Sabith Khan, Author at The Public Sphere

Maintaining National Cohesion During A Drawn-out Pandemic

Leo Casiple

The localized crisis causes distressing discord to a community. Widespread catastrophe creates agonizing chaos in any region. If not managed carefully, long-term chaos will knock the wind out of our sails and destroy national cohesion.

Noble response to the novel COVID-19.

Public administrators, police officers, firefighters, paramedics, medical staff, sanitation workers, long-haul truckers, local delivery drivers, gas station attendants, food industry specialists, and other essential members of the industry are to be commended for their intrepid efforts. Despite the threat of infection and drawn-out absence from their families, they bravely serve their communities with intense focus and undying adherence to their professional oath. Most have been working for weeks without a break. At this pace, no human can effectively sustain quality outputs of labor.

Without a much-needed break, essential employees will become less effective. The more they toil without sleep, the more mistakes they will make. An increase in the number of mistakes will erode trust within teams and decrease organizational effectiveness. Observable missteps and miscommunication will ultimately lead to a loss of public confidence.

When at peace, build teams, cross-train, and practice often.

During tranquil periods, government agencies establish formal relationships amongst each other to deconflict procedural issues. Through periodic inter-agency training, the partners exercise their unique capabilities using familiar, short-duration scenarios. The controlled environment is where operational maneuvers are tested and lines of authority are clarified. More importantly, the interaction is where bonds are strengthened, familiarity is increased, and commitment to the group is solidified. When a crisis develops, the government can quickly mobilize the ad hoc teams to confront any problem. If the issue is short-term and familiar, success is immediately attained, the provisional team is quickly disbanded, and everyone returns to the routine of everyday living.

Complications when in uncharted territory.

What happens when the situation is unfamiliar, novel, and long-term? What if ad hoc team members are lost to a pandemic, and new faces are thrust into the folds of the team? What will crop up when team members begin losing family members to the crisis? How will the potential loss of income, depletion of savings, forfeiture of a home, ungrieved loss of a loved one, and worry of infection affect team cohesion?

When in crisis, take frequent breaks and rotate personnel out of harm’s way.

The motto of the US Special Forces is “De Oppresso Liber” or “To Liberate the Oppressed.” In many countries, Green Berets advise allies in stabilizing their own government. However, exposure to frequent chaotic events leads to fatigue, disagreement, and soured relationships. Constant stress and protracted periods of little rest will diminish patience and sound judgment. To maintain cohesion, during tenuous periods Green Berets take frequent breaks and rotate members out of danger areas more frequently. The induced periods of rest allow the individual to rebalance and increases his effectiveness on the battlefield.

When we are tired, it is difficult to trust our own thinking and the actions of others. To preserve the effectiveness of government, public administrators could implement a rotation schedule, take frequent breaks while at work, and decompress for an extended period every few weeks. Subordinates who fill the leadership positions when leaders are away on break will benefit from the real-world experience. The country will come out of this pandemic with an increased number of crisis-tested leaders.

Frontline troops can focus on the mission when the home front is well cared for.

In addition to rest periods, the military ensures that spouses and dependents are well cared for. This means that salaries and benefits are never disrupted, and morale-uplifting mail service continues.

To help essential employees focus on their mission, public administrators should ensure that there is an ample support mechanism to care for the family members of front-line workers so that they can focus on caring for our sick family members. To continue to uplift the resolve of essential employees, we should shower them with generous mail in the form of meaningful greetings, conspicuous banners, and heartfelt notes of gratitude.

What we need to do.

Today, we need to maintain a united, steadfast front to beat the unseen enemy. Well-rested public administrators and leaders will set a confident tone for the entire country. Conspicuous acknowledgment of essential employees will feed their soul as that keep us sustained. But ultimately, national cohesion starts with me and you. Take plenty of rest breaks, express gratitude, and be kind to each other. The trust you build within your domain will echo throughout the entire national ecosystem, and the reverberations will fuse us into an indivisible and indomitable nation.

“Without trust, we don’t truly collaborate; we merely coordinate or, at best, cooperate. It is the trust that transforms a group of people into a team.” – Stephen Covey

Note from a Gallegly Fellow: Hope Ramos

Hello, readers of the MPPA Blog! I hope everyone is staying safe and keeping healthy during these times. My name is Hope Ramos and I am currently in my fourth term with the MPPA program at California Lutheran University and I am also the 2019-2020 Gallegly Fellow! There have been so many opportunities that I have been blessed with whilst being the current Fellow and wanted to share my experience with those currently going through the application process.

My Thesis

With the Gallegly fellowship, I am able to conduct research of my choice and focus on a topic that is close to my heart. My family owns almond and walnut orchards in Northern California and since the disastrous 2012 drought, they have had an incredibly hard time maintaining a proper water source. My research, that I have been focusing on since my undergraduate, and is now my thesis, will be focusing on farmers in Northern California and their perceptions of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Specifically, these farmers will be coming from Yolo and Solano county where a majority of crops use an abundant amount of groundwater, such as almonds and walnuts. However, groundwater is becoming more scarce with recent droughts and a lack of proper regulations on the natural source. This is changing with the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act which is meant to benefit farmers and their agricultural practices. However, has there been any change since its creation in 2014, and have farmers benefited at all from it? Do farmers think that it has been or will be effective? I want to look at this state policy from the perspective of the constituents that it is meant to be supporting and protecting, and determine whether it is beneficial or not. Policy work is something that I am very passionate about and I want to make sure that any type of policies is being properly implemented for the benefit of the constituents of California.

Social Experiences

Naturally, I have always been a very shy person, and meeting new people and strangers can be a bit of a difficulty for me. But as the Fellow, I have been able to attend a couple of mixers and events where it has allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and mingle with some amazing individuals. I have been able to attend events at the Ronald Reagan Library where I have met city and local officials and listened to important figures in the community speak on issues happening throughout the area. I have also attended events where donors have been present and have been able to personally thank them for their generosity, and share my story and experiences with them.

My Family and Future

The Fellowship has really been a big blessing on not only my life but for my mom, as well. She is a single mom who has always worked full time to support us. With the help of the Reagan Library and the Gallegly’s, they have allowed me to pursue a higher education whilst allowing my mom to stay finically stable. She knew how much I wanted to pursue higher education, and supported my decision but was worried about how she would be able to put me through a master’s program. When I told her that I had received the Fellowship, I remember how happy of a day it was in our household that I not only was able to continue on with my education but also know that my mom would not be finically burdened. I am also thankful that if I want to continue on to my Ph.D., then I will be able to proudly put on my application that I was the Reagan-Gallegly Fellow.

And these are just a few of the opportunities that the Fellowship has given to me! It has been a blessing in mine and my family’s life, and I am so thankful to the Reagan Library and the Gallegly family for supporting me throughout my master’s program.

I wish everyone applying to the Fellowship, good luck, and no matter what, you will love the MPPA program!

Best and continue staying safe,

Hope Ramos

What kind of philanthropy do we need, in these times?

Sabith Khan

In the past few weeks, I have received multiple requests for donations, mainly from nonprofits and individuals I know. The requests are for the upkeep of operations, providing essential services, etc. and reflect the need for solidarity, that is much needed in these times. Notions of charity, philanthropy, and volunteering are making a comeback in these times, with individuals and organizations doing all they can to adjust to the new reality we are facing. The question that remains before us is: What kind of philanthropy do we need, in these times? Do we need the self-help, communitarian model of giving or do we need billionaires writing large checks to address big problems? Will self-help groups take us out of the mess that we find ourselves in or will hi-networth giving save us? Or do we need government policies to address systemic issues that philanthropy is unable or unwilling to address?

Will the billionaires save us? This is a question that is being increasingly asked among scholars of philanthropy and some activists. While the idea of philanthrocapitalism is still around, there is increasing skepticism in the ability and willingness of the super-rich to help the less fortunate amongst us. Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and other billionaires have shaped our world in many ways, both in good ways and bad. The question is not whether they have an impact, but how.

John D. Rockefeller & Carnegie: Remnants of an era gone by, or models for our time?

John D.Rockefeller and Carnegie embodied a ‘gilded age,’ which was known for its corruption and ties between businesses and politics. Perhaps much more than the age we live in, today. Carnegie’s greatest legacy may be the idea of funding and establishing libraries, which are in some ways the great equalizer.

Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth is an important text in American philanthropy and his ideas of giving away wealth while alive has become popular. One of his most famous quotes in the book is “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.” When Carnegie wrote that “The problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship. The conditions of human life have not only been changed but revolutionized, within the past few hundred years,” he may well have been writing about us, in 2020. The fact that access to healthcare is so disproportionate in the U.S. of today is a tragedy. Media reports point to over 70 percent of deaths in Chicago from COVID-19 being that of African-Americans.

Amidst such catastrophic outcomes, we need government intervention in the form of stronger policies, but also support from foundations, individuals and community-based groups, to help fix some of these disparities.

While there is a section of American society that is deeply suspicious of hi-networth donors – and rightly so – one cannot deny the fact that those with a lot of wealth can and have made significant positive contributions to public life. John D Rockefeller helped establish the University of Chicago, for instance.

The emergence of the ‘new philanthropy’ which is based on measuring return on investment and is based on what Sean Parker has called a ‘hacker’ mindset is in vogue. As Michael Massing points out, Gates has single-handedly shaped Education policy in the U.S. Whether this is a good thing remains in question, given that education is a public good. Some of the bigger questions in this space remain unsettled and there are massive inequities when it comes to access to education, especially digital access, as we are witnessing during COVID-19.

The Giving Pledge is an off-shoot of the idea of giving away one’s wealth that Carnegie came up with. This notion has caught on globally, though its uptick has been somewhat slow in Asia and parts of Africa.

One of the bigger problems with hi-networth giving is the ‘expressive giving’ that drives many of them. What this means is that rich people give to causes that drive them, at a personal level. There is a sense of strong involvement among many of these folks, who are driven to make a difference around them, for various reasons. Whether it is promoting religious freedoms or healthcare, the one who writes the check wields an enormous amount of influence over the one who receives it. In a context where this can mean shaping a nation’s public health or the education system, this is a slippery slope; despite the good intentions of the donor.

Bill Gates has also received a lot of flak in recent years. His failed educational ventures, with the start and closure of private schools and about turn on this key sector is seen as a big failing. As The Guardian quotes him as saying “The overall impact of the intervention, particularly the measure we care most about – whether [pupils] go to college – it didn’t move the needle much … We didn’t see a path to having a big impact, so we did a mea culpa on that.” Such mea culpas are expensive and heart-wrenching, when they impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of kids.

Is Bill Gates the new Andrew Carnegie of our times?

The Gates Foundation has spent considerable amounts on public health and has achieved quite a bit of good in the world, but at the same time has an outsized influence on global health policies. How one interprets that is open to question. Some may call it philanthropic, while others may call it non-democratic. A stricter version would even call it hegemonic influence. The rightwing media has more recently started attacking Mr.Gates for altogether different reasons: his advocacy of stay-at-home orders, differing with Mr. Trump and his followers. His advocacy of preparedness for epidemics has been consistent. His support for this effort is admirable.

Philanthropy’s goal ultimately should be the betterment of lives. This is a goal that all of us agree upon. The divergence seems to be on how to get there. This is an area where all stakeholders – givers of money, recipients, and entities that govern it should come together and hash this out. In this regard, Carnegie’s advice of giving away one’s wealth during one’s lifetime may be the best advice for anyone who has a lot of wealth. The gospel of wealth may be a good reminder for our billionaire class, perhaps?

Innovative solutions in travel policy

John Marroquin

The Republic of Canada is known for having some of the strictest laws for immigration and visitation for foreign nationals who have been convicted of driving under the influence (DUI), or equivalent misconduct in their respective countries. With the steadily rising number of tourists year by year and the number of foreign nationals being barred from entry rising exponentially in step, the amount of lost revenue cannot be ignored. At this point, a travel policy law that was initially created for the betterment and protection of the Canadian public is actually actively hindering international commerce.

Creating-Travel-Policy-That-Works — source: data-basics.com

The Travel Leniency Act (TLA) is meant to remedy this, by relaxing the stringent policy that defines “serious criminality”, more specifically regarding offenses that were not violent or felonious in nature. The introduction of this law as an addendum to the current immigration framework would further stimulate the tourist industry, create more jobs, and entice visitors to contribute to Canada’s flourishing GDP.

Canadian History and Status Quo

The governing legislature that dictates current immigration procedures in Canada is the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) (S.C. 2001, c. 27). Passed in 2002, this act furnishes foreign nationals and immigrants with specific rights and limitations and details the minimum qualifications for admission, residency, and refugee status. In 2018, an amendment to the IRPA imposed tighter restrictions upon those who have been accused of acts that would be considered “Serious Criminality” under Canadian law. The Division 4 Inadmissibility section of the IPRA states that grounds for permanent residents or foreign nationals being denied admission include:

having been convicted of an offense outside Canada that, if committed in Canada, would constitute an offense under an Act of Parliament punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years; or
committing an act outside Canada that is an offense in the place where it was committed and that, if committed in Canada, would constitute an offense under an Act of Parliament punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years.

Note that in Canadian law, a summary conviction and an indictable offense are equivalent to the United States Misdemeanor and Felony charges respectfully. Under Canadian criminal law, a DUI is a “hybrid” charge. No different from a US wobbler charge, a hybrid charge can be either a summary conviction or indictable offense in Canada, and therefore is treated at the highest level.

In Canadian Criminal law, the DUI equivalent is “Operation while Impaired”. The offense is described thusly:

320.14 (1) Everyone commits an offense who

(a) operates a conveyance while the person’s ability to operate it is impaired to any degree by alcohol or a drug or by a combination of alcohol and a drug;

320.19 (1) Every person who commits an offense under subsection

320.14(1) or 320.15(1) is guilty of(a) an indictable offense

The only remedy at this time is to prove that criminal rehabilitation has occurred. Rehabilitation applications can be filed 5 years after sentences have been completed, so long as no subsequent convictions have occurred.

Law Detail

DEFINITIONS

Serious Criminality – Criminal behavior that resulted in the conviction of an indictable offense or equivalent. Includes summary convictions that were violent in nature.

Non-Violent Crime – Includes crimes of petty theft, burglary, driving under the influence. It does not include crimes that would constitute a threat to national security.

Tourist – Any foreign national who enters the Republic of Canada with no intention of being a permanent resident or citizen.

Pardon – A written, legal indemnification of prior crimes issued expressly by the Canadian Minister of travel for foreign nationals.

LEGISLATURE

The Travel Leniency Act will serve as an addendum to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and shall address and reform the current travel inadmissibility standards.

WHEREAS the current definition of “serious criminality” is found wanting and hinders international tourism and travel to the Republic of Canada and

WHEREAS potentially non-violent summary convictions such as “Operation while impaired” or similar charges for foreign nationals are treated with equivalency to indictable offenses Therefore

PASSED BY PARLIMENTAL REVIEW, LET IT BE ENACTED THAT:

SECTION I. The definition of “serious criminality” for the purposes of the Immigration and Refugee Act will no longer include summary convictions or equivalent changes when and if they are proven

To have been non-violent in nature;

To be offenses that are not a threat to national security;

To have been formally pardoned by the Canadian government under current law;

SECTION II. Shorten the term of any application to the Minister for a pardon term to 2 years after initial conviction or sentencing. This includes any offense that meets the above criteria. Any conviction that is older than 5 years will be considered rehabilitated by way of time passed. Applications will take no longer than 5 business days to be processed from the date of submittal.

SECTION III. Temporary Residency Permits will be issued with expediency to foreign nationals intending to stay for a term no fewer than 3 days, and no more than 10. Formal reporting is not required for tourists who provide

Reasonable proof of a duration of stay not exceeding 3 days
Obvious intent to vacate the nation within the next 24 hours

SECTION IV. Formally deputized officers of the Canadian Border Services Agency will prove the veracity of claims during an investigation, and records of the investigation will be held for a period not exceeding 3 years from the date of recording.

Adoption Procedures

The TLA will shorten the timeframe required between the year the offense occurred, and the execution of this change will result in a higher rate of applications. As a result, the Minister will be able to delegate signature authority to members of their staff to mitigate the higher volume.

Destination Canada, the Canadian Government’s official tourism website, will release a statement of the law in laymen’s terms to clarify the ramifications of this act on foreign nationals. This will be particularly good optics with the United States and China, both of which comprise the bulk of tourists visiting Canada.

Anticipated Response

Between 2018-2019 36,145,370 foreigners entered the county, and of this 8,781 were detained, which comprises .024% of the 2018-2019 year. From 2007-2016 a total of 267,449 foreigners were denied entry from Canada. In 2019 313,580 immigrants were entering Canada for various purposes and from a variety of countries.

Tourism represents a significant and lucrative source of revenue for Canada, bringing in $33.9 billion within the first nine months of 2019, and boosted Canada’s GDP by 5.9% from the previous year. Tourism accounted for 750,000 jobs in 2018, and a record-breaking 21.13 million tourists traveled to Canada from across the globe in this same period.

Based on these figures, over nine years (2007-2016) nearly $430 million in tourist revenue were not captured, and nearly 10,000 jobs in the tourist industry were not realized. Although this may seem like a small leakage, the steadily increasing numbers year by year present a unique opportunity for the people of Canada to stimulate local economies with travel. This will be a very positive outcome, and the provinces will reap the rewards, creating more jobs.

COVID 19 – The Impacts are Real: Paying Rent

Our country is in the midst of an international event that has impacted us all in some way; some more than others. Whether it is a significant change in lifestyle based on social distancing and quarantine protocols, or God forbid, you or a loved one impacted with the disease, the reaches of this virus knows no limit.

The economic impacts are striking and the pain has been felt immediately. The beginning of April was marked with a frustratingly bad statistic: 1/3 of renters in the country did not pay their rent.^1,2

I read that the same way you did; but yes, it says COUNTRY and not COUNTY. There is a caveat to the striking headline: 1/3^rd of renters did not pay their rent on time, that doesn’t mean that it was not paid. Regardless, the figures are staggering and tell the tale of the fate of our friends and neighbors and the general state of our fiscal wellbeing.

The fact that these many Americans are so close to the brink of homelessness that missing one or two paychecks would cause them to lose the ability to pay their rent is representative of our society as a whole. Yes, this virus is devastating our economy, but from the same vein, how are we positioned as a society to provide care for all, if so many are constantly on the brink of disaster.

This could easily turn to a discussion regarding a Universal Basic Income, or the exacerbation of an already critical point homeless and housing crisis, but I think it is necessary to understand that there is some hope, albeit fleeting.

On April 1, 2020, the Corona Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act became effective. Known as the overall stimulus and rescue package for those impacted by the virus, whether physically or economically, this does provide protections for renters…to an extent.

The CARES provides that no evictions will take place and no late rent fees will be charged for 120 days from April 1, 2020, based solely on nonpayment of rents due to the impacts of COVID-19. This DOES NOT mean rent is not due or that evictions will not take place for not paying rent. Instead, what it means is that they will not take place during the 120 periods after April 1, 2020. Oh, and this only applies to housing either subsidized or financed by the Federal Government – either the department of Housing and Urban Development or the Internal Revenue Service by the tax credit affordable housing program.

For every other renter in California, relief has been provided by Governor Newsom.

The Governor of the State of California has issued an executive order that provides protection like that of the CARES Act. The governor has proclaimed that if a resident had

Paid rent on time for the March 2020 payment,
They are unable to pay their April or May rent,
Because of verifiable and documented economic hardships associated with the COVID-19 outbreak, and
They advise their landlord of such within seven (7) days of the rent being due, that there will be no evictions for nonpayment of rent through May 31, 2020. Many cities have enacted similar statutes.

Concisely, rent must still be paid, but if there are reasons that rent cannot be paid, then there are certain protections in place to prevent evictions from happening in the immediate future. Note, however, that there are two separate protections. The CARES Act merely prevents evictions for nonpayment of rents due to the impacts of COVID-19 being filed for a 120-day period; if rent has not been paid by the expiration of that period or a repayment agreement has not been entered with your property manager by the expiration of that period, then a thirty-day notice could be issued to terminate your tenancy. From the California law, evictions will stay for a shorter period ONLY if you meet the four specified provisions identified above.

What do we not have? We do not have a subsidy program at the local, state or federal level to supplant the lost wages associated with COVID-19 that will, in turn, protect peoples’ homes. The CARES Act does provide a stimulus to be paid to most tax filers in the country, and that may be effective to allow other individuals to pay their rent, but it won’t be enough for Californians. A stimulus check of $1,200 for an individual would hardly be enough to pay rent for a studio apartment in Ventura County. With incredibly high rents and limited housing, we need a direct payment program that both

Stays eviction proceedings indefinitely and
Provides payments to landlords either directly or in the form of tax credits from the State of California. Note, I am focusing on California because the rest of the country, sans a few metros, do not deal with incredibly high rent costs in the same way as California so any other relief (see the CARES Act) would be ineffective.

We need a solution and we needed it yesterday.

What can you do? If you cannot pay your rent, faith-based organizations have long been the social safety net to help renters. If you are in a situation where you cannot pay rent or your housing is unstable, please reach out to your local faith group, or other associated tenant rights groups like California Legal Rural Assistance in Oxnard, CA.

If you would like to spread the exigency of a California solution, please share the above with your local state senator or assemblyperson.

Stay healthy.

Christopher Beck

How can charity and philanthropy help during COVID-19 crisis

I accidentally came across a short video on twitter by Chef Jose Andres. Chef Andres shared a recipe of a simple lentil soup and also a message: feed others with what you have. Feed your own family, feed the people around you. This simple message resonated with me, both as an educator and as someone who cooks. I am not a great cook, but can feed myself and others around me with the ingredients around me. Spending a lot of time in the kitchen in my formative years has taught me a few skills.

pursuing-philanthropy-during-covid-19 — Source: aha.org

Food as philanthropy is a powerful idea. One individual that is doing well is Chef Andres, one of the 100 most influential people in the world as identified by TIME and also a philanthropist. He is a spokesperson for issues related to migration, philanthropy in the U.S. And his work can give us some ideas on what everyone of us can support and get behind, especially when institutions around us either don’t exist, to deal with issues that ordinary human beings are facing, or if they exist, they are not living upto their promise. This situation calls for a powerful force in American (and global) civil society: that of philanthropy and voluntary action.

While it is true that charity in itself cannot replace the function of governments with their billion (or trillion dollar) deep purses, at the very least, charity can act as a temporary support mechanism, a band-aid that can stop the bleeding. A crutch that can help people get by, till they get actual support and help, that they need, to get back on their feet. Philanthropy has a key role to play in promoting human welfare. It not only involves donations of money but also donations of effort, through volunteering.

Chef Andre’s work with World Kitchen Central is based on a simple premise : “Feed anybody that is hungry and bring water to anyone that is thirsty.” Another aspect of charity and philanthropy that is relevant is made clear by his statement “the urgency of now is now, not a week from now.” This profound statement, though somewhat simplistic at face value is key to understanding how charity and philanthropy during COVID-19 crisis can be useful : often it is driven by immediate needs. Immediate need to feed someone, to provide shelter, to donate Personal protective equipment etc.

By focusing on what drives a person, he/she can act immediately, whether by writing a check, donating masks or mobilizing people to volunteer. This need for ‘expressive giving,’ as scholar Peter Frumkin calls it, is central to the idea of philanthropy. And we are seeing this manifest now, during a pandemic. Some, for instance have raised questions about Huawei’s donations of masks to Europe and other parts of the world and questioned its intention.

While donor intent and passion are central to giving and voluntary action, they are not without problems. There can be corruption, hobnobbing with powerful elite and a million other ways that certain rich philanthropists can use their money and resources to gain advantage, by leveraging their philanthropy, during this time.

Regardless of how one feels about charity, there is no doubt that the humanitarian urge to contribute to a solution will exist. And that is a positive force that both communities and governments should leverage, to provide short-term and long-term solutions to people. At a time when governments are failing to provide what is needed, both in terms of resources and direction, to dealing with one of the biggest crises of this generation, it may well be that individual action and values may help bring us together, to address some challenging issues.

As Andres asks: “Coronavirus is facing us to ask ourselves, who are our leaders? Are they the ones who give speeches or the ones with boots on the ground to do things.” His charity is helping patients dealing with COVID-19 by feeding them.

Food may well be a starting point, but it doesn’t have to stop there!

If you wish to donate to World Central Kitchen, check out – https://donate.wck.org/give/236738/#!/donation/checkout

Frontline Workers & Stress: COVID-19 Reminds Us to Pay Attention to What Matters

Crawford Coates

A recent study out in the Journal of the American Medical Association surveyed 1,257 healthcare workers in China who worked on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic response. It finds a significant number of those surveyed experiencing symptoms of distress, including depression, anxiety, and insomnia.[1] The closer to the epicenter of the pandemic, the greater the degree of distress.

sleep-tired-burn-out-physicians-doctors-residents-nurses — Source: physiciansweekly.com

As someone who has worked with first responders here in the United States for nearly 15 years, this is not surprising. Symptoms of distress are overrepresented among this population as well. We know, for example, first responders experience higher rates of alcohol abuse.[2] We also know that the sort of shift work common to their work is inherently carcinogenic.[3] Far more law enforcement officers and firefighters take their own lives in a given year than are killed in the line of duty, and EMS personnel die from suicide at elevated rates.[4][5]

This isn’t to say that trauma experienced in the line of duty accounts for or explains each malady or individual experience. But there is no question that being on the frontlines—whether in the U.S. or Wuhan—takes a toll and, moreover, that the more stressful the environment, the more destructive that toll can potentially be. With COVID-19 spreading throughout the U.S. population and first responders out there on the front lines, that stress is undoubtedly heightened at this time among police, fire, EMS and dispatch personnel.

I recently spoke with an EMS captain at a major U.S. metropolitan agency who is at the heart of their response. “All I can do is wash my hands, wipe down surfaces and all the other stuff I typically due to ward off viruses and bacteria. Our policies are changing daily, to conserve the limited personal protective equipment we have, while at the same time keeping our staff and public safe,” she told me. “It’s very stressful for my people, especially those with families. They don’t want to bring this home and infect them. And there’s just so much uncertainty right now.”

The good news is those first responders and their agencies have been focusing on mental health and wellness in the last five years to a degree unprecedented in their histories. For example, through a labor-management partnership, LAFD now employs three full-time staff psychologists. The International Association of Fire Chiefs has made suicide prevention as its organizing principle at the annual conference. The National Association of Emergency Medicine Technicians has a wellness and resilience program.[6] Law enforcement now has at least three wellness- and resilience-focused conferences nationally—up from none at all in 2014. Emergency dispatch now has several programs and events aimed at alleviating telecommunicator stress. Peer support teams are seeing increasing interest and participation. Anecdotally, I see topics such as stress management, wellness, trauma, mindfulness, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) gaining interest across public safety.

But what about the stress of now? My cousin, a firefighter at one of New York City’s busiest stations, is under quarantine at home with serious coronavirus symptoms after responding to several calls with presumed and confirmed infections. Also at home with him are his wife and two children, doing all they can to avoid infection themselves. I know cops and EMS personnel with similar experiences. I know several more with milder symptoms—which might be cold or flu, we don’t know because of lack of testing capacity—who have been mandated to return to work because of staffing shortages. Many more are working without the protection of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and training just to keep our communities safe.

Dr. David Black, a clinical psychologist working with first responders, suggested to me that we keep things simple and focused. (These apply to MPPA students as well.)

Attend to proper hygiene and best practices for avoiding contamination;
Embrace healthy routines, such as eating, exercising, and sleeping well;
Avoid maladaptive responses, such as excessive alcohol consumption or screen time and poor eating;
Maintain social connections via phone and video calls;
Serve your mission professionally, in a way that reflects your core values;
Take care of your family; and
Consider pursuing a mindfulness practice.

As someone who has written a book on mindfulness and meditation for first responders, I can attest that these practices can help reduce stress.[7] The literature suggests as much.[8] But as Elton Mayo demonstrated in his Hawthorne studies, while modern and postmodern societies expend considerable resources in addressing the technical and managerial challenges of our time, we have failed at, and I believe continue to fail at, is addressing the emotional and psychological needs of those doing the actual work.[9] We are facing many challenges in public policy: housing, substance abuse, environmental degradation, healthcare, criminal justice, and political divisions that were, until recently, top of mind. They remain urgent. Frederick Taylor’s “Scientific Management” isn’t going to end, for example, California’s epidemic of homelessness. To do that we will need whole and healthy human beings, supported and empowered to make the difference.

Crawford Coates is an MPPA student, content marketing manager at Lexipol, which specializes in policy and information for public safety and local governments, and author of Mindful Responder. He maintains the site www.MindfulResponder.com and can be reached at ccoates@callutheran.edu.

[1] Lai J, Ma S, Wang Y, et al. Factors Associated With Mental Health Outcomes Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(3):e203976. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.3976

[2] Wojciechowska B, P., & A, P. (2016). Sources, consequences and methods of coping with stress in police officers. Journal of Alcoholism & Drug Dependence, 4(4). doi:10.4172/2329-6488.1000244

[3] Carcinogenicity of night shift work. (2019). Lancet Oncology, 20(8), 1058-1059. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(19)30455-3

[4] https://rudermanfoundation.org/white_papers/police-officers-and-firefighters-are-more-likely-to-die-by-suicide-than-in-line-of-duty/

[5] Neil H. Vigil, Andrew R. Grant, Octavio Perez, Robyn N. Blust, Vatsal Chikani, Tyler F. Vadeboncoeur, Daniel W. Spaite & Bentley J. Bobrow (2019) Death by Suicide—The EMS Profession Compared to the General Public, Prehospital Emergency Care, 23:3, 340-345, DOI: 10.1080/10903127.2018.1514090

[6] http://www.naemt.org/docs/default-source/ems-preparedness/naemt-resilience-guide-01-15-2019-final.pdf?Status=Temp&sfvrsn=d1edc892_2

[7] Coates, Crawford. (2019) Mindful Responder: The first responder’s field guide to improved resilience, fulfillment, presence & fitness—on & off the job. Calibre Press.

[8] Khoury, B., Sharma, M., Rush, S., & Fournier, C. (2015). Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals: A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 78(6), 519-528. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2015.03.009

[9] Kraft, Michael E, and Scott R. Furlong. Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives. Washington, D.C: CQ Press, 2010.

Government mandated shutdowns are making a case for welfare

With talks of some sort of welfare mechanism for millions of Americans doing the rounds, it looks like Universal Basic Income (UBI) is having a moment of spotlight. Let us not forget that it had its moment during the Democratic Primaries, with Andrew Yang making it his signature policy.

Welfare policies are making a comeback in the U.S. and perhaps around the world, as the world faces one of its worst crises, ever!

six-major-welfare-programs — Source: thebalance.com

So, why should the government give out $1000 or $2000 or any money to anyone? Isn’t it just rewarding laziness and lack of effort? Wouldn’t it be a handout?

There are several perspectives on this issue, but I’ll just deal with one here: the issue of who deserves welfare?

The history of America as a welfare society is somewhat complicated and long one. A solid, scholarly book that you can read about this issue is Arguments for Welfare by Paul Spicker (2017). Of course, there are detractors on the Libertarian spectrum who will disagree and say that most forms of welfare usually are harmful to society.

What Spicker points out about all the arguments for or against welfare is important to remember: these are normative arguments. Meaning that these arguments point to what is good or bad about welfare. And that these are value-laden arguments. Even if someone uses the most sophisticated econometric modeling or in-depth ethnographic study, usually they are making a value-laden judgment about whether welfare is good or bad.

And this value judgment is formed on the basis of one’s political or religious beliefs.

One must also remember that the war on poverty has taken a new turn and since the Regan era, there has been a ‘war on welfare’ as Spicker points out. Even a Democratic Party president such as Bill Clinton ran on a platform to ‘end welfare as we know it,’ effectively changing the very nature of entitlements and cutting millions of people out of welfare programs. Mr. Trump has taken it a step further by limiting who reserves benefits and on what basis.

As his recent Executive Order pointed out, there should be some form of work requirement for people to receive entitlements. The spirit of this EO is very clear, to get people off welfare and make them ‘economically self-sufficient.’

It says “While bipartisan welfare reform enacted in 1996 was a step toward eliminating the economic stagnation and social harm that can result from long-term Government dependence, the welfare system still traps many recipients, especially children, in poverty and needs further reform and modernization in order to increase self-sufficiency, well-being, and economic mobility.” This 1996 reform that the EO is referring to was the one initiated by Bill Clinton.

So, in many ways, the winds of change that have blown towards shaping the world of welfare have been

The Washington Post wrote – as a $2 trillion proposal heads to the Senate – that “But Senate leaders were still working to avoid a number of last-minute snags. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, demanded changes to help his state deal with a flood of new cases. Three Republican senators said a provision in the bill needed to be fixed immediately or it would incentivize people not to return to work. And House Democrats wouldn’t provide a firm timeline of when they would vote to pass the bill.” The stimulus package is seen as an ‘emergency’ measure to help institutions and people whether this terrible situation we are all faced with.

The mood in the country and perhaps around the world is one of reflection and the somber realization that many people will need help. The weakest members of our society, the poor, homeless and destitute will need it more than others. And there is a growing realization that the government should do more.

Whether politicians will get this right is another question, that remains to be seen!

How Can Statistics Support Critical Thinking

Dr. Lara-Gonzalez

I am a professor of statistics at one of the local universities. In the last week of my last term, Spring 2020, I posted the following question to my students; should there be a prerequisite course or preparation course before this class? I have been doing this activity for the last four years and the answers are always the same: mathematics, algebra, and Excel. But this time, I received an original answer, not related to mathematics or any other data analysis tool. What I read surprised me. This student suggested a class of logical thinking to analyze and interpret the attributes of a data set. In my view, logical thinking will be helpful. But critical and analytical thinking skills will be beneficial and essential for students who are taking statistics to interpret and draw inferences about a population by evaluating statistical data sets and present and communicate with clarity, accuracy, and precision of the implications and consequences of their findings.

I have been teaching mathematics and statistics for the past 10 years. It is a simple transition. However, in an informal conversation with colleagues and friends, I have maintained that teaching statistics is more challenging than teaching mathematics. Learning statistics is more demanding and stimulating than mathematics. In statistics, for teaching and learning a real-world application require three specific competencies that are a link to critical thinking skills:

The ability to connect statistics and real-life situations;
The knowledge of basic statistical concepts such as probability distribution, statistical significance, hypothesis testing, and regression; and
The ability to integrate the elements of a statistical study and to communicate the results clearly.

As a professor, I have encountered all kinds of students taking a statistics class. The minority of those students are excited to learn about statistics. While the majority are nervous because their previous experiences with statistics were not pleasant, or they have heard the negative stories from other students and their experiences of taking statistics. I regularly listen to freshman students expressing their uneasiness about statistics; “I took statistics once and hated it; memorizing all those formulas is impossible.” Similarly, I have encountered students who do not know what to expect from the course. My academic experience indicates that when students do not know what to expect, they are not fully prepared. Thus, it can affect their success in the course. Particularly statistics that is a technical and creative discipline where students can see and experience the usefulness in action. This practical and creative discipline requires an intellectual process.

Image result for critical thinking

Source: eschoolnews.com

Scriven and Paul (2003) describe critical thinking as an intellectual process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information gathered or generated by observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. Because of this intellectual process, the use of critical and analytical thinking skills is vital. It is a requisite to have critical thinking skills to select the right statistical analysis or the right statistical model for a particular problem. Then, students have to have the same analytical and critical skills for interpreting, inferring, and evaluating the implication and consequences of the results. Last, communicating the findings to address the stated problem with clarity, accuracy, and precision, it is essential to display intellectual integrity.

Reference

Scriven, M. & Paul, R. Defining critical thinking. Foundation for Critical Thinking. Retrieved from https://louisville.edu/ideastoaction/about/criticalthinking

Six Tips to Become a Successful Online Student

Sabith Khan

With the sudden change in school and college schedules, with the COVID-19 situation, most institutions in the U.S. are going online. Many are scrambling to make this transition, while those who are better prepared are doing it smoothly.

There seem to be multiple resources for teachers on how to teach better, however; I haven’t seen many resources for students – especially if they haven’t taken many online courses and are new to the medium.

Here are my six tips for you, the learner, on how to be a successful online student:

1. Be prepared before the online chat

The first rule of online classes is to be thorough and read all the required material before you meet online, for the live chat component. Many instructors design classes that have some component of synchronous live-chat in addition to having pre-recorded videos. This is helpful, as the live-chat allows students to ask questions, clarify any doubts, etc.

2. Be organized

This is related to the point above, but being prepared and organized is a prerequisite, in online classes, as it is in grad school, generally. I have seen multiple students just show up to class, expecting to be spoon-fed information and knowledge. This doesn’t make for a responsible online learner.

3. Listen

It is important to be a good listener. This is key to learning in an online environment.

4. Dedicated space

If you have kids at home or other responsibilities towards others, create a dedicated space for your online class and also for work. Communicate your need for privacy and dedicated time for study, reflection and class participation with your partner/ kids/ roommates. They should respect your need for this time and space. If you cannot create this at home, find a library or coffee shop where you can focus.

5. Participate

You need to put in the effort to participate, both in online discussions as well as in the chat sessions. Being shy or reserved doesn’t help – and will not certainly earn you all the points that you can. While some students may have anxiety issues and may not participate, this medium allows for greater risk-taking, so one can overcome one’s anxiety.

6. Offline work

If you need to get together with your classmates either in person or on the phone, during non-class hours, that may help in building community.

Learning is a social process and the stronger your network of learners, the better. Remember, you can learn as much from your classmates as you can from the professor.