During the troubling times of COVID, teens and young adults in Fort Bragg now have one more resource to rely on. Blue Door, a community service offering free and confidential health care, is now offered at the JD Center next to Fort Bragg High School every Wednesday beginning at 1:00 p.m. Blue Door is a program of Mendocino Coast Clinics, the local community health center whose mission is to build a healthy community by providing quality patient-centered health care to all coastal residents. Blue Door’s confidential services include birth control information, supplies, and behavioral health counseling. Blue Door’s expansion is part of the district’s ongoing effort to ensure students are as safe and supported as possible. Blue Door began to respond to an expressed need for accessible and confidential health care for teens and young adults. “It started as a community collaboration, and it continues to be a community collaboration,” said Stacy Pollina, reproductive health program manager at Mendocino Coast Clinics.

Blue Door’s expansion means even more growth potential. “Blue Door is part of the JD Center’s overall plan to be a hub that connects families to the resources they need,” Pollina said. On their first day of operation, Kei Velazquez, one of Blue Door’s medical providers, described his vision: “We want the process to be seamless: someone can be seen by a medical provider, talk to a counsel and participate in interactive art projects. We want to provide a safe space that offers tools to build self-esteem. Soon, Blue Door will offer family advocates, including the two recently hired bilingual liaisons by FBUSD, to help connect families with the support and services they need, such as food stamps and MediCal.”The new location makes it all possible,” Pollina said. “We’re excited to make Blue Door and its associated resources even more accessible to young people and their families.”

The entrance to the new Blue Door location has what you would expect of a clinic: a check-in counter, chairs to sit on while you wait. There are also a few rooms for exams or counseling sessions. However, to the right is a room you might not expect – a large room lit by two skylights on the high ceiling, an open door to let in a swath of sunshine and fresh air, and ornate walls of artwork created by a range of age groups in the community. Blue Door has partnered with FLOCKworks, a local non-profit organization supporting local collaborative arts initiatives, to create an inspiring and heartwarming space. “We hope to one day offer art workshops in this room, maybe even classes like sewing,” Velazquez said. “If nothing else, Blue Door will always be a safe place for teens and young adults.”

The opioid crisis is closer to home than many realize in Snohomish County, and the impacts are being felt throughout the community. It was one of the takeaways from Thursday night’s virtual opioid roundtable hosted by the Verdant Health Commission.

Verdant Health Commission Chairman of the Board, Jim Distelhorst, opened the meeting by sharing a 17 minute video on opioid use in Snohomish County, where overdose deaths have increased 20-30% since 2020. In 2020 alone, 525 Snohomish County residents died from opioid overdoses. Yakima County is the only other county in Washington with more opioid-related deaths.

Opioid use is not only harmful to users, it also harms other members of the community. For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control, one in three police officers will be stuck by a used needle during their career.

Verdant based in Lynnwood (find out more about how it works and how it is funded here) funds a range of health-related initiatives and has also launched its own Needle Service Program (SSP), Distelhorst explained. The needle exchange program provides drug users with sterile injecting equipment, safe disposal of needles, access to health care, treatment, testing and support.

Distelhorst pointed out that Verdant Health does not distribute free needles, which leads to more needles being improperly discarded.

“People only get the number of needles they give back,” Distelhorst said.

This helps limit the number of needles in the community and ensure that as many needles as possible are properly disposed of, he said.

Verdant has also addressed the opioid issue by hosting Narcan training. Narcan is a nasal spray that, when administered, blocks the effects of an opioid overdose. In January, Verdant partnered with Molina Healthcare and Snohomish County Social Services to host three training sessions attended by over 75 community members.

As a result, “there are now 75 more people in our community trained to recognize the signs of an overdose and administer Narcan,” Distelhorst said. “Each participant received a Narcan kit to take home. Each kit contains two Narcan nasal sprays. This means that there are now another 150 of these Narcan nasal sprays circulating in the community.

Verdant plans to hold additional Narcan training sessions in the coming months.

Roundtable speaker Linda Grant, CEO of Evergreen Recovery Center, said there is a stereotype that only teenagers use opioids, when in fact they don’t.

“We need to broaden our thinking about how we approach this,” Grant said. “About 70% of opioid-related deaths are people over 30.”

Evergreen’s naturopathic doctor, Andrew Dzikowski, said the clinic has seen a significant increase in relapses since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he added that Evergreen strives to be a place where patients feel they can come back if they need additional help.

“One of the things we strive for is that whether you’ve relapsed or not or are recovering, we want to be a safe place where people feel they can come back, whatever their situation. , without any judgement,” he said. “And that’s what we do. We create a safe and protected space for people to come at all stages of recovery and all stages of life and to guide them to a safer environment with housing, counselling, therapy, medical care and a warm, loving touch.

After the video, a Q&A session was held to answer questions from the community.

Many commenters have asked where teens can get drug treatments and access programs like SSP.

Distelhorst said the Center for Human Services offers outpatient treatment for teens. The center is a non-profit, community-based youth and family services agency that provides counseling and promotes drug and alcohol prevention. Northpoint Recovery, located in Bellevue, also offers treatment for children ages 12 to 17 and accepts Medicaid.

Grant said she empathizes with young people trying to seek help for addictions as resources have dwindled in recent years.

“The treatment of young people has just gone down terribly in terms of resources,” she said. “I know our legislature is trying to reinforce that this time, but the Center for Human Services is about it. Even the inpatient facility, Sundown M Ranch [located in Yakima] is the last hospital treatment center for young people. It’s just dying for no really good reason.

A commenter asked if facilities are experiencing longer stays than before due to the presence of drugs with stronger trace amounts.

According to Mishelle Rutherford, director of health services at Evergreen, the average stay for patients in rehab is five days. However, stays are getting longer as many drugs are now mixed with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Because fentanyl takes so long to leave the body, patients experience withdrawal symptoms for longer periods of time.

“We find that it lives in the fat cells,” she said. “So he comes out at different times. So someone can feel better one day in rehab, and the next day they’re back in full withdrawal. It was really difficult to manage. »

Another commenter linked to this question, asking if it was proving difficult to convince insurance companies to cover longer stays.

Rutherford said Evergreen hasn’t had too many problems with insurance companies so far.

“As long as we can show there’s a medical need for them to be there,” she said. “This is where it gets tricky, because what we might consider a medical need in our detox field may not be exactly what the insurance company considers a medical need. So that poses problems. »

In fact, Rutherford said, there are more problems with patients leaving early.

“We end up having a lot of people leaving against medical advice around day four or day five because they don’t feel better,” she said. “So it’s kind of a complicated room just to get them through full detox. And of course going through rehab: that’s just the very beginning.”

Distelhorst ended the meeting by thanking the community for joining in and being open to learning more about the complicated processes of addiction treatment.

Any other questions or comments can be sent to Zoe Reese at [email protected].

— by Lauren Reichenbach

The Sevastopol school board frequently gets inside information about state funding and problems from one of its longtime members.

Sue Todey, a retired educator, has just completed her term as president of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) and is now its past president. She also continues to serve as Chair of the Board of CESA 7, an association of 30 schools in northeastern Wisconsin.

Sevastopol Superintendent Kyle Luedtke said Todey’s service on state and regional councils helps him and the district stay informed of issues and in touch with state and local lawmakers. He said she also provides an independent voice to the WASB on issues affecting Wisconsin students, drawing on her years of experience as a counselor and administrator in Wisconsin schools.

“She has always been a huge advocate for children and children’s programs, and helping children get what they need,” Luedtke said.

Todey returned to her parents’ farm and the 120-acre farm after she and her husband retired in the early 2000s. She has been involved in various phases of education for over 50 years. She began teaching at age 21 and worked as a school counselor and administrator in the Green Bay School District. While semi-retired, she taught at the university level and worked as a consultant for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction on anti-bullying measures and drug prevention education.

Todey has also served on the Sevastopol school board since 2006.

“I didn’t retire well,” she says. “I needed to have something to do, and I thought I had experiences and skills that would benefit the school district.”

Over the past two years, WASB has diverted much of its attention to helping school board members deal with the issues they face: complicated health protocols for students and rocky relationships with district residents and school board members. parents.

“It was a tough time in education,” Todey said. “Certainly people have taken a great interest on all sides in educational matters – masking and vaccinations and critical race theory.”

The association has offered school board members numerous webinars and training sessions on community engagement, and has provided counseling to individual school board members who have been threatened.

“When we released the vaccine as a country, I think we thought we were on the right track to get back to normal, but it didn’t work out that way when we got the Delta variant and the variant Omicron,” Todey said. “Personally, I thought more people would rush to get vaccinated. Not everyone felt that. »

At the Sevastopol meetings, Todey voted for both tighter and looser health protocols, and she supported decisions that don’t make all parents happy.

“It was difficult,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of division – not just in our state, but in our country – and that’s something we just have to get over.”

At the state convention this winter, Todey spoke about what some students are doing to fight divisiveness through anti-hate groups that post signs and work with younger kids — “all to help them to understand that this hatred is not good,” she said.

People learn to hate each other, Todey said, and schools play a role in teaching students to love one another.

“I think that’s really the challenge we face now as educators: to help our children so that we can create a kinder and gentler society than the one we live in now,” she said. .

Also in the wake of the pandemic, school boards and educators must address the learning gaps that have arisen when young people had online or hybrid learning models or missed parts of the curriculum. Then the next big task for Todey and CESA 7 representatives will be to hold sessions in April to brief new school board members on laws such as the Open Meetings Act, as well as other related issues. the responsibilities of the board.

She said she continues to reach out to lawmakers to help area schools receive more state and federal funding and more support for student mental health needs.

“Here in Sevastopol, we don’t get a lot of general financial support from the state; we get categorical [program] help,” Todey said. “Because we are wealthy in property and poor in income, we are not eligible – any more than Gibraltar or Washington Island.”

She is part of the Fair Aid Coalition, a group including school districts such as Sevastopol that do not receive this general aid, and has been successful in getting more funding for transportation.

“We’re getting federal funds, but those will end,” she said. “We need to ensure that we have the necessary funding at all times. »

She also advocates for competitive salaries for teachers to continue to attract high quality educators. Todey said high-demand positions compete with places like Green Bay and Appleton, but Door County also has high housing costs and fewer social events for young educators.

The Ministry of Labor and Employment celebrates the Iconic Week of the 7^and at 13^and March 2022, as part of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’. On this occasion, Dr Shashank Goel, Additional Secretary/Director General Employment, Department of Labor and Employment launched an e-book on the NCS journey so far on 07.03.2022 at Shram Shakti Bhawan, New Delhi. During the launch, he said that the scope of the NCS portal is continuously expanding to provide more and more services to young people since the launch of the project by the Honorable Prime Minister on 20^and July 2015.

The e-Book of National Career Services is an effort to condense the various activities of the stakeholders involved in the project and provides an overview of the National Career Service’s journey, key achievements and overviews of successes since the inception of the NCS portal.

Under the NCS project, so far more than 94 lakh vacancies have been mobilized on the NCS portal. Also, more than 2 lakh job seekers have secured jobs through job fairs organized under the NCS project.

The Department of Labor and Employment is implementing the National Career Service (NCS) project as a mission mode project for the transformation of the National Employment Service to provide a variety of employment related services such as job search, career guidance, vocational guidance, information on skills development courses, internships, etc. All services available on the portal (https://www.ncs.gov.in) are free to all stakeholders including job seekers, employers, training providers and placement agencies. Career content for over 3600 professions is available on the NCS Portal for counseling purposes.

Disclaimer : This is an official press release by PIB.

Research project tracks social and geographic variation, creating digital tool to explore Qatari dialect usage

Languages ​​are a main driver of personal interactions and intercultural communication, embodying heritage and reflecting the development of civilizations and societies. Thus, languages ​​constantly evolve and change from the interaction of the various components of society.

One of the latest research goals of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), a partner university of the Qatar Foundation, is to explore and analyze dialects in Qatar.

“Our main goal is to broaden Qatar’s knowledge base with respect to Qatari dialect, heritage, culture and identity,” said Zeinab Ibrahim, a teaching professor of Arabic studies and the project’s principal researcher. creation of an interactive map of Qatar. dialect. The project is funded by the National Priorities Research Program of the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF). Principal investigators include Houda Bouamor, assistant professor of information systems education at CMU-Q, as well as Aisha Sultan from Doha International Family Institute and Hany Abdelrhem from Georgetown University in Qatar.

For the project, the research team traces the social and geographic variations of the Qatari dialect over generations and creates a digital tool to explore pronunciation, usage and expressions.

Ibrahim said she believes CMU-Q’s research can help preserve and promote Arabic language learning in Qatar.

“I’ve been living in Qatar for a while now, and noticed a lack of references on the local dialect which has changed over the years. Also, a lot of people move and work here and would like to learn the Qatari dialect, but there is no reference or manual available for it,” she said. “Thus, the result of this research effort can be used to develop programs that help Qatari students learn Standard Arabic.”

Bouamor is working on the second part of the project: evaluating the use of the Qatari dialect from a computational linguistic point of view.

“Looking at the way people write on social media, for example, we notice that they use either English or the Qatari dialect. It is therefore important to establish references of the linguistic resources used,” said Bouamor. “Dialects differ from country to country, even within the Persian Gulf. The Emirati dialect differs from Kuwaiti, for example. So we need to do some real research to find out if there is a general dialect” of gulf” or if each country has its own specific dialect.

“We notice that many people over 60, for example, use different language expressions than those used by young people in their twenties. So we have to monitor these changes and draw up a reference map,” she said. declared.

Main challenges of the project

As part of efforts to develop an interactive linguistic map of the Qatari dialect, the research team is working on collecting data from native speakers and collecting linguistic vocabulary in its basic form. With the participation of Qatari researchers, the project features interviews with Qatari individuals with the aim of establishing standard written conventions for the Qatari dialect, and digitizing and analyzing this information using language processing techniques. natural and machine learning.

Hamed Al-Qahtani is a research assistant on the project and represents the Bedouin dialect.

“As part of our work, we had to conduct interviews with people of different ages addressing five specific themes relating to heritage and ancient customs and their evolution over time, as well as the nature of past work and the difference between the past and the present,” Al-Qahtani said. “We also asked participants about their views on contemporary issues, such as Qatar hosting the World Cup.”

The research effort faced several challenges, the biggest of which was gaining people’s trust to speak naturally and spontaneously, said Delma Al-Hajri, another research assistant.

“Among the difficulties we have encountered is the reluctance of some people to participate in the interviews. Some were not interested in the subject, or did not want the conversation to be recorded for reasons of confidentiality, although they were assured that the information would be used for research purposes only,” Al-Qahtani noted. “The young participants were the most excited about the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, while others expressed interest in discussing Qatari heritage, working traditions and ancient customs.”

Another challenge researchers have faced is the overlapping dialects between geographic areas.

“One of the requirements of our work is to document the name of the region in which we are conducting the interview. However, there is national overlap in terms of residence and lineage. Previously, Bedouins lived in non-urban areas , but that’s not the case today, which posed a real challenge for researchers.” Al-Qahtani said.

Al-Hajri said the project will give people a better understanding of their local dialect.

“This project will gracefully frame the Qatari dialect, preserving it from the many impurities we see today. During my research, I found that some people tend to deny their authentic Bedouin dialect and use urban terms to sound sophisticated,” she said.

Bedouin versus urban

Discussing the results of the project, Professor Ibrahim said the research highlights gender-based differences, as well as variations between Qatari generations and Bedouin and urban populations.

“Using Modern Standard Arabic can allow teachers to better help students overcome some common language errors. It can also help, for example, to develop a book dealing specifically with the Qatari dialect,” she said. declared.

The research project also provides a valuable resource that can be leveraged to create different tools that automatically process the Qatari dialect, starting with creating the linguistic map of Qatar, Bouamor said.

“From a computational perspective, this is a great resource. For example, we can draw a map showing where specific words are more commonly used, which is one of the main goals of this project” , she added. “From a neuro-linguistic programming perspective, we can build a morphological analysis tool using machine learning. Another application is to build machine translation systems or tools to search for documents and information using a purely local dialect.”

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar offers undergraduate programs in biological sciences, business administration, computer science and information systems. Students can choose to pursue a minor in Arabic Studies or more than a dozen other fields.

Research project tracks social and geographic variation, creating digital tool to explore Qatari dialect usage

Languages ​​are a main driver of personal interactions and intercultural communication, embodying heritage and reflecting the development of civilizations and societies. Thus, languages ​​constantly evolve and change from the interaction of the various components of society.

One of the latest research goals of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), a partner university of the Qatar Foundation, is to explore and analyze dialects in Qatar.

“Our main goal is to broaden Qatar’s knowledge base with respect to Qatari dialect, heritage, culture and identity,” said Zeinab Ibrahim, a teaching professor of Arabic studies and the project’s principal researcher. creation of an interactive map of Qatar. dialect. The project is funded by the National Priorities Research Program of the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF). Principal investigators include Houda Bouamor, assistant professor of information systems education at CMU-Q, as well as Aisha Sultan from Doha International Family Institute and Hany Abdelrhem from Georgetown University in Qatar.

For the project, the research team traces the social and geographic variations of the Qatari dialect over generations and creates a digital tool to explore pronunciation, usage and expressions.

Ibrahim said she believes CMU-Q’s research can help preserve and promote Arabic language learning in Qatar.

“I’ve been living in Qatar for quite a while now, and I’ve noticed a lack of references to the local dialect which has changed over the years. Also, a lot of people move and work here and would like to learn the Qatari dialect, but there is no reference or textbook available for that,” she said. “Thus, the result of this research effort can be used to develop programs that help Qatari students learn Standard Arabic.”

Bouamor is working on the second part of the project: evaluating the use of the Qatari dialect from a computational linguistic point of view.

“Looking at the way people write on social media, for example, we notice that they use either English or the Qatari dialect. It is therefore important to establish references of the linguistic resources used,” said Bouamor: “Dialects differ from country to country, even within the Persian Gulf. The Emirati dialect differs from the Kuwaiti dialect, for example. Therefore, we need to carry out real research to determine if there is a dialect general of the “Gulf” or whether each country has its own specific dialect.

“We notice that many people over 60, for example, use different language expressions than those used by young people in their twenties. Thus, we need to track these changes and establish a baseline map,” she said.

Main challenges of the project

As part of efforts to develop an interactive linguistic map of the Qatari dialect, the research team is working on collecting data from native speakers and collecting linguistic vocabulary in its basic form. With the participation of Qatari researchers, the project features interviews with Qatari individuals with the aim of establishing standard written conventions for the Qatari dialect, and digitizing and analyzing this information using language processing techniques. natural and machine learning.

Hamed Al-Qahtani is a research assistant on the project and represents the Bedouin dialect.

“As part of our work, we had to conduct interviews with people of different ages addressing five specific themes relating to ancient heritage and customs and their evolution over time, as well as the nature of past work and to the difference between the past and the past. present,” Al-Qahtani said. “We also asked participants about their views on contemporary issues, such as Qatar hosting the World Cup.”

The research effort faced several challenges, the biggest of which was gaining people’s trust to speak naturally and spontaneously, said Delma Al-Hajri, another research assistant.

“Among the difficulties we have encountered is the reluctance of some people to participate in the interviews. Some were not interested in the topic or did not want the conversation recorded for confidentiality reasons, although they were assured that the information would be used for research purposes only,” Al-Qahtani noted. “The young participants were the most excited about the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, while others expressed interest in discussing Qatari heritage, working traditions and ancient customs.”

Another challenge researchers have faced is the overlapping dialects between geographic areas.

“One of the requirements of our job is to document the name of the region in which we are conducting the interview. However, there is nationwide overlap in terms of residence and lineage. Previously, Bedouins lived in non-urban areas, but this is no longer the case today, which posed a real challenge for researchers. Al-Qahtani said.

Al-Hajri said the project will give people a better understanding of their local dialect.

“This project will gracefully frame the Qatari dialect, preserving it from the many impurities we see today. During my research, I found that some people tend to deny their authentic Bedouin dialect and use urban terms to sound sophisticated,” she said.

Bedouin versus urban

Discussing the results of the project, Professor Ibrahim said the research highlights gender-based differences, as well as variations between Qatari generations and Bedouin and urban populations.

“Using Modern Standard Arabic can allow teachers to better help students overcome some common language errors. It can also help, for example, to develop a book dealing specifically with the Qatari dialect,” she said. declared.

The research project also provides a valuable resource that can be leveraged to create different tools that automatically process the Qatari dialect, starting with creating the linguistic map of Qatar, Bouamor said.

“From an IT perspective, this is a great resource. For example, we can draw a map showing where specific words are most commonly used, which is one of the key goals of this project,” she added. “From a neuro-linguistic programming perspective, we can build a morphological analysis tool using machine learning. Another application is to create automatic translation systems or tools to search for documents and information using a purely local dialect.

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar offers undergraduate programs in biological sciences, business administration, computer science and information systems. Students can choose to pursue a minor in Arabic Studies or more than a dozen other fields.

Sylvan Lebrun, collaborating photographer

At a Municipal Affairs Committee meeting Monday night, 23 firefighters and city leaders testified regarding Mayor Justin Elicker’s request to reappoint Fire Chief John Alston. The split of support and opposition was 11 to 11, with “conflict”.

John Alston assumed his current role in December 2016. Elicker has now asked to be given another four-year term, which would last until January 31, 2026. During his tenure, Alston has worked to diversify the fire service of New Haven and refine recruitment. and training processes. In his opening remarks, he acknowledged that some changes he had made were “unpopular,” nodding to Local 825 — the firefighters’ union — opposing his nomination. According to the New Haven Independent, in a union poll, 128 firefighters voted against reinstating Alston, while only 31 voted for it.

The committee did not debate or vote on the reappointment, deferring it to the full Council of Alders for streamlined consideration.

“There are two things that firefighters don’t like: the way things are and change,” Alston said in his opening statement. “You hired me to change the culture of the department; to increase opportunities. It doesn’t happen overnight…change happens when people coming in have opportunities, when the playing field is leveled and the actions of me and my team have done it.

Alston’s remarks

In a nearly 45-minute speech to the committee, Alston described his accomplishments since taking over as fire chief – including an overhaul of the recruiting process, a new paramedic unit, a response program for young people who start fires and the implementation of technologies such as “tactical worksheets” — which identify broken fire hydrants — on tablet computers and apps.

He highlighted his efforts to increase diversity within the department, such as changing hiring practices and workplace training on diversity, equity and inclusion.

“As I studied the department before taking the helm, there seemed to be evidence of years of nepotism, favoritism and cronyism,” Alston said. He added that he had an “aggressive and effective recruiting program in place to ensure diversity, opportunity and a succession plan.”

The current class of incoming firefighters is the most diverse under his tenure, Alston said, both in terms of gender and race. The department has also worked to recruit speakers of different languages, including Spanish, to respond more effectively to calls in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods. Statistics on diversity within the department are not publicly available.

Alston also highlighted his role in the firefighters’ COVID-19 response. In February 2020, before many Americans were fully aware of the impact of the pandemic, Alston “seated the staff … and played ‘what if'” to come up with contingency plans for how to continue to provide services in a safe manner. Amid the many waves of the pandemic, he said, the department never missed a single call.

Alston concluded his statement by acknowledging the “difficult and unpopular decisions” he made “in the best interests of the city.” The role of fire chief, he said, is “not a popular type of job”.

Questions from the committee

Alders at the committee meeting had the opportunity to ask Alston questions, pressing him on equipment expiration, fire station safety, community engagement measures and his plans to cope. to the recent increase in high-rise apartments.

Members who were present at his appointment hearing in 2016 or his contract renewal meeting in 2018 also asked him if he felt he had achieved his goals of improving department cohesion and morale. In response to Ward 12 Alder Gerald Antunes, Alston described his “open door policy” for firefighters hoping to talk to him about training or promotions.

Ward 4 Alder Evelyn Rodriguez asked Alston if the appliances and appliances for firefighters were “up to standard”, to which he replied that they were, but the problem was “not having enough”. He mentioned an incident with a faulty truck that he couldn’t get replaced for a while, which forced him to borrow a truck from the Hartford Fire Department.

Although he called this borrowing “standard practice”, it was one of the points of contention in subsequent speeches by local firefighters opposing its reappointment.

“Our fleet has been and continues to be decimated compared to Hartford, which has about 10 shop mechanics,” Lt. Ian Cordero of the Hill said. “We have three right now, and that’s what led us to borrow devices from different cities… That never happened in this department – ​​we were usually the city that provided the devices to the others. However, due to poor planning, we find ourselves in a very bad situation.

The number of out-of-service fire hydrants in the city was another point raised by both the alders and the testimonies. Ward 1 Alder Alex Guzhnay ’24 asked how many faulty hydrants were acceptable in New Haven, to which Alston replied “none”, attributing the current high numbers to the department’s reduced budget and difficulties coordinating with contractors of repair.

Lt. Kenneth Huls of Engine 15 in Westville, who is also a member of the Local 825 executive, said there were more than 100 fire hydrants out of service in the town, including 21 in his own district. “People in this town shouldn’t have to worry about whether the fire hydrant closest to their house is in working order,” he said, before mentioning how it hinders the Alston’s stated goal of getting water to the fires sooner.

“Morale has never been so bad”: firefighters testify

The deaths of two New Haven firefighters in 2021 – Ricardo Torres and William McMillian, with Torres passing in the line of duty – was another topic at the hearing, as concerns were raised that Alston n hadn’t done enough to provide support.

“I understand that you have something in place for bereavement due to COVID, but what has happened since the tragic moment to address our grieving brothers and sisters?” asked Ward 3 Alder Ron Hurt.

Alston responded by listing post-death counseling sessions and an anonymous comment system, noting that there was still “anger” in the department.

When Hurt then pressed him to find out if anything was being done at the moment to help firefighters heal, he said “no, no one reached out to say it was a problem”.

“Ricardo Torres was a huge, huge individual in my life since I was a kid, he’s my family,” firefighter Neftali Ortiz said. “Seeing the Chief not reach out to an individual who means so much to Ricardo and to the current family hurts personally… I see his absence from the fire stations. I see his lack of leadership.

Ortiz went on to mention that after a recent promotion, he took a four-day course and was only taught by one chef – he was told Alston would attend the sessions, but he “didn’t never presented”. He expressed his desire for Alston to be more proactive in training the department’s young leaders and in preventing future tragedies after the recent deaths.

Firefighter Scotte Pullen, who opposed the reappointment, said “morale has never been worse”, complaining of “bullying tactics” in the department and the dilapidated state of barracks and apparatus.

Alston’s supporters discussed his involvement in the city, his commitment to increasing diversity in the department and his openness to feedback.

“I’ve seen Alston at more civic functions than I’ve seen in 20 years. I’ve seen more people who look like me promoted to leadership positions than I’ve seen in 20 years,” Douglas Wardlaw said. , supervisor of fire investigations in the Office of the Fire Marshal “People have the opportunity to talk to him, to learn from him, to take advantage of his very open door policy, when former chiefs don’t even allow us not to call the third floor.”

Wardlaw urged the Alders to give Alston a chance to “finish what he’s committed to doing in the city.”

Boise Kimber, who served as fire department commissioner for five years, said many of the issues raised on Monday night – such as malfunctioning equipment and hydrants – could be resolved by the Board of Alders and the mayor with increased funding.

Kimber also said Local 825 “has never attacked a white leader under my direction or anyone else’s direction,” hinting at possible racial motives behind the union’s fierce opposition.

Guzhnay told the News that the Alders knew before the hearing that there would be strong opposition to the nomination. However, he noted that many of the issues raised regarding Alston’s tenure relate not just to his leadership, but to larger issues with the city’s budget.

“I took notes during this testimony, to follow up on other things that I thought maybe weren’t as directly related to the chief, but rather something that you know, the Board of Alders could do better,” Guzhnay said. “My colleagues are also considering that as well…those that are more about infrastructure and other areas that need work, especially around devices.”

The New Haven Fire Department was established in 1862.

A research team from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), a partner university of the Qatar Foundation, is working on the exploration and analysis of dialects in Qatar.
“Our main goal is to expand Qatar’s knowledge base with respect to Qatari dialect, heritage, culture and identity,” says Zeinab Ibrahim, Teaching Professor of Arabic Studies and Principal Researcher of the Creation Project. an interactive map of the Qatari dialect.
The project is funded by the National Priorities Research Program of the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF).
Principal investigators include Houda Bouamor, assistant professor of information systems education at CMU-Q, as well as Aisha Sultan from Doha International Family Institute and Hany Abdelrhem from Georgetown University in Qatar.
For the project, the research team traces the social and geographic variations of the Qatari dialect over generations and creates a digital tool to explore pronunciation, usage and expressions.
Ibrahim believes CMU-Q’s research can help preserve and promote Arabic language learning in Qatar. “I’ve been living in Qatar for quite a while now, and noticed a lack of references on the local dialect which has changed over the years. Also, a lot of people are moving and working here, and would like to learn the Qatari dialect , but there is no reference or manual available for it,” she says.
“Thus, the result of this research effort can be used to develop programs that help Qatari students learn Standard Arabic.”
Bouamor is working on the second part of the project: evaluating the use of the Qatari dialect from a computational linguistic point of view. “Looking at the way people write on social media, for example, we notice that they use either English or the Qatari dialect. It is therefore important to establish references of the linguistic resources used. Dialects differ from country to country, even within the Arabian Gulf.The Emirati dialect differs from the Kuwaiti dialect, for example.Therefore, we need to conduct real research to determine whether there is a general Gulf dialect or whether each country has its own specific dialect.
“We see that many people over the age of 60, for example, use different language expressions than those used by young people in their twenties. We must therefore monitor these changes, and draw up a reference map.”
As part of efforts to develop an interactive linguistic map of the Qatari dialect, the research team is working on collecting data from native speakers and collecting linguistic vocabulary in its basic form.
With the participation of Qatari researchers, the project features interviews with Qatari individuals with the aim of establishing standard written conventions for the Qatari dialect, and digitizing and analyzing this information using language processing techniques. natural and machine learning.
Hamed al-Qahtani is a research assistant on the project and represents the Bedouin dialect. “As part of our work, we had to conduct interviews with people of different ages addressing five specific themes relating to heritage and ancient customs and their evolution over time, as well as the nature of past work and unlike the past and the We also asked participants about their views on contemporary issues, such as Qatar hosting the World Cup.”
The research effort nonetheless faced several challenges, the biggest of which was gaining people’s confidence to speak naturally and spontaneously, says Delma al-Hajri, another research assistant. “Among the difficulties we have encountered is the reluctance of some people to participate in the interviews. Some were not interested in the subject or did not want the conversation to be recorded for reasons of confidentiality, although they were assured that the information would be used for research purposes only.”
The research project also provides a valuable resource that can be leveraged to create different tools that automatically process the Qatari dialect, starting with creating the linguistic map of Qatar, explains Bouamor.
“From a computational perspective, this is a great resource. For example, we can draw a map showing where specific words are most commonly used, which is one of the key goals of this project. From a neurolinguistic programming perspective, we can build a morphological analysis tool using machine learning.Another application is to build machine translation systems or tools to search for documents and information using a purely local dialect.

With prom season fast approaching, Rootstown’s Do Something Ministry of Community Bible Church is planning its free annual Prom On Us event to be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 5 at Cook Hall in NEW center at Northeastern Ohio Medical University. , 4211 Route 44, Rootstown

Women and their well-being are a passion for new gym owner Karina Timpson.

Ms Timpson took over rental of the upstairs gymnasium at the Oamaru Rowing Club last week and hoped to have it fully operational by the end of the month.

She was moving equipment and waiting for new equipment to arrive.

”It was delayed a bit with Covid. So it’s in Auckland. I have some really awesome pieces of gear coming up.”

Ms Timpson, who had previously rented the gym space from former owner Jamie Rhodes, continued to manage her women’s groups and clients with what she already had, but was eager to welcome other members when she could.

She had been in the fitness industry in Oamaru for around 12 years and said her focus was definitely on looking after her female clients.

The satisfaction she derived from her work was not the physical results her clients achieved, but “all the other things that go with it.”

”So the self-confidence, just being able to hang out with their kids. Because that was always my goal when I started, was to be an active mom while my kids were growing up. Yeah, it’s that stuff, it’s all emotional.

”I like when people feel good. I love my clients, that’s why I do what I do.”

Ms Timpson had studied female hormones and pre- and post-menopausal support, which was ‘just a different kind of support’.

”Also, pre and post natal is an area I’m really interested in and I will bring a little more to my gym for my clients. ”

As a mother of three herself, with sons Josiah (15) and Max (13) in high school and daughter Elyse (10) in her final year of primary school, Ms Timpson was also busy outside of work, and with 40 clients already on her books, she wasn’t looking too much to grow her client base. A small group allowed her to specialize, which she preferred.

She believed that the biggest challenge faced by women who wanted to prioritize their health was the lack of support.

”Having, I think, someone who is invested and caring – and that’s what I like to do.

“I’ve done a lot of life coaching and wellness coaching, so it’s been fine, and I think that’s what makes a big difference is that they know someone is there. with them.”

Ms. Timpson was a qualified Level 5 Personal Trainer and Wellness and Green Prescription Coach.

“So if people go to the doctor and the doctor says you need someone who can help you with your blood pressure or your weight, then come see me.”

She was also a practitioner of NLP (neurolinguistic programming), which helped her build relationships and communicate with clients, she said.

The gym would be 24/7 for members, with key access, and she would be available to help members if they wanted, which is why she was limiting numbers.

“I’ve had a lot of interest so I might consider taking on another coach in the near future – maybe an apprentice or something, that would be great.”

Ms. Timpson loved the community at the gym, and there were plenty of people who had used it for years and enjoyed doing their own thing, which she was also happy to support.

”I’ve been coming here myself for about 10 years, so it’s always been a pretty active gym. I’m just looking to maybe modernize it.”

Being part of the rowing club building also added great dynamics to the gymnasium, and Ms. Timpson hoped to be able to help with high school training during the off-season.

She also wanted to provide training for teenage girls and young women, to give them more confidence.

“Maybe kids who don’t like to play sports. Something different.

”Mental health is so important — it’s not just adults who struggle, it’s teenagers and young people too. . .it would be so great to trigger something in the younger ones too.”

Inquiries to join the gym can be made now by message Ms. Timpson on her Facebook page ”Coach K” or by emailing [email protected]