I’m an Addiction Treatment Specialist, 15 ½ Years Sober, and Fully in Support of Oregon’s New Law Decriminalizing Drug Use

By Dave Marlon, CEO of CrossRoads of Southern NV & VegasStronger 

Measure 110 passed in Oregon with 55.8% of the vote on election day, clearing the way for the state to become the first in the nation to decriminalize the personal possession of small amounts of cocaine, heroin, oxycodone, and methamphetamine. 

The ballot measure also reallocates cannabis tax funds to be used for health assessments, addiction treatment, harm reduction, and other services for people with addiction disorders. 

The idea behind the ballot measure is to get people suffering from addiction disorders out of the criminal justice system and onto the addiction treatment path. 

As an alcoholic in recovery and addiction counselor, one would think I’d be against such a measure to essentially legalize drugs; but let me explain why I’m in favor of it and why I think it could be a smart model for the rest of the country, especially as we look at options to treat the opioid crisis and try to solve America’s “war on drugs.” 

15+ years ago when I was struggling with alcohol and cocaine use, I wish I had the treatment options that were just put in place in Oregon – it might have shaved a few years of recklessness out of me.

Even currently, in 49 states in America, there aren’t the treatment options available that just went into effect with Measure 110 in Oregon. For example, with Measure 110, if you are caught with a small amount of drugs, you are issued a $100 ticket. The $100 is waived if you show up for a health assessment or treatment, all of which is paid for by The State of Oregon, not the patient.  

I struggled for years and years earlier in my life with the idea that I might end up in jail or the moral stigma of addiction would be too much. I also thought the idea of treatment was just way too expensive. Back then, I couldn’t have imagined what good treatment would do and certainly couldn’t justify the cost. I’m currently 15 ½ years sober and happier than I’d ever imagined I’d be.

Let’s face it, we do have a raging drug problem across the country. We have called it The Epidemic Within the Pandemic here at my treatment center. We also have states who clearly want to legalize cannabis, as exemplified by the 4 states that just legalized it on election day: Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, South Dakota. 

Why not tie the taxes from legal cannabis to treatment programs in all states who have legal cannabis? If we know we have a drug problem, if we know how to solve it and if we have a way to pay for treatment – why wouldn’t we help people? 

That’s why I fully support Oregon’s Measure 110 and believe it could be a model for other states as they legalize cannabis and look for ways to deal with drug problems. We know the answer to addiction is treatment, so why not use it? Treatment, and I’ve seen this with myself and countless patients, is the way to a healthy and fulfilling life. 

Oregon gives me hope that we may finally be on the path to providing relief for the addiction crisis in this country. 

Dave Marlon is the CEO of CrossRoads of Southern NV, NV’s largest drug and alcohol addiction rehab center, as well as Founder of VegasStronger, a non-profit aimed at defeating addiction in Nevada. When Dave isn’t counseling patients, he can be found with his wife Carolina and their two teenage boys. You can reach Dave at david.m@vegasstronger.org

Courageous Kids Must Save Santa in Time for Christmas

New York, NY, November 23, 2020 — Amid the backdrop of an overindulgent culture and waning Christmas spirit, one company, Eastern Industries, is uniquely poised to monopolize the attention of children with the launch of its latest video game. But things have gotten way out of hand. Santa is missing, the North Pole is in a state of chaos, and Christmas may not happen at all! With the holiday traditions of the world hanging in the balance, can a team of intrepid youngsters drawn from the Naughty List, some toy soldiers and living snowmen save the day?

Author Thomas Conway sets the stage for worldwide adventure in The Naughty List, his imaginative, modern Christmas tale that blends elements of pop culture with the age-old tradition of Santa Claus. The story begins at a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade without Santa, where toy manufacturer Eastern Industries has just released a new holiday marketing scheme, which keeps kids glued to their devices and drains everyone’s holiday spirit. With Christmas fast approaching and Santa nowhere in sight, a team of daring youngsters recruited from Santa’s Naughty List aim to rescue Santa and save the holiday.

While primarily a Santa tale, The Naughty List cleverly incorporates Winter holiday beliefs from around the world, including the legend of Marduk, a Babylonian god; the Roman feast of Saturnalia; the epic story of Jangar from North Asia; Moravian traditions of animal communication; and the present real-life adventures of Israeli Santa Claus, Nicola Abdou. 

Also sprinkled with references to holiday favorites such as Miracle on 34^th Street, T’was the Night Before Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and others, this wonderfully rich tale promotes right over wrong, good over evil and love over fear. 

Suitable for all ages, The Naughty List skillfully weaves valuable lessons about overindulgence and society’s tendency to put labels on children, with the overarching theme that when kids misbehave they should not be defined by their bad deeds but rather see it as a learning opportunity, since when we appreciate the best in humanity and combine our talents, we are capable of almost anything.

The Naughty List, winner of the 2020 Indie Book Award in the E-Book Fiction category, is the first release from Thomas Conway. His 30-year career spans various industries. When not at work, he devotes his time to environmental matters and inventing stories for his two children.  

The Naughty List

Publisher: Skylands Publishing House

ISBN-10: 1734123400 

ISBN-13: 978-1734123401

Available from Amazon.com

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DECN XPRIZE Testing Data for Rapid COVID-19 Testing Technology Yields Near Textbook Results

Data using XPRIZE supplied contrived fluid samples provides results comparable to those seen in the FDA lab testing of donor saliva, as DECN competes for the $5 million prize and GLOBAL validation

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / November 23, 2020 / Decision Diagnostics Corp. (OTC PINK:DECN) www.decisiondiagnostics.co, a leading manufacturer and worldwide distributor of diabetic test strips engineered to operate on legacy glucose meters along with its subsidiary Pharma Tech Solutions, Inc., the inventor/manufacturer of the GenViro! Covid-19 Swift Kit truly rapid testing methodology, today announced the results of the completion of its testing for the world-renown XPRIZE, www.xprize.org. The results from the GenViro! testing, using simulated Covid samples and protocols provided by XPRIZE, provided results in 4-9 seconds that were consistent with what the company reports seeing in the FDA lab human donor testing it is concluding at its certified lab and from human donor tests run in the laboratory of its Korean partner.

XPRIZE is the world's leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity's grand challenges, in collaboration with OpenCovidScreen, a non-profit founded by scientists and business leaders to drive needed innovation through "Open Science." OpenCovidScreen, was founded along with a coalition of partners calling for the global community to develop accurate, frequent, fast-turnaround, affordable, and easy-to-use screening tests to detect Covid-19 occurrences before they become outbreaks. The $5 million XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing competition is designed to accelerate the development of high-quality Covid-19 testing that is low cost, reliable, easy to use, and has a fast fast-turnaround, thereby enabling frequent testing.

"While we were guarded about working in the limited time frame provided for the testing on previously unknown and "contrived" samples, we nevertheless anticipated doing especially well on the testing given our faith and belief in our product. I am more than pleased, pleasantly surprised I would add, with the resulting data," said CEO Keith Berman. "We remain more than emboldened about the overall efficacy of the GenViro! Swift Kits. The results provided an identification dichotomy, perhaps for the first time giving rise to a testing category nomenclature for our noteworthy GenViro! Swift product."

DECN's subsidiary Pharma Tech Solutions, conducted its XPRIZE testing at the laboratory of its Korean partner, using the 88 samples provided by the XPRIZE committee. The week-long testing period included two days needed to thaw out the samples, which were received frozen in dry ice. Samples were triple tested in a blind study under the protocols set by the committee. The results have been submitted to the XPRIZE committee for consideration as a finalist, and their announcement is tentatively planned for release on or around December 8^th.

The XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing competition calls on the world's brightest, most innovative minds to develop new, low-cost testing solutions that range from testing devices with 15-minute results to distributed lab testing methods with "next morning" results. Frequent, fast-turnaround, easy-to-use testing enables effective data-driven tracing and isolatingstrategies. Many currently available Covid-19 tests remain expensive, slow, invasive, and are supply-chain limited. XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing aims to meet the need to scale testing capabilities by approximately 100-times above our current standards, the level needed to more safely return to everyday activities, especially in times of increased community spread.

To amplify its impact, a $50 million "COVID Apollo Project" led by experienced life sciences investors and company builders - including RA Capital, Bain Capital, Perceptive Advisors, Redmile Group, and Samsara Biocapital - will work with OpenCovidScreen, the XPRIZE community, and others to accelerate the best ideas, technologies, and innovations to market and scale them.

Teams can compete in one of the following four categories: At Home, Point-of-Care, Distributed Lab, or High-Throughput Lab. To ensure supply chain diverse solutions, entries are encouraged in a variety of underlying testing approaches (PCR, Isothermal/LAMP/RPA, CRISPR, Antigen-detection, Next Generation Sequencing, and other technologies). Entries will be judged on overall innovation of solution, appropriate performance, turnaround time, scaling properties and frequency enabled, ease-of-use and cost of solution.

Seven major national and regional health plans are collaborating as founding partners of XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing: Blue Shield of California, Cambia Health Solutions, Inc, Health Care Service Corporation, GuideWell Mutual Holding Corporation, Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. (NJ), BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. The Anthem Foundation and Anthem, Inc., serve as the Founding Anchor Partners. Supporting partners include leading healthcare, laboratory and technology companies: Google, Amazon, Ilumina, Ancestry, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Exact Sciences, Centerview Partners, Twist Bioscience, Opentrons, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, and Testing For America.

ABOUT DECISION DIAGNOSTICS CORP
Decision Diagnostics Corp. is the leading manufacturer and worldwide distributor of diabetic test strips engineered to operate on legacy glucose meters. DECN's products are designed to operate efficiently and less expensively on certain glucose meters already in use by almost 7.5 million diabetics worldwide. With newly inspired technology, and diabetic test strips already in the final stages of development, DECN products compete on a worldwide scale with legacy manufacturers currently selling to 71+ percent of a $15+ billion at-home testing market.

The company's new GenViro!^™ products designed to test for Covid-19 are not yet available in the United States and hopefully should soon be available in Puerto Rico, but Emergency (EUA) Waivers are in process with the U.S. FDA with additional submissions to take place in the near future. The company has also signed an agreement with an FDA and CLIA certified US, Pennsylvania-based testing partner to complete testing per current FDA guidelines and continues to look forward to the FDA authorization of its EUAs.

Beyond all of our testing activities, the company has received word from several of its large GenUltimate! blood glucose product distributors who are seeking to have GenViro! added to their Amazon product offerings upon FDA approval. Currently, Amazon only offers special licenses for point of care and professional use medical products, which would preclude the individual use GenViro! Kit from being available on Amazon, even after FDA approval is secured. Two of the company's GenUltimate! product distributors have these "professional use" arrangements with Amazon, with a third distributor application in the works, although the company may determine that it is in its best interest to offer limited exclusivity to one distributor once FDA authorization is achieved.

Spirit of Christmas Shines through in Uplifting, Small-Town Romance

Nashville, TN, November 23, 2020 — Build a crackling fire, pour a cup of cocoa and immerse yourself in the holiday spirit with Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy, a heartwarming, small-town romance from Hallmark Publishing author Janice Lynn. 

Set in the charming little town of Pine Hill, Kentucky, Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy introduces readers to quilt shop owner Sophie Davis and former Marine Cole Aaron, whose lives intersect at Pine Hill's Christmas festivities. 

The story begins when Sophie finds Cole’s journal among a box of books that had been donated to her church. She can’t help but peruse the personal entries, finding herself drawn to the stranger on the pages. As the daughter of a veteran and a seamstress who sews Quilts of Valor, she feels a deep connection to the former soldier who wrote the emotional entries, and she longs to heal his heart. 

As a former Marine, Cole battled to find peace after returning to civilian life, and his journal was the conduit toward a truce with his past. Always needing to protect others, Cole now fights fires and is embracing his new life in Pine Hill. When Sophie shows up at the fire hall with his journal, he fears digging up the demons from his past and tells her to trash it. 

Their paths continue to intertwine, with both Sophie and Cole volunteering for their community. But it’s hard for Cole to let down his guard, and he doesn’t need anyone’s pity. After all he’s been through in the past, can he find faith in a more hopeful future — one touched by joy?

Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy is the perfect small-town Christmas romance to warm readers’ hearts during the holiday season. It is the sequel to Janice’s first story, Wrapped Up in Christmas, and can also stand alone.

Janice Lynn is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author. She strives to write characters who evoke strong emotions and make readers want to go along on their journeys. 

Her first sweet romance, Wrapped Up in Christmas, was a bestseller on Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, Amazon (hit No. 13 overall in paid fiction in Kindle) and ibooks (hit number No. 1 paid ebook fiction); was Hallmark Publishing's first release to hit the USA TODAY and Wall Street Journal's bestseller lists; and was a finalist in the Bookseller's Best Award. Janice also writes contemporary Medical Romances for Harlequin, and her books have won numerous awards, including the National Readers' Choice Award, the Golden Quill for Best Short contemporary Romance and for Best First Book, Romantic Times Magazine's American Title, and the Holt Medallion Award of Merit.

Janice lives in Tennessee with her Prince Charming, their seven kids, her vivid imagination, an adorable Maltese named Halo who's the true princess of the house and a bunch of unnamed dust bunnies who took up permanent residence after Janice started her writing career. In addition to writing romance, Janice is a nurse practitioner, a quilter, an exercise queen, a military mama and a member of and an avid supporter of the Quilts of Valor Foundation. Just kidding on the exercise queen.

For more information, please visit www.janicelynn.com. You can also connect with the author on social media at: https://www.facebook.com/janicemarielynn;

https://twitter.com/janicemarielynn; or https://www.instagram.com/janice.lynn.author/.

Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy

Publisher: Hallmark Publishing

ISBN-10: 1952210038 

ISBN-13: 978-1952210037

Available from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Walmart.com

###

Study: Early, late stages of degenerative diseases are distinct
Two-phase theory applies to diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, muscle atrophy

HOUSTON – (Nov. 23, 2020) – Rice University biochemists Michael Stern and James McNew have studied how neurodegeneration kills cells. They've conducted countless experiments over more than a decade, and they've summarized all they've learned in a simple diagram they hope may change how doctors perceive and treat degenerative diseases as varied as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and muscle atrophy.

In a study published this month in Molecular Psychiatry, McNew and Sternpropose that degeneration, at the cellular level, occurs in two distinct phases that are marked by very different activities of protein signaling pathways that regulate basic cell functions. 

"We would like clinicians and other researchers to understand that the two phases of degeneration represent distinct entities, with distinct alterations in signaling pathways that have distinct effects on disease pathology," said Stern, a professor of biosciences at Rice. "In other words, we think that patients need to be treated differently depending on which phase they are in."

Stern and McNew's diagram shows how the activity of key cell signaling proteins either increases or decreases at the onset of degeneration, ultimately bringing about oxidative stress. Oxidative stress then brings about the second phase of the condition, during which degeneration occurs, where the signaling proteins implicated in the first phase behave in a completely different way. 

Because cells behave quite differently in the two phases, the research suggests patients in different phases of a disease may respond differently to the same treatment.

"The two phases of degeneration haven't been previously recognized, so it hasn't been understood, clinically, that you have two different populations of patients," McNew said. "Today, they're treated like one population, and we think this has confounded clinical trials and explains why some trials on Alzheimer's have given variable and irreproducible effects. It would be like trying to treat all meningitis patients with antibiotics without realizing that there are two types of meningitis, one bacterial and one viral."

Stern and McNew, professors of biochemistry and cell biology in Rice's Department of BioSciences, became interested in the cellular processes of neurodegenerative disorders when they began studying hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) in the late 2000s. A rare disorder, HSP is marked by numbness and weakness in the legs and feet due to the progressive deterioration of neurons that connect the spine and lower leg.

These are some of the longest cells in the body, and starting with clues about structural defectsthat could cause them to degenerate, McNew and Stern used experiments on fruit flies to systematically piece together the biochemical domino effect that caused the neurons to progressively lose more and more function and eventually die. It had been thought that nerve damage could lead to muscle atrophy, but their studies found that muscle cells attached to the neurons started degenerating from the same type of biochemical cascade before the nerve cells died.

A key player in the cascade was a protein called TOR, a master regulator of cell growth and an essential protein for all higher order life from yeast to humans. TOR acts like a knob, dialing growth up or down to suit the conditions a cell is experiencing. In some conditions, high growth is warranted and beneficial, and in other situations growth needs to be dialed back so energy and resources can be conserved for daily chores, like the recycling or repair that take place during a process known as autophagy.

Some cancers highjack TOR to promote aggressive cell growth, and increased TOR activity has also been implicated in neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and in diseases marked by muscle atrophy. After compiling evidence about how TOR and several other signaling proteins behaved in neurodegeneration, McNew and Stern won a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in 2018 for experiments to investigate signaling pathway changes that occur in the early stages of degeneration.

"At the time, we thought there might be a late phase during which degeneration actually occurs, but we didn't propose any experiments to test that," Stern said. "In the new paper, we're explicit about the existence of a late phase. We propose mechanistically why degeneration occurs only during this phase, and cite abundant research in support."

Stern said the two-phase process described in the study "is the basic engine that drives most or even all forms of degeneration forward. However, in addition, there are also inputs whose role is to specify how fast the engine turns over."

To understand neurodegeneration, it's critical to understand how those inputs work, he said. For example, insulin resistance plays a well-known role in driving Alzheimer's disease, and in the study McNew and Stern describe how it does that by accelerating progression through the early phase.

"Similarly, our data suggests that decreases in synaptic transmission, as occurs in our HSP insect model, likewise triggers degeneration by accelerating progression through the early phase," McNew said. "Our NIH grant was funded so that we could learn the mechanism by which that occurs."

Now that they clearly understand that two phases of degeneration exist, Stern said he and McNew would like to carry out more experiments to see how the effects of specific genes on degeneration are altered when they are activated in the early and late phases.

"What we would like to do in the last two years of the grant is to obtain data to test some of the predictions we have made, which will help determine if the ideas we have presented are likely to be correct," Stern said.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01-NS102676). 

-30-

Links and resources:

The DOI of the Molecular Psychiatry paper is: 10.1038/s41380-020-00943-9

A copy of the paper is available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-020-00943-9

High-resolution IMAGES are available for download at:

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2020/11/1123_DEGEN-fig1-lg-1.jpg
CAPTION: Based on thousands of experiments over more than a decade, Rice University biochemists Michael Stern and James McNew believe degenerative diseases as varied as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and muscle atrophy occur in two phases (green and red) marked by distinct alterations in the activity of the signaling pathway proteins TOR, AMPK, Foxo and JNK. In the early phase (left), autophagy is suppressed, which increases oxidative stress, eventually bringing about the late phase (right) in which autophagy is restored, causing rapid degeneration. (Illustration courtesy of M. Stern/Rice University)

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2020/11/1123_DEGEN-jmms7-lg-1.jpg
CAPTION: Michael Stern and James McNew (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

This release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,978 undergraduates and 3,192 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 1 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

Episode 21-The Train It Right Life - Where Have I Been Mental Health and Dieting

Hey guys! Sorry for being missing in action these past couple of weeks. Truthfully I wasn't in the podcasting mood and needed some time to myself. I explain it all on this weeks episode, and discuss covid, prep, mental health and dieting! Don't forget to leave stars, a review and share! Also make sure you're following me on all my socials! Everything is searchable as trainitright! xox

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Achieve Peace, Happiness, Tranquility, and Relaxation Through A New Meditation App

New meditation app Relaxx App guides its users to understand the body, mind, and flame through meditation and intermittent silence.

Relaxx is the advanced meditation app for achieving peace, happiness, tranquility, and relaxation through the practice of intermittent silence and meditation. The app guides its users on a journey away from everyday tasks and concerns to reduce stress and burnout.

The app was created by Dr. Krishna Bhatta, a surgeon, author, and inventor, who is currently practicing as chief of urology at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Maine. In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Bhatta’s passion lies in integrating eastern wisdom into the western world by sharing his spiritual discoveries.

This portable spiritual Guru provides an individualized experience where users can start with a daily intermittent silence routine and move on to a variety of meditation techniques, both guided and unguided. Just a few minutes of practicing mindfulness, intermittent silence, and meditation will leave users feeling energized and refreshed. 

Intermittent silence is a term that Dr. Bhatta has been using for a few years to represent taking a break from life. In the same way that people rest their physical body and lower their heart rate to a resting place, it is also important to rest the brain, even if it is only ten minutes. Dr. Bhatta explains that by closing the eyes, the visual pathway is able to rest. By listening in silence and hearing sounds without judgment, auditory pathways are able to rest. Allowing thoughts to pass without paying attention will give rest to the brain, and when that resting place is achieved, a door will open to individual consciousness.

Relaxx encourages people to practice at the same time and same place as often as possible. This practice will lead to progression, to the point that users will be able to notice a difference in their meditation quality. By continuing daily, the ultimate goal will be to carry that peace into times of chaos. With guidance from Relaxx, users will come to an understanding of body, mind, and flame. Their chakras will come alive as they begin their inner adventure. Collectively, this brings a noticeable change to real life situations. The changes should reflect at work and at home, with an all around better performance and improved relationships.  

Dr. Bhatta, says, “You go to sleep and come out refreshed; you go through meditation and come out energized and spread peace.” He adds, “With Relaxx, we want you to experience intermittent silence. Open the door to all deeper meditations and enhance your awareness for everything around you.”

For more information, please visit http://www.relaxapp.org

Download Relaxx for Apple at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/relaxx-meditation-app/id1519805052

Download Relaxx for Android at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.relax.app&hl=en_US

Dr. Krishna Bhatta

Krishna Bhatta is an author, surgeon, and inventor, currently practicing as chief of urology at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. Dr. Bhatta began his life in a small Indian village, attended Patna Medical College in India, and continued his education in the U.K. He completed his research and medical training at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston before settling down in Maine. Dr. Bhatta takes joy in sharing what he has learned and earnestly hopes to further the spiritual discoveries of generations to come.  He dreams of a world where eastern wisdom and western discoveries embrace each other to make the world a better place.

“Like” Krishna Universe on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/krishnauniversecom-109997046621/

Legendary Actress Writes New Book to Help Kids Cope During Pandemic

New York City, NY, November 20, 2020 — When Donna Fae Mogul, a.k.a. actress Lisa Carroll, heard her NYC neighbor’s daughter cry from the fears of COVID-19, she thought there had to be a way to use her well-versed communication and survival skills from her movie, TV and Broadway career in a way to offer comfort in the eyes of her little neighbor—and beyond. That’s why Lisa teamed up with award-winning illustrator G.F. Newland to create The Big, Bad Coronavirus! And How We Can Beat It (Pixel Mouse House), written by Lisa Carroll, illustrations by G.F. Newland.  

The Big, Bad Coronavirus! And How We Can Beat It tells the story of little Lisa as she struggles to face the realities of COVID-19. Little Lisa can't comprehend why she has to wear a facemask, why she has barriers around her school desk or why she’s confined to virtual learning from home. It all doesn’t add up. Because little Lisa longs for the life she once had, she imagines the virus as a giant, scary dragon. Fortunately, her mother comes to her side and comforts her, teaching her everything she needs to know to deal with this pandemic from a kid’s perspective. Lisa becomes a stronger and braver girl who inspires her classmates to live without fear.

Lisa’s journey to writing this book is extraordinary. Having appeared in such films as Otto Preminger’s “River of No Return,” starring Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum; “Battlecry,” starring Van Johnson; “The Shrike,” starring June Allyson and Jose Ferrer; “Diane,” starring Lana Turner; and “One Desire,” opposite Rock Hudson, Lisa is no stranger to hitting tremendous highs and overcoming incomprehensible lows to survive.

In the late 1950s, at 16, while driving from Hollywood to New York City with her mother for a Metropolitan Opera audition, Lisa survived a deadly car crash, which killed six. Lisa was told she would never walk or talk again. While in rehabilitation (for six years!) and listening to the radio, Lisa learned the art of rapping—paving the way for her mega-hit children’s hip-hop album for Capitol Records, “Rappin’ Up Christmas: Homeys 4 the Holidays.” This inspired her to make her first huggable toy, Hip Hop Randy Bear for the Gund company, part of a group of 10 plush toys, including Hip Hop Hamilton, inspired by the outstanding statesman Alexander Hamilton. In the ’60s, Lisa turned to the stage to appear as Carol Channing’s stand-by in “Hello Dolly!,” as well as toured in the national company of “Applause,” among others. She also appeared on the ABC TV national children’s show “Toybox” in which she featured 10 of her toys called “Furry Friends.” She was also in numerous other episodic TV roles, including “General Hospital.” In addition, Lisa hosted the BBC’s “Night Ride,” had a UK recording contract with CBS Records and starred as a cabaret artist in her own one-woman show at the Savoy in London, the Hilton in Hong Kong, plus stints in California and Vegas. With all this experience on TV, stage, screen, cabaret and even in the toy business, Lisa Carroll feels comfortable writing this gentle book on a big subject that many—young and old—can find comfort in.  

Author Lisa Carroll captures the perspective of this moment that will resonate with children having a difficult time, while emotionally processing the coronavirus. Drawing from Lisa Carroll’s real-life survival “joie de vivre,” parents and educators alike can use the book to help children cope with COVID-19.  

The Big, Bad Coronavirus! And How We Can Beat It

Publisher: Pixel Mouse House

Written by: Lisa Carroll

Illustrations by: G.F. Newland

ISBN: 978-1-939322-36-4

Available from Amazon.com

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Don’t Let COVID Prevent You from Protecting Your Eye Health

New York, NY, November 20, 2020 — Make a resolution to get your eyes checked before the new year arrives, advises Dr. Daniel Laroche, Director of Glaucoma Services and President of Advanced Eyecare of New York. While it’s easy to get swept up in the approaching holiday season, it’s still important to stay on top of regular doctor visits, including visits with your eye doctor.

People with conditions such as glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy that could lead to blindness if left unchecked need to stay particularly vigilant with their checkups. The pandemic shouldn’t keep you from visiting your doctor, but for patients over 60, Dr. Laroche advises it's better to stay home and do telehealth over the phone or video consultation until the pandemic flattens. He also encourages people to wear face masks on visits and maintain social distancing, even if they are in a health clinic, and if you’re high-risk, consider adding eye protection when in public spaces.

“Eyesight or human vision is one of the most important senses. As much as 80 percent of what we feel comes through our sense of sight. By protecting the eyes, people will reduce the chance of blindness and vision loss while also staying on top of any developing eye diseases, such as glaucoma and cataracts. A healthy brain function requires a healthy vision. The brain is our most essential organ, and it allows us to control other organs. Normal and healthy vision contributes to improved learning and comprehension for a better quality of life,” says Dr. Laroche.

Dr. Laroche says there is another critical issue that the pandemic has brought to the forefront and that is the issue of health care disparities among Black and Brown people. 

“Nationally, African American deaths from COVID-19 are nearly two times greater than would be expected based on their share of the population. In four states, the rate is three or more times greater. In 42 states, plus Washington, D.C., Hispanics make up a greater share of confirmed cases than their share of the population. In eight states it’s more than four times greater,” he says, adding: “In stark contrast, white deaths from COVID-19 are lower than their share of the population in 37 states.”

Dr. Laroche says there are several things that can be done to not only address but to help combat this issue:

1.  Increase the number of Black and Afro-Latino physicians worldwide.

2.  Implement universal health care.

3.  Increase wealth and education which produces better health.

4.  Provide a living income stipend for poor people to access food and reduce malnutrition.

5.  Eliminate racism to reduce stress.

6.  Identify white supremacist organizations as terrorist groups.

7.  Recommend all corporations have people of color in the top management and leadership positions.

8.  Eliminate sole reliance on standardized testing as the criteria to be used at entry to magnet schools. 

9.  Provide more funding to reduce homelessness and for mental health.

10. The government should also require medical school, research and hospital funding to diversify and benefit people of color.

About Dr. Daniel Laroche

Dr. Laroche is an exceptional glaucoma specialist in New York. He studied and received his bachelor's degree from New York University and a medical doctorate with honors in research from Weil Cornell University Medical College. He underwent a medical internship at Montefiore Hospital and finished his ophthalmology residency at Howard University Hospital in Washington D.C., where he was the chief resident in his third year. He later completed his glaucoma fellowship at New York Eye and Ear. 

For more information about Dr. Laroche, please call 212-663-0473 or visit: www.advancedeyecareny.com.

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