Shopping Day at Swap Shop

Another SHOPPING DAY (no donations accepted) at Swap Shop at WSWMD on Old Ferry Road, Brattleboro on Saturday, September 17, 8:30 am to noon. ALL ITEMS ARE FREE.

SCHEDULE & HOURS:
Shopping Days- 1st & 3rd Saturdays of the month
Donation Days- 2nd & 4th Saturdays of the month
If a month contains 5 weeks, the Swap Shop will be closed
Hours are 8:30am-12pm.  (Large donation loads may not be accepted after 11:30am)


Where Are The Dental Therapists?

It was about 10 years ago when a group of Vermont health care activists started working on the creation of a new level of dental practitioner to fill in gaps in the provision of dental care. Bills passed the Vermont Senate in 2015 and the House in 2016 and S.20 was signed into law by Governor Peter Shumlin in June 2016.

An April 2016 story in VTDigger provides a description of what the bill does. “The profession would require more education than a dental hygienist but less education than a dentist.
A dental therapist would have a bachelor’s degree and be allowed to perform eight procedures more than a dental hygienist. The person would need to work under a contract with a supervising dentist, who has a doctorate. However, the dentist would not need to practice in the same building as the dental therapist.’

“The Vermont Technical College in Randolph has outlined sample curriculum for a four-year program to train dental therapists should S.20 become law. The person would learn the same three years’ worth of curriculum as a dental hygienist but spend an additional year in training.”


Autumn Moon Festival of China, Korea and Vietnam

Asian Cultural Center of Vermont (ACCVT) presents the 22nd annual Mid-Autumn Moon Festival (Zhongqiu Jie) which is celebrated in China, Korea, Vietnam and other places around the world. Celebrate the Autumn Moon Festival with crafts, songs, food, taiji, paper lanterns, Chinese exercises, the Korean rope tug and more. Hear the story of The Goddess of the Moon, Chang’e; the great archer Hou-Yi; and the Elixir of Immortality. Then watch the harvest moon rise. The celebration will start with a pot-luck (bring a dish to share). The Moon Festival will be held Saturday, September 10th, from 6:30 – 8:30 at the Kiwanis Shelter atop Memorial Park Drive, Brattleboro, VT.  All ages, free to the public, Rain or Shine. For more information call (802) 579-9088 or visit accvt.org. 


Brattleboro and VT COVID-19 Regional Dashboard Summary – September 2022

It is time for the September 2022 dashboard summary. We continue semi-regular COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro, as long as they continue providing them.  Scroll down the new comments for the latest.

Vermont and MA have very limited looks at what are going on these days, with weekly snapshots. NH attempt daily updates but doesn’t always give new totals. We try…. : )


Dear Grandchild

A message to one’s grandchild, from their Opa (when they are old enough to understand, someday; Opa = Grandfather):

It is okay to be scared, to cry and, if need be, even to give up on something; just, whatever happens, never ever give up on either yourself or those whom you love most dearly.


Another Shopping Day at Swap Shop

Another SHOPPING DAY (no donations accepted) at Swap Shop at WSWMD on Old Ferry Road, Brattleboro on Saturday, September 3, 8:30 am to noon. ALL ITEMS ARE FREE.

SCHEDULE & HOURS:
Shopping Days- 1st & 3rd Saturdays of the month
Donation Days- 2nd & 4th Saturdays of the month
If a month contains 5 weeks, the Swap Shop will be closed
Hours are 8:30am-12pm.  (Large donation loads may not be accepted after 11:30am)


The Perils of Campaign Finance

If you want some insight into the problems that current campaign finance laws create, the Vermont Democratic primary for the U.S. House may prove instructive. Windham County Senator Becca Balint and Lt. Governor Mollie Gray squared off in what proved to be a lopsided race. Balint handily defeated Gray. If Balint wins the general election she will be the first woman and first openly gay member of Vermont’s congressional delegation.

According to VT Digger, ” …LGBTQ Victory Fund, which spent just shy of $1 million on Balint’s behalf in the race, had recently benefited from a $1.1 million donation from Nishad Singh, a top executive at the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The political action committee’s financial disclosures make clear that the lion’s share of the outside spending supporting Balint’s run came from Singh’s donation.”


Stop the Squirrel Pot Shots Please

Over this past Summer I have noticed more and more squirrels visiting our feeders showing up with nasty/raw wounds and punctures right above or behind their shoulders where you might expect a target shooter/sniper to aim and fire a B-B or pellet gun site to do the most damage. There are an increasing numbers of these squirrels now along with an amputee, one blinded in one eye, and one shot near an ear that is deformed with paralysis so this particular squirrel has a lop ear making him look like Yoda (Yes we call him Yoda). I know they are attacked or even eaten once in a while by other wild animals no matter how willy or fight aggressively among themselves, but this would only explain some amount of pervasive suffering here we see these days.


Brattleboro Senior Meals Needs Drivers

Brattleboro Senior Meals has an urgent need for Meals on Wheels drivers.  Other MOW locations have been forced to close this vital need due to lack of volunteers.  We don’t want to happen here.  Brattleboro Meals on Wheels provide up to 144 people a day with meals.  Please contact: Cynthia Fisher, Director of Senior Meals, at 802-257-1236.  We need your help.


Special Drawing Rights by the Treasury Department

Today we face a crisis like never before, and we have the power to help.

COVID, climate disruption, rising food and energy prices, and war have created a “megacrisis.” At home we feel the pain of rising temperatures, gas and grocery prices. Low income countries have it even worse with millions more people pushed into hunger and poverty.

It doesn’t have to be this way. With the stroke of a pen, President Biden can trigger a simple, rapid, and cost-free solution: a new issuance of at least $650 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This little-known option gives immediate help to recover from shock and meet human needs. No strings attached, no added debt burden, and zero costs to taxpayers.


Lipstick on a Pig

The legislation just passed by the Senate, the Inflation Reduction Act, has been sold by Democrats as something that will save seniors a lot of money for prescription drugs. They are all puffed up about how the Medicare program will finally be able to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers. It is too little too late and worse than putting lipstick on a pig.

Forty nine million Medicare beneficiaries have bought into the flawed Medicare D program that provides coverage for prescription drugs. The program was created to support the drug and insurance industries. Medicare is only a middleman because enrollees have to pay premiums to insurance companies just for the privilege of being able to buy drugs at outrageous prices.

If someone does not sign up for the program as they initially enroll in Medicare they are forced to pay a penalty. There are many other punitive aspects to the program but, for some people who take more than five or six medications daily, it may save them a little money.


Another Free Shopping Day at Swap Shop

SHOPPING DAY (no donations accepted) at Swap Shop at WSWMD on Old Ferry Road, Brattleboro on Saturday, August 6, 8:30 am to noon. ALL ITEMS ARE FREE.

SCHEDULE & HOURS:
Shopping Days- 1st & 3rd Saturdays of the month
Donation Days- 2nd & 4th Saturdays of the month


Monkeypox Education and Vigilance Can Protect Us

Should Americans, and the rest of the world, worry about the current outbreak of Monkeypox? It doesn’t look like it will cause the same level of morbidity and mortality that COVID has caused, but it does have the potential to infect a lot of people.

It’s worth knowing the history of this disease. As reported in the Smithsonian magazine, “Since it was first identified in a colony of monkeys in Copenhagen in 1958, monkeypox has been largely overlooked by the Western world. An infectious poxvirus that causes fever, chills and rashes, the disease is endemic, or consistently regionally present, in ten African countries. Until recently, however, it was rarely found in Europe and the Americas—a trend that has, historically, led Western public health officials to disregard its spread elsewhere.”