Masks for front line health-care workers: Go here for their approved instructions and drop-off information. - Masks for you and your family: Go here for “no-sew” and sewn options.
- NEW GOWN BRIGADE: Sign in. Instructions here.
- Volunteer!/Donate! Skills, services, resources, time…Other opportunities – to get help or serve – here.
- Safety first! – We gather the best resources for how-to keep healthy during a pandemic here.
- Resources/recursos: Local, county, state, federal: info and contacts to get help are gathered together here. (English and Spanish)
- Coronavirus/information/reports/tracking websites: here.
- The mental game – keeping sane, calm and reasonably happy: here.
- Activism in a time of solitude: click here.
Wed. 4/8: Status of Ventura County’s front line volunteer efforts.
More news about our amazing community here in Ventura County!
Quick links:
- Mask-making for VC health care workers (now at 4383!): here
- Volunteer opportunities, including those for healthcare workers, in Ventura County: here.
- Want to be part of the new Gown Brigade? Go here.
(Information below from Amy Towner, CEO – Health Care Foundation for Ventura County.)
Good evening Brigade!!!
Thanks to the mask sewers and we still need more!: What an amazing day! Our hospital leadership thanks all of you! Dr. Fankhauser actually said the unavailability of PPE was keeping him up at night and with the support of our Brigade and the flattening of the curve he is getting rest. He warns that we can’t let down our guard. We had 533 sewn masks today and look at the donations below!! We need to continue safe sheltering at home and the need for masks is still a must for staff.
Useful AND beautiful! LOOK AT THOSE PERFECT PLEATS!
Continue reading “Wed. 4/8: Status of Ventura County’s front line volunteer efforts.”
Tues 4/7: Our “shock therapy” sessions started on Jan 20, 2017. Maybe Trump and the EPA think we won’t notice a few more dead people.
Quote from Naomi Klein’s great article here, which includes a description of VP Pence’s toxic role in the conservative-led catasphophe that was the rebuilding of New Orleans.
Action – Ask our Environmental Protection Agency to freeze all protection rollback processes until the pandemic is officially over, starting from Jan.31.
Shock Doctrine at work – using a pandemic to hide a rollback of protections, and more deaths: Since Trump took over on Jan. 20, 2017, air pollution, and air pollution-related deaths have been rising, with 9,700 more deaths in 2018 than it were in 2016, according to a new paper by economists at Carnegie Mellon. At the bidding of polluting corporations, the administration has rolled back 58 environmental protections, including 16 specifically addressing air pollution and 10 related to drilling and extraction. Now we have a pandemic, with thousands of deaths to hide the damage that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been wreaking on Americans’ health since Trump’s election, including the long-term health effects of environmental racism. Continue reading “Tues 4/7: Our “shock therapy” sessions started on Jan 20, 2017. Maybe Trump and the EPA think we won’t notice a few more dead people.”
Mon 4/6: Update: Now you need a mask too!
Don’t panic! You can do this!
- On 3/20, we wrote a post on mask-making in general.
- On 3/23, we wrote a post on making a specific type of mask for our hospitals’ front line workers.
- And today, we’re writing about making cloth masks for yourself and your family, because the CDC now recommends wearing them in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.
Masks for you, your friends and family – some caveats first.
Continue reading “Mon 4/6: Update: Now you need a mask too!”
Sat 4/4: State of Ventura County’s front line volunteer efforts.
We have an amazing community here in Ventura County!
Quick links:
- Mask-making for VC health care workers (now at 3012 of 3500 needed!): here
- Volunteer opportunities, including those for healthcare workers, in Ventura County: here.
- Want to be part of the new Gown Brigade? Go here.
Today’s update:
(Information below from Amy Towner, CEO – Health Care Foundation for Ventura County.)
Wednesday, the VC Reporter wrote about all of you and the incredible grassroots efforts in protecting our community. These measures seem to be flattening the curve more than in other regions by us staying home and taking simple precautions like social distancing, washing our hands, not touching our face and protecting ourselves if out in public. Below is the article highlighting several of you!!!
https://vcreporter.com/2020/04/answering-the-call-residents-mobilize-to-protect-frontline-workers/
Continue reading “Sat 4/4: State of Ventura County’s front line volunteer efforts.”
Wed. 4/1: Update! Our front line needs more masks, thermometers & baby monitors! Also, sign up to join the new “Gown Brigade!”
Check out our constantly updated list of volunteer & donor opportunities here.
(Information below from Amy Towner, CEO – Health Care Foundation for Ventura County.)
MORE MASKS PLEASE!: Update 4/02: We are now at 2,195 community-made masks! These masks are being given to healthcare workers at Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital!!!
(NOTE to MASK-MAKERS!: The hospital has very specific instructions for masks they can accept. Find them, along with a pattern, video and downloadable instructions here. )
At the incident Command Meeting, our Director of Ambulatory Care, Dr. Theresa Cho requested 500 more sewn masks for drive-through clinics so we will up our new goal to 3,500 tonight. The virus will start increasing quickly now and it is a good thing every day we have new sewers…We need to reach our goal of 3,500 before the surge arrives. Please stay vigilant and continue to help. The nice part about these traditional masks is that they can be washed, and reused through repeated hospital grade laundering and autoclave sterilizations. Paired with the 3D shields student volunteers are making, this duo from the community is great protection compared to no protection in the event PPE runs out.
This morning hospital leadership stated that according to other regions ahead of us, it is not if we will need alternative PPE, it is how much. We are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst with your help. Questions?: Email Amy
Wed. 4/1: The most powerful political action you can take today is to fill in your census form online. #shapeyourfuture.
Read and interact with countthenation.org‘s awesome Census Pirate Comic in BOTH English and Spanish!
From Rock the Vote: “The Census is all about the distribution of power and money from the federal government to our communities. Money that goes toward things like emergency services, school lunches, hospitals, schools, fire departments, and affordable housing. And power, which is determined by the number of congresspersons, state legislatures, and other elected officials representing your interests.”
- This website has all the information you may need. More resources here, and here.
- Here is a preview of the online form.
- You can download a form to look over and discuss with your family here.
- Find a video to share on your social media platform on this post or here.
- The League of Women Voters put together a downloadable information page here.
- Worried about confidentiality? Go here for answers.
- Are you an organization, or business operating in Ventura County interested in getting involved in Census 2020 outreach? Go here.
Tues 3/31: The chaos and corruption edition. Two actions.
Today’s two actions are about the rich taking advantage of a pandemic to grab more than their share. So we’re starting with a video from a millionaire.
For the GOP, the pandemic has opened up a huge opportunity – their $500 billion dollar conoravirus stimulus package has been called a “robbery in progress,” a huge, barely -controlled giveaway of taxpayer money and tax benefits to huge corporations and the wealthiest private citizens in the country. “It’s a bailout for twelve years of corporate irresponsibility that made these companies so fragile that a few weeks of disruption would destroy them. The short-termism and lack of capital reserves funneled record profits into a bathtub of cash for investors. That’s who’s being made whole, financiers and the small slice of the public that owns more than a trivial amount of stocks.”
There are some voices of dissent amongst the wealthy. Maybe, they’ll listen to their own.
“The working class has lost sight of the fact, or just don’t understand, that we wealthy are fully in charge. We own Congress. We own the White House. We wealthy are running the country to our benefit….
All my wealthy friends think I’m crazy. I think they’re crazy. …We cannot continue to run this country the way we are for long. It may last our lifetimes, but that’s pretty selfish isn’t it? That we don’t concern ourselve more with our children, and probably more importantly, our grandchildren, that’s a pretty selfish shortsight view and I don’t think it’s really the American way.”
Action #1: It this stimulus package was supposed to be about jobs, why did the GOP want a 6-month wall of secrecy around who gets the money?
Continue reading “Tues 3/31: The chaos and corruption edition. Two actions.”
Sat 3/28: Here are today’s featured volunteer/donation opportunities!
Photo above includes some of our health care professionals wearing masks made by community volunteers. (Use this pattern only.) They now have over 500 of the 3000 they need!
Here’s the list! There’s something for everyone!
Go here of all sorts of volunteer activities to help during this pandemic.
Our health care workers want to say “thanks for the awesome masks and please make more!”
From Amy Towner of the Health Care Foundation for Ventura County – “Your sewn mask donations are going into the hands of healthcare workers at both Ventura County Medical Center and at Santa Paula Hospital as a personal gift to them with the message that their community appreciates and values them. In a clinical setting, ideally, we want authentic personal protective equipment (PPE). With the national shortage and unavailability, our community (all of you) was not ok with that answer and found a way to help by using their talents at the sewing machine with readily available resources like cotton fabric to create a mask style that has been used for hundreds of years to protect those delivering care to us. These masks can be washed and sterilized hospital grade laundering and autoclave. Paired with the 3D shields, this duo from the community is great protection compared to no protection in the event PPE runs out. Our healthcare workers feel the time, energy and quality of the finished product. “We can’t buy masks made this well.” “These are incredibly comfortable, with great coverage and encourages me not to touch my face” are just a few comments amongst all the thanks and gratitude.”
If you want to join the mask-making volunteer brigade, go here for fabric specifications, how-to video and downloadable instructions and pattern. The hospital requires this very specific pattern which was designed by a nurse. It has no elastic, which dissolves in autoclaves and causes irritation around ears, and is the required size, shape and strength to last for 5 months. Continue reading “Sat 3/28: Here are today’s featured volunteer/donation opportunities!”
Thurs 3/26: 3rd time’s the charm. Let’s fix what the Senate missed. Also – why not state-wide renter protection, Gov. Newsom?
Image: Why renter protection is important. Eviction notice for non-payment of rent, after Katrina hit New Orleans on Aug. 29th 2005. There had been no mail service in the city under mandatory evacuation since late August.
Action #1 – Call your Rep and ask them to improve the Senate GOP bill.
The third coronavirus relief bill will NOT be passed by unanimous consent – voting will take place on Friday. “Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Pelosi said Democrats want the next phase to include stronger paid leave provisions, a pension fix and additional worker protections — many of which were left on the cutting room floor in negotiations for the previous bills.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy stated: “I’m not convinced yet that we need a fourth bill.”
We need to be sure worker and taxpayer protection in THIS bill! Continue reading “Thurs 3/26: 3rd time’s the charm. Let’s fix what the Senate missed. Also – why not state-wide renter protection, Gov. Newsom?”
Thurs 3/26: Real-life heroes don’t wear capes. Pass these two bills to get protective medical equipment to them now!
You can put these together in one call or split them up!
Action #1 – Call your legislators and ask them to approve the “Medical Supply Chain Emergency Act” immediately!
Medical workers are quitting. “It was a real obvious choice,”one nurse said. “I either leave before I get sick and possibly get my family sick. Or I leave after I get sick. It was a simple risk versus benefit challenge.” The California Nurses Association, part of a union of more than 100,000 nurses nationwide, has considered calling for individual nurses to invoke a legal refusal to provide care — known as a “safety stop” — over working conditions at some hospitals, including big chains like Kaiser.
