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What we found, overall, was that the world has changed in ways that make it far harder to contain diseaseand some of the mistakes that fuel its spread have already happened in the current real-world outbreak. There is still time, though, to think more carefully about how to respond both to this outbreak and likely future ones.

We chose a new strain of coronavirus for our scenario because scientists agreed that this was a likely pathogen for a future epidemic; recent outbreaks such as SARS and MERS were also caused by the coronavirus family. The future we described was based on the research of deep subject matter experts who have studied recent epidemics, including our colleagues in the Center for Strategic and International Studies Global Health Security program and researchers with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

The parallels between our exercise and todays real outbreak arent exact. We assumed a research laboratory-created virus first released in Europe (by accident or intentionallywe left it deliberately unclear); the real-world SARS-CoV-2 virus likely originated in wild animals sold at a meat market and was first detected in Wuhan, China. But other aspects are extremely similar: In our scenario, the virus was highly transmissible and had a 3.125 percent lethality rate. So far, the true rate of the new virus is unknown, but according to the World Health Organization about 3.4 percent of reported COVID-19 cases have died.

So what happened, as our exercise unfoldedand what do Americans need to know about what might happen next?

The coronavirus in our scenario spread much as todays virus does, jumping between countries via international air travel, causing problems not only for their health systems, but for economies and political leaders.

The fictional outbreak rapidly spread from its primary case at Berlin Tegel Airport to a range of connecting international destinations. An infected individual first transmitted the virus as he transited the airport, then proceeded to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, traveling to several additional destinations in the New York area, where he continued to transmit the virus. In the three months since its first human-to-human transmission at Tegel Airport, our virus spread rapidly across Europe, North America, Northeast Asia and the Middle East.

Our scenario assumed governments would first turn to short-term measures to try to slow the spread, such as travel bans and border closures. These bans, we found, did little to slow the spread of the virus: By the time those decisions got made, it had already started to spread through international air corridors and further human-to-human transmission. Like the real-world COVID-19 we are battling now, our hypothetical disease was transmissible before carriers show serious symptoms, so authoritiesas nowfound themselves playing catch-up.

Our experts also projected that travel bans could have the unintended effect of worsening international cooperation and disrupting trade. They noted that travel bans are easy to enact, but difficult to repeal, creating lasting friction in the movement of people that is central to the U.S. services-led economy. In our scenario, we assumed that economic activity had slowed substantially, due to the direct effects on worker health and government efforts to prevent further spread of the virus. If anything, the real-world disruption has sometimes exceeded our expectations, especially in the case of the extraordinary quarantine measures imposed in China. In the U.S., we assumed that life as normal would be on pause, as individuals focused on their personal health and that of their families.

We also assumed that nations would begin turning to fiscal and monetary stimulus to calm markets and prop up growtha response were already seeing in the real world, such as the extraordinary decision on March 3 by the Federal Reserve Bank to cut its benchmark interest rate by a half percentage point.

Our workshop presented experts with a world coming to terms with a pandemic three months after the initial outbreak. During that time, governments, bio-research communities and drug manufacturers had raced to develop treatments and a vaccine for this novel coronavirus, much as they are today. But, given the long lead time for research and then human subject testing, it would still take more than a year to come forwardexactly the amount of time U.S. health officials are now forecasting a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 is likely to take.

We ended up with a handful of clear insights that we should heed in our current crisis, and to get ahead of the next one.

One of our exercises most important insights is that early and preventative actions are critical. Establishing trust and cooperation domestically and internationally among governments, companies, workers and citizens is important before crisis strikes. There has been some progress on this in recent years: After the last crisis of the 2014-16 Ebola response, a range of investments were made and initiatives undertaken in the United States, within the World Health Organization, and elsewhere. In an era in which Congress seems unable to agree on anything, global health security has been a bright spot for bipartisanshipincluding $50 million allocated to the CDC Infectious Diseases Rapid Response Reserve Fund, the passage of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act, and the continuation of the Global Health Security Agenda. Its not enough according to public health experts, but it is a start.

We also concluded that communication is vitalbut a decline in trust makes it harder. Dramatic shifts in the world also raised new alarm bells for health security in our exercise. The first of these is the need for consistent messaging and trusted sources of information. A critical ingredient for addressing pandemics is public order and obedience to protocols, rationing, and other measures that might be needed. Today, public trust in institutions and leaders is fragile, with routine evidence of intentional disinformation by foreign actors and elected officials alike.

Misstatements about science are particularly damaging to the credibility of scientists and health officials seeking to guide policy. One need look no further than the anti-vaccination movement to see how disinformation can effectively impair public health goals. And the broad-scale use by state and nonstate actors alike of online disinformation to diminish public confidence in governments and institutions is especially dangerous in an already fragile crisis environment. Amid the hyperpartisanship of the current U.S. political environment in a presidential election year, coronavirus is a dangerously political issue.

International cooperation is also key. A virus knows no borders, as we have already seen with the real-world outbreak, and here a concerning change is heightened mistrust among countries. In the midst of trade tensions, increased meddling by one country in the internal politics of another and growing military tensions in hot spots around the globe, organizations such as the World Health Organization are increasingly caught in the middle, unable to play their intended neutral function. States compete with one another rather than cooperate, ignoring the inherently transnational nature of the threat as they try to minimize the downsides to their own populations, economies and ruling party. In our scenario, these international tensions inhibited information sharing, much as we initially saw from China with COVID-19. (Our scenario had an additional complication: Because it wasnt clear who exactly was behind the disease outbreak, and whether it was accidental or intentional, the global environment was even more charged.)

Our exercise also underscored that the private sector will be vital to managing the outbreak. Theres a good reason the president gathered pharmaceutical executives on Monday. The U.S. federal government is rightly at the center of the response to this likely pandemic, but it is the private sector that holds the bulk of the technological innovation to producing treatments and cures. One bit of good news on this front: There is already in place a highly effective public-private partnership structure in the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which is making important contributions in the current race for a vaccine.

The principal conclusion of our scenario was that leaders simply dont take health seriously enough as a U.S. national security issue. Congress holds few hearings on the topic, especially in the defense committees, and the White House last year eliminated a top National Security Council position focused on the issue.

Theres also weakness at the global level: Though there are bodies dedicated to global coordination, especially the WHO, countries prioritize domestic considerations in times of crisis, and international coordination and collaboration become an afterthought. Even within the European Union, countries make their own independent decisions in responding to an epidemic. We already see rising frictions from border closures and travel bans to export restrictions related to medicine.

Ours was not the first pandemic scenario to raise serious questions about the strength of the global health system. The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security has developed a particularly outstanding pandemic exercise, Clade X, a full video of which is available online.

These warnings have not been taken seriously enough. Overall, the U.S. governments approach continues to suffer from a cycle of crisis and complacency, as the CSIS Commission on Strengthening Americas Health Security recently reportedmeaning that leaders scramble to react to a headline epidemic, and then their attention drifts, hurting their ability to prevent the next one. Managing from crisis to crisis carries a staggering cost in lives and dollars.

In the real crisis unfolding now, tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars will be spentbut little of that money will address underlying issues that will set in when the complacency strikes again. Overall economic costs to the global economy will range in the trillions. Its in Americas interest to spend money on greater pandemic preparedness, not just in the U.S., but globally.

The fact that the real-world outbreak happened in China may actually have been lucky: China is the worlds second-largest economy, with a relatively advanced scientific base and uniquely top-down system of governance that gives it unusual ability to control and monitor its enormous population. Despite significant missteps at the outset, China has come to deal aggressively with this outbreak. The next pandemic is far likelier to emerge from a country or region that is poor, weakly governed and with weak public health infrastructure.

The coronavirus scenario we crafted was one of three designed to investigate the vital but rapidly changing role for government at the intersection of security and emerging technology. The other two focused on Chinese military employment of artificial intelligence and a major state cyberattack and large-scale disinformation campaign aimed at the United States. Across all the threat streams we examined, early detection, public and international trust and information sharing, and harnessing innovation in the private sector were vital to effective risk reduction. Policy, health and our very survival are within our control. Scenarios and foresight work can be powerful tools to imagine a possible future. But we must do better. We must make policy that prevents and, where needed, prepares for those futures we do not want.

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We Predicted a Coronavirus Pandemic. Heres What Policymakers Could Have Seen Coming. - POLITICO

The centerpiece of the new MBA program at Washington Universitys Olin Business School is a new 38-day global immersion that starts right after a one-week orientation on campus. What was it like to travel and learn with an entire cohort of first-year MBA students to Washington, D.C., Barcelona, Spain, and Beijing and Shanghai, China?

To find out, weve put together this panel of three Olin students who lived the new global experience that helped to make the schools newly revamped MBA the Program of the Year in 2019. Joining the live-streamed discussion are Lungi Tshuma, a former professional rugby player; Jennifer Lanas, an educator from Pittsburgh who has an upcoming summer internship at Cisco, and Zach Frantz, who had worked in China for five years in a variety of jobs and expects to land an internship in supply chain and operations.

This is the second of three-panel conversations. The first, featuring Olin Business School Dean Mark Taylor and two of the schools professors, explored the background behind the updates to the MBA curriculum and what Olin learned from the global immersion itself.

An edited transcript of our student conversation follows:

John A. Byrne: Im betting that all three of you saw the new global immersion as a major attraction and it became one of the reasons why you decided to come to Olin for your MBA, yes?

Jennifer Lanas: Absolutely. Jiggle the car keys. Gas up the jet, lets go.

Byrne: And did the immersion fulfill your expectations?

Lanas: More than ever. Truthfully, we circumnavigated the globe together. And over the course of six weeks, we developed friendships. We learned business by actually doing business and contextualizing information. It was a dream come true for me.

Byrne: What were the surprises for you, Zach? You had spent five years in China. I imagine that when you went to Shanghai and Beijing with your classmates, you were the guide, you were the leader.

Zach Frantz: After spending five years in China and spending so much time trying to get back to United States to graduate school, when I first learned that I was going go back to China almost immediately upon returning, I was a little worried. I had just came from here, and I didnt actually want to go back but the program was incredible. I got an opportunity to share a little part of the country which I love with my classmates and do my best to help people get around, navigate the streets, maybe eat some good food along the way. It was a good time.

Byrne: And Lungi, one of the memorable things you said to me earlier your recollection of the night you and your classmates went down near the river in Shanghai. And in that evening with the city glittering all around you, you just had a magic moment that youll remember for a lifetime. Talk to me about that moment.

Lungi Tshuma: That was a special moment, one of many. But the reason it was so special is that we were all outside of our comfort zones. But, safely outside of our comfort zones, with the guidance of the school, and the program. We were in Shanghai after having traveled together and seen the best and worst of each other. We were like doing work in the middle of the night but decided to go out to have drinks as well. So it a moment that just put everything into perspective. Thats when we first paused. We took a moment and we were just sitting by the Big Bend with the lights by the canal. And we were just watching the lights having a couple of beers. It was awesome. I felt that this was my new group, my new friends. So thats why it was special.

Byrne: Its clear that the bonding that occurred from the trip was very unusual and very deep. I think I heard that second year MBAs wondered what kind of voodoo was going on because your cohort was so deeply connected when you returned to campus. But the other learning was accelerated development. Did you get a sense that you were learning a lot during the 38 days you were away?

Lanas:I would say thats true John. Baptism by fire might be an accurate way to describe it orswimming with sharks, so to speak. Thats not to frighten anyone. The idea is that you belong to a cohort, and its a diverse, eclectic group of people. You know, Poets & Quants is an accurate description. You have people who are well versed in the humanities, as well as individuals on your team who formerly worked in strategy and in investments. So you have people on your team who can put together a P&L, who can stand up on the stage and put together a deck that is perfectly executed. So yes, you really are running a sprint every week. And the demands are a little bit challenging. But you know that you have a deliverable and you know you have teammates that you can rely upon to get the job done.

Byrne: And the teams are formed in a way to bring their workplace experiences into the project so that students could add real value, correct?

Lanas: Absolutely.

Byrne: So, lets take the three parts of the Global Immersion. Give me a sense of what went on in Washington D.C., the first stop.

Tshuma:Yeah, I can speak about Washington. We were exposed to the Brookings Institute, which has long had a relationship with the university. It really did set a good tone for the rest of the Immersion. It was the right balance of getting to know each other as groups and preparing ourselves, and also setting a standard for the educational work in the core courses and the cultural experiences that we were going to experience. So I think it was really like a plane taking off. I think from Washington all the way to Barcelona, Beijing, Shanghai.

Byrne:At Brookings, you had lectures on global economics, public policy, to set the stage for the rest of the trip, right?

Tshuma:In global economics, we spoke about how businesses are more global and how a simple product touches all the ends of the earth before it gets on the shelf. So it was preparing our minds as well. We looked at things like the healthcare system of the U.S. and how it compared to other countries in the world.

Byrne: Where did you stay when you were in Washington, D.C.? Dupont Circle.

Tshuma: In a hotel in Dupont Circle. We would get up in the mornings and walk to the Brookings Institute. It was super convenient. And I actually got a chance to even walk to the Zimbabwe Embassy. Everything was well planned out.

Frantz:I thought the most important part of Washington was that it was the first step in getting to know your teammates and trying to figure out how to work within these diverse groups.Im a firm believer that you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone to spark personal growth and development. And we got pushed in a lot of ways on the global immersion trip. But one of the main ways was we were forced to figure out how to work with a group of peoplewhom wed never met before,We have different backgrounds, and a lot of us were doing things that weve never been exposed to before.

Washington, D.C., was great because we had a group project and we had a deadline, and we had to allocate responsibilities, but it wasnt necessarily related to business. So we were able to work with our teammates to figure out our group dynamic and how to get things done in an area that we didnt necessarily need the expertise to excel. And so that was a great first step for our work.

Byrne: What did the group project involve?.

Frantz: Over the course of the week, we had been learning about economies from all over the world. We also had learned a little bit more about American history. We did some cultural excursion tours because a number of our classmates had never been to Washington D.C. before. Each member of the group went to a different museum and we came back and synthesized what we saw and gave a presentation that echoed the core values of our program.

Byrne: And then, on to Barcelona. What was that like?

Lanas:To actually be there in the city and to see whats happening at a granular level for a thriving, vibrant city facing some geopolitical turmoil was exciting. You understand that Barcelona is a microcosm of a much larger global story. So not only was our cohort putting together, many of us had to pull together our first P&Ls while were in the midst of this vibrant European city. During the day, were engaged in classes that were demanding to enter into the world of management and strategy. And were relying upon each other as teammates to understand and contextualize this information. My project was with a bio-dynamic vineyard.

We had to understand why this is a value proposition worth pursuing and how might we, as consultants, help to advance this mission. From my standpoint, I wanted to use it as not only a business case but also a way of exercising design thinking in the group. So, we used design thinking strategies to help us understand and exercise our strengths, our brand as a team, and then advanced that moving forward. There were a lot of team-building exercises that we did in Barcelona that were fun, engaging, and interactive. And again, how could you not be there and appreciate the culture? There was so much that I got out of that experience. Its B-school. So yeah, you get up early. You stay out late. You figure out a way to make it all happen.

Byrne: And where did you stay?

Lanas: We were just off of La Rambla, which is a large promenade in central Barcelona.And Barcelona is an entirely walkable, beautiful city. We were in the heart of it all.

Byrne: Im sure everyone ate well, in Barcelona.

Lanas:-My teammates have the greatest taste in paella and I proudly say so. And the Cava cant be beaten.

Byrne: Was your winery making Cava?

Lanas: Yes. And thats it in the distinction. Cava has been historically at a different price point. Its not champagne, or its not wine from the Napa Valley. So how do you change the perception of Cava, and to which market should it be branded? So thats one of the questions that we had to solve as a team. My team was representative in terms of gender. And thats something we should say here: our cohort of 100 students achieved gender parity. And those are the things that we really stand by. We are racially and ethnically diverse. We stand by our values. We as a team came together again, in a very representative fashion with very different perspectives to solve a problem for a winery in a different country on a different continent. That was a pretty awesome project overall.

Byrne: Lungi gave us his magic moment of the trip. What would have been yours?

Lanas:Dont get me wrong. I do like a good party. But I am a quiet walk-and-talk type of person. So I think it was walking with my teammates through the winding streets of the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona.So winding through a quiet sleepy Sunday, and hearing music. It seems like every corner you just see another guitarist just strumming away and that for me is something that was palpable. Ill take that away with me forever.

Byrne: Did the school pay for tapas?

Lanas:You know, I definitely have to say that I wouldnt be here or anywhere for that matter throughout my educational journey as a former teacher. Scholarship considerations matter. So the fact that the global immersion was included within your tuition wasa remarkable game-changer.

Byrne: Plus, in China, you actually had your own hotel rooms?

Franz: Thats right for a full three weeks in Shanghai.Living in style.

Byrne: Okay, Zach, youve got to tell us about the China trip now.

Franz: I was just going to say that while the school did not pay for our tapas us out, they did pay for maybe 20 buffets a week.And no one needs that many buffets in their life, but we got them.

Byrne: Well, I think you all probably gained weight during this trip, right?

Lanas: Well, theres quite a bit of walking, This is a once in a lifetime opportunity so you need to see it all. Many of our professors also are up at the crack of dawn, with their run clubs. So whether youre joining a professor on a run or you want to take a nice stroll by yourself to take in the solitude of the city, youll walk it off.

Byrne: Actually, you are making me recall an interview with one of your professors who told me that his magic moment was taking those early runs with students and really getting to know students as he had never had before. That was really special to him.

Lanas: Its a sense of community that you cant build anywhere or anyway else.

Byrne: Zach, so this was a return to China for you? How was it different?

Franz: One key thing was despite the fact I had been in China that long, I wasnt necessarily working in what could be considered traditional business industries. So through our two projects in China, we were able to develop a go-to-market strategy for Strange Donuts, a local franchise here in St. Louis, and then also took an operations course in the latter half of our portion in Shanghai where we got to take factory tours of a major apparel manufacturer in China and to the Nike fulfillment center in China. Its just outside of Shanghai and is responsible for the fulfillment of all of its orders in China.

It was fairly heavily automated and they were always looking for different opportunities to automate it. I remember them talking about how the picking section was actually the most manually intensive aspect of their distribution process within the factory. But it also was too costly or impossible to be automated at this current date.

Byrne: So what was your magic moment?

Franz: Honestly, I think mine is the same as Lungis. You know, it was at the perfect moment cause it was right at the end of our tour. We were about to fly back to the United States. We just came out of a good night together meeting MBA students in Shanghai who were from Fudan University. We had a good event, everyone was feeling good. Only a couple days left to go on the trip, and just the Shanghai skyline is really quite something. You know, looking at a nice feast allows you to reflect upon how much youve accomplished over the past few weeks with the great people around you.

Byrne: It sounds like its something that none of you will ever forget.All right, Zach, Jennifer and Lungi, thank you so much for joining us.

DONT MISS: INSIDE THE MBA PROGRAM OF THE YEAR: A CONVERSATION WITH OLIN DEAN MARK TAYLOR & TWO PROFESSORS

Go here to read the rest:
Poets&Quants | Student Perspectives On The MBA Program Of The Year - Poets&Quants

CANFIELD

Mah-Jongg Mondays, 1-3 p.m., Canfield Library.

Tales to Tails, 6 p.m., Canfield Library; for children grades kindergarten and up; therapy dogs provided by Pet Partners of Greater Youngstown, a local Pet Therapy group.

GOSHEN TOWNSHIP

Board of Trustees, 7 p.m., administration building.

LEETONIA

Cards & Games, 1-4 p.m. Leetonia Community Public Library.

LISBON

Adult Craft featuring a St. Patricks Day Frame, 6 pm., Lepper Library; call 330-424-3117.

Lisbon Alanon, 7-8 p.m., Flemming House.

PERRY TOWNSHIP

Board of Trustees, work study session to discuss budgets, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., followed by regular meeting at 5:30 p.m., which will include executive session to discuss personnel.

SALEM

Salem Historical Society, museum and gift/book shop, 239 South Lundy, open, tours by appointment, 9 a.m.-noon. 330-337-8514.

Banquet in Salem, 5-7 p.m., Salem Memorial Building; menu will include spaghetti and meatballs in red sauce, tossed salad, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit and cupcakes; information call Patty Colian at 330-832-2169.

Salem Eagles Auxiliary meeting, 7 p.m.

WASHINGTONVILLE

VFW Post 5532 Auxiliary meeting, 6 p.m.

TUE/10

CANFIELD

Baby Brilliant: Tales & Talk for 2s & 3s, 10 a.m., Canfield Library; for ages 2-3.

Country Two Step Class, 6-7 p.m., MetroParks Farm McMahon Hall; $8 at the door; information at 330-740-7114 Ext. 282.

Swing Dance Class, 7-8 p.m., MetroParks Farm McMahon Hall; $8 at the door; information at 330-740-7114 Ext. 282.

COLUMBIANA

Drive-thru ham dinner, 4-6 p.m., First United Methodist Church; $8; call the church at 330-482-2382 one week prior or day of dinner between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. to reserve dinners.

ELKRUN

Elkrun Fairfield Friendly Homemakers, 10 a.m., Southern Park Terrace, Columbiana.

LEETONIA

Crochet for Charity, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.; Gentle Yoga, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Leetonia Community Public Library.

SALEM

Salem High School Class of 1948, breakfast, 10 a.m., Adeles Place.

Parkinsons Support Group, 1 p.m., Emanuel Lutheran Church Education Building, 251 S. Broadway Ave.; speaker will be from Cleveland Clinic.

Quota International of Salem, board meeting, 5 p.m.; dinner, 6 p.m., at the clubhouse.

Salem Eagles Aerie meeting, 7 p.m.

Salem Historical Society, 7 p.m., monthly meeting, public invited.TopicPioneer Paper Mills of Littler Beaver Creek, presented by historian Craig Wetzel. Program will be at the Dale Shaffer Library at239 South Lundy Ave. Visitors are welcome.

WED/11

BELOIT

West Branch school board, 5 p.m., high school west wing conference room; special meeting for an executive session to consider employment of a public official; no action will be taken.

BOARDMAN

Area Singles Group, 6 p.m., Olive Garden.

CANFIELD

Gotta Move Story Time, 10 a.m., Canfield Library; for children ages 2-5 and their carnegies.

Sit n Stitch, 11 a.m., Canfield Library; for adults.

True Stories Book Club, 6:30 p.m., Canfield Library; for adults; The Black Hand by Stephan tasty.

Lenten Breakfast, 6:30-9:30 a.m., Canfield Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 123 S. Broad St.; free will offering accepted.

COLUMBIANA

Crestview Board of Education, regular meeting, 7 p.m., middle school cafeteria, 44100 Crestview Road.

LEETONIA

Toddler Playgroup, 10-11:15 a.m., Leetonia Community Public Library.

Leetonia High School Class of 1966, lunch, 12:45 p.m., Hecks Restaurant.

St. Patrick Catholic Church pierogi sale, 1-3 p.m.; $6 per dozen; order at 260-458-7147 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. or 330-427-6188 between 6 and 8 p.m.; flavors include potato and cheese; potato, cheese and jalapeno; potato, cheese and bacon; potato, cheese and sauerkraut; and sauerkraut.

LISBON

David Anderson High School Class of 1956, 11 a.m., belleric in Columbiana.

Columbiana County Park District Board, regular session, 4:30 p.m., park office at 130 W. Maple St, Lisbon.

SALEM

Salem Historical Society, museum and gift/book shop, 239 South Lundy, open, tours by appointment, 9 a.m.-noon. 330-337-8514.

Gentle Exercise class, 10-11 a.m., Salem Public Library Quaker Room; register at www. Salem. Lib. Oh. Us or 330-332-0042.

Salem High School Class of 1949, breakfast, 9:30 a.m., Adeles Place.

Salem High School Class of 1965, 6 p.m., Rickys English Pub.

Salem United Commercial Travelers Council #590, 6:30 p.m., Perkins Restaurant for dinner. Business session and election of officers will immediately follow.

County Strategies to Combat Addiction, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Salem Public Library Quaker Room; register at www. Salem. Lib. Oh. Us or 330-332-0042.

SEBRING

Salem Area Visiting Nurse Association Free Blood Pressure Check, 1-2 p.m., Sebring Library.

WINONA

Senior Moments Cafe, 12:20 to 1:30 p.m., Winona Friends Family Life Center on whispery Road; free lunch available for all 55 years and older.

THU/12

CANFIELD

Baby Brilliant : Bonding with Babies & Books, 10 a.m., Canfield Library; for 6 to 23 month olds and carnegies.

COLUMBIANA

Oasis Food Ministry food distribution, 4-6 p.m., First Christian Church, 39 Cherry St.

HANOVERTON

United High School Class of 1965, lunch, noon, Marks Landing.

KNOX TOWNSHIP

Mile Branch Grange Soup Sale, pick up 4 to 6 p.m., 495 Knox School Road, Alliance; $6 per quart, Loaded Potato or Stuffed Pepper; order by noon March 11 at 330-821-8023, leave name, phone number, type of soup and number of quarts.

LEETONIA

Low-Impact Exercise, 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.; Cro

NEW WATERFORD

New Waterford Eagles, Wing Night, 4-9 p.m., Queen of Hearts available.

NORTH LIMA

Drive-thru Chicken Dinner, 3-6 p.m. (or until sold out), Calvary United Methodist Church, 12062 South Ave.; $7 includes stuffed chicken breast, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and brownie; reserve dinners at 330-549-2588.

SALEM

Kaiser and National retirees, 8:30 a.m., Adeles.

TOPS 1598, weigh-in 8:30-9:15 a.m., First United Methodist Church, 244 S. Broadway Ave.; information at 234-575-0805.

Salem Historical Society, museum and gift/book shop, 239 South Lundy, open, tours by appointment, 9 a.m.-noon. 330-337-8514.

Salem Regional Medical Center Ladies Auxiliary, 9:30 a.m., sruti Private Dining Room on the hospitals ground floor; Dr. Joseph rouster, Importance of Exercise; visitors welcome.

Salem Eagles Thursday Night Kitchen Special, 5:30-8 p.m.; regular kitchen menu also available; carryout available at 330-337-8053.

Microsoft Word for Beginners class, 2 or 6:30 p.m., Salem Public Library Quaker Room; register at www. Salem. Lib. Oh. Us or 330-332-0042.

Pistol League, 6 p.m., Salem Hunting Club; Handgun Target shoot at 25 yards; open to the public.

SEBRING

Read and Make, 11 a.m., Sebring Library; for ages 3-5.

Legoa My Library, 4 p.m., Sebring Library; for children ages 6 and up.

WASHINGTONVILLE

VFW Post 5532, post meeting/nomination of officers, 6 p.m.

FRI/13

CANFIELD

Friends of PLUCK Chair Yoga, 10 a.m., Canfield Library; for adults; $10 per session.

Mahoning County Educational Service Center Teacher Job Fair, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Joyce Brooks Center at MCNUTT, 7300 N Palmyra Road; enter through door 36.

COLUMBIANA

St. Jude and Our Lady of Lourdes Fish Fry, 4:30-7 p.m., St. Jude Activity Center, 180 Seventh St.; $12 adults, $6 children 5-10 years, free for children 4 years and under; fried or baked haddock or fried shrimp, coleslaw, bread and butter, dessert, coffee and a choice of two of the following: French fries, mac and cheese, green beans, or homemade piggeries by St. Patrick Parish in Leetonia.

GOSHEN TOWNSHIP

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On the Calendar | News, Sports, Jobs - SalemNews.net

The Trump administration is taking steps to overhaul the pork inspection process in a manner it says will maximize efficiency and increase oversight, but federal employees are expressing outrage over plans they say devalue their work and careers and threaten the safety of the American people.

The Agriculture Department issued a final rule in September, completing a process 20 years in the making that will allow pork processing plants to increase the line speed of their slaughter operations and exercise more control over the food safety involving their animals.

Starting later this month, when the government begins implementing the changes, company employees will sort healthy pigs from unhealthy ones and identify defects on carcasses after slaughter, allowing USDA to slash the number of federal inspectors it maintains on site. The rule sparked pushback from consumer advocates, plant employees and government food safety inspectors alike, and is the subject of three different lawsuits alleging violations of various workplace and food safety laws. The administration, however, says the change will save taxpayer dollars, speed up slaughter operations and lead to consumer savings.

Employees at USDAs Food Safety Inspection Service say their biggest concern with the New Swine Slaughter Inspection System, known as NSIS, is uncertainty. As USDA pushes more inspection and remediation work to private sector plant employees, it will require fewer federal FSIS inspectors on site at plants. The agency is converting the remaining jobs from lower-ranked food inspector positions to slightly higher-ranked consumer safety inspection roles. That means employees will have to compete for fewer positions. Under FSIS estimates, about 147 food inspectors will lose their jobs.

It is demoralizing, said Paula Schelling, a food inspector for 32 years and head of the American Federation of Government Employees council that represents 6,500 FSIS employees. The uncertainty of everything that is going on, its got everyone a little shaken.

She described the situation as forcing employees, some of whom have held their jobs for decades, to reapply for the new positions. If they are not selected to stay at their plants in the new roles, they will be forced to relocate or find a new line of work.

They may have to move 100 miles away, or 1,000 miles away, Schelling said.

FSIS says it will help those employees find new positions.

I can tell you right now we have more vacancies than 147 food inspector positions nationwide, said Hany Sidrak, FSIS deputy assistant administrator, Office of Field Operations. He said the agency will offer two positions to every employee dislocated by the new system and make accommodations if they hear about a vacancy on their own. The agency will also pay for relocation costs.

Not all employees are likely to stick around, however. Ten years ago, Schelling said, an inspection job had upward mobility and the promise of a long-term career.

Now people are looking to get out, especially the ones who are right in between having this be their whole career, she said.

Different Missions

Their concerns, however, are not just personal.

The plant employees are getting paid by the plant to do a job, Schelling said of the pork producers workforce. Whereas private companies are focused on maximizing profits, FSIS employees are driven by the mission of protecting consumers from unsafe products. The plant employee is going to do exactly what the plant tells them to do, she said.

According to the Trump administration, the changes in pork inspection are benign. Every animal is still reviewed by a federal inspector after slaughter and plants are motivated to ensure consumer safety to avoid the risk of line slowdowns or suspensions.

Hany Sidrak, FSIS deputy assistant administrator in the Office of Field Operations, said federal inspectors will still inspect each animal after slaughter. The difference is there is someone else who is looking at those things prior to the inspector getting to inspect.

Zach Corrigan, the senior staff attorney for Food and Water Watch, an organization involved in the latest of the three lawsuits challenging the new inspection rule, suggested the Agriculture Department is quick to say theres nothing thats changed while leaving out key details. Only 5%-10% of animals moving prior to slaughter are screened for possible disease or infection, he noted.

There is a different incentive for the companies that are trying to get product out the door and their employees who are trying to make their supervisors happy versus inspectors who want to make sure there is not tainted meat that makes it out onto our plates, Corrigan said.

While the final rule notes inspectors will observe establishment employees performing sorting procedures, Sidrak concedes federal inspectors will have very little authority over them.

We dont really supervise plant employees, he said. They have their own supervisors.

While the changes are meant to make the slaughter process more efficient, critics suggest that giving plant employees responsibility for identifying potential problems could actually make it harder for federal inspectors to catch contaminated animals. The private sector workers will make an initial determination on a carcass, for example, and trim bruises and other defects.

This allows employees to either willfully, or just through negligence, trim signs of disease and therefore make it much harder for inspectors left at their inspection station to do their job, Corrigan said.

Critics of the plan also highlight that no training is required of the private sector plant employees who will be taking over some of the work previously performed by federal inspectors. USDA has made training guidelines available on its website, but Sidrak acknowledged it has no enforcement mechanism to require its use.

When we put guidelines, its not the power of the regulation, he said. They can choose to use it or not. The guidelines to the industry is, Ok, heres the best practices. Were sharing our experiences as an agency. Its up to you to make use of that.

Corrigan calls it crazy to throw undereducated, undertrained plant employees into the deep end without any required swimming lessons. He points out that USDA estimates plants will spend four hours to train employees tasked with new responsibilities.

That is nuts when you consider the technical requirements for being able to look at an animal, being able to look at a carcass, being able to slice up lymph nodesto transfer many of these [responsibilities] to employees with no mandatory training, he said, [it is] absolutely ludicrous in our mind.

Sidrak said training for establishment employees is self-monitored, so to speak, while noting the identification of unsafe food does not have to come just from direct inspector observation.

People talk, he said. We get intel from all over the place.

This System Works

Sidrak said his inspectors will still examine each animal before and after slaughter. If plants fail to train their employees properly and animals with food safety issues are missed, he explains, they will face consequences. FSIS issues non-compliance records, which can lead to enforcement actions.

Those types of records are very important for us to see if they are on the trending up or trending down, Sidrak said.

The agency does not plan, however, to assess the new system as a whole. Such oversight, it said, is unnecessary because the initiative has already proven itself effective over the last 20 years. In a rule first published in 1997, FSIS created a pilot program to test the system now being implemented on a much wider basis.

After two decades of experience with the pilot, the agency is confident the final rule is appropriate, said Sidrak, who has worked on the pilot nearly since its inception. And we can certainly say that this system works.

In a report USDA published on the pilot, it found the system actually resulted in stronger oversight because it freed some line inspectors to focus on broader compliance oversight. Additionally, USDA found that plants met certain regulations at a higher rate, the rates of non-food safety defects dropped and salmonella testing rates stayed stable or decreased. The National Pork Producers Council, a membership group representing the pork industry, has endorsed the plan, saying it would lead to a safer product.

By enabling FSIS inspectors to focus on issues more pertinent to animal welfare, food safety and sanitation, the NSIS will help to provide for a safer food supply, while allowing packing companies to more effectively use their staff and resources, NPPC said. The U.S. pork industry has long been a global leader in offering a quality product to consumers domestically and abroad, and the NSIS program advances this position.

A Government Accountability Office audit of USDAs findings, however, said its conclusions were not transferable to the broader network of swine plants. The data used to compare plants participating in the pilot and those not participating were not analogous, the auditors said.

A subsequent inspector general report found three of the 10 FSIS-inspected plants with the most noncompliance records participated in the pilot, including the plant that had 50% more noncompliance records than the next highest one. Participating facilities did not follow all inspection requirements, the IG found. USDA has not forced any plants out of the program despite the department suggesting it addressed the issues the IG identified, and it will allow any plant to participate in the programs expansion despite an IG recommendation to move forward only with plants that have maintained strong compliance records. The department also said it was unnecessary to require plants moving to the new system to develop transition plans.

This final rule is based on 20 years of a pilot program, said Maria Machuca, a USDA spokeswoman. We dont make any decisions thinking, Would this work or not? This is based on data that proves that this is feasible.

Sidrak said the agency will continue to monitor individual establishments. Those that rack up noncompliance records could see their production lines slowed, or shut down altogether if they fail to improve.

Theres a whole host of measures and actions that the agency will take, Sidrak said.

But forcing plants out of NSIS and back to traditional inspections is not likely to be one of those actions. Instead, Sidrak said plants may decide on their own that the new system is not working for them.

Could the plant in theory say weve tried NSIS and we want to convert back to the traditional? Sidrak pondered. Would we accept that? Yes, he said.

Inspectors Are Going to Leave

While the Swine Slaughter Inspection System is being implemented under the Trump administration, it stems from the pilot program dating back through three previous administrations. The Obama administration in 2015 overhauled the inspection process for poultry plants, also following an extensive pilot program. Observers credited USDA with using a softer touch with its employees during that effort, however, offering early retirement incentives to impacted workers and staggering implementation so inspectors had more time to find new jobs or apply for vacancies.

Just 45 poultry plants converted to the new inspection system in the first year, though that number grew to 125 plantsnearly half of all facilitiesby January 2020. USDA predicts just 35 of the nations 600 hog plants will join the five pilot facilities in converting, though those 40 represent about 90% of all pork production in the country.

While Obamas USDA allowed only 20 poultry facilities to pilot faster line speeds, Trumps will enable all swine facilities to increase their production rates under the new system. Under Trump, USDA has also offered waivers for the poultry plants to slaughter animals more quickly.

This time around, FSIS has not announced any plans to offer separation incentives to employees and has so far refused to negotiate with its union over the changes.

They are not communicating with us in any way, shape or form, said Schelling, the union president.

Tony Corbo, another official at Food and Water Watch, expects all of those factors to spark dissatisfaction in the federal inspector ranks.

This is going to create acrimony within the workforce, he said. Corbo notes that while FSIS is offering employees the opportunity to apply for jobs at other plants, many would be shifting from one species to another and the agency is offering little training this time around.

And while USDA said it has vacancies for every impacted employee (Government Executive reviewed FSIS vacancy data through September 2018, which showed the agency maintained a vacancy rate of about 10%or 700 positionsin its frontline inspection workforce), it is unlikely that all of them will agree to relocate.

There are going to be some who are going to leave, Corbo predicted, citing a trend from the poultry process. Some of the more seasoned employees are going to leave.

Some veteran inspectors have already voiced their concerns. Five employees who worked at plants participating in the swine pilot program provided affidavits in 2014 to the Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower advocacy group, describing the flaws they saw in giving plant operators more control over inspections. Three employees remain anonymous but two, Joe Ferguson and Sherry Medina, spoke out to NBC News in December.

USDA at the participating plants "gave up command and control and gave the regulated industry free reign to do as they please, Ferguson wrote in his affidavit. After describing some of the improper inspection methods the plant employees use due to insufficient training, he added, Personally, I will not eat any products that bear the name of the company for which this meat is produced. I don't think that it is wholesome or safe to consume."

FSIS Sidrak blames the inspectors union for negative perceptions about the change. The agency has held town halls and sent other communications to dispel those perceptions and win buy-in from employees it is converting to the new system. Sidrak noted that the use of sick leave at the pilot plants is down and job satisfaction is up because they are doing much more technical stuff.

I really truly think and believe, and Ive seen it, those couple people that spoke maybe in a negative sense, they definitely do not represent the opinions and experience of the vast majority of inspectors, Sidrak said.

The inspectors who blew the whistle, however, were unequivocal about their disdain for the new system. One said the plant she worked at was marred by confusion and bad practices. Monitoring plant employees inspections is "a lot more work," the employee wrote, because the lines "are going way too fast."

It's almost impossible to recognize problems with both carcasses and plant employees' activities at the high speed of a [pilot program] line, the inspector said. "Moving forward with [the pilot program] in hog plants is a bad idea for the workers in these plants, USDA inspectors and consumers.

Read more here:
Federal Pork Inspectors Are Sounding the Alarm Over USDA's Plan to Give Industry More Control - GovExec.com

At the37thAnnualMiami Breast Cancer Conference Dr. Jean-Bernard Durand discussed data that showed how prescribed and personalized exercise programs can improve outcomes for patients with cancer who already face a high risk of cardiovascular disease.

The mortality for breast cancer continues to go down, but what women are going to be faced with if they do not have a recurrence (is that) their number one cause of death is cardiovascular disease, said Durand. We have to do a much better job of managing their modifiable risk factors and comorbid conditions.

In a presentation at the37thAnnualMiami Breast Cancer Conference Durand described how physical activity and avoidance of weight gain are two important factors in reducing recurrence and mortality in patients with breast cancer. At the time of diagnosis, patients with early breast cancer may already be at a heightened risk of developing cardiovascular disease and further treatment for breast cancer will have side effects on a patients cardiovascular health.

Durand, medical director of Cardiomyopathy Services, and director of cardiovascular genetics research and the Cardiology Fellowship Program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, explained how by looking at a patients cardiorespiratory fitness physicians could craft a personalized fitness program for patients to curb side effects from their diseae and treatment.

Cardiorespiratory fitness is an index of functional capacity of the heart and lungs and reflects the efficiency of oxygen uptake, transport and utilization in the muscles. It is an excellent surrogate of exercise dose and a reproducible measurement, said Durand.

In a study of 248 patients with breast cancer, the prognostic significance of cardiopulmonary function was assessed and measured by peak oxygen consumption. Patients with breast cancer represented 4 cross-sectional cohorts: before, during, after adjuvant therapy for nonmetastatic disease and during therapy in metastatic disease.

Despite normal cardiac function, women with breast cancer demonstrated marked impairments in cardiopulmonary function. Peak oxygen consumption was, on average, 27% less than that of age-matched sedentary in otherwise healthy women without a history of breast cancer. The impairment in peak oxygen consumption during primary adjuvant chemotherapy was 31% less than that of healthy sedentary women and 33% in those patients with metastatic disease.

Improved cardiopulmonary function is also possible with the introduction of exercise training for patients with breast cancer. An analysis of 6 studies involving 571 adult patients with cancer examined the effects of supervised exercise training versus non-exercise on the measurement of peak oxygen consumption.

Intervention lengths were in the range of 8-24 weeks. In all studies, exercise was prescribed 3 times per week and session duration ranged 14 to 45 minutes. Exercise training was associated with a statistically significant increase in peak oxygen consumption, translating to an improvement from baseline to postintervention of 15% favoring exercise.

Durand noted that the MD Anderson Healthy Heart Program takes a multidisciplinary approach to improve patient outcomes. The team includes physicians, exercise physiologists, health educators, dietitians and nurses. The patient undergoes a preliminary evaluation that includes a screening exam and a treadmill test to determine their maximal oxygen consumption.

This will allow us to assess cardiopulmonary safety and determine the exercise dose, as well as compare their fitness level relative to their age and sex, he explained. Standard of care assessment is also conducted and includes assessing the impact of prior cancer treatment on heart health, cholesterol levels, risk of hypertension or high blood pressure, risk of diabetes, body weight and waist measurements, family history on heart health and, if needed, smoking cessation.

One difficulty is trying to explain the metabolic equivalent task [METs] to patients, Durand noted. The Harvard School of Public Health does a great job of breaking this down into light, moderate, and vigorous activity. We like to shoot for the [moderate] area of 3 to 6 METs, he noted.

METs indicates metabolic equivalents and is typically defined as the ratio a person expends energy relative to their mass.

In a separate study highlighted in Durands presentation, patients whose exercise program consisted of nine or more MET hours per week was associated with a 23% reduction in the risk of cardiovascular events regardless of age, cardiovascular disease risk factors at diagnosis, menopausal status and type of anticancer therapy.

Patient biases also play into difficulties for prescribing patients to exercise programs. We have biases and the patient has biases. The patient bias is that you are expecting them to get to a gym, get a personal trainer and do exercise every single day and that could not be farther from the truth, Durand said. I like to recommend the buddy program, finding a neighbor or friend who will walk with you at a brisk pace, and set up a schedule that you will do this as a team.

See original here:
Exercise Programs Improve Outcomes for Patients with Breast Cancer - Curetoday.com

Frustrated by his difficulty in being understood, Lakeland resident Doug Fulton began isolating himself as he dealt with Parkinsons disease. Carole Shamblin of Dover had the same problem. Their solution came through the Speak Out! speech therapy program developed by the non-profit Parkinson Voice Project.

Frustrated by his difficulty in being understood, Lakeland resident Doug Fulton began isolating himself as he dealt with Parkinsons disease.

Carole Shamblin of Dover had the same problem.

"I didnt realize how low my voice was," Shamblin said. "People would constantly say What did you say? "

Her daughter noticed changes in her walking and movement, which led to the Parkinsons diagnosis, but the vocal change was more subtle.

She and Fulton tried speaking louder, but came to realize that wasnt enough on its own.

Their solution came through the Speak Out! speech therapy program developed by the non-profit Parkinson Voice Project, http://www.parkinsonvoiceproject.org.

At its heart is training people with Parkinsons to convert speaking to being an intentional act instead of an automatic function. It combines education, individual therapy and group sessions.

"The hardest part is making it a habit to speak with intent," said Jennifer Ackett, speech-language pathologist with South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City.

A grant let SFBH add that speech therapy program last fall.

Shamblin was finishing Speak Out! there in February and looking forward to its follow-up group component, Loud Crowd.

"This helps everything, especially your breathing," said Shamblin, 76. "I tend not to use my mouth but, with this, I use my mouth more."

Speaking with intent involves more facial expressions and motor movements, Ackett said, which helps fight the mask-like expression thats a typical characteristic as Parkinsons advances.

Nine in 10 people with Parkinsons are at risk of developing a weak voice, according to Parkinson Voice Project. That can lead to speech and swallowing problems.

Mike Schwartz, who with his wife, Kathy, comes to a support group in Lakeland, said hes "always asking her to repeat herself."

South Florida Baptist and a few speech language pathologists in Polk County began offering Speak Out! within the past few months as an alternative to other speech therapy they provide.

Fulton, 70, completed Speak Out! with Julie Barrientes, a speech-language pathologist, at her Grow the Vine Speech and Wellness Gym in Lakeland. He gets follow-up therapy there.

"It makes me more relaxed," he said. "I will join into a conversation. I used to isolate myself."

He said he had been very articulate, but that he has a hard time making sentences.

"It was frustrating," he said. "I thought I was losing my mind."

Speak Out! is a way of living, said Barrientes, who also treats patients part time at Watson Clinic.

"Its not just speech exercises, not just voice," she said. "Its also cognitive actions."

Speech-language pathologists Allyson Waters and Emily Thomas, at Astoria Health and Rehab/Villages at Vienna in Winter Haven, had one patient on Speak Out! who drove from Avon Park.

"Its a great program," Waters said, adding that scheduling for Speak Out! is more flexible than another program she uses.

Each person who completes the program gets a workbook and therapy kit to continue practice at home.

All three speech therapists interviewed like the cognitive aspects of the training, which works participants memory and thinking abilities as well as their speech.

All want to increase awareness to be able to have enough Speak Out! graduates for the Loud Crowd component, which is free voice maintenance in a group setting.

"You can do things like ask each other questions or play games," Ackett said."

"We may do singing," Shamblin said.

It offers socialization, reducing the isolation people with Parkinsons may have, along with reinforcement for speaking with intent.

Without a Loud Crowd established, therapists and patients look for creative ways to provide continuing interaction.

Those include continuing to see their patients for follow up, recommending support groups and physical activity like Rock Steady Boxing or other tailored exercise programs. Rock Steady Boxing is in Lakeland at Florida Presbyterian Homes.

Barrientes, also a Parkinsons Wellness Recovery instructor, has Fulton exercise with patients who have other disorders in Functional Fitness, whose foundation is Parkinsons recovery.

They call out the number of exercises theyve done and she quizzed Fulton during a recent session.

"This includes cognitive so the cognitive aspect is in both programs (he gets)," Barrientes said.

Robin Williams Adams is at robinwadams99@yahoo.com .

Read the rest here:
Polk people with Parkinsons learn to speak for maximum impact - The Ledger

The perfect program doesn't exist, but we can always work toward putting together the most optimal program for our athlete in their given situation.

I always say that when I look at programs I wrote five years ago, they make me cringe. The amount of growth and knowledge in that time can really change our opinions on certain topics and change our programming as a result.

Over the last few years, we've developed a great programming system at PACE Fitness Academy, and there are some common denominators in our most successful programs. They aren't mandatory by any means; no exercise is. BUT, they do yield great results, safe results and most of all, high adherence levels from our athletes. Below are four exercises probably missing from your programming and why you may want to consider them!

The name "Yoga Push-Up" does probably not sit well with a true Yogi, but this is what us meatheads call them. It's essentially a Push-Up into the Downward Dog yoga position. This is a great exercise for building upper-body strength, but also enhancing mobility of the T-Spine and shoulders in a functional and dynamic way.

I've seen the Yoga Push-Up coached up in several ways, but my preference is that you push from the bottom of the Push-Up immediately into the Downward Dog position. The alternative method here is to complete a full Push-Up and then shift into the Downward Dog, but I don't feel that this execution gives athletes the full benefits of the exercise.

Below is an example of the two options.

In terms of programming, you have a great deal of flexibility here. You can use it as a strength accessory movement and even load it up by elevating the feet. You can incorporate it into a dynamic warm-up for stronger and more advanced athletes. Or you can use it as an active recovery tool or a mobility-based practice for athletes lacking in the T-Spine area.

Bottom line: This is a really great addition to a training program and can be beneficial for all athletes. Plus, it adds a little variety to the standard Push-Up and does so in an effective way that isn't just for likes on Instagram.

The Copenhagen Plank is another hidden gem in our programming that supplies a huge bang for your buck in a low intensity environment. This exercise addresses groin strength and core stability, which are two things that all athletes can benefit from.

Cutting, changing directions and moving laterally all place demands on the adductors and torso (core) regions. If athletes are weak in these areas or just generally unprepared, it can contribute to strains, sprains, tweaks or even worse injuries under the unfortunate circumstances that an athlete finds themself in a position that they can't support.

This exercise addresses strength in those areas, which can help with performance, but more importantly, it can help with day-to-day movement quality. Aches and pains in the knees or lower back can often be alleviated by addressing hip and core strength.

The Copenhagen Plank is simple, but brutal. You can program these for time, breathing reps, load it up and change the lever position to get the perfect amount of stimulation for your athlete.

We began implementing the Archer Row into our programs after getting our Reflexive Performance Reset (RPR) certifications. Long story, short: The "archer" position is a position and motion embedded into our physiology and movement since birth.

Look at any picture of a baby between 3-5 months old and you'll probably see this archer pose. This is how babies roll over from their backs to their stomach, which is a big deal for all you non-parents out there!

Our nervous system loves this position. It makes us feel strong and safe, just how we felt when we discovered that there is more to this new world than lying on our backs for 12 hours a day.

This position, in RPR, can enhance the wake-up drills you do or even reverse some of the corrosive movements that tarnish the effects of the wake-up drills. So, I turned it into an exercise.

If you don't have the RPR concepts down or don't care to, the bottom line is this: This exercise is low neural stress, high muscular stress and extremely vital for healthy shoulders.

Lastly, the Jefferson Squat,something I've written about at length for STACK in the past. We're still going strong with this unique and effective lift.

This is one of those old-school bodybuilding lifts that guys like Kai Greene would use to pump the living hell out of their lower body. It was only recently that we discovered the strength and power results it could deliver in lower rep ranges and at their respective spots on the force-velocity curve.

You can literally program this like you would any Squat or Deadlift. Load it the same. Add bands, add chains, do it for speed, do it for 1RM this can be your athlete's main lift. And, it's unilateral, so you get the benefit of increasing single-leg output and performance.

Using the Jefferson Squat has been amazing for our hockey, basketball and baseball players especially. It toes the line of "sport-specific" in the weight room, without losing its merit. Definitely give this a try and get creative with your programming.

Photo Credit:SrdjanPav/iStock

READ MORE:

Continued here:
4 Exercises Missing From Your Training Programming and Why You Need Them - STACK News

Tuesday's first cardio drumming class at the senior center was well attended. The workout was lots of fun. The drumming class is open to the public. Seniors drum for free, under 60 by donation.(Courtesy Photo)

Tuesday's first cardio drumming class at the senior center was well attended. The workout was lots of fun. The drumming class is open to the public. Seniors drum for free, under 60 by donation.(Courtesy

Tuesday's first cardio drumming class at the senior center was well attended. The workout was lots of fun. The drumming class is open to the public. Seniors drum for free, under 60 by donation.(Courtesy Photo)

Tuesday's first cardio drumming class at the senior center was well attended. The workout was lots of fun. The drumming class is open to the public. Seniors drum for free, under 60 by donation.(Courtesy

SARAH HOWARD:Senior Center takes produce bingo on the road for census

I hope you are having a great weekend and are enjoying everything Manistee County has to offer. I can't believe it's time to set the clocks forward. I hate losing that hour of sleep, but as my kids reminded me, they love it because it stays lighter longer.

I was so disappointed that I missed out on tickets to Mama Mia at West Shore Community College. I tried to get tickets for my 5-year-old granddaughter and myself last weekend and they were sold out. This weekend I have other plans and won't be able to go. I hope you were one of the lucky ones who got to go see it. I heard everyone did a great job and that it was awesome.

We are gearing up to get out into the county and have some fun. We are taking Produce Bingo on the road and bringing lunch with us. If you want to come to one of the events for the Census Count, check out the calendar and be ready for some fun.

This week, we have a few fun and different events coming up. Monday we will have Centra Wellness coming in to discuss fears and phobias. My biggest fear is bear. Since I was a kid, when I am under stress, I always have terrible dreams about bears, and me fighting them off. So, stop in Monday after lunch and see what this is all about.

Tuesday, we have Vicki Mackey coming in to teach a class on making stretch bracelets. Stop in and do something different and fun. Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. we have cardio drumming. Come in and get your heart pumping.

Wednesday, is White Elephant Bingo. Bring in some things you want to pass on to someone else and see what treasures everyone else brings in for you to take home. We also have game night at 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening. If you like to have some fun, play some cards and socialize with some great people come in and give it a try.

Friday, we have Painting with Deb, stop in and check out what they are painting, it is a beautiful spring scene with flowers and an old fence post and it is gorgeous.

Our Senior Spring Craft Show is coming up on April 18, 2020. If you are a talented crafter, baker, painter, seamstress or someone who wants to sell something give us a call and reserve a table. If you are like me and like to buy all of these beautiful things, put it on your calendar and keep an eye out for signs.

It was so fun the other day. Eric Gustad, the Community Affairs Manager for Consumers Energy, stopped by with a $20,000 check for the Wagoner Community Center. The support we have gotten from so many local businesses and citizens is amazing. Keep your eyes open for the roofs to be replaced as soon as the weather breaks. I can't wait to get moving on this wonderful project.

Last week we had Toe Tapping on Monday instead of Tuesday, because our great tax preparers are working on seniors' taxes on Tuesdays and Thursday. So, it was so nice to hear the guys playing on Monday. The only time I don't turn on music in my room is when the 3Ds are playing. It is so nice to hear such great music. Thank you guys. You really make a difference in so many Manistee County seniors' lives.

We also had a nice group in for the Knitting and Crocheting Circle after lunch. I don't do either, but always wished I learned. My sister crochets and does beautiful things.

Tuesday, we had our first cardio drumming class. It's lots of fun and you move as much as you can. If you need to sit you sit, if you can stand and jump around you do, whatever works for you. Wednesday, we had Dominique and Emma in from the Chamber Leadership Group regarding the Big Day of Serving which is in June.

Friday, we had Produce Bingo with the Lions Club. The whole crew did a great job and everyone had a super time. They also gave us a very nice donation. Thank you to everyone who helps us in any way. The senior center is so busy and we need all the help we can get to keep everything running smooth.

Don't forget to set your clocks forward tonight. I hope you have a great week and remember to try something new.

KNIT & CROCHET CIRCLE

If you like to knit or crochet, the senior center has started a knit & crochet circle. The group will meet the first and third Mondays of the month at 12:30 p.m., next meeting, Mon., March 16.

FOOD BANK

The senior center food bank takes place on the third Friday of the month from 9-11 a.m.. Seniors from Manistee County who are 60 years of age and older are eligible to participate. The next food bank will be March 20. Monetary and non-perishable food item donations are always appreciated.

(MMAP) MEDICARE MEDICAID ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

This program provides people on Medicare with free assistance and education so they can make informed health care coverage decisions. Fran Wallace is our local counselor and she can help you understand eligibility, enrollment, coverage, claims and appeals; identify resources for prescription drug assistance; understand options under Medicare Advantage plans; solve problems related to Medicare/Medicaid coverage; and understand Medicare notices summary. Please call the senior center at (231)723-6477 to make an appointment with Fran.

SENIOR PROGRAM

The MCCOA has a program designed to help seniors remain independent by reimbursing qualifying expenses. If you are a senior from Manistee County, you could receive reimbursement for payments you have made for house cleaning, yard work, snow removal services. For current clients in the Senior Reimbursement Program, please take note, all receipts must be current, no more than 30 days old. Income requirements apply. New clients must fill out registration form. Please call the Senior Center at (231)723-6477 for more information.

DIABETIC SUPPORT GROUP

There is a Diabetic support group that meets at 10 a.m. on the first Monday of every month at the Senior Center. The next meeting will be held on April 6.

PARKINSON'S SUPPORT GROUP

There is a Parkinson's support group that meets the third Thursday of every month at the Munson Manistee Hospital's Education Center, Room #1. For more information call Sean Knudsen (517)554-6938 or Linda Nickelson (231)690-5048.

DEMENTIA SUPPORT GROUP

The support group for caretakers of loved ones who live with dementia will meet at 3 p.m. April 9, at the senior center. The group will meet monthly on the second Thursday of the month.

MCCOA WISH LIST

The MCCOA is asking local businesses and individuals for donations of non-perishable foods for the senior food bank, Dial-a-Ride tickets. These donations are always appreciated. Please contact the senior center at (231)723-6477.

DONATED ITEMS

The senior center has access to adult briefs and pads if you or a loved one are a senior and are in need. Please call the senior center to check on availability.

SIT & GET FIT & OTHER EXERCISE OPPORTUNITIES

The MCCOA has started a Sit & Get Fit exercise program in the Bear Lake Area. They meet from 10-11 a.m. Wednesdays and Fridays and at 11 a.m. Monday at the Bear Lake Methodist Church. There is also a Sit & Get Fit held at 10:30 a.m. on Monday and Wednesdays at the Farr Center in Onekama, and at 9 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Norman Township Community Center in Wellston. Chair yoga classes at 2:45 p.m. Mondays at the senior center. This class is open to the public. The class is free to Manistee County seniors, and $5/class for all others. Senior zumba 2 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays at the senior center. Cardio drumming classes, at 6 p.m. Tuesday evenings. Drumming classes are free to all seniors, and donations accepted for those under 60.

COMPUTER/CELLPHONE HELP

For assistance with your computer and cellphone call Linda at (231)299-1552. Appointments are held from 10 a.m.-noon, Mondays at the senior center.

MONDAY NIGHT PINOCHLE

The Monday night pinochle group are looking for more players. If you would like to play pinochle, come to the senior center by 5:45 p.m. on Monday night.

CRIBBAGE/CHESS

We're looking for cribbage and chess players. Cribbage is at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Chess group (Senior ChessMates) meets at 1 p.m. Thursdays. All levels welcome. Call the senior center to sign up. (231)723-6477

WEEKLY PROGRAMS

Monday

9 a.m. Exercise

10 a.m. Sit & get fit

10 a.m. Cellphone/Comp help

11 a.m. Social hour

Noon meal

12:30 p.m. Fears & Phobias

2 p.m. Zumba

2:45 p.m. Chair Yoga

6 p.m. Pinochle

Tuesday

10 a.m. Stretch bracelet class

11 a.m. Social hour

Noon meal

2 p.m. German class

Tax services (by appt.)

6 p.m. Cardio Drumming

Wednesday

9 a.m. Exercise

10 a.m. Losing it

10:30 a.m. Foot Clinic

11 a.m. White Elephant bingo w/US Rural Development

Noon meal

12:30 p.m. Game Day

1 p.m. Veterans Exchange

1 p.m. Chessmates (chess) road trip/scrimmage at Ludington Library

2 p.m. Zumba

2:30 p.m. Understanding Grief

6 p.m. Game night

Thursday

10:30 a.m. Cribbage

11 a.m. Social hour

Noon meal

1 p.m. Senior ChessMates (chess)

1 p.m. Book club

3 p.m. Dementia Support

Tax services (by appt.)

Friday

10 a.m. Sit & get fit

10:30 a.m. Census Event St. Raphael parish center, Copemish

11 a.m. Social hour

Noon meal

12:30 p.m. Painting w/Deb

MENU FOR WEEK OF March 9-13

Monday: Braised beef over noodles, sliced carrots, peas, tropical fruit

Tuesday: BBQ chicken, scalloped potatoes, cauliflower, mixed fruit, corn bread

Wednesday: Turkey, mashed potatoes, sliced carrots, cranberry sauce, roll

Thursday: Beef steakburger on a bun, seasoned potatoes, baked beans, fresh orange

Friday: Macaroni and cheese, stewed tomatoes w/zucchini, brussels sprouts, blueberries

Menu is subject to change. Seniors (60 and older) suggested donation only $3 and $5 for those under 60.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Mon. March 9, 12:30 p.m. Fears & Phobias with Centra Wellness

Tue. March 10, 10 am. Stretch bracelet class

Wed. March 11, 11 a.m. White Elephant Bingo

See more here:
SARAH HOWARD: Senior Center takes produce bingo on the road for census - Manistee News Advocate

Benjamin Marcus

By BENJAMIN MARCUS

Americans sometimes assume they are equipped with everything they need laws, policies and cultural norms to exercise their right to religious freedom. But is that true? What circumstances need to exist for religious freedom to be possible? What conditions must already be in place if Americans are to exercise their right to believe and act in accordance with their religious identities?

Corey D. B. Walker, a religious studies scholar at the University of Richmond, recently raised these questions at acourseexploring African-American perspectives about religious freedom. Drawing on the work of Enlightenment philosopherImmanuel Kant, Walker asked students to consider the conditions of possibility for religious freedom. So, what are the conditions necessary for enabling religious freedom in the first place?

Consider the Trump administrationsproposed changesto rules in nine federal agencies. The changes are complex and differ somewhat across agencies, but one common theme is the elimination of certain religious liberty protections for social service beneficiaries. These rules were implemented pursuant to an executive order signed byPresident Obamain 2010 (Executive Order 13559). With this order, President Obama embraced recommendations made by his inaugural Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which was comprised of both progressive and conservative religious and community leaders. The order states in part:

If a beneficiary or prospective beneficiary of a social service program supported by federal financial assistance objects to the religious character of an organization that provides services under the program, that organization shall, within a reasonable time after the date of the objection, refer the beneficiary to an alternative provider.

In other words, a religiously affiliated group like a Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist or Sikh ministry or aid society can receive a federal grant or contract to provide a social service such as emergency shelter, food supplement or job training programs, addiction treatment services and more. If a religiously affiliated group does so, then the group must refer beneficiaries (those who receive the service) to other groups if the beneficiary objects to the religious affiliation or character of the service provider.

Furthermore, the rules require social service providers to notify beneficiaries that they can request such a referral. The task force that made these recommendations asserted that beneficiaries cannot be expected to know about these protections social service providers are responsible for informing them.

The Trump administration would eliminate the alternative provider requirement. It would also no longer obligate social service providers to notify beneficiaries that they could request an alternative provider. Beneficiaries could still seek a referral to such a provider, but they would not be told about that option. But under the proposed rule, providers would not be required to try to find an alternative provider.

Do the proposed rules create the conditions of possibility for religious freedom? The Trump administration argues the rules would put religious social service providers on a level playing field with non-religious providers, thereby promoting one possible condition for freedom: equality. The administration contends that the alternative provider requirement and beneficiary notice are discriminatory for placing special obligations on religious social service providers. They say those rules are in tension with recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Others assert that these requirements are consistent with the EstablishmentandFree Exercise Clauses in the First Amendment. And the Supreme Court cases that the Trump administration cites involve governmental policies that refuse to allow religious bodies to compete for state funding or religious individuals to run for certain public offices, not reasonable conditions that apply to government grants religious bodies do receive.

In either case, the Trump administrations proposed rules would eliminate another condition for freedom: knowledge. If social service beneficiaries are not notified about these religious liberty protections, they may not know that they can request a different religious or non-religious provider. Our judicial system has long acknowledged the link between knowledge of rights and the ability to exercise those rights. Anyone who has watched a crime show knows that the police need to read suspects theirMiranda rights, for example.

The Trump administration should not eliminate the alternative referral requirement and beneficiary notice if they want to safeguard the conditions that make religious freedom possible. Even if one accepts their claim that the alternative provider and beneficiary notice requirements present a possibly unconstitutional burden on religious social service providers a claim vigorously disputed by some church-state lawyers, includingMelissa Rogers the administration could maintain these religious liberty protections for beneficiaries in other ways. The administration could requirebothreligious and non-religious social service providers to make referrals to alternative providers and notify beneficiaries about religious liberty protections for them. Or governmental bodies, not providers, could notify beneficiaries of existing protections. (As Melissa Rogers notes, [t]he only indefensible approach would be to end such religious freedom requirements).

Too often those in power present religious freedom as a zero-sum game. In this case, the Trump administration argues that the government can extend religious liberty protections to social service providers or beneficiaries, but not both. But the administration can maintain protections for both and thereby affirm conditions that both conservatives and progressives argue are necessary for religious freedom to exist at all.

A British Councilsurveyreleased to the public earlier this year found that 89 percent of people in the United States agree that freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental right. As Americans, we should urge the government to do everything it can to create the conditions that make it possible for Americans of all religions and none to exercise that fundamental right.

. . .

I am grateful to Melissa Rogers, former executive director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships (2013-2017), for sharing her comments on the proposed rule changes by the Trump administration. Her insightful feedback inspired this column.

. . .

Benjamin P. Marcus is religious literacy specialist at the Religious Freedom Center of the Freedom Forum. His email address is:[emailprotected].

View original post here:
First Five: Conditions of possibility for religious freedom - Salina Post

For Melbourne dad Ben May choosing a sport for his kids was as simple as not choosing at all.

Literally.

Instead, he handballed the decision to his boys, Tom and Luke.

Ben and his partner knew they wanted their kids involved with sports, knowing the benefits of exercise on physical and mental health.

But the question of which sport? For these young parents, it didn't matter.

Instead, they offered their kids variety, and each of their kids took a liking to something different.

"[Tom] was focused on basketball from very early on, loved it and didn't want to do anything else," Ben says.

"While younger brother Luke trialled a variety of sports: karate, rounders, cricket, soccer, football and tennis," Ben says.

According to the experts we spoke to, it's a good play.

Giving your kids the option to choose a sport is a great way to get them involved, but there are a few more things to consider.

I spoke to a dad, a child psychologist and the NSW department of sport to get their perspectives on how to choose the right sport for your child and what to look out for.

So you want to feel healthy and fitter. But what if you don't know what exercise is right for you?

Father of four Barry Nicholls is a radio presenter, a journalist and a former PE teacher from Perth.

As a teacher, Barry learnt it's important to give kids every opportunity to learn a whole range of sports.

"If they take an interest in one and enjoy it, great!" he says.

"As long as they're trying and doing the right thing by their teammates, that's enough for me," he says.

Sydney child psychologist Kimberley O'Brien agrees, and says when it comes to choosing a sport for your child, a variety is best, particularly early on.

But let's be real. Choices are going to be limited by things like family commitments, distance from home and fees.

Most Australian states offer some subsidies to parents to help cover the cost of registration and membership fees for sporting programs.

ACT, VIC and TAS currently don't have subsidies.

Other considerations might include the distance you need to travel and the number of hours you're prepared to commit.

"I'll admit, weekends are pretty hectic, and some are worse than others," says Barry.

If your child is a little more introverted, Dr O'Brien doesn't recommend starting with a team sport.

"There's a lot more noise and yelling from teammates, coaches and parents on the sideline," Dr O'Brien says.

And that sensory overload can be really daunting for some kids.

With individual sports like tennis, gymnastics or athletics, kids can focus on skill building in a smaller setting without the pressure of interacting with many people at once.

"On the other hand, some kids thrive in noisy environments and can benefit greatly from team sports, like basketball, for example," Dr O'Brien says.

Tennis will help not only keep you physically fit but mentally strong too.

If your child doesn't take an immediate liking to sport, it's important not to press the issue.

Dr O'Brien says the psychological pressure of trying to please a parent is exhausting for young people. It can also have a detrimental effect on their desire to participate.

"They're individuals and their interests should be nurtured," Dr O'Brien says.

Kids who have broad interests are more likely to want to try new things, but if your child is anxious or shy, Dr O'Brien suggests easing them into an activity.

"Maybe pick up a flyer in week one, walk past the oval the following week, speak to a teacher or coach with your child the week after that, and maybe do a trial class the week after that," Dr O'Brien says.

Physical health and development are achieved through sport, and Dr O'Brien says that kids generally like feeling strong and fast.

"It's good for their self-esteem," she says.

But for building important skills like resilience, teamwork and confidence, you can do that just as well by joining different clubs that might interest them.

"Things like chess, debating and anywhere they can be around other kids," Dr O'Brien says.

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When deciding on a sports program for your child, the Office of Sport NSW recommends looking for programs that:

More:
How to pick the 'right' sport for your child (and the case for letting them choose) - ABC News

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