Today I volunteered with the Public Health Nurses doing outreach & education about the COVID-19 vaccine in Nānākuli. Gloria, who was also the clinic coordinator at the LCC vaccine POD where I was running the Data Entry Center, is also leading this effort. We worked in one of the communities that have a lower rate of vaccination.
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| I was on Team F. |
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| My partner & I did this portion of the 1st area. |
Today Gwen was my outreach partner, she is a PHN. Over a 5&1/2 hour period we went to 63 houses, but only found people at home at 9. Of those 9, we found 3 households where everyone who was eligible was vaccinated & 1 household who we might have made a difference in moving them closer to getting vaccinated. Two of the other 5 took some information about emergency preparedness but declined to talk about vaccines, the last 3 totally refused to talk to us. I guess that's in keeping with the name of the community; one of the meanings of nānākuli is "to ignore". I walked 3.43 miles today. I really need a foot massage.
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| Gwen & I did the top right row of houses. |
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| Gwen & I started at bottom right & walked around cul-de-sac & few houses up the next street. |
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| We were only actively moving for 86 minutes. |
The proothie this morning was made with the now-thawed blanched & frozen lau ʻuala. Aesthetically it looked terrible; the fresh leaves are much more appealing. But taste-wise there was no difference. After I finish using the nā lau that I processed, I will return to using fresh nā lau; it is less time consuming to use them fresh. We had so much the last time because we were clearing nā lau out from around other plants we were working on.
Getting in to Kalanianaʻole Beach Park was a little tricky. The light at the intersection was not working well. It would let everyone else turn, except us. After sitting there for 3 light change cycles the State car in front of me ran the red light when it was safe to do; I did it also on the next cycle. The truck behind me did it on the following cycle. Fortunately, by lunch the problem was fixed.
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| This was the cycle just before the car in front ran the red light. |
Like all good biologists, I made a pit stop before starting the 1st leg of our outreach today. On the way to the bathrooms I walked past some artwork the community has created. I think the inscription below translates to something along the lines of "The homestead lands of Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole remain forever." Which makes sense; the area we were in today is part of the Hawaiian Home Lands that are held for native Hawaiian people.
Like at LCC, lunch was provided for the people helping with the outreach & education. Today I had a Cold Cut Combo which had turkey along with cold cuts. I shared a table with Jean; I met her in April when she was one of the Post Vax supervisors at the LCC Vax POD. We had a great time catching up & talking about the current health situation.
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| My view during lunch; I chose to look at the mountains today. |
At our mid-afternoon break I had a bottle of Orange Mango Body Armor Super Drink & a snack bag size of Baked Crunchy Cheese Cheetos. I liked the flavor of the Body Armor, it wasn't too sweet; but after reading the label I think I will just stick with 100% coconut water instead. In spite of not tasting sweet it had a lot of added sugar.
In the afternoon, as we were talking to a couple of residents, my
phone started buzzing; it was someone from Staffing Solutions, the temp
agency who the LCC Data Entry Center staff had to be hired through. I called back after we were done with the outreach & education event; it was Louise. She was calling about a data entry job; she said she also sent me an email with the details. I told her I wasn't interested in this job but if they were going to staff another vaccine clinic data entry center I would be interested. They must be desperate for people, since I was not planning on continuing employment with them after the vax POD I did not follow through with what they said I needed to do to remain eligible for future work.
The traffic on the drive back was not bad until I passed Kaiser Moanalua, then it stopped. It creeped along until just before the Punahou exit, which is the normal place where it opens up again. It took me an hour to get home; in the morning it took me 45 minutes to get to the park, but about 15 minutes of that was waiting at the last turn for the signal light to change.
For dinner I had what was left of the Zucchini Pasta Bake and Mushroom & Artichoke Salad that I picked up from Kokua Market on Tuesday.
While I was eating dinner I heard a Kōlea calling. This is not the 1st one I have heard this season; I heard one 2 nights ago but was not able to get my camera out quick enough to get a photo. This time I did. They usually return from their Arctic breeding grounds in late August through early September. I think this is the one which claims the Hue's front yard diagonally across the street from us as part of its winter feeding territory. (It does not come to our yard, we have the wrong type of grass for it.)
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| Kōlea standing on the neighbor's roof. |
Today Star's puppy behavior came out. This evening Lori sent us a photo of the results of Star being left alone in the back yard when Jenny was out running errands.
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| (Photo by Lori) |
The cough drops that Suzanne sent me arrived today. I will have to try them before my next day of First Contact Calls.
In response to my text letting her know that the cough drops arrived, Suzanne sent me photos of her moʻopuna kāne Kaleo. He is now in marching band & tonight was his first marching band performance! Hulō e Kaleo! Looking good!
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| (Photo by Suzanne) |
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| (Photo by Suzanne) |
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| (Photo by Suzanne) |
My Duolingo streak is now 490 days long! The only 'reward' you get on Duolingo for having a streak of days you have practiced is for 365 consecutive days, nothing else. I think I shall acknowledge when I get to 500 days & maybe every 25 days after that.
The Aix weather app forecast drizzles with no accumulation in Honolulu before lunch followed by partly cloudy skies; we ended up with just partly cloudy skies, no drizzles. For Kapaʻau Aix forecast rain with accumulation for the entire day; Big Island News did not agree saying it would be mostly cloudy but with only a 50% chance of rain. Big Island News appeared to be more accurate. For Marysville, Aix forecast partly cloudy all day with no rain; it might have been right.
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| Kaimukī looking westerly at 7:33 a.m. |
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| Honomū looking northerly at 7:34 a.m. |
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| Matysville looking southerly at 7:34 a.m. HST. |
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| Nā Koʻolau at 8:31 a.m. |
I have found that Big Island Now has a nice surf report; although it is geared for Hawaiʻi Island it will provide a general idea of how the surf will be on all the islands. It looks like the south shore will provide the best conditions for the holiday weekend.
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| Chun's Reef (N) at 7:34 a.m. |
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| Waikīkī (S) at 7:35 a.m. |
The Hawaiʻi Paroling Authority will be requiring parolees to be vaccinated prior to release. Sounds like a good thing since the correctional centers have been an incubator like the cruise ships. There will be exemptions granted for medical or religious reasons; if granted the parolee will be required to provide a negative COVID-19 test on a weekly basis to their parole officer.
There were 1068 new cases of COVID-19 reported today, bringing the total known cases up to 65,025. There were also 4 new deaths reported, increasing the death toll to 606; currently 11,225 cases are considered active. As of yesterday 1,877,187 doses of vaccine were administered providing 63.6% of the population with full vaccination; 71.9% have had at least 1 dose. According to the latest information 437 COVID-positive patients have been hospitalize with 101 in the ICU and 86 on ventilators. The 7-day new case average on Oʻahu is 633 with a positivity rate of 8.4%.
Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Dean, Sandra, & Steve!
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