RadioRotary

The ongoing Vassar project for improving education, health, women’s economy, water purity, and forests in Chermaitre, Haiti, is described by the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Vassar-Haiti Project, Lila Meade, and Vassar student Sarah Oliver. Andrew and Lila Meade founded the project in 2001, partly in a response to the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. Its original goal was simply a lunch project at a school in poverty-stricken Chermaitre, but it has evolved greatly. So far more than 350 Vassar students have been involved. The project has also attracted the attention and considerable help from the Poughkeepsie-Arlington Rotary Club. One of the major sources of funding is an annual art show and auction featuring work by native Haitian artists.

Licensed Nutritionist Rufia Payman from Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck describes the ravages of type 2 diabetes and steps to take to prevent the disease. Her primary approach is to put her patients on the Mediterranean diet (mainly fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, olive oil, and nuts) and regular exercise. Ms. Payman runs a free 16-week diabetes protection at Northern Dutchess that helps participants lose weigh and avoid the metabolic syndrome that often precedes type 2 diabetes. Meditation and other stress-reducing activities are also promoted. Often a person who has already crossed the line into diabetes can avoid insulin shots with a suitable lifestyle.

Rhinebeck Rotarian Lou Trapani, Artistic and Managing Director of The Center for the Performing Arts at Rhinebeck, returns to RadioRotary to discuss some of the upcoming performances at this hub for theater and related events, including the summer arts day camp, which brings many courses in theater-arts. Among other upcoming productions discussed on the show will be The Me That Nobody Knows; Seussical, the Musical; Rip, a new play about Rip Van Winkle; Singing in the Rain, and Carousel. On August 21-23 the Center will have a terrific weekend, beginning with a magic show (pay what you think it is worth), continuing with a gal performance by Alice Ripley, and winding up with The Tempest brought to Rhinebeck free by the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.

RadioRotary co-host Jonah Triebwasser and producer Kathy Kruger interview the man who conceived and launched RadioRotary: Poughkeepsie-Arlington Rotarian Roger Risko. Mr. Risko, who is about to retire after many years of teaching at Dutchess County’s BOCES (Bureau of Co-operative Services), not only started RadioRotary but also has been instrumental in forming and helping grow several Rotaract and Interact clubs, organizations for youth—respectively college-age and high-school age—in the Hudson Valley. Inspired by a question from the mother of an Interact student, Mr. Risko created the first Rotary-oriented service organization for senior citizens, Elderact. As he moves his base of operations to Florida, he plans to introduce Elderact to that state.

Gloria De Pietro is the author of Abandoned: The Story of Boys Forgotten, the tales of four boys who received art therapy from her while they lived in a residential treatment center. Ms. Di Pietro first encountered art when she suffered a near fatal illness as a child; the nurses at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City had set up an art corner for their young patients. She determined then to become a visual artist, which became her career until September 11, 2001. After the World Trade Center collapse, witnessed by many children, there was a call for art therapists to help these children recover. Ms. De Pietro went back to school and became an art therapist, someone who uses art to help subjects uncover and understand their own problems. Her book chronicles what she learned from four of the boys who had been abandoned by their own families as she worked with them.

Authors Bryan Bunch (Millbrook Rotary), and Tim Tocher discuss the seventh annual Millbrook Literary Festival with co-hosts Jonah Triebwasser and Sara O’Connell. The Festival features several talks by journalists and authors as well as panel discussions on historical fiction, mysteries, cookbooks, journalism, history, and getting published. Books for younger readers featured include picture books and young-adult novels. Younger writers also have a chance to participate with their short works published in a special booklet distributed at the event. Some 50 authors will be part of the Festival, with all signing copies of their books. The Festival will take place on May 30, 2015 in the Millbrook Village at the Millbrook Library.

Rich Silva, Founder and President of Pain Point IT Solutions Inc., describes some of the complications concerning health information privacy and accountability rules. Before 1996, most hospital and other medical records were kept on paper and were easily available to persons other than a patient’s doctor and the patient. As part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) and its later extensions, the privacy of medical information is assured and kept in electronic form. Pain Point IT Solutions as part of its services helps medical providers and their business associates follow the rules, which are enforced by a 164-point audit by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources. One problem of special significance is disaster recovery of information; even though all information has been backed up, without help it may require days to restore it.

Co-Hosts Jonah Triebwasser and Sarah O’Connell travel to the regular meeting of the Red Hook Rotary as it plans for the annual Red Hook Apple Blossom Festival, a village-wide celebration of the coming of summer that features food booths, sales in local stores, entertainment, political candidates, baby animals, face painting, balloons, and more. Red Hook Rotarians Susan Simon and Linda Greenblatt describe some of the highlights of the free festival, including the bands McKenna and the Stringmasters as well as a dance troupe. Also on the program Gail Wolf and Tim Lynch describe how the Rotary Youth Exchange program has changed the lives of both the high-school students who travel to distant lands to live with local families and the families that host them.

The Rural and Migrant Ministry, a group that started with one person in a van about 50 years ago, is now a major force for empowerment for migrant farm workers in much of upstate New York. In this interview, Ruth Faircloth, the Director of the Overnight Leadership Camp and the Women’s Conference, describes how the Ministry works for justice for workers in New York State by lobbying Albany on migrant issues. In New York State there is no requirement for a day off, so most workers labor for seven days each week during the harvest season. In addition to lobbying, the Ministry provides a one-week overnight camp for children of migrant workers as well as a youth art program and a conference for women workers.

RadioRotary is visited by Gabriella Scull, the community manager for Relay for Life, an affiliate of the American Cancer Society. Each year there are 5,200 Relay-for-Life events in the United State, including many in the Hudson Valley as well as events in 20 different nations. The event is an organized fundraising walk around a track. It last all night and the participants camp out, although individual participants don’t have to be there for the whole time. A principal feature of the Relay is the Luminaria Ceremony, which candles or glow sticks are lit inside of personalized bags, which are then are place around the track as tributes to those who died from cancer. The events celebrate survivors, remember those who have died, and also raises funds for the American Cancer Society.

Melissa McCoy, Chief Advancement Officer for Abilities First describes this seven-county program that serves developmentally disabled children and adults in the Hudson Valley. Staring with pre-school, Abilities First supplies educational programs that replace the regular special-education classes in twenty different facilities (one facility, in Red Hook, is in the same building as the regular school). When children reach age 21, they are transferred from the educational system to the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. From that point, Abilities First provides a sheltered workshop, job shadowing programs, and supportive or supervised housing. The focus is on helping individuals do as much for themselves as possible.

Pleasant Valley Library Director Daniela Pulice and Barbara Shapley, president of the Friends of the Pleasant Valley Library, discuss their local library, the Mid-Hudson Library System, of which it is a part, and the status of community libraries today. The Pleasant Valley Free Library is situated in a Dutchess County town of about 10,000 and is one of 21 libraries in the Mid-Hudson System. The Friends of the Library do fundraising, notably a giant book sale once or twice a year, to support such added library benefits as free tickets to the Children’s Museum, movie night, educational programs, signs, and computers. Today’s libraries are not quiet places, but instead are the central place in the community where people meet as well as where they borrow books, audio books, movies, e-book readers, and other materials and use computers, the library’s or free Wi-Fi. Circulation of all items has continued to increase in the 21st century.

Susanne O’Neill, Program and Events Manager for Walkway over the Hudson, talks about the history and coming events at the longest, highest pedestrian bridge in the world, Poughkeepsie and Highland’s Walkway over the Hudson. This former railway connection between Dutchess and Ulster counties ceased operation after a fire in 1974, but in 2009, in connection with the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s historic first sail up the river, the bridge, now reconstructed as a pedestrian (and bicycle and rollerblade) walkway, opened to the public. It was an instant success with 50,000 visitors in the first week, and now draws about 500,000 per year. The Walkway is 1.28 miles long from gate to gate, and in addition to level entrances from each end, it is served by a 212-foot elevator a short walk from the Poughkeepsie Train Station.

RadioRotary hosts a discussion of Rotary in the Hudson Valley featuring District Governor (DG) 2014-15 Penny Byron (Patterson Rotary), Past District Governor (PDG) 2009-10 David Green (New Windsor-Cornwall Rotary), and District Governor Elect (DGE) 2015-16 Nick Constantino (Walkill East Rotary). DGE Constantino had just returned from training for his post in San Diego along with 531 other District-Governors-Elect. DG Byron tells that she has completed an obligatory visit to each of the 62 Rotary Clubs in District 7210, the district covering the Mid-Hudson Valley, including its E-Club, which has international membership. PDG Green tells of his plans for the District Convention in April. All three describe some of the ways Rotary International fulfills its mission of “doing good in the world.”

Dr. Teresa Foster, a family practitioner and osteopath with offices in Woodstock and Boiceville visits the RadioRotary studio to help clarify issues in health and wellness. A family practitioner sees patients of all ages and types—and Dr. Foster even makes house calls. The recent uptick in measles has caused people to take a closer look at immunization. Dr. Foster emphasizes that measles is incredible contagious and one in four persons who contracts the disease ends up in the hospital, so immunization, which does NOT cause autism, is vital. Other issues discussed include the causes of cancer, the need in the U.S. for more health workers of all kinds, and what steps are necessary to produce good health.