Thurs 9/3: The most powerful political action you can take today is to fill in your census form online. #shapeyourfuture.

Updated 9/3/2020 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.
  • Who has to do this? The 2020 Census counts everyone who was living in the United States and its five territories, American citizen or not, on April 1st, 2020. (Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). One person should respond for each home. That person must be at least 15 years old. They should live in the home or place of residence themselves and know general information about each person living there.
  • How can I tell if a census taker is real?
    • If someone visits your home to collect a response for the 2020 Census, you can do the following to verify their identity:
    • First, check to make sure that they have a valid ID badge, with their photograph, a U.S. Department of Commerce watermark, and an expiration date.
    • If you still have questions about their identity, you can call 844-330-2020 to speak with a Census Bureau representative.
  • 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. (en español)
  • Are you an organization, or business operating in Ventura County interested in getting involved in Census 2020 outreach? Go here.
  • There are a lot of false rumors about the census. Learn about them here.
  • How does Ventura County compare to others counties, states and the US as a whole? Stats at the bottom of this post. We’ll keep updating it!
Continue reading “Thurs 9/3: The most powerful political action you can take today is to fill in your census form online. #shapeyourfuture.” →

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.

safe_image-2.php.jpegFor 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.

Continue reading “Thurs 3/26: Real-life heroes don’t wear capes. Pass these two bills to get protective medical equipment to them now!” →

Thur 3/26: Community resource updates!

We’ve added a number of interesting links to our info banner today that we want to highlight! Things are changing FAST and we are updating the top post daily. If you have something that should be shared, contact us here.

Masks/Medical equipment: (here)
Send an email to Amy here if you need a pickup for donations,  or deliver items directly to 765 Saratoga, Ventura.

  • Masks: New instructional video here.
  • Baby Monitors: This has been upgraded to a “NEED!” “When we are through this pandemic, we will sterilize them and offer to MediCal patients that deliver and need a monitor for their newborn. Nurses are relieved these are coming in for monitoring patients in overflow rooms. 
  • Temporal infrared thermometers: Temporal infrared thermometers are sold out everywhere.  If anyone has any extras, that is another current need.  We need approximately 20. Crazy to think in America, we can’t get the basics. 
  • All other “Personal Protective Gear”: We are still seeking all PPE, isolation gowns, N95 masks, surgical masks, gloves, goggles.”   Continue reading “Thur 3/26: Community resource updates!” →

Wed. 3/25: Ventura County volunteers step up! Update on requests for help.

UPDATED 4/01: Total cases: 160.  Active under quarantine: 124. Deaths: 5. Tested: 2,987. (Source: VC Emergency)
New  – Action #14 – Train online to be a volunteer certified nurses aid.

Action #1 – More masks please! They need at least 3000 3500!!

Check here for all updates to mask project pattern and specifications.

image.png

Update 4/02/2020: 2,194 completed masks out of 3500 needed!
Update 3/25/2020: Ventura’s mask-making volunteers have made the New York Times! Check out the bottom paragraphs of this article! Then watch this video of the project from KEYT. Local high school students are also using 3D-printing to create face shields for medical workers. Ventura County is full of awesome people!

Update from Amy Towner, CEO of Health Care Foundation for Ventura County, Inc.:

“Our community continues to grow, today 250+ people to help protect and serve our county. Infection control is thrilled with the quality of masks being produced as is administration, doctors and nurses. (We knew all along that we could produce something better than money could buy and made with love to provide additional protection). We now have about 1,769 masks in current stock and we need at least 3,500 and we can do it.”  UPDATE 4/01: 500 additional masks required for drive through clinic personnel. 

  • Send an email to Amy here to volunteer (do this first!) Tell her the following:
    1. Full Name
    2. Cell Phone
    3. Email address
    4. Full residential address
    5. Need/donation
      • “I have fabric/thread supply to donate”
      • “I need need fabric so I can sew”
      • “I can drive for supply/demand”
  • Mask pattern, instructions, fabric specifications and drop-off information are here.

Action #2 – UPDATED 4/01 – Check your garage and storage areas for unused baby monitors and other medical equipment! 

Continue reading “Wed. 3/25: Ventura County volunteers step up! Update on requests for help.” →

Tues 3/24: “Cruel and unusual” – Law enforcement and punishment in a pandemic.

Quote by Dr. Ranit Mishori, a professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine and medical adviser to the group Physicians for Human Rights. “

Action #1 – Tell ICE to stop sucking up supplies of surgical masks needed for real emergencies.

ken

ICE has recently ordered 45,000 N95 surgical masks so that agents can be protected when they round up undocumented people, prior to putting them into jails where they will become vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. Nearly half of immigrants detained by ICE have been accused of no crime other than civil immigration violations, and many probably would not have been held under previous administrations. Rep. Omar stated “Immigration detention facilities, even before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, have been breeding grounds for illness. For detainees who are immunocompromised or otherwise susceptible to the worst consequences of contracting Covid-19, holding them in detention may be literally a matter of life or death.”

Please contact Amanda Stought and ask her to reconsider her order and to ask ICE to stand down during until this pandemic is over.

Minimal script: Good [morning] Ms. Stought. You may have noticed the pandemic in the news, and the associated lack of PPE gear (personal protective equipment) for medical professionals and first responders. Please consider that none of the people your ICE officers arrest deserve a coronavirus death sentence. Keep your officers at home, safe with their families during this lockdown like everyone else and send all your N95 masks to hospitals where they’re desperately needed.

CONTACT: Email her at amanda.stought@ice.dhs.gov and/or leave her a call at 202-732-2544.

Action #2 – Release ALL non-violent offenders, including detained immigrants.

Continue reading “Tues 3/24: “Cruel and unusual” – Law enforcement and punishment in a pandemic.” →

Mon – 3/23: It’s time to do more.

Action – If you can sew, if you have material, if you can drive to connect these resources, please help!

Update 4/23/2020: Not a sewer? Got an iron? Be a gown maker. Go here.
Update 3/25/2020: You volunteers have made the New York Times! Check out the bottom of this article! Also check out this video of the project from KEYT, along with news of a local high school project to make 3d-printed face shields. Ventura County is full of awesome people!
Update 3/29/2020:  Go here for updates on other donations and other volunteer opportunities.

nurse bound mask

Message from Amy B Towner, MBA, Chief Executive Officer 
Health Care Foundation for Ventura County, Inc.

“Thank you for your willingness to sew and donate your time, talent and fabric for this endeavor. These masks will be used countywide. Point of entry will be Ventura County Medical Center for dissemination which is part of your Ventura County Health Care Agency.  Our Trauma Nurse, Gina Ferrer will be receiving and disseminating and her information and drop off location is below.”

Continue reading “Mon – 3/23: It’s time to do more.” →

Mon 3/23: No, bad GOP! Put workers first!

Action: The GOP just can’t help themselves. $600 to the poor, weak worker protections and billions to corporations. Say “No!”

Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is mad that his munificent “corporate bailout” scam isn’t slipping through unchecked. Democrats are protesting that the GOP’s bill “does too little to protect the unemployed, feed the hungry, subsidize states and cushion students facing mounds of debt. They’re also up in arms over language to provide up to $500 billion in loans and guarantees for corporations, at the sole discretion of the administration.“

“It amounts to a blank check for Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told MSNBC Sunday night. “That’s outrageous, and that’s not going to happen.” Continue reading “Mon 3/23: No, bad GOP! Put workers first!” →