Want to learn more about the American Mothers, Inc.? Check out the Meet the California Mothers of the Year zoom meeting. President, Dorothy Devore, hosted the meeting and several past Mothers of the Year spoke about their platforms and projects. What a diverse and interesting group of moms. I spoke about my projects and what I’ve done over the past year. And, we got to hear from Simona Grace, the 2020 Mother of the Year!
Watch Zoom Meeting here
Want to learn more about the American Mothers, Inc.? Check out the Meet the California Mothers of the Year zoom meeting. President, Dorothy Devore, hosted the meeting and several past Mothers of the Year spoke about their platforms and projects. What a diverse and interesting group of moms. I spoke about my projects and what I’ve done over the past year. And, we got to hear from Simona Grace, the 2020 Mother of the Year!
Watch Zoom Meeting here
I am reflecting on my one-year term as the 2019-2020 California Mother of the Year today as I pass the “baton” on to Simona Grace, the new 2020-2021 California Mother of the Year. Last April, we celebrated at a gala with friends and family at the Flintridge Country Club in La Canada. A few weeks later, I joined the 50 other Mothers of the Year who represented each of their states at the National American Mother’s Convention in Washington, DC. I met dynamic women who were incredible mothers and advocates for causes important to them.
During the first few weeks in my new position, my staff and I created a new website and laid out a plan. I shared with young families, tips on how to set up free child care in their homes. By organizing their own preschools and inviting a few other children to join the programs, the hosting family receives a private, individualized program for their children for free. This is a win-win situation for parents and kids.
Next, I worked with college-bound teens to help them do projects. These projects give them experiences in potential careers, and it gives them a unique opportunity to stand out in the college admissions process. Doing independent projects also increased the scholarships and grants received. Imagine if every college-bound student did a project? They could solve many problems we’re facing with the coronavirus, climate change, fracking, GMOs, immigration – you name it!
And finally, I have put together a fire prevention plan that gives residents an easy way to give their local fire departments vital information. I’ve met with the fire chief, marshals, Cal Fire, and other agencies to get their expertise and to make sure this online form has all the pertinent information they need. I’m also working with third-party companies that will process this data and deliver reports to the corresponding fire departments. We’re doing a test run in Santa Cruz County and then we plan to expand to the state of California, and then to each state in the country.
I’ll continue to move forward on all 3 platforms – even after my term ends as Mother of the Year. I also plan to support Simona as she establishes her new platform, and the California American Mothers Association. Thank you for giving me this incredible opportunity and trusting me to represent California mothers.
As California Mother of the Year, and mother to a 35-year-old ER doctor, we have a serious problem when healthcare professionals do NOT have the basic PPE they need to protect themselves from the deadly coronavirus that has killed over 30,000 people.
Where is OSHA? They are supposed to protect healthcare professionals with even more protections than standard workplaces because protecting doctors and nurses also protects patients. If a classroom has mold on the walls, the teacher and students are immediately removed from the classroom until the school removes the mold and OSHA inspects the classroom to ensure that the teacher and students will be safe. So why isn’t OSHA enforcing these guidelines and holding hospital administrators, state and federal legislatures, CDC, and the President accountable?
Doctors and nurses are reusing N95 masks for their entire shift, and given paper bags with their names on them to hold their masks until their next shifts. This puts them at very high risk of getting the coronavirus. These N95 masks were designed and engineered to be a single-use mask. They are supposed to discard them after seeing every patient. So when our frontline healthcare professionals are required to use the same mask between several patients, they risk their lives and the lives of all of the patients they see.
In a huge humanitarian effort, the community has stepped up to sew cloth surgical masks for healthcare workers to use when they run out of masks. My daughter asked me to make cloth masks with HEPA filter inserts so she can wear it over her N95 mask. Her hope is that these cloth-and-filter masks might prolong the life of her N95 to give her some extra protection. My husband and I have been sewing around the clock to make masks for her entire ER staff. People all across the nation are pulling out their sewing machines and making all kinds of masks for local hospitals.
Over the weekend, I contracted a courier service to deliver the masks we made to the hospital, but found that the hospital administration had put a stop on homemade mask donations. Seriously? Just last week, I spoke with the hospital foundation and they welcomed homemade masks of any kind. Their website even included links to YouTube videos and patterns for masks, and they gave the address where masks and other donations could be dropped off. But the links were gone and homemade donations information were removed. My daughter confirmed that hospital personnel were NOT allowed to bring homemade masks to work over the weekend.
If the hospital won’t provide enough N95 masks to protect their employees from getting COVID-19, how dare they demand that healthcare professionals work without proper protection? Forcing them to leave their homemade masks and other safety devices at home is both unethical and criminal.
Hospital administration has also stipulated that ER doctors can only give coronavirus tests to very sick patients who are immunodeficient, on chemotherapy, or on dialysis. This sets the doctors up for potential lawsuits from patients who claim that they were sent away without testing and proper diagnosis. By not testing patients who are probably sick with COVID-19, their statistics will be inaccurately low so administrators will not be able to sufficiently order PPE, beds, and the facilities they will most likely need in the coming weeks.
Just a few days ago, Dr. Lin was fired in Washington state for posting about his fears and frustration on the lack of safety equipment and worker protections on social media. I believe there are many healthcare professionals who are fearful of retribution if they speak out. After his public outreach elicited demands from his community, the hospital administrators started giving temperature screenings to staff entering the building and plans to separate staff from infected patients and outside screenings in temporary tents. So now hospital administrators and others are firing whistleblowers?
As California Mother of the Year, I am reaching out to mothers, fathers, and everyone to demand that the doctors, nurses, paramedics, staff, and other first responder professionals receive ALL of the PPE (including test kits) they need to protect themselves from the coronavirus. They risk their lives — literally — every day to take care of all of us. Please sign this petition to demand that our hospital administrators, OSHA, state governors and legislature, CDC, and the President do their jobs to protect our frontline professionals.