A wise man once said to me “we all we got!” That is never more true than when we look to the health of our community. Whether it is managing chronic disease like diabetes or avoiding acute disease like COVID, the information we share can make a very real difference to treatment and recovery.
No need to revisit the statistics. We all know that Louisiana leads the country in all the worst illnesses. And we are also intimately aware of how poverty related disease puts and keeps many of our neighbors in economic bondage. But what we do need to talk about is how we have folk in our very own back yard trying to provide services, access, and education so we can do better…not just for ourselves, but for our families. And that is exactly the conversation we plan to have this Friday.
Learn with us and our featured speakers for this OneRouge call “Wellness is a process”:
Charlotta Carter - CEO & Founder, LLENA(AI)™
Floyd Hodoh – Manager, Community Resource Center
Chelsea Johnson – Community Management Professional
Notes
Casey Phillips: Everybody is joyous humans. Pepper has said, how are you feeling on this great day?
Pepper Roussel: Listen, I am trying to figure out how I am both hot and cold at the same time. But I have, I put my lips on because I was trying to keep up with Chelsea and all as well in the neighborhood. I'm also, oh nevermind. I was just about to say that I was trying to manage my phone and getting Charlotta in the room, except she's here. She's here. She's here.
Floyd Hodoh: That's what we should have speaking. You should live on. That's it. That's the speaker today.
Pepper: You know what? Now I know why we don't do these health calls very often. Y'all are rowdy in the morning.
Casey: They're full. They're full. Everyone is full of the joy of service, right? Look, we in all seriousness we all talked to, but right before we opened the doors, everyone, there was a heavy moment acknowledging some things that have happened in the world that impacted some community members in the one Rouge. And we just reminded each other, you have to smile through the, you got to smile through the tragedy, right? You have to smile through the pain. Because if not you, then who? To keep showing up and in showing up for people. And there are several humans who are speaking today that I can truly say they are always out. They are always around. They're always showing up. And I've asked each, I look at Chelsea and I look at Floyd. I've looked at y'all, I'm like, I have no idea how you're always at events, how you're always around, how you always show up for people, not only for the things you do, but for the things that we ask you to do. And I think that is because you live in service, like you live to serve and you want to help people in that joy that y'all bring through tough times. Cause you see some folks through some really hard times. And. That means something in this world. So I want to celebrate each of you. And as you come into this space, thank y'all for the contributions to one Rouge, the new friends. I look forward to hearing from you all and connecting with you in the future. And I want to turn it over to Peppa.
Pepper: Hello. Hello. Hello. Happy Friday. One Rouge family. I'm glad that you are here as always spending part of your Friday morning with me. We are going to be talking about health. Health fairs community, all sorts of wonderful things that will be going on. Some of it is going to be a call to action. Please come and it can visit. And yes, you can ask who all going to be over there. With that said the. To my right, is that right? Left? Whatever this side is is Chelsea. So we'll start with you first. It, listen, people, it is early on a Friday. I don't know what direction it is, but I know it's over here. Chelsea, if you wouldn't mind letting us know who you are, what you do, what we need to be involved in. Appreciate it. Your five minutes starts now.
Chelsea Johnson: Awesome. Thank you. First of all, thank you so much to OneRoot. OneRoot you all are just amazing. I appreciate you. Casey and pepper and the things that you all do and the information that you bring each and every week. It is truly appreciate it. I am Chelsea Johnson. I'm a community management professional with Humana healthy horizons. I have been with Humana for 24 years, but as of last year, I became a community management professional. So I've been in this role for 1 year now. And as you all know, and heard. Last year, Humana received the contract to be 1 of the Medicaid providers for here for the state of Louisiana. I'm excited to be in this role and with that, as a community management professional, I have the opportunity to make an impact in the community. I love the work that I do. I love being out there with the community, seeing what's going on and in what ways Humana can help or even participate to make a difference. I'm up! I promote and educate the community as far as what is Humana offers in their value added benefits as well as provide resources and tools to help the community thrive. I develop partnerships with organizations in the local areas. I service region 2, which is East Baton Rouge Parish. And I also share a region with my team member. I also service region 5, which is out in Lake Charles, Beauregard, those areas with that. Again, just developing relationships with organizations, nonprofit organizations, community leaders. City leaders. Whoever I get in the door and talk to, that's where I go. And with that, it's just really, we talked about the health fairs. I have the responsibility of organizing, collaborating and implementing different community events. And in the different regions, and just I have a little slogan that I personally made that says I'm just out here letting the green be seen. So I love it. I love meeting all the new people and even just providing them not only with the information, but even for the organizational leaders and the different. Organizations, we also promote find help. So when you're looking for information in regards to, you're talking to different people in the community that need some assistance, find help is a great database. It is a great search engine. To use if anyone is not on it and you want to be on it, you can always contact me and I can help you get on the site as well as give you a little training. As far as how to use it. It is very resourceful. It can give you reports of what you're doing. You can follow your referrals to different organizations through the data system. Of course, we do. Sponsorships when we can on a local level. If you all have any organizations or any events or any things that you have going on that you think that we can support in some way, by all means, reach out to me and my email is C. Johnson 1. Just the number one at Humana. com. But I am available, reachable, touchable. And I think I probably met just about our, most of everyone that's on this call.
Pepper: I can personally attest that she does just happen to attend these random health fairs given out cups and all manner of things. Did I get my, Did I get my temporary tattoo from you or was that somebody else? That's somebody else. All right. Put that on your list. I need the swag. All right. We're staying with some local provider. You know what, Floyd, I was going to make you and your hat go last, but I figured, But I'm figuring we'll go from humanitarian. No Please let us know who you are, what you do and what we need to know about it.
Floyd:Good morning, everyone. You don't mind me sharing my screen, do you?
Pepper: We do not share the screens, my darling.
Floyd: Okay. My name is Floyd Hodoh and I am with Aetna Better Health of Louisiana. Previously my role before December 18th was with Pennington Medical Research center. And I was community outreach director, and so that was my going out the face of Pennington, sharing our studies and I moved over to, Aetna, Louisiana, better health. The role I take now is I am a manager of the community resource center. And workforce initiative training center we have not opened yet. That's why I've been on the download. I've been preparing. The center getting it ready, we're going to have a grand opening April 25th. It's going to be a 5353 Essen Lane suite 1 50. It's a beautiful facility. We have a conference room, multipurpose room, consult rooms, huddle rooms, executive conference room computer lab. A mock CBS store, and it is free for the community to come in and take advantage of I'm gonna say it again. It is free for the community to come in and take advantage of I will show you pictures, but it would do it. No justice. I ask you all to come and visit the center. Hopefully we'll have. Everything up and running April 25th, but our doors are open right now. If you'd like to come and visit, just send me an email and I'll put it in the chat and I'll come by and check it out. As part of my role.
Pepper: I got questions about this mock CVS store. Is there real stuff in it? And is it free?
Floyd: It is real stuff in it. It is not free. But CVS and 1 now and the CVS stores workforce and training center. So we have all the managers, all the pharmacists from CVS come in and do trainings once a month. We are partnering with big buddy program and the mayor. My, we program to train students. During the summer to work in the CVS stores throughout the Baton Rouge area. And I'll be working in conjunction with the CVS lead miss Sharon and that's what's going to be going on this summer. We have a lot of events and activities going on here. April 25th grand opening. Do you want me to talk about the health fair? Do I have time for me to move on? Oh, yeah.
Pepper: 2 minutes before we start moving into questions to other folks and then questions and answers.
Floyd: Okay my partner in crime, Ms. Charlotta for you to jump in and and and keep me on task, but April 13 at the oh, golly I want to call it mini dome, but it's the Clark activity center. We'll be hosting a Health and Harmony. Wellness Fair begins at 9:30 AM to 2:00 PM and we are in conjunction with Southern University Law School Aetna, better Health, Louisiana, Penington, biomedical, and Lena. And the issue increasing Clinicians of Diversity and that object is racing. Thera erasing disparity through education. And we've gotten together and it started off as a faith based health fair. We're like, no, we want to open up to everyone. And so currently we have 37 vendors. We have guests with experience and wellness screenings, aerobics, food trucks, farmer's market. Each person that attends will receive a 10 dollar voucher for meals and a 5 about you to visit the farmer's market. So we have community vendors, screenings, massages, and free giveaways, and the SU student body government will be working with us. Our guest speaker for that event is Dr. Patrice Harris, who is the immediate past president of the American Medical Association. So come out, the campus market will be open, they're going to be giving away potted plants, 200 seeds, and 200 bags of produce, and 37 vendors to help you out with health education.Thank you.
Pepper: Look at you. All right. You called your partner in crime, but she's off right now and where she went to. Anyways. Speak of the devil and she shall appear, but while she's connecting her audio, Nancy, please let us know who you are, what you do and what we need to know about it. Your five minutes starts now.
Nancy Gosserand: Hello. Nancy. Hello. Nancy with cancer services. Want to let you know that we are nonprofit for all cancer clients, no matter where they come from in a 10 parish area here within Baton Rouge. And we offer medical supplies, medical equipment. Financial assistance as well as counseling, which is big and our goal is to continue to get out into the public into the communities and bring our services to. The community 1 of our biggest challenges, of course, with everybody is probably transportation. And so that's definitely something we still continue to work on. We are working now on our June event is June 2nd and that is going to be celebration of life. And that is going to be for clients that are connected with us, and we invite them out to a day of celebration. And then we'll do July. We'll do our summer camp, which is for children ages 6 to 13, and they will actually do 5 days full of activities. And it's. The children with cancer and their siblings because, of course, siblings also go through a lot emotionally. Because they don't have cancer and they feel sometimes left out, etc. We just do a lot of fun in this no hospital, no chemo no radiation and hopefully they're going to have just the best time. A lot going on. We have also some healing arts events. Exercise and cooking demos. Feel free to call us anytime and feel free. My email is ngoceran at cancer services dot org. And I'll be happy to help partner with as many people as we can.
Pepper: Awesome. We are definitely going to need to hear more about that event. And if you wouldn't mind dropping your email into the chat, I'm trying to grab some of these flyers and throw those in, but Peter Carter incognito if you wouldn't mind letting us know.
Charlotta Carter: I apologize. I'm actually on the West coast. So it's 6: 30 in the morning for me. So Excuse my voice here but I'm Charlotta Carter and I am the CEO and founder of Lena AI. It is an AI platform for health management. We've take in your biometrics, your blood sugar, your blood pressure, your preferences, and a lot of other information. And we provide personalized nutrition, coaching and exercise. We've partnered with Walmart, Amazon, SoCo, and recently have been recognized by the White House as part of their initiative for health, hunger and nutrition. We are co hosting A health fair this coming. On the 13th of April, I should say with Floyd and Aetna. Humana is there at Southern University Pennington. There's a health fair at the mini dome that we will be co hosting together on April 13th. Everything there is free. We, free for the vendors, free for the attendees. There will be food. There will be games. There will be a lot of other activities there for health related. Resources there. It's been one of a kind of trying to get Pennington and Southern University together. So I'm pretty happy to be a part of that. Lena AI has partnered with Southern University and the USDA. We helped Southern get their 1.2M dollar grant in food, desert insecurity and we understand that's been extended quite a few times to several 1M dollars. So we're happy to be a part of that as well, too. We're expanding our platform looking to partner with insurance companies. So happy to hear that Humana and then everybody's here partner with Medicare, Medicaid, snap to bring those folks on board, to help them get the access to the resources they need to manage their health care when they're not in the doctor's office. Food is medicine coaching. We have an AI coach. Project that we're working on that we think is going to be really neat and cool. You can find a lot more information about what we're doing and all the traction that we're making, not only in Louisiana, but across the country at our website at www.lenafoo.life. And I'll leave that in the chat as well, too. But We're having a really great time. Why did I start this business? Been in software development for over 25 years. I was diagnosed with type two diabetes in 2017. I work with an endocrinologist to get off my insulin in six months on this program and found just doing it manually was very difficult. So both my husband and I, Peter are software engineers and we put together a prototype, a lean AI prototype. That's just morphed and grown over the last five five to six years. So it's a personal journey for me. We know so many people in our community that suffers from diabetes or chronic diseases. My grandmother died of diabetes, my aunt has, and I have a family history. So it was a matter of when, not if I was going to get diabetes. So it's a very personal journey for me and for my community. So looking forward to partnering with a lot of you. And if you have any questions about what we're doing, where we're going, how we can help, please feel free to reach out to me directly. Thank you.
Pepper: I have questions. And so we tell me more about the because you've got a minute and 30 seconds left. Tell me more about the platform in and of itself. What does it capture? How does it capture? And I might is this like a deal a meal where I put in what I eat and it tells me how many glucose. Am I so old? I'm the only person who members deal a meal. Seriously?
Charlotta: So really, if you, if you use Bluetooth devices, we can take a lot of that information. So if you use a one touch or freestyle livery or something like that, we can take a lot of that information in and give to you what you should be eating based on your glycemic index numbers there. So we can do that whether you're located in Louisiana or Chicago. That was my problem is I traveled a lot. And so I needed to know what I could eat wherever it was. So whether you want to cook it yourself or go to a restaurant or order food out, if you cook it yourself, we give you tons of recipes that you can choose from, and we're connected to Walmart that, it creates a list for you for shopping carts. And you can order that food. We are working on a snapshot of food before and after. Take care. That generates the nutritional values of everything that you eat. So you don't have to do manual meal planning anymore. So we do that meal planning as well as diary charting everything that you eat.So you're able to get that information. And we'll give you a report on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis of how well you're doing and what you need to do. And we connect you to we've procured relationships with coaches in the nutrition environment. We've created we pick your relationships with exercise vendors as well, too. So we give you that 24 by 7. Support on everything, all your nutrition, all your coaching and all your exercise that you need to manage your health care. It started out as just diabetes specific, but when we work with the kids on campus, they wanted to just eat healthy. And so we put a switch in the platform that allowed you to switch off the glycemic index county and just eat healthy food. It is on iOS and Android. We have been asked to put it on on desktop. So we're looking at migrating that over as well, too. And so the other part of it is that we do have a relationship with Amazon and we're moving it over to Alexa as well. So we're trying to reach all the communities that need it most in the rural communities, visually impaired communities, as well as aging communities and make it very easy to use to manage what you're eating, what you're doing, and keeping you connected to the community. Did I use up all, did I use up all my minute and 37 seconds?
Pepper: Yeah, but we have, now we're moving into questions and answers. So there's that.
Charlotta: Questions? Answers? If I have the answers, I'll give them to you. If I don't, I'll research and get back. We'll figure it out.
Pepper: We'll figure it out. Floyd's hat mentioned that you are going to be, are you going to be in Louisiana for the for the events that are coming up? And speaking about the events can. Y'all all of our panelists, can y'all share a little bit more about how to become a vendor? What do you need? Are you selling things? Is it just information? Is it some sort of testing going on? Help me understand the process.
Charlotta: I'll jump in and Floyd. You can jump in too. Yeah, I will be there. I'm flying in on Monday, so I'll be there for the rest of the month for sure. So I will be there co hosting with Floyd and Humana is going to be there as well. There will be testing that's going on. We do have a number of our vendors already set. I'm ready to go. We are looking for more attendees. If you are still looking to be a vendor, let me know. I don't know if we still have room for that, but it's open to the community. It's free for all. Yes, I will be testing that's going on there. And Floyd, you can talk to what you guys are doing with Humana because you're doing a lot of things in different stations.
Floyd: Yeah, with sorry about that. I will I have the part of managing the market. We will have a campus market there with over 14 farmers. People who are entrepreneurs and we're giving out 5 dollar vouchers for every member attends to visit the market also. And take part in that they're beginning out groceries over 200 bags of groceries being given out at that time. Also we'll have the sheriff's department dj-ing for the event and. Just Charlotta, we have close to 37 vendors. We have a massage and a stretching room also to come down and visit that area. Also, we have the. Southern University, matter of fact, how do you say that? Not alumni, but the student government association supposed to be raffling off iPads. So we're hoping students and adults come by also. We've been working on our children there. I don't think we don't have much there, but we also have food vendors there curbside. Burgers and razors and also lemonade truck. We've given everyone a 10 dollar voucher to come out and participate in that also. I will be there live and in color, so come hang out with me. Talk with me. I'm there. I will get you up and going. I'll be there probably 7 in the morning live, ready to go helping everybody set up, get going, come out and meet me share. I love this venture I'm in with Aetna because I have my own community center now and I can host events here, so I don't have to go out in the community much at all. But it's still, I have that opportunity, Keisha lets me lose some time to go out in the community and do events. I'm gonna be sharing a calendar. Big activities that we'll be doing here at the center, and I'll be out in the community all the way up to December, and I'll share that with you all on the next call.
Charlotta: Thank you. And just a plug for the Southern University Law Center, who's actually really spearheading this and they are funding the bulk of a lot of this. And I'd like to thank, Chancellor Pierre for really making this happen. He really stepped in. I call him 1 of my GSD warriors, so GSD is the clean version of that is get stuff done. Get stuff done warrior. You can think about what the unclean version of that is, but he is a definitely GSD warrior and he's very responsible for helping us make this happen.
Chelsea: Hey, okay I really forgot to mention when I was talking it. Unfortunately, I'm not going to make it because I'll be on the other side of town. We'll be on the other side of town. And I'm at a healthy horizons. It's partnering with phone fathers on a mission. We're going to have a spring into wellness, health and resource fair right there on the corner of. Chateau and North Acadian. So we are looking to have a great time cooking with dads. It's going to be a segment presented there. So we are, if you know of any more dads or father figures that want to come and cook with their kids. Tell him, come on by. So we're going to have a great time. Q106. 5 is going to be out there broadcasting live for us. At that event, we're going to have a fitness expo. Adrian with our lady of Lake is going to be out there making us move. He does such a great job. So I'll make sure I'm ready. And I've had all my Wheaties that morning. He's going to be there. We're going to have a vaccines and blood pressure checks and sugar diabetes or a 1 C checks and blood sugar checks rather. And the Italian eyes, that Metro helps going to be there doing some HIV testings for us and it's just going to be in just a host of vendors. We're just going to take up that street. On North Acadian with tents and tables and just have a wonderful time. So it is this Saturday as well, but it's from 1 to 4. So from 1 to 4, come and see us at North Choctaw and North Acadian. So thank you.
Pepper: Before I get to the question that's in the chat about cross pollination I want to answer this 1 that's closer to the bottom. That is about the vendors. Do you have to be a medical or an insurance vendor? Can you be a food vendor? Are there certain types of vendors? Help me? What do I, what needs to occur there?
Chelsea: At our event, this one is, it's open to the health vendors, but it's also just open to resources. So there are a variety of people that are going to be there. Some of them are in health. I have the credit union is going to be there to give them some information in regards to finances. Also have even Prime America is going to come and they're setting up a table to even talk about life insurance and mutual funds and different things of that sort. Not only will it be health vendors, but it can also just resources here as well. And food vendors, this 1, we really. Because we're having the food, healthy food demonstrations and as well as cooking with dads, we don't have a food vendor, but we do have a Italian ice truck that'll be out there for the kids. And it's really good, but they're going to be there. They're going to get the kids. But it's going to be really good. So that's for this particular event. So it is open to those right now have about 25 vendors. And I think it's just going to be really great. If you want to be a part, you still have a little time, just a little to say whether or not you would like to come out there and be a part. And, of course, the city is also going to be out there providing their safe, their peace port, they're going to have that out there as well. Thank you. Look, it's going to be great.
Pepper: While I'm thinking about services, I don't want to leave Nancy out the services that are available through cancer services are those services that we've got to be proactive about going to you to find or are these things that are they going to be at the someplace, in the future?
Nancy: We actually do both. We have some resources that we bring out and partner with the communities, but all we ask is that people do register through cancer services. So that we can get in contact with people both ways, either by, email phone or reaching out at the different events. Our number, and I'll put that in there and I'm gonna try to find a couple of flyers to attach so that you can send that also out to everybody about the events. But, we love this part of this being with this group because we're finding out so many additional things that we weren't aware of and a lot of people still don't know everything that cancer service offers and again, it's all at no cost. And again, just connecting with the community. We're here to help and see how we can bring our resources together. For all of us.
Pepper: Awesome. So the question early about cross pollination, I'm not sure whether that's been answered. But how can we cross pollinate? What do the other organizations that are on the call have to do in order to table? Is there a form? Is there an application? Is there a show up? Do we call you?
Chelsea: For Humana for me, you can email me or actually email or call, but there is a vendor form. It's a little short form that I'll have you fill out just to say who you are and what it is that you're bringing to the table. So we would know. But I'll go ahead and put my phone number in the chat so you can either call me or you can email me.
Nancy: What would be nice if there was a health calendar, I know that the Louisiana Department of Health has the calendar that they have of some of the events. If there was a way that we could all plug into that and you can just let go to one link and all of the health fairs would be there. That would be really nice to have. I don't know if the doctor Sunday is the right person to reach out for that to let everybody have access to. Okay. But that's a, to me, in my mind, that would be a really good way to find out, what Humana is doing, what the Department of Health is doing. And then everybody can be plugged into that. And you can look at that calendar and see what's appropriate to you and how to and then if the link to be a vendor and the link to attend is on there. That would be great as well, too.
Pepper: Echoing a question that we had before the call started reframing a question that we had before the call started once you actually go through all this process of filling out the form, how, people going to be there. Do they show up? What's happening?
Nancy: There are, oh, sorry, go ahead.
Charlotta: There, yeah. Yeah. There are, if you're planning to attend there, there are links to say you're planning to attend, you can't, whenever you have something that's free, you don't know who's gonna show up or not. For the most part, if you do have free food and you got free giveaways, you are gonna have a lot of folks there. So I don't think you need to worry about that. The biggest part, I think we ever worry about are the vendors who's going to be there managing that you don't have too much of one type of vendor and making sure that you've got, a really good idea or the spread the industry across the board. For us, it's one link for attendees and one link for vendors, and that's how we keep track of it.
Chelsea: I echo pretty much the same thing that is exactly true, at least for us in this particular event. We do have a Q code that a QR code that is on the flyer. So that will let us know that's for the cooking with dads portion. So we'll know how many are there to make sure that we have enough for all of them to participate in the free cooking, the cooking demo. But for the most part, yeah, you really don't know, you can do your due diligence as far as your marketing as far as we're getting flyers out in the neighborhood. We're trying to do that grassroot thing, just step and knock on the doors and say, hey, we're having this event right here in your backyard, so come on to it. So that and social media. Of course, putting it out on social media, putting it out on different websites Instagram and Facebook and all that, even though they say Facebook is for the old people, but, Hey, we just try to do what we can.
Casey: If I could just thank you all for the work that you do. Thank you all for the work you do the cancer services year round. Floyd I love the summer workforce program with the mayor's office. That's brilliant. That y'all are doing over there. That's really cool. And big buddy and the city do a really good job with summer 1. I have an idea it absolutely could be a terrible one and I welcome everyone just give me all the reasons of why this won’t the work, but, it was part of the cross pollination. I'll put our nonprofit sector on blast first, it almost seems like instead of throwing, spending all this money to throw all these galas, right? Which I have my own words for sometimes it's about being seen in cutting checks rather than the work that's being done. If all the nonprofits came together and did one monster gala and invited all the donors to come one time and everybody just gave to whatever organization they wanted and throw the biggest party that anybody had and everyone looked forward to it, it could be incredible. And I've never gotten the attraction with that. So this could also be a terrible idea. But if all the Medicaid in health providers work together on a quarterly basis at the river center, everybody was pulling in the same direction and you had villages set up in the river center for all the different health services that are provided in all the vendor fairs were all organized on a quarterly basis and everyone spent their money at one time in the community knew they could show up every single every three months. To get some level of free health care that they can't afford because insurance rates are so crazy and everything is just so expensive. Wouldn't it make sense to all do it together? And then you would also all be fishing from the same large pool to sign people up for your programs and cross pollinating, cross referencing, which I'll do on a one on one basis all the time. Is that like a crazy and a horrible idea? And could you make it better and make my idea get worked? Any of y'all? Any thoughts? Better.
Nancy: Can y'all hear me? Yeah. Okay. So I love this idea. One of the struggles we have as nonprofits is being small. I have 6. 5 employees that includes me and I love getting out in the community and networking. And I know Chelsea, I've met her through some events and it's just, it's fun. And it's, I love the clients, the people, that's what it's about. Go to the Gimba, go to the source. Anybody who's done Six Sigma, that's what we do. And I would love to work smarter versus harder. I need the resources I need help and it's just the energy and I'm gonna call it synergy because it is great when we all get together because we really are doing the same thing with a lot of the same. Population, let's, and like Chelsea, when you were saying you go out in the neighborhood, I'd love to go with you. That would be smart versus, just 1 person going because that's where we're needed. That's where you get to the people who need it most. And that's what we want to do those most in need. And they're not always on Facebook or on technology or have the resources or can come to us. So I think that's a great idea, Casey. Just my thoughts.
Casey: Chelsea, just on principle. You want to disagree with me? Floyd, you want to jump in? Ms. Carter, you are absolutely light years beyond my intelligence. Please jump in and tell me where this process is not efficient. Come on.
Charlotta: No. I think it is efficient. And I like the idea of people knowing and when something's going to happen because when we do have, different things at different times, people don't know. And that's why I was saying, if we had a calendar, it's Of events, then people would know where to go. And if we had those events on a regular basis, then people will know where to go. And I think if we all leave our egos on the side, because some of us are in some of the same spaces. No one company can service an entire, state of folks. So there you have to partner together to do that. And the problem would be that who would lead the charge to bring it all together. Would that come from the mayor's office? Would that come from the governor's office? Who would bring that together? Cause you're going to need resources both from personnel, from hardware, from software from project management to make it all happen. And that's really, so that's the question. The idea is fabulous. How do you make it happen? Where do you get that? Those GSD warriors to pull together to make it really happen? Will the governor buy into it? Will the mayor buy into it? Those are the questions that you need to ask at that point.
Chelsea: I totally agree with Charlotta, Casey. Very good. It would be wonderful. And the fact is, it has happened to a certain degree. If you all remember, there was a big event last year at the Raising Cane Center with United Way, not United Way Urban League. Correct. And that had all of the MCOs there. It had every screening you could possibly think of that was there, but. There she is Rev. Anderson hit it on the money. It's the transportation because not only can we get, I don't think it would probably be a big issue to get all of the together and all of the vendors and the different resources together in 1 place. The biggest issue is how do we get the people there? The transportation, it's either we can, we need to go to where they are. If we're going to do something that big, you find some area that is. Workable for everyone, or we figure out a way in which that we can get them to us. I really don't, we're, they're going to do what they do. We, as community management people, we often talk about it. We're out here as a big family. We know we all work for different companies, but we all do the same thing. We all have the same goal. That's a higher up decision as far as where what we can do to actually get all the people to come into one place.
Casey: Yeah, that's I keep getting back to it and I feel like Manny is going to build on what I'm about to say. This is a big thing, right? And if you just approach it from one direction but you have to be the 9 intersectionality of the 9 drivers, right? And so micro transit could solve this. Microtransit could solve this. It's working in Baker. It needs to be implemented in the communities. And I, we all know those of us who are privileged enough to have motor vehicles to have cars as you drive around. I see like parking lots. Outside of churches with vans sitting there all the time, and these are people who are serving the community all the time. I literally just texted a pastor yesterday at 4:15 to ask if we could use the parking lot for a community cleanup, and three minutes later, the answer was absolutely. God be with you, right? So it's these are going to be willing participants. We just need to solve because if we keep saying that transportation is the thing that's going to get in the way of doing anything, then let's solve the transportation issue.
Manny Patole: Yeah, I think with I'm going to chime in there. I think that. There's always going to be a problem, but if you I learned this from actually from Dustin as well as some other people in the past about don't come to me with problems come to me with solutions. And there's always going to be someone who's going to say what if what if, but I did this, in central New York as well as I did this. If I can get this stuff done, will you give me the money? If I can get all these things forwarded, will you give me the time and the space? And they said, yes, and I was able to get it done, right? It wasn't the same scale and scope we're talking about here with, a centralized health care, but I don't think it's far that far off considering the folks that are constantly on this call. And you could just mobilize, even if we have what, 25 organizations that are here and each of those organizations has, a number of people that are Maybe 1 or 2 vehicles, even if it's an SUV or a sedan or something like that. And you can coordinate. It's a math equation, right? You find a location that could have it that lot. That's we used in 2019 for the imagine blank growth stuff on Mohegan and plank, right? That's a big one. That's across from the creamery. You can have something outdoors there, or you can have, maybe you look at the Raising Cane Center, maybe one of the places the hell is you are Southern or something like that and bring everyone together in terms of, Hey, this is your, CSR, right? This is your community outreach that you can write off as a tax rebate or something like that for that event for that day. If we do the math, if we do all this stuff, would you let us do it? That's the question.
Casey: So thank you, Pepper. Thanks for first of all, thank you all for the feedback on the idea. And I do remember the urban league event and it sounds I don't want to put words into anyone's mouth, but it sounds like it was well choreographed, but transportation was the block and that kept the attendance down. The smartest thing, by the way, I would also like to lift up is a is one of the, one of the One of the strategies that we've done in South Dallas that's different is that we put concert promoters into the center of all the community work, and they know how to mobilize people. And when you put live music for free. On top of food fares and everything on top of it. And you actually know people who have Rolodexes that can actually reach all those people. Then it helps also drive people. So there are multiple problems to solve. But thank y'all for allowing this build in the moment. I appreciate the feedback and I'll go ahead and lean back, Pepper, and come back to you.
Nancy: Casey, did you really say Rolodex?
Casey: Yeah. I know sometimes that people still, y'all heard me joke about it.
Manny: I still play it too, Casey.
Casey: I still invitations to join young professional groups. And I'm like yo, do you understand?
I'm 48. I know I act like I have a kid like soul, but dang. Anyway, without that being said I just want to thank you all for that moment to build and And in week 200, this is week 200 of these calls, right? Of what we've been doing together. So 200 weeks in a row. What I love about the people that have been coming in and out of the space for the last 200 weeks and the 800 members that get the invite to get the meeting notes, we still have new people building together. And I want to make sure. And unscripted. I want to welcome one of the newest members of our community who is coming in the work. Mr. Alonzo Williams. He is now the head of community outreach at the Capital Area United Way. He comes here from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. At our first meeting deep listener, it appears, and but I suspect there is a bright light inside of this human. So I just want to make sure that everybody in this community welcomes Alonzo into the work and please connect with him at his pace as he gets acclimated into our city. Alonzo, do you want to at least just say your name and and say hello to the good people?
Alonzo Williams: Good evening to everyone. Hopefully you guys are having a wonderful morning. It is Friday and we have made it. It is a blessing to be able to be just on the line and being able to hear a lot of the passion and ideas that you all have and how we can work together. To help be able to motivate one another and to be able to help our community in the best possible way that we can. So I'm looking forward to being a part of this wonderful team and seeing how we can work together and we can take this thing a lot further than where it is right now.
Casey: Appreciate you. Thank you, Alonzo, and welcome. And actually I didn't, I ended at it Ms. Carter, I just want to make sure and say in front of everyone congratulations on making something that has been rooted local into a national success story. And I said,
Charlotta: Thank you. We'll keep we'll continue to work on that. So thank you guys for all your help as well.
Casey: Yeah, you push through the apathy of the city sometimes to embrace innovation and I said, so everybody don't complain, come with solutions and get it done. And this Carter will be the first person to lift that advice up to you. So anyway, congratulations and pepper back to you.
Pepper: Not at all. That is the conversation, right? How do we get things done? How do we connect these dots? And there is a lot of chatter in the chat about how it is that we actually do get folks from point A to point B. There was a suggestion and maybe a get out the vote sort of bus van sit on days that there would be events going on. I will enter this shameless plug for the transportation mobility coalition. This sounds like something that the T and M could actually be working on if this is an event or a series of events that make any sense. But there's also the question of where will the. Camp care for children be this particular summer. So if y'all have any space for 40 to 50 children, plus 30 volunteers, please contact Nancy. Otherwise. If you need help, apparently, we are in community announcements. If you need help with a project or a program there are some in why you graduate students who are looking for something to do but before we finish with community announcements. Do y'all have panelists, do y'all have anything that y'all want to leave us with action items or things that we want to, that you want us to make sure that we do before, because or while we are looking for ways to improve our health.
Nancy: I probably have some more things that I can include, so we could put in an email because we're doing so many different activities and I love that. Somebody offered people who can volunteer because we desperately need. Some of that help. So I'll send you some information.
Pepper: Okay. Thank you. So thanks. Speaking of thank yous, thank you to all of you for being here, particularly Charlotta from the West coast, San Mateo. Yeah. I went to school in Belmont for a couple of years. Yeah, we were neighbors ish anyway. Thank y'all for being here on this fine Friday. You know how much I appreciate you spending part of your Friday with me. Thanks to all of you who have already started communicating in the chat. I can see that there's some things that were taken offline. So love that. Hey, Douda opening it up to letting us know what is going on this weekend in Baton Rouge y'all. Yes, Manny. I'm sure they will hear from you and your beard.
Reverend Anderson: Good morning. I'm super excited because as many of the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Reform Coalition is celebrating its fifth year of being a court watching court changing organization. And as part of our celebrations we are having a opening reception for our Court Changing Art Exhibition at the Eden Branch Library tomorrow from 10 to 12. And it is a different kind of opening reception. So we're going to have court changing trivia. We're going to have court changing bingo. We're going to have court changing jeopardy. Think of SNL's Black Jeopardy not the other kind of jeopardy. And we are going to Tell tales from the court so that As much as people always think it's a very, and it is, it's a very challenging opportunity. After five years of doing it, I'm going to tell people there's no higher role in public service than to hold our systems accountable. And I love the idea that we're going to be able to share some of the more colorful stories that we have accumulated over five years. So we hope everybody who can stop by enjoy a little refreshment and win some prizes. And more importantly, which judge the term who let the dogs in should apply. I'm just saying little mic drop there.
Pepper: So many and so much, however, I am down with this black Jeopardy situation, man.
Chelsea: I will, they will be in the event tomorrow. Casey mentioned it earlier on the call when we 1st got started. There is an event tomorrow that I'll be a vendor. At it's East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority, they're going to have a community health fair tomorrow from 12 to 3 at the Zion Terrace Apartments at 5958 Cadillac Street. I'll put it in the chat, but it's gonna be at the Breck Park, but across the street from the community. So they are posting a community health fair tomorrow.
Pepper: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Dauda was saying something and Marcella, so Lori, you're next.
Dauda Sesay: Oh, thank you all. The team and I'm so excited about all the events that are happening this weekend. And then all the other events that are happening. But I just wanted to add as well. This weekend, we have what we call the Red Stick Unification Cup. And which is a soccer World Cup style soccer tournament. That is resuming this weekend. Today at the Boba field. Yeah, the team Mexico versus team Nigeria playing and team USA is playing as well. This is a way that we bring communities together and spread the Love and spread inclusivity, and we're using the soccer tournament as a ways to bring people together with the beauty of the sport and also give people so many options that you can celebrate your weekend, your Friday night on your weekend. Talking about the weekend tomorrow at the independent park 12 p.m. We're going to be having. A series of the soccer games that will be taking place right at the independent park. So come there, there will be music and fun, and then also cheer your team. And the cool part about the team is even though when you said Team USA, you have over six countries playing in that Team USA. When you talk about Team Vietnam, you have over eight countries playing in there. It's just to see the blend of our diverse community in our states. Now, talking about this diversity. And I'm urging everyone here. So please let continue to spread the love. We've seen how a legislator, the way they are attacking our immigrants family, and it's not just the immigrant family. They are attacking the fabric that made us stronger in our states and in our city. Do we on site immigrant bills have been passed in and all of those bill is like a copycat from different other States. Like the license driver's license is not only against the migrants is against also minorities that's a copycat from florida. And then also there is another big call sb388, which is basically a sanctuary Punishing new orleans for becoming a welcoming and inclusive city and then also trying to derail some of the progress We have made here together and then that's a copycat from Georgia and a copy had been from Texas, which everyone is talking about military wise in the border. So I'm continue to say, let's continue to spread the love and then continue to embrace one another because the refugees and the immigrant community have been a fabric of this community and have been a fabric of our cities and states. And then finally. Once people were put in power, they are trying to spread hate, but we're trying to spread love and progress, and we are launching our first youth, which we call Learn to Lead, that we are launching the start of the day from 10 a.m. to 11 p. m. One hour pilots that we are introducing a land to lead, which is we want to empower tomorrow's leaders. It's a transformative program dedicated to equipping the Children of refugees and immigrants in Louisiana with self sufficiency skills. We're gonna focus on education and also information technology. We partner with and go with Google so that we offer those skill sets. So the Children, if they want to go that route, entrepreneurship once at an early age, they need to learn about developing their own business, having that business mindset become take ownership on that. And then finally, a civic engagement. Sometimes people say kids cannot vote, but we say kids can vote. They cannot put the vote, cast the vote on the ballot, but it can influence someone. So those self leadership skills, let them know what is happening in your city, in your neighborhood, there's a people that are you elected that are passing decision and laws that impact you. So all those things that we are doing and. Healthier will launch that this weekend. So thank you all. And there's a lot of information within the shortest possible time. But I just need to decompress and share this with you all. And with all the heavy hearts, our immigrant family are going to win the States. So please, let's continue to spread love. And stop the hate. Thank you.
Pepper: Hear Hear. As a bit of an aside, our very own Manny Patole will be marching in the Tartan Parade on the morrow in New York City wearing a kilt. I want pictures. So if anybody is going, please, take pictures. Also we've got family and friends, Baton Rouge, Austrian Discovery. Thank you so much, Dr. Watson. And what else we got going on? Family health EBRPHA, community health fairs tomorrow, April 6th at Zion Terrace. All right. Did I miss anything? Oh my word. It's Manny without a beard. I like this version better. Fantastic. In a kilt and everything. Well done, sir. Well done. All right, folks. Thank you all for being here. We are at time. We're going to let you get back to you Friday. I would love to say that have a great weekend off and I hope that you do get to spend time with doing the things that you love with the people that you love. Otherwise, we will see y'all back here. Hopefully next Friday. Same bat time. Same bat channel.
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