a year of post-graduate service with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps NQ/AmeriCorps where she was placed with the American Red Cross of Alaska and served as the Preparedness and Casework Specialist. This was her first introduction into disaster response and preparedness education, working with and supporting various local and Alaska Native communities across the state. After a year of convincing herself there was no way should could make a career out of educating people on how to stay safe during emergencies, she moved to New Orleans and received her Master of Science from Tulane University in Disaster Resilience Leadership. She then began working with the American Red Cross of the US Virgin Islands, supporting their preparedness education programs as part of their Long Term Recovery efforts from Hurricanes Irma and Maria. She is now the Program Lead for Youth Preparedness for National Headquarters, supporting regions across the country as they implement youth emergency preparedness programs across the country and abroad.In this episode Sam gives us a much needed dose of joy and inspiration. We hear about her journey to service and more specifically her career soul-matching of sorts at the American Red Cross. Though a career in service was not what she planned, Sam shares the literal and metaphorical message behind "must be able to fly in small planes". If you have a fear of heights like me, you'll feel more at ease with Sam's insight. Sam also speaks to the ways she has been able to navigate racial ambiguity in building relationships with community members; ultimately leveraging preparedness education as a community engagement tool.  Additionally, we hear her perspective on the power of representation in the sector. Inspired by Gail McGovern's pillars of leadership, Sam reminds us that should prepare as best as we can and embrace change in our growth.We close out the year embracing our respective and collective lessons learned and course correcting as necessary as we share Forward 4O’s platform with this phenomenal WOC in the nonprofit and social enterprise sector.Stay connected with Sam on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter .  Follow Forward 40(4tea) on IG and Twitter @forward4tea. Continue to support and nominate a guest to be on the show. You can also learn more about the host Coach Faith here. 

When all is smooth sailing, community is something that we often take for granted. But when the waves get rocky, there’s truth in the saying “it takes a village” -- after all, difficult times are made easier when we know we have others to lean on. Today, we sit down with Nelson Colón, CEO of the Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Community Foundation) and Honorary Recipient of the 2014 Martin Luther King and Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” Awards for his work in social responsibility and justice. In his 20-year role as President of the Puerto Rico Community Foundation, Nelson has effectively spearheaded disaster-relief strategies throughout Puerto Rico, from community restoration in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and María, to providing critical medical response during COVID-19. Tune in now as we have a candid conversation with Nelson about the racial and socio-economic challenges he faced growing up as a black Puerto-Rican; how his upbringing in a protective, tight-knit family inspired a lifelong dedication towards helping others in need; the experiences that continue to mold his passion for community-service-oriented projects in afflicted, at-risk areas of Puerto Rico; and personal advice on how we can each foster stronger communities in times of trial through continual provisions of compassion, support, and hope.

Fellow Graphic Designer & Photographer Kamaal talks to me about some of his pet peeves, how photoshop has changed over the years as well as computers. He shared why he decided to become a designer full time and his struggles after the 2017 Hurricanes Irma and Maria. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bunchie/support

Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain is a West Virginia born, raised, and schooled aerospace engineer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Hurricane Hunters. Since 2016, Nick has served as an aircrew member aboard NOAA’s fleet of research aircraft supporting a number of science missions including Arctic sea ice surveys, marine mammal surveys, atmospheric river reconnaissance, and hurricane research and reconnaissance. To date, he has flown into 16 hurricanes across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, including Hurricanes Irma, Florence, and Dorian. Nick is also pursuing a master’s degree in physical oceanography at the University of South Florida. He is passionate about sharing NOAA’s mission of environmental stewardship, promoting hurricane awareness, and STEM education.  Nick Underwood, welcome! Tonight's Guest Panelist is one of the organizers of the Annual Indiana Storm Chasers Convention in Indianapolis. She has a B.S in Professional Meteorology and Climatology from Ball State University, with a minor in Geographic Information Systems.  She interned under Chief Meteorologist Brian Wilkes at FOX59 WXIN Indianapolis for a year, and also interned at the National Weather Service Indianapolis.  She's a co-owner and consulting meteorologist at Thermdynamic Solutions LLC (TDS Weather).  She issues daily forecasts for various industries in the Mid-West including snow removal and landscaping, hospitals, sporting and outdoor venues, golf courses, agriculture, and more.  Beth Carpenter, welcome to the show!

In the Tampa Bay, Florida, region, migration from Spanish-speaking countries has increased more than 200% in the last two decades and that number continues to rise, creating social and economic change in the area, according to Lindsey Walker, executive assistant with $259 million/32,000-member Tampa Bay Federal Credit Union, Tampa Bay, Florida, and the 2020 CUES Emerging Leader, the first-ever winner.That growth was driven by part by Tampa being a top destination for people from Puerto Rico escaping Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Other Spanish speakers have come to the Tampa area from Columbia, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.According to Walker, a national survey found these individuals prefer having documents available in their native language. “There’s always room for misinterpretation when you speak dual languages,” Walker explains in the show. “This is especially true for older Spanish speakers. They often bring a grandchild or friend with strong English skills to help them.” If they don’t, they sometimes sign without fully understanding the terms, which can become a real problem.In the Tampa Bay region 24.3% of the unbanked and underbanked population rely on payday lenders, Walker points out in the show. These organizations prey heavily on minorities who lack access to mainstream financial products, she says.Getting their business at the credit union instead can be as simple as letting a consumer “know they can become a member of a credit union or that we will accept their identification. They actually can get access to products.“Since 2015, Tampa Bay Federal Credit Union has begun changing the narrative in our community and helping get the word out that we are there and we can support” Spanish speakers, she explains. “We make it known that we accept alternative types of identification for membership and loans. We have staffed our front line with over 74% being bilingual. Our branches are strategically built in Hispanic communities. We facilitate financial literacy classes in Spanish. We have bilingual branch leaders who have undergone” … financial literacy education courses.In all, “with completion of the Spanish outreach program … we’ve been able to provide materials to our Spanish speaking community such as member applications, loan documents, website, marketing materials,” she adds. “It’s a huge leap for the credit union. The feedback that we have received as each segment of the program has gone live” has been very positive. “They’ve been so grateful that we are listening to their needs and responding.”The credit union invested $56,000 and now anticipates 1% growth annually. With 8,200 Spanish-speaking members now, that’s 1,900 new members in the next five years “that we’ll be able to help,” Walker says. “We also anticipate an on-balance loan sheet increase of $128 million. Of that, we anticipate $6.4 million being deployed to our Hispanic communities. I think it’s a huge win-win.”The show also gets into:Walker’s professional mantra, “Seize every opportunity available,” and her favorite quoteTips for credit unions that want to do this in their own shopsGrant writing and the National Credit Union Administration’s community development financial institution programThe CUES Emerge program

Puerto Rico was devastated in 2017 by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which left behind billions of dollars in damages. In this episode, we’ll hear from the lead of FEMA’s Mitigation Assessment Team for the 2017 storms and have an update on the island’s current mitigation efforts from the previous State Hazard Mitigation Officer for Puerto Rico. The Building Science Branch of FEMA's Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA) oversees the Mitigation Assessment Team project to support the identification of mitigation requirements after a major disaster. After Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, the Mitigation Assessment Team, led by our first guest Stuart Adams, identified several key mitigation needs for Puerto Rico, including adopting an updated building code. The key to any successful mitigation program is ensuring recommendations are implemented by state and local communities. Our second guest in this episode, Tidal Basin’s Senior Director of Recovery Jose Valenzuela, will share how Puerto Rico implemented FEMA’s mitigation recommendations from the 2017 Mitigation Assessment Team report.  

Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit Puerto Rico in September 2017. Maria, the more destructive of the two, devastated the island in myriad ways. It wiped out Puerto Rico's electrical grid, leaving 3 million people without power — the biggest outage in U.S. history. It caused $100 billion in damage, and recent estimates from Harvard University, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, put the number of fatalities at 2,975. After the disaster, Professor Ivis Garcia Zambrana, AICP, PhD, went back to the island she grew up on to help create long-term planning partnerships that would lead to a more resilient Puerto Rico. In this episode of Resilience Roundtable, she sits down with host Jim Schwab, FAICP, to provide a context for how vulnerable Puerto Rico was before the storms: its government was more than $70 billion in debt and its failing electrical grid was already causing blackouts. Garcia Zambrana details the aftermath of the storm, but she also tells Schwab about the planning work that happened — and continues to happen — post-Maria. Several plans were culled into one, and a fiscal plan was put together. The two planners discuss the positive developments happening on the ground, such as how the community resilience program strengthens towns by granting funds to local planning organizations, but also where work still needs to be done to get into step with the new economic and disaster recovery plan. Their nuanced discussion paints a portrait of a complex situation: one in which great strides in rebuilding and recovery have been made, but great strides in hazard mitigation still need to happen.

When I walked into our school’s “petting zoo” in fifth grade, I wanted to play the viola or the trumpet. The petting zoo is the term we give to the process of choosing the instrument that you would play in middle and high school. I eventually put my bias aside, and went with the instrument that felt natural. At the time, I didn’t realize how much the decision to play standing bass would mean for my confidence, and how much of a passion it would become for me. I earned a spot for Junior Western Regional Orchestra both years that I auditioned. I went on to become one of the leaders in my section as a freshman in high school. It’s ironic that after this experience, my passion turned from the sound of beautiful melodies to the sound of silence. After my freshman year of high school, I moved from North Carolina to St Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was a time of transition made more dramatic by Hurricanes Irma and Maria just a few months after I arrived. The new school that I attended lacked a strong music program, and it is hard to maintain the condition of instruments on an island. It was time for me to discover a new passion. I had always thought that once on St Croix, I would do a lot of fishing. It turns out I have fished only once since moving to the Caribbean. Instead, I decided to try scuba diving. I enjoyed snorkeling with my family, but I had always yearned to be able to swim at depths with the amazing wildlife that this island offers. I believe that diving and orchestra are related to each other. The feeling of Zen that I get when at depths of over 100 feet is comparable to only one feeling I’ve ever had. It reminds me of the feeling that I get when I used to play the standing bass. Maybe this is because both of these are my passions, or maybe it’s because the two are somehow related. I thought about the two for a while and came to the conclusion that it isn’t the sound of the bass that I loved so much, but rather the feeling of relaxation that i had when playing it. This is the same feeling that I get when scuba diving. Watching the fish move simultaneously is similar to the sight of the bows of violins moving simultaneously. I can see how it seems strange that I would compare these two but hearing is just one of our six senses and I believe that these two activities have more in common than meets the eye.

Guest- Ivelices Linares Thomas, Esq- CEO, Human Resources & Beyond,A Strategic Human Capital Firm - “The Positive Benefits of a Healthy Workplace”BREATHING PAUSE - October was domestic violence awareness month. But knowledge, insight and ability to stop this horrible reality of human control and abuse is every day. Season of gratitude and ThanksgivingFocus on person you are most grateful for, what about that person, how they make you feel, treat you, teach you & love you Conversation Questions - These are for reflection in advance used for guidance only. The conversation takes on its own energy.We ask these two questions of all guests.What does wellness mean to you?What do you do to support wellness in your life, especially given your training and expertise. ______________________________________________________________________Your background is in labor law. Talk about the role and importance of a work environment that adheres to health, safety and non discrimination laws.What contributes to creating and maintaining a healthy work environment?What is the role of supervisors in a healthy workplace?What can employees do to maintain a healthy workplace?Many of the persons employed in the Virgin Islands are in government or in small businesses. Please comment on the challenges present in those environments on a healthy workplace.Stress has been a part of our recovery journey post Hurricanes Irma & Maria. How do healthy workplaces deal with stress on the individual and in the organization?What is one thing that if done regularly can have a positive impact on the workplaces?Caribbean culture is distinct and special. Based on your experiences how may culture contribute to a healthy workplace?Many small businesses don’t have HR professionals to provide training, development and advancement. What can small businesses do to deal with this reality.Many people spend more time at work than with their families. What are some signs that work vs family balance are out of balance?What are the range of service that HR and Beyond provides?Share your contact information for follow up after our conversation today.. Closing thoughts or words of encouragement to the audience. What’s the take away for those who are listening?

Rotary Wellness Wednesday 10/16/19 Guest- Anya Stuart, Executive Director, Family Resource Center - “Increasing Awareness of Domestic Violence in the VI”Conversation Questions - These are for guidance only the conversation takes on its own energy.The first two are asked of all guests.What does wellness mean to you?What do you do to support wellness in your life, especially given your training and expertise. ________________________________________________________________________ It’s been two years since Hurricanes Irma and Maria, what have you learned about yourself and its impacts as we move through this hurricane season.You became the Executive Director after many years of working on behalf of women & families impacted by violence. Share briefly your journey from consumer to Exec Director.What is domestic violence?Please talk about the cycle of abuse?What creates violence in a domestic environment?Are there warning signs that are helpful to pay attention to when in a relationship?How much of a issue is Domestic Violence in the U.S. Virgin Islands?At times there has been concern that law enforcement doesn’t take these cases seriously. Please comment.Talk about the cultural and for some religious beliefs that influence how an individual’s thinks about Domestic Violence?Was there a spike in services after IRMARIA? Has that changed as we have moved into the recovery period?October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Why is it important to have a month devoted to increasing awareness?Take Back the Night will occur on Thursday. Talk about the event and what inspired it and what will occur and why?If someone is listening and is concerned or fearful for his or her safety what can that person do?Share info about the range of other services provided at the Family Resource Center.Any other upcoming activities that would be of interest the listening audience?Please share your contact information.Closing thoughts or words of encouragement to the audience. What’s the take away for those who are listening?

Conversation Questions - These are for reflection and used for guidance only. The conversation takes on its own energy.The first two are asked of all guests.What does wellness mean to you?What do you do to support wellness in your life, especially given your training and expertise.It’s been two years since Hurricanes Irma & Maria, what have you learned about yourself and the impacts of creativity on the recovery journey?Share with us the origins of the documentary Paradise Discovered: "The Unbreakable Virgin Islands".Loss is a part of recovery even as we move forward. I read that your father had passed shortly before the island screening of the documentary. My condolences to you and your family. What was the impacts of his death on your resolve to share the documentary?What has been the response to persons on island and Caribbean people in the states and Canada to your work?Often traumatic experiences are buried in non verbal parts of ourselves. How has the film helped people to open up to those places?“Don’t Be A Slave to Perception” I was intrigued by that statement by you. What does it mean?Creativity and story telling is part of the heritage of the islands and African culture. Talk about how others can use story telling in ways that control personal narrative that can affirm culture and bridge understanding across many divides.What are your thoughts about Island Strong and the ways this can be a blessing and challenge for men.What advice would you offer for those who want to explore a career in film and arts on a global stage?How can someone watch the documentary?What are other projects that you have coming in the future?Please share contact information.Closing thoughts or words of encouragement to the audience. What’s the take away for those who are listening?

Conversation Questions - These questions are for guidance only as the conversation takes on its own energy.The first two are asked of all guests.What does wellness mean to you?What do you do to support wellness in your life, especially given your training and expertise. It’s been two years since Hurricanes Irma and Maria, what have you learned about yourself that is helpful as you move forward in the recovery process and through this hurricane season?Let’s start with the basic question...what is yoga?What are the benefits of regular yoga practice & lifestyle?What role has yoga played in your life?Why yoga in the schools? Talk about the history and goals.What schools have been involved/ ages / grades?You are a Caucasian male going into I would guess mostly school environments with majority students of color what has that dynamic been like?This is a very Christian island please talk about responses to having yoga in the schools. There are some persons who have negative perspectives on yoga.Share your experiences with how students initially react to the introduction of yoga and the changes that you observed.Are there any programs in the states that have had positive impacts on student behavior, community, peace making, etc?Describe some basic yoga movements, philosophies that one can try and integrate at home or at work.Share contact information for Breath St. Thomas and for those who want to donate or get involved in the school program. Closing thoughts or words of encouragement to the audience. What’s the take away for those who are listening?

The Federal Communications Commission today approved $950 million in funding to improve, expand, and harden communications networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Chairman Ajit Pai, who has been front and center of the telecom recovery efforts for Puerto Rico and the USVI since day one after Hurricanes Irma and María hit in September 2017, discusses the historic vote in an exclusive interview with News is my Business.

Conversation Questions - These are used for guidance only. The conversation takes on its own energy.The first two are asked of all guests.What does wellness mean to you?What do you do to support wellness in your life, especially given your training and expertise. It’s been two years since Hurricane Irma & Maria what have you learned about yourself that is helpful as you move forward in the recovery process and through this hurricane season?What is the ST. Thomas Long Term Recovery Group? Give some history and detail areas of focus. Do the other islands have a similar model for their long term recovery? Similarities &/or differences?Has a similar entity existed from previous hurricanes? If not why now?Are there stages of recovery? What does Long Term mean in time frames? Is there a finish line? Is the goal for you to be out of a job?What is your overall assessment of how a typical Virgin Islander is recovering from Hurricanes Irma & Maria?What are the most persistent areas of vulnerability or challenges that impact forward movement?Do you interface with mostly non profits or mostly governmental entities or both?What are you most proud of about the progress made since IRMARIA?I attended a community event sponsored by the St. Thomas Long Term Recovery Group that brought a cross section of the community. It recognized the two year anniversary of IRMARIA. Talk about that event and the role of community engagement.What are ways that the public can get involved in the Long Term Recovery Group?It is personally gratifying to see you leading in the Virgin Islands. There has been a gap in tapping millennial's to use their gifts & talents and expertise to support the forward movement of the VI. What are your thoughts about leading in the VI?Are there any upcoming activities to share with the listening audience?As hurricane season continues what’s your message to the public, parents & children?Please share contact information. Closing thoughts or words of encouragement to the audience. What’s the take away for those who are listening?

Guest: Dr Carolyn Clansy Miller, Clinical Psychologist/ Ashar Counseling and Psychological Services Conversation Questions; These are for guidance only the conversation takes on its own energy. We begin with the first two questions for all our guests. 1. What does wellness mean to you?2. What do you do to support wellness in your life, especially given your training and expertise?---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. As individuals and as a community we are all still recovering from Hurricanes Irma & Maria. Hurricane Dorian came our way and has devastated the Northern Bahamas. The anniversary of Maria is this week. It is indeed Hurricane season. Briefly share what you have learned about yourself that is helpful as you move forward in the recovery process and the start of hurricane season?2. Watching the images from Hurricane Dorian has been gut wrenching. What is PTSD? Persons use the term to describe a variety of reactions.3. Talk about the impact of imagery in our wellness and triggering our hurricane experiences.4. What have you observed in your clinical work in the progress persons have made since IRMARIA?5. What are individuals and families continuing to find most challenging?6. Let’s talk about traumatic experiences and the ways that persons can help themselves to possibly interrupt negative memories from becoming debilitating and ingrained in our brain structure?7. I realize that all challenging experiences are not traumatic. What makes the distinction for one person compared to someone else?8. Are there examples of community wide PTSD programs / interventions? I have heard individuals make those statements. How would that work. Is there basic information on PTSD that is helpful for all of us to know?9. Sometimes individuals need professional support? Please talk about the role and value of counseling / psychotherapy. How does it help?10. The weather forecast indicated initially that Dorian was going to impact St. Croix. We in St Thomas were very surprised with the shift to hurricane status with the eye passing over us. What can help to manage the anxiety that gets creates from this reality? We hope that this was an exception and not anything more regular.11. Can you share some in the moment strategies / tools to deal with in the moment arousal / distress from nature? Sort of like an internal hurricane preparation kit. What should be inside?12. We have had a wide variety of guests on the show sharing wellness strategies for mind, body, and spirit. What are some ongoing wellness strategies / ways of living that you have seen to be very beneficial over the short and long term?13. Please share your contact information and the range of services that are offered in your practice.Closing thoughts or words of encouragement to the audience. What’s the take away for those who are listening?

Conversation Questions for reflection in advance of our time on Wednesday. Used for guidance only. The conversation takes on its own energy.We begin with the first two questions for all our guests.1. What does wellness mean to you?2. What do you do to support wellness in your life, especially given your training and expertise.Since there will be three persons sharing I ask that you share ONE word that captures your definition of wellness. In addition share ONE practice or thing that you do to support wellness in your life.1. As individuals and as a community we are all still recovering from Hurricanes Irma & Maria. Hurricane Dorian came our way. The anniversary of Irma was last week. It is indeed hurricane season. Briefly share what you have learned about yourself that is helpful as you move forward in the recovery process and the start of hurricane season?2. The theme song to start the show every week is Three Little Birds sung by Robert Nesta Marley. Yet may listeners may not have good factual / basic information about Rastafarianism. Let’s start there. What are the central beliefs and practices? 3. What is a good estimate of the Rastafarian population in the VI?4. How does a person become a Rastafarian? As with other religions and belief systems there are typically study processes, rituals and a community that one is received into? Please help us to understand the process as it currently exists.5. How long have you been practicing and living a lifestyle anchored in Rastafarianism? Why did you make that decision?6. My understanding is that over the years "Rastas" have received discriminatory treatment in various ways in the VI. Share some specific ways that treatment of Rastafarians has been present in the VI?7. From your perspective why did this exist and what has changed over time?8. The role of cannabis plays a central role in the religious practices of Rastafarianism. From those on the outside there is a perception that smoking weed is escape / fun activity and not a religious practice. Talk about that stereotype and that assumption. 9. Why does the Cannabis Council exist? What are its goals and objectives?10. How does the legalization of marijuana impact the Rastafarian community?11. Are there ways that the Rastafarian community will benefit economically from the expanding and evolving cannabis industry?12. Share any concerns about others profiting off an herb that is an essential part of the community and culture?13. There are many who have great concern about the availability of marijuana in the VI to teenagers and the impact it has on developing brains and ability to make good choices for the present and the future. Some say it’s a gateway drug. What are thoughts about this concern?14. On the other side of this issue there are persons who have discovered the healing benefits of cannabis (CBD) for a wide range of health issues and challenges. Please comment on this reality as well.15. Living a natural life anchored in the love of freedom, Africa, liberation, creativity and a lifestyle void of meat, and healing and wellness from herbs beyond cannabis are my own associations of Rastafarians that I have known throughout my life. If you agree with those tenets how does contemporary life create challenges for the deep embrace of some of those beliefs? If I’m off base please correct and expand.16. Many in the VI love to go to Bordeaux for cultural expression, fresh produce, vegan food and reggae music. Is that where the communal living of Rastafarians is best seen in the VI? What about on St John and in St Croix?17. Share contact information for our listening audience about the council and any upcoming activities.Closing thoughts or words of encouragement to the audience. What’s the take away for those who are listening?

These are for reflection purposes used for guidance only the conversation takes on its own energy.The first two are asked of all guests.What does wellness mean to you?What do you do to support wellness in your life, especially given your training and expertise. As individuals and as a community we are all still recovering from Hurricanes Irma & Maria. TS Dorian just passed up by. It is indeed hurricane season. What have you learned about yourself that is helpful as you move forward in the recovery process and the start of hurricane season?As a territory we are in the middle of the recovery process please share what you notice in your congregation. How are people doing overall? What are their ongoing challenges?On September 2nd the church is offering "Renew". Tell us about the focus and how it came about?It is unusual for faith leaders to explore the brain and its role in healing, trauma recovery, success, Well-being, etc. Why have you explored this area of human physiology and it’s role in spiritual, emotional, and physical health.Describe what will be included in the program on September 2nd.What were some of your biggest aha moments of discovery as you delved deeper in the role of brain health, plasticity, negative thought patterns and role in trauma recovery? Some persons may be skeptical about exploring this part of who they are for a variety of reasons. How would you respond to their concerns or anxiety?I did my dissertation research on Standing in the Need of Prayer: Beliefs about Depression and Treatment helps among African American Christian women. One of the major findings / next steps was the absence of engagement of or the ignorance of faith leaders in the area of depression. Rarely any sermons and is there were often faith leaders caused women to feel that it was a result of lack of spiritual strength, the devil and poor moral, with no focus on the role of the brain’s role for some. What are your thoughts?Please talk about some of the research of Dr Leaf who will be the key presenter for Renew. Is there anything that a woman can do in advance of coming to the program?Please share details about registering and location of the church. Who is the target audience? Closing thoughts or words of encouragement to the audience. What’s the take away for those who are listening.Is there a prayer that you would like to offer for the Renewal and Power of our thoughts as we move deeper into the recovery journey, individually and collectively?Thank you for sharing your time and insights.

“Voices from our Virgin Island Community: Exploring the Impacts of Hurricanes Irma & Maria” with guests - Dr Noreen Michael, Research Director Caribbean Exploratory Research Center , Dr Sheena Walker- Psychologist /Owner, Mind Body Health & Psychology Conversation questions used as a guide only the conversation takes on its own energy.The first two are asked of all guests. 1. What does wellness mean to you? 2. What do you do to support wellness in your life, especially given your training and expertise. Given the short time frame. I will ask that you share one word that captures the definition and one activity that you do to affirm wellness in your life. 1. As individuals and as a community we are all still recovering from Hurricanes Irma & Maria, what have you learned about yourself that is helpful as you move forward through the recovery process and the start of another hurricane season? 2. Dr. Noreen please give a brief background to the Community Needs Assessment and any updates since your last appearance on the show. 3. The focus of this show will be the affirming and exploring of some of the voices of persons who were part of the focus groups for the assessment. Dr. Noreen will read through the passage and Dr. Sheena will provide insight and reflection on the content spoken and unspoken. The goal is to normalize reactions and responses and provide suggestions for coping, resources and encouragement. Let’s begin. 4. We will go through 4-6 passages for reading and commentary. 5. Dr. Noreen and Dr. Sheena It is hurricane season and in a few weeks it will be the anniversary of Hurricanes Irma-Maria. What can individuals and groups now given both of those realities? 6. Dr. Sheena share contact info for Mind Body Psychology and what services are offered? 7. Dr. Noreen please share contact info and how persons can get a copy of the Needs Assessment.Closing thoughts or words of encouragement to the audience. What’s the take away for those who are listening. Thank you for sharing your time and insights.

These are for reflection used for guidance only the conversation takes on its own energy.The first two are asked of all guests.What does wellness mean to you?What do you do to support wellness in your life, especially given your training and expertise. As individuals and as a community we are all still recovering from Hurricanes Irma & Maria...what have you learned about yourself that is helpful as you move forward in the recovery process and the start of hurricane season?Please talk about the impacts of the hurricanes on children and youth in the territory.How did the Task-force develop in response to those impacts on children and youth?What are the focus areas for the Task-force?Task-force as a means of addressing an issue can have a reputation of lots of talking and no action. What activities or community based activities have been initiated?You have been involved for a long time in working with vulnerable children and their families. What are the common strengths and challenges that you have experienced / seen when working with vulnerable children and their families. We know that human beings are complex and unique yet there may be some commonalities that you can talk about.What are some of the biggest misconceptions about individuals who are in the foster care system?It is hurricane season what can individuals and groups do to keep the voice and perspective of children and youth front and center?How can individuals or groups get involved with the Task-force?What is the hope for present and future impact and activities of the Task-force?Share contact information for yourself and how to get in contact with Dr Celia Victor?What is one important action that we all can do to value children and youth? Closing thoughts or words of encouragement to the audience. What’s the take away for those who are listening. Thank you for sharing your time and insights.

In the twenty-seventh episode of the Podcast for Social Research,BISR faculty Adriana Garriga-Lopez, Ajay Singh Chaudhary, and Alyssa Battistoni attempt to untangle the interlocking forces that rendered Puerto Rico fatally vulnerable to the double punch of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. One year later, Puerto Rico remains a site of social and ecological catastrophe, an “unnatural” disaster of infrastructural decay, economic austerity, and political subjugation. What, in theory and practice, is Puerto Rico's relation to the United States? What impact has colonization, neoliberalization, and financialization had on Puerto Rico's social, economic, and political condition? What is the state of the island 11 months after landfall? How do ordinary Puerto Ricans cope, and what can be done?

Hurricane Florence's devastation is countered by another (collective) civilian rescue force stepping up as government agencies are overwhelmed. Dr. Perrodin describes how both small and large civilian rescue forces develop. WHY WE HAVE CIVILIAN RESCUE FORCES. There are 3 reasons. First, people genuinely want to assist others in a time of need – especially when that situation is a natural disaster. Second, humans desire the presence of a social contract, or as philosopher Thomas Hobbes would put it, without a social contract, people would be “brutish” and chaos would infect the land. We are willing to trade some liberties to the government in exchange for protection. After 9/11, this was especially evident in the authorization of The Patriot Act. The third reason is found in the Constitution, particularly, the 10th Amendment. THE TENTH AMENDMENT's BIG ROLE IN DISASTER RESCUE FORCES. The 10th Amendment states that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” In other words, governments are engaged in complicated relationships with citizens during times of disaster and crisis. Frankly stated, the government does not possess the resources or ability to rapidly scale which is necessary to mobilize an adequate response to a direct hit from a hurricane. Civilians can respond to rescues as they have that right per the 10th Amendment. CIVILIAN FORCES TO THE RESCUE! So, as we saw with the rag-tag boat rescue of 500,000 people in 9 hours from Lower Manhattan on 9/11/2001 and again with Cajun Navy Relief for Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, civilian rescue forces are effective and when melded with government rescue teams, much can be accomplished in removing people from harm's way. Dr. Perrodin shares an example of how a local private business offered its own amphibious equipment to help people recover items from their homes – that were surrounded by water. THE COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP. Who is responsible if a citizen volunteer is electrocuted while trying to rescue someone? This is the question that keeps local and state governments at bay of full, overt support of layman rescue groups and what we observe is implicit approval and help of civilian rescue forces. However, this issue must be addressed at a legislative level and Dr. Perrodin encourages some degree of immunity rather than any type of regulation. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests and do not reflect positions of The 405 Media or supporters of “The Safety Doc Podcast”. The show adheres to nondiscrimination principles while seeking to bring forward productive discourse & debate on topics relevant to personal or institutional safety. Email David: thesafetydoc@gmail.com LOOKING FOR DR. TIMOTHY LUDWIG, PHD? Dr. Perrodin's “Safety Doc Podcast” negotiates school and community safety. To be informed about industrial safety, please contact Appalachian State University Professor Dr. Timothy Ludwig, PhD, at www.safety-doc.com.

In his book Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes famously imagines human beings in a state of nature where life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” People will, Hobbes argues, quickly flee such a terrible condition, creating for their own protection a mighty Sovereign and enter into a social contract. Dr. Perrodin discusses how Hobbes' perspective on the absolute need for social constructs manifested in the unfathomable harbor rescue of 500,000 people from Lower Manhattan on 09/01/2001 and again when Cajun Navy Relief rescued countless numbers of people stranded by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey in 2017. Something is stirring in the field of social contract theory. WHO WAS THOMAS HOBBES? Thomas Hobbes lived through the English Civil War.  The long and bloody struggle between the parliament and crown motivated and shaped his political ideas.  Hobbes studied how people lived together - without killing each other! LEVIATHAN AND SOCIAL CONTRACTS. Leviathan rigorously argues that civil peace and social unity are best achieved by the establishment of a commonwealth through social contract. Hobbes's ideal commonwealth is ruled by a sovereign power responsible for protecting the security of the commonwealth and granted absolute authority to ensure the common defense. In his introduction, Hobbes describes this commonwealth as an "artificial person" and as a body politic that mimics the human body. IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL SAFETY. Schools are investing in expensive, unproven, or proven for a very narrow benefit (bollards) items. Parents are more willing than ever to surrender rights to privacy in exchange for safer schools. But, is this necessary, where does it end, and what happens to the social contract when parents have nothing left to offer to the state? Dr. Perrodin argues that there is virtually no questioning, no deliberations - the safety grants are there and most schools can make changes to buildings to improve safety and it's exempted from spending caps - but again, is this making schools safer or just moving the targets? He also states that short-term social contracts in which people severed their contract with the state and replaced it with a contract with Cajun Navy Relief, for example, is actually a very positive sign for the future of enabling rescue systems to organically arise during a crisis. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com David will respond to comments & emails. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests and do not reflect positions of The 405 Media or supporters of “The Safety Doc Podcast”. The show adheres to nondiscrimination principles while seeking to bring forward productive discourse & debate on topics relevant to personal or institutional safety. Email David: thesafetydoc@gmail.com LOOKING FOR DR. TIMOTHY LUDWIG, PHD? Dr. Perrodin's “Safety Doc Podcast” negotiates school and community safety. To be informed about industrial safety, please contact Appalachian State University Professor Dr. Timothy Ludwig, PhD, at www.safety-doc.com.

Hurricanes Irma and Harvey may cost the United States as much as $300 billion, about 1.5% of the annual GDP. The impact of these storms will be felt for a long time. Meanwhile, wildfires in the West have burned an area about the size of Maryland