Hey y’all, it’s Sunsetlovingbaseballgirl & RadioRebel2390! Here’s a summary of the newsroom that we facilitated on February 19th. We had an engaging discussion about all of the topics listed below. We touched on our society’s perspective of aging people with memory disorders and how that affects how we care for them. We also touched on how important it is to hold space for caregivers. We discussed Michigan’s new Reproductive Health Act and whether other states will follow suit. When talking about global news, we talked about period poverty in Kenya and the long-term/broader consequences. Finally, we discussed the lack of education for women in Afghanistan and the cyclical pattern that seems to be continuing.
Local
Folks with dementia and their caregivers do not have much support. Valley Program for Aging Services (VPAS) and Massanutten Regional Library are trying to change that. They have partnered to create a space dedicated to making people with dementia and their caregivers feel less alone. They provide games, activities, and time for caregivers to be with each other. They also provide to-go kits for the participants to do at home. The program started in 2023 but is still thriving. The program will be featured in a series by PBS in Fall 2024.
“The relaxation and the joy of finding something that’s a safe place, that’s a welcoming place that they know people understand where they’re coming from. There’s no judgment, there’s no question it’s just about being together and having a little respite from the 36-hour day,” Brueckner said.”
https://www.whsv.com/2024/02/16/massanutten-regional-library-recognized-efforts-be-dementia-friendly
Resources like this are important and should be implemented for many kinds of diseases, disabilities, and challenges that people face. It is also important for caregivers to feel supported and cared for.
National:
The passing of the legislation for a new Reproductive Health Act has gone into effect in Michigan as of last week. The new RHA implements the rights of reproductive freedoms into the state’s constitution. Before this new legislation, to get an abortion in the state of Michigan you needed the additional purchase of a medical insurance rider. The additional cost of having an insurance rider made abortions not easily accessible to the general public and the state did not make any expectations for rape or incest. The fight to override this legislation has been happening for over a decade. It gained national attention in 2013 when now Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, took to the Senate floor to share her personal story of how she was raped in college. Now 10 years later, Whitmer has taken back her freedom and changed the lives of all women in the state of Michigan.
“The Reproductive Health Act lowers costs for patients and providers and protects every Michigander’s constitutional right to make their own decisions about their own body,” said Governor Whitmer. “For decades, Michigan has had politically motivated, medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion in state law. These politically motivated, medically unnecessary laws criminalized doctors for providing medical care, jacked up out-of-pocket costs for patients, and imposed needless regulations on health centers, forcing many to close. The RHA repeals these laws, taking a huge step forward to expand access to health care and protect people’s personal freedoms.”
Global 1:
Period poverty is a devastating reality for people living in Kenya. Menstrual products are too expensive as they are roughly 1/3rd of a woman’s daily wage and therefore they have to obtain the resources in other ways. Some women have to exchange sexual acts for money for the products. The other option is to stay home from school or work for fear of embarrassment and shame for bleeding in public. There is also an environmental pollution crisis in Kenya that some people believe is making people’s periods heavier, therefore needing more products and more money. Se. Gloria Orwoba is advocating for a policy in Kenya that would distribute free sanitary pads to people all across the country who can’t afford them. She is also advocating for more research done on air pollution and menstruation.
Her period caused her to miss out on more than school. She didn’t feel comfortable going out with her friends because she was afraid the makeshift materials she used would drop down in front of them, so she would just stay home and sleep instead. “I felt abandoned,” Atieno says. “It was just there. I felt really terrible.”
Global 2:
Since the Taliban took over the country of Afghanistan in August of 2021, women and girls have been increasingly losing their rights to education. Today, girls are not allowed to attend secondary schools or universities and in some parts of the country, private courses are banned for girls over grade six and even lower. Because Taliban women cannot get an education, economic losses will be huge from the lack of innovation of female voices in the public sector. The UNSDG or United Nations Sustainable Development Group estimated that,
“Restricting access to education led to a 21% decrease in employment levels of women by mid-2022 and a GDP loss of $1 billion USD per year. Afghanistan’s economy is already suffering as it “relies heavily on external support and its private sector is weak.”
The overall issue of not educating women in Afghanistan is something that will affect every sector of the well-being of these women. There is a direct correlation between increased educational opportunities, increased number of active midwives, and lower maternal mortality. Women’s health in the country will suffer greatly as the number of midwives decreases consequently increasing maternal mortality rates and infant deaths. This is a very dire issue that needs to be covered more on the global spectrum to help save these women from the years of oppression by this terrorist organization.
ShoutOut! James Madison University 