Delta Health was recognized for their work in improving breastfeeding. The hospital announced the news this week as one of 45 hospitals across the state being recognized by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The state health department noted Delta Health’s efforts to promote breastfeeding and offer healthier food and beverage options. These initiatives are part of the state’s work to promote healthy eating and active living while reducing the rates of death and disease from chronic illness among Coloradans.
With weather forecasts showing dangerously high temperatures, KVNF's Cassie Knust spoke with Cheryl Oeltjenbruns of the Abraham Connection in Delta about the shelter’s first community cooling station. To help combat the heat, the Abraham Connection will be open from 3PM to 7pm for a cooling station whenever the temperature is 101 degrees and above.
They are located at 480 Silver Street in Delta. Call 970-433-6266 if you’d like to volunteer or need more information.
July is Disability Pride Month. KVNF’s Taya Jae spoke with Disability Rights Activist Emily Ladau, whose book, "Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally," offers a comprehensive guide to understanding accessibility and unlearning ableism.
Transcript
Host Intro:
From KVNF, I'm Cassie Knust. This is your regional newscast for Thursday, July 20th.
Delta Health was recognized for their work in improving breastfeeding. The hospital announced the news this week as one of 45 hospitals across the state being recognized by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The State Health Department noted Delta Health's effort to promote breastfeeding and offer healthier food and beverage options. These initiatives are part of the state's work to promote healthy eating and active living, all while reducing the rates of death and disease from chronic illness among Coloradans.
July is Disability Pride Month. KVNF’s Taya Jae talked with Disability Rights Activist Emily Ladau, whose book Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say and How to be an Ally offers a comprehensive guide to understanding accessibility and unlearning ableism.
Feature 1:
Taya Jae: More than 1 billion people around the world are disabled, meaning that disabled people are the world's largest minority. Additionally, disability is the only identity that anyone can suddenly take on at any time. Despite the fact that nearly 15% of the world experiences some form of disability, what we know about disability remains somewhat misunderstood.
Emily Ladau: For so many people Disability is reduced to the same things that we see on the media over and over again, rather than a rich nuanced, really deeply human experience. So we tend to see it as being very inspirational. We tend to see it as people overcoming disability or we might see it as tragic. We might see people as the victims of their disability, as suffering from their disability. We tend to reduce people with disabilities to these stereotypes rather than recognizing the whole of our humanity and the fact that we are complex individuals. And so, disability is really misunderstood because we are socialized to think about it that way or to not think about it at all. And so of course, it's misunderstood because we're not given the chance to understand it.
TJ: In her book, Emily identifies ableism as, “attitudes, actions and circumstances that devalue people because they are disabled.” In order to become better allies, she says, non disabled folks need to unlearn ableism that can be a scary and difficult conversation and it can be hard to know where to start.
EL: We are so afraid of getting it wrong that we just avoid talking about disability and we live in a culture where we don't necessarily always give ourselves the grace to make a mistake. But at the same time, sometimes mistakes are part of the learning process. And so what I really wanted to do in writing my book is give people a place to go to get some of those questions answered when they're feeling a little bit uncertain and I know that it can feel really scary when you start to broach a subject that you are perhaps unfamiliar with. But my hope is that if we begin to open up conversations about disability, it won't feel so scary because we'll recognize that it's just a normal part of what it means to be a person. When we're thinking about disability, when we're talking about disability, it's not something to be afraid of.
TJ: to be an effective ally requires work and that work takes time.
EL: I want people to understand that learning about disability and being supportive to the disability community is very much a journey and not a destination. And so if you've read one book on disability, if you have listened to one radio show on disability, right? That means that you now have the opportunity to keep going to engage further to learn from other people because there's so much to learn about disability. And I want people to understand that this conversation doesn't stop. It keeps going.
TJ: Emily Ladau, speaking about her book Demystifying Disability, What to Know, What to Say and How to be an Ally. Emily's book is available through 10 Speed Press. For KVNF, I'm Taya Jae.
Host Outro: For the full conversation visit the news tab on KVNF.org.
Feature 2:
Cassie Knust: With weather forecasts showing dangerously high temperatures, I spoke with Cheryl Oeltjenbruns of the Abraham connection in Delta about the Shelter's first Community Cooling Station.
Cheryl Oeltjenbruns: It's a first time service. We've talked about it in the past and just didn't feel like we had adequate resources to make it happen. But this summer when we realized temperatures were climbing so high, we realized we needed to do something. And in part, we were able to open last winter when the temperatures got so cold and we had snow. So we were able to stay open a few hours longer. And our volunteers stepped up our volunteers and staff and board members. And so we were able to stay open for a good part of the day during that cold snap. And we just felt like it was the right thing to do this summer was to try to get that shelter open so that people could come in and get cool. And so they're able to come in and they can take a shower, they can do some laundry, we have sandwiches available for them, but they can just stay inside, out of the heat.
CK: So the shelter opened its cooling station at 100 and one degrees and higher. What made the decision to make this 101 degrees and not another number?
CO: I think it, it was mostly because, you know, we're, we're trying to rely on weather apps and they kind of, they kind of vary, but it felt like when the temperature was at 100 and one that was going to be it wasn't gonna dip below that much during that, that hot part of the day. So we're open from three pm to 7 p.m. and it's just if it's 100 and one and then it doesn't, it doesn't typically drop too far below that of the, you know, mid nineties.
CK: As you mentioned, it takes resources to put these things together, what goes into making a cooling or heating station for the community?
CO: So we have to, we are primarily volunteer driven down here. The board of directors serves as a working board. So we're, we're covering shifts, we're doing, you know, clean up and overseeing the running of the shelter. We don't have an actual administrator down here. So what goes into it is making sure that we do have enough volunteers who can keep the shelter up and going. And we made the decision a year ago to hire a volunteer coordinator, which is Lacey Taylor. And so she has been able to get enough volunteers to keep it so we can, we can be open not just during the cold months of the year for the overnight shelter, but then also when we have the immediate needs.
CK: And have you had a lot of interest so far in the cooling station?
CO: We have, we were open a few days last week and we did have people come in and take advantage of the resource and then last winter because we just didn't close the shelter for the morning, our guests were able to just stay so we had certainly a lot more access. that piece of it, last winter. And I think this week is supposed to be hotter and I really expect to have even more people show up.
CK: Is there anything else you'd like people to know that I didn't think to ask you.
CO: We are always looking for volunteers and they can go to our website or call the shelter phone. They want to step up and help us out. And then in terms of supplies that we need, just, you know, we're, we're in need of bottled water and sunscreen and personal hygiene, toiletry items, like, you know, the deodorant and the toothpaste and shaving cream and those sorts of things.
CK: That was Cheryl Oeltjenbruns of the Abraham connection in Delta. They are located at 480 Silver Street, in Delta. This wraps your regional newscast for today. I'm Cassie Knust
