South Peninsula Hospital is working closely with the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services and other state and local agencies in our response to the outbreak of COVID-19.
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, you are encouraged to maintain a physical distance from others of at least 6 feet, practice frequent hand washing, clean regularly used surfaces, wear cloth face coverings while in public, stay home when sick, and get tested if you have been exposed or have symptoms.
Vaccines are now offered during your appointments at Homer Medical Center and the SPH Family Care Clinic. Inquire at time of your appointment.
Getting your second dose? Call 235-0235 for questions or if you need to cancel or reschedule.
NEW!!! Pfizer vaccine is now authorized for individuals 12 years of age and older. Moderna and Janssen vaccines are authorized only for individuals 18 years of age and older Who is eligible? Anyone living or working in Alaska is eligible. Vaccine Information: Information about COVID-19 vaccines approved by FDA Emergency Use Authorization:
In 2009, Salvador Rico stood in the waters of the Russian River in Northern California with other members of the Rotary Club of South Ukiah. They were there for a river cleanup, during which they removed toilets, refrigerators, car parts, and garbage. That event led to an ambitious initiative called Cleaning the Rivers of the World.
After participating in the Russian River cleanup, Rico’s thoughts turned to the Ameca River, which flows past his father’s farm in western Mexico. That was where, he believed, his oldest sister contracted the poliovirus that killed her in the 1960s.
The Rotary clubs of Ameca, Mexico, and of Rohnert Park-Cotati and South Ukiah, California, clean up the Ameca River. “I always hoped that someday I could go home and do something to turn all the sewage into pristine waters,” says Salvador Rico, the Rotary member who organized the clean up.
“My older siblings would play in the river,” he says, “and that particular river carried sewage from the city of Tala.”
Rico also thought of another river, the Lerma, which runs near his old elementary school. His teachers would let children play in a pristine tributary that flowed from a canyon but not in the main channel of the Lerma, which carried trash and toxic waste from Guadalajara.
So when Rico’s district governor, Helaine Campbell, asked clubs to carry out a signature water-related project in 2013-14, Rico proposed a cleanup of the Ameca River.
With the help of Vicente Paredes of the Rotary Club of San Pedro de Tlaquepaque, Mexico, who connected people and worked on logistics, the Rotary clubs of Ameca, Mexico, and of Rohnert Park-Cotati and South Ukiah, California, carried out the first Ameca River cleanup day in April 2014. They have since organized more cleanups of the river.
That project eventually expanded to become Cleaning the Rivers of the World, which has challenged Rotary clubs across the globe to clean up a river. The initiative has been adopted by the Water & Sanitation Rotarian Action Group as part of the Annual World Water Day Challenge, as well as by the Environmental Sustainability Rotarian Action Group. Rotarians have organized cleanup projects in Colombia, India, Nigeria, Peru, Turkey, and Venezuela, as well as in other parts of Mexico and the United States.
In 2018, Rico joined his fellow Rotarians in a project on the Lerma River. “As a kid, I always hoped that someday I could go home and do something to turn all the sewage into pristine waters,” he says. “Now I can say, with a clear conscience, that I did everything I could to leave a better world for our kids.”
Each year, District 5010 honors significant achievement and efforts by our District Rotarians over our Rotary year and remembers those who have passed.
That is typically done at a District Conference, but as you all know, this year's District in-person Conference has been cancelled in line with Rotary International guidance due to Covid.
Instead, we'll honor many clubs and individuals in a May 13, 2021 Zoom meeting starting at 7pm. The link is below.
As promised at PETS, District 5010 is recognizing exceptional achievement and effort by awarding Paul Harris Fellowships for outstanding service! Combining my remaining PH points, those available to our District Foundation Committee and a generous points contribution by Foundation Committee co-chair PDG Ted Trueblood, we'll be awarding 12, yes 12, Paul Harris Fellowships on May 13, along with many other awards and thanks.
Despite the difficulties arising from Covid, our District Rotarians have risen to that challenge and have accomplished a great deal, and we want to publicly recognize their achievements and thank them.
In addition, six District Rotarians have passed so far this Rotary year, including PDG Bob Brodie, and we will remember them.
No long-winded speeches this year, just thanks and recognition to the many deserving Rotarians and a few non-Rotarians.
So, join us on May 13 at 7pm by linking to this Zoom:
Joe Kashi
(short-timer District Governor 2020-2021)
Rotary District 5010 is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
By building on a proven concept — such as efforts to stamp out malaria in Zambia — Rotary’s new multimillion-dollar Programs of Scale grants help make good better
by DIANA SCHOBERG and VANESSA GLAVINSKAS | illustrations by GWEN KERAVAL
AS PART OF THE POLIO ERADICATION campaign, Rotary and its partners have trained millions of health care workers and volunteers and vaccinated nearly 3 billion children. Polio cases have dropped 99.9 percent since Rotary took up the cause in 1985, and the number of countries with endemic wild polio has dropped to two: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"What you’ve done with polio is remarkable," says Larry Cooley, a well-known international development consultant. "But it shouldn’t be a study of one."
Rotary is stepping up to that challenge through Programs of Scale, a new Foundation program awarding grants to Rotary clubs or districts with evidence-based interventions that are ready to scale. The first such grant, announced in February, will provide $2 million to Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia, a member-led program focused on fighting malaria. Co-funders World Vision U.S. and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are also involved in malaria mitigation efforts and will each contribute $2 million to the program. This $6 million program will train and equip 2,500 community health workers in Zambia to support the government’s work to eradicate malaria in that country. If all goes well, Rotary members hope to expand the effort to elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.
The concept of Programs of Scale dates back to 2013, when global grants, introduced through The Rotary Foundation’s updated grant model, expanded the scope and size of Rotary projects with the aim of increasing their impact. After a 2016 evaluation of the grant model, the Foundation Trustees requested that a new grant type be developed that would fund "scalable" grant projects in the areas of focus — meaning projects that were planned in a way that allowed them to be expanded, built upon, and further developed. "Something between large global grants and PolioPlus was needed," says Francis "Tusu" Tusubira, a member of The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers and a past member of Rotary’s Strategic Planning Committee.
The Programs of Scale grants are the result: a way to fund large-scale, high-impact projects that can attract partners while tapping into Rotary members’ capacity and enthusiasm. "While global grants and district grants have been very successful, we want to give opportunities for projects with even more impact," says Foundation Trustee Sangkoo Yun, who was on the Programs of Scale selection committee. "We want to better quantify that impact and share what we learn with all Rotarians engaged in international service."
So what, in this context, does "scale" mean?
"It’s a simple question with a complicated answer," says Cooley, who is an expert on the topic. One way to think about it, he says, is that you are looking for a solution that matches the scale of the problem. If you define the problem in local terms, then the scale of the solution is local. If you define it as international, as with polio, then the scale of the solution is international.
"Problems have denominators," he says. "If somebody said, we helped distribute blankets to 10,000 villagers, I’d say, congratulations, but how many villagers needed blankets? If the answer is that it was 10,000 out of 15,000, I’d say, holy mackerel, that’s great. If it’s 10,000 out of 10 million, I’d say that’s still great, but that’s not the right strategy."
Clubs can think about scale whenever they’re developing a project, not only when they are aiming to apply for a Programs of Scale grant. Cooley suggests that rather than focusing on projects, Rotarians focus on problems. "Take on a problem and [don’t] let go until it’s solved, or materially improved, whether at the community or national level," he says.
When thinking about scaling up, Tusubira notes, you can take a successful project and add new aspects to it to deepen the impact. Or you can expand the project to reach more people, as is the case in Zambia, where Rotarians are building on successful global grants and other programs that funded training for community health workers in other parts of the country. The challenge, he says, is figuring out which are the unique environmental factors that are responsible for the success of a project in order to be sure you are scaling up the right things.
By 1 March 2020 — the application deadline for the first Programs of Scale grant — the Foundation had received more than 70 proposals representing programs across Rotary’s areas of focus to be implemented around the world. After a rigorous review process, those were narrowed down to a select group, and the clubs involved were invited to submit full applications. A team of Cadre members and staff experts conducted virtual site visits and evaluated the proposals based on readiness to scale up the project, readiness to learn and share results, and how well the clubs involved would work with local communities and partner organizations. Three finalists were recommended.
"I was bowled over by the quality and strength of the applications, and by the expertise and experience of Rotarians on the ground and the connections they have," says selection committee member Judith Diment. "What I really liked about [the malaria project in Zambia] was the partnerships and the collaboration they had established," adds Diment, who is also the dean of the Rotary Representative Network and a longtime polio advocacy adviser. "It had many parallels with the polio program."
Rotary’s success in the polio eradication program provides valuable lessons for clubs — not only those interested in applying for a Programs of Scale grant, but those planning any project.
One lesson, as Diment notes, is about the power of partnerships. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is one of the most ambitious public-private health partnerships in history. "Collaborating with partners gives you a much bigger opportunity for large-scale change," she says.
A second lesson is the need for large-scale programs to grow out of Rotarians’ interests. Before polio was adopted by Rotary on a global scale, individual clubs were already tackling the disease through Rotary-funded projects, including a 1979 project to administer oral polio vaccine in the Philippines. Programs of Scale, Tusubira notes, will give Rotary members the chance to come up with ideas they can demonstrate will have a sustainable impact and bring partners to the table.
Another lesson is about deploying Rotary’s power of networks. Rotarians around the world have used their connections — local, national, and international — to draw attention to and garner support for polio eradication.
Cooley, the development consultant, says he’s fascinated by Rotary’s potential to scale up projects. "These are the most prominently placed people in a community, all of whom are trying to do something good," he says. "Look at Rotary as an asset. There are lots of problems Rotary could make a big difference on."
The new Programs of Scale grants will give Rotarians a way to do it.
Frequently asked questions
What is a program of scale?
The Rotary Foundation has introduced a competitive $2 million grant to provide Rotary members with resources to implement large-scale, high-impact programs in Rotary’s areas of focus while fostering policy development and sustainable programs. The grant will invest in promising, locally led interventions that have already demonstrated success. Throughout the life of the grant (three to five years), Rotary members must work with an implementing partner and be prepared to document the program’s success.
Why is the Foundation now awarding a $2 million grant?
To increase our impact. Through this grant, the Foundation will support high-quality, member-led programs that have proven outcomes. Lessons learned will be shared with clubs and districts everywhere to further strengthen our service projects.
What are the attributes of a strong implementing partner?
Implementing partners must have expertise, experience, and program management systems, and must be an active participant in carrying out program activities. Implementing partners may be international or local NGOs, government entities, private sector organizations, or other Rotary entities, such as Rotary Community Corps or Rotary Action Groups. A program may have more than one implementing partner.
Why is an implementing partner required?
Ideally, implementing partners will add value to the program by complementing the strengths of the Rotary members involved. Having a strong relationship with an adept and experienced implementing partner is critical. Also, in the first round of the Programs of Scale process, the Foundation encouraged co-funding from philanthropic, private, and other sources. Co-funding can help increase the number of beneficiaries as well as demonstrate the partner’s strong commitment to the program’s success. Though co-funding is now required, it does not have to come from the implementing partner.
What is Rotary’s role in a program of scale?
Rotary members have a unique role as trusted community members and neighbors, as well as leaders who are globally connected and who are committed to positive change. Whether Rotarians assume technical, programmatic, or advocacy leadership roles, applicants should demonstrate why Rotary members’ active engagement is essential to the program’s success.
What type of project has the best chance of being awarded a Programs of Scale grant?
The successful proposal will outline a longer-term project that:
Is evidence-based and can already demonstrate success.
Is locally relevant to the intended beneficiaries.
Is ready to grow because it has the right stakeholders and systems in place.
Monitors, evaluates, and shares data.
Employs the unique strengths of Rotary.
Who reviews the applications?
All completed concepts and applications go through a rigorous review by members of The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers, Rotary staff, and other experts. More than 25 Rotary members and staff contributed to the review and selection process for the first Programs of Scale award.
The April 27 final draft of our District's strategic plan for the next three years for discussion at the May 6 meeting is in an email to all members from District Governor Joe Kashi sent Tuesday May 4.
The DG Team has focused upon providing clubs with a short, clear consensus document that outlines the strategic direction and approach of our District through the 2023-2024 Rotary year and provides broad guidance, consistency and goals over the next several years. We hope that it will be practical and useful for you and your clubs in your Rotary efforts.
Please review the attached final draft and send us your thoughts, positive or negative. We learn from both.
Please attend the May 6 annual business meeting and tell your thoughts about the direction that Rotary should take in Alaska.
Our District's annual "business" meeting will occur on May 6, 2021 at 7pm via the Zoom link below.
Here's the final agenda:
1. Financial Statements: Discussion of the already- approved financial statements.
2. Recognition of incoming DG-Elect Michael Ferris and incoming DGN Michael Pollen.
3. Discussion of DG Cheryl Metiva's annual theme of “Serve to Change Lives”.
4. Cheryl’s District Conference will held at the Talkeetna Lodge May 13 – 15, 2022 and Mike’s will be held in Kodiak May 4 – 7 2023.
5. Membership discussion regarding our Strategic Plan, copy attached of the current final draft.
Rotary District 5010 is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
South Peninsula Hospital is working closely with the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services and other state and local agencies in our response to the outbreak of COVID-19.
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, you are encouraged to maintain a physical distance from others of at least 6 feet, practice frequent hand washing, clean regularly used surfaces, wear cloth face coverings while in public, stay home when sick, and get tested if you have been exposed or have symptoms.
Vaccines are now offered during your appointments at Homer Medical Center and the SPH Family Care Clinic. Inquire at time of your appointment.
Getting your second dose? Call 235-0235 for questions or if you need to cancel or reschedule.
Note: Pfizer vaccine is authorized only for individuals 16 years of age and older, and Moderna and Janssen vaccines are authorized only for individuals 18 years of age and older.
Who is eligible?Anyone living or working in Alaska is eligible. Vaccine Information: Information about COVID-19 vaccines approved by FDA Emergency Use Authorization:
CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommend use of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen (J&J/Janssen) COVID-19 Vaccine resume in the United States, after a temporary pause.
Reports of adverse events following the use of J&J/Janssen vaccine suggest an increased risk of a rare adverse event called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS). Nearly all reports of this serious condition, which involves blood clots with low platelets, have been in adult women younger than 50 years old.
A review of all available data at this time shows that the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine’s known and potential benefits outweigh its known and potential risks.
However, women younger than 50 years old especially should be aware of the rare but increased risk of this adverse event and that there are other COVID-19 vaccine options available for which this risk has not been seen.
CDC and FDA will continue to monitor the safety of all COVID-19 vaccines.
If you have any questions or concerns, call your doctor, nurse, or clinic.
Seek medical care right away if you develop one or more of these symptoms.
There is a plausible causal relationship between J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine and a rare and serious adverse event—blood clots with low platelets (thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS). However, after reviewing all available safety data, CDC and FDA recommend use of this vaccine resume in the United States given that the known and potential benefits outweigh the known and potential risks.
This adverse event is rare, occurring at a rate of about 7 per 1 million vaccinated women between 18 and 49 years old. For women 50 years and older and men of all ages, this adverse event is even more rare.
For three weeks after receiving the vaccine, you should be on the lookout for possible symptoms of a blood clot with low platelets. These include:
Severe or persistent headaches or blurred vision
Shortness of breath
Chest pain
Leg swelling
Persistent abdominal pain
Easy bruising or tiny blood spots under the skin beyond the injection site
Seek medical care right away if you develop one or more of these symptoms.
CDC Recommends Use of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Resume
Alaska Department of Health & Social Services Weekly Case Update April 18-24, 2021
Decreasing
Statewide transmission Rt 0.98
HIGH
Statewide alert status 21.8
Adequate
Hospital capacity
Moderate
Test positivity 2.79%
49.2% Alaskan 16 years and older vaccinated
Red- quickly increasing, Rt>1.2
Orange- increasing, Rt 1-1.2
Yellow-decreasing, Rt<1
Red- 14-day average case rate per 100,000 people >10
Orange- 5-10
Yellow- <5
Red- <3 weeks until beyond capacity
Orange- 3-6 weeks
Yellow- >6 weeks
Red->5%
Orange- 2-5%
Yellow- <2%
At least one shot Estimated AK population 16 and older of 569,699 from census.gov (American Community Survey 2019)
Brief Status Report
The statewide transmission rate and daily case rates decreased slightly from last week. Case rates more than doubled in Fairbanks but decreased in Anchorage, Matanuska-Susitna, and Juneau regions.
1,090 cases were reported in Alaskans last week. This was a 3.5% decrease from the week before. Case rates more than doubled in Fairbanks but decreased in Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna region, Juneau, the Northern Southeast, and Southwest regions.
Case rates increased in the Interior region, Northwest, Southern Southeast, and YK Delta regions compared with last week.
The estimated statewide daily growth rate as of April 25, 2021 is -0.42% and new cases are expected to halve every 164.2 days based on current modeling.
Regional Case Trends
Behavioral Health Region
Case rates Mar 14– Mar 20
Case rates Mar 21– Mar 27
Case rates Mar 28– Apr 3
Case rates Apr 4– Apr 10
Case rates Apr 11– Apr 17
Case rates Apr 18– Apr 24
Anchorage Municipality
16.6
22.0
25.7
22.8
21.0
17.2
Fairbanks North Star Borough
11.7
13.7
16.2
17.0
18.3
37.1
Interior Region except Fairbanks
47.1
40.9
30.0
16.6
17.1
20.7
Juneau City and Borough
4.3
3.8
5.4
8.1
9.4
7.4
Kenai Peninsula Borough
6.2
6.7
11.8
15.5
20.1
19.3
Matanuska-Susitna Region
36.7
40.9
49.2
46.9
48.2
40.6
Northern Southeast Region
6.0
6.3
7.4
8.1
11.6
9.5
Northwest Region
5.3
4.5
3.2
3.7
4.5
7.4
Southern Southeast Region
4.0
4.7
5.4
6.1
5.8
11.9
Southwest Region
5.3
5.6
5.1
10.1
9.3
5.1
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region
34.1
26.4
25.9
20.1
11.6
12.4
Statewide
17.3
20.1
23.5
22.3
22.0
21.8
Vaccines Status Update
Reported vaccinations as of April 25, 2021.
Anyone 16 years or older who lives or works in Alaska is eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
South Peninsula Hospital is working closely with the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services and other state and local agencies in our response to the outbreak of COVID-19.
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, you are encouraged to maintain a physical distance from others of at least 6 feet, practice frequent hand washing, clean regularly used surfaces, wear cloth face coverings while in public, stay home when sick, and get tested if you have been exposed or have symptoms.
Covid-19 Vaccines
April 28 Update
Walk-in Vaccine Clinic!
10am-2pm Friday, May 7
Homer Spit Boat House Pavilion, Near Ramp 2
Both Pfizer and Janssen offered
Make an AppointmentFor an individual appointment for Pfizer vaccination at the Covid Vaccine and Test Clinic on Bartlett street.
NEW!Walk-ins welcome daily 12pm-5pm at 4201 Bartlett Street, lower level.
Vaccines are now offered during your appointments at Homer Medical Center and the SPH Family Care Clinic. Inquire at time of your appointment.
Getting your second dose? Call 235-0235 for questions or if you need to cancel or reschedule.
Note:Pfizer vaccine is authorized only for individuals 16 years of age and older, and Moderna and Janssen vaccines are authorized only for individuals 18 years of age and older.
Who is eligible?Anyone living or working in Alaska is eligible.
Vaccine Information: Information about COVID-19 vaccines approved by FDA Emergency Use Authorization:
South Peninsula Hospital is working closely with the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services and other state and local agencies in our response to the outbreak of COVID-19.
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, you are encouraged to maintain a physical distance from others of at least 6 feet, practice frequent hand washing, clean regularly used surfaces, wear cloth face coverings while in public, stay home when sick, and get tested if you have been exposed or have symptoms.
Covid-19 Vaccines
April 19 Update
Watch here for upcoming dates and times for special vaccine events.
Note: Pfizer vaccine is authorized only for individuals 16 years of age and older, and Moderna and Janssen vaccines are authorized only for individuals 18 years of age and older.
Who is eligible?Anyone living or working in Alaska is eligible. Vaccine Information: Information about COVID-19 vaccines approved by FDA Emergency Use Authorization:
If you already got your first dose at a mass vaccination event, there is no need to make another appointment. You reserved your appointment when you got your first dose.
If you have questions about your second dose appointment, or need to cancel, call 235-0235.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time. Check back here for regular updates. See the map of vaccine locations statewide
South Peninsula Hospital Covid-19 Updates -- April 19, 2021 Updates
Through the years, Rotary has carried out thousands of projects to protect the environment. In just the last five years, we’ve allocated $18 million to projects that help our planet. Members have even more opportunities to focus on issues that are important to them, now that the environment is one of the causes we focus on.
Here are ways Rotary members are already supporting the environment.
Recycling
Brazil
In Campo Mourão, Brazil, only 5 percent of garbage is recycled, and workers at the local recycling facility lacked the equipment needed to increase productivity. Without a conveyor belt, they had to sort recyclable materials at tables and move them by hand, requiring extra time and effort. And their outdated press was slow and created bales of recyclables that were smaller than standard for the regional market.
Working with a local environmental program that coordinates the recycling cooperative, the Rotary clubs of Campo Mourão and Little Rock, Arkansas, developed a project to increase workers’ capacity to separate and process recyclable materials, providing both economic and environmental benefits. The project funded equipment to improve worker safety and efficiency and provided environmental and financial training. Workers sorted an additional 2.63 tons of recyclables per month after the grant project was implemented, and their income increased nearly 25 percent per month.
• This story originally appeared in the March 2021 issue of Rotary magazine.
People and the planet are inextricably linked. You must care for both.
Jennifer Scott Member of Club of Central Blue Mountains, Australia and former adviser to the Australian Minister for the Environment
Switzerland
Every year, more than eight million tons of plastic waste, also known as plastic soup, end up in the oceans. Sea birds die from ingesting phone parts, turtles believe plastic bags to be jellyfish, and fish mistake pieces of plastic for plankton. Microplastic enters the human food chain via these fish.
Swiss Rotary members created an association, “Mare Nostrum – End Plastic Soup,” to organize efforts around reducing the amount of plastic waste in the world’s waterways. Several times a year, volunteers remove plastics from rivers and lakes. The group has also developed a campaign to teach businesses how to dispose of plastic waste properly.
“The protection of rivers, lakes, and seas is a major global undertaking, as water is an elementary part of life,” says Marie-Josée Staff-Theis, member of Rotary Club of Arlesheima and co-president of the association.
This story originally appeared in Rotary Suisse.
Solar Lights
Kenya
In the remote villages of Ndandini and Kyaithani in eastern Kenya, families live on less than $1 per day, and their homes are not connected to any electrical grid. Most cannot afford kerosene or paraffin to light their homes, which means students cannot see to do their homework in the evenings. The Rotary clubs of Sunshine Coast-Sechelt, British Columbia, and Machakos, Kenya, learned about the problem while working in the area on other projects. In 2014, the Rotarians embarked on a project bring environmentally friendly solar power into homes and schools.
About 1,500 students attending local schools were each provided a solar light under a rent-to-own program; students pay $1 per month, less than the cost of paraffin, for eight months, after which they own the light. The proceeds are used to provide another student with a solar light the following year. Project partner Kenya Connect, noting that the time students spend reading has tripled with the introduction of the solar lights, described the program as “a game changer in our efforts to improve the quality of education for rural schools.”
The project also included the construction of computer labs at two schools and a solar system to provide enough power for the entire setup. More than 200 teachers received training on digital learning and ways to better make use of computers in their teaching.
This story originally appeared in the March 2021 issue of Rotary magazine.
Water Diversion
India
Residents of two communities near Aurangabad, India, get their water from wells that are recharged annually by monsoon rains. But within a few months after the rains end, the wells run dry, and community members either must go further afield to fetch water or must buy it, which many cannot afford.
The Rotary clubs of Aurangabad East and Chatswood Roseville, Australia, collaborated on an eco-friendly solution using a simple, traditional technology: check dams. These small dams are constructed across gullies to control the rate of stormwater flow. They decrease erosion and increase the amount of water that percolates into the ground. More than 200,000 check dams have been built across India for this purpose; a check dam constructed in India in the second century is one of the world’s oldest water diversion structures still in use.
In Aurangabad, the monsoon rains flow via a channel across a government-owned sports training center toward the sewage-contaminated Kham River. Rotary members funded the construction of two concrete check dams on the campus. The increased percolation of the monsoon rains into the ground is expected to lengthen the period each year during which the area’s 20,000 residents can obtain water from their wells. The dams have an anticipated life span of 75 years and require little maintenance.
This story originally appeared in the March 2021 issue of Rotary magazine.
Philippines
In 2020, seven Rotary clubs in the Philippines hosted a webinar, Logging for Good, to discuss the threat of illegal logging, and how it can erode an important natural protection against cyclones and tropical storms.
Conrad Vargas, Executive Director of Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance, Inc., spoke about the importance of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range and the threat from illegal logging. He also spoke about the needs of the indigenous people, quarrying, and the hazards that have been caused by dams in the area.
This story originally appeared in the February issue of Rotary Philippines magazine.
Water Conservation
Our vision is to start a forest that will be able to be enjoyed by our grandchildren’s grandchildren.
Israel
The Rotary clubs of Haifa, Israel, and Coral Springs-Parkland, Florida, are using an environmental education program to unite students of different cultures and beliefs around a topic of mutual importance in the desert region: water conservation. Students from 60 schools participated in the second phase of the project.
Schools selected research topics of interest related to water conservation or technology, such as desalination, rainwater harvesting, or water leaks. The teachers and students were supported in their science projects through equipment and connections with experts such as engineers, biologists, or physicists. More than 150 teachers received training in 26 training events.
Most schools in Israel are separated by culture or religion, whether Jewish, Muslim, Christian, or Druze. Through the cross-cultural component of the global grant project, students visited one another’s schools to see the research projects and came together for joint field trips to visit industry facilities or to hear related speakers, giving an opportunity for interaction that they didn’t have otherwise.
This story originally appeared in the March 2021 issue of Rotary magazine.
Sustainable Farming
Mexico
The Indigenous Tarahumara people live on the remote slopes and canyons of Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountains, growing ancient varieties of corn and beans for sustenance. But the seeds for these plants, handed down through generations, were wiped out by a prolonged drought. In the wake of the resulting widespread hunger, many young people and women with children left their homes to beg on city streets.
The Rotary clubs of Chihuahua Campestre, Mexico, and St. Augustine Sunrise, Florida, worked with a nongovernmental organization called Barefoot Seeds to facilitate community discussions with Tarahumara leaders to come up with solutions. Community leaders said they wanted seed banks and improved water storage to support continued subsistence farming.
As an environmentalist and proud Rotarian, having Rotary’s attention directed to the environment fits exactly within my interests.
Wijdan Alsharif Member of Club of Ramallah, Palestine and co-founder of the Palestine Green Building Council
The project established seed banks, demonstration farms, and plots to grow additional seeds using sustainable farming methods; reintroduced goats to improve soil fertility; installed rainwater harvesting equipment; and provided training. The project also provided solar-powered chest freezers to further extend the shelf life of stored seeds. At least 500 Tarahumara farmers received seeds, goats, or improved water access the first year.
This story originally appeared in the March 2021 issue of Rotary magazine.
India
In response to the devastation of hurricanes Gaja and Thane and the Nivar cyclone, Rotary members in the agricultural region of Tamil Nadu, India, planted over one million square feet of saplings in 100 days. The tree planting projects follow the style established by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, in which trees can grow 10 times faster.
Volunteers dug a hole three feet deep, mixed in manure and soil around a sapling, and then built fencing to protect the young tree. Water is provided through irrigation channels from nearby wells.
“The clubs left no stone unturned in approaching landowners, institutions, campuses, and organizations in fulfilling their mission,” says club member R Balaji Babu.
The protection of rivers, lakes, and seas is a major global undertaking, as water is an elementary part of life.
Australia
The Rotary clubs of Plimmerton and Porirua, New Zealand, have planted 5,000 species of wetlands trees and plants and plan to plant an additional 5,000 in 2021 to protect a wetland near Plimmerton in hopes of creating a forest of peace and remembrance. It is part of a New Zealand wide
Our Rotary Club has a team in the Homer Steps Up Challenge.
Our team name is: Rotary Club of Homer-Kachemak Bay
Please join the challenge! We may win a prize!
Register at homerstepsup.com. Or go to the Homer Chamber of Commerce sign up event on April 24, 11am - 2pm and they can help you.
Be sure to join OUR team!
This is the description from the Steps Up Challenge website:
This is a team event. Small teams are 5 – 24 members, large teams are 25+ and each team is competing for a Homer Steps Up! trophy in their "size division".
And:
As part of your free registration you will receive a participant keychain:
You can pick up a keychain at the upcoming in-person sign-up event outside of the Homer Chamber of Commerce on Saturday, April 24th from 11am-2pm, or you can contact us at wellness@sphosp.org and we will be organizing a few pick-up locations before the challenge starts.
Use your keychain to identify yourself as a Homer Steps Up! 2021 participant at a local business displaying the Homer Steps Up! 2021 sign.
Here’s how joining a Rotary club helped enhance Ashley Holmer’s work
Ashley Holmer is a member of the Rotary Club of Lewis River (Battle Ground), Washington
Photo by Fritz Liedtke
Looking for a meaningful year-abroad experience, Ashley Holmer decided to teach in Tanzania. The former college soccer star coached and taught English in a Maasai community in 2005.
But Holmer soon became more deeply involved in education in Tanzania. She co-founded the Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania (IEFT), which established a school in the village of Orkeeswa in 2008. In 2011, the leaders of Mungere village asked Holmer to help build its first community high school. That was the beginning of the Red Sweater Project, named for the color of the school uniforms. Since then, the Mungere School — and education — has been a central part of Holmer’s life.
The Red Sweater Project focuses on three main areas: quality education, gender equality, and responsible innovation. In Tanzania, many children — especially girls — leave school around age 12, in part because of costs for uniforms, school supplies, meals, and transportation. To keep students in the classroom, the project makes education affordable by reducing those ancillary costs.
In 2013, Holmer, who still spends about half her time in Tanzania, was invited to a meeting of the Lewis River Rotary club. She was struck by the way her values meshed with those of Rotary but was unable to join at the time because of attendance requirements. In January 2017, with those requirements having become more flexible, she became a member.
The club has embraced Holmer’s work and sponsors scholarships for six students each year to attend the Mungere School. “We have students whose parents are illiterate,” Holmer says. “One of my students just finished her teacher training. It’s coming full circle.”
— NIKKI KALLIO
Did you know there are Rotary clubs all over the world?
Alaska Department of Health & Social Services Weekly Case Update March 28-April 3, 2021
Increasing
Statewide transmission Rt 1.03
HIGH
Statewide alert status 23.5
Adequate
Hospital capacity
Moderate
Test positivity 3.0%
45.23% Alaskan 16 years and older vaccinated
Red- quickly increasing, Rt>1.2
Orange- increasing, Rt 1-1.2
Yellow-decreasing, Rt<1
Red- 14-day average case rate per 100,000 people >10
Orange- 5-10
Yellow- <5
Red- <3 weeks until beyond capacity
Orange- 3-6 weeks
Yellow- >6 weeks
Red->5%
Orange- 2-5%
Yellow- <2%
At least one shot Estimated AK population 16 and older of 569,699 from census.gov (American Community Survey 2019)
Brief Status Report
Virus transmission increased for the second consecutive week with higher case rates and test positivity. Anchorage, Fairbanks, and the Matanuska-Susitna regions saw a sustained rise in case rates, while Juneau, Kenai Peninsula, Northern Southeast, and Southern Southeast regions had higher rates than last week.
Anyone 16 years or older who lives or works in Alaska is eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Alaska was the first state to offer vaccines to everyone over a certain age without prerequisites.
More vaccinations lead to fewer COVID-19 infections, illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths. Vaccinations are the key to ending this pandemic.
DHSS encourages all Alaskans who are currently eligible for COVID-19 vaccination to make appointments as soon as possible by visiting covidvax.alaska.gov or by calling 1-907-646-3322. The call line is staffed Monday-Friday from 9AM-6:30PM and 9AM-4:30PM on weekends. The call line can also be used to answer general questions about vaccine safety and to request appointments to receive a specific type of vaccine. Alaskans receiving health services through a Tribal Health Organization or the Department of Defense should contact those organizations directly to determine their eligibility.
One new case of a COVID variant of concern was detected in Alaska during the past week.
What Alaskans Can Do
Every Alaskan who chooses to get vaccinated, wear a mask, stay 6 feet from others, and avoid indoor gatherings helps protect themselves and the health of all Alaskans. These are our best tools to decrease the chance of a new variant entering Alaska and spreading.
Fully vaccinated people can visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or socially distancing. They can also visit with unvaccinated people from a single household who are at low risk for severe COVID-19 without wearing masks or socially distancing. Vaccinated people can also refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure to someone with COVID-19 so long as the vaccinated person is asymptomatic. We expect that CDC guidelines for people who have been vaccinated will continue to be updated as new evidence becomes available.
To stop COVID-19, including new strains of virus, from coming into Alaska and spreading, testing within 72 hours before returning to Alaska or on arrival and then strict social distancing until the test result is available is recommended. A second test 5-14 days after arrival is also recommended if the traveler is not fully vaccinated. As of Jan 26, 2021, the CDC requires international travelers to show proof of a negative test from within the last 72 hours on arrival back in the US.
CDC guidelines recommend regular asymptomatic testing for critical infrastructure workers and other groups at higher risk for COVID-19.
Alaskans should get tested immediately at the first sign of any symptoms. Tests work best when obtained promptly after symptoms start. Testing early helps people know if they are positive quickly and helps prompt them to take immediate precautions to minimize the risk of transmitting the virus to others.
Most Alaskans get COVID-19 from a friend, family member, or coworker. Many Alaskans who are diagnosed with COVID-19 report that they went to social gatherings, community events, church services, and other social venues while they were contagious but before they knew they had the virus.
Case Trends and Predictions
1,160 cases were reported in Alaskans last week. This was a 6.2% decrease from the week before, however it is the second straight week of rising rates in the Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Matanuska-Susitna Regions.
14-day average daily case rates were similar or higher in most regions of Alaska compared with last week. The Anchorage case rate increased from 22.0 last week to 25.7 this week. This is the highest case rate since mid-January. Fairbanks North Star Borough increased from 13.7 to 16.2 this week. Case rates in Matanuska-Susitna Region continued to rise to 49.2, the highest level this region has seen in 2021.
The Northwest Region decreased to from 4.5 to 3.2. The Interior Region except Fairbanks decreased from 40.9 to 30.0.
Case rates increased in Kenai Peninsula Borough, from 6.7 to 11.8, Northern Southeast Region from 6.3 to 7.4, Southern Southeast Region from 4.7 to 5.4, and Juneau City from 3.8 to 5.4. Case rates slightly decreased in Northwest Region from 4.5 to 3.2.
The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region daily case rate decreased for a second week to from 26.4 to 25.9.
The estimated statewide daily growth rate as of April 5, 2021 is 0.9% and new cases are expected to double every 77.2 days based on current modeling.
Media contacts: Clinton Bennett, DHSS, 907-269-4996, clinton.bennett@alaska.gov Public inquiries: State COVID-19 Vaccine Helpline, 907-646-3322
Administration of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine paused for national safety review; mRNA vaccine administration will continue in Alaska and nationally
April 13, 2021 ANCHORAGE – Out of an abundance of caution, vaccine providers in Alaska have been asked to pause all use of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine (Janssen) immediately, in accordance with a joint announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration this morning.
All upcoming appointments with the J&J vaccine are being canceled in Alaska. This is because CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is reviewing six cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in women aged 18-48 years after vaccination with the J&J vaccine. Symptoms in these patients began 6-13 days following vaccination.
ACIP will meet tomorrow, April 14, to review the relevant data. Meanwhile, administration of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will continue both in Alaska and nationally. The Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines are considered extremely safe and effective.
Anyone who was scheduled to receive the J&J vaccine in Alaska this week should be aware that their appointment will be canceled or postponed. If you need help rescheduling your appointment to instead receive one of the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer or Moderna), please call the Alaska Vaccine Helpline at 1-907-646-3322 or toll-free 1-833-4-VAXLINE (1-833-482-9546).
“We take every vaccine adverse event seriously. This pause is an important part of the process that ensures the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines,” said Dr. Joe McLaughlin, Alaska’s state epidemiologist. “This is how our safety checks work. DHSS is notifying vaccine providers via email and phone calls this morning and is also providing information to all health care providers. Alaskans should also know this appears to be a very rare event, with six cases out of 6.8 million doses of J&J vaccine administered to date.”
As of April 12, there have been 11,178 Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses administered in Alaska out of 35,500 doses allocated in the state. This vaccine has been delivered to a number of sites in Alaska, including pharmacies, outpatient clinics, federally qualified health centers and local public health authorities.
The six U.S. cases were flagged in the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), a component of national post-licensure vaccine safety monitoring. None of these six cases occurred in Alaska. Anyone who has received the vaccine who develops severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination should contact their health care provider or seek medical care.
Health care providers are asked to report adverse events to VAERS.
# # #
Administration of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine Paused for National Safety Review
South Peninsula Hospital is working closely with the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services and other state and local agencies in our response to the outbreak of COVID-19.
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, you are encouraged to maintain a physical distance from others of at least 6 feet, practice frequent hand washing, clean regularly used surfaces, wear cloth face coverings while in public, stay home when sick, and get tested if you have been exposed or have symptoms.
Covid-19 Vaccines
April 13 Update
WALK-IN COVID-19 VACCINATIONS PFIZER VACCINE Saturday, April 17th at Homer High School 9:00am-11:00am, no appointment necessary. Second doses will be scheduled for around 21 days after first doses
For an individual appointment for Pfizer vaccination at the Covid Vaccine and Test Clinic on Bartlett street. Several dates available.
Note: Pfizer vaccine is authorized only for individuals 16 years of age and older, and Moderna and Janssen vaccines are authorized only for individuals 18 years of age and older. Who is eligible?Anyone living or working in Alaska is eligible. Vaccine Information: Information about COVID-19 vaccines approved by FDA Emergency Use Authorization:
If you already got your first dose at a mass vaccination event, there is no need to make another appointment. You reserved your appointment when you got your first dose.
If you have questions about your second dose appointment, or need to cancel, call 235-0235.
Saturday April 17 is the second dose clinic at Homer High School for those who got their first dose on Saturday, March 27.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time. Check back here for regular updates. See the map of vaccine locations statewide
South Peninsula Hospital - Covid-19 Vaccine Update - April 13, 2021
The Israel-based charity ‘Save A Child’s Heart’ reaches across conventional political boundaries for the welfare of children. Watford Rotarian, David Silverston, a trustee of Save A Child’s Heart UK, describes the amazing work which is taking place.
By David Silverston
Published Date: April 7, 2021
Among the many causes which Rotary supports, none illustrates three of our missions better than the charity ‘Save A Child’s Heart’. The health of children, the training of doctors and working towards making the world a more peaceful place, are all fulfilled by this work.
It is a little-known fact that one child in 100 is born with some form of heart disease. The generic name is Congenital Heart Disease (CHD).
In developing countries, due to a complete lack of paediatric cardiologists and facilities, children born with CHD are likely to live very short, painful and debilitating lives, rarely making it past their teens.
Save A Child’s Heart – SACH for short – has a mission to tackle CHD in children from developing countries.
It does so by bringing the children to hospital in Israel for surgery, and sending medical missions to these countries to train doctors.
Based at the Edith Wolfson Medical Center in Tel Aviv, SACH has treated children from 62 countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and South America.
SACH has also trained over 120 medical professionals in Israel, sent out more than 100 medical missions, where they work with doctors with no cardiology training, and been afforded special consultative status by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
Rotary first got involved with SACH very early on through Walter Felman from Mill Hill Rotary in North London.
A Rotarian for more than 40 years, Walter became involved with SACH when it was founded in 1995 by Dr Amram Cohen. In 1999, he involved Rotary by sourcing a grant for medical equipment. Since then, through Global Grants, Rotary has donated a number of items of medical equipment to the hospital, which can be easily identified by the acknowledgement plaques on them.
"It is a little-known fact that one child in 100 is born with some form of heart disease.”
Items such as a heart lung machine, revitalisation kits, electronic ventilators, dialysis machines, monitors, plus funding of surgeries have all been donated by UK clubs like Mill Hill, Edgware and Stanmore, Wembley and Willesden and Watford, plus clubs from France, Romania and Israel.
SACH achievements are significant, having carried out more than 5,700 surgeries on children from 62 countries, half of them on children from Gaza and the Palestinian territories, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Stepping aside from the political complexities of seriously ill children being treated in Israel, this completed the third element of the charity’s mission, Mending Hearts – Building Bridges.
If you were to visit the Edith Wolfson Medical Center, you would find an Israeli child in a bed next to a child from Gaza, or the West Bank, from Syria, Iraq, Kenya, Ethiopia or Tanzania.
Members of the children’s families are there. With interpreters available, they talk to each other, bridges are built, friendships made and the barriers come down.
"SACH achievements are significant, having carried out more than 5,700 surgeries on children from 62 countries, half of them on children from Gaza and the Palestinian territories, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.”
After all, they all have the same thing in common; the health of their children.
Patients are not charged for their treatment and the team of 80 surgeons and clinicians volunteer their time.
But, there are other costs to cover, such as patients’ transport to Israel, plus pre- and post-operative care, medical missions, medical equipment and training. These costs are met by fund-raising around the world from organisations such as Rotary.
The training of doctors rates as highly as the actual surgeries carried out on children. By training a doctor so they can return to their country to carry out surgeries, means they become less reliant on charity. In turn, they will train other doctors in paediatric cardiology.
It’s the old saying: ‘give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’.
The medical missions to developing countries help resolve a number of issues. SACH can send a fully-equipped operating theatre, plus surgeons, to a country where they can operate on children who would be considered too ill to travel.
"Patients are not charged for their treatment and the team of 80 surgeons and clinicians volunteer their time.”
This allows surgeons to carry out many more surgeries in a short period of time, while also training doctors in situ and thus reducing costs.
The medical missions also allow the clinicians to check up on children who they have previously operated on, as well as examining children with CHD to put them on a list for future surgeries.
Any readers with students at university looking to do voluntary work during their gap year?
The children’s house where the children stay prior and post-surgery is always looking for volunteers. It is an amazing experience which will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
This year, SACH is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Both Watford and Hemel Hempstead Rotary Clubs are planning to work together to buy medical equipment for the new International Paediatric Cardiac Center.
Eventually the center will enable SACH to double the surgeries carried out and double the number of overseas doctors trained.
Rotary honored six members as People of Action: Champions of Health on World Health Day 7 April, in recognition of their work to improve the foundation of good health at home and across the globe. The work of these members proved especially important and challenging due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
They will also be recognized at the 2021 Virtual Convention for their outstanding contribution to health.
Rohantha Athukorala
Rotary Club of Colombo Reconnections, Sri Lanka
In April while Sri Lanka was on lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rohantha used his time in isolation to rally other members across Sri Lanka and create Stop the Spread, a comprehensive effort to reduce new infections through behavior changes. The program brought the country's top athletes together with some 15,000 Rotarians, Rotactors, and Interactors to create awareness of health protocols and behavior change that can slow the spread of the disease. They also created a certification program for businesses that met new health and safety protocols addressing the spread of the virus. More than 300 businesses have been certified including schools, supermarkets, hotels, and tea and apparel industries. Read more about the project.
Julie Dockrill
Rotary Club of Timaru, New Zealand
In 2013, Dockrill and other midwives introduced a Maternal and Infant Health Education program in Mongolia that has been adopted by the Ministry of Health. They created a "train the trainer" curriculum and made numerous trips to the country to help educate healthcare workers, university students, and expectant mothers about safety practices and protocols of childbirth. Since the program was launched in Mongolia, the mortality rate among pregnant mother and newborns has decreased by 60%.
James Ham
Rotary Club of Honolulu Sunset, Hawaii, USA
The Homeless Outreach & Medical Education (H.O.M.E.) Project has provided free medical services through weekly clinics in nine sites across Oahu, Hawaii. Ham, an emergency physician in Honolulu and an assistant clinical professor at the University of Hawaii's school of medicine, began volunteering with the project four years ago. Ham's Rotary club purchased and stocks a mobile clinic that expands the project's reach. To address the COVID-19 pandemic, Ham organized 12 Rotary clubs to provide hot meals and masks and hygiene kits to a quarantine camp for homeless people, as well as PPE to the volunteers who offer frontline care.
Mohan Kumar
Rotary Club of Bangalore Prime, India
Since 2007, Kumar's Reach the Unreached organization, has led efforts to provide prosthetic hands to more than 20,000 people in mostly economically-challenged communities of Africa and South Asia. He credits volunteers with leading him to the people who most needed help: among them, a mother who can now hold her baby, a barber able to resume his profession, and a boy who lost both hands in an electrocution accident. According to Kumar, accidents often lead to amputation among the more than two-thirds of India's 1.3 billion inhabitants who live in low-income rural areas.
Isabel Scarinci
Rotary Club of Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Scarinci, a polio survivor, has been a strong advocate for polio eradication. She is now leading efforts to eliminate another disease: cervical cancer. Funded by a Rotary Foundation global grant, the Rotary clubs of Birmingham and Colombo (Sri Lanka) have joined with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health and the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, where Scarinci is a behavioral scientist, to vaccinate girls in Sri Lanka against the human papillomavirus and to screen women for the disease at ages 35 and 45.
Scarinci contracted polio as an infant in Brazil in 1963. She recovered, and together with her mother, has become a strong advocate for polio vaccination.
Teguest Yilma
Rotary Club of Addis Ababa Entoto, Ethiopia
On World Polio Day last October, Yilma, chair of Ethiopia's PolioPlus committee, collaborated with the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization to conduct a high-level panel discussion that addressed the problems COVID-19 created for ongoing polio eradication efforts. The media attention that event received helped people understand the importance of continuing National Immunization Days and spurred the government to continue providing polio and measles immunizations throughout the pandemic.
Join us on April 8 at 6:30pm to hear retired USMC Gunnery Sergeant Jeff Shilanski discuss his personal experiences and innovative approach to helping veterans cope with post-deployment stresses and trauma. Jeff spent 20 years in deployments I've heard Jeff's presentation and it is powerful, compelling, and innovative. Suicide prevention will be a District priority. I hope to see you on April 8. The Zoom link is below. You may invite others known to you if you wish.
Thanks and best regards
Joe Kashi
DG 2020-2021
Rotary District 5010 is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Suicide prevention, a frank conversation with Jeff Shilanski, Gy Sergeant, USMC, retired
South Peninsula Hospital is working closely with the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services and other state and local agencies in our response to the outbreak of COVID-19.
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, you are encouraged to maintain a physical distance from others of at least 6 feet, practice frequent hand washing, clean regularly used surfaces, wear cloth face coverings while in public, stay home when sick, and get tested if you have been exposed or have symptoms.
Covid-19 Vaccines
April 6 Update
Check back here Friday at noon for appointments for Janssen vaccine to be administered on April 17 at Homer High School.
For an individual appointment for Pfizer vaccination at the Covid Vaccine and Test Clinic on Bartlett street. Several dates available.
Note: Pfizer vaccine is authorized only for individuals 16 years of age and older, and Moderna and Janssen vaccines are authorized only for individuals 18 years of age and older. Who is eligible? Anyone living or working in Alaska is eligible.Vaccine Information: Information about COVID-19 vaccines approved by FDA Emergency Use Authorization:
If you already got your first dose at a mass vaccination event, there is no need to make another appointment. You reserved your appointment when you got your first dose.
If you have questions about your second dose appointment, or need to cancel, call 235-0235.
Saturday April 10 is the second dose clinic at Homer High School for those who got their first dose on Friday March 12.
Saturday April 17 is the second dose clinic at Homer High School for those who got their first dose on Saturday, March 27.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time. Check back here for regular updates.
Masks will be optional for students for outdoor recess. Masks will also be optional for outdoor classroom activities like PE, walking field trips, etc., if 6ft physical distancing can be maintained.
Staff, volunteers, and visitors are required to wear masks at all times. Handwashing and 6ft physical distancing should continue to be taught and emphasized in all grades.
Note: If a school is experiencing in-school transmission or high levels of COVID-19 community transmission, this option may be temporarily suspended, and masks will be required at all times.
Sports, MOA’s and facility usage agreements require individual mitigation plans approved through the KPBSD Planning and Operations Department (find the update: KPBSD SmartStart plan pages 8-9)
The race that is summer in Alaska has started. I hope you have your running shoes on, your to-do list in hand and are ready to hit all those projects and fun things that compete for our attention this time of year. In the midst of the busy season, I hope all of you take time to enjoy all the reasons you live in Alaska.
Still needed on May 15: At least two more Rotary volunteers to help with traffic/pedestrian flow at the annual Safe and Healthy Kids Fair from noon-2 p.m. this Saturday at Homer High School. These are outdoor positions, rain or shine. There are plenty of COVID-safe protocols in place for event, including it’s all outdoors; there will be mandatory masking; it’s shorter than in past years; there will be COVID screening at the entrance; and there will be generous space between booths. Many thanks to Vivian and Clyde for volunteering!
Rotarians will serve as friendly traffic directors for pedestrian flow, helping show participants the best way to get to where they need to be.
If you could let me know at Thursday’s meeting if you are available, it would be appreciated. As all of you know, among the great things about volunteering at these events is that not only do we help our community partners, but we also get to visit with each other and our neighbors who attend. I’m grateful the service and social aspects of Rotary are so tightly woven together it’s impossible to separate them.
Homer Steps Up Challenge: As of the morning of May 11, our team in the Homer Steps Up Challenge had logged 1,346,192 steps, with Sue Clardy leading our team of 12 with 97,070 steps. Way to go, Sue, and Team Rotary!
A reminder: Each year, Rotary District 5010 honors significant achievement and efforts by District Rotarians during the past year and remembers those who have passed. This will happen during a Zoom meeting that starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 13. (Spoiler alert: One of our members will be honored.)
This Week's Speaker -- Representative Sarah Vance, Legislative Update
Invocation -- Mike Miller
Speakers and Invocators are needed from May through June! Including next week!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Regular Meeting Thursday Noon May 13, 2021 Using Zoom or in Person
First, there's still a need for at least two more volunteers to help with traffic/pedestrian flow at the annual Safe and Healthy Kids Fair from noon-2 p.m. Saturday, May 15, at Homer High School. These are outdoor positions, rain or shine. There are plenty of COVID-safe protocols in place for event, including it’s all outdoors; there will be mandatory masking; it’s shorter than in past years; there will be COVID screening at the entrance; and there will be generous space between booths. Please let me know if you can help. Vivian and Clyde, thank you for volunteering!
Second, we hope you can join us either in person at the Best Western Bidarka or via Zoom to hear Rep. Sarah Vance give us a legislative update at this week's regular meeting of the Rotary Club of Homer-Kachemak Bay. Chef Mike always prepares some extra food, so if you haven't RSVP'd to let me know you'll attend in person, please feel free to join us anyway.
Topic: Legislative update Time: May 13, 2021 11:45 AM Alaska
Meeting ID: 841 6965 9551 One tap mobile +13462487799,,84169659551# US (Houston) +16699006833,,84169659551# US (San Jose)
Dial by your location +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) Meeting ID: 841 6965 9551 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdztqZVnjR
Thank you all for your involvement in Rotary and in your community. Hope to see you all on Thursday.
I want to spread the word about how District 5010 Rotarians are substantively delivering upon our promise to help Alaska's communities, despite the impediment of Covid this year. Rotary in Alaska is truly Service Above Self.
In this Email, I'd like to highlight a few of District 5010's substantive District-wide projects around the state, service about which virtually every Rotarian in our District has helped in some manner and about which we can all be justly be proud. There are so many such projects across our District that I know I've missed many. Email me with your Club's activities so that I can share them with all of our Rotarians!
This Email discusses some of our current in-state projects. In a later message, I'll detail some innovative international projects being done by our District Rotarians.
Food Security- Covid 19 has been a severe blow to many Alaskans, putting a higher proportion of Alaskans at risk for hunger, even in a relatively rich state like Alaska. Over the past year, PDG Andre` Layral, in concert with Anchorage Downtown Rotarian Diane Kaplan of the Rasmuson Foundation, has raised more than $75,000 to help local food banks feed Alaskans.
The Kenai Rotary club under President Scott Seitz organized a peanut butter challenge where clubs around Alaska and a few out-of-state Rotary clubs pitched in to provide pallet loads of highly nutritious, low cost peanut butter to local food banks.
Many other clubs such as Anchorage East, Anchorage Downtown, Anchorage South and Soldotna have long-standing food security projects, including mobile pantries, support for the Children’s Lunchbox program, anonymously-donated Fred Meyer cards, and other food security related projects throughout Alaska.
Similarly, Fairbanks, Kenai and some other Rotary clubs have announced clothing drives to help economically distressed Alaskans over the winter .
Rotary Cares For Kids is a now-classic district-wide project started by PDG Harry Kieling to assist children who are often left bewildered and clinging a black garbage bag of hastily-gathered clothes and personal care items when OCS is forced to remove them from their home due to abuse or danger. Many clubs currently participate in support Rotary cares for kids and it has been very active this year. New clubs have signed on to actively participate in the coming year.
Grassroots Community and Economy Building: The District and several Rotary clubs are now bringing no-cost rural community and economic development expertise to smaller areas in our state that have been negatively impacted by the slowing of Alaska's economy over the past five years. Very recent State of Alaska employment statistics show that Alaska has lost 7% of its employment compared to just before Covid and those earlier low employment levels reflected already-diminished employment over the prior four years of recession.
Supported by a small District Excess Reserves grant, District 5010 is working with the USDA-supported Western Rural Development Consortium headed by our eClub Rotarian Professor Don Albrecht. The Consortium has developed an award-winning process that helps local communities take charge of their own community and economic destinies, identify and better-use under-utilized local economic resources to build stronger communities and local economies, and to access the Consortium's extensive rural community and grassroots economic development expertise. This is particularly pertinent in more rural Alaska communities.
District 5010 has already started that grassroots community-based process in Nenana, Minto, and Haines. In Kodiak, a very strong Rotary-based working group has formed, involving both Kodiak Rotary Clubs, Kodiak's Chamber of Commerce ( headed by Kodiak Rotarian and Chamber Director Aimee Williams) and Anchorage Rotarians like our past Foundation Chair Woody Angst.
Through the good offices of another Anchorage Rotarian, we've also been in contact with the Alaskan Native Village Corporation Association about making a presentation about Rotary District 5010 and this District-wide project to the ANVCA conference late this summer and further extending this project to the most heavily impacted rural parts of Alaska. If you would like to know more, check out our District's YouTube channel at:
Safe water is one of Rotary's traditional areas of focus and such problems are not confined to far-away developing world countries. Every year in Alaska, emergencies and natural disasters affect community water supplies across our state.
So far this winter, six villages have lost their water systems due to fire or other disasters. Of course, the same can occur in our urban areas struck by natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunami, and severe storms. Some of these Alaska water system losses, such as the recent Tuluksak water facility loss, repeatedly made national news in publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post. Buying bottled water and flying that water into stricken areas is cost-prohibitive and not sustainable in any event.
DGN-D Mike Pollen and a Delta-area water engineer have a better idea, devising a very cost-effective, highly portable emergency water system that can be promptly taken as needed within Alaska by readily-available helicopters or small cargo planes. The systems are suitable for Arctic conditions and fit on an 8 foot square aluminum pallet, while producing several thousand gallons of safe water every day. Two or three such emergency systems that can run for the duration of a disaster would cost less than the amount of money that was recently spent flying a limited amount of bottled water into Tuluksak.
This is a technology demonstration project - the same design can be reproduced by the State of Alaska, FEMA or Rotary International's WASRAG safe water group and can provide a highly portable, flexible and cost-effective approach to providing safe water after disasters in many parts of the world.
District 5010 needs help devising and implementing a hybrid multi-source fundraising effort to fund this safe water project, raising funds from both traditional Rotary sources as well as more recent avenues such as GoFundMe. Please Email DG Joe Kashi at kashi@alaska.net if you're interesting in helping.
New and Interesting on District 5010's Website and YouTube Channel:
1. A conversation about effective club leadership: Effective, motivating leadership depends primarily upon your interpersonal skills.
Join Past District Governor Harry Kieling, Bernie Griffard, and 2020-2021 District Governor Joe Kashi for a conversation between them about how anyone become a more effective Rotary Club leader by developing the interpersonal skills that help your members feel positively upon their involvement with Rotary, reach consensus, feel energized, and WANT to work with you. Like any organization, Rotary clubs thrive when the club’s leaders develop their leadership skills. PDG Harry Kieling and Homer-Kachemak Bay Club Past-President Bernie Griffard have taught those skills for decades to new leaders. https://youtu.be/1Dd4pCuYd8A
2. A frank conversation about PTSD, alcohol abuse, and preventing suicide: Retired US Marine Jeff Shilanski (ironically, no known relation to our own Floyd Shilanski) came to the brink as a result of 20 years deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan during the global war on terror. That inevitably takes a total on every person. Jeff’s lively and intense presentation to the District 5010 eClub looks squarely at that toll and how it nearly cost him his life. He now helps similarly affected veterans in an innovative manner. https://youtu.be/Yh14tiXjTgs
3. In the next several days, we hope to post Anchorage Downtown Rotary Club's recent program by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce about why improving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness is good both for the community and for business.
Thank you and best regards to all District 5010 Rotarians
Joe Kashi
District 5010 Governor 2020-2021
Rotary's Helping Our Alaskan Communities - Some Recent Highlights
A long time ago, (actually a year and three weeks after I was born), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt founded the March of Dimes, on January 9, 1938, with the goal of ending infantile paralysis -- Polio.
Thousands of people mailed cards and letters, each containing a dime, to the White House.
The theme "March of Dimes" was inspired by screen and radio star Eddie Cantor. Cantor's appeal collected more than $85,000 in what the press called "a silver tide which actually swamped the White House."
"During the past few days bags of mail have been coming, literally by the truckload, to the White House," Roosevelt said during his birthday celebration broadcast on January 30, 1938. "Yesterday between forty and fifty thousand letters came to the mailroom of the White House. Today an even greater number — how many I cannot tell you — for we can only estimate the actual count by counting the mail bags. In all the envelopes are dimes and quarters and even dollar bills — gifts from grown-ups and children — mostly from children who want to help other children get well. … It is glorious to have one's birthday associated with a work like this."
FDR's personal secretary Missy LeHand with 30,000 letters containing ten-cent contributions to the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis that arrived at the White House the morning of January 28, 1938. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
A "March of Dimes" funded polio research. And we all know the huge contribution that Rotarians made to the effort to End Polio. Pink ribbons have raised millions for breast cancer. An Ice Bucket Challenge did the same for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. We need similar efforts that will translate into tangible progress to end Parkinson's Disease.
Unlike COVID-19 there is no downward trend in the curve of deaths from Parkinson's. But there are real things that turn the tide. And we need to start at the top. And that is the President. We want to flood the Whitehouse with Red Letters containing a dime, and these words:
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT
IN 1938 FDR AND MILLIONS OF
AMERICANS LED A MARCH OF DIMES TO
END POLIO.
TODAY PARKINSON'S IS THE WORLD'S
FASTEST GROWING BRAIN DISEASE,
AFFECTING 1.2 MILLION AMERICANS.
WE GIVE A DIME ABOUT
PARKINSON'S AND TOGETHER
WE CAN END IT.
My Rotary friends, if you are willing to mail a Red Letter to the White House I will get the pre-addressed letter into your hands. All you have to do is sign it, and perhaps add a personal note, and mail it.
If you can do that, just reply to this email... "I give a dime".
I thank you,
Maynard Gross
If you want to know more, or if you want to do more, I suggest starting at this web site:
50 appointments for Johnson and Johnson single dose COVID-19 vaccinations, to be administered on Saturday, April 10 at Homer High School mass vaccination clinic.
For an individual appointment for Pfizer vaccination at the Covid Vaccine and Test Clinic on Bartlett street. Several dates available.
Note: Pfizer vaccine is authorized only for individuals 16 years of age and older, and Moderna and Janssen vaccines are authorized only for individuals 18 years of age and older.
Who is eligible?Anyone living or working in Alaska is eligible.
Vaccine Information:
Information about COVID-19 vaccines approved by FDA Emergency Use Authorization:
If you already got your first dose at a mass vaccination event, there is no need to make another appointment. You reserved your appointment when you got your first dose.
If you have questions about your second dose appointment, or need to cancel, call 235-0235.
Saturday April 10 is the second dose clinic at Homer High School for those who got their first dose on Friday March 12.
Saturday April 17 is the second dose clinic at Homer High School for those who got their first dose on Saturday, March 27.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
Rotarians, Rotaractors, and Interactors worked together in a nationwide project that promoted behavior change and initiated safety standards for businesses
by Ryan Hyland
Rohantha Athukorala felt helpless. It was April 2020 when Sri Lanka was on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, and he wanted to do something immediately to help the country slow the spread of virus.
“The lockdown was so sudden and absolute. It was hard not being in control of what you can and can’t do,” says Athukorala, a member of the Rotary Club of Colombo Reconnections, Sri Lanka. “Especially for us Rotarians who pride ourselves on helping our communities in desperate times.”
But sheltering in place had its advantages, he says, providing the time and opportunity to connect with fellow members online. Their discussions sparked ideas about what they could do to help people understand how to stay safe from the coronavirus.
Promoting safety though social media
Athukorala started by contacting club and district leaders, talking with government officials, and listening to business leaders. In late April, he launched Stop the Spread, a comprehensive effort to reduce new infections through behavior changes.
Our Interactors have been fantastic and made a real difference in getting crucial information out to the public.
Rohantha Athukorala Rotary Club of Colombo Reconnections
He asked the more than 5,000 Sri Lankan Interactors to lead the campaign and be community advocates for specific behaviors such as wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing. Interactors used their social media networks to blast daily messages about staying safe from the virus, and posted relevant communications from the Ministry of Health.
To complement the Interactors’ communication, Athukorala worked with the country’s Ministry of Sports and the National Olympic Committee to get top athletes to become ambassadors for Stop the Spread. More than 280 athletes — including stars in cricket and rugby, as well as Olympians — participated in videos and graphics that were posted on social media.
Stop the Spread also promoted safety protocols through a certification process for businesses. Athukorala and fellow Rotary members created the certification with the Sri Lanka Standards Institution that enabled companies that are compliant with certain safety guidelines to be certified as a COVID-19-controlled environment. Protocols such as mandatory mask wearing, temperature checks, and social distancing had to be in place in order to receive the certification. Nearly 300 businesses, educational institutions, supermarkets, and other retailers have passed the program’s rigorous audits and received certification, allowing customers and students feel safe while supporting these businesses.
When the lockdown order was lifted in early May, Interactors fanned out across their communities to visit businesses, homes, and public transport to give people educational materials and safety guidance. They became leaders in helping schools implement COVID-19 safety protocols, which allowed schools to open in early July.
“Our Interactors have been fantastic and made a real difference in getting crucial information out to the public,” Athukorala says, who was chair of the Sri Lanka Tourism Bureau and served as the chief business development officer for Sri Lanka at the United Nations.
Interact clubs bring together young people ages 12-18 to connect with leaders in your community and around the world. Rotary and Rotaract club sponsor mentor and guide Interactors as they carry out projects and develop leadership skills.
To encourage hand washing, local Rotary clubs worked with S-lon, a plastic water pipe company, and PickMe, a transportation organization, to build nearly 2,000 mobile hand washing units that attach to three-wheel bikes. Riders are encouraged to wash their hands before and after using the bikes. The aim is to promote hand washing hygiene in public spaces and increase hand washing rates, which is one of the best protections against COVID-19 infection.
The Rotaract Club of Kelaniya created a mobile app, Track the Spread, that allows Sri Lankans to log symptoms and register positive tests. The app is integrated with local hospitals and health centers so medical professionals can identify hotspots and communicate with people about their symptoms. It also allows people to purchase goods online from grocery stores, pharmacies, retail shops, and even pay utilities with the app, while allowing people to stay home and thus contain the spread. “This is helping commerce continue,” Athukorala says.
The government of Sri Lanka is now testing the app for widespread adoption across its health departments.
The next phase
As vaccinations are increasing in the country, more than 800,000 doses have been administered so far, Rotary clubs have also worked with local health officials to support vaccine sites including logging data.
Clubs worked with the World Health Organization and Ministry of Health to develop a booklet for parliament representatives and religious and community leaders to facilitate a successful vaccination program. The printable booklet has information on different vaccines, safe practices, and key messages that leaders can use to better inform people about the COVID-19 vaccines.
More than 88,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed as of mid-March, with over 530 deaths.
“We have done a great job at keeping COVID-19 at bay, but our next focus is making sure Sri Lanka can adequately provide vaccinations to its people,” Athukorala says.
Three vaccine clinics in the KPBSD, 320+ shots, first dose 2-26-21, and second dose 3-19-21
“Many staff have asked, ‘When will we be able to be vaccinated?’ It was complete sweetness when I could answer, ‘now.’ It gives light at the end of the tunnel that has taken a year to get through. Covid-19 is so much more than physical illness; it is mental and emotional as well. As a school nurse, the mental and emotional aspect that I have seen and experienced has come from not only students, but their parents and guardians, and from our staff. Working the clinic on Friday was amazing! Each person who came in showed excitement, relief, joy and of course, a few with anxiety, as they took what they feel is the first step to normalcy. A KPBSD teacher and his wife told me, ‘We truly felt that the experience was well-run, instilled confidence, and dripped of professionalism both from the staff and toward the patients.’”
–Dixie St John, RN, Kenai Middle School Nurse
Pegge Erkeneff, KPBSD Director of Communications, Community, and Government Relations reflects:
“This afternoon, Friday, February 26, 2021, across the Kenai Peninsula, about 320 school staff received their first vaccine, which will be followed up in three weeks by dose two, on March 19, 2021. Two weeks after that, they will be considered fully vaccinated. Three clinics were happening simultaneously in Seward, Soldotna, Homer. After school hours. At the central peninsula clinic, at old Soldotna Prep school, some thoughts from me:
♥️ Friday afternoon, sleet turns to snow, school nurses, city of Soldotna staff, office of emergency management friends, the local pharmacist, volunteers, all coordinated, and now welcome people who’ve been showing up for a year to keep teaching our next generation, and schools operating. People who choose to receive their first vaccine dose arrive
♥️ to the right of me the parking lot is full on busy with arrivals and departures
♥️ one year ago I could never have imagined this scenario. For me, for many years, this parking lot has been a place of school visits, and stories. Or daily fire briefings at incident command in summer months
♥️ I received Pfizer vaccine dose one ten days ago, so today I showed up to be a witness and storyteller, and celebrate a community of effort
♥️ I stood here, slung my big camera over my right shoulder (first time in nearly 10 months), unzipped my pocket to iPhone catch this snowy sign
…
and walked into a place of hope.”
Central Kenai Peninsula vaccination clinic, old Soldotna Prep School, February 26, 2021
“Because natural immunity cannot be proven past 90 days except in cases of severe disease, herd immunity will only be achievable when enough people get vaccinated. As with pandemics in the past like small pox and polio, vaccination is a key tool in stopping this Covid19 pandemic. The challenge now is getting people vaccinated quickly, before the virus can produce any more new variants that might be resistant.
Thirty-five of our employees signed up for the vaccination clinic in Seward on Friday. Everyone over age 50 was able to get into a previous clinic.
In Homer, we had about 87 people register for the February 26, 2021, clinic. Several of our school nurses will be staffing that clinic. I sincerely thank South Peninsula Hospital for their excellent effort to vaccinate people, and offer clinics.
Homer High School students and alumni support Homer’s Unified Command at the COVID19 mass vaccination event Friday, February 26, 2021, at Homer High School
In the central peninsula, ten nurses and three other staff will help at the Soldotna Prep clinic. And nurse friends are joining in like Nurse Tami from Public Health, and Nurse Tracy who retired from Soldotna High School, and Nurse Jane from the Allergy clinic. We will have nine vaccinating stations, and City of Soldotna volunteers are assisting in the observation room (everyone needs to stay for a minimum of 15 minutes after their vaccination) helping people to schedule their follow-up appointment in three weeks. On Thursday, we had 197 people signed up for our central peninsula vaccine clinic. Some staff who had signed up were able to receive the vaccination early after 42 doses needed to put in arms by 10:20 in the morning earlier this week. In addition, I have heard nearly 100 staff have had earlier opportunities to be vaccinated.
With the new variants popping in, it will probably take a higher number of people to be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity. And, the longer the virus can spread freely, the more opportunity for mutations that turn into new variants. Vaccination, masks, physical distancing, hygiene, contact tracing. That is what is going to end the pandemic. I feel like our school district is significantly contributing to the effort so from the bottom of my little nursing heart, I thank everyone so much for their willingness and support.”
February 26, 2021 vaccine clinic
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is committed to make it as easy as possible for everyone who wants to receive the vaccine to get it. The KPBSD does not require the vaccine, and is not tracking who has received it, or who has not, unless someone replied to an email last fall indicating that they wanted to receive the vaccine when it became available. The clinics are designed to be offered during times that work well with the schedules for staff and students.
For a Pfizer vaccine to be administered at the Saturday, March 27 mass vaccination clinic at the Homer High School.
Appointments are full at the Covid Vaccine and Test Site on Bartlett Street.
Check back regularly as appointments are added based on availability.
Note: Pfizer vaccine is authorized only for individuals 16 years of age and older, and Moderna and Janssen vaccines are authorized only for individuals 18 years of age and older.
Who is eligible?Anyone living or working in Alaska is eligible.
Vaccine Information:
Information about COVID-19 vaccines approved by FDA Emergency Use Authorization:
If you already got your first dose at a mass vaccination event, there is no need to make another appointment. You reserved your appointment when you got your first dose.
2nd dose clinics are by appointment only. No walk-ins.
If you have questions about your second dose appointment, or need to cancel, call 235-0235.
Friday, March 19th is a second-dose clinic at Homer High School for those who got their first dose at Community Christian Church on Friday, February 26th.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
COVID-19 vaccines commonly cause pain and swelling in the arm where you got the shot and can cause fever, chills, tiredness, and headache. These are short-term side effects that may occur in the week after you receive your shot.
Although these symptoms go away on their own, you can talk to your doctor about taking over-the-counter medicine like ibuprofen or acetaminophen after you receive your vaccine. Do not take extra medicines before the shot because it is not known if this could make the vaccine less effective at protecting you. It is okay to take your usual daily medications.
Some people have the same or worse side effects with the second shot, but these side effects also go away on their own. If you do not have side effects, it does not mean that the vaccine is not working. Some people have no side effects at all, and the vaccine is still effective.
To reduce the pain and discomfort where you got the shot
Apply a clean, cool, wet washcloth over the area.
Use of exercise your arm.
To reduce the discomfort from fever
Drink plenty of fluids.
Dress lightly.
If you have pain or discomfort, talk to your doctor about taking an over-the-counter medicine, such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen.
V-safe is CDC’s smartphone-based, after-vaccination health checker for people who receive COVID-19 vaccines. V-safe uses text messaging and web surveys from CDC to check in with vaccine recipients following COVID-19 vaccination. V-safe provides second vaccine dose reminders if needed, and telephone follow up to anyone who reports medically significant adverse events.
Note: V-safe cannot schedule vaccine appointments, including second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. If you need to schedule, reschedule, or cancel a COVID-19 vaccination appointment, contact the location that set up your appointment or a vaccine provider in your area.
V-safe is CDC’s active monitoring system for COVID-19 vaccine safety. It is available for every vaccine recipient and encourages people to check in regularly. V-safe works alongside existing robust systems designed to monitor vaccine safety, including VAERS, which alerts the CDC of adverse events. Milder side effects are also helpful to learn about, so when you participate with v-safe you’re supporting vaccine safety with the additional information you provide to the CDC.
The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, is one way the CDC monitors vaccine safety. Anyone may submit a report to VAERS about a medical event after vaccination, even if they aren’t sure if it is related to vaccination. Vaccine providers are required to report all severe or unexpected events after vaccination, regardless of whether they think the event could have been related.
All deaths occurring after vaccination must be reported, even if they were expected or due to other causes. The information in each report is not checked before it is posted for public viewing on the VAERS site, although identifying details are removed. CDC has a team of clinical specialists that investigate each safety event reported to VAERS; deaths are investigated within 24 hours.
Investigation of vaccine safety reports takes place on a federal level. This means that while CDC’s team investigates VAERS reports, in particular any reports of serious or unexpected events, the State of Alaska does not have access to this information and does not conduct a separate investigation. Vaccine safety events are not reportable to the State of Alaska and instead are reported to federal systems only. For questions about specific VAERS reports, please contact CDC.
The CDC follows cases of anaphylaxis reported to VAERS or another reporting system, including v-safe, VAERS, CISA, Vaccine Safety Datalink, ongoing clinical trial data in partnership with the FDA, and the National Healthcare Safety Network. There are several published reports regarding CDC findings around cases of anaphylaxis occurring after COVID-19 vaccines:
Of note, both of these studies highlighted that there was no geographic predominance among anaphylaxis cases, meaning that there is no reason to think that people in a certain state or area are at higher risk.
The CDC and the FDA also look at events occurring in people over the course of their lives among both groups that have received a vaccine and groups that have not. Fortunately, no serious medical problems have been found to be more common in people who have had the vaccine. So far, the groups getting COVID-19 vaccines have had fewer overall medical events than similar groups of people who haven't had the vaccine, and this analysis does exclude medical problems caused by unvaccinated people getting COVID-19. If serious safety issues are found, these are made public and vaccination could be paused. No serious safety issues have been found with the COVID-19 vaccines.
When evaluating VAERS data, it is important to understand the strengths and limitations. VAERS data contain both coincidental events and those truly caused by vaccines.
Strengths
VAERS collects national data from all U.S. states and territories.
VAERS accepts reports from anyone.
The VAERS form collects information about the vaccine, the person vaccinated, and the adverse event.
Data are publicly available.
VAERS can be used as an early warning system to identify rare adverse events.
It is possible to follow-up with patients to obtain health records, when necessary.
Limitations
It is generally not possible to find out from VAERS data if a vaccine caused the adverse event.
Reports submitted to VAERS often lack details and sometimes contain errors.
Serious adverse events are more likely to be reported than mild side effects.
Rate of reports may increase in response to media attention and increased public awareness.
It is not possible to use VAERS data to calculate how often an adverse event occurs in a population.
For individual appointments at the SPH Covid Vaccine and Test Center on Bartlett Street. March 18th.
Please check back daily for updates!
Coming Soon! 350 appointments for Pfizer vaccines later this month (the only approved vaccine for 16-17 year olds).
Who is eligible?Anyone living or working in Alaska is eligible.
Note: Pfizer vaccine is authorized only for individuals 16 years of age and older, and Moderna and Janssen vaccines are authorized only for individuals 18 years of age and older.
Vaccine Information:
Information about COVID-19 vaccines approved by FDA Emergency Use Authorization:
If you already got your first dose at a mass vaccination event, there is no need to make another appointment. You reserved your appointment when you got your first dose.
2nd dose clinics are by appointment only. No walk-ins.
If you have questions about your second dose appointment, or need to cancel, call 235-0235.
Friday, March 19th is a second-dose clinic at Homer High School for those who got their first dose at Community Christian Church on Friday, February 26th.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
COVID-19 vaccines are effective at protecting you from getting sick. Based on what we know about COVID-19 vaccines, people who have been fully vaccinated can start to do some things that they had stopped doing because of the pandemic.
We’re still learning how vaccines will affect the spread of COVID-19. After you’ve been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, you should keep taking precautionsin public places like wearing a mask, staying 6 feet apart from others, and avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces until we know more.
Have You Been Fully Vaccinated?
People are considered fully vaccinated:
2 weeks after their second dose in a 2-dose series, like the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or
2 weeks after a single-dose vaccine, like Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine
If it has been less than 2 weeks since your shot, or if you still need to get your second dose, you are NOT fully protected. Keep taking all prevention steps until you are fully vaccinated.
What’s Changed
If you’ve been fully vaccinated:
You can gather indoors with fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask.
You can gather indoors with unvaccinated people from one other household (for example, visiting with relatives who all live together) without masks, unless any of those people or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
If you’ve been around someone who has COVID-19, you do not need to stay away from others or get tested unless you have symptoms.
However, if you live in a group setting (like a correctional or detention facility or group home) and are around someone who has COVID-19, you should still stay away from others for 14 days and get tested, even if you don’t have symptoms.
What Hasn’t Changed
For now, if you’ve been fully vaccinated:
You should still take steps to protect yourself and othersin many situations, like wearing a mask, staying at least 6 feet apart from others, and avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces. Take these precautions whenever you are:
In public
Gathering with unvaccinated people from more than one other household
You should still avoid medium or large-sized gatherings.
You should still delay domestic and international travel. If you do travel, you’ll still need to follow CDC requirements and recommendations.
You should still watch out for symptoms of COVID-19, especially if you’ve been around someone who is sick. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you should get tested and stay home and away from others.
You will still need to follow guidance at your workplace.
What We Know and What We’re Still Learning
We know that COVID-19 vaccines are effective at preventing COVID-19 disease, especially severe illness and death.
We’re still learning how effective the vaccines are against variants of the virus that causes COVID-19. Early data show the vaccines may work against some variants but could be less effective against others.
We know that other prevention steps help stop the spread of COVID-19, and that these steps are still important, even as vaccines are being distributed.
We’re still learning how well COVID-19 vaccines keep people from spreading the disease.
Early data show that the vaccines may help keep people from spreading COVID-19, but we are learning more as more people get vaccinated.
We’re still learning how long COVID-19 vaccines can protect people.
As we know more, CDC will continue to update our recommendations for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
Until we know more about those questions, everyone — even people who’ve had their vaccines — should continue taking basic prevention stepswhen recommended.
March 9, 2021 (Juneau, AK) – Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy today announced effective immediately the COVID-19 vaccine is available for all individuals who live or work in Alaska and are age 16 and older, making Alaska the first state in the nation to remove eligibility requirements.
“This historic step is yet another nationwide first for Alaska, but it should come as no surprise. Since day one, your response to the pandemic has been hands-down the best in the nation,” said Governor Mike Dunleavy. “I couldn’t be prouder of Alaska’s response. From being the first state to offer widespread testing, to maintaining one of the lowest mortality rates in the country, to rolling out vaccinations to every willing Alaskan, we got here by working together.”
“It is a great day for Alaskans wanting to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” said Adam Crum, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. “I want to thank Governor Dunleavy for this opportunity and if Alaskans had any questions about vaccine eligibility and criteria, I hope today’s announcement clears it up for you, simply put, you are eligible to get the vaccine.”
The Pfizer vaccine is available to individuals who are 16 and older, while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the Moderna vaccine are available to individuals who are 18 and older. All three authorized vaccines have shown to be very effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death caused by COVID-19.
Regions including Kodiak Island, the Petersburg Borough, and the Kusilvak Census Area are nearing or exceeding 90% vaccination rates among seniors. In the Nome Census Area, over 60% of residents age 16 and over have received at least one shot, and roughly 291,000 doses have been administered statewide.
“A healthy community means a healthy economy. With widespread vaccinations available to all Alaskans who live or work here, we will no doubt see our economy grow and our businesses thrive,” said Governor Dunleavy.
Visit covidvax.alaska.govor call 1-907-646-3322 for more information and to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccination.
Dunleavy Announces COVID-19 Vaccine Available to All Alaskans
The Rotary Foundation is giving a significant boost to the fight against malaria in Zambia with a new $2 million Programs of Scale grant that will scale an already successful program model. Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia is a Rotarian-led effort that will use a community health worker model proven to effectively respond to cases of malaria and prevent transmission. The program aims to help reduce malaria cases over time by 90% in 10 target districts in two of the country’s provinces.
Malaria, a preventable disease caused by a parasite spread through the bites of infected mosquitoes, continues to be one of Zambia’s leading causes of illness and death, especially infant and maternal deaths.
The grant will allow Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia to strengthen the country’s health system by working with Zambian health officials at all levels and training 380 health facility staff members, as well as training and equipping more than 2,500 new community health workers. This will increase access to malaria diagnosis and treatment for the more than 1.3 million people in heavily affected areas in the Central and Muchinga provinces and greatly contribute to the national effort to eliminate the deadly disease.
Rotary club-led Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia program will help reduce malaria cases by 90% in 10 target districts in two of the country’s provinces.
Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Federal Way, Washington, USA, the program brings together local Rotary members and partner organizations who share a goal to combat malaria in Zambia. In addition, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and World Vision USA will co-fund the program with $2 million each, bringing total funding to $6 million.
“This project complements and builds upon the leadership of the government of Zambia in working to eliminate malaria from the country,” says Philip Welkhoff, director of the Malaria Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We are thrilled to expand on our longstanding partnerships with Rotary and World Vision to advance progress in hard-to-reach communities and to realize the goal of ending malaria for good.”
To diagnose and treat community members, health workers will be supplied with rapid diagnostic test kits, anti-malaria medicine, lancets for finger pricks, and educational materials. They’ll also receive bicycles and mobile phones, allowing them to reach communities and regularly report cases and share malaria data within the national health system. Making sure local and national information is integrated and providing ongoing support for the community health worker network are essential to the program’s goal of strengthening provincial health services for long-term success fighting malaria.
By empowering these volunteers, who are selected by their fellow community members, the project connects people in areas with limited access to health care with trusted members of their community, says Bill Feldt, a member of the Federal Way club.
This proven health care delivery model is effective and financially sustainable and will bring lasting protection by reducing and eliminating this disease at the local level.
— Bill Feldt, member of the Rotary Club of Federal Way
"This proven health care delivery model is effective and financially sustainable and will bring lasting protection by reducing and eliminating this disease at the local level,” says Feldt, who has been involved in Rotary’s efforts to control malaria in sub-Saharan Africa for more than 10 years.
John Hasse, World Vision’s national director in Zambia, says it’s leveraging the strength of local community health workers that’s most appealing about the program.
“We’ve learned from our experience the importance of bringing healthcare closer to those who need it,” says Hasse.
Hasse adds, “Such an effective, proven and local strategy is exactly what is needed to reduce the dreaded disease of malaria and move us closer to malaria elimination in Zambia.”
With COVID-19 still a health threat around the world, the program’s leaders are prepared to ensure a safe environment for health workers and community members. Training of community health workers will follow COVID-19 protocols, including social distancing. Training class sizes will be limited according to guidelines from the World Health Organization and Zambian government. Personal protective equipment will also be provided. And when a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available in Zambia, community health workers will be well-positioned to mobilize communities to receive the vaccine.
Scaling proven methods
Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia is the first recipient of the Foundation’s Programs of Scale grant. Programs of Scale will award $2 million annually to expand a well-developed service program that is led by a Rotary club or district and has demonstrated success in effecting change. The funding enables evidence-based programs that align with one of Rotary’s areas of focus to scale over three to five years to help larger populations of people and foster policy development to increase sustainability. Programs of Scale will expand Rotary members’ ability to implement large-scale, high-quality programs with experienced partners — and share their program knowledge and results with other Rotary clubs.
“Rotary’s Programs of Scale is encouraging our members to think big and to work with other organizations to find comprehensive solutions to large-scale issues,” Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair K.R. Ravindran says. “The power of Rotary is greatly magnified when we partner with like-minded organizations.”
Read more about Programs of Scale and descriptions of this year’s finalists.
Fighting malaria has long been a priority for the Federal Way club. For more than 10 years, club members have been building relationships and working with international partners, including Zambian Rotary clubs, Malaria Partners Zambia, Malaria Partners International, PATH’s MACEPA project (Malaria Control and Elimination Partnership in Africa), the Ministry of Health’s National Malaria Elimination Centre, provincial health leaders, World Vision, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and other nongovernmental organizations.
Since 2011, the Federal Way club has worked with its partners and several Rotary clubs to distribute tens of thousands of mosquito bed nets, drug treatments, and testing kits across Zambia’s Copperbelt province. In recent years, clubs in the U.S. and Zambia used Rotary Foundation global grants to train and deploy more than 1,500 community health workers in target Copperbelt districts, after seeing this model help reduce malaria cases in Zambia’s Southern province.
Building on this evidence and their experience and commitment, Federal Way members saw Programs of Scale as an opportunity to work with The Rotary Foundation to make an even greater impact in Zambia. Using the latest research in malaria and combining the strengths and resources of each partner organization, they developed Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia to bring lifesaving care to more communities.
Martha Lungu, a member of the Rotary Club of Ndola, Zambia, and executive director for Malaria Partners Zambia, says volunteer community health workers are paid small stipends and work long hours. The driving force behind their dedication is knowing that they are making a difference.
“They are well-respected in their community,” Lungu says. “It’s prestigious to be trained. If you ask them why they really stay on, they talk about the people they’re helping, the mothers and children. They are looked up to by their community.”
She thanks her fellow Rotary members for their commitment to the program and role in facilitating trainings and building relationships with rural health centers and government leaders.
“Every day I witness firsthand the effects of malaria,” says Lungu. “This program demonstrates that Rotary members are true partners in our communities and focused on supporting community health workers to help loosen the grip malaria has on the Zambian people.”
New Rotary Foundation Grant Supports Scaling Proven Malaria Program in Zambia
500+ appointments at a mass vaccination clinic on Friday, March 12 at Homer High School
Individuals booking here must be available on Saturday, April 10 for second dose.
Individual appointments at the covid vaccine and testing site on Bartlett street are currently full.
Please check back regularly for updates as additional dates may be added.
Appointments full?Click here to add your contact information to be on our waitlist to be notified for day-of cancellations.
Check here Monday, March 15 for 40+ appointments for Janssen (Johnson and Johnson) vaccine.
Who is eligible?Anyone living or working in Alaska is eligible.
Note: Pfizer vaccine is authorized only for individuals 16 years of age and older, and Moderna and Janssen vaccines are authorized only for individuals 18 years of age and older.
Vaccine Information:
Information about COVID-19 vaccines approved by FDA Emergency Use Authorization:
If you already got your first dose at a mass vaccination event, there is no need to make another appointment. You reserved your appointment when you got your first dose.
2nd dose clinics are by appointment only. No walk-ins.
If you have questions about your second dose appointment, or need to cancel, call 235-0235.
Friday, March 12th is a first and second-dose clinic at Homer High School, second dose for those who got their first dose on February 12th or 13th at Community Christian Church.
Friday, March 19th is a second-dose clinic at Homer High School for those who got their first dose at Community Christian Church on Friday, February 26th.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
Spring break is here! If your family or student travels outside the state, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District recommends travelers get a COVID-19 test within 72 hours of returning to Alaska, and practice social distancing until you receive the results. Free testing is also available at the airport upon arrival. Have fun – and stay safe!
200+ appointments at the SPH Covid Vaccine and Test Center on Bartlett Street March 9th, 10th, 11th, 16th and 17th. Additional dates will be added as needed.
We are expecting additional vaccine supplies soon. Check back regularly for updates as additional dates may be added.
If you already got your first dose at a mass vaccination event, there is no need to make another appointment. You reserved your appointment when you got your first dose.
2nd dose clinics are by appointment only. No walk-ins.
If you have questions about your second dose appointment, or need to cancel, call 235-0235.
Friday, March 5th second-dose clinic at Homer High School is for those who got their first dose on February 5th or 6th at Community Christian Church
Friday, March 12th is a first and second-dose clinic at Homer High School, second dose for those who got their first dose on February 12th or 13th at Community Christian Church.
Friday, March 19th is a second-dose clinic at Homer High School for those who got their first dose at Community Christian Church on Friday, February 26th.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
Randall Butler is the chair of the peacebuilding committee of a club with more than a century of dedication to fostering peace
by Geoffrey Johnson
Randall Butler, Rotary Club of Boulder, Colorado, USA
Photography by Matt Nager
“I’ve been in conflict resolution my whole career,” says Randy Butler, the founder and CEO of the Institute for Sustainable Peace. A former trial lawyer, Butler abandoned the courtroom to focus on using mediation to resolve disputes and training others in the use of mediation. “I’d found my passion,” he says.
In 2018, he led a workshop to “build the skills necessary to overcome the polarization we are experiencing in the United States.” When Butler reached out to the peacebuilding committee at the Rotary Club of Boulder, he met Gary Kahn, who asked him: “Why are you not a member of Rotary?”
Attending a meeting of the Boulder club, he says, “it was amazing to look at all these people around the room — the district attorney; medical professionals and successful businesspeople; college professors — and realize that here was a club that had brought all these individuals together and that they make a real difference in what they’re doing.”
It was Butler’s Rotary epiphany. “I suddenly saw this network forming all over the world: people who knew how to get things done and knew people they could get things done with.”
Today he’s the chair of the peacebuilding committee of the 101-year-old club, which has dedicated its second century to fostering peace. “We remind our club members that all of our projects that help to build Positive Peace involve collaborations at the community level, even across traditional divides,” he says, noting that they look forward to using the vast Rotary network to build even more “bridges of understanding.”
Note: Vaccine managed by the Alaska Tribal Health System, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Department of Defense may have different eligibility criteria.
Who is eligible now?
Alaska uses a phased approach to make the vaccine available. Vaccine supply is very limited at first, and it will gradually be available to more Alaskans over time.
People 65 years and above People who assist someone 65 years of age or older in getting a vaccination are eligible to be vaccinated at the same time. Both the senior and the person providing assistance will need to schedule an appointment at the same location and time. The person assisting does not need to meet other eligibility requirements to receive the vaccine.
People 50 years and above who have any of the following high-risk medical conditionsknown to be risk factors for severe COVID-19 associated illness:
People living or working incongregate settings not covered in Phase 1a, limited to:
Acute psychiatric facilities;
Correctional settings;
Group homes for individuals with disabilities or mental and behavioral health conditions;
Homeless and domestic violence shelters;
Substance misuse and treatment residential facilities; and
Transitional living homes
Note: Congregate settings may include people working in any system whose job responsibilities require them to interact with individuals residing in congregate settings (e.g. people who work in the judicial system).
Includes Skilled Nursing Facilities, Assisted Living Homes, and Dept of Corrections infirmaries providing care that is similar to an assisted living facility
Particularly includes those performing the highest risk procedures or who spend extended periods of time bedside and whose absence from work would compromise the ability of the hospital to continue functioning. Personnel in this category include, but are not limited to: ICU and COVID unit nurses, LPNs, CNAs and patient care technicians; ICU and COVID unit physicians; Inpatient physicians caring for COVID patients, including hospitalists; Respiratory therapists; Emergency department personnel; Personnel working in operating and other procedural rooms in which aerosol generating procedures are conducted.; Other hospital staff working in COVID units such as PT/OT/ST therapists, phlebotomists, etc.; Environmental services personnel; and Facility security personnel
Particularly those personnel whose absence from work would compromise the ability of these critical medical services to continue. This Tier includes personnel in certified ground-based and air medical services. This Tier also includes community health aides/health workers providing EMS services.
Community Health Aides/Practitioners
Pandemic response staff who may come into contact with the SARS-CoV-2 virus during outbreak response activities.
Have direct human patient contact, or have direct contact with infectious materials from patients, AND
Provide essential services in a hospital, clinic, home, or community-based setting that cannot be offered remotely or performed via telework; AND
Provide essential health care service in a health care setting that cannot be postponed without serious negative impact to the patient's health
Note: Workers in health care settings includes people who stay home to provide healthcare for a medically fragile person. Eligible individuals provide daily support related to an individual’s activities of daily living (i.e., bathing, dressing, eating) and instrumental activities of daily living (i.e., shopping, laundry, light housework).
Who is eligible soon?
Not yet open (Phase 1b Tier 3). Timeline to be determined.
People 55 years and above
People 40 years and above who have a high-risk medical condition
People 16-49 who are frontline essential workers with a high-risk medical condition
People 16 years and above who live in a multigenerational household with 3 or more generations, or “skipped” generations (e.g., a grandchild living with an elder).
People 16 and above who live in communities where at least 45% homes have not been served either via pipe, septic tank and well, or covered haul system.
Not yet open (Phase 1c). Timeline to be determined.
We’re working to provide additional information, as it becomes available. Vaccine supply is very limited at first, and it will gradually be available to more Alaskans over time. Alaska uses a phased approach to make the vaccine available. The State of Alaska COVID-19 Vaccination Plan: Allocation Guidelines (PDF) explain the process.
200+ appointments at the SPH Covid Vaccine and Test Center on Bartlett Street March 9th, 10th and 11th. Additional dates will be added as needed.
We are expecting additional vaccine supplies soon. Check back regularly for updates as additional dates may be added.
Who is eligible?
Newly added:
People who stay home to provide healthcare for a medically fragile person. Eligible individuals provide daily support related to an individual’s activities of daily living (i.e., bathing, dressing, eating) and instrumental activities of daily living (i.e., shopping, laundry, light housework).
People who assist someone 65 years of age or older in getting a vaccination. Both the senior and the person providing assistance will need to schedule an appointment at the same location and time. The person assisting does not need to meet other eligibility requirements to receive the vaccine.
If you already got your first dose at a mass vaccination event, there is no need to make another appointment. You reserved your appointment when you got your first dose.
2nd dose clinics are by appointment only. No walk-ins.
If you have questions about your second dose appointment, or need to cancel, call 235-0235.
Friday, March 5th second-dose clinic at Homer High School is for those who got their first dose on February 5th or 6th at Community Christian Church
Friday, March 12th is a first and second-dose clinic at Homer High School, second dose for those who got their first dose on February 12th or 13th at Community Christian Church.
Friday, March 19th is a second-dose clinic at Homer High School for those who got their first dose at Community Christian Church on Friday, February 26th.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
Official Insights from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
Sign up for insights into DHSS's COVID-19 response
Subscribe to DHSS Insights for behind-the-scenes news about Alaska’s COVID-19 response and other efforts to protect the health and well-being of Alaskans. Stay strong, be safe, and protect yourself and others by following the current Health Advisories. Together we can stay on top of COVID!
Event organizers join weekly public meetings to share creative ways for hosting safer gatherings during the pandemic
FEBRUARY 26, 2021 — Organizers are taking creative approaches to continue holding events in ways that prevent spreading COVID-19 during the pandemic. They turned previous in-person events into virtual celebrations. They’ve taken one large event and split it into smaller events to reduce crowd size. They’ve taken something that typically happens indoors and moved it outside. During the past year, organizers have worked with the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) to share ideas with other event planners and communities of faith to help people continue gathering in safer ways.
The new Plan Safer Events project makes sharing ideas easier. The project is a partnership between DHSS and Denali Daniels and Associates. It gives organizers resources that help decide if or how to host events. The project’s staff can connect event organizers with advisors who offer tailored guidance and assistance to plan events in ways that prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the pandemic.
Alaska Botanical Garden splits large summer event into smaller picnics
Mike Monterusso, the Botanical Garden’s executive director, described the COVID-19 safety protocols used during events in the garden. Monterussa recalled asking himself a question: “What is your mitigation plan for these scenarios?” During the Jan. 4 meeting, Monterusso said physical distancing still needs to happen at outdoor events to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“When you get a certain number of people in a spot, it doesn’t matter if you are indoors or outdoors. You’re still easily within six feet of each other,” Monterusso said. He later emphasized organizers have to figure out a way to manage events to ensure that at least six feet of physical distancing is possible at events.
Monterusso decided he needed to shrink the size of popular events after examining the large number of people who typically attend. Smaller numbers of attendees would be needed to follow social distancing guidelines. Despite the garden being an outdoor venue, it still included places where visitors could get in close proximity of one another.
The garden’s staff looked for ways to spread out the number of visitors across different times and days. Staff also started limiting the number of tickets sold on a given day.
Monterusso came up with a new approach to the garden’s annual summer gala. Last summer, he decided to hold multiple weekly picnics instead. This required more staff to manage traffic flow and ensure that social distancing was practiced by all visitors. Even so, Monterusso decided he preferred this change and said he will likely continue holding weekly picnics instead of the summer gala in the future.
Seward event organizers convert indoor event to outdoor celebration
Jenny Rutledge and Jose Vacabustamante with Seward’s Sports and Recreation team shared their experiences planning and hosting events during the pandemic. Before the pandemic, the two ran a facility that included a gym, workout room, sauna and racquetball court. The facility closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic. Since its closure, Rutledge and Vacabustamante have held one event: The Halloween Spooktacular. This Halloween event is usually an indoor carnival with about 200 participants. In 2020, they held a much smaller event outdoors to make it safer. Staff posted signs encouraging social distancing, and attendees wore masks. Staff made sure family groups were six feet apart when lining up at booths, and volunteers from the local fire department helped with traffic flow to minimize close contact with others.
The team in Seward also discussed their plan to host another carpool movie night that requires all attendees to pre-register and park six feet apart. Rutledge described the success of the Dec. 12, 2020, carpool movie night in an Alaska Recreation Parks Association article.
“It was nice to see the community out and about enjoying themselves, and we can’t wait to continue this event, if Alaskan weather will allow it,” she said in the article.
Rutledge and Vacabustamante highlighted the importance of thinking creatively during the pandemic and overcoming the challenges that arise when needing to do things differently. Looking for solutions was necessary so Rutledge and Vacabustamante could offer the community safer events and ways to continue connecting with others and having fun.
Find more resources for planning gathering and events, and for communities of faith
Monterusso, Rutledge and Vacabustamante shared their ideas during a regular Monday Zoom meeting organized by DHSS, the Plan Safer Events project, and the University of Alaska Anchorage’s (UAA) Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) team. This partnership runs these live ECHO sessions through Zoom. The Events and Faith ECHOs are recorded for later viewing and listening. During 2021, DHSS will work with UAA’s ECHO team to virtually connect event organizers and communities of faith with a panel of professionals to discuss several strategies to safely gather during the pandemic.
To hear recommendations from other event organizers and state representatives, please register for the Events and Faith ECHOs below:
In a challenging time, Rotary members and partners have shown drive in overcoming challenges
by Diana Schoberg Image credit: Andrew Esiebo
It was May 1997, and Sam Okudzeto, then a member of the African Regional PolioPlus Committee from Ghana, was flying to Sierra Leone for what he anticipated would be a routine annual meeting about polio eradication in Africa. But when his plane touched down and he looked out the window, he saw that soldiers, guns drawn, had flooded the tarmac.
As Okudzeto made his way to passport control, he asked an airport official what was going on. “Listen carefully,” he was told. “You can hear the guns.” There had been a coup that morning.
“All we heard was boom, boom, boom,” Okudzeto recalls. “Then I realized that the aircraft that had brought us had gone.”
With no taxis running, Okudzeto and the other meeting participants who had been on the plane walked to a nearby hotel. “We all went to our rooms and put our luggage down and then went to the restaurant,” he recalls. “I asked for the biggest and juiciest sole fish I had ever had in my life, because it might be my last supper.” (Luckily it wasn’t, and four days later, Okudzeto and the others caught a helicopter out of the country.)
“There is an enemy in life — and it’s fear,” he says now. “For those who are not afraid, it’s amazing what you can do. It’s fantastic to see the result now: Africa is [wild] polio-free.”
Rotary members around the world have contributed nearly $890 million toward eradicating polio in the African region. Learn more about Rotary’s work to eradicate polio, and consider donating at endpolio.org.
In August 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) certified the African region free of wild poliovirus, the culmination of a decades-long effort involving millions of Rotary members, health workers, government officials, traditional and religious leaders, and parents. Since 1996, a year when wild polio paralyzed an estimated 75,000 children across Africa, health workers have given more than 9 billion doses of the oral polio vaccine, preventing 1.8 million wild polio cases.
“Everybody chipped in,” says Gaston Kaba, longtime chair of the Niger PolioPlus Committee (he retired from the position in June 2019). “Volunteers, town criers, many other people were involved. Nobody knows about them. They worked quietly to get the job done.”
Last recorded Cases of endemic wild polio in countries in the WHO African region 1980s: Cabo Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Kenya Botswana, Mauritius, Comoros, Seychelles, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini 1990s: Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, Algeria, Togo, Gabon, Cameroun, Equatorial Guinea, Uganda, Eritrea, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Madagascar 2000s: Burkina Faso, Côte D’Ivore, Ghana, Benin, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Angola 2010s: Nigeria
The 47 countries that make up WHO’s African region are home to nearly 1,400 Rotary clubs and 32,000 members, many of whom have dedicated time and resources to the effort. Rotary members around the world have contributed nearly $890 million toward eradicating polio in the region, advocated for support from their governments, mobilized communities around National Immunization Days, and held events for World Polio Day to raise public awareness.
The legacy of those efforts is a health care infrastructure that is playing an important role in the COVID-19 pandemic and is poised to respond to future public health emergencies. The laboratory and surveillance networks developed to track the poliovirus are being used to monitor other diseases. Polio workers bolster an array of routine immunizations, deliver deworming medicines and oral rehydration salts, and provide other health services. And they continue to vaccinate children against polio, because until the virus is eradicated from the earth, it remains a threat everywhere. “Being declared free of polio is an amazing success,” says Teguest Yilma, Ethiopia PolioPlus Committee chair. “I am happy — but I’m still not relaxed.”
In a time of extraordinary challenges, we can celebrate the eradication of wild polio in the African region. Here are just a few of the stories of the drive and determination Rotary members and our partners have shown in overcoming challenges and setbacks.
Boko Haram was against immunizations in the first place, so many health facilities were destroyed. Immunization was not even something you could think about.
Tunji Funsho, PolioPlus Committee chair
In February 2005, as civil war raged through Côte d’Ivoire, Marie-Irène Richmond-Ahoua entered the heart of rebel-held territory. Then the national PolioPlus committee chair, Richmond-Ahoua joined representatives from Rotary’s partners on a United Nations (UN) flight to Bouaké, where the rebels were based. “We met with rebel chiefs to beg them to make immunization days safe,” she recalls, asking for their cooperation in providing soldiers to protect the vaccinators. “They did it. For five days, it was easy to reach children.”
Over the years, security was one of the biggest challenges to the polio eradication effort in Africa. Rotary and its partners worked to negotiate truces and military protection to make sure that health workers could reach every child in conflict areas. In 1994 and 1996, the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army and the Sudanese government agreed to honor “corridors of peace” where vaccinators could travel safely, and two years later, a PolioPlus grant supported the airlifting of vaccines into villages that hadn’t seen a government health worker in 15 years. In 1985 in Uganda, the government and the National Resistance Army agreed to permit UNICEF flights into rebel-held territory after the civil war cut off a third of the population from government serv-ices. And in late 1999, then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan negotiated a nationwide truce in Sierra Leone so that National Immunization Days could be held.
But at times, bloodshed still derailed polio eradication efforts. Nigeria thought it had seen its last case of wild polio in July 2014. But then the militant group Boko Haram kept vaccinators out of its strongholds in Borno state in northeastern Nigeria for several years. “Boko Haram was against immunizations in the first place, so many health facilities were destroyed. Immunization was not even something you could think about,” says Tunji Funsho, who has served as Nigeria PolioPlus Committee chair since 2013. Polio was festering, undiagnosed, in the areas of Borno where children hadn’t received their vaccines, and in 2016 the country recorded four cases.
Rotary and its partners worked to negotiate truces and military protection for health workers in conflict areas.
Credit: Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images
But the Nigerian government — as well as Rotary, its partners, and health workers and volunteers — never gave up. The Nigerian Army became a key participant in vaccination efforts. At first, it would secure an area, and vaccinators would spend two days or less quickly immunizing children before leaving, a strategy called “hit and run.” Later, armed local militia members would escort vaccinators to unsafe areas. Today, army medical corps members carry the vaccine to settlements that remain unsafe for civilians to enter and vaccinate children themselves. “The military knows how to take care of themselves,” Funsho says.
Funsho recalls visiting the home of the child who had the last case of wild polio in Nigeria, another innocent victim of the insurgency. “The potential for a three-year-old girl in Borno state to achieve the best that is possible for her life is already very low — educationally, socially, in all aspects of human endeavor,” he says. “Add polio paralysis to that, and what is the hope for that child? It is heart-rending.”
The challenge: Rumors
In Nigeria, another significant obstacle was the persistent rumors about the safety of the oral polio vaccine that spread in the northern part of the country in the early 2000s, Funsho says. Skeptical political and religious leaders told parents to refuse vaccinations, combining rhetoric of the anti-vaccine movement with conspiracy theories about a Western plot to sterilize Muslims. “This rumor was not homegrown. It came from abroad and found local weapons to energize it,” Funsho says. “It led to vaccination becoming a political thing rather than a means to protect our children against paralysis.”
The situation deteriorated. Several states in northern Nigeria canceled all immunization activities until officials could show proof that the vaccine was safe, and the country went 14 months without a National Immunization Day. The Nigerian government, strongly committed to polio eradication, set up a committee that included key Muslim leaders to verify the vaccine’s safety. They toured vaccine manufacturing sites and produced a report that satisfied all except political and religious leaders in Kano state, the epicenter of the rumors. Officials there sent their own committee of health experts and religious scholars to Indonesia, where they reconfirmed the safety of a vaccine manufactured in a Muslim country.
Rotary members in Nigeria advocated with government leaders and educated the public to dispel persistent myths about vaccine safety.
Credit: Diego Ibarra Sánchez
Meanwhile, Rotary members continued to engage in advocacy and in educating the public. Ado Bayero, the late emir of Kano, was a supporter of the Rotary Club of Kano, and Funsho was his personal physician. One of the country’s most influential Muslim leaders, the emir “was a great friend of Rotary,” Funsho says. “He knew Rotary would not bring anything harmful.” The emir demonstrated his faith in the oral polio vaccine by personally immunizing his grandchildren in his palace. “We used that to a lot of our advantage in the media.”
In neighboring Niger, a country whose population is 99 percent Muslim, then-President Mamadou Tandja pushed back against the persistent rumors in a key speech that launched a 2004 immunization campaign. He gave the speech in Hausa, a language widely spoken in Niger as well as Nigeria, which made his message about the importance of vaccination all the more effective. “Tandja was very strong on the message he delivered,” says Kaba, the former Niger PolioPlus Committee chair. “He referred to the Quran. You don’t joke with the Quran.” A month later, Rotary presented Tandja with a Polio Eradication Champion Award.
Polio cases in Africa had been trending down until the early 2000s. But the rumors and missed immunizations led to the exportation of the virus from Nigeria to almost 20 countries. “As soon as we overcame that, the graph just went gradually down and down until we got to zero,” Funsho says.
The challenge: Hard-to-reach children
Nearly 800,000 refugees live in Ethiopia, most of them from Eritrea, Somalia, and South Sudan. “Our borders are very porous. A lot of people come in and out from neighboring countries,” Yilma says. So the government coordinates cross-border vaccination campaigns with surrounding nations to ensure that the virus isn’t brought in over the border.
To eradicate wild polio in Africa, health workers had to vaccinate hard-to-reach children such as those at this camp for internally displaced people in northern Nigeria.
Credit: Andrew Esiebo
The country has some of the most rugged terrain in Africa — from mountainous highlands to vast desert plains that sit hundreds of feet below sea level. There are some places where health workers have to walk hours to reach a single family, and others that are so densely populated that ensuring that every child is vaccinated can be difficult. “Ethiopia didn’t face a situation like in Nigeria where people outright refused to be vaccinated,” Yilma says. “The problems in Ethiopia are that it’s a large population that is mobile and that the topography of Ethiopia makes them very difficult to reach.”
Throughout the African region, millions of health workers have traveled by foot, boat, bicycle, and bus during the decades-long eradication campaign.
Throughout the African region, millions of health workers have traveled by foot, boat, bicycle, and bus during the decades-long eradication campaign. Grants from The Rotary Foundation have supported them along the way. In 2000, Africa’s first synchronized multicountry
All of Phase 1a* Please note:The State of Alaska DHSS has clarified “health care setting” for vaccine eligibility as follows: Workers in health care settings can include someone who stays home to care for an elderly family member. Eligible individuals provide daily support related to an individual’s activities of daily living (i.e., bathing, dressing, eating) as well as instrumental activities of daily living (i.e., shopping, laundry, light housework). These may be paid, unpaid, or contracted positions. This may also include teachers or other school staff that provide health care activities for students including tube feedings, suctioning, and other hands-on healthcare.
If you already got your first dose at the Feb 5 / 6 event, you already have your 2nd dose appointment for March 5. If you have questions about your appointment on March 5, click here or call 235-0235.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
The Rotary Foundation is the best steward for your money. Here’s why.
In 2016, The Rotary Foundation received the highest possible score from Charity Navigator – 100 of 100 points – for its strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency.
It was the ninth straight year the Foundation earned a four-star rating from the independent evaluator of charities across the U.S., a distinction only 1 percent of charities have attained.
The Association of Fundraising Professionals likewise named the Foundation the World’s Outstanding Foundation for 2016, an award previously given to other familiar names such as Kellogg and MacArthur.
These organizations agree: When you donate to The Rotary Foundation, you’re investing wisely. We followed your money from start to finish to discover how the Foundation ensures that your gift makes an impact for years to come.
Directing your donation
There’s a reason Rotarians donate to The Rotary Foundation: It’s a simple way to achieve your philanthropic goals – whether it’s supporting clean water, the eradication of polio, or a particular global grant.
Any gift can be donated to a specific fund – End Polio Now, an individual global grant, or one of Rotary’s areas of focus.
Illustrations by Gwen Kereval
“Even the smallest of gifts can be donated to a specific fund – a global grant, polio, or an area of focus within the World Fund,” says April Jensen, a member of the Rotary Club of Evanston, Illinois, USA, who works in fund development for the Foundation. You can also leave your gift unrestricted so that the Foundation has the flexibility to use the money where it is needed most.
Do you ever wish you could set up a scholarship or your own family’s foundation but don’t want the headache of administering it? Let The Rotary Foundation handle it. When you make a gift over $25,000, you will receive personalized reports detailing the projects you are supporting. You can make your gift in the way that suits your financial situation best – such as cash, stocks, or bequests.
Investing your money
In 2015-16, 91 percent of the money the Foundation spent went to programs and grants, with only 9 percent of expenses going toward administration. How does the Foundation make sure that the bulk of your donation supports the sustainable programs you want it to?
“To ensure that the funds for the project are there when needed,” says past Rotary International President Ron D. Burton, chair of the Foundation’s Investment Committee, “all contributions to the Foundation’s Annual Fund are invested for three years.”
After three years, the investment earnings on your gift go toward the operating expenses of the Foundation.
The Investment Committee includes three Foundation trustees and six Rotarians who are professionals in the field, who make sure that your money is invested responsibly during this period.
When the three years is up, the investment earnings on your gift go toward the operating expenses of the Foundation.
“I don’t know of any other organization like ours that has a system like this,” Jensen says. “It’s brilliant.”
Your principal is split 50/50, with half going to your District Designated Fund and half going into the World Fund, a pool that the Trustees of The Rotary Foundation use to match grants where they are most needed.
Awarding grants
When the Foundation awards a grant to fund a project, how does it ensure that your money will have lasting impact?
“Sustainability begins with the community assessment,” explains Philip J. Silvers, a past RI director and chair of the Foundation’s Cadre of Technical Advisers.
Six elements of sustainability must be addressed in the design of a global grant project:
Before Rotarians design projects, they talk to people in the community – fathers, mothers, children, elders, political leaders – to understand the broader context behind what the community needs.
“Then whatever project emerges, the community can see their fingerprints on it,” he says. “It’s not buy-in you want. We all know about buyer’s remorse. What we really want is community ownership right from the beginning.”
Six elements of sustainability must be addressed in the design of a global grant project: start with the community, encourage local ownership, provide training, buy local, find local funding, and measure your success.
These ensure that the project provides long-term solutions that the community itself can support after the grant ends.
Project sponsors don’t have to figure out all this on their own. The Rotary Foundation provides staff to help with your project design – grant officers are knowledgeable about regional and cultural issues, and area of focus managers have significant field experience in their specialties.
By connecting clubs with local and regional experts for guidance on developing sustainable, large-scale global grants early in the planning process, Rotary is committed to funding projects with lasting impact in communities.
Your district’s international service chair, a Rotarian appointed by your district governor, can help you connect with a network of local Rotarian experts – such as members of Rotarian Action Groups, Rotaractors, and peace fellows and other alumni – who have volunteered to help with projects and global grant planning.
Ensuring strong grant projects
The Rotary Foundation has a network of Rotarian volunteers available to provide expertise and advice, called the Cadre of Technical Advisers. With a database of 700 experts in Rotary’s six areas of focus as well as other specialties – mediators, diplomats, obstetricians, engineers, bankers, and agronomists, for example – there is sure to be someone who can help if an obstacle comes up.
Cadre members play an important role in ensuring that donors’ funds make a long-term impact. On behalf of The Rotary Foundation, cadre members do a technical review of the feasibility of larger grants before they are awarded and perform site visits to evaluate how the grants are being carried out. “Rotarians want to know if something is not working out or if they can do something better,” says Francis “Tusu” Tusubira, a member of the cadre from the Rotary Club of Kampala-North, Uganda. “The cadre is there to give as much support as possible.” Cadre members also perform random financial audits to help the Foundation ensure that grant funding is being used as approved.
“The cadre provides accountability and quality assurance in general, and protects our investors – the people who donate – and also the beneficiaries,” Silvers says. “In doing that, we also protect the Rotary brand. We make a commitment to our beneficiaries; we want to make sure this is high quality. Our name – and more than our name, our commitment – is at stake.”
Monitoring success and sustainability
Monitoring and evaluation of grants are built in through the project design. “From the community assessment, we learn what kind of lasting change we can create together,” Silvers says. “How can we measure that? How do we know that change will continue? How can we show our donors and our beneficiaries that we really made a difference?”
Anyone who knows Rotarians sees how we give of our time and resources. They know their money is in good hands.
Eric Kimani, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator
Rotary Family Health Days have been recognized as a Rotary Foundation noteworthy global grant project. They are held in several countries in Africa where both incidence of HIV/AIDS and the stigma surrounding being tested for the virus were great.
Built into the project was a follow-up step in which Rotaractors and Rotary Community Corps members called patients who had received health care through the project. Explains Silvers: “They’d ask, ‘What brought you to Rotary Family Health Days this year?’ It might have been that they needed a tooth pulled. ‘Anything else?’ From that sequence of questions, 71 percent of respondents said they got checked for HIV. That’s a huge cultural turnaround.”
Project sponsors write a final report when their grant closes. This includes initial measures of impact. Because Rotarians design sustainability into a project at the very beginning, its benefits are ongoing.
Just as the Foundation asks project sponsors to monitor the impact of their grants, the organization also performs a triennial evaluation of its grant model. Foundation Trustees are using the feedback from the most recent evaluation, conducted in 2015-16, to adjust the grant process in ways such as improving how clubs and districts find partners, evaluating requirements for the community needs assessment, and helping project sponsors scale up their efforts with support from the cadre and other partners.
For everything the Foundation does to ensure that gifts make a lasting impact, the greatest check and balance of all may be Rotarians themselves, says Eric Kimani, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator for Zone 20A and a member of the Rotary Club of Nairobi-Muthaiga North, Kenya. “When you have good Rotarians, it is your best measure of stewardship,” he says. “Anyone who knows Rotarians sees how we give of our time and resources. They know their money is in good hands.”
For the 13th consecutive year, The Rotary Foundation has received the highest rating — four stars — from Charity Navigator, an independent evaluator of charities in the U.S.
The Foundation earned the recognition for adhering to sector best practices and executing its mission in a financially efficient way, demonstrating both strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency. Only one percent of the organizations Charity Navigator evaluates have received 13 consecutive 4-star evaluations.
"Your achievement and 4-star rating will enhance your organization’s fundraising and public relations efforts,” says Michael Thatcher, president and chief executive officer of Charity Navigator. "This exceptional designation sets the Foundation apart from its peers and demonstrates to the public its trustworthiness."
The rating reflects Charity Navigator's assessment of how the Foundation uses donations, sustains its programs and services, and practices good governance and openness.
The Rotary Foundation transforms your gifts into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world.
Since it was founded more than 100 years ago, the Foundation has spent more than $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects.
With your help, we can make lives better in your community and around the world.
Our mission
The mission of The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.
What impact can one donation have?
For as little as 60 cents, a child can be protected from polio.
$50 can provide clean water to help fight waterborne illness.
$500 can launch an antibullying campaign and create a safe environment for children.
Financial structure
The Rotary Foundation is organized as a public charity operated exclusively for charitable purposes and governed by a Board of Trustees. The operations of Rotary International, a member organization, are overseen by its Board of Directors.
The headquarters of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation are in Evanston, Illinois, USA. We have associate foundations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
Check here Friday morning, Feb. 19 at 10am for a limited number of appointments for a small Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine clinic taking place on Friday, February 26th. For those not connected online, there is an informational recording at 435-3188, and that phone line will be answered starting at 10am Friday for assistance with appointments. A wait list of 100 names will be taken for this event once appointments fill.
A large-scale mass vaccination clinic will take place in early March. Check here on Monday, March 1st at 12pm noon to make your appointment for that event.
All of Phase 1a* Please note:The State of Alaska DHSS has clarified “health care setting” for vaccine eligibility as follows: Workers in health care settings can include someone who stays home to care for an elderly family member. Eligible individuals provide daily support related to an individual’s activities of daily living (i.e., bathing, dressing, eating) as well as instrumental activities of daily living (i.e., shopping, laundry, light housework). These may be paid, unpaid, or contracted positions. This may also include teachers or other school staff that provide health care activities for students including tube feedings, suctioning, and other hands-on healthcare.
If you already got your first dose at the Feb 5 / 6 event, you already have your 2nd dose appointment for March 5. If you have questions about your appointment on March 5, click hereor call 235-0235.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
Vaccine managed by the Alaska Tribal Health System, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Department of Defense may have different eligibility criteria. Vaccine doses will be distributed throughout Alaska in a series of phases. Over time, everyone who wants to be vaccinated will be able to get vaccinated.
People 16 years and above who live in a multigenerational household with 3 or more generations, or “skipped” generations (e.g., a grandchild living with an elder).
People 16 and above who live in communities where at least 45% homes have not been served either via pipe, septic tank and well, or covered haul system.
Phase 1c: Not yet open. Timeline to be determined.
We’re working to provide additional information, as it becomes available. Vaccine supply is very limited at first, and it will gradually be available to more Alaskans over time. Alaska uses a phased approach to make the vaccine available. The State of Alaska COVID-19 Vaccination Plan: Allocation Guidelines (PDF) explain the process.
2. Frontline essential workers are defined as people who are working in sectors essential to the functioning of society and are at substantially higher risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 because their work-related duties must be performed on-site and involve being in close proximity (<6 feet) to the public or to coworkers. For further criteria, see the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) advisory list (PDF). Including, but not limited to:
Law enforcement, public safety, and other first responders
Education (including people not covered in Phase 1b Tier 2)
Food and Agriculture (Food manufacturers, distributors, restaurant workers, seafood workers, grocery store workers)
Energy (electricity, petroleum, Natural Gas, utility and power workers)
Water and Wastewater
Transportation and Logistics (Public transit workers, aviation workers, taxi drivers, port workers, bus drivers, U.S. Postal Service workers and mail carriers, warehouse operators)
Public Works and Infrastructure Support Service
Critical Manufacturing
Communications and Information Technology
Other Community-or Government-Based Operations and Essential Functions
Critical Manufacturing
Hazardous Materials
Financial Services
Chemical
Defense Industrial Base
Commercial Facilities
Residential/Shelter Facilities, Housing And Real Estate, and Related Services
3. Working in congregate settings includes people working in the judicial system whose job responsibilities require them to interact with individuals residing in congregate settings.
1. Long Term Care facilities included Skilled Nursing Facilities, Assisted Living Homes, and Dept of Corrections infirmaries providing care that is similar to an assisted living facility.
2. Particularly those performing the highest risk procedures or who spend extended periods of time bedside and whose absence from work would compromise the ability of the hospital to continue functioning. Personnel in this category include, but are not limited to:
ICU and COVID unit nurses, LPNs, CNAs and patient care technicians
ICU and COVID unit physicians
Inpatient physicians caring for COVID patients, including hospitalists
Respiratory therapists
Emergency department personnel
Personnel working in operating and other procedural rooms in which aerosol generating procedures are conducted.
Other hospital staff working in COVID units such as PT/OT/ST therapists, phlebotomists, etc.
Looking for a Covid-19 vaccine? Although SPH has none available at this time, we hope to learn from the State soon what our next allocation will be, and the expected date of arrival. We are obligated to offer the vaccines to anyone in the eligible groups (see below), and cannot prioritize within that for the large-scale vaccine events. As vaccines become more available we do plan to offer them by appointment on a regular basis, in addition to the mass events, but have no idea at this time when that might be. Our goal is to vaccinate the most number of people in the quickest and safest amount of time.
The wait list for the Feb. 12 and 13 clinic is full. There are no additional call lists at this time for Covid-19 vaccines from South Peninsula Hospital. Please check back to this page regularly for updates as we receive them. And for those not connected online, there is an informational recording at 435-3188 that will be updated as more information becomes available.
All of Phase 1a* Please note:The State of Alaska DHSS has clarified “health care setting” for vaccine eligibility as follows: Workers in health care settings can include someone who stays home to care for an elderly family member. Eligible individuals provide daily support related to an individual’s activities of daily living (i.e., bathing, dressing, eating) as well as instrumental activities of daily living (i.e., shopping, laundry, light housework). These may be paid, unpaid, or contracted positions. This may also include teachers or other school staff that provide health care activities for students including tube feedings, suctioning, and other hands-on healthcare.
If you already got your first dose at the January 15/16 event, you already have your 2nd dose appointment for Feb 12/13. If you have questions about your appointment on Feb. 12 or 13, click here or call 235-0235.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
Some appointments will be available for the vaccine clinic this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12 and 13. Though designed mostly as an event to administer the second dose to those who already got vaccinated on January 15 and 16, we will also be offering first dose appointments to those in the eligible groups.
Please note:the State of Alaska DHSS has clarified “health care setting” for vaccine eligibility as follows: Workers in health care settings can include someone who stays home to care for an elderly family member. Eligible individuals provide daily support related to an individual’s activities of daily living (i.e., bathing, dressing, eating) as well as instrumental activities of daily living (i.e., shopping, laundry, light housework). These may be paid, unpaid, or contracted positions. This may also include teachers or other school staff that provide health care activities for students including tube feedings, suctioning, and other hands-on healthcare.
If you already got your first dose at the January 15/16 event, this event is NOT for you. You already have your 2nd dose appointment forFeb 12/13. If you have questions about your appointment on Feb. 12 or 13, click here.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
We don’t need to trade a healthy environment for a thriving economy.
by Jonathan Foley
To some people, the term “environmentalist” seems to be a dirty word. In their minds, it denotes starry-eyed zealots who chain themselves to trees.
Or perhaps they envision out-of-touch elites who care more about spotted owls and humpback whales than people, self-centered activists who want to tell others how to live their lives, run their towns, and operate their businesses.
But that’s a wildly out-of-date assumption. Today, environmentalism has evolved into a much more helpful and engaging field. It’s a diverse community that looks to improve the lives of everyday people, as well as safeguard the natural world and our collective future. In addition, over the past couple of decades, rather than merely harping on the environmental problems facing the world, environmentalists have shifted more of their attention toward practical solutions. And they have done that by keeping the focus on people and their collective well-being.
Caring about the environment goes toward our ultimate mission, and we should give it the importance it deserves. As a humanitarian organization, we’re obligated to talk about it.
While it’s important to recognize the challenges facing the environment — and there are many — it is even more important to shine a light on the potential solutions to those challenges, especially those solutions that can benefit society by creating jobs, improving health, and making people more prosperous and resilient. That’s where the future of environmentalism lies. For example, addressing climate change will spur deep investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, improved transportation systems, smarter buildings, better materials, a healthier food system, and more sustainable forms of agriculture. All of these have the potential to create new jobs, foster new economic opportunities, and generate huge savings and new sources of income.
In the future, as we address our environmental challenges, we can build smarter, more efficient ways of doing everything. We can build more efficient homes that save energy and money for everyone. We can design smarter and more efficient vehicles that emit no pollution; save fuel and money; and are safer, cheaper to run, and more fun to drive. We can reduce food waste, promote healthier diets, and help farmers become more sustainable and more profitable, even as we help to repair our broken food system and curtail its negative impact on the environment.
The idea that we need to trade a healthy environment for a thriving economy is simply wrong. In the future, we can improve the environment and the economy through bold new thinking, innovation, and collaboration. It’s essential that we do that. As Gaylord Nelson, the former senator and governor of Wisconsin who founded Earth Day in 1970, famously said, “The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment.”
Nelson was absolutely right. At the most fundamental level, our economic systems are built on the environment. Clean water, breathable air, a stable climate, abundant resources, places free from toxins: These are all requirements for a healthy economy. A world where water and air are polluted, or where storms, fires, and heat waves are frequent, or where basic natural resources — water, food, fiber, and fuel — are running out, is a world headed to economic ruin.
Rotary has a new area of focus: protecting the environment. Learn more about our commitment to keeping our planet and its resources safe.
Illustrations by Greg Mably
Improving the environment is crucial not only to the well-being of the planet but to the health of the billions of people who inhabit it — another shift, over the past few decades, in the focus of environmentalists. Let’s step away from our focus on solutions for a moment and look at some examples of the tremendous challenges we face as we move into the 2020s. Look at the impact of the recent fires in California and Australia on the health of tens of millions of people, forcing entire families to take shelter inside for weeks as a precaution against dangerous air pollution levels. Or consider the devastating toll that toxic drinking water can take on all the residents of a single town, as we saw — and continue to see — in Flint, Michigan. And look at the effect of severe and prolonged heat waves on our most vulnerable neighbors, particularly the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.
A degraded environment doesn’t just degrade our health; it also undercuts our security. In a world where extreme weather events and natural disasters are more common and more lethal, growing environmental pressures, including those resulting from climate change, may force large numbers of people into extreme poverty or send them fleeing from their homes into other countries as environmental refugees. Such shocks could overwhelm entire nations and cause severe instability in numerous parts of the world.
In short, without a healthy environment, and without a long-term commitment to maintaining that healthy environment, we cannot have a healthy and thriving society. But let’s take a positive approach to this: If we are smart about it, addressing the most critical environmental issues facing us today is an opportunity for us to reinvigorate our economy and our communities. As Rotarians embark on a bold program of new environmental initiatives, it is crucial to keep this in mind. Solving environmental problems is a welcome chance to fix some of our out-of-date and broken systems and replace them with ones that are safer and fairer. In the process, we can create a world that is healthier and more prosperous for us and our children. Can there be any better future than that?
Jonathan Foley is the executive director of Project Drawdown, a leading resource for climate solutions. A climate and environmental scientist, educator, writer, and speaker, he was the 2014 recipient of the prestigious Heinz Award for the Environment.
Read more perspectives about where Rotary may be headed — and what to expect when we get there.
The water systems humans have created and rely on will look inadequate in the face of climate change
by Charles Fishman
I was in Charleston, South Carolina, to talk about water, and a university faculty member there explained how dramatically life has changed in the past few years in that beautiful waterfront city.
As recently as the early 2000s, she said, Charleston had experienced a few flooding events a year — eight or 10. Not even one a month.
But in the past few years, Charleston has annually had 40 to 50 intrusive flood events. The flooding is so common and so disruptive, the woman explained, that she and her husband had to plan their lives around it. Their kids went to day care in one part of the city; they worked in another part. When the low-lying streets and intersections filled with seawater — as happens on average three times a month now — they were cut off from their children.
Half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from waterborne diseases. More than a billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water. That’s very disturbing in the 21st century.
“We have to watch the weather, we have to watch the tides, we have to talk to the people at the day care,” she said. “Because we could easily end up at the end of the day with no way to get the kids.” There have been occasions when they didn’t take the children to day care, because flooding was predicted during the day.
You don’t have to imagine the future of water: It’s here. It’s happening right now, all around us.
That’s the most obvious lesson from the flooding in Charleston, a single problem in a single U.S. city: The flooding is not devastating, but it is sudden, it’s new, it’s relentless, it’s hugely disruptive, and it’s not going away. When it comes to water, we aren’t ready for what’s happening to us right now. So we certainly aren’t ready for the future.
In the past decade, we have made dramatic progress in water. In the 10 years between 2005 and 2015 (the most recent year for which there is U.S. data), the typical American went from using 100 gallons of water per day at home to using 83 gallons. If we were still consuming water at the rate we did in 2005, we would be using 5 billion more gallons of water a day than we are.
We’ve also made dramatic progress across the past 50 years. The United States today uses less water every day, for all purposes, than it did in 1965. We have tripled the size of the U.S. economy in that half-century without using a single new gallon of water. Which is to say, every gallon of water we use today does three times the work it did in 1965.
Learn more about Rotary’s efforts to provide clean water, and how you can get involved.
llustrations by Greg Mably
Farmers today use a little less water than farmers did in 1965 — but they irrigate 45 percent more land and raise twice as much food.
That’s all good news. If climate change weren’t transforming everything about who gets water, and how much, it would be great news — the foundation of a new water ethic. As it is, the progress we’ve made in the United States and around the world will cushion the impact of climate change. But that impact is likely to be so dramatic, we may not notice.
We don’t often connect the dots when we talk about the impact of climate change, but it is almost all about water. Rain that doesn’t fall anymore where we expect it. Rain that falls in fewer events — fewer rainy days and fewer storms — but with much more intensity and volume. Snow that now falls as rain, stealing from a kind of “water savings account” that whole regions rely on, where winter snows pile up in mountain ranges, then melt gradually through the spring and summer to provide a steady flow of water.
Every day we’re seeing the dawn of a kind of brutal intensity to the climate, and to the weather, that feels all new. Fueled by one record-dry summer after another, megafires rage across the American West. Nourished by unusually warm ocean temperatures, slow-moving hurricanes in the Atlantic and supertyphoons in the Pacific explode with power and intensity just before coming ashore, where they release torrential, flooding rains.
We’re used to separating out our experience of water, especially in the developed world. There’s the water we use every day at home, in offices and factories, on farms. And then there’s the water out in the environment — the water that either comes, sometimes in destructive torrents, or doesn’t come, for months that add up to drought.
Water woes
Should current trends persist without mitigation:
By 2030, annual global water requirements will exceed current sustainable water supplies by 40 percent.
By 2040, nearly 600 million children will live in areas of extremely high water stress.
By 2050, the number of people at risk from floods will increase to 1.6 billion from 1.2 billion.
SOURCE: National Intelligence Council; UNICEF; World Meteorological Association
Climate change is going to erase that convenient distinction. The human water systems we’ve created, and that we all rely on, are going to look brittle and inadequate in the face of what’s coming.
The most important principle for adapting to the new world of water is this: Water does not respond to wishful thinking. Water problems don’t get better on their own. Just the opposite: The longer you wait to tackle a water problem of any kind, from a leak in the ceiling of your living room to a sea-level rise in your city, the harder, and the more expensive, that problem is to solve.
That’s not just true directly. Well-managed water undergirds the entire economy. But we don’t appreciate that very often. A city that floods once a week, a city that has to ration drinking water, a city that has to brace for destruction with every hurricane season or every fire season: Those are not places with stable, appealing economic futures.
We need to adapt to a new world. And we need to appreciate two more key ideas when it comes to water. First, we know how to solve every water problem that exists in the world — in engineering terms. We don’t need a Manhattan Project or a moon shot to tackle water. But the hardest part of most water problems is the people part. It’s getting people to see the water situation in a clear-eyed way — with realism, not optimism. And then getting people to change their behavior.
The second thing to appreciate is that all water problems are local — and that’s where they must be solved. The United States is a perfect example of a rich, smart country with a wild array of water problems. Not only is there no active national strategy for tackling them; in most cases there isn’t even national guidance.
But that can be liberating for cities, for regions, for states. The smartest communities — in the United States and around the world — aren’t waiting to tackle water and climate change. They aren’t waiting for the alarm from Washington, or the guidance, or even the financing.
Especially in the developed world, we’ve had a century-long, highly engineered golden age of water, in which we left the management of it to the experts, and most of us never had to give water a thought. It was invisible in our daily life. We need to see the new age of water turbulence with realism, with urgency, and with a sense that water is something all of us are going to have to grapple with.
The golden age is over. Water isn’t going to be invisible anymore. The future of water is now.
Charles Fishman is a frequent contributor to Rotary. His most recent book is One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission That Flew Us to the Moon. He is also the author of the bestselling The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water.
Read more perspectives about where Rotary may be headed — and what to expect when we get there.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District will continue to require face coverings for staff, students, guests, and at athletic events, in all COVID-19 risk levels (low, medium, high, extreme) until further notice.
Working together we can and will keep schools open and safe.
Visit the KPBSD Covid-19 Hub to navigate to the data dashboard, Smart Start Plan, sports and activities, and additional links to state and KPBSD information about COVID-19 operations and mitigation plans.
Rotary clubs partner with the Maya Health Alliance to help 140 Guatemalan mothers and children avoid malnutrition
by Annemarie Mannion
Most new parents mark their baby’s progress in a series of milestones: first smile, first word, first steps. But pediatricians are focused on a milestone that might be less familiar: the first 1,000 days.
The phrase is shorthand for the period between conception and a child’s second birthday, a critical time frame when nutrition, or lack thereof, can have lifelong consequences. Research in child development has shown that when mothers and infants are poorly nourished during this stage, the adverse impact on children’s physical and mental development can have ripple effects throughout their lives. And much of that damage can never be undone, even with later interventions.
One of Rotary’s areas of focus is saving mothers and children.
In 2010, with the support of the governments of the United States and Ireland, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and other organizations, a nonprofit called 1,000 Days was founded with the goal of making child nutrition and health a funding and policy priority around the world. Roger Thurow, a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, also examined this concept in his 2016 book, The First Thousand Days. A senior fellow on global food and agriculture at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Thurow says stunting is a complex problem that requires multipronged solutions. Even when food is plentiful, he says, poor sanitation or a lack of clean water can cause diarrhea or other illnesses that prevent a child from retaining nutrients.
In one mountainous, rural area of Guatemala, where staple crops (primarily corn) don’t provide sufficient nutrients, hunger and malnutrition are common. Around 1 million Guatemalan children under age five experience stunted development in their brains and bodies. Children are considered stunted when their height for their age is more than two standard deviations below the World Health Organization’s Child Growth Standards median, but the problem goes beyond simply being small for their age. “They are slower to walk, talk, and read,” says Anne Kraemer Diaz, the executive director of Wuqu’ Kawoq, also known as the Maya Health Alliance. “Stunting impacts their lifelong learning possibilities. It makes them prone to type 2 diabetes and to hypertension. They are looking at a lifetime of poverty and major impediments.”
Children who get the right nutrition in the first 1,000 days:
Are more likely to be born at a healthy birth weight
Have a lower risk of many conditions and diseases, including obesity and type 2 diabetes
Go on to be better learners with fewer behavior problems in kindergarten
Enjoy improved health and economic security as adults
In addition to persistent poverty, the effects include higher health care costs and weaker economies, according to Diaz. In 2010, the Maya Health Alliance started working specifically to help mothers and children avoid malnutrition.
The alliance sends health workers to the homes of more than 750 families — to interview them, measure and weigh their babies, and provide food, such as eggs and beans, deworming medication, education about healthy ways of living, and micronutrient packets.
“The impact of malnutrition on brain development is crucial in those first two years of a child’s life. That’s when massive brain development occurs,” says Joanne Rosener, a member of the Rotary Club of Rochester Risers in Minnesota, which is working with the Maya Health Alliance on an ambitious, long-term global grant project to improve nutrition for 140 Guatemalan families. More than a dozen Rotary clubs are involved.
The Maya Health Alliance and Rotary have helped Guatemalan families enjoy the benefits of raised-bed gardens, which can provide better drainage and a longer growing season, and require less weeding and maintenance, than a regular garden.
Courtesy of Maya Health Alliance
Steps toward improving nutrition can be as simple as encouraging people to plant gardens. The clubs have provided funding for raised-bed gardens that supply families with a range of healthful foods that they otherwise do not have access to.
Diaz describes the region as a food desert: “Even though there is food all around them, it is all one crop.” That crop is corn, which is a staple of the traditional diet but which alone does not provide enough of the nutrients a child needs to thrive.
The Maya Health Alliance works with the families to choose what they will plant and to help them build the gardens and learn to grow the crops. Health workers also teach them about sustainable practices such as seed saving and intercropping, a practice that involves growing different crops in close proximity to each other to produce a greater yield.
The Rotary clubs have covered the cost of materials and supplies for the gardens, the purchase and maintenance of a truck and a laptop computer, and the services of an agronomist and community health workers.
The gardens, which are located at the families’ homes, are designed to flourish with as little labor and expense as possible. “They are raised gardens, so they need less water and they aren’t so prone to weeds,” says Rosener, whose club connected with the alliance via a dietitian in Rochester who had learned about the problem of stunting while visiting Guatemala.
Diaz reports that their efforts are having a positive impact. The percentage of households that were likely to be food insecure fell from 51 percent of the baseline over the past year to 30 percent at a six-month follow-up, then rose slightly to 31 percent at the 12-month follow-up. “At six months after the gardens were initiated, families had more diverse diets and more frequent meals,” she says.
The 10 building blocks for nutrition during the first 1,000 days
A nutritious diet for mothers during pregnancy
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months
The right foods introduced to babies at the right times
Paid time off for working parents to care for their newborns
Consistent access to enough nutritious food for families of young children
Good care for all mothers during pregnancy
Nurturing, responsive care and feeding of babies and toddlers
A healthy and nutritious diet for babies and toddlers
The right knowledge and skills for parents and caregivers to properly nourish young children
Societal investments in the well-being of every baby and toddler
One of the participants in the program is Maria (not her real name), a mother of three young children, including an infant. She and her husband, a bricklayer, live with 14 members of their extended family. While Chuti Estancia, the small village in southern Guatemala where Maria lives, has many farmers, Diaz says most of the food grown there is for export, and farmers aren’t skilled in growing a variety of produce.
Speaking through an interpreter, Maria says the family’s new garden has helped her children in many ways. “They develop much better in height and weight,” she says. “They get sick less now, and I believe that’s because they are consuming more vegetables and healthier foods.”
The program also has helped the family save money on food. “We learn to produce and to harvest, and we consume everything,” Maria says. “We save money by not buying vegetables, and we are able to eat organically, as we do not use any chemicals.”
Rosener says the Rotary clubs involved are committed to supporting the Maya Health Alliance for the long haul, and she is pleased that the gardens have produced positive results. “We know the kids aren’t slipping,” she says. “We know they’re making progress. But reversing the effects of malnutrition doesn’t happen overnight.”
The problem of stunting is not limited to Guatemala. According to the Global Nutrition Report released in 2018, the countries with the most children who are stunted are India with 46.6 million, Nigeria with 13.9 million, and Pakistan with 10.7 million.
Roger Thurow applauds the Rotarians’ approach to addressing the problem of stunting in Guatemala. Gardens for the residents will help now and will continue to help into the future. By looking at long-term, sustainable solutions, he says, Rotarians will be “supporting a community, not just giving handouts.”
Learn about the work of the Rotary Action Group for Reproductive, Maternal, and Child Health, and get involved, at rifpd.org.
• This story originally appeared in the November 2020 issue of Rotary magazine.
Good Nutrition and Health Care Before a Child's Second Birthday Are Vital to Their Future
The people who fill the truly essential roles in society are often in short supply
By Joe Queenan Illustrations by Sébastien Thibault
From time to time, societies run low on the things — and the people — they really need. We wake up one day and realize that there are too few doctors. Or far, far, far too few nurses. Or it suddenly dawns on us that there aren’t enough teachers, engineers, or plumbers to go around. There are certainly never enough guys who work well with sheetrock.
Other professionals we have in spades. There are always more than enough landscapers, baristas, actors, masseurs, personal trainers, hairdressers, IT guys, and chefs. Nor are we ever in any real danger of running out of hedge fund managers, ballerinas, real estate agents, claims adjusters, standup comics, bartenders, aspiring singer-songwriters, or car salesmen. But the people who fill the truly essential roles in society are often in short supply.
Something like this may already be happening with Good Samaritans. From time to time, societies run desperately low on the kinds of devoted, implacable altruists who are always ready to pitch in and make the world a better place.
Did you know there are Rotary clubs all over the world? Find your local Rotary club, and learn more about joining.
Institutional altruism is rarely a problem. Plenty of churches, foundations, and government agencies are working night and day to help better society. These people do good for a living. But institutional philanthropy alone can’t handle a problem as large as the one created by the current pandemic. Societies always and everywhere rely on large numbers of those people sometimes derisively referred to as “do-gooders” to keep things running smoothly. And right now there aren’t enough do-gooders to go around. It doesn’t help that a lot of do-gooders are stuck indoors because of the pandemic.
The vexing problem of Good Samaritan Shortfall was driven home to me last February while I was visiting Washington, D.C. Strolling down M Street, I was approached by a young man in a red vest who was raising money for a worthy cause. I told him that I already contributed to the organization he represented, thanks to my wife, who regularly, reflexively, almost automatically sends checks to a large number of indisputably saintly enterprises. In other words, to use a reliable old phrase, I gave at the office. Well, she did.
The young man smiled amiably. He was not pushy. He was not judgmental. He did not try to embarrass me with that sneering “Have a nice day” that virtuous para-professionals so often employ when people start to drift away without opening their wallets. He thanked me for my generosity, or, to be perfectly accurate, for my wife’s generosity. He said that regular contributions by people like us were the very lifeblood of the organization. But in this case, he added, he was out raising money for a specific initiative.
I now tried to explain that asking me to give more to a cause I already supported seemed like philanthropic double dipping. It was like asking someone who was already writing checks to save endangered hippos to write a second check to save endangered rhinos. It was like asking someone who was already demonstrably a “good” person (or who at least had some sort of conjugal affiliation with one) to become an even better person. My question — a pretty obvious one, I thought — was: Why couldn’t somebody else carry the ball for a change?
The young man patiently listened, then waved away my protests. “We ask people who’ve already given to give again because we know that those people are generous,” he said. “Doesn’t it make more sense to target people who already think like us than to go after strangers?”
The deceptively cunning logic of his argument floored me. My feeling had always been that if we — as a family — had already given to the Fresh Air Fund and the Sierra Club, then we didn’t have to give to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army. In my mind, I had conflated all the organizations that were trying to make the world a better place into one monolith of merit. My wife, Francesca, didn’t look at things that way. In her view, just because you had already given to this didn’t mean you couldn’t give to that. The way she sees it, there is no ceiling for good works.
I disagreed. I even wisecracked that we should adopt a simple ethical cap-and-trade policy, stipulating that if we helped clean up the rivers, we didn’t have to help clean up the lakes. At least not both of us. She was having none of it. Who ever said that you were allowed to take a vacation from virtue? Bad people didn’t take sabbaticals from wrongdoing, so why should good people take a break from doing good? If you were altruistic, you were required to be uninterruptedly altruistic. In the parlance of her native England, if you were in for a penny, you were in for a pound.
There isn’t enough altruism to go around
This got me to thinking about the Good Samaritans I knew personally. At some point I realized that the high-profile do-gooders in my community almost never limited their good-doing to a single activity. If you saw them volunteering at the library book sale on Saturday, you would probably also see them at the Girl Scout bake sale on Sunday. If they were out brandishing petitions to save a historic building, you would probably also see them fighting to save a historic mural. At first I thought that people like this practiced virtue on such a large scale mainly because it made them feel better about themselves — which it indisputably does. But over the years I have come to realize that these neighbors do not necessarily engage in so many virtuous activities merely because they are good, caring people. It’s because they know that there aren’t enough good, caring people to go around.
It is often said that in the world of altruism, it’s the thought that counts. Incorrect. If you’re going to do the right thing, you have to do it the right way.
Baseball teams rely on a pipeline of minor league talent that eventually gets called up to the majors. I think that those who perform altruistic activities at the major league level could benefit from this kind of system. I’ve noticed that my wife, who runs a senior citizens center on a pro bono basis, ceaselessly cultivates civic-minded individuals who are roughly a generation younger than us. It’s not enough to be good. It really helps to also be young.
All of which suggests a rebuttal to the seemingly impregnable argument made by the young man in the red vest that I encountered on the streets of Washington. If you want to make the world a better place, you cannot keep raising money from the same people over and over, as he suggested, no matter how generous they are. Society cannot depend exclusively upon the pathologically altruistic or the congenitally compassionate to keep things going. There simply aren’t enough of them. Virtuous people need help. Virtuous people need to recruit new talent. All the time. This, in fact, is why Rotary clubs exist.
Good Samaritan versus the Intermittently Good Samaritan
At this point, it’s worth discussing the difference between the Good Samaritan and the Merely Adequate Samaritan. Like most people, I am not an inherently good person; goodness is learned behavior. Left to my own devices, I might eventually have morphed into a halfway decent human being. But I don’t think I would ever have gotten much further than that. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever flower into a paragon of virtue. The closest I could come to that was being married to a paragon of virtue. This is the opposite of guilt by association. It is guiltlessness by association.
When we first married, my wife and I developed a division-of-labor approach to civic-mindedness. She would handle all the volunteer work involving the schools, the community, the senior citizens, the underprivileged, the ozone layer, and the manatees, and I would buy the opera tickets. While she wrote checks to the Red Cross, Children’s Aid, Greenpeace, and Doctors Without Borders, I would buy tickets to the New York Philharmonic or the Tokyo String Quartet. I also purchased memberships to all the local museums. Thus, the good works practiced in our household were split right down the middle. She devoted herself to keeping society afloat; I devoted myself to keeping civilization afloat. Her job was a lot more time-consuming.
Since the coronavirus epidemic hit, as I have watched growing numbers of people who have never done anything civic-minded in their lives pitching in and helping, I have thought more and more about the essence of philanthropy. When all the good works are done by just a few people, which is almost always the case in small towns like the one where I live, it hurts the community, because people who do not regularly do good works either forget how to do them or never learn how in the first place. There’s an art to cleaning up polluted lakes or litter-strewn playgrounds. There’s an art to sitting patiently with people and helping them learn English as a second language. For that matter, there’s an art to going out into the street and asking complete strangers to fork over their money.
This is where the Good Samaritan and the Intermittently Good Samaritan part company. For a few years, my college-age son would help us deliver turkeys and groceries to needy members of our community at Christmastime. This was immensely satisfying work, because he could see how his efforts were brightening people’s lives, however fleetingly. Occasionally, other college students or retirees would offer to help. These individuals were fiercely well-meaning.
Virtuous people need help. Virtuous people need to recruit new talent. All the time. This, in fact, is why Rotary Clubs exist.
But when the chips are down and it’s time to drop off the Christmas baskets, well-meaningness isn’t enough. It is often said that in the world of altruism, it’s the thought that counts. Incorrect. If you’re going to do the right thing, you have to do it the right way. This is often impossible, because those who are only periodically virtuous are usually clueless. They give chickens to people who asked for turkeys and turkeys to people who asked for hams. They put too many Oreos in one bag and none in the other. At the end of those food runs, we invariably had to make a second trip to the supermarket because we always came up a couple of turkeys short. This was no way to run a railroad, much less a charity.
This gets to the crux of the matter: Good Samaritans are basically amateurs — but they shouldn’t be rank amateurs. Those who are going to get serious about altruism need to develop skills, to know where their talents are useful and where they are not. Virtue, like mastering the hammered dulcimer, requires practice. This is one of the few good things about the pandemic: It has given an awful lot of people who have never lifted a finger to help their fellow man a golden opportunity to learn the ropes, to go from bumbling amateurs to effective doers of good. People in my town who had never been especially altruistic now give big tips to those who work in the service industry, or they drop off food for those who cannot leave their homes, or they help clean up the garbage strewn along the riverfront. I never knew they had it in them.
In search of the next generation of do-gooders
But what of those who stubbornly refuse to lend a hand? I personally am not in favor of coercing people into doing good works, the way some progressive companies strong-arm their employees into doing community service in their free time. But I am not opposed to embarrassing people into doing good works. When I was growing up on the mean streets of Philadelphia — and yes, those streets were mean, and remain mean to this day — my parents were devout Catholics. They were also poor. The wolf was not always at the door, but it was usually somewhere in the vicinity. Yet no matter how bad things got, my parents always put something in the church collection basket on Sunday morning. They did not tithe, but they tried.
They did so by using envelopes sent by the church listing their name, address, and the amount donated each Sunday. Every month the church would publish a list of parishioner contributions. It was embarrassing when your name appeared next to a paltry $5. But it was better than not appearing at all.
I think society needs to try something like this. For years, I have watched the same do-gooders get older and older, waiting for the cavalry to arrive. And as they wait, the same people work at the polling stations, the same people visit the sick, and the same people staff the PTA. The simple as that. That’s why we might need public bulletin boards listing all the good works done only relief column these people are ever going to see is if every one of us voluntarily joins the cavalry. It’s as by local volunteers, with vast, blank spaces next to the names of those who have done nothing. Confrontational? Yes. Judgmental? Yes. But as the old saying goes: If you can’t beat ’em, browbeat ’em.
My daughter once dated a very smart young man whose specialty was economics. An implacable defender of the “rational actor” theory, he insisted that every human activity had some economic underpinning, that people who engaged in altruistic activities were secretly deriving some economic reward from doing so. This theory never made sense to me.
But now it does. Well, sort of. Helping your fellow man makes you feel better about yourself. It really does. And this helps cut down on expenses. In a society where all those Pilates classes, all those continuing education courses, all those self-help books and videos and boot camps are basically expensive, time-consuming, invariably unsuccessful ways to make you feel better about yourself, altruism is the obvious solution to your problem. No matter what the economists say, you can’t put a price on happiness. There aren’t any numbers that go that high.
• This story originally appeared in the December 2020 issue of Rotary magazine.
• Joe Queenan is a frequent contributor to Rotary magazine. Since March, he has written four one-act plays (all of which will be performed on Zoom), a screenplay, and a rock opera.
The Sad Truth About Altruism Is That There Aren’t Enough Altruists
DHSS today announced 226 new people identified with COVID-19 in Alaska. 178 were residents in: Anchorage (45), Wasilla (32), Palmer (24), Fairbanks (14), Eagle River (6), Bethel Census Area (5), Dillingham Census Area (5), Juneau (5), Tok (4), Ketchikan (3), Kodiak (3), North Pole (3), Sitka (3), Southeast Fairbanks Census Area (3), Valdez-Cordova Census Area - Copper River (3), Nome Census Area (2), Seward (2), Unalaska (2), and one each in Aleutians East Borough, Anchor Point, Bethel, Big Lake, Douglas, Homer, Houston, Kusilvak Census Area, Nikiski, Petersburg, Soldotna, Utqiaġvik, Valdez, and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.
Forty-eight new nonresident cases were identified yesterday in:
Anchorage: 21 in seafood industry and two with purposes under investigation
Aleutians East Borough: 15 in seafood industry
Unalaska: four in seafood industry and one with purpose under investigation
Kodiak: one with purpose under investigation
North Slope Borough: one with purpose under investigation
Location under investigation: three with purposes under investigation
Three resident cases were added and three nonresident case were subtracted from the dashboard due to data verification procedures bringing the total number of Alaska resident cases to 52,956 and the total number of nonresident cases to 1,864.
ALERT LEVELS – The current statewide alert level, based on the average daily case rate over 14 days per 100,000, is high at 20.68 cases per 100,000. Most regions of Alaska are in high alert status with widespread community transmission. Two regions are at intermediate alert status with moderate transmission and one regions is at low alert with minimal transmission.
High (>10 cases/100,000)
YK-Delta Region: 111.85 cases per 100,000
Southwest Region: 24.47 cases per 100,000
Matanuska-Susitna Region: 23.22 cases per 100,000
Other Interior Region: 20.72 cases per 100,000
Anchorage Municipality: 18.53 cases per 100,000
Fairbanks North Star Borough: 16.09 cases per 100,000
Northwest Region: 15.1 cases per 100,000
Juneau City and Borough: 14.96 cases per 100,000
Intermediate (>4.8-10 cases/100,000)
Kenai Peninsula Borough: 7.1 cases per 100,000
Other Southeast Region - Southern: 5.38 cases per 100,000
Low (0-4.8 cases/100,000)
Other Southeast Region - Northern: 4.89 cases per 100,000
CASES: HOSPITALIZATIONS & DEATHS – There have been a total of 1,182 hospitalizations and 277 deaths. One hospitalization was subtracted from the dashboard due to data verification and no deaths were reportedyesterday.
There are currently 40 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who are hospitalized and two additional patients who are considered persons under investigation (PUI) for a total of 42 current COVID-related hospitalizations. Ten of these patients are on ventilators. The percentage of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is 4.3%.
CASES: SEX & AGES– Of the 178 Alaska residents, 96 are male and 82 are female. 15 are under the age of 10; 28 are aged 10-19; 31 are aged 20-29; 29 are aged 30-39; 31 are aged 40-49; 24 are aged 50-59; 10 are aged 60-69; eight is aged 70-79 and two are aged 80 or older.
TESTING – A total of 1,520,206 tests have been conducted, with 29,972 tests conducted in the previous seven days. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous seven days is 2.37%.
VACCINATIONS – Reported to date, there have been 98,265 dose #1 and 31,675 dose #2 COVID-19 vaccinations given for a total of 129,941 doses administered in Alaska. For more information, visit the Vaccine Monitoring Dashboard.
Notes: Reports are received electronically, by phone and by fax. Cases are verified, redundancies are eliminated and then cases are entered into the data system that feeds into Alaska’s Coronavirus Response Hub. When there is a high number of reports being received, this may cause delays in getting reports entered and counted. Personnel continue to focus on the effort to process and count reports and minimize the delay from receipt to posting on the hub.
This report reflects data from 12 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 2. There is a lag between cases being reported on the DHSS data dashboard and what local communities report. Each case is an individual person even if they are tested multiple times. Total tests are a not a count of unique individuals tested and includes both positive and negative results. The current number of hospitalized patients represents more real-time data compared to the cumulative total hospitalizations. Current hospitalizations are reported for all facilities, not just general acute care and critical access facilities, as is the default on the dashboard. Total number of hospital beds available fluctuate daily as the number of available hospital staff changes. All data reported in real-time, on a daily basis, should be considered preliminary and subject to change. To view more data visit data.coronavirus.alaska.gov; weekly and daily case summaries are archived at dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Epi/id/Pages/COVID-19/communications.aspx#updates.
Alaska Covid-19 CASE COUNT SUMMARY, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021
SPH expects 500 Moderna Covid-19 vaccines the first week of February.
A mass vaccination clinic will be held Friday and Saturday, Feb 5 and 6 at the Community Christian Church, under direction of Homer Unified Command.
This event is by appointment only – no walk-ins
If a person does not have access to internet or needs assistance in booking, call 235-0235 to make an appointment.
If a person was on the wait list for the January 15 and 16 clinic, they still need to make an appointment for this clinic. No names were forwarded to the February event.
There are no wait lists at this time.
If you already got your first dose at the January 15/16 event, this event is NOT for you. You already have your 2nd dose appointment forFeb 12/13. If you have questions about your appointment on Feb. 12 or 13, click here.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
News Release All KPBSD 7-12 grade students can attend school onsite five days a week beginning Monday, February 1, 2021
Soldotna, January 28, 2021—All 42 KPBSD schools will be open every day to the onsite at-school learning option for all grades, including 7-12 grade students, beginning Monday, February 1, 2021. The 100% Remote Learning choice is still available if a family chooses this option.
All PreK-12 grade students who want to attend school onsite every day are now able to do so! Working together, we can keep schools open when operating in Red, or High COVID-19 risk. So far, safety mitigation plans are working, so keep up the good effort during time at school, riding the bus, participating in sports, and with outside activities!
Enhanced Safety plans
Shift in 2021: Instead of broad regional decisions to extinguish the onsite learning option, the KPBSD district level team will work with individual schools when a positive COVID-19 case occurs in a school requiring student or staff quarantine, or results in staffing shortages. Thus, you may experience only a classroom or specific school shift to the 100% Remote Learning option
To keep onsite learning happening and schools open, it is key that everyone follow the plans for health and safety. Thank you for sticking to the KPBSD Symptom Free School protocol
Bus transportation is provided on a normal schedule, everyone must wear a face covering, and seating plans will be put in place
Staff and all ages of students wear a mask at all times
Mitigation plans at school sites must be faithfully and fully implemented
Pods orcohorts will be in consistent groups
6’ physical distancing needs to occur whenever possible. Physical distance will keep staff and students healthy in school, minimize in-school exposure or transmission, and reduce the number of people who need to quarantine when a positive COVID-19 case occurs
All Seward area 7-12 grade students can return to onsite-at-school learning on January 25, 2021
Soldotna, January 22, 2021—Good news: the community spread of COVID-19 is continuing to flatten on the Kenai Peninsula, and as more students return to onsite at school learning, if everyone follows the school mitigation plans, schools will stay open for the rest of the school year. Grades 7-12 have been attending on split schedules due to COVID-19 risk levels, and very soon all KPBSD students will have the option to attend school onsite five days a week. If you have questions or issues to solve, kindly call your school and talk to your principal, teacher, or school secretary.
Monday, January 25, 2021, Moose Pass and Seward schools will open for all 7-12th grade students to attend in-person, at school, every day
Monday, February 1, 2021, is the earliest possible date for: Central Peninsula (Kasilof, Kenai, Nikiski, Soldotna, and Sterling area schools) Southern Peninsula (Homer area, Nikolaevsk, and Ninilchik schools)
On or before January 28, 2021, KPBSD will provide an update with an official announcement about when central and southern peninsula schools will open onsite learning for all grades.
Enhanced Safety plans
Shift in 2021: Instead of broad regional decisions to extinguish the onsite learning option, the KPBSD district level team will work with individual schools when a positive COVID-19 case occurs in a school requiring student or staff quarantine, or results in staffing shortages. Thus, you may experience only a classroom or specific school shift to the 100% Remote Learning option
To keep onsite learning happening and schools open, it is key that everyone follow the plans for health and safety. Thank you for sticking to the KPBSD Symptom Free School protocol
Bus transportation is provided on a normal schedule, everyone must wear a face covering, and seating plans will be put in place
Staff and all ages of students wear a mask at all times
Mitigation plans at school sites must be faithfully and fully implemented
Pods orcohorts will be in consistent groups
6’ physical distancing needs to occur whenever possible. Physical distance will keep staff and students healthy in school, minimize in-school exposure or transmission, and reduce the number of people who need to quarantine when a positive COVID-19 case occurs
How will I know when grades 7-12 will be open every day to onsite learning at my school?
Parents, students, and families will receive a message from the district through School Messenger, and schools will also contact their families when this change takes effect. An announcement will be posted on KPBSD.org, the KPBSD mobile app, and on social media. The KPBSD team continues to monitor COVID-19 spread, health care capacity, and ability to staff and operate schools safely. Thank you for your good effort to open schools safely, and keep schools open! Monitor your school risk level on the COVID-19 dashboard.
SPH expects 500 Moderna Covid-19 vaccines the first week of February.
A mass vaccination clinic will be held Friday and Saturday, Feb 5 and 6 at the Community Christian Church, under direction of Homer Unified Command.
This event is by appointment only – no walk-ins
Appointments can be made online at www.sphosp.org starting Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 10am
If a person does not have access to internet or needs assistance in booking, call the City of Homer vaccine help line at 435-3188. It will open at 10am Tuesday Feb 2.
If a person was on the wait list for the January 15 and 16 clinic, they still need to make an appointment for this clinic. No names were forwarded to the February event.
There are no wait lists at this time.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
Hunger and malnutrition unleashed by COVID-19 could carry the impact of the pandemic far into the future
by Roger Thurow Illustrations by Phil Wrigglesworth
Late 2019, just before the coronavirus began its relentless march around the world, I joined a group of fourth graders in their crowded classroom in an Ethiopian village. Their teacher posed an adventurous question to the students: What would you like to be one day?
“I would like to be a nurse and help people.”
“A doctor!”
“A teacher or a businessman.”
They were answers you might hear in any fourth grade classroom, anywhere in the world. But this was no ordinary group of elementary school pupils, so I asked a follow-up question: How old are you?
The answers: 18, 18, and 21.
At the time of my visit, I saw this classroom — with half of its students aged 18 and older — as an indictment of humanity’s past neglect of nutrition and agricultural development, which had allowed hunger to persist in our world. Many of these students were young children in 2003 when, in the first great hunger crisis of the 21st century, 14 million Ethiopians, many of them children, faced starvation. For the children who survived, this severe early malnutrition often resulted in stunted bodies and brains.
In this classroom, I saw how stunting can become a life sentence of underachievement. It is highly unlikely that any of the students I met — teenagers and young adults just now learning simple math and struggling to read — will fulfill their ambitions of professional careers and their desires to help others. Lost potential is the consequence of a stunted generation: What might these young people have accomplished for themselves, their families, their community, their country — for all of us — had they not been malnourished as children?
Several weeks after my visit, the coronavirus pandemic shifted my perspective of what I had seen in this classroom. These students aren’t simply showing us the effects of past malnutrition. They are giving us a glimpse into our post-pandemic future, a view of how the hunger and malnutrition unleashed by COVID-19 could carry the impact of the pandemic far into the future.
The Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group is working on sustainable ways to end hunger and malnutrition. Find out more and get involved at foodplantsolutions.org.
These students are giving us a glimpse into our post-pandemic future, a view of how the hunger and malnutrition unleashed by COVID-19 could carry the impact of the pandemic far into the future.
The pandemic has changed how we see hunger today, both around the world and in the United States. The global health crisis became an economic calamity followed by a nutrition catastrophe. As businesses shut down, job losses mounted, supply chains shattered, and schools that had provided vital meal programs closed, access to food and nutrition was radically interrupted, and in many cases severely limited, for billions of people. The World Food Programme — the United Nations agency in charge of emergency food distribution as well as school meal programs in numerous countries — warned that an additional 270 million people were facing grave hunger, with children most at risk. Nutritionists predicted that stunting, which already affects nearly one of every four children in the world, would surely rise. Researchers, writing in the medical journal The Lancet, estimated that more than 6 million children would suffer wasting (severe underweight) and that as many as 10,000 children could die from malnutrition every month in the coming year.
The pandemic has made hunger and malnutrition more immediate, more urgent, more threatening. And that is not only happening in lower- and middle-income countries. It has also had a profound impact in one of the richest, most bountiful countries in the world, exposing a national oxymoron: hungry Americans.
Hunger has become more personal for many Americans than at any time since the Great Depression. As the pandemic paralyzed the economy and jobs and incomes vanished, we have seen massive demand at food banks and pop-up relief pantries — perhaps we have even been there ourselves or recognized our relatives, friends, neighbors, or co-workers in those crowds. We have seen highways come to a standstill with epic traffic jams at drive-through bread lines. We’ve seen the mad scramble to replace the subsidized breakfast and lunch programs once provided by now-closed schools. We’ve experienced the frantic dash to grab whatever food remains on the shelves of the grocery stores. At the same time, we’ve seen farmers plowing under crops and dumping milk and euthanizing livestock because their regular customers — the restaurants, schools, and businesses — have stopped buying.
We’ve seen all this and we are shocked. But we shouldn’t be.
Americans hold tight to the belief that ours is a land of everlasting bounty, with amber waves of grain stretching majestically across the fruited plain, from sea to shining sea. We sing of how “God shed his grace on thee” — on America. We believe ourselves to be the world’s breadbasket, with the richest soils, the best farmers, the most advanced technologies that allow us to feed the planet’s hungry, wherever they may be. We could imagine that a global health crisis would turn into a hunger crisis “over there” somewhere, in Africa or India perhaps. But in America? No way.
It is the lie we tell ourselves, blinding us to the 40 million fellow citizens who, even before the pandemic, struggled to come up with their next meal. But now we see. The pandemic has forced us to look. The truth is that while we may indeed feed the world, we don’t feed all our own citizens. It’s not that we can’t. It’s that we won’t. We allow hunger to abide.
The truth is that there have always been lines at food pantries, where the shelves are always in desperate need of replenishing; that the ceaseless wave across the fruited plain is one of schoolchildren heading to cafeterias for free meals; that the one thing that does stretch from sea to shining sea is a network of 60,000-plus food pantries and soup kitchens that outnumber McDonald’s restaurants by more than 4-to-1.
17 million
Additional Americans facing food insecurity in 2020 because of the pandemic
43 percent
Share of national food waste created by U.S. households
$218 billion
Amount spent annually in the U.S. on food that is never eaten
6 billion
Projected number of meals U.S. food banks will provide by the end of 2020
We see the Golden Arches everywhere, but do we see the food pantries? They are there, tucked away in community halls and church basements; many of them are served and supported by Rotarians. They are places of relief and salvation. But all too often they are also places of stigma and shame. Who are the people who need them, and what did they do wrong? To look closely would mean examining painful truths and asking, What did we do wrong?
How does this obscene oxymoron persist? How do we, in a wealthy country, a democracy that has been the envy of the world, tolerate it? Economists have advanced a theory that there can be no famine in a democracy; surely voters would oust any sitting government amid mass starvation. But America proves that you can have hunger — if not outright starvation — in a democracy. Before the pandemic, even with 40 million food-insecure citizens, hunger rarely rated a mention in any political campaign.
U.S. Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, who is co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus, tells anyone who will listen that hunger is a political condition. But its consequences aren’t acute enough to prod lawmakers to take any kind of lasting, unified action to end it. There is rhetoric aplenty, and there are grand intentions. Most every politician can manage to summon a flash of righteous indignation against hunger — who could be for hunger? — but when it comes to spending political capital and actual money to eliminate hunger, there is eternal stinginess. When the purse strings do open, it is usually with a grudging motion and even a sneer: “Are they really hungry in this country?”
Over the years, U.S. legislators have enacted programs to provide nutritional aid: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, commonly known as food stamps; the Women, Infants, and Children program, or WIC; school breakfast and lunch programs. But these initiatives are perpetually underfunded, underpromoted, and under attack. As the pandemic hit, 18 million American households relied on SNAP benefits (which, although meant to last a month, rarely stretch to two weeks). Government analysts acknowledge that millions more people are probably qualified to receive the benefits but are intimidated by the process of applying, or recoil with a sense of shame at the notion of receiving aid, or simply don’t know it’s available. And so hunger abides.
Rhetoric, like charity, is fleeting. We generously give our cans of vegetables, jars of peanut butter, boxes of pasta, and cash donations during food drives, particularly in times of natural disasters. But without decisive action to match those donations, without commitment to eliminate the problems that cause the need, the structures of inequality remain in place and, away from the spotlight cast by the emergency, the suffering continues. We have become comfortable with hunger in our midst, and, in a mockery of our displays of sympathy, Americans are the most profligate food wasters in the world: We throw away one-third of all food prepared for consumption.
We don’t even call it hunger. We use a euphemism: “food insecurity,” defined as a lack of consistent access to enough food and proper nutrients for an active, healthy life. According to the government’s measurements, about 11 percent of U.S. households were food insecure before the COVID-19 outbreak; by late April — within one month of the start of lockdowns and stay-at-home orders — the rate had doubled to 22.7 percent. Once the pandemic’s impact began spreading across the country, more than 17 percent of households with children under age 12 reported that their children weren’t getting enough food (compared with about 3 percent of families reporting such hardship in 2018). Feeding America, a network of 200 food banks, calculates that it is now serving 50 million people, up from 40 million pre-pandemic. That’s 10 million more people who likely never imagined they would be reaching out for benefits in a food line. What did they do wrong? A global health crisis closed their office, their factory, their school.
Will they — will we, as a nation — look at our hunger problem differently now? Will we summon the sense of shared purpose needed to conquer COVID-19, the passion required to confront racism, the energy demanded to eliminate hunger in our most bountiful land?
We have become comfortable with hunger in our midst, and, in a mockery of our displays of sympathy, Americans throw away one-third of all food prepared for consumption.
Is this a moment of reckoning for our American oxymoron, now that “over there” is happening here?
I had seen, once before, the tragic, perplexing phenomenon of food surpluses destroyed or spoiled because of broken supply chains and disrupted markets, even as demand for food assistance skyrocketed — in Ethiopia 2003.
I was a foreign correspondent with the Wall Street Journal then, covering development and humanitarian stories. A catastrophic progression of agricultural miscalculations, international water disputes, local market breakdowns, and drought had triggered widespread famine after two years of bumper harvests. Up on the Boricha plateau, south of the capital of Addis Ababa, I parted the flaps of an emergency feeding tent and stepped inside to a scene of utter horror.
Dozens of children were starving to death. Speechless, I moved through the tent until I came to Tesfaye Ketema, who was sitting on the floor, holding his son Hagirso. Tesfaye, all skin and bones himself, told me he had carried his boy for hours to the tent, hoping to save his life. Just a year before, he had carried his surplus crops to this very field, which was then a bustling market. When I met them, Hagirso was five years old and weighed 27 pounds. The doctors were telling Tesfaye they didn’t know if his son would survive, so severe was the malnutrition shock.
“A teacher or a businessman”: That was the ambition voiced in December by Hagirso, now 21 years old, sitting in the front row of that crowded fourth grade classroom. He had survived. But he clearly hadn’t thrived over the past 16 years: He was physically and cognitively stunted, still struggling to learn to do simple math, to read, and to write.
At home, on a small plot of land, Hagirso helps his father and his mother, Fikre, raise their crops of maize, potatoes, and kale, and tend to the family’s cow and calf. He pitches in on community tree-planting and rain-harvesting efforts. And he is a role model for his younger siblings, who scamper after him when he walks to school. The youngest, a four-year-old brother, is named Enough — a plea to God, Tesfaye explained, that he be their last child and their last worry about malnutrition and stunting.
Enough. Will we make it our plea as well, as we look ahead into our post-pandemic future? Will we decide that we have had enough, that our new normal, however it develops, will be one without hunger?
• This story originally appeared in the November 2020 issue of Rotary magazine.
• Roger Thurow is a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He has been writing about hunger and malnutrition for two decades, first as a foreign correspondent with the Wall Street Journal and now as author of three books. Parts of this story are adapted from his Chicago Council work, including an interactive feature on Hagirso and his fourth grade class
Hunger Hits Home: The Pandemic Reminds Us That Food Insecurity Isn’t Just ‘Over There’
Follow these steps to organize a food drive on your own, or with a local food bank
by Maureen Vaught
Master gardener Alex Portelli was having lunch at an elementary school in Marion, North Carolina, where he volunteers, when two students, brothers, sat next to him in the cafeteria. “One brother pulled out his lunch and started eating,” recalls Portelli, president of the Rotary Club of Marion. “I asked the other brother where his lunch was, and he said, ‘It’s not my turn to eat today.’ I thought, ‘Oh, no. Not during my lifetime.’ That’s the type of personal story that gets us involved.” Portelli is now the chair of his county’s local food advisory council, and he’s active in the Rotary Zones 33-34 Hunger Challenge.
Rotary members in many places hold collection drives to help people, particularly families with children, get the food they need. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect jobs and school food programs, that need is growing. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the COVID-19 pandemic could add as many as 132 million people to the total number of undernourished in the world this year.
Want to organize a food drive in your community? Here are some ideas and tips to help ensure success.
Step 1
Choose a group to support
If you’re not sure whom to help, contact your local food bank or pantry for suggestions. “In some cases, towns are too small to have a local food bank, but Rotary can connect them with a larger food bank,” says Billi Black, a Zone 33 assistant regional public image coordinator. Then work with the group to address its needs.
Step 2
Make a logistics plan
Form a committee to determine when, where, and how you’ll hold your drive. Get your members’ input and tap into their connections and expertise.
Step 3
Set a goal
And make it measurable: pounds of food collected, number of meals supplied, or dollar amount raised. Look for matching opportunities from other organizations that could double or triple your impact.
Step 4
Promote your event
The members of the Rotary Club of Prescott-Frontier, Arizona, considered their May food drive a success when they collected an estimated 3,000 pounds of food. But they stepped up their marketing when they held another drive in June. After the club contacted local media outlets and lined up news articles, social media posts, and radio interviews, it collected 38,000 pounds of food. “It was unbelievably successful,” says member Mike Payson.
Step 5
Track your success
Consider naming a “food champion” in your club or district whose responsibility is to help set goals and to promote and track their progress, and to make sure members record their volunteer hours and contributions in Rotary Club Central.
Step 6
Thank your donors
Even if you can’t thank each contributor individually, show your gratitude by posting photos from your event on your website and on social media.
million people in the U.S. who experienced low or very low food security in 2018
Work with a local food bank
Staffers at your local food bank have the experience and expertise to ensure that your food drive is a success. They know who needs what in your community and have conducted many food drives, so they know what works and what doesn’t. They can also:
Help with logistics, including publicity, choosing a location, and scheduling. “We just show up with the money, food, and manpower,” says Johnny Moore, an assistant regional public image coordinator for Zone 33.
Make better use of your funds. Because of their buying power, your dollar goes further.
Coordinate the distribution of food where it’s needed most.
Virtual food drives
If you’re looking for alternatives to an in-person food drive during a pandemic, organize a virtual one instead. Set up a page on your club’s or local food bank’s website to collect financial donations, track your group’s progress, and share updates with your supporters.
What to donate
Here are some items that food banks want:
Peanut butter
Canned soup or stew
Canned fruit
Canned vegetables
Canned fish
Canned beans
Pasta (most prefer whole grain)
Rice (most prefer brown rice)
What not to donate
You may have a freezer full of banana bread, but your food bank doesn’t want it. Here’s what else it won’t take:
Items needing refrigeration
Expired food
Leftovers
Baked goods
Source: Feeding America
• This story originally appeared in the December 2020 issue of Rotary magazine.
How soon will 7-12 grade students return to onsite at-school learning every day?
Good news: the community spread of COVID-19 is continuing to flatten on the Kenai Peninsula, so it appears schools may soon open onsite every day for Grades 7-12. Thank you to everyone for your patience—if you have questions or issues to solve, call your school and talk to your principal, teacher, or school secretary.
When is the earliest possible date Grades 7-12 could resume attending onsite five days a week?
Monday, January 25, 2021, is the earliest possible date for: Eastern Peninsula (Moose Pass and Seward schools) Southern Peninsula (Homer area, Nikolaevsk, and Ninilchik schools)
Monday, February 1, 2021, is the earliest possible date for: Central Peninsula (Kasilof, Kenai, Nikiski, Soldotna, and Sterling area schools)
On or before January 22, 2021, KPBSD will provide an update with an official announcement.
How will I know when grades 7-12 will be open every day to onsite learning at my school?
Parents, students, and families will receive a message from the district through School Messenger, and schools will also contact their families when this change takes effect. An announcement will be posted on KPBSD.org, the KPBSD mobile app, and on social media. The KPBSD team continues to monitor COVID-19 spread, health care capacity, and ability to staff and operate schools safely. Thank you for your good effort to open schools safely, and keep schools open! Monitor your school risk level on the COVID-19 dashboard.
January 18 Update – Thank you to the team of more than 100 community members who worked to host the first Covid-19 vaccine clinic on the Southern Kenai Peninsula this past weekend. Sponsored by South Peninsula Hospital, City of Homer and AK Public Health, we administered 715doses at the two day event. Special thanks to local EMS and Fire Departments, City Parks & Rec and Public Works staff, hospital and clinic staff, Rotary and School District staff and volunteers, generous donations and numerous contributions for making this event happen.
Information for those receiving their second dose of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine on February 12 and 13.CLICK HERE
Looking for a vaccine? If you did not get a vaccine in this round, please visit this page regularly for updates on the next shipment. We have no idea when to expect it for certain, but are anticipating an early February rollout. For those not connected online, there is an informational recording at 435-3188 that will be updated as more information becomes available.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
For patients who lack options, a virtual visit can mean the difference between going with or without care
by Vanessa Glavinskas
“Right now, I can see all my patients through my mobile phone,” says Prakash Paudyal, a pulmonologist and member of the Rotary Club of Jawalakhel, Nepal. Paudyal uses a Kubi device to turn a tablet into a “mini-robot” for remote monitoring of his COVID-19 patients who are in isolation at Nepal National Hospital. Paudyal learned about the Kubi and other telehealth practices during a vocational training team trip to the San Francisco area last year. “I do one round with all my [protective] gear on, and then I see all my patients through this mini-robot,” he says, thankful that the Kubi helps protect him from exposure to the virus.
The doctor on call In rural Nepal, it can take a day’s walk to reach a medical provider. That limited access to doctors inspired Prakash Paudyal, a pulmonologist in Kathmandu, to offer teleconsultations so he could assist more patients. “You can have a hospital in a rural area, but who is going to treat the patient?” he wonders, citing the lack of critical care doctors and other specialists in those remote regions. With support from his club — the Rotary Club of Jawalakhel — Paudyal started a hotline that offers free medical advice for people seeking basic care. It has proven invaluable during the pandemic, which has taxed Nepal’s health system. “At the COVID-19 hospitals, the ICUs are almost full,” Paudyal says. He also helped found the newly chartered Rotary Club of Kathmandu Health Professionals; his wife, Kavita, who works for Nepal’s Ministry of Finance, is its first president.
Illustration by Viktor Miller Gausa
The use of telehealth has surged worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, a study by McKinsey found that 46 percent of consumers are now using telehealth, up from 11 percent in 2019. Broadly defined, telehealth includes everything from virtual visits with a doctor to remote monitoring of a patient’s vitals to mobile health technologies.
The rapid increase in examining and treating patients remotely because of stay-at-home orders has not only helped in the fight against the coronavirus; it has also prompted a conversation about what the future will look like. What are the benefits of telehealth, and what controls for safety and privacy should be in place? One clear benefit is making health care more accessible to more people. For patients who lack transportation options or who live in remote areas, a virtual visit can mean the difference between being able to consult a doctor and going without care.
Telemedicine, typically defined as a virtual exam with a physician, requires access to the internet, which about 40 percent of the global population still lacks. But with the proliferation of smartphones, that’s becoming less of a barrier. Barbara Kiernan, a member of the Rotary Club of Catalina (Tucson), Arizona, has been working on a global grant project to bridge the distance between doctors and underserved patients in Sonora, Mexico, by supplying the equipment and technology needed for telemedicine, including solar power and internet access. They found that once community health care providers received the equipment and training, they were able to work with doctors located in bigger villages, allowing them to treat patients remotely. “Before, [rural villagers] really only got medical care during a crisis,” Kiernan says. With telemedicine available, “it’s shifted to preventive care.”
Fighting disease is one of Rotary’s causes. Learn more about it here.
James Gude, a California physician who founded a telemedicine practice called OffSite Care, says that when a doctor conducts a video consultation with the assistance of an on-site nurse and with access to a patient’s records and diagnostic test results, it can be nearly as effective as seeing a patient in person. “With a nurse there to help me examine you, I can order and look at everything I need,” he says. There are also sophisticated “robots” that allow a doctor to see a patient via videoconference and even send instrument readings, allowing the doctor to listen to a patient’s heart through a stethoscope, for example. (A Canadian TV show once followed Gude around as he conducted virtual rounds via a robot he controlled remotely.)
From his workstation, James Gude can review data and offer medical advice to health care professionals around the world.
Gude started OffSite Care in 2007 to help rural U.S. hospitals improve their quality of care by providing virtual access to specialists, who are often concentrated in bigger urban hospitals. He expanded his vision of dismantling the geographical barriers to quality care when he teamed up with members of the Rotary Club of Sebastopol Sunrise, California, to create Global OffSite Care — a nonprofit that provides educational and consultative services to hospitals around the world.
“We started by contacting Rotary clubs where Dr. Gude thought there might be an opportunity [to improve a hospital],” says Mikel Cook, a member of the Sebastopol Sunrise club. “The mission of Global OffSite Care is to promote Rotary club-sponsored telemedicine projects. We bring together Dr. Gude’s medical expertise with financing, stewardship, and advocacy among Rotarians.” Cook says Rotary clubs have sponsored the equipment needed to get a hospital started conducting telemedicine, which includes a tablet and a Kubi device that transforms the tablet into a web-controlled mini-robot that can pan and tilt, allowing the user to look around the room. Local doctors are trained on the equipment and can then participate in weekly online “Global Grand Rounds” with Gude’s team to continue their education. They can also consult with experts on difficult cases.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) uses another aspect of telehealth: mobile health, or health care supported by mobile electronic devices, to make progress toward a polio-free world. Mobile phones have been used to track the number of polio vaccine doses children have received, and geographic information systems have helped health workers create detailed maps of their immunization activities.
Examples of telehealth
Live video A two-way audiovisual link between a patient and a care provider
Store and forward Transmission of health records to a health practitioner, usually a specialist
Remote patient monitoring Continuous monitoring of a patient’s condition from a distance, in real time or not in real time
Mobile health (mHealth) Health care and public health information provided through mobile devices
When the World Health Organization’s African region was certified free of wild poliovirus in August, Christopher Elias, president of the global development division at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said technology was a contributing factor. One example is how surveillance improved when community health workers were trained to use a mobile app called Avadar (Auto-Visual AFP Detection and Reporting) to report possible polio cases through their phones. Sharing this information electronically allows for quick intervention, preventing outbreaks.
Patricia Merryweather-Arges, a member of the Rotary Club of Naperville, Illinois, predicts that telehealth will continue to expand. “There are lessons we can learn from this,” says Merryweather-Arges, who runs an organization called Project Patient Care and recently secured a Rotary Foundation global grant to distribute more than 200 tablets to residents of Chicago-area nursing homes. The tablets will allow physicians to assess patients via telemedicine, and families to visit with their loved ones via videoconferencing.
Telemedicine is direct health care services to a patient, often over video.
Telehealth is broader and covers education, public health, and provider-to-provider interactions as well as telemedicine.
“There will have to be some quality assessment, and feedback from patients,” she says. “But the benefits are that telemedicine saves the patient time and lessens their exposure to others, so patients are more likely to make appointments.”
A survey of patients in Asia, Europe, and the United States by the consulting firm Accenture seems to back up her prediction: 60 percent of patients said they wanted to use technology more for communicating with health care providers and managing their conditions.
Gude thinks this presents an opportunity to increase the capacity of underresourced hospitals around the world: “I want Rotary clubs to know that wherever they are, if they want to help a local hospital, if they have $5,000 or if we can raise it from elsewhere, it’s done. We are at a point in the curve where we can go straight up.”
• This story originally appeared in the December 2020 issue of Rotary magazine.
When clubs cultivate relationships with Rotary alumni, both sides benefit
by Paul Engleman llustration by Viktor Miller Gausa
Rotary’s alumni relations team is always ready to help you connect with alumni and answer your questions about engaging them in your club or district projects. Write to alumni@rotary.org.
It’s always a pleasant surprise for Rotarians to meet someone who notices their Rotary pin and then to learn that the person was once a Rotary Youth Exchange student or Rotary Scholar. These conversations with Rotary alumni are great reminders of how many lives Rotary has had a positive effect on.
Rotary alumni can also have a positive effect on the organization, and many are looking for ways to reengage with Rotary. Chris Offer, a past governor of District 5040 in British Columbia, has seen firsthand what Rotary Peace Centers alumni can bring to the table. He and his wife, Penny, also a past governor of District 5040, were so impressed with the peace centers program that they established an endowment fund to support it; Offer now serves on the Rotary Peace Centers Committee. And peace fellows are only one part of the community of Rotary program alumni. One of them could make a fantastic speaker at your next meeting, bring valuable expertise to your club project, or be a great addition to your membership.
1. Why engage with program alumni?
There’s a great opportunity for Rotary clubs to hear firsthand from alumni — whether it’s Rotary Peace Fellows, Youth Exchange students, Rotaractors, or Rotary Scholars — about their challenges and successes. They’ve been there, they’ve done that, they’ve worked in the field. They can relate their experiences personally, not in an abstract way. Some alumni have incredible stories about how the experience changed their lives.
“Some alumni have incredible stories about how the Rotary experience changed their lives.”
2. What is the best resource for contacting peace centers alumni for speaking engagements?
The Rotary Peace Fellowship Alumni Association launched an online database last year. The database is voluntary in terms of who wants to be listed on it, so privacy restrictions aren’t an issue. And remember, peace fellows can be consultants as well as presenters. They aren’t just potential speakers to a club or at a conference. The database has a brief description of what kind of consulting they can do and where their expertise lies. If you’re doing a water project, you may need an engineer. If you’re dealing with a peace initiative, you should have someone who can help you avoid faux pas that can arise from cultural differences. Peace fellows bring all sorts of skills and can be a valuable resource.
3. What is the procedure for contacting alumni to speak at meetings or events?
There are no do’s and don’ts. Getting hold of most alumni can be more challenging than contacting peace fellows, because we still don’t have those types of databases readily available for other alumni. If you want a recommendation for a good alumni speaker, the district alumni chair would be a smart place to start, or any of our youth program chairs. If you’re interested in hearing about a vocational training team, you could contact a district grants chair. There are district chairs related to various alumni activities who can help connect you. Keep an eye on who is speaking at other clubs by following them on Facebook and Twitter and be sure to check the social media of the alumni groups. That may give you a lead on a potential speaker.
4. Many clubs have shifted to virtual meetings. How has that changed our engagement with alumni?
Alumni are everywhere around the globe, and with Zoom you can have a speaker from anywhere in the world. People are more available, and alumni are very willing in most cases. Our club had a peace fellow speak to us from London. You could have your Rotary Youth Exchange student talking to you live from a foreign country instead of sending a letter. Whenever the “new normal” finally arrives, one of the legacies for Rotary clubs will be having remote speakers.
• This story originally appeared in the January 2021 issue of Rotary magazine.
Board of Education approves bringing more students back to onsite learning in high COVID-19 Risk
Soldotna, December 9, 2020—The option to attend school onsite, at-school during high COVID-19 risk levels for students in Pre-K through 6th grade, and middle and high school ages is expanding in 2021, after the Board of Education approved the SmartStart Plan updates at their December school board meeting. The 100% Remote Learning option will continue to be available.
These changes begin no later than Tuesday, January 19, 2021 (Monday is a school holiday).
Estimates indicate the peak of COVID-19 transmission in the KPB is expected to happen in early to mid-January. Based on this information and the timeline needed to retrofit school HVAC systems*, the January 19 date was selected.
12-9-20 important clarification:Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students currently attend school onsite during High Risk, and will continue to do so up until winter break starts, and when school resumes January 4, 2021. The change is for Grades 1-12 in January.
Change is coming by January 19, 2021 Attending school onsite-at-school during High COVID-19 Risk levels (Red):
Pre-K through Grade 6: every day, Monday through Friday *this includes 6th grade at all KPBSD schools
Grades 7-12: attend two times a week onsite, with a split schedule
School teams may identify additional at-risk or vulnerable students throughout the semester to attend additional time onsite
Schools will communicate their plans with students and families. Your patience is appreciated as these schedules are created and shared
Previously identified vulnerable students may continue to attend five days a week
Enhanced Safety Plans
To keep schools safe and the COVID-19 transmission level low in school, these actions must be followed with fidelity at all times:
Staff and all ages of students wear a mask at all times
Mitigation plans at school sites must be faithfully and fully implemented
Pods orcohorts will be in consistent groups
6’ physical distancing needs to occur whenever possible. Physical distance will keep staff and students healthy in school, minimize in-school exposure or transmission, and reduce the number of people who need to quarantine when a positive COVID-19 case occurs
*Most school facilities are receiving upgrades to their HVAC air handling systems. KPBSD is currently installing O2 Prime in schools that have large central air handling units (that share air with other rooms in the building). Some areas and older schools do not have central air handling units supplying air to different rooms, and these facilities are being addressed differently as KPBSD continues to implement options for O2 Prime in unit ventilators and small furnaces
Enhanced sanitation with electrostatic sanitizer: spraying Electrolytically Generated Hypochlorous Acid (HOCL) is currently occurring at all schools. Custodians can sanitize a classroom in about three minutes and complete approximately three classrooms per tank of HOCL. KPBSD is producing its own HOCL at the district warehouse
Winter break for most KPBSD schools is December 21, 2020 – January 1, 2021, with school starting again January 4, 2021. The updates to operations in High COVID-19 risk will not likely begin until Tuesday, January 19, 2021.
“This is a big step in the right direction with continuing movement towards the goal of getting all kids back at school onsite, full-time. These are trying and uncertain times but together we will get through this pandemic. I am hopeful that with a vaccination on the way, continued adherence to our mitigation plans, and a conscious effort on the part of our community to practice safe pandemic behaviors, we will get this virus under control. I appreciate our Board of Education, district leadership, and the KPBSD staff for their commitment to educate our children while at the same time navigating their own personal response to the pandemic.”
–Superintendent John O’Brien
Option for More Students to Attend School Onsite in January 2021
Preparing for your covid-19 vaccine appointment? Important details to prepare you for your visit. Click here for details.
January 11 Update
Clinic Full– South Peninsula Hospital is expecting a shipment of 600 doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine from the State of Alaska for a vaccine clinic on January 15 and 16. Sorry, there are no longer appointments available for this clinic, and the stand-by list is full. No walk-ins are permitted at this event.
If you didn’t get an appointment in this round, please be assured another shipment of vaccines will be coming from the State in the coming weeks. When we learn the quantity and date of arrival, we will post information here and plan another community vaccine clinic.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time.
Thank you for making your COVID-19 vaccination appointment for Phase 1a (all tiers) and Phase 1b Tier 1 (seniors age 65 or older) eligible Alaskans.
Please read ALL of the following information carefully – it contains important details about your appointment. You will receive one confirmation email (immediately) with all of this information, and one appointment reminder (1 day before your appointment with all of this information.
Your appointment location is:Christian Community Church, 3838 Bartlett Street in Homer.
Please wear a mask or cloth face covering and maintain a 6 foot distance from others waiting for their appointments with you. Your vaccine will be administered in an open setting, with limited privacy available. Please wear a shirt with short or loose fitting sleeves for easy vaccine administration, and plan for at least a 30-minute visit to complete consent forms, administer dose and for observation. Observation is for 15 minutes after vaccination, or 30 minutes with a known history of severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis).
Please note your appointment date and time. You will receive an appointment reminder the day before your appointment but it is your responsibility to adhere to your appointment date and time. Both emails contain the link for rescheduling or canceling your appointment, in addition to your appointment date & time and other important details.
By booking this appointment to receive a COVID-19 vaccination, you agree : – That you will make yourself available on February 12th or 13th to receive your 2nd dose (we will assist you in scheduling your 2nd dose appointment during your 1st dose appointment on January 15th or 16th). – You have not travelled outside of Alaska within 5 days of your appointment. – You have not had close contact (shared living space or been within 6 feet for 15 or more minutes) with a COVID-19 case in the 10 days leading up to your appointment. – You do not have a history of severe vaccine reactions, or allergies to any ingredient in this vaccine (ingredients listed here)
Things to be aware of: The CDC has strongly recommended that the COVID-19 vaccine not be given if you have also received any other vaccinations within 14 days.
Side effects of the vaccine are flu-like symptoms, which often appear from two to five days post vaccine. These are expected and are signs of immune system response. If you have any symptoms of COVID-19 post vaccine, it is recommended to get tested immediately.
Please do not come in for your vaccination appointment if: You are experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms. Symptoms may include: fever (measured or subjective), cough, shortness of breath, or difficulty breathing, decreased appetite, chills, diminished sense of taste or smell, diarrhea, fatigue, headache, muscle/joint aches, nausea, rash, rigors, runny nose, sore throat, or sputum production.
CANCELING OR RESCHEDULING: Please do not book multiple appointments. If you need to reschedule or cancel, click the “Details & Changes” link at the bottom of your notification email or reminder email, then click the “No password?” Get a new one! link and enter the email you used to make your appointment. This will generate your password and email it to you immediately. You can even do this now and save your password for future use or wait and do this only if you need to view, change, or cancel your appointment.
The Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) information sheet for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine can be viewed here and will be made available at time of vaccination. All vaccine information is posted at the State DHSS vaccine information page here.
Information for people in the South Peninsula Hospital Area
Thank you for signing up to receive information regarding COVID-19 vaccines in Homer.
We are planning a free community vaccine event for individuals 65 years of age and older on Friday and Saturday, January 15 and 16. Appointments are required, but are not yet available. You will need to make an appointment once it becomes available.
The state has informed us we can expect around 600 doses for this event, which makes for a limited number of appointments. Appointments should be available online starting at 12 p.m. noon on Monday, January 11, on a first-come, first-served basis. The link to make your appointment can be found at www.sphosp.org. Event details will be provided at the time of setting your appointment.
Vaccines are not available at Homer Medical Center or South Peninsula Family Care Clinic at this time. Watch for additional opportunities to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as our community continues to receive additional allocation of vaccines in the near future.
Alaskans 65 and older can receive vaccinations starting Monday, Jan. 11. Scheduling for those appointments begins Wednesday, Jan. 6
January 4, 2021 ANCHORAGE – In an effort to continue to quickly vaccinate Alaskans, the Alaska COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force is opening up appointment scheduling and vaccination clinics for Phase 1b, Tier 1 – Alaskans 65 years of age and older – on Wednesday, Jan. 6, at noon, with appointments starting Monday, Jan. 11.
Initially, those in Phase 1b, Tier 1 (Alaskans 65 years of age and older) were set to begin vaccinations in late January. However, after assessing how much vaccine remains to be administered, the Vaccine Task Force has adjusted the timeline forward.
“All clinics who have received COVID-19 vaccine should continue to vaccinate the remaining health care workers from Phase 1a who wish to be vaccinated, but we are also excited to open up appointments for Alaskans who are 65 years of age or older,” said Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink.
NEW TIMELINE – Phase 1b, Tier 1 (Alaskans 65+)
Begin scheduling vaccinations at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 6 – Alaskans 65 years of age or older can schedule appointments starting noon on Jan. 6 by visiting covidvax.alaska.gov. Vaccinations for older Alaskans (age 65+) will now begin Jan. 11.
Choose an appointment for Monday, Jan. 11 or later – Alaskans 65 years of age and older can begin getting vaccinated starting Monday, Jan. 11. When scheduling an appointment, please choose a date on Jan. 11 or later.
Some Alaskans in future phases may have already made appointments. If you are in Phase 1B, Tier 1, you do not need to cancel your appointment. If you are not in health care or 65 or older as defined by Phase 1A or Phase 1B, Tier 1, please cancel your appointment so Alaskans in the earlier tiers can make appointments. New appointments will be added regularly as more vaccine providers sign up and more vaccine is available. Additional information about the COVID-19 vaccine and Alaska’s distribution plans may be found atCovidvax.Alaska.gov.
The 2nd Annual Homer Project Homeless Connect event will be happening Wednesday, January27th, 2021 from 10 am - 2 pm at the Homer United Methodist Church AND SVT in Anchor Point. Homer Kachemak Bay Rotary will be providing hygiene kits to distribute at the event. If you wish to donate items for the hygiene kits such as:
Shampoo/conditioner
Soap
Deodorant
Tooth brush/paste
Paper masks
Hand sanitizer
Hand lotion
I have provided a box at the Best Western Bidarka hotel inside the office area to the right in the breakfast room. Please drop off items at your convenience until noon, January 22nd.
Many thanks for your help!
Cinda Martin
399-4574
"You can't buy happiness but you can buy fabric and that's pretty much the same thing."
2nd Annual Homer Project Homeless Connect -- Updated
On January 11, 2021, KPBSD expands the onsite-at-school learning option during High COVID-19 Risk
Soldotna, January 5, 2021—KPBSD Pre-K through 6th grades can attend school onsite, every school day beginning Monday, January 11, 2021, during High COVID-19 Risk. Grades 7-12 will attend onsite two days a week, with a split A/B schedule—schools will be in contact with families to announce the plan they design. When COVID-19 risk levels drop into medium risk*, Grades 7-12 will switch to onsite learning five days a week. The 100% Remote Learning option will continue to be available.
Attending school onsite-at-school during high-risk (red)beginning January 11, 2021
Pre-K through Grade 6: every day, Monday through Friday. This includes 6th grade at all KPBSD schools
Grades 7-12: attend two times a week onsite, with a split schedule
School teams may identify additional at-risk or vulnerable students throughout the semester to attend additional time onsite
Schools will communicate their plans with students and families. Your patience is appreciated as these schedules are created and shared
Previously identified vulnerable students may continue to attend five days a week
These changes begin Monday, January 11, 2021, a week earlier than initially thought. Thank you to everyone for actions to reduce community COVID-19 transmission.
Important:
Shift in 2021: Instead of broad regional decisions to extinguish the onsite learning option, the KPBSD district level team will work with individual schools when a positive COVID-19 case occurs in a school requiring student or staff quarantine, or results in staffing shortages. Thus, you may experience only a classroom or specific school shift to the 100% Remote Learning option
To keep onsite learning happening and schools open, it is key that everyone follow the plans for health and safety. Thank you for sticking to the KPBSD Symptom Free School protocol
Bus transportation is provided on a normal schedule, everyone must wear a face covering, and seating plans will be put in place
Monday, January 18, 2021, is a school holiday for most schools, and the January early release date is cancelled
*How will I know when my school switches to Medium COVID-19 Risk operations (Yellow)?
The KPBSD team continues to monitor COVID-19 spread, health care capacity, and ability to staff and operate schools safely. You will receive an alert when a region will shift to medium risk operations—when this happens, all grades (PreK-12) have the option to attend school onsite, every day. Parents and families will receive a message from the district through School Messenger, and schools will also contact their families when this change would be in effect. Monitor your school risk level on the COVID-19 dashboard.
Sports?
Middle and high school sport seasons will open with high-risk mitigation plans and ASAA protocols in place. Fidelity to these measures will ideally allow an entire season to be played without interruption or cancellation.
Enhanced Safety plans
To keep schools safe and the COVID-19 transmission level low in school, these actions must be followed with fidelity at all times:
Staff and all ages of students wear a mask at all times
Mitigation plans at school sites must be faithfully and fully implemented
Pods orcohorts will be in consistent groups
6’ physical distancing needs to occur whenever possible. Physical distance will keep staff and students healthy in school, minimize in-school exposure or transmission, and reduce the number of people who need to quarantine when a positive COVID-19 case occurs
Most school facilities are receiving upgrades to their HVAC air handling systems. KPBSD is installing O2 Prime in schools that have large central air handling units (that share air with other rooms in the building). Some areas and older schools do not have central air handling units supplying air to different rooms, and these facilities are being addressed differently as KPBSD continues to implement options for O2 Prime in unit ventilators and small furnaces
Enhanced sanitation with electrostatic sanitizer: spraying Electrolytically Generated Hypochlorous Acid (HOCL) is currently occurring at all schools
This is the thank you note our club received today...
I'll forward additional information about the grant separately.
Our Club donated $500, 2 years ago, and our District matched that, as well as donations from other D5010 Clubs.
Vivian
On behalf of Gift of Life International, we wish to thank you for your partnership in healing the hearts of 62 little Egyptian children through Rotary Global Grant GG1982610.
This project is now completed and the children will celebrate the Holidays with their families with a healthy heart for the first time ever!
Thank you for Touching Lives….Theirs and Ours!
Wishing you all a happy, healthy and blessed Holiday Season!
This is the original grant information for the Egyptian children's heart surgeries.
You'll note we actually paid $525 to include the 5% fee that TRF requires.
Vivian
Dear Presidents and Treasurers (and those acting in behalf of);
I am pleased to forward you the approval of the Global Grant application to heal little hearts in Egypt that we all have contributed funds to. Please see the forwarded email message below. The request is to send the funding you committed to, to the Rotary Foundation now. I did not realize that an additional 5% would be added for administrative costs. I know it may be a struggle for some clubs to come up with the amount offered in the first place. If so, I personally will be happy to cover the cost of the added 5% since I was the one to ask all of you of your interest. Let me know right away and I will get a check for the cost difference to your club immediately.
Please let me know when your payment has been submitted. You can send me an email and I will let Brenda @ GOL know, or, you can email her directly (brenda.giftoflife@gmail.com), and then just cc me. Either way if fine.
Also, I want you all to be the first to know that I have begun communications with the Host Club in Egypt for our clubs and district to do a Rotary Friendship Exchange in Egypt. We may possibly have the opportunity to meet some of the children having heart surgery, their families, provide small gifts, meet medical staff, etc., and see many great places in Egypt. I have just begun the talks with them, so we will see what happens. Very tentatively we will be looking at a date from October 2019 to ? I will keep you informed of the progress.
Thank you all for your support and getting the funds sent off as soon as possible. If you have questions please call or email.
We have just been notified that Egypt GG1982610 has been approved by the Rotary Foundation and we will now be able to provide care to another 62 Egyptian children.
May I please ask that you submit your commitments directly to The Rotary Foundation for this grant? This is a requirement for Egypt. We are not able to send funds directly to the GG bank account.
As a result, each contributor will be required to add the 5% admin fee charged by The Rotary Foundation for processing.
Please ask each club to complete the attached Rotary Contribution Form and include payment as follows:
RC Ketchikan The First City $2,625 (including the 5%)
RC Ketchikan $525 (including the 5%)
RC Sitka $525 (including the 5%)
RC Homer Kachemak $525 (including the 5%)
Please be sure to add the GG number to the notes area on each check to be sure it is correctly assigned to the Egypt grant.
You will be eligible for Paul Harris Fellow points with this contribution and can either request the awards now or at a later date.
Please let us know when your payment has been submitted so that we may follow up with TRF.
The attached letter was received a few weeks ago, and I have since sent them the $600. that we had budgeted for them, however, I know the needs this year are far more than normal, and I felt a need to share with you their full appeal. I know that we as a club can make a difference.,
I’m speaking to you today because Alaska is facing an escalating crisis that I need your help to solve. Like the rest of the nation, Alaska’s COVID-19 status is now in the red.
That means COVID-19 is rapidly spreading through our communities. Our healthcare workers, first responders, and service members are being infected at unprecedented rates.
A trauma nurse needs to care for accident victims. Paramedics and police officers must be able to report to work to protect Alaskans. If too many are infected, they cannot perform these critical duties.
As a result of this surge in cases, I am taking the following actions:
On Monday, my new 30-day disaster declaration takes effect.
I’m also directing all State employees to work from home whenever feasible.
Masks and distancing are mandatory at State work sites for employees and visitors alike.
I must stress that the next three weeks are critical. Starting today, through the end of November, I am going to ask all Alaskans to sacrifice a little more by changing your daily routines:
If you own a business that can operate remotely, send your employees home.
I’m urging municipalities to take similar action and protect your workforce and communities.
If your organization can meet remotely, do so. If you can order food and supplies online and pick up at the curb, do so.
If we are going to keep our hospitals running and businesses open, all Alaskans must return to the same mindset that worked so well this spring.
We know from experience that distance is the primary tool that works in the battle against this virus.
Stay six feet apart from all non-household members.
If you cannot do that, if you cannot stay six feet apart, I’m asking everyone to wear a mask in any and every setting
We are entering the holiday season. It’s perfectly understandable to want to spend time with family and friends indoors. This year, I’m asking that you consider celebrating differently.
My job as governor is not to tell you how to live your life. My job is to ensure the security and safety of Alaska. I can’t do that without your help.
I’m asking you to reach deep for the next three weeks. If we can buy time for our critical workers, if we can keep our systems operational, we can avoid being forced to take further action.
But if we cannot reduce the spread of this virus, we reduce our future options for how to proceed. No matter what you believe about the virus, the facts are the facts. Hospitalizations and sick healthcare workers are reaching untenable levels. We must act together now while we still have choices.
We have sacrificed so much in order to fight this virus. Alaskans have done so well and I am proud to be your governor. With the advent of inoculations on the horizon, the end to this fight is in sight.
For the next three weeks, I am asking you as the governor of Alaska, that we do everything possible to reduce these cases and bend this trend downward.
I have great faith in the people of Alaska. We got the upper hand on this virus before, and we can do it again.
I want to thank you for doubling down on your efforts to get Alaska to where it needs to be.
So with that, God bless you, and God bless the great State of Alaska.
Governor Addresses Alaskans on Escalating Spread of COVID-19
Ideas to help our kids understand and cope with recent media messages
Alaska Governor Michael J. Dunleavey sent out an Emergency Alert on November 12, 2020, that students may have received on their cell phones or that they heard other people receive
In his YouTube Video, Governor Dunleavy asked Alaskans to change their behavior, and said, “The next three weeks are critical. … I’m speaking to you today, because Alaska is facing an escalating crisis that I need your help to solve. … Like the rest of the nation, Alaska’s COVID-19 status is now in the red.” (Source, Alaska.gov website)
Parent Talking Points:
Help kids identify their questions
What is an emergency alert?
We have a National Emergency Alert System that allows alerts to be sent through TV stations, radio and cell phones to alert the public of an emergency. We use them for many different reasons including weather advisories, Tsunami warnings, and missing people are among them (Source)
Our Governor used this system this week to let the Alaskan people know that the rate of the spread of COVID is rapidly increasing and give instructions on how we can help slow the spread
Why is the virus spreading so fast?
It is a very, very contagious disease.
People are still building the habits of mask wearing and limiting their activities and contacts.
Help kids identify what they know
They have their family to watch out for them
School will continue even if remote
School Staff care about them and want to connect with them
Scientists are continuing to research the disease and are working on a vaccine (or medicine) to protect us
They have control over their behavior
They can connect using phones and technology with their friends
Help kids connect with what they are in control of
Washing their hands
Wearing a mask
Keeping 6 feet away from others
Limiting the number of people they come in contact with
Friday, November 13, 2020, marked another significant leap of positive COVID-19 cases on the Kenai Peninsula, so beginning Monday, November 16, 2020, learning at 34 of the 42 KPBSD schools will be 100% Remote for all students. This means that Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Intensive Needs students will not attend school onsite, and education delivery for students enrolled at schools operating in High COVID-19 Risk areas will be delivered remotely via digital platforms or with paper packets.
In an effort to do our part during this acceleration phase of COVID-19 on the Kenai Peninsula, KPBSD must act prudently and proactively. Governor Dunleavy made a plea to Alaskans on Thursday: “I’m going to ask Alaskans to sacrifice a little more by changing their daily routines. If you own a business that can operate remotely, send your employees home. I’m urging municipalities to take similar action and protect your workforce and communities.”
The KPBSD continues to build the plan to bring more students back onsite during high COVID-19 risk, and it is true that school buildings may be one of the safest places to be. However, the extreme phase of exponential spread that is happening now must first be slowed, and begin to trend down before onsite learning can resume. You can track the data yourself on the KPBSD COVID-19 data dashboard—today the state reported an all-time high of 90 positive cases on the Kenai Peninsula. Please do your part—we are all still learning new habits. You know how hard this is, and we are all concerned for everyone’s safety and well-being. It will take effort from each of us in our daily habits and choices to shift this dangerous trajectory.
However, the extreme phase of exponential spread that is happening now must first be slowed, and begin to trend down before onsite learning can resume.
What to know
Schools will continue to be in contact with their families. If you or a friend are struggling or need assistance, do not wait. Call your school secretary, a teacher, the principal, school nurse, or counselor, if you have questions about materials, packets, mental well-being, or other questions
Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students during 100% Remote Learning, and can be picked up daily at school between 12:00–1:00. Make sure to place your order by noon on Friday for the following week daily pickup: Signup online for FREE lunch and breakfast meals
Do you know? “Most Alaskans get COVID-19 from a friend, family member or coworker. Alaskans should avoid indoor gatherings with non-household members, avoid crowds, wear masks when around non-household members and stay six feet from anyone not in their household.” –DHSS, November 13, 2020
100% Remote Learning through Thanksgiving break for all students Central Peninsula Schools Central Kenai Peninsula includes Kasilof to Sterling, extending through Kenai, Nikiski, Soldotna, and DHSS “other north” communities. Cooper Landing is not included in the 17 Central Peninsula schools:
Aurora Borealis Charter School
Kaleidoscope Charter School
K-Beach Elementary School
Kenai Alternative School
Kenai Central High School
Kenai Middle School
Mountain View Elementary School
Nikiski Middle-High School
Nikiski North Star Elementary School
Redoubt Elementary School
River City Academy
Skyview Middle School
Soldotna Elementary School
Soldotna High School
Soldotna Montessori Charter School
Sterling Elementary School
Other North: Tustumena Elementary School
Eastern Kenai Peninsula Schools
Moose Pass School
Seward High School
Seward Middle School
William H. Seward Elementary
Southern Kenai Peninsula Schools
Chapman School
Fireweed Academy
Homer Flex School
Homer High School
Homer Middle School
Kachemak Selo School
McNeil Canyon Elementary School
Nikolaevsk School
Ninilchik School
Paul Banks Elementary School
Razdolna School
Voznesenka School
West Homer Elementary School
Small schools are open to onsite learning in low risk Six small KPBSD schools in Cooper Landing, Hope, Nanwalek, Port Graham, Seldovia, and Tebughna will also continue to operate in low COVID-19 risk, and offer both 100% Remote and onsite-at-school learning options. A shift to 100% Remote Learning could happen at any time if there is positive COVID-19 in these communities.
High COVID-19 Cases Cause 34 Schools to Shift to 100% Remote Learning for All Students Through Thanksgiving Break
Traditional Thanksgiving gatherings with family and friends are fun but can increase the chances of getting or spreading COVID-19or the flu. Follow these tips to make your Thanksgiving holiday safer.
The safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving this year is to celebrate with people in your household. If you do plan to spend Thanksgiving with people outside your household, take steps to make your celebration safer.
Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
Keep hand sanitizer with you and use it when you are unable to wash your hands.
Use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
Attending a Gathering
Make your celebration safer. In addition to following the steps that everyone can take to make Thanksgiving safer, take these additional steps while attending a Thanksgiving gathering.
Bring your own food, drinks, plates, cups, and utensils.
Wear a mask, and safely store your maskwhile eating and drinking.
Avoid going in and out of the areas where food is being prepared or handled, such as in the kitchen.
Use single-use options, like salad dressing and condiment packets, and disposable items like food containers, plates, and utensils.
Hosting a Thanksgiving Gathering
If having guests to your home, be sure that people follow the steps that everyone can take to make Thanksgiving safer. Other steps you can take include:
Have a smalloutdoor meal with family and friends who live in your community.
Limit the number of guests.
Have conversations with guests ahead of time to set expectations for celebrating together.
Bring extra supplies, such as masks and hand sanitizer.
Consider Other Thanksgiving Activities
Host a virtual Thanksgiving meal with friends and family who don’t live with you
Schedule a time to share a meal together virtually.
Have people share recipes and show their turkey, dressing, or other dishes they prepared.
Watch television and play games with people in your household
Watch Thanksgiving Day parades, sports, and movies at home.
Find a fun game to play.
Shopping
Shop online sales the day after Thanksgiving and days leading up to the winter holidays.
Use contactless services for purchased items, like curbside pick-up.
Shop in open air markets staying 6 feet away from others.
Other Activities
Safely prepare traditional dishes and deliver them to family and neighbors in a way that does not involve contact with others (for example, leave them on the porch).
Participate in a gratitude activity, like writing down things you are grateful for and sharing with your friends and family.
Contact tracing has been a cornerstone of public health for much of the past century, even before the novel coronavirus.
by Diana Schoberg
In 20 July 2014, a Liberian-American man collapsed in an airport in Lagos, Nigeria, a city of more than 10 million people. Three days later, he was diagnosed with Ebola, the country’s first case. The arrival of the Ebola virus in one of the world’s largest cities was a scenario that, as one U.S. official noted at the time, generated worries of an “apocalyptic urban outbreak.”
But what could have been a ghastly epidemic was averted; only 19 additional people in Nigeria contracted the disease, and seven died. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the country free of Ebola on 20 October, three months after that first case was diagnosed.
To achieve that, the work of the Rotary-supported polio eradication program — the strong partnerships that had been built between the Nigerian government and other organizations, as well as the infrastructure that had been put in place — proved to be key. The Nigerian health ministry swiftly declared Ebola an emergency and created a command center, modeled after those used by the polio program, to coordinate its response. A team of 40 doctors trained in epidemiology who assisted in the country’s polio eradication campaign were reassigned to tackle Ebola. Technical experts from the polio program trained health workers on contact tracing, case management, and more.
From that first patient, called the “index case,” health workers generated a list of nearly 900 contacts, diligently tracked down by a team of 150 contact tracers who conducted 18,500 face-to-face visits to check for symptoms of Ebola. Only one contact was lost to follow-up. Shoe-leather public health detective work had stopped the outbreak.
The history of contact tracing
Contact tracing has been in the news lately because of the important role it can play in slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, but it has been a cornerstone of public health for much of the past century. In 1937, then-U.S. Surgeon General Thomas Parran wrote a book about syphilis control (melodramatically titled Shadow on the Land), in which he described contact tracing in detail. The practice has been a valuable tool ever since — for combating the spread of sexually transmitted infections as well as vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and tuberculosis. Smallpox was defeated not by vaccinating entire populations, but by finding and vaccinating anyone who had been in contact with people who had the disease. Contact tracing has also played a part in the progress we’ve made against polio.
The fight to end polio isn’t over.
To learn more about Rotary’s work, visit EndPolio.org.
How contact tracing works:
The details vary by disease, but the goal remains the same: to stop the spread.
Step 1
A positive case is identified
Depending on the disease, a person who tests positive may isolate, receive treatment, or both.
Step 2
Close contacts are identified
Contact tracers interview the person who tested positive to find out where they’ve been and who they’ve come in contact with.
Step 3
Contacts are interviewed
Contact tracers get in touch with the person’s close contacts to inform them that they may have been exposed and to check for symptoms, provide guidance, and offer referrals to social service agencies.
Step 4
Contacts are monitored
Contact tracers follow up with each contact to monitor for symptoms. If a person remains without symptoms throughout the monitoring period, the case is closed. If the person tests positive, the process begins again at step 1.
Regardless of the disease in question, contact tracing is based on the same premise: quickly identifying and monitoring people who have been in contact with an infected person in order to diagnose and treat them if they develop the disease — and to prevent it from spreading further, whether through vaccination or isolation. (The word “quarantine” dates back to the Middle Ages, when sailors had to remain aboard docked ships for a 40-day period — in Latin, a quarentena — to prevent the spread of bubonic plague.) Contact tracing allows health workers to find people who have been in contact with a carrier, to determine whether they are also infected, to offer support and treatment, and to build a list of that person’s contacts in case the tracing chain needs to expand.
What varies from disease to disease is who is considered a contact. Investigators look at the characteristics of the disease and how it spreads to determine who is at greatest risk of infection. Ebola, for example, is contracted through exposure to bodily fluids, so contact tracers monitored people who had had direct physical contact with an infected person — who shared meals with them, cared for them, did their laundry, or prepared their body for burial. With COVID-19, a respiratory disease, U.S. health authorities have defined a close contact as someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes.
Some diseases, such as influenza, spread so rapidly that it’s difficult to keep up, says William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious disease at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “It’s one of the difficulties we’re having with COVID-19 today.”
Another challenge in tracing the coronavirus, one that it shares with polio, is that many infected people are asymptomatic. “That very characteristic of polio baffled public health people for ages,” Schaffner says. “Before it was discovered to be an intestinal virus, they couldn’t figure out how it was spread. Some cases didn’t have any contact with each other.”
In the United States, health departments generally maintain a small staff of contact tracers; those teams are being expanded to trace the spread of COVID-19. San Francisco, for example, had only 10 people regularly working on contact tracing. The city reassigned other public employees whose workloads had lightened because of the pandemic to act as contact tracers — staff in “the city attorney’s office, assessor’s office, and, my favorite, all the city librarians,” says George Rutherford, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California at San Francisco and principal investigator on California’s contact tracing training program. Rutherford and his team were asked to train 10,000 civil servants online throughout the state. During a 20-minute interview with Rotary, he received 60 emails about it. “You can get an idea of the volume I’m dealing with,” he remarked.
Who makes an ideal contact tracer?
In New Zealand, Denise Garcia, a member of the Rotary Club of Tawa, was one of 190 contact tracers employed by the country’s Ministry of Health in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a health professional, she was sought out to do the work. “They wanted people who could interview people and give advice,” she says. And her regular job as a midwife was deemed essential — “you can’t weigh a baby online,” she says — so she did both.
Like Garcia, the ideal contact tracer has strong interpersonal skills. One of the biggest challenges of the job, which is part detective and part social worker, is gaining people’s confidence. “They have to convincingly communicate trust,” Schaffner says. “Confidentiality is very important.” It can be especially challenging because of the social stigma of some illnesses and the mistrust in government by some groups of people. “People are wary of government intrusion, particularly at a time of turbulence — which there always is when there is a disease outbreak,” he says. “You have to come with a smile and a helping hand. But you have to get in the door.”
Glossary: Community spread
Contact tracers can trace the spread of a disease from an infected person. When someone gets a disease without any known contact with an infected person, it’s called community spread.
Glossary: Index case
The first documented case of a disease in a population is the index case. The index case brings the presence of the disease to the attention of health authorities.
When Garcia would arrive at the health ministry offices after her midwifery work in the morning, she would receive a list of people to call. “Trying to contact people was the hardest thing,” she says. “It’s an unknown number; a lot of people wouldn’t answer.” And the contact tracers themselves never knew where they were calling — it could be a person on the other side of the world who had been on a flight with someone who had tested positive for the virus.
Once in touch with a person, Garcia says, she would inform them that they had been in contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. She would ask them if they were well. She would confirm the contact date and talk about the need to isolate for two weeks, and ask whether the person needed to be tested or had already been tested. She would try to work out who else they had been in contact with and pass that information on to the health ministry. And she would refer them to social service agencies if they faced problems with access to food, medication, or money during their isolation period. “It was a privilege to ring people and talk to them and make sure they’re OK,” Garcia says. “You felt quite good knowing people were doing all right or that you could help them.”
The annual Foundation Fundraiser coordinated by 5 clubs (Eagle River, Wasilla Noon, Wasilla Sunrise, Palmer & Susitna) will be held this Saturday, November 7th. For the first time, we are offering silent auction online bidding utilizing the new District 5010 EventGroove platform. The live auction will be via Zoom. Please see links below.
SATURDAY AT 6 PM AKST – 10 PM AKST
ANNUAL FOUNDATION MOVIE NIGHT
The Foundation Event this year will be a combination of a silent auction (online only) and a live event at 6:00pm at the Valley Cinema Saturday, November 7th.
Tickets are $50, $80 (2) and $20 for students. A soda and popcorn will be included with your ticket to the live auction event (also on Zoom) along with a movie showing at the end. If you are only going to be participating in the event online, you will receive 100 Paul Harris points provided by the club for your participation.
Please see the attached the link to our Silent Auction which is ***ACTIVE NOW*** and will run through 11/7/2020 at 7:30pm.
Please be aware that you will need to create an account in order to bid.
Each individual will need to provide a separate email and password for their profile.
The auction will automatically close at 7:30pm on the evening of the event and winning bidders will be notified by email.
Please also be sure to answer which Rotary club you are affiliated with when prompted.
100% Remote Learning is extended for 34 KPBSD schools through at least Friday, November 13, 2020
Soldotna, November 4, 2020—KPBSD operates schools with plans defined in the KPBSD SmartStart 2020 Plan, that was built with approval from the Board of Education, and review and feedback from DEED and DHSS. On Monday, the Board of Education gave district administration a green light to continue working on plans to safely bring students back into schools during High COVID-19 Risk operational levels.
Assistant Superintendent Holland has worked with principals and staff to move in this direction for several weeks when we realized community spread could continue to keep some areas in high risk. A staff survey is being conducted, and parents and older students can expect a survey within the next week so school district leadership can hear from everyone. The hope and plan is to safely bring an onsite at-school learning option to many more students at some point in December if areas are continuing to operate in High Risk.
“Working out the logistics and mitigation plans will take some time but this is our highest priority and we are working expediently. New plans will go to DHSS and DEED for feedback, and the school board for approval and adoption. We fully understand the hardship that moving to remote learning has caused on students, families, and staff. The emotional and mental health toll is real and has been significant. We know many of our students need to be learning onsite at school. We are redoubling our efforts to address mental health concerns for both students and our dedicated staff, especially during this transition period until Smart Start plan changes can be vetted and approved by the Board of Education.”
-Superintendent John O’Brien
When the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team and school district leadership met, on Wednesday, the continued high trend of positive COVID-19 case counts, the 7-Day trends, and contact tracing information from public health, drove the decision that a week extension of 100% Remote Learning is merited for staff and student safety, and to be in alignment with the current Smart Start plan.
One week extension: Schools in the Eastern Kenai Peninsula and Southern Kenai Peninsula will continue with 100% Remote Learning through at least Friday, November 13, 2020
Initial two week extension still in place: Central Kenai Peninsula schools will continue with 100% Remote Learning through at least Friday, November 13, 2020
KPBSD small schools continue in low risk, with onsite-at-school learning option
KPBSD Connections Homeschool is open
What to know
Schools will continue to be in contact with their families. If you or a friend are struggling or need assistance, do not wait. Call your school secretary, a teacher, the principal, school nurse, or counselor, if you have questions about materials, packets, mental well-being, or other questions
Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students during 100% Remote Learning, and can be picked up daily at school between 12:00–1:00. Make sure to place your order by noon on Friday for the following week daily pickup: Signup online for FREE lunch and breakfast meals
Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students may still attend school onsite-at-school during 100% Remote Learning, based on the 2020 SmartStart Plan. Schools are in contact with these families directly
Central Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status through at least Friday, November 13, 2020
Central Kenai Peninsula includes Kasilof to Sterling, extending through Kenai, Nikiski, Soldotna, and DHSS “other north” communities. Cooper Landing is not included in the 17 Central Peninsula schools:
Aurora Borealis Charter School
Kaleidoscope Charter School
K-Beach Elementary School
Kenai Alternative School
Kenai Central High School
Kenai Middle School
Mountain View Elementary School
Nikiski Middle-High School
Nikiski North Star Elementary School
Redoubt Elementary School
River City Academy
Skyview Middle School
Soldotna Elementary School
Soldotna High School
Soldotna Montessori Charter School
Sterling Elementary School
Other North: Tustumena Elementary School
Eastern Kenai Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status through Friday, November 13, 2020
Moose Pass School
Seward High School
Seward Middle School
William H. Seward Elementary
Southern Kenai Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status through Friday, November 13, 2020
Chapman School
Fireweed Academy
Homer Flex School
Homer High School
Homer Middle School
Kachemak Selo School
McNeil Canyon Elementary School
Nikolaevsk School
Ninilchik School
Paul Banks Elementary School
Razdolna School
Voznesenka School
West Homer Elementary School
Small schools
Susan B. English in Seldovia will resume onsite at-school learning on Monday, November 9, 2020. Five other small KPBSD schools in, Cooper Landing, Hope, Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Tebughna will also continue to operate in low COVID-19 risk, and offer both 100% Remote and onsite-at-school learning options.
*Decision Basis about operations in risk levels
To determine if schools should operate in 100% Remote Learning, or offer options for 100% Remote Learning and onsite at-school learning, district leadership and the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team:
Based on this analysis and scientific data, the medical advisory team (which now includes a mental health professional) closely watch positive cases, types of community spread, and offer informed insights about safely operating schools during a pandemic.
100% Remote Learning is Extended for 34 KPBSD Schools Through at Least Friday, November 13, 2020
The Susitna Rotary club is excited to invite you to join us for special guest speaker, Jennifer Jones, Rotary International President 2022-2023 via Zoom on Wednesday, November 18, 6:00 pm. Please see information & Zoom link below.
I am pleased to announce that Mike Pollen of the Rotary Club of Fairbanks is our new District Governor Nominee-Designate. Mike will join our excellent District leadership team that includes myself, District Governor-Elect Cheryl Metiva, District Governor Nominee Mike Ferris, and Lt. Governor Rosie Roppel. I have every expectation that you will find Mike Pollen to be an outstanding District Governor in 2023-2024.
Our District has many exceptional Rotarians, far more than those persons considered by this year's Nominating Committee. There were many excellent candidates this year and it was a difficult choice for the Nominating Committee. Any of this year's candidates were strongly encouraged to apply in the future.
Please join me in welcoming our new District Governor Nominee-Designate, the 2023-2024 District 5010 Governor, Mike Pollen.
Mike's biography and and photo follow.
Thank you and best regards
Joe Kashi
District Governor 2020-2021
MICHAEL R. POLLEN BIOGRAPHY
Mike joined the Rotary Club of Fairbanks in 1999 and served as Club President in FY2015. He was a member of the D5010 Group Study Exchange Committee for over 10 years, served as its Chair for 3 of those years, and led a GSE Team to Taiwan in 2008. He completed the District Leadership Academy in 2014 and was the Northern Region Assistant Governor from 2016 to 2019. He is a past member of the D5010 Strategic Planning Committee and currently chairs the District Excess Reserves Committee. Mike served as a PNW PETS Training Leader in 2018 and 2019 and is currently a member of the D5010 Visioning Committee.
Mike and his wife, PDG Peggy, are both TRF Major Donors, Paul Harris Society Members, and Bequestors. They are also charter members of the Water and Sanitation Rotary Action Group (WASRAG) and continue to work on several Rotary Foundation Global Grant projects building water and sanitation facilities for schools in Belize. Mike has presented on water and sanitation issues at WASRAG meetings internationally, at D5010 RYLA Conferences, D5010 Conferences, and at Rotary Zone Institutes as an invited speaker.
In 1970, Mike and Peggy met at UAF where he was studying biology and chemistry. They live in Fairbanks with their two son’s families and four granddaughters and will celebrate 50 years of marriage in March 2021. The Pollens founded and operated an environmental, water, and wastewater testing and consulting firm throughout Alaska for nearly 30 years and continue to manage a consulting and operator training business today.
Throughout his career Mike has been very active in professional associations in the water and wastewater field. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) which respectively serve the water and wastewater industries globally. From 1992 to 1996 Mike went through the executive chairs of WEF, serving as President in 1994 and 1995. During his tenure as a WEF officer he presented over 100 keynote speeches to WEF member associations and other affiliated organizations in 10 countries. In 1996 he served as a consultant to the United Nations during the development of a set of water quality issue statements that were signed by 32 Western Hemisphere Presidents including US President Bill Clinton in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
Mike has received numerous awards for service and professional contributions to the water and wastewater industry from AWWA and WEF. In October, Mike received an award as a WEF Fellow for his many years of service to the industry. He currently is a board member of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Air Pollution Control Commission and of the Alaska Governor’s Water Wastewater Advisory Board. In 2014, Mike and Peggy were honored by the Midnight Sun Boy Scout Council as Fairbanks Distinguished Citizens of the Year.
New ‘Connect To Care Jobs’ website connects Alaska job seekers and long-term service and support agencies Reducing health and service workforce shortages and improving care for Alaskans
Oct. 28, 2020 ANCHORAGE — The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) has launched its participation in a new web-based platform to help address workforce shortages at long-term service and support agencies in Alaska and put qualified health and service professionals to work providing high-quality care to recipients.ConnectToCareJobs.com is a private-public partnership between DHSS’ Senior and Disabilities Services Division (SDS) and ADvancing States, a nonprofit organization focused on improving long-term services and supports for older adults, people with disabilities, and their caregivers.
“Service providers – especially assisted living homes, skilled nursing facilities, and personal care agencies – typically have had a hard time filling positions and the pandemic has only compounded that problem,” said SDS Director John Lee. “We’re excited to have this resource available now to make it easier for employers and job seekers to connect with each other. It’s a win-win situation for everyone and we appreciate ADvancing States’ role in setting up the system, supporting DHSS and providing it at no cost to the State of Alaska, job seekers or employers.”
The website matches job seekers who create a profile identifying their professional skills, experience and availability with licensed health care facilities and personal care services agencies that have listed open positions. Employers can recruit for a wide variety of medical, allied health and support staff positions.
The Senior and Disabilities Services Division took the lead on developing the project for Alaska after learning about the national initiative through their long-time collaboration with ADvancing States. Colorado, Michigan and Oregon have already begun using the system to address similar problems in filling high demand health care jobs in their states.
More information - The website offer videos and a quick guide for both job seekers and employers.
Job seekers – Visit ConnectToCareJobs.com, click the “Jobseeker Registration” button and follow the process to register and fill out your information. If a match is made, the employer will contact you to arrange the next steps.
Employers – Visit ConnectToCareJobs.com, click the “Employer Registration” button and follow the process to create an account and fill out information about your open positions. Then check for job matches for your location and review the available candidates. The site is currently open to licensed health facilities and personal care service agencies, and DHSS is exploring opening the site up to more health care employers in Alaska.
Paralympic medalist and TV presenter Ade Adepitan, who co-hosts this year’s program, says that the eradication of polio in Africa was personal for him. “Since I was born in Nigeria, this achievement is close to my heart,” says Adepitan, a polio survivor who contracted the disease as a child. “I’ve been waiting for this day since I was young.”
He notes that, just a decade ago, three-quarters of all of the world’s polio cases caused by the wild virus were contracted in Africa. Now, more than a billion Africans are safe from the disease. “But we’re not done,” Adepitan cautions. “We’re in pursuit of an even greater triumph — a world without polio. And I can’t wait.”
Rotary Foundation Trustee Geeta Manek, who co-hosts the program with Adepitan, says that World Polio Day is an opportunity for Rotary members to be motivated to “continue this fight.”
She adds, “Rotarians around the world are working tirelessly to support the global effort to end polio.”
Polio eradication is truly a collective effort ... This accomplishment belongs to all of us.
— Dr. Tunji Funsho Chair of Rotary’s Nigeria PolioPlus Committee
A collective effort
Dr. Tunji Funsho, chair of Rotary’s Nigeria PolioPlus Committee and a member of the Rotary Club of Lekki Phase 1, Lagos State, Nigeria, tells online viewers that the milestone couldn’t have been reached without the efforts of Rotary members and leaders in Africa and around the world.
Funsho, who was recently named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020, says countless Rotarians helped by holding events to raise awareness and to raise funds or by working with governments to secure funding and other support for polio eradication.
“Polio eradication is truly a collective effort ... This accomplishment belongs to all of us,” says Funsho.
Rotary and its members have contributed nearly $890 million toward polio eradication efforts in the African region. The funds have allowed Rotary to award PolioPlus grants to fund polio surveillance, transportation, awareness campaigns, and National Immunization Days.
This year’s World Polio Day Online Global Update is streamed on Facebook in several languages and in a number of time zones around the world. The program, which is sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, features Jeffrey Kluger, editor at large for TIME magazine; Mark Wright, TV news host and member of the Rotary Club of Seattle, Washington, USA; and Angélique Kidjo, a Grammy Award-winning singer who performs her song “M’Baamba.”
The challenges of 2020
It’s impossible to talk about 2020 without mentioning the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than a million people and devastated economies around the world.
In the program, a panel of global health experts from Rotary’s partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) discusses how the infrastructure that Rotary and the GPEI have built to eradicate polio has helped communities tackle needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, too.
“The infrastructure we built through polio in terms of how to engage communities, how to work with communities, how to rapidly teach communities to actually deliver health interventions, do disease surveillance, et cetera, has been an extremely important part of the effort to tackle so many other diseases,” says Dr. Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to the director general at the WHO.
Panelists also include Dr. Christopher Elias, president of the Global Development Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Henrietta H. Fore, executive director of UNICEF; and Rebecca Martin, director of the Center for Global Health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Elias says that when there are global health emergencies, such as outbreaks of other contagious diseases, Rotarians always help. “They take whatever they’ve learned from doing successful polio campaigns that have reached all the children in the village, and they apply that to reaching them with yellow fever or measles vaccine.”
The program discusses several pandemic response tactics that rely on polio eradication infrastructure: Polio surveillance teams in Ethiopia are reporting COVID-19 cases, and emergency operation centers in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan that are usually used to fight polio are now also being used as coordination centers for COVID-19 response.
The online program also includes a video of brave volunteer health workers immunizing children in the restive state of Borno, Nigeria, and profiles a community mobilizer in Afghanistan who works tirelessly to ensure that children are protected from polio.
Kluger speaks with several people, including three Rotary members, about their childhood experiences as “Polio Pioneers” — they were among more than a million children who took part in a huge trial of Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine in the 1950s.
Rotary Foundation Trustee Geeta Manek, left, co-hosts the World Polio Day Global Online Update. Rotarian Marie-Irene Richmond Aouha, right, past PolioPlus chair of Cote d’Ivoire, presents at the event.
The future of the fight against polio
Rotary’s challenge now is to eradicate the wild poliovirus in the two countries where the disease has never been stopped: Afghanistan and Pakistan. Routine immunizations must also be strengthened in Africa to keep the virus from returning there.
To eradicate polio, multiple high-quality immunization campaigns must be carried out each year in polio-affected and high-risk countries. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s necessary to maintain populations’ immunity against polio while also protecting health workers from the coronavirus and making sure they don’t transmit it.
Rotary has contributed more than $2.1 billion to polio eradication since it launched the PolioPlus program in 1985, and it’s committed to raising $50 million each year for polio eradication activities. Because of a 2-to-1 matching agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, that means that, each year, $150 million goes toward fulfilling Rotary’s promise to the children of the world: No child will ever again suffer the devastating effects of polio.
Consider making a donation to Rotary’s PolioPlus Fund in honor of World Polio Day.
Soldotna, October 28, 2020—KPBSD operates schools with plans defined in the KPBSD SmartStart 2020 Plan, that was built with review and feedback from DEED and DHSS, and approval from the Board of Education. The time we are living in is hard, requires sacrifice, and teamwork. We know there will be an end to the pandemic. As the positive COVID-19 case trend rises, it is important for you to know that the KPBSD Instructional Team is exploring new solutions to safely bring more students back into schools during High Risk (Red) operations, and working with Instructional Support to evaluate logistics and mitigation options.
On Wednesday, the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team and school district leadership met, and determined that with the continued high trend of positive COVID-19 case counts, the 7-Day trends, and contact tracing information from public health, a further extension of 100% Remote Learning is merited for staff and student safety. Everyone acknowledged how difficult the pandemic is, and the stress on families, students, staff, and communities.
One week extension: Schools in the Eastern Kenai Peninsula, Southern Kenai Peninsula, and Susan B. English in Seldovia, will continue with 100% Remote Learning through at least Friday, November 6, 2020
Two week extension: Central Kenai Peninsula schools will continue with 100% Remote Learning through at least Friday, November 13, 2020
Central Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status through Friday, November 13, 2020 Central Kenai Peninsula includes Kasilof to Sterling, extending through Kenai, Nikiski, Soldotna, and DHSS “other north” communities. Cooper Landing is not included in the 17 Central Peninsula schools:
Aurora Borealis Charter School
Kaleidoscope Charter School
K-Beach Elementary School
Kenai Alternative School
Kenai Central High School
Kenai Middle School
Mountain View Elementary School
Nikiski Middle-High School
Nikiski North Star Elementary School
Redoubt Elementary School
River City Academy
Skyview Middle School
Soldotna Elementary School
Soldotna High School
Soldotna Montessori Charter School
Sterling Elementary School
Other North: Tustumena Elementary School
Eastern Kenai Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status through Friday, November 6, 2020
Moose Pass School
Seward High School
Seward Middle School
William H. Seward Elementary
Southern Kenai Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status through Friday, November 6, 2020
Chapman School
Fireweed Academy
Homer Flex School
Homer High School
Homer Middle School
Kachemak Selo School
McNeil Canyon Elementary School
Nikolaevsk School
Ninilchik School
Paul Banks Elementary School
Razdolna School
Voznesenka School
West Homer Elementary School
Small schools
Susan B. English in Seldovia will extend 100% Remote Learning through Friday, November 6, 2020 Five smaller KPBSD schools continue to operate in low COVID-19 risk, and offer both 100% Remote and onsite-at-school learning options. However, Cooper Landing, Hope, Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Tebughna could pivot to 100% Remote Learning when there are local positive COVID-19 case(s)
What to know
The KPBSD Instructional Team is analyzing solutions to safely bring more students back into schools during operations in High Risk
Schools will continue to be in contact with their families to give further instructions. Call your school if you have questions about materials, packets, or other issues
Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students during 100% Remote Learning, and can be picked up daily at school between 12:00–1:00. Reminder, no meals at schools that have parent-teacher conferences on October 29-30, 2020
Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students may still attend school onsite-at-school during 100% Remote Learning, based on the 2020 SmartStart Plan. Schools are in contact with these families directly
ASAA Protocols for sports and activities are in effect during High Risk operations
*Decision Basis about operations in risk levels
To determine if schools should operate in 100% Remote Learning, or offer options for 100% Remote Learning and onsite at-school learning, district leadership and the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team:
Based on this analysis and scientific data, the medical advisory team (which now includes a mental health professional) closely watch positive cases, types of community spread, and offer informed insights about safely operating schools during a pandemic.
Soldotna, October 22, 2020—The opponent named COVID-19 is making headway in Kenai Peninsula communities. As positive cases continue to rise, operating 30 of the 42 KPBSD schools in 100% Remote Learning needs to be extended an additional week. So, schools in both the Central and Southern Kenai Peninsula will continue with 100% Remote Learning through at least October 30, 2020*. A decision about safely returning to the onsite-at-school option for Eastern Kenai Peninsula schools in Moose Pass and the Seward area will be made Friday, October 23, 2020. Seven smaller KPBSD schools continue to operate in low COVID-19 risk and offer both 100% Remote and onsite-at-school learning options. The KPBSD Connections Homeschool is open.
School district leadership and the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team determined that with the continued high positive COVID-19 case counts, the 7-Day trends, and contact tracing information from public health and DHSS, an extension of 100% Remote Learning is merited.
*NOTE: Thursday, October 29, and Friday, October 30, 2020, are parent-teacher conferences for most KPBSD schools (except Kachemak-Selo, Nikolaevsk, Razdolna, and Voznesenka schools), with no school for students or Get-It-And-Go Meals. Schools will directly communicate their plan for conferences to families.
What to know during 100% Remote Learning in COVID-19 High Risk
Schools will continue to be in contact with their families to give further instructions, call your school if you have questions about materials, packets, or other issues
Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students during 100% Remote Learning, and can be picked up daily at school between 12:00–1:00. Note: No meals are available on October 29-30, 2020, during parent teacher conference days
Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students may still attend school onsite-at-school during 100% Remote Learning, based on the 2020 SmartStart Plan. Schools are in contact with these families directly
ASAA Protocols for sports and activities are in effect during High Risk operations
SeventeenCentral Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status Central Kenai Peninsula includes Kasilof to Sterling, extending through Kenai, Nikiski, Soldotna, and DHSS “other north” communities. Cooper Landing is not included in the 17 Central Peninsula schools:
Aurora Borealis Charter School
Kaleidoscope Charter School
K-Beach Elementary School
Kenai Alternative School
Kenai Central High School
Kenai Middle School
Mountain View Elementary School
Nikiski Middle-High School
Nikiski North Star Elementary School
Redoubt Elementary School
River City Academy
Skyview Middle School
Soldotna Elementary School
Soldotna High School
Soldotna Montessori Charter School
Sterling Elementary School
Other North: Tustumena Elementary School
Thirteen Southern Kenai Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status KPBSD schools in Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Susan B. English in Seldovia are considered individually, and remain open to onsite at-school learning at this time.
Chapman School
Fireweed Academy
Homer Flex School
Homer High School
Homer Middle School
Kachemak Selo School
McNeil Canyon Elementary School
Nikolaevsk School
Ninilchik School
Paul Banks Elementary School
Razdolna School
Voznesenka School
West Homer Elementary School
Additional KPBSD school Updates
Eastern Kenai Peninsula schools (Seward area) decision will be made Friday, 10-23-20, about return to onsite-at-school learning option as soon as 10-26-20
Remote KPBSD schools continue in low risk, with onsite-at-school learning option
• Do the 3 W’s: Wear a mask, watch your distance and wash your hands
• Avoid the 3 C’s: Crowded places, close contact settings and confined or enclosed spaces. Keep contacts limited and social circles small. Avoid indoor gatherings
• Don’t ride in cars with people who are not in your household bubble
• Limit your errands and outings
• Watch out for COVID-19 symptoms. Get tested even if you have just one symptom or mild symptoms
• Don’t be around others if you are not feeling well. Stay home and isolate immediately
• If you test positive, let close contacts know so they can protect others
• Quarantine quickly if you are exposed to COVID-19, for a full 14 days
*Decision Basis about operations in risk levels To determine if schools should operate in 100% Remote Learning, or offer options for 100% Remote Learning and onsite at-school learning, district leadership and the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team:
Based on this analysis and scientific data, the medical advisory team (which now includes a mental health professional) closely watch positive cases, types of community spread, and offer informed insights about safely operating schools during a pandemic.
100% Remote Learning Extends for 30 KPBSD Schools in Central and Southern Kenai Peninsula
Four schools in the Eastern Kenai Peninsula will continue to operate in 100% Remote Learning, during High COVID-19 Risk (Red) status
Today the school district leadership and KPBSD Medical Advisory Team met to discuss continued high positive COVID-19 case counts, the 7-Day trends, information from public health and DHSS stating Alaska is experiencing accelerated spread today, and determined an extension of 100% Remote Learning is merited.
Moose Pass, Seward Elementary, Middle, and High School will continue with 100% Remote Learning for one more week, through Friday, October 23, 2020. An evaluation of risk status will be made next week, and an announcement about a return to onsite-at-school learning on October 26, 2020, will be made October 22, 2020, to aid in planning purposes for families and staff.
“The decision to continue to operate KPBSD schools in High COVID-19 risk, with 100% Remote Learning, is not only to address concerns for the safety and wellbeing of our staff and students, but as a school district we play an important role to help our communities mitigate positive COVID-19 spread. By shifting to 100% Remote Learning during periods of high community spread, we lessen the number of large groups of people in one location. Even with our mitigation plans, we have seen an exponential growth of positive cases in our schools this past week. My hope is that we can slow the spread, and reopen schools as soon as Monday, October 26, 2020. We will all know more in the next week as the state catches up with a backlog of positive test results. I sincerely apologize for the strain and mental health concerns that this action puts on families, students, staff, and businesses in an already stressful pandemic.”
Superintendent John O’Brien
What to know during 100% Remote Learning in COVID-19 High Risk
Schools will contact their families to give further instructions, call your school if you have questions about materials, packets, or other issues
Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students during 100% Remote Learning, and can be picked up daily between 12:00–12:30. Make sure to order by noon on Friday for the following week. Note: No meals are available on Friday, October 16, 2020—it’s an inservice day for staff, no school for students
Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students may still attend school onsite-at-school during 100% Remote Learning, based on the 2020 SmartStart Plan. Schools contacted these families directly
100% Remote Learning Extended for Schools in Eastern Kenai Peninsula
Central Kenai Peninsula Schools Update: 100% Remote Learning extended for 17 KPBSD schools in the central peninsula due to continued rising positive cases of COVID-19
Today school district leadership and the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team determined that with the continued high positive COVID-19 case counts, the 7-Day trends, contact tracing information from public health and DHSS, an extension of 100% Remote Learning is merited.
The 100% Remote Learning in the central peninsula is extended an additional week, through Wednesday, October 28, 2020. A further determination of a possible additional extension will be made at that time.
NOTE: Thursday, October 29, and Friday, October 30, 2020, are parent-teacher conferences, with no school for students or Get-It-And-Go Meals. Schools will be directly communicating their plan for conferences to families.
What to know during 100% Remote Learning in COVID-19 High Risk
Schools will continue to be in contact with their families to give further instructions, call your school if you have questions about materials, packets, or other issues
Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students during 100% Remote Learning, and can be picked up daily at school between 12:00–1:00. Note: No meals are available on October 29-30, 2020, during parent teacher conference days
Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students may still attend school onsite-at-school during 100% Remote Learning, based on the 2020 SmartStart Plan. Schools are in contact with these families directly
ASAA Protocols are in effect during High Risk operations
Central Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status
Central Kenai Peninsula includes Kasilof to Sterling, extending through Kenai, Nikiski, Soldotna, and DHSS “other north” communities. Cooper Landing is not included in the 17 Central Peninsula schools:
Aurora Borealis Charter School
Kaleidoscope Charter School
K-Beach Elementary School
Kenai Alternative School
Kenai Central High School
Kenai Middle School
Mountain View Elementary School
Nikiski Middle-High School
Nikiski North Star Elementary School
Redoubt Elementary School
River City Academy
Skyview Middle School
Soldotna Elementary School
Soldotna High School
Soldotna Montessori Charter School
Sterling Elementary School
Other North: Tustumena Elementary School
100% Remote Learning Extended for 17 KPBSD Central Kenai Peninsula Schools
Southern Kenai Peninsula Schools Update: 100% Remote Learning extended for 13 KPBSD schools in the southern peninsula due to continued rising positive cases of COVID-19
Today school district leadership and the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team determined that with the continued high positive COVID-19 case counts, the 7-Day trends, contact tracing information from public health and DHSS, an extension of 100% Remote Learning is merited.
The 100% Remote Learning in the southern peninsula (Homer area) is extended an additional week, through Wednesday, October 28, 2020. A further determination of a possible additional extension will be made at that time.
NOTE: Thursday, October 29, and Friday, October 30, 2020, are parent-teacher conferences, with no school for students or Get-It-And-Go Meals. Schools will be directly communicating their plan for conferences to families.
What to know during 100% Remote Learning in COVID-19 High Risk
Schools will continue to be in contact with their families to give further instructions, call your school if you have questions about materials, packets, or other issues
Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students during 100% Remote Learning, and can be picked up daily at school between 12:00–1:00. Note: No meals are available on October 29-30, 2020, during parent teacher conference days
Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students may still attend school onsite-at-school during 100% Remote Learning, based on the 2020 SmartStart Plan. Schools are in contact with these families directly
ASAA Protocols are in effect during High Risk operations
Thirteen Southern Kenai Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status KPBSD schools in Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Susan B. English in Seldovia are considered individually, and remain open to onsite at-school learning at this time.
Beginning Tuesday, October 20, 2020, KPBSD schools in the Southern Kenai Peninsula will shift to 100% Remote Learning, and operate in High COVID-19 Risk (Red)
The school district leadership and KPBSD Medical Advisory Team reviewed the high positive case count COVID-19 cases in the Southern Kenai Peninsula today, the rising 7-Day trend, information from public health and DHSS, and determined the data merits immediate action for an additional 13 KPBSD schools. Therefore, Southern Kenai Peninsula schools will shift to 100% Remote Learning immediately, beginning Tuesday, October 20, 2020.
The 100% Remote Learning in the Southern Kenai Peninsula will be for a minimum of this week. We know that Alaska is experiencing an accelerated phase of COVID-19 spread. Several positive cases are reported each week that are connected with KPBSD schools, and contact tracing takes place for every positive staff or student COVID-19 case, to help further exposure from occurring.
*Decision Basis about operations in risk levels
To determine if schools should operate in 100% Remote Learning, or offer options for 100% Remote Learning and onsite at-school learning, district leadership and the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team:
Based on this analysis and scientific data, the medical advisory team watches positive cases closely, types of community spread, and offers informed insights about safely operating schools during a pandemic.
What to know during 100% Remote Learning in COVID-19 High Risk
Schools will contact their families to give further instructions, call your school if you have questions about materials, packets, or other issues
Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students during 100% Remote Learning, and can be picked up daily at school between 12:00–1:00
Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students may still attend school onsite-at-school during 100% Remote Learning, based on the 2020 SmartStart Plan. Schools will contact these families directly
Thirteen Southern Kenai Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status KPBSD schools in Nanwalek, Port Graham, and Susan B. English in Seldovia are considered individually, and remain open to onsite at-school learning at this time.
Chapman School
Fireweed Academy
Homer Flex School
Homer High School
Homer Middle School
Kachemak Selo School
McNeil Canyon Elementary School
Nikolaevsk School
Ninilchik School
Paul Banks Elementary School
Razdolna School
Voznesenka School
West Homer Elementary School
“The decision to operate Southern Kenai Peninsula schools in High COVID-19 risk, with 100% Remote Learning, is not only to address concerns for the safety and wellbeing of our staff and students, but as a school district we play an important role to help our communities mitigate positive COVID-19 spread. By shifting to 100% Remote Learning during periods of high community spread, we lessen the number of large groups of people in one location. Even with our mitigation plans, we have seen an exponential growth of positive cases in our schools this past week. My hope is that we can slow the spread, and reopen schools as soon as is safely possible. I sincerely apologize for the strain this puts on families, students, staff, and businesses in an already stressful pandemic.”
• Do the 3 W’s: Wear a mask, watch your distance and wash your hands
• Avoid the 3 C’s: Crowded places, close contact settings and confined or enclosed spaces. Keep contacts limited and social circles small. Avoid indoor gatherings
• Don’t ride in cars with people who are not in your household bubble
• Limit your errands and outings
• Watch out for COVID-19 symptoms. Get tested even if you have just one symptom or mild symptoms
• Don’t be around others if you are not feeling well. Stay home and isolate immediately
• If you test positive, let close contacts know so they can protect others
• Quarantine quickly if you are exposed to COVID-19, for a full 14 days
This Bahamian Rotarian has been a whirlwind of energy since he began volunteering in high school.
by Anne Stein Photo by Lyndah Wells Photography
Growing up in Nassau, Bahamas, Roosevelt Rolle Jr. remembers how his parents extended a hand to neighbors who needed food or to friends who were without a place to stay. In high school, Rolle joined Interact, and after college, the Rotaract Club of Freeport. “My love for Rotary grew another notch,” he says, “because we had so much fun and we did a lot of volunteer work in the community.”
Roosevelt Rolle Jr., Rotary Club of Grand Bahama, Bahamas
After three years in Rotaract, Rolle took a year and a half off from Rotary. “I wanted to be a little more professional and make sure I was mature enough,” he recalls. Christine van der Linde, his boss and a longtime member of the Rotary Club of Lucaya, had a suggestion: She and several other Rotarians were forming a new club and thought Rolle would be a great fit. “It was a match made in heaven,” he says. On 24 June 2019, the Rotary Club of Grand Bahama chartered with 20 members, including Rolle, then age 29.
The club was barely two months old when, on 1 September 2019, Hurricane Dorian made landfall in the Bahamas, causing billions of dollars in damage. “We had a bunch of new Rotarians and we were so excited to get involved in projects,” recounts Rolle. “Dorian became our project.”
Rolle and his fellow Rotarians gathered on Saturdays to sort and distribute food. The Rotary Club of Grand Bahama remained involved in the relief work until January.
With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rolle and his club turned to projects such as providing meals for hospital workers. He’s taking the lessons he learned from his parents and making service central to his life.
• This story originally appeared in the September 2020 issue of Rotary magazine.
Any KPBSD staff or student, who participated in or attended the 2020 Termination Dust Invitational, held Oct. 2-4 at the Ben Boeke and Dempsey Anderson arenas, needs to quarantine for 14 days, through October 18, 2020* and is not permitted to attend school onsite-in-person, or report to work onsite-in-person, at a school campusuntil Monday, October 19, 2020.
*Dr. Ohlsen, our KPBSD state Physician Consultant for schools, explained today that this quarantine applies to our school district. Many coaches and students are still testing positive. Any KPBSD staff or students, who participated in or attended this event, must quarantine, and not go to school or work. Students can shift to 100% Remote Learning. Staff or students who need to quarantine can reach out to their school or supervisor for further information. The last day of quarantine will be October 18, 2020, and they can return to school on Monday, October 19, 2020. If anyone experiences any symptoms of COVID19, they should be tested.
KPBSD’s high school hockey season was slated to start Wednesday October 14, 2020 (first allowable practice date as per ASAA). As a result of this Youth Hockey event and resulting COVID-19 positive cluster, I am postponing the start of the KPBSD high school hockey season to Monday October 19, 2020.
–KPBSD Superintendent John O’Brien, October 9, 2020
Anchorage Health Department News Release: October 9, 2020
AHD urges attendees of youth hockey tournament to quarantine or isolate following cluster of COVID-19 cases
ANCHORAGE – The Anchorage Health Department (AHD) is investigating a youth hockey tournament after a cluster of COVID-19 cases were identified. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services is assisting with the contact tracing investigation.
Contact investigations indicate that the 2020 Termination Dust Invitational, held Oct. 2-4 at the Ben Boeke and Dempsey Anderson arenas, was attended by more than 300 players, coaches and fans. Teams from Anchorage, Eagle River/Chugiak, Wasilla/Palmer, Kenai/Soldotna and Juneau participated in the tournament. Contact investigations indicate significant close contact in indoor spaces, including locker rooms, with inconsistent use of face coverings. To avoid further spread of COVID-19, AHD urges all attendees without symptoms to quarantine at home for 14 days, except to get tested. Additionally, AHD urges all attendees with COVID-19 symptoms should isolate from others at home for 10 days, except to get tested.
Most children have asymptomatic, mild or moderate symptoms and recover within one to two weeks of symptom onset. As with adults, children with medical conditions, for example, heart or lung disease, neurologic, genetic, or metabolic disorders, cancer, kidney disease, obesity, immune disorders, are at higher risk for severe disease.
“Participating in physical activity is incredibly important for everyone, especially our youth. This year we have the added challenge of ensuring those activities are done consistently in a COVID-conscious way that keeps our youth, their families, and our community healthy,” said AHD Director Heather Harris. “It is extremely important for anyone who might have been exposed at this tournament to follow COVID-19 isolation and quarantine guidelines.”
We must stop COVID-19 with simple steps and smart choices.
Stay home except for essential trips.
Feeling even mild symptoms? Get tested. Stay home.
Encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to remain vigilant. Do not underestimate COVID-19.
What you do matters. Stop the spread of COVID-19. Together, we can save lives.
###
Media Inquiries:
AHD Director Heather Harris, Epidemiologist Dr. Janet Johnston and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bruce Chandler will be available to answer questions at the Mayor’s Community Update today, October 9, at noon.
McNeil Canyon Elementary School will shift to 100% Remote Learning on Monday, October 12, 2020 for contact tracing after a positive COVID-19 case
October 11, 2020
Dear McNeil Canyon School Staff and Families,
Sunday morning, October 11, 2020, the school district learned that a positive COVID-19 case is connected to someone at McNeil Canyon Elementary School. Contact tracing is beginning, but without ample time to complete it immediately, and the potential that it affects the entire K-3rd grade classes, with positive cases trending upward, and out of an abundance of precaution, school will immediately change to 100% Remote Learning on Monday, October 12, 2020, and possibly longer. Additional communications will be sent later today, and as contact tracing happens, everyone who is a close contact will be called personally.
Kindly trust that we are working as quickly as possible, and working with public health to assess any interactions in the time period the person was at school and potential exposure to others.
Everyone who is identified as a close contact will be called personally today, and need to Quarantine for 14 days. The quarantine would likely go through October 22, 2020, and students or staff could return to school October 23, 2020. At this time, we request that everyone connected with K-3 grades limit interactions with others today, until contact tracing is complete.
Principal Pete Swanson is away right now, and making arrangements to return asap. Paul Banks Principal Eric Pederson is assisting your school through this until his return, together with Nurse Iris, district leadership, and your school team. Your school and KPBSD will share further information as it becomes known—but we may not know until Monday if the 100% Remote Learning will continue into Tuesday.
KPBSD honors HIPAA and FERPA privacy laws, so the identity of a student or employee will not be revealed by the school or KPBSD, unless permission is given to do so.
Each case of COVID-19 is interviewed by public health, and our team. As part of this public health investigation and contact tracing at school, and based on CDC guidance and Alaska DHSS protocols:
Everyone diagnosed with COVID-19 is kept home from school until they are no longer infectious
The person’s activities when they could have spread COVID-19 were assessed
The people who were close contacts of the person with COVID-19 are instructed to stay home from school for 14 days after the exposure. This is called quarantine and there is no way to test out of a 14-day quarantine when someone is identified as a close contact
What to know during 100% Remote Learning Monday, October 12, 2020, and possibly beyond
Teachers will reach out to students and parents on Monday with more information with how we are moving forward
Free Get-It-And-Go meals will be available Monday for all students during 100% Remote Learning. Daily pickup at your school between 12:00-12:30
No students or staff will be at school on Monday, October 12, 2020
You can expect regular contact as soon as there are updates. Check your School Messenger alerts, and the McNeil Canyon Facebook page.
If you have questions, kindly contact your school, Principal Pederson at 907-435-7379 until Principal Swanson returns, or call our public health agency at 907-335-3400.
You can find specific information for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District on our dedicated COVID-19 in KPBSD Hub webpage that includes communication updates, safety protocols, 2020 Smart Start Plan, sports and activities, risk levels on the Kenai Peninsula, and the COVID19 Confirmed Case in School Response Matrix.
Thank you for your understanding and patience as contact tracing takes place, and our lives are further disrupted. Together the Dragons will get through this.
McNeil Canyon Elementary Shifts to 100% Remote Learning
Four schools in the Eastern Kenai Peninsula will continue to operate in 100% Remote Learning, during High COVID-19 Risk (Red) status
Today the school district leadership and KPBSD Medical Advisory Team met to discuss continued high positive COVID-19 case counts, the 7-Day trends, information from public health and DHSS stating Alaska is experiencing accelerated spread today, and determined an extension of 100% Remote Learning is merited.
Moose Pass, Seward Elementary, Middle, and High School will continue with 100% Remote Learning for one more week, through Friday, October 23, 2020. An evaluation of risk status will be made next week, and an announcement about a return to onsite-at-school learning on October 26, 2020, will be made October 22, 2020, to aid in planning purposes for families and staff.
“The decision to continue to operate KPBSD schools in High COVID-19 risk, with 100% Remote Learning, is not only to address concerns for the safety and wellbeing of our staff and students, but as a school district we play an important role to help our communities mitigate positive COVID-19 spread. By shifting to 100% Remote Learning during periods of high community spread, we lessen the number of large groups of people in one location. Even with our mitigation plans, we have seen an exponential growth of positive cases in our schools this past week. My hope is that we can slow the spread, and reopen schools as soon as Monday, October 26, 2020. We will all know more in the next week as the state catches up with a backlog of positive test results. I sincerely apologize for the strain and mental health concerns that this action puts on families, students, staff, and businesses in an already stressful pandemic.”
Superintendent John O’Brien
What to know during 100% Remote Learning in COVID-19 High Risk
Schools will contact their families to give further instructions, call your school if you have questions about materials, packets, or other issues
Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students during 100% Remote Learning, and can be picked up daily between 12:00–12:30. Make sure to order by noon on Friday for the following week. Note: No meals are available on Friday, October 16, 2020—it’s an inservice day for staff, no school for students
Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students may still attend school onsite-at-school during 100% Remote Learning, based on the 2020 SmartStart Plan. Schools contacted these families directly
ASAA Protocols are in effect during High Risk school operations
• Do the 3 W’s: Wear a mask, watch your distance and wash your hands
• Avoid the 3 C’s: Crowded places, close contact settings and confined or enclosed spaces. Keep contacts limited and social circles small. Avoid indoor gatherings
• Don’t ride in cars with people who are not in your household bubble
• Limit your errands and outings
• Watch out for COVID-19 symptoms. Get tested even if you have just one symptom or mild symptoms
• Don’t be around others if you are not feeling well. Stay home and isolate immediately
• If you test positive, let close contacts know so they can protect others
• Quarantine quickly if you are exposed to COVID-19, for a full 14 days
*Decision Basis about operations in risk levels
To determine if schools should operate in 100% Remote Learning, or offer options for 100% Remote Learning and onsite at-school learning, district leadership and the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team:
Based on this analysis and scientific data, the medical advisory team watches positive cases closely, types of community spread, and offers informed insights about safely operating schools during a pandemic.
Beginning Wednesday, October 14, 2020, 17 KPBSD schools in the central peninsula will shift to 100% Remote Learning, and operate in High COVID-19 Risk (Red)
The school district leadership and KPBSD Medical Advisory Team discussed the high positive case count today of +14 COVID-19 cases in the central peninsula, the 7-Day trend, information from public health and DHSS, and determined the data merits immediate action for schools. Therefore, central peninsula schools will shift to 100% Remote Learning immediately, beginning Wednesday, October 14, 2020.
The 100% Remote Learning in the central peninsula will be for a minimum of one week. Today, DHSS stated that Alaska is experiencing an accelerated phase of COVID-19 spread. Positive cases are reported daily in KPBSD schools and in the past few days in the central peninsula alone, between Nikiski Middle-High School, Nikiski North Star Elementary, Redoubt Elementary, and Skyview Middle School, contact tracing has placed over 63 staff and students in isolation or a 14-Day Quarantine.
“The decision to operate central peninsula schools in High COVID-19 risk, with 100% Remote Learning, is not only to address concerns for the safety and wellbeing of our staff and students, but as a school district we play an important role to help our communities mitigate positive COVID-19 spread. By shifting to 100% Remote Learning during periods of high community spread, we lessen the number of large groups of people in one location. Even with our mitigation plans, we have seen an exponential growth of positive cases in our schools this past week. My hope is that we can slow the spread, and reopen schools as soon as Monday, October 26, 2020. We will all know more in the next week as the state catches up with a backlog of positive test results. I sincerely apologize for the strain this puts on families, students, staff, and businesses in an already stressful pandemic.”
Superintendent John O’Brien
What to know during 100% Remote Learning in COVID-19 High Risk
Schools will contact their families to give further instructions, call your school if you have questions about materials, packets, or other issues
Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students during 100% Remote Learning, and can be picked up daily at school between 12:00–1:00. Note: No meals are available on Friday, October 16, 2020—it’s an inservice day for staff, no school for students
Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students may still attend school onsite-at-school during 100% Remote Learning, based on the 2020 SmartStart Plan. Schools will contact these families directly
ASAA Protocols are in effect during High Risk operations. Only state level competitions are approved at this time
Central Peninsula Schools operating in High Risk (Red) Status
Central Kenai Peninsula includes Kasilof to Sterling, extending through Kenai, Nikiski, Soldotna, and DHSS “other north” communities. Cooper Landing is not included in the 17 Central Peninsula schools:
• Do the 3 W’s: Wear a mask, watch your distance and wash your hands
• Avoid the 3 C’s: Crowded places, close contact settings and confined or enclosed spaces. Keep contacts limited and social circles small. Avoid indoor gatherings
• Don’t ride in cars with people who are not in your household bubble
• Limit your errands and outings
• Watch out for COVID-19 symptoms. Get tested even if you have just one symptom or mild symptoms
• Don’t be around others if you are not feeling well. Stay home and isolate immediately
• If you test positive, let close contacts know so they can protect others
• Quarantine quickly if you are exposed to COVID-19, for a full 14 days
*Decision Basis about operations in risk levels To determine if schools should operate in 100% Remote Learning, or offer options for 100% Remote Learning and onsite at-school learning, district leadership and the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team:
Based on this analysis and scientific data, the medical advisory team watches positive cases closely, types of community spread, and offers informed insights about safely operating schools during a pandemic.
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Weekly Case Analysis
September 27- October 3, 2020
Case trends and predictions
Alaska saw a sharp acceleration in new cases in the last week. The state had previously seen a steady rise over the preceding six weeks, but this last week saw substantial increases in case rates in nearly every region, with the largest increases in cases in Anchorage and Fairbanks.
The daily state case rate as of October 3 data is 16.3, up from 11.7 on September 26th. This number is cases per 100,000 people averaged over the last 14 days. The state alert level is high.
Compared to other states’ case rates, Alaska’s average case rate per capita over the last 7 days (20.1 average daily cases over the last week per 100,000) has jumped from #24 up to tying for #13 with Tennessee, just below Wyoming (21.6) and worse off than Alabama and Kansas, both at 19.6. between Nevada (13.4) and Indiana (12.7). If Anchorage were its own state, its 7-day case rate (18.4) would put it at rank #6, between Utah and Idaho, and if Fairbanks were a state, its 7-day rate of 33.6 would make it #5 in the nation, just behind Montana. The North Slope Borough would be #4 with a 7-day rate of 34.9, while the Northwest Arctic Borough’s 7-day case rate of 63.7 puts it at a higher average case rate this week than any state average in the US. Nationally, cases have been rising since mid-September, particularly in the Midwest but increases have been seen in most states this week. 24 states currently have 7-day average case rates over 15 per 100,000.
The reproductive number, a measure of contagion, is currently estimated to be approximately 1.14, an increase from 1.03 one week ago. A reproductive number of 1 means that each person who is diagnosed with COVID-19 gives it on average to one other person. A reproductive number of more than 1 means that the epidemic is growing, and the goal is to have enough people wear masks, stay at least 6 feet from others, and stay home and get tested when they are sick that Alaska’s reproductive number decreases to well below 1. Our reproductive number was below 1 as recently as late August.
An updated model epidemic curve predicts Alaska’s cases will continue to accelerate over the next week. One week ago, cases were now expected to double every 105 days, with a daily projected growth rate of 0.66%. This projection has worsened, with cases now expected to double around every 22 days, with a daily projected growth rate of around 3%.
Nonresident cases, which peaked in late July, decreased over August and continue to downtrend.
Alaska continues to have the fewest COVID-19 related deaths per capita of any US state, but this week passed Wyoming in total number of deaths.
Regional trends
Anchorage Municipality and Fairbanks North Star Borough both had substantial increases in case rates this week, indicating accelerating cases and high levels of community transmission. Anchorage Municipality’s case rate is now 21.5 from 16.1 last week, while Fairbanks North Star Borough is at 21.2 from 16.3.
Northwest Region increased from 27.9 to 30.7, remaining the highest rate of new cases of any borough reported.
The Interior Region and Mat-Su both saw significant case increases this week and moved into the intermediate zone, with case rates increasing to 7.9 and 5.9 respectively.
Juneau City and Borough improved to 7.4 from 12.3 the week before and is now in the intermediate zone.
The Y-K Delta region improved from 8.7 to 7.1, remaining within the intermediate zone.
The Interior Region, Kenai and Northern Southeast Region also saw increases this week but remain in the low transmission zone
Regional case trends
Behavioral Health Region
Average new cases Aug 16 - 29
Average new cases Aug 23- Sept 5
Average new cases Aug 30- Sept 12
Average new cases Sept 5- Sept 19
Average new cases Sept 12- Sept 26
Average new cases Sept 27- Oct 3
Anchorage Municipality
12.6
14.1
13.5
13.2
16.1
21.5
Fairbanks North Star Borough
10.8
13.7
17.1
15.9
16.3
21.2
Interior Region except Fairbanks North Star Borough
7.9
4.3
2.7
3.1
4.9
7.9
Juneau City and Borough
5.1
6.3
13.4
16.3
12.3
7.37
Kenai Peninsula Borough
5.8
2.9
2.2
1.8
2.5
3.55
Matanuska-Susitna Region
6.2
4.9
4.3
4.7
4.0
5.86
Northern Southeast Region
6.3
5.2
2.1
3.1
4.2
4.89
Northwest Region
12.7
11.0
10.7
15.6
27.9
30.7
Southern Southeast Region
6.1
5.2
2.5
Insufficient data; low case rate
Insufficient data; low case rate
Insufficient data; low case rate
Southwest Region
1.7
2.3
4.2
3.5
3.5
4.7
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region
7.3
7.6
6.0
8.4
8.7
7.1
Statewide
7.0
7.9
8.7
10.2
11.7
16.3
New cases, hospitalizations and deaths
This week saw 924 new cases in Alaskans, a significant jump from last week’s 645 new cases, for a total of 8,405 cumulative cases in Alaskans. While 3,701 of those are recorded as being active, or 44%, and 4,704 Alaskans are thought to have recovered or completed their isolation period, data on recovery lags data on new cases and is not up to date. This should not be interpreted as the number of true active cases decreasing since data entry of recovered cases has increased in recent weeks; true active cases are likely increasing significantly with rising case rates. For that reason, in future weekly case summaries we will not report the number of active or recorded cases, although this information can be obtained at the DHSS Data Hub linked above.
Cumulative hospitalizations increased to 300 with 17 new this week.
Deaths among Alaska residents increased by 2 to 58 total.
There were 21 nonresident cases identified this week, for a total of 971.
How COVID-19 spreads in Alaska
The majority of new infections among Alaskans are from community spread, not from travel. Most Alaskans get the virus from someone they work, socialize, or go to school with.
Many cases do not have a clear source, meaning that contact tracers have not been able to identify where the person got the virus. This means that there are cases in our communities that we do not know about.
Many Alaskans who are diagnosed with COVID-19 report that they went to social gatherings, community events, church services and other social venues while they were contagious but before they knew they had the virus.
The distribution of cases among people of different races and ethnicities has not changed significantly since last week.
Cases continue to increase most rapidly in young adult Alaskans aged 20-39.
A renowned Rotary alum affirms her commitment to environmentally sustainable architecture
Growing up in Belvidere, Illinois, a city 70 miles northwest of Chicago, Jeanne Gang didn’t have to go far to glimpse her future. Her father, James, was a civil engineer and highway superintendent in Boone County, and on Saturday mornings, the girl who would one day become a world-renowned architect would visit his office and sit at the drafters’ drawing boards or clamber onto the heavy equipment used in road construction that sat idle in the county garage. On family vacations, James would pack his wife, Marjorie, and their four daughters into the family station wagon to drive around and look at bridges. “I really loved that,” recalls Gang. “We traveled to almost all the states, and I developed a love for the great landscapes that we have in this country.”
Gang’s education continued at the University of Illinois, where she graduated with a degree in architecture in 1986. The recipient of a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, she traveled to Switzerland to study at ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal University of Technical Studies). “I gained exposure to an international faculty and students that brought depth to my understanding of urban design,” she says. “Being able to do that really expanded my horizons.” She went on to earn her master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Design — where she now serves as a Professor in Practice — and spent two years working with Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.
In 1995, Gang took a job in Chicago, a city with arguably the greatest collection of buildings in the United States — or at least, as Gang has asserted, the city with “the highest architecture IQ in the country.” Two years later, she started her own firm there; known today as Studio Gang, it also has offices in New York, San Francisco, and Paris.
In 2010, Gang established herself as Chicago’s most prominent and creative architect with her 82-story Aqua Tower, a sensuously undulating building whose curved concrete overhangs evoke rippling water while also diffusing the Windy City winds. A structure both profoundly beautiful and eminently practical, Aqua earned Gang a slew of accolades and awards: Emporis, a global building-data research company, anointed it the best new skyscraper of the year, and PETA chimed in with a Proggy Award for the building’s bird-friendly design (also a characteristic of other Gang works). The following year she won a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant”; the foundation praised her “unusual optical poetry ... and integrative approach to contemporary building.”
There was, for Gang, one galling aspect to Aqua: It was often identified as the tallest building in the world designed by a woman. (“It would be better to be known as a great architect without the qualifier,” she says.) Aqua has since been eclipsed in height by another Chicago skyscraper: Gang’s 101-story Vista Tower, which is expected to open this year. And in June, the publisher Phaidon released Studio Gang: Architecture, a lavishly illustrated retrospective of the firm’s accomplishments over two decades. “The new book is about what ties all of our projects together, the ideas that cohere across different categories,” Gang says.
In typical Gang fashion, the book also looks toward the future. “How might we leverage and expand on the creative, collaborative nature of the profession to together shift societal values toward a more balanced and thriving planet?” Gang asks. “Our first 20 years of answers are collected in this book.”
Recently, Paul Engleman, a frequent contributor to Rotary magazine, talked with Gang about a number of topics, including her commitment to sustainability, her office’s green roof, and the civic and ecological ambitions of Studio Gang.
How would you describe the work you do and your approach to it?
The way I sum up the practice is that we’re like-minded professionals working collaboratively and collectively on projects that connect people to each other and to their environment. In urban settings, that means bringing biodiverse nature back into cities so people can experience it. I’m passionate about the environment, and I want others to be too. Not everyone can get into the technical details of how we make our buildings greener. But they can get into developing a stronger connection to their environment. If you can make a space so compelling that people go out of their way to be there, that’s a great way to start building a good relationship between people and the environment, while also building stronger communities. We’re living in a time that is so polarizing that we’re losing our connections to one another. At Studio Gang, we want to connect people to each other. We design buildings, neighborhoods, and cities, and we use different media to express our ideas and the ideas of our clients and collaborators: books, exhibitions, and drawings and handmade models.
“We’re working collaboratively and collectively on projects that connect people to each other and to their environment.”
For an architect, what are the major elements of sustainability?
At the most basic level, it’s about reducing carbon emissions. Buildings are responsible for about 39 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, so we have to work to make them less polluting in their construction and operation. But sustainability is also about social justice, equal rights, and reducing poverty. It’s about supporting nature and bringing it into the city so people can appreciate the ecosystem services that nature provides. We installed a green roof at our own headquarters in Chicago — and not just any green roof. It has more than 50 different plant species that support wildlife in the city: birds, insects, even bats. It’s a big experiment, and every year we measure the success or failure of it in a “bio-blitz.” We try to bring these sensibilities to all of our projects.
How do you incorporate the goals of sustainability into projects?
You look at what you have to work with and how you can shift available energy around to make the most use of it. You look at what assets and needs the client has, based on their location and climate. Then you work with engineers to incorporate those assets into the architecture. In Michigan, where we did the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College, there happens to be a tree type, white cedar, that is sustainably deployed. We modernized an old technique using the cedar as cordwood masonry, which uses all parts of the tree. It actually sequesters carbon. That went well with the center’s personality and its site. It’s visible, exciting, and beautiful.
How far have architects come in terms of working toward sustainability?
When I was an undergraduate, a lot of my teachers were former hippies. They were into solar power, living off the grid, that kind of thing. When I started practicing, that conversation was almost nonexistent. By starting my own practice, I was able to get back into that and adopt new approaches to making green buildings. These days, many of our clients are actually looking for these kinds of ideas and starting to ask for better-performing buildings. We’re designing a new global terminal at O’Hare airport in Chicago. The mayor wants to make it the world’s greenest airport. That’s a big advancement from when I started the firm.
Does having local governments as clients add a degree of difficulty in terms of resistance to innovation?
You can encounter resistance in the private sector too. A problem I’m concerned with right now is the reuse of old heritage buildings. There seems to be a conflict between historical preservation and making a building sustainable. There shouldn’t be. Those goals should go hand in hand. You shouldn’t have to install single-pane windows because they existed in the original. That is literally what you’re asked to do to maintain the historic preservation label. I think that’s a problem we have to address soon. I think reuse should be more aligned with efficiency than with pure historical preservation.
Is a net-zero carbon footprint a feasible goal in building construction?
It’s not a question of whether it’s feasible. We have to do it. It’s an urgent thing, but it’s not easy to get there. We have two projects that are striving for that. At the California College of the Arts, we’re using a microgrid as part of the solution. They have activities like glass blowing, which produces excess heat. So one could use that heat to create energy to produce hot water in the residence halls. I like working at different scales and on different types of buildings and not specializing. We can innovate a lot that way, because we find strategies that work in one building type and can apply them in other building types.
“Sustainability is also about social justice, equal rights, and reducing poverty.”
Tell me about Polis Station, Studio Gang’s contribution to the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2015.
That was an attempt to present a concept as an open-source idea for other people to adopt. A lot of people are thinking about the problem between police and community members — the fear that police put into members of the community that they should be trying to protect. We wanted to explore what public safety might look like in these publicly owned buildings. We wanted to see if the design could start to positively impact those relationships. We recently completed a fire-rescue training facility in Brooklyn. It’s interesting that everyone loves rescue workers and firefighters, and that firehouses are often open buildings, completely different from police stations. For the Polis Station exhibit, we took policy guidelines that had been developed by experts on ways to improve the relationships between police and community members and tried to think about how they could be expressed in a physical structure.
How does that align with the work you did with the Neighborhood Activation Study in New York?
We were hired by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice to do an urban design study aimed at creating safe spaces in two neighborhoods. It’s about improving relationships on a community scale, but not necessarily by way of a building. We were defining what the projects could be, and the city will then hire architects to design the projects. Doing a design study is a different way of having an impact.
Is there a type of structure or project that you haven’t done yet but would really like to do? A prison? A bridge?
I definitely don’t want to do a prison. Bridges are good metaphorically. We are doing a bridge — a pedestrian bridge — in Wisconsin at the Beloit College Powerhouse, which repurposes a former coal-burning power plant as a student union centered on wellness and recreation. I’m really interested in the hybridization of different types of buildings. If you have a hotel that is also a community center, something that happens casually now could be much stronger. There are a lot of interesting combinations that could happen. I want to bring different programs together into buildings. At the American Museum of Natural History in New York [where the Studio Gang-designed Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation is slated for a 2022 opening], they’re bringing together their technical programs and the arts — and different kinds of media are being adopted in the arts. It’s exciting for us as designers. We’re mixing classroom and exhibit spaces, and we’re thinking of it as an institution that has a strong educational focus at all levels, from kids to teachers to PhD students. It’s a research institution that’s also focused on education for visitors.
Green or LEED buildings
10% increase in asset value over traditional buildings
20% lower maintenance costs than typical commercial buildings
62% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than an average building
$167.4 billion generated in Gross Domestic Product in the U.S. between 2011-14
Are energy-efficient innovations for buildings unaffordable luxuries for some people?
That’s a difficult question, because there are so many different ways to do affordable housing. A lot of affordable housing already uses wood construction. Surely there is less of a carbon footprint in a modest-size apartment built with wood than in a large, elaborate, high-end home. When you look at carbon footprint per household, it wouldn’t be an equal calculation. Sometimes it’s required that affordable housing be woven into a project. We are finishing up a high-rise in San Francisco, called Mira, that’s very high performing, and yet 40 percent of the homes there are being sold below market rate.
When Rotarians travel internationally, how should they think about architecture?
It’s good to see architecture in different places, because it’s always informed by the culture that’s there. Some interesting projects that are happening now involve designers thinking about mitigating natural disaster. Rotarians could think about how design could improve places that they travel to. There’s a flow of people on the move because of natural disasters or wars. I think there’s probably a good project in thinking about how to accommodate people who are displaced.
Career Highlights
1997 Jeanne Gang opens her own architecture firm, known today as Studio Gang.
2003 Gang unveils her first public building, the renovated Starlight Theater in Rockford, Illinois.
2010 Emporis names Aqua, Gang’s 82-story Chicago high-rise, its best new skyscraper of the year.
2011 Gang wins a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant.”
2012 The Art Institute of Chicago stages Building: Inside Studio Gang, the firm’s first solo exhibition.
2017 Jeanne Gang is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
2019 An architectural team led by Studio Gang wins an international competition to design a new global terminal at Chicago’s O’Hare airport.
2020 Chicago’s Vista Tower and the publication of Studio Gang: Architecture cap the firm’s first 20-plus years.
The Rotary Foundation Trustees and Rotary International Board of Directors have both unanimously approved adding a new area of focus: supporting the environment.
Households who are struggling to pay rent, mortgage or utility payments or need help paying for groceries, medicine and other household expenses caused by hardships related to COVID-19 are encouraged to apply for assistance from the City of Homer's Household Economic Relief Grant, or HERG.
Utilizing Federal CARES Act grant funds, Homer City Council authorized $1.5 million for the HERG program. It is intended to provide economic stability to households within the City of Homer that have suffered economic hardship between March 1- December 30, 2020, either from a loss of income or increased expenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding of up to $1,500 in grants is available per household.
Deadline to apply: Friday, October 16, 2020!
To qualify for HERG funding, applicants must meet the eligibility criteria*:
Who Qualifies?
HOUSEHOLD ECONOMIC RELIEF GRANT
At least one adult member (18 or older) of the household must be a City of Homer resident, permanently living within the city limits prior to March 1, 2020. They will be considered the “Head of Household” by the City and will complete the application on the household’s behalf. Applicants must provide valid photo I.D., two current pieces of mail to prove residency, and a completed W-9 form from the Internal Revenue Service.
The Head of Household must be a U.S. Citizen or permanent legal resident in order to receive grant funding.
Only one grant is available per household. All members of the household over the age of 18 must be listed in the application. A household may consist of a single individual.
The Head of Household on behalf of the household, must agree the household was/is negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and disclose, certify and document how the household has experienced, or continues to experience, economic hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with hardship incurred between March 1, 2020 and December 30, 2020. If it is determined the HERG funds were used for an ineligible purpose or that a household received more than one HERG grant, the applicant may be required to return those funds back to the City.
HERG funds cannot be used to reimburse an expense that was already covered by or anticipated to be covered by another COVID-19 assistance/relief grant.
* The City reserves the right to interpret the terms of this program.
or DOWNLOAD and PRINT applications at the bottom of the page and return to the City of Homer's Finance Department's dropbox by City Hall entrance on Pioneer Avenue. Please secure your application within a sealed envelope addressed to Sara Perman.
Completed applications may also be mailed to:
City of Homer ATTN: HERG - Sara Perman 491 East Pioneer Avenue Homer, AK 99603
Mailed applications must be postmarked by 5:00 pm, Friday, October 16th, 2020.
Applications must be submitted with a copy of a valid photo ID, two forms of residence verification, and a completed W-9 form from the Internal Revenue Service.
Valid forms of photo ID include an up-to-date drivers license, state ID, U.S. Passport, certified copy of U.S. Birth Certificate, or I-551 Resident Alien/ Permanent Resident Card.
Valid forms of residence verification include mortgage statements, Kenai Peninsula Borough Property Tax statement, home utility bills, signed lease agreements, employment documents, two first class mail parcels with postmark, or signed letter on official letterhead verifying residency from housing authority/shelter.
City of Homer Household Economic Relief Grant Program
We know you are concerned and watching the COVID-19 risk levels closely. The school district and KPBSD Medical Advisory Team joins your concern and on Wednesday carefully analyzed a spectrum of information and data.*
Advance Notice: if positive COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the eastern peninsula over the next few days, there is a high likelihood we will shift to 100% Remote Learning on Monday, October 12, 2020, for a minimum of one week. A decision will be made no later than Sunday.
At this time, Eastern Peninsula schools (Seward and Moose Pass) will continue to operate in Medium Risk (yellow) status this week, even though the 14-Day positive case count indicates high-risk levels. This means that schools will remain open to onsite at-school learning. The medical advisory team is watching this closely, and if positive cases are linked to a school, or trend upward Thursday or Friday, an updated decision for next week to operate schools at High Risk and 100% Remote Learning could happen, and will be communicated to staff and families immediately.
*Decision Basis To determine if it is appropriate to shift schools to 100% Remote Learning when the 14-Day count data moved the Eastern Peninsula into high risk on October 7, 2020, the KPBSD Medical Advisory Team:
Analyzed the 14-Day positive COVID-19 case counts
Note: four positive cases will drop from the 14-Day case count in the next four days, which moves Eastern Peninsula into Medium Risk, if no additional positive cases are added
Analyzed the 7-Day positivity trend
Consulted with public health contact tracing knowledge, and local medical providers
Based on this analysis, information, and that no cases that involve KPBSD schools, Seward and Moose Pass schools will be remain in yellow or medium risk October 8-9, 2020. The medical advisory team is watching this closely, and if positive cases trend sharply upward, or are linked to a school, an updated decision to move to High Risk and 100% Remote Learning could happen immediately, or beginning Monday, October 12, 2020.
What to know during 100% Remote Learning in COVID-19 High Risk
Get-It and Go Meals are free for all students, and picked up Wednesday morning for the week
Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Special Education Intensive Needs students may still attend school onsite-at-school during 100% Remote Learning, based on the 2020 SmartStart Plan. Schools will contact these families directly.
Activities continue with ASAA High Risk Protocols in effect
Schools will communicate an update status mid-week to aid parent planning for the following week specific to if school reopens to onsite at school learning on Monday, October 19, 2020
• Do the 3 W’s: Wear a mask, watch your distance and wash your hands
• Avoid the 3 C’s: Crowded places, close contact settings and confined or enclosed spaces. Keep contacts limited and social circles small. Avoid indoor gatherings
• Don’t ride in cars with people who are not in your household bubble
• Limit your errands and outings
• Watch out for COVID-19 symptoms. Get tested even if you have just one symptom or mild symptoms
• Don’t be around others if you are not feeling well. Stay home and isolate immediately
• If you test positive, let close contacts know so they can protect others
• Quarantine quickly if you are exposed to COVID-19, for a full 14 days
“Offering predictability for our families, staff, and communities is tricky during a global pandemic. I am disappointed the positive case count appears to be trending upward. Every day we evaluate 7-Day risk level trends, 14-Day actual positive case counts, and confer with our medical advisory team. To aid planning for families and eliminate a ping-pong effect back and forth between risk levels, when we shift to 100% Remote Learning, it will be in one-week time blocks unless it’s a positive case at a school, which might have a different response or time frame. We will continue providing district level updates every week, plus each school will directly communicate with their staff and families.”
-Superintendent John O’Brien
KPBSD Eastern Peninsula schools may shift to 100% Remote Learning
Communication to Seward Elementary staff and families. Principal Haskins will send a message via School Messenger on Saturday, September 26, 2020.
Dear Seward Elementary students, parents, and staff,
Friday evening September 25, 2020, we learned a second student or staff member at Seward Elementary School has been diagnosed with COVID-19, and as members of the school community, we understand that this raises care and concerns.
To complete contact tracing and allow for additional cleaning, the entire school will shift to 100% Remote Learning September 28 and 29, 2020.
Throughout the weekend we will work with public health to assess any interactions in the time period the person was connected with school, and everyone who is determined to be a close contact will be called personally.
9/25/20, 10:30 PM: The shift to 100% Remote Learning is only for Seward Elementary at this time.
Two or more positive cases in a school is defined as an outbreak. Each case of COVID-19 is interviewed by public health, and our team.
We will be in communication with you with further information as it becomes available, and announce late Monday, or Tuesday morning, if we will reopen on Wednesday, or extend the 100% Remote Learning.
As part of this public health investigation and contact tracing at school, and based on CDC guidance and Alaska DHSS protocols:
Everyone diagnosed with COVID-19 is kept home from school until they are no longer infectious.
The person’s activities when they could have spread COVID-19 will be assessed.
The people who were close contacts of the person with COVID-19 are instructed to stay home from school for 14 days after the exposure. This is called quarantine and there is no way to test out of a 14-day quarantine when someone is identified as a close contact.
KPBSD honors HIPAA and FERPA privacy laws, so the identity of a student or employee will not be revealed by the school or KPBSD, unless permission is given to do so.
If you have questions, kindly contact Principal Alan Haskins, or our public health agency at 907-335-3400.
You can find specific information for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District on our dedicated COVID-19 in KPBSD Hub webpage that includes communication updates, safety protocols, 2020 Smart Start Plan, sports and activities, risk levels on the Kenai Peninsula, and the COVID19 Confirmed Case in School Response Matrix.
Seward High School sporting events are cancelled on Saturday, September 26, 2020.
“Friday evening we learned that Seward Elementary has had more than one confirmed case of COVID-19 within a three day time frame. This is defined as an outbreak in a school, causes a shift to 100% remote learning at Seward Elementary for at least Monday and Tuesday next week, in an effort to ensure thorough contact tracing and cleaning of the school will be conducted. Given the small size of the Seward community and out of an abundance of precaution, this weekend’s sporting events in Seward have been cancelled and Seward teams that were scheduled to travel and compete in away events have been kept home. I know our athletes will be disappointed, and I ask for everyone’s support and understanding.”
To all Supporters of Kachemak Advocates of Recycling,
I am pleased to send this information to all of you and hope some of you will volunteer. Please note the instructions given on how to volunteer and who to contact:
Cook Inletkeeper is hosting our annualElectronics Recycling eventand we need your help! The event will take place onSaturday, October 3rdfrom 10am to 2pm at Spenard Builders Supply in Homer.We need volunteers to help collect donations, direct traffic, sort recyclable electronics, and clean up after the event.
Volunteers can work one of two shifts: 9:30-12:15 or 12-2:30. COVID safe policies will be in place and COVID safe snacks will be provided. If you are interested in volunteering or want more information, please contact Ariel atrecycling@inletkeeper.orgor (508) 728 -9399.
Americans upgrade their computer systems on average every 3 to 5 years. But what do they do with all those old, obsolete computers? Computer electronics contain hazardous materials, especially lead, cadmium, and mercury, and if dumped in a landfill, will release heavy metals and other toxic materials into the air and water.
Here at Inletkeeper we envision a future where we recycle metals, instead of creating new mines that endanger world-class fisheries, wildlife and clean water.
On Saturday, October 3rd, Inletkeeper will be holding our annual electronic recycling day in Homer & Soldotna. Sustainable Seward will be hosting their event on October 10th. This is an opportunity for people who have been storing obsolete or broken electronics to dispose of them properly. Households, businesses and non-profit agencies are encouraged to bring televisions, monitors, computers, laptops, keyboards, phones, cameras and more for recycling.
This letter will help your family prepare should our school district or your school have a COVID-19 event occur. An event could be a positive COVID-19 case, outbreak (two or more positive cases in a school) or exposure to COVID-19 in a school. The health and safety of our students, staff, and families is our top priority.
KPBSD works closely with local public health officials and they will provide support and direction to manage every COVID-19 related scenario that affects our school communities. If or when a COVID-19 event occurs related to your school, you will receive information via the usual school and district communication methods. Depending upon the situation and response needed by you, the contact may come via a phone call, email, alert, or general notification.
KPBSD honors HIPAA and FERPA privacy laws, so your name and your child’s name will not be revealed by the school, unless you give the school permission to do so. A dedicated webpage at KPBSD.org is where to find the most up to date information.
If your child receives a positive COVID-19 test result, and they have been at school two days prior to the onset of symptoms, or the testing date that resulted in a positive test result, it will be helpful to begin contact tracing at their school immediately. So, we need your help when you learn of a positive COVID-19 test result for your child. Call Nurse Iris, KPBSD Nursing Supervisor to confidentially report a positive COVID-19 test result. You can reach her at 907.260.2391, IWertz@kpbsd.k12.ak.us. ALternately, call your school nurse or administrator.
It is important for everyone in our community to protect themselves against the remarkably contagious novel coronavirus. These are some ways to protect your family:
Teach your children to wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, and set a good example by doing this yourself
Teach your children to cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or by coughing into the inside of their elbow, Be sure to set a good example by doing this yourself
Time and distance: teach your children to protect your family bubble or their school cohort, and practice physical distancing of about six feet away from others
Mask up with a cloth face covering when appropriate, especially indoors in crowded public places, on the school bus, and in school hallways. Grades 3 and older in the KPBSD wear a mask at school when six foot physical distancing is not possible
When you have COVID-19 related questions, contact your school nurse, healthcare provider, local public health department, or visit the state DHSS or national CDC websites. You can find specific information for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District on our dedicated COVID-19 in KPBSD Hub webpage that includes communication updates, safety protocols, 2020 Smart Start Plan, sports and activities, risk levels on the Kenai Peninsula, and the COVID-19 Confirmed Casae in School Response Matrix. Your school is always available to help, or you can reach out to the school district COVID-19 line at 907.714.8864, email covid19@kpbsd.org, or visit covid19.kpbsd.org.
This year will require adaption, a flexible mindset, and we will get through this with both challenges and blessings. We promise to communicate often, be proactive and swiftly reactive when necessary, even when we do not have all the answers. Superintendent John O’Brien reminds us, “We will focus on and provide for the social, emotional, and mental health needs of our students, staff, parents, and community. I have no doubt that together we will not only get through this new school year but will also hopefully become more resilient and empathic to the needs of others.”
School Exposure Letter Templates
Scenario
Modify letter #
Communication To
1 student or staff with COVID-19 in a class or cohort
Parents or Guardians of all students who are determined to be close contacts of a case of COVID-19 in the school
AND
Parents or Guardians of students who were determined not to be close contacts of cases of COVID-19 in the outbreak
Letter 1: Students in the classroom or cohort bubble with a single case of COVID-19
Dear Parents and Guardians,
This communication is a follow-up to a phone call you have received. A student or staff member in [Teacher's name] class has been diagnosed with COVID-19, and as members of the school community, we understand that this raises care and concerns. Each case of COVID-19 is interviewed by public health. As part of this public health investigation and contact tracing at school, and based on CDC guidance and Alaska DHSS protocols:
The person diagnosed is being kept home from school until they are no longer infectious.
The person's activities when they could have spread COVID-19 were assessed.
The people who were close contacts of the person with COVID-19 are instructed to stay home from school for 14 days after the exposure. This is called quarantine and there is no way to test out of a 14-day quarantine when someone is identified as a close contact.
Because it is not possible to assess all interactions in a classroom and because of the length of time that classes spend together, all classroom or cohort members are considered close contacts. Your child was in the same class or group as the person diagnosed with COVID-19, so your child must follow quarantine instructions and stay home from school for 14 days. If you have children in other classes, they can still go to school unless their sibling gets sick, or receives a positive COVID-19 test result.
Your child can return to school and normal activities on [date 14 days after the last day the person with COVID-19 was in the classroom]. During this time, your child should stay home and not go to other schools, activities, childcares, or other activities around other people. Instructions about how to quarantine are available here.
All KPBSD students have the option of 100% Remote Learning with their school. Your school will work with you to make certain your child has what they need to continue learning at home while in quarantine.
KPBSD honors HIPAA and FERPA privacy laws, so the identity of a student or employee will not be revealed by the school or KPBSD, unless permission is given to do so.
If your child develops symptoms consistent with COVID-19:
Continue to keep your child home from school and avoid other activities around other people
Notify the school principal, nurse, or KPBSD Nurse Iris
Seek medical care and testing for COVID-19, calling your doctor before you show up
Public Health may recommend or you may choose to have your child tested for COVID-19 a week after they were around the person with COVID-19, even if your child does not have symptoms. A negative test result does not mean that your child will not develop symptoms or become sick after the test. A negative test result means that your child did not have COVID-19 detected at the time of testing. A negative test will not allow your child to come back to school or attend other activities sooner. Medical insurance may not cover the cost of testing for people without symptoms.
If you have questions, kindly contact [insert name of school principal or nurse contact] or our local public health agency [insert contact]. You can find specific information for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District on our dedicated COVID-19 in KPBSD Hub webpage that includes communication updates, safety protocols, 2020 Smart Start Plan, sports and activities, risk levels on the Kenai Peninsula, and the COVID19 Confirmed Case in School Response Matrix.
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Weekly Case Analysis
September 13-19, 2020
Case trends and predictions
Overall, new cases in Alaska are increasing. The daily state case rate as of September 19 is 10.2 cases per 100,000 people averaged over the last 14 days, so the state alert level is now high. This is up from 8.7 last week and 7.9 the week before.
The reproductive number, a measure of contagion, is currently estimated to be approximately 1. A reproductive number of 1 means that each person who is diagnosed with COVID-19 gives it on average to one other person. A reproductive number of more than 1 means that the epidemic is growing, and the goal is to have enough people wear masks, stay at least 6 feet from others, and stay home and get tested when they are sick that Alaska’s reproductive number decreases to well below 1. Our reproductive number was below 1 as recently as late August.
An updated model epidemic curve predicts Alaska’s cases will continue to rise over the next week. Until two weeks ago, cases had been predicted to decrease. One week ago, cases were now expected to double every 62 days, with a daily projected growth rate of 1.12%. This projection has improved slightly, with cases now expected to double around every 190 days, with a daily projected growth rate of 0.37%.
Nonresident cases, which peaked in late July, decreased over August and continue to downtrend.
Data for COVID-19 in Alaska healthcare workers are now available, although limited as not all cases have an occupation reported. About half of the 260 cases reported in healthcare workers may have been acquired at work; others were related to travel, household or community exposure. 8 hospitalizations among healthcare workers are reported and no deaths.
Alaska continues to have both the fewest COVID-19 related deaths and the fewest COVID-19 related deaths per capita of any US state.
Regional trends
Juneau City and Borough now has the highest rate of viral transmission, having increased its rate to 16.3, continuing the rise from 13.4 last week and 6.3 the w
Eric Kimani, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator
Who is eligible now?
Barry Rassin | 2018-19 RI president
Fatima Lahmami Langlois | Rotary Club of Montreal
