Join us along with Loving Life Consulting at the library every day from May 2 to 8 to learn about Mental Wellness.
Check out the teen area for resources, activities, and more!
You do not need to attend every day as resources can be picked up at any time during the week.
After a two-year COVID-19 hiatus, one of the Vancouver Sikh community’s most important events returned Saturday, albeit in a scaled-down form.
The annual Vaisakhi festival and parade usually spans dozens of blocks in southeast Vancouver, drawing thousands of people. There are dozens of free food vendors serving Indian dishes, colourful parade floats, musicians and dancers.
Vancouver Khalsa Diwan Society President Malkip Singh Dhami said the massive event takes four to five months to plan, something that was impossible to do amid the uncertainty of the fifth wave of the pandemic.
“The city was reluctant to give us the permission, so finally we agreed to scale it down and do it in the (Ross Street temple) compound of the Khalsa Diwan Society,” he said.
Organizers set up multiple booths outside the temple and planned a smaller parade within the grounds.
Vaisakhi is one of the most important days on the Sikh calendar, marking the formation of the Khalsa in 1699, and is also culturally significant as a spring harvest festival and the beginning of the Punjabi new year.
“It’s a big occasion for us,” Taranpreet Kaur told Global News as she entered the temple grounds with friends on Saturday.
“After two years, smiling faces, people getting ready without masks, it’s been good,” she added. “They are trying their best to maintain the health and safety procedures and still celebrating our festival. It’ still better than not having a parade.”
Vancouver’s annual event, and the even larger one traditionally held the following week, are viewed as the world’s largest Vaisakhi celebration outside of India.
Surrey’s drew more than 500,000 people in 2019, but was scrapped this year due to what organizers described as “constantly changing” COVID-19 restrictions.
Back in Vancouver, Dhami said even with the smaller event planned, the excitement was palpable.
“Tremendous response, because after two years of absence, no function has been held,” he said. “Next year, if everything goes well, we will have the full-scale parade again.”
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
The 24hr Window Raise-a-thon for Recovery returns to downtown support facility May 7
Next month’s second annual 24hr Window Raise-a-thon for Recovery returns to the street-side windows of the downtown Barrie centre it aims to help.
From May 7 at 8 a.m. to May 8 at 8 a.m., the windows at the 705 Recovery Community Centre, located at 56 Dunlop St. W., will feature four people fundraising to help support programs in the community assisting those struggling with, or recovering from addiction, mental health issues and more.
Last year’s inaugural event hoped to raise $16,000 — four months’ costs at the facilities — but more than doubled that with $35,000.
Organizer Todd Palmer, who took part in last year’s event, says he was very happy with the response.
“I think the unexpected thing was the businesses coming out and donating food and resources the day of,” Palmer told BarrieToday. “It was great to have many friends and family donate money and just everyday strangers looking to help the cause.”
The idea of the fundraiser is four people sit in their own window for 24 hours and people donate money to have them either do something or have something done to them.
“Last year, we were made to do quite a number of fun things. I took countless pies to the face as did the others. One thing I had to do was pick an egg out of three — where two were hard-boiled and one was not — and crush it on my head. I chose wrong and had egg all over my face,” Palmer said.
“One of the participants was a musician and was made to play songs all night. Lots of fun stuff,” he added.
People can donate to also make the 24-hour stay comfortable for the participants by donating blankets, food, pillows, walks and bathroom breaks.
This year’s participants are musician Kat Chabot (involved as an ally to those dealing with addiction), Melissa Hart (sober since May 18, 2018), Jake Mathias (three years sober), and Geoff MacGillvary (10 years sober).
As someone who had been dealing with addiction, Palmer says he found the event to be a positive step for him.
“My recovery and sobriety at the time was pretty insulated. I was working the program that I had and those who were close to knew and were aware, but not many outside of that knew,” he said. “There is a certain level of vulnerability that sort of evolves into healing.
“You never know how something is going to affect you until you open up about it, and I think about a month after that I really started to get a real deep sense of healing and OK-ness with what I was going through,” Palmer added.
While Palmer says addiction and mental health are nothing new, he acknowledges the crucial need for help now.
“Coming out of this social mental-health climate situation that we’re in, the centre is offering (help to) anyone in the community who is struggling or recovering from addiction and mental health issues,” he said. “It has been a great place for those needing help and at a time so many have needed it.”
To donate, go to the event page by clicking here and follow the instructions on how to participate.
When asked if he would be looking to ensure this year’s foursome have as much to do as he and his partners did last year, Palmer made his intentions clear.
“Now, I’m a compassionate, supportive guy. On that note, yes, I am excited to participate as a member of the community as these folks sit in the windows,” he said. “I’m sure all the participants from last year feel the same and are anxious to help give to the cause.”
More information on the 24hr Window; Raise-a-thon for Recovery as well as a list of all meetings and events can be found at www.the705barrie.com.
16-20 May 2022 – online and across Europe and Central Asia
The 2022 European Public Health Week (EUPHW) will take place from 16-20 May 2022. Every year, WHO/Europe supports the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) with the EUPHW campaign, by promoting the themes, providing key messages and organizing EUPHW-related events.
The theme for this year’s EUPHW is ‘Health throughout the life course’, with each campaign day focusing on a different topic:
The European Public Health Week (EUPHW) aims to:
For more information, see the EUPHW 2022 website at the link below.
In recognition of Black Maternal Health Week, which begins Monday, April 11, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards will host a pair of events centering on the childbearing journey of Black women from conception to birth and beyond.
On Tuesday, April 12 at 6 p.m.at Borough Hall in Kew Gardens, Richards and Deputy Borough President Ebony Young will host “The Birthing Experience,” an evening that will shine a light on Black women’s maternal, mental and reproductive health care needs, as well as the services and programs available to them.
“Few have felt the harsh sting of health care inequity more than Black women, especially new and expecting Black mothers, who unjustly experience significantly higher rates of maternal mortality than any other group,” Richards said. “It’s an honor to recognize Black Maternal Health Week at Queens Borough Hall for the first time, as we uplift new and expecting Black mothers and propel these critical conversations forward.”
The program will include a panel discussion featuring several health care professionals, birthing experts, and maternal health advocates, a Q&A segment, a short documentary screening, trivia and maternal product giveaways.
Participants will also have an opportunity to connect with city agencies, community-based organizations and maternal service providers who will be tabling at the event at the Helen Marshall Cultural Center at Borough Hall.
“Black motherhood is a beautiful and powerful experience. But decades of disinvestment in the health of Black mothers, who unjustly experience significantly higher rates of maternal mortality than any other group,” Young said.
On Wednesday, April 13 at 5 p.m., Richards will co-sponsor a Diaper Day of Action along with Morning Star Church and Councilwoman Nantasha Williams, who will host a free giveaway at her district office, located at 172-12 Linden Blvd. in St. Albans.
“Maternal mortality rates have been on a steady incline for Black women, while solutions to address this issue and community awareness have continued to lag,” Williams said. “The Diaper Day of Action will raise awareness around the inequities that persist for Black women, and support much-needed conversations around solution-based approaches to eradicate this birth injustice.”
The collection of approximately 2,000 diapers, donated to the Queens Borough President’s Office by Amazon and government relations firm Kasirer, will be distributed at no cost on a first-come, first-serve basis.
“I encourage all our neighbors to join us at these two events as Queens comes together to support our courageous and inspirational Black mothers across The World’s Borough,” Young said.
Members of the community who wish to attend either or both events can RSVP here.
Former President Barack Obama will be returning to the White House on Tuesday for his first public event there since he left office in 2017.
A White House official said Sunday that Obama will be joining President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to “deliver remarks celebrating the success of the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid in extending affordable health insurance to millions of Americans.”
The event is part of Biden’s effort to turn his focus to pocketbook issues that directly affect American households. While job growth has been steady since he took office, inflation is at its worst level in a generation.
The White House said Biden “will take additional action to further strengthen the ACA and save families hundreds of dollars a month on their health care.”
Health Secretary Xavier Becerra and other members of Biden’s Cabinet will attend Tuesday’s event.
Obama’s visit to the White House was first reported by NBC News.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) -A national campaign launched by the CDC is coming to Savannah to get people outside and moving. On Wednesday, the Coastal Health District is hosting an event to encourage exercise even when you aren’t at the gym.
This entire goal is not only to get you moving but also to just look at your surroundings a little different and how you can use what is around you to stay active wherever you are.
The chronic disease prevention team wants to make physical activity an easy choice because regular physical activity helps prevent chronic diseases.
On Wednesday at Forsyth Park, a strength and conditioning coach will lead a free activity to show you how to use benches, curbs, playground equipment and whatever else you might find in your neighborhood park as a guide to get moving.
The coastal health district is encouraging the entire family to come out as they will have something for all ages and fitness levels. “When we can get the entire family involved, having the kids learn from an early age that physical activity is part of the normal day and having their parents be the examples of that is invaluable,” said Christina Gibson the Disease Prevention Coordinator at the Coastal Health District.
This is the first, DASH & Move til you Get Your Groove event and they plan to host them once a week for the next few weeks. The Chronic Disease Prevention team is hosting the events at 12:30 p.m. on the following Wednesdays:
Copyright 2022 WTOC. All rights reserved.
Even as the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has developed a surveillance system to record each death during extreme heat events, it also needs to be integrated in the public health system, experts have said.
Prof Mahaveer Golechha, Nodal officer of Centre for Excellence on Heat Health under the National Programme on Climate Change and Public Health, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, told The Indian Express that surveillance systems have been developed to record deaths during extreme heat events but are yet to be integrated in the public health system.
Prof Dileep Mavalankar, who heads the Indian Institute of Public Health at Gandhinagar, has said that hospital admissions and mortality need to be reported every day so that they can be correlated with heat. “What we have shown in Ahmedabad is that if you correlate mortality with temperature, then one can arrive at a local threshold. Each city has to have a local threshold of morbidity and mortality determination. Training and awareness programmes are being conducted but there is a need to record the death and correlate it with temperature across each city,” he said.
A National Action Plan on Heat-Related Illness (HRI) has been developed that outlines the basics of heat wave, HRIs and their management from primary to tertiary level, preparedness plan before, during and after summer season, and the standard operating procedures for surveillance of heat stroke cases and deaths. The plan has been prepared under the National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health.
According to Dr Archana Patil, Maharashtra director of health, advisories along with weekly IMD weather bulletins on heat wave conditions have been issued to each district in the state as hot days become the norm across Maharashtra. “So far, no case of heat stroke has been reported this year,” state health authorities have said.
Dr Pradeep Awate, State surveillance officer, told The Indian Express that since the beginning of March there has been a rise in the maximum and minimum temperatures. Each district has been told to step up measures to come out with their heat action plans so that facilities like cooling rooms, emergency medical kits and others are in place. “With the help of IMD, we are also planning to step up awareness about the heat condition during a particular day with colour-based codes. White colours would be associated with normal, pleasant temperature. Yellow, orange and red colours would be associated with related alerts on mild and severe heat conditions,” Dr Awate added.
Dr Sanjay Deshmukh, Assistant Director (health) Pune circle, which includes Pune, Satara and Solapur, said weather bulletins were being shared with health authorities so that they were aware of the heat wave warning for the next five days.
Chuck Norris
Don’t care much for the constant mid-March ritual of moving our clocks ahead one hour? According to Beth Ann Malow, a professor of neurology and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University, 63% of Americans would like to see it eliminated.
The thing is, daylight saving time represents much more than a disruption to daily routines. Given the stresses heaped upon us in our world of uncertainties, it could be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.
“Beyond simple inconvenience,” writes Malow on TheConversation.com, “Researchers are discovering that ‘springing ahead’ each March is connected with serious negative health effects.”
“In a 2020 commentary for the journal JAMA Neurology, my co-authors and I reviewed the evidence linking the annual transition to daylight saving time to increased strokes, heart attacks and teen sleep deprivation,” she says.
A separate post on TheConversation.com co-authored by Deepa Burman, co-director of the Pediatric Sleep Evaluation Center at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and Hiren Muzumdar, director of the Pediatric Sleep Evaluation Center, notes that sleep deprivation can result in increases of workplace injuries and automobile accidents. One individual’s sleep deprivation can affect an entire family.
“You may notice more frequent meltdowns, irritability and loss of attention and focus,” they say.
I wonder, could uncontrolled anger be far behind?
Now, watching a devastating war unfold on social media is also hammering away at our collective mental health. We’re all being heightened by graphic and disturbing images that fill our feeds, writes Time magazine reporter Jamie Ducharme.
“Tracking up-to-the-minute developments can come at a cost. … Footage and photos from Ukraine flooding social media and misinformation spreading rampantly (has) implications for public health,” she reports.
It has long been the responsibility of traditional media outlets for editors to decide which content is too graphic to show, or to label disturbing images with warnings. As pointed out by Roxane Cohen Silver, a professor of psychological science at the University of California, Irvine, today anyone “can take pictures and videos and immediately distribute that (on social media) without warning, potentially without thinking about it.”
Jason Steinhauer, founder of the History Communication Institute, says, “Russia has been waging a social media and misinformation war for the past 10 to 12 years.” This has only gotten worse since its invasion of Ukraine.
We should not be surprised at all that studies now suggest that news coverage of the pandemic has contributed to our mental distress. “Adding yet another difficult topic to the mix can worsen those feelings,” Cohen Silver says.
Yet the war is hardly the only attack on our senses. At a time when we are most vulnerable, the Federal Trade Commission reports that predatory fraudsters bilked consumers of an estimated $5.8 billion last year. According to the agency, it represents a 70% increase over 2020. “Almost 2.8 million people filed a fraud complaint, an annual record” and “the highest number on record dating back to 2001,” reports the FTC. “Imposter scams were most prevalent, but investment scams cost the typical victim the most money.”
“Those figures also don’t include reports of identity theft and other categories,” the report points out. “More than 1.4 million Americans also reported being a victim of identity theft in 2021; another 1.5 million filed complaints related to ‘other’ categories (including credit reporting companies failing to investigate disputed information, or debt collectors falsely representing the amount or status of debt).”
The mounting stresses placed upon us are now posing a threat to not just our mental and financial health but our physical well-being.
According to a working paper from researchers at the Naval Postgraduate School and the University of Pennsylvania, “In 2020, the risk of outdoor street crimes initially rose by more than 40% and was consistently between 10-15% higher than it had been in 2019 through the remainder of the year.” Researchers also believe that the finding “points to the potential for other crimes to surge the way homicides have as cities reopen and people return to the streets,” says the report.
Adds Megan McArdle commenting on the report in an op-ed for the Washington Post, “community trust in the police might have plummeted, possibly making people more likely to settle scores on their own. Or police might have reacted to public anger by pulling back from active policing, creating more opportunities for crime.”
Hans Steiner is a professor emeritus of Stanford’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences who has logged decades of work studying anger and aggression. In an interview posted on the Stanford University website, he says he believes that “the coronavirus pandemic, with its extreme disruption of normal daily life and uncertainty for the future, compounded by several other crises (economic distress, racial tension, social inequities, political and ideological conflicts) puts us all to the test: we find ourselves immersed in a pool of negative emotions: fear, sadness, contempt, and yes, anger. What do we do with this forceful emotion?”
“Anger signals that we are being threatened, injured, deprived, robbed of rewards and expectancies,” Steiner says. It should be “one of our adaptive tools to deal with the most difficult circumstances. Sometimes it becomes an obstacle to our struggles, especially when it derails into aggression and even violence.”
Anger problems are now spilling over into record accounts of hate crimes. It seems that today’s circumstances, with anger management and rule of law seemingly at an all-time low, have caused many individuals to become ticking time bombs. Reports CBS News, “the total number of hate crimes nationwide has increased every year but one since 2014, according to FBI data, which includes statistics through 2020.”
Steiner says that “maladaptive anger and aggression has the following characteristics: 1. It arises without any trigger, seemingly out of the blue; 2. it is disproportionate to its trigger in its frequency, intensity, duration and strength; 3. it does not subside after the offending person has apologized; 4. it occurs in a social context which does not sanction anger and aggression.”
Who among us has not seen or maybe even experienced some, maybe all, of these behavior characteristics?
“In such conflicts we need to remind ourselves that diatribes, lies and accusations will not move us forward; compassion, empathy and the reminder that we are all in this horrible situation together (needs to) inspire us,” Steiner advises.
Write to Chuck Norris at info@creators.com with questions about health and fitness.
UBS Wealth Management USA today announced that it will be sponsoring two local events in Hawaii for the Genki Ala Wai Project, a non-profit organization under the Hawaii Exemplary State Foundation. The organization works with The Eco Rotary Club of Kaka’ako, to help introduce bioremediation technology that will make the Ala Wai Canal in Honolulu, Hawaii, fishable and swimmable within seven years.
A manmade canal on the northern boundary of the tourist district of Waikiki, the Ala Wai Canal provides drainage to swamps, rivers, and streams in central and East Honolulu. As a top-used inland waterway in Hawaii, it is enjoyed by paddlers and boaters, even as urbanization increases pollution to its waters. Over the years, sludge has formed and accumulated in the canal due to oxygen deficiency. The sludge produces harmful gases such as methane, ammonia, and hydrogen sulphide into the water and has made the canal a toxic environment.
The Genki Ala Wai Project will use Genki balls, softball-sized mud balls made from clay soil, rice bran, molasses, water, and Effective Microorganisms (“EM”) solution. The Genki balls are tossed into the Ala Wai canal and sink to the bottom to digest the sludge. Data from the Hawaii State Department for Health supports their positive effects. Colony Forming Units (“CFU”), which indicate presence of fecal material and water contamination by disease-causing organisms, decreased by 72% in the Ala Wai, after students from Jefferson Elementary School implemented an introductory Genki Balls project on two dates in 2019.
UBS will serve as title sponsor of two local events in conjunction with the project. The first is on March 12 and will involve local volunteers making the Genki balls, and the second event on April 2, will see the local community throw them into the canal.
“The canal is a beautiful and peaceful place that provides a great escape, but it has also become filled with trash and pollutants, enabling sludge to form,” says Jenny Do, Financial Advisor at UBS in Hawaii, and president-elect of Eco Rotary Club of Kaka’ako, who was inspired to initiate the project. “Throwing the Genki Balls into the canal will enable bacteria-digesting organic compounds to continue restoration of this beautiful place.”
“We are proud to support the Genki Ala Wai Project and The Eco Rotary Club of Kaka’ako, in these events aimed at restoring the health of the Ala Wai Canal,” said Daniel Shiu, Financial Advisor at UBS in Hawaii. “At UBS, we help our clients create a lasting legacy by using their wealth for good. With this project, we demonstrate our passion and commitment to connecting people for a better world and are excited to watch it unfold over the years to come.”
With over 200 volunteers for each event so far, The Eco Rotary Club of Kaka’ako is encouraging local residents to donate $5 to make a Genki ball and sign up to one or both events, here. A portion of each donation will go to the Genki Ala Wai Project and additional environmental projects from the Eco Rotary Club of Kaka’ako, which have included planting trees, beach cleanups, and community gardens.
Note to Editors
Photos Available Upon Request.
About UBS Global Wealth Management
As the world’s largest wealth manager, UBS Global Wealth Management provides comprehensive advice, solutions and services to wealthy families and individuals around the world. Clients who work with UBS benefit from a fully integrated set of wealth management capabilities and expertise, including wealth planning, investment management, capital markets, banking, lending and institutional and corporate financial advice.
© UBS 2022. All rights reserved. The key symbol and UBS are among the registered and unregistered trademarks of UBS.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220311005441/en/
Blue Goblet (ON SALE)
Original price was: $4.50.$2.00Current price is: $2.00.
Glass Silver and Gold Snowflakes Charger Plates
$10.00
Clear Glass Round Charger Plates With Gold Beaded Rim
$10.00
Silk Hydrangea Flowers with 6 Big Heads (Off White)
$7.50
