The 12 GOP Senators Who Voted Against Trump's National Emergency Declaration

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As most readers know, enough Republican senators (

Only in El Paso!

The city’s Destination El Paso department provided this presentation as part of the backup material for a city council agenda item on the Monday, March 18, 2019 special city council meeting.

The special city council meetings are not well attended by the public so the city likes to handle things that they don’t want us to know about during those meetings.

The topic was a presentation about the results we have been getting out of the department.

One slide showed their measurements for fiscal 2018:

Then they presented their 2019 fiscal year slide.  The fiscal year starts in September.  The end of February would mean that half of the fiscal year had passed.

They point out a 14.6% increase in the number of people that attended conventions and meetings in 2019 over 2018.

What they don’t point out is the 14% drop in income in 2019.  Evidently getting people to meetings is important to them and the money that gets generated is not as important.

Then they tell city council what to expect for the rest of the year:

They show Sun City CRITS (“a premier cycling series”) will have 2,800 in attendance and will generate $1.1 million for the local economy.

RISE cycling symposium will have 2,500 in attendance and will generate $2.2 million.  This will be their inaugural event.  In other words they have never done this before and have no idea what their results will be.

Then they go on to tell us what to expect after this year:

The department did not address what the have for us in 2020 or 2021.  Instead they tell us that in 2022 they think some things will happen.  Add up the numbers, they aren’t very good.

Then they drop this slide on city council:

In the private sector changes would be made.  This however is El Paso.

We deserve better

Brutus

El Paso has a significantly higher rate of Alzheimer’s diagnosis’ than the national average, and Latinos in general have higher rates of risk factors for the disease. Yet limited access to prevention services and medical care may make Borderlanders more likely to delay treatment and receive inadequate health care treatment for dementia issues.

In 2015, according the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 12.4% of El Paso county residents over the age of 65 had some form of dementia. Hispanics in general are 1.5 times more likely to contract Alzheimers than non-Hispanic whites, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. This might be connected to Hispanics having higher rates of risk factors such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and cardiovascular risk, according to a 2016 report by the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging.

Health experts say it is important to raise awareness among Latinos that getting adequate care in a timely manner could benefit people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia by potentially slowing the progression of the disease.

For an at-risk community like El Paso, there is a greater need for Alzheimer’s care resources and educational programs, health care workers say. The West Texas chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association says it struggles with getting the community to take advantage of the resources they offer to the public.

“No matter what we do in terms of terms of trying to expand our reach and make sure that everyone is utilizing our programs and services as much as possible, it’s just really difficult to get the word out and raise that awareness.” said Allison Armendariz, development manager for the Alzheimer’s Association in El Paso.

The association is coordinating with community volunteers to increase awareness and help communities develop forward-looking policies in El Paso, Midland, and Odessa to meet the needs of an aging population.

“We have a great set of volunteers who are happy to go out to any organization or group of people and present about Alzheimer’s and Dementia,” Armendariz said.

These initiatives include educational programs that cover topics ranging from legal and financial planning for those living with Alzheimer’s, to effective communication strategies for caregivers.

Alzheimer’s disease is an age-related, degenerative brain disease characterized by a steady decrease in cognitive, behavioral, and physical abilities. Typical symptoms of Alzheimer’s are memory loss, disorientation, and diminished thinking ability soon followed by trouble with verbal expression, frustration, and agitation. As the disease worsens those with it can become completely dependent on others for care. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and of the top ten leading causes of death it is the only disease with no current cure or definitive treatment program. . Early diagnosis and care implementation is one of the best ways to potentially reduce or delay the effects of the disease.

Watch for depression, increased agitation

It’s important for physicians who treat predominantly Hispanic populations to be aware of the link between depression and Alzheimer’s disease, as depression can often mask an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, according to a 2016 study by Ricardo Salazar, a geriatric psychiatrist at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. Salazar’s research, published in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience found that Hispanics are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease sooner than people from other ethnic groups and signs of increased agitation or depression could be signifiers of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Caretaker support and dementia-friendly outings

Andrea kerr (left) and Allison Armendariz work for the Alzheimer’s Association of El Paso spreading awareness about local resources for both caregivers and patients Photo credit: Summer Masoud

For most El Pasoans, memory care services are not a viable option as the costs of care can surpass thousands of dollars a month, limiting access to professional care to only the very wealthy few. This leaves many families with at home care as their only option. In Texas alone there are an estimated 1.4 million unpaid caregivers providing support to the roughly 380,000 diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2017 according to the Family Caregiver Alliance.

The Alzheimer’s Association of El Paso offers support group meetings for caregivers three times a month at various locations across town.

“You don’t focus on yourself, you know, your own health can deteriorate,” Armendariz said.

Often, patients and their caregivers are isolated from the outside world, as it can be difficult and disorienting to navigate public spaces. For those living with dementia and their caregivers, the Alzheimer’s Association in El Paso has partnered with the El Paso Museum of Art to conduct special dementia-friendly museum tours and art discussions as part of its Impressions program.

“It’s just a happy day for them, you know usually they’re at home, it’s hard to get them out of the house. It’s a good day for both the caretaker and the person with dementia,” said Andrea Kerr, events manager for the Azheimer’s Association in El Paso.

In addition to the Impressions program, early stage patients can attend memory cafes, which are social gatherings designed to help caregivers and those with Alzheimer’s connect and interact with others going through similar experiences. Memory cafes are therapeutic get-togethers that are held in both assisted living facilities and schools on the East and West sides of town. Memory cafes are designed to be welcoming to people with memory issues, and facilitate educational programming and activities designed to encourage memory improvements like painting or music engagement. Currently there are at least three memory cafes held each month in El Paso.

For those caregivers who lack even the time it takes to attend support groups and memory cafes, the Alzheimer’s Association has several remote accessible resources. Of these is a 24/7 helpline that provides resources and advice to over 300,000 callers per year in over 200 languages. The Alzheimer’s Association also has its own social networking community called ALZConnected, where caregivers and patients can reach out to others all over the country for advice and support.

Music therapy

El Paso is also seeing alternative forms of Alzheimer’s care which takes a person-centered approach to addressing the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Danny Garcia is the head of Creative Therapies at Milagro Healthcare Services, a local non-profit organization that provides care for elder veterans. Garcia uses music reminiscence therapy to help stimulate memory recall and other benefits.

“I would facilitate music preferred from their youth or with some significance to them and recreate it live to elicit memories which could aid with goals such as speaking complete sentences, respiratory comfort, altering position from poor trunk support which is common in advanced stages of Alzheimer’s and sustained eye contact,” Garcia said.

The National Institute of Health reports multiple studies have shown a clear link between music therapy and increased autobiographical recall in patients with dementia.

For more information on local resources visit the West Texas chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association’s web page

Click hear to read High rates of dementia in Latino communities show importance of early diagnosis, support

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As a teenager, all throughout high school I would hear people talking about is how much they want to move somewhere more exciting. I actually have to admit that I agreed with them for a long time. I couldn’t wait to go to school somewhere new and be on my own, which is exactly what I ended up doing.

I had been accepted to the University of North Texas in Denton and I moved into my dorm room in August of 2013. I had decided to major in multimedia journalism with a minor in creative writing. And, as corny as it might sound, I loved my classes. I was being challenged for the first time in what felt like a long time, I was living on my own and meeting new people, but something was missing.

At some point I realized that it had been a few months since I had a single conversation in Spanish. Aside from being asked by classmates or people at parties to give them the Spanish equivalents to some words or phrases, I hadn’t done the thing that I had done literally every day since I could talk, which was to speak to the people around me in Spanish.

That, coupled with the fact that the closest thing to authentic Mexican food was served by a man who sold elotes in front of the grocery store, started to make me homesick. Not necessarily because I wanted to come back to El Paso, but because up until that point I had never felt such a disconnect from people around me. It was because I wasn’t taking part in something that was such a big part of my identity. Being away from home and away from my people gave me a new appreciation for my language and culture.

So if you’re ever feeling a little out of touch with your culture, here are a few things I did to help stay connected to my roots.

 

Keep some traditions going

El Cónsul General de México en El Paso, Roberto Rodríguez Hernández, da el grito en 2010 en la celebración organizada por la Universidad de Texas en El Paso. (Brenda Reyes/Borderzine.com)

Whether it’s celebrating specific holidays like Cinco de Mayo, Día de la Independencia in September or even something as simple as eating certain foods (for me it was tamales and pozole in the wintertime). Things like that are nice little reminders of where we come from throughout the year.

Talk to your grandparents

If you’re fortunate enough to have your grandparents in your life, it could be interesting to call and ask them about their life and what things were like when and where they were growing up. Connecting with elders is an easy and good way to learn about cultural and family traditions. Plus I’m sure a call from their out-of-town grandkids will be a welcome and pleasant surprise for most grandparents.

Share your culture

Tamal comes from tamali, a Nahuatl word (the language spoken by the Aztecs) that means wrapped food. (Karina Moreno/Borderzine.com)

Inviting new friends over to have a traditional meal or celebrate a holiday is a good way to show what you love and miss about your culture. It can even be as small a gesture as bringing in some homemade snacks or goodies from back home to share.

Read/write/watch something in your native language or learn something new about your culture

I liked to listen to music in Spanish that my parents had introduced to me while I was growing up. But you don’t have to limit yourself to music. Try movies and books, too. Another good thing to do is to try and learn something new about your culture that you may not have known before.

You’d be surprised by how something as simple as reading or watching something in your native language or even learning a fun fact can help you feel closer to your roots.

Click hear to read How to stay connected to your culture when far from home

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The EPISD board of trustees is having a board workshop on Monday, March 25, 2019.

The purpose of the workshop?

(To discuss Board Policy ELA [Local] which would allow the District to authorize partnerships with eligible entities/organizations to provide innovative schooling options for students)

Here is their proposed definition of a partnership:

A PARTNERSHIP MEANS A DISTRICT-AUTHORIZED CAMPUS CHARTER ESTABLISHED IN ACCORDANCE WITH STATE LAW
IN WHICH THE BOARD CONTRACTS TO OPERATE A DISTRICT CAMPUS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH AN OTHER ELIGIBLE ENTITY AS
DEFINED BY LAW.

They do propose to limit who they can partner up with:

THE DISTRICT SHALL PARTNER WITH  NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS, GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES, AND INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.  THE DISTRICT SHALL NOT CONSIDER APPLICATIONS FROM CHARTER SCHOOLS.

This is a game changer.

We deserve better

Brutus

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With just a few days remaining to apply for the 2019 Dow Jones News Fund Multimedia Training Academy at UTEP from May 31 – June 6, here are seven reasons why journalism instructors at Hispanic Serving Institutions should apply now to take advantage of this exceptional opportunity to sharpen their multimedia storytelling skills. 

 1. Gain experience in new digital technologies to better prepare your students

 With technology changing rapidly, it’s essential for college teachers to become competent in the high-end skills needed to effectively teach multimedia journalism. This training will spur educators to make their students skilled, competitive digital journalists. Academy instructors with professional news experience will provide training on video and audio best practices and editing, social media storytelling, mobile journalism, 360 video and more.

 “Coming to the academy has allowed me to hone my skills in a lot of areas and learn skills that I didn’t have before,” said previous participant, Lisa Button of the University of Arizona.

 2. Learn “hands-on” by engaging in multimedia field reporting   

 Academy participants are given assignments and go out in teams into the El Paso community to produce multimedia stories that are published in Borderzine.com at the conclusion of the workshop. The workshop simulates a deadline-oriented, real world newsroom where instructors gain hands-on experience in how to use video, audio and digital photography in newsgathering and then how to use the latest editing software in story production.

 “Instructors have told us how much they appreciate getting out into the community and doing real stories with the support of a dedicated trainer. They say it helps them have empathy for what their students are going through and gives them the confidence to make their courses challenging because they can draw from their own experience in the field,” said trainer Kate Gannon, director of this year’s academy.

 The academy is about “getting back in there, touching the equipment and being under this deadline and getting the hands-on training,” said Laura Castañeda of San Diego City College

 3. Receive mentorship and training from experienced and committed multimedia journalism pros

“The trainers at the academy understand what educators need to learn about new and emerging technologies to better prepare their students for the fast-changing future,”  said Linda Shockley, managing director of the Dow Jones News Fund.

Academy rainers include nationally-known multimedia consultant and NPR Consultant Project Manager, Doug Mitchell; Borderzine Digital Content Editor and former Digital Content Manager for The Coloradoan Media Group, Kate Gannon; Independent radio reporter, Monica Ortiz Uribe; and broadcast TV veteran Andrew Valencia.

 4. Network with journalism instructors from other Hispanic-serving Institutions 

 Participants at the academy collaborate in teams and share innovative ways of teaching multimedia storytelling in their classrooms. They share their experiences through lively discussions on how to incorporate what they have learned in the field during the academy into their teaching strategy and adopt best practices for teaching of multimedia journalism that have been adopted by Borderzine and other teaching newsrooms.

  “This workshop is a very interesting experience with meeting other colleagues from all over the nation that are facing the same struggles and challenges that I am,” said Teresa Ponte of Florida International University.

 “My expectations of the academy have been met and exceeded. Some great collaboration with other professors and certainty some wonderful learning,” said Kim Fox of Texas State University.

 5. Contribute to promoting diversity in news media

 Most newsrooms in the U.S. have not achieved demographic parity to reflect the diversity of the U.S. population. According to a 2018 report by the American Society of News Editors, people of color represent only 22.6 percent of the workforce in U.S. newsrooms.

 The instructors who participate in the academy teach at Hispanic Serving Institutions and will be transferring the technical multimedia skills they master to their students – increasing their student’s chances of being hired for journalism jobs after graduation.

  6.  Free opportunity for college instructors to expand their digital media skills toolbox  

 The Dow Jones News Fund provides funding for 12 journalism instructors to attend the one-week academy at the University of Texas at El Paso. The fellowship covers the training as well as airfare (up to $500) to and from El Paso, lodging at the Hilton Garden Inn near campus and some meals. ​

 “This quality of instruction at absolutely no cost to participants and their universities is priceless,” said Shockley of the Dow Jones News Fund

 7. Join a growing cadre of digitally savvy journalism professors who are academy graduates

 This fast-paced, hands-on academy has a proven track record helping journalism educators develop their skills and confidence in multimedia journalism production.

For the past nine years, the El Paso workshop has trained more than 100 educators from Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities who returned to the classroom with digital storytelling skills to pass on to their students.

 “Some of the best training I’ve had. I highly recommend this program,” said Jay Seidel of Fullerton College.

 If you are ready to step into your students’ shoes for a week-long training in multimedia storytelling in the vibrant El Paso borderland, we encourage you to fill out the online application form for the 10th annual Dow Jones News Fund Multimedia Training Academy before midnight March 22.

 

Click hear to read 7 reasons why HSI college journalism instructors should apply for the 2019 multimedia training academy fellowship before March 22 deadline

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On the city council agenda for Tuesday, March 19, 2019 we have this resolution:

From the RISE web site:

With the inaugural event in June 2019, RISE has developed an innovative approach to identifying, developing and nurturing cycling talent in athletes of all ages and from all athletic disciplines.

Our overarching goal is to help these athletes become cyclists for life, and to help them achieve their personal cycling goals through the development of life skills, creation of a collaborative network of cycling experts, and improve athletic performance on the bike.

This is their inaugural event, yes the first time they have done this.

Evidently wanting to get in on a good thing the city is promising to pay the group $435,000 and to host the event for five years.

This might turn out to be a good thing but no one knows for certain.  In particular we don’t know if we will want the company or the participants to come back after the first year.

By the way the city promised to do this back in November we are only learning about the money this week.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

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