Nicole D'Arcy Archives - Merit Educational Consultants

To all Firewise communities and all of those who live in wildland urban interface (WUI) areas, I’ve recorded our entire NRG Firewise Event presentations for you to share with your neighbors and communities. Our 2.5-presentation includes the experts to discuss 17 poignant topics to encourage residents to prepare for wildfires.

NRG Firewise Event AGENDA

Hearing from Supervisor Manu Koenig, OR3, Central Fire, CalFire, Sheriff, ARES, CERT, ER doctor, MURS leaders, RCD, road associations, equine evacuation, Calif Fair Plan, and more, all in one place gives lots of information in an entertaining fashion. We even interviewed our vendors so our community could see innovative solutions offered in products and services.

NRG Firewise Event VIDEO

Let’s reach out to our neighbors and communities to work together to mitigate wildfires from destroying our lives. We can do this!

May 8, 2022

One-Stop Event to prepare for Fire Season – Watch the video!

To all Firewise communities and all of those who live in wildland urban interface (WUI) areas, I’ve recorded our entire NRG Firewise Event presentations for you to share with your neighbors and communities. Our 2.5-presentation includes the experts to discuss 17 poignant topics to encourage residents to prepare for wildfires.

NRG Firewise Event AGENDA

Hearing from Supervisor Manu Koenig, OR3, Central Fire, CalFire, Sheriff, ARES, CERT, ER doctor, MURS leaders, RCD, road associations, equine evacuation, Calif Fair Plan, and more, all in one place gives lots of information in an entertaining fashion. We even interviewed our vendors so our community could see innovative solutions offered in products and services.

NRG Firewise Event VIDEO

Let’s reach out to our neighbors and communities to work together to mitigate wildfires from destroying our lives. We can do this!

April 25, 2022

NRG Firewise event – We did it!

The NRG Firewise event at the Locatelli Ranch was more than just a Firewise meeting. Some neighbors from our 260-household community met for the first time (in over 20 years!) and others reconnected as they came together for a common goal: learn what we can do to prepare for the inevitable wildfire.

Eighteen experts presented their “elevator speeches” to educate and inspire the guests. Supervisor Manu Koenig opened with good news about 2 road repairs and what we can do to move along easement issues that are holding up the third road repair. These speakers discussed how emergency communication works from the OR3 (9-1-1) to Central Fire/Cal Fire to ARES (ham radio). The sheriff explained how CodeRED sends out messages to those with cell reception and electricity, and then how they knock on doors when power is out. CalFire discussed Zonehaven, and how we need to “Know Your Zone” to get evacuation orders. We encouraged all guests to get the 4” white reflective address signs so fire and EMS can find homes when it’s dark and smoky.

  

 

Central Fire shared their upcoming Evacuation Smarts classes and what homeowners need to do to clear all combustible material around homes. We even learned equine evacuation tips. To encourage neighbors and road associations to work together, Rod Caborn gave tips on how to plan work parties to get the jobs done. RCD explained how families can get free chipping services.

 
Keith Trinity and Eric Swenson preprogrammed the Bao Feng UV-82C radios for our community. These MURS radios don’t require licenses (like ham radios) and they’re programmed so our entire community can connect on them. We can even hear fire, sheriff, and PG&E radio transmissions and the radios have been locked so we don’t accidentally interrupt those channels.

 

My daughter Nicole D’Arcy, ER doctor at Santa Clara County Valley Medical Center, gave tips on wearing non-synthetic materials during evacuations (synthetic fabrics melt on skin) and how to treat burns (with honey) and other injuries. One of my college advisory students, Sean Gomez, presented his cyber deck project that is designed to help our Firewise community during catastrophic disasters.


Our vendors brought innovative solutions using water from pools to refill fire trucks and roof-top sprinkler systems. Guests brought their metal fire extinguishers to be refilled at the event. California Fair Plan and State Farm agents were available to answer questions about non-renewed policies and to offer 10% and 2% discounts, respectively, for our community because we are now Firewise recognized.

During lunch, Harpin’ Jonny and Clark played the harmonica and guitar – creating excellent entertainment. Guests enjoyed delicious burritos from Taqueria Vallarta. And the best part – guests talked to Central Fire, Cal Fire, the sheriff, Dr. D’Arcy, vendors, and other neighbors. We had over a dozen Firewise leaders from nearby communities join us to collaborate and discuss working together.

After the 2 sessions of speeches, Carlon’s Fire Protection demonstrated how to use a fire extinguisher and allowed guests to put out fires. Then Frank Locatelli and I demonstrated how to safely use a chainsaw. Frank used his gas-powered chainsaw, and I used my 10-inch battery-powered Makita. Both cut through tree branches like they were butter.

 
Thanks to the Locatellis for preparing their property for 150+ guests. Special thanks to Manu Koenig, David Reid, Keith Trinity, Eric Swenson, John Gerhardt, David Dean, Marco Mack, and Nicole D’Arcy for speaking during the first session.

    

Thanks to Marco Mack, Nick Baldridge, Sean Murray, Tony Akin, Angie Richman, Rod Caborn, Crystal English, Phil Irwin, and Sean Gomez for speaking during the last session. Appreciate vendors Cindy Weigelt, Karen Corscadden, Drew Hogner, Alicia Murdock, and Danny Cortazzo for sharing their services and products with our community.


We are fortunate to have a responsive and supportive fire department. Central Fire’s Chief John Walbridge, Marshal Mike DeMars, Deputy Marshal Marco Mack, and Wildland Fire Hazard Specialist Tony Akin – and incoming Chief Jason Nee – have coached and guided me as I organized our NRG Firewise community. They’ve met with our road associations, individual homeowners, and nearby Firewise groups to give us tools we need to protect our homes.


Thanks to Carolyn Stallard and Dave Warren for helping with Firewise maps and spreadsheets, and thanks to our event volunteers: Teresa and Frank Locatelli, Nate Pickens, Kelly Gardner, Rick and Ruth Moe, Dania Moss, Rod Caborn, Spencer Balliet, Keith Gudger,  and Becky Steinbruner. read more

August 21, 2021

Giving a little love to the ER workers at Valley Med Ctr

Just delivered gourmet Indian food to the ER staff at Valley Medical Center (where Nicole works as an ER doc) for my Aunty Sachi and Uncle Frank. They’ve been serving all of us during the pandemic, and now that they’re dealing with the more contagious variant, I thought they could use a little treat: Tandoori chicken, fish tikka masala, chicken korma, veggie biriyani, aloo palak, and of course, garlic naan. All my favorites! Thank you to all ER staff everywhere! And, thanks to my Aunty Sachi and Uncle Frank who finance these endeavors.

February 3, 2021

National Women Physicians Day

Two hundred years ago today, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first American woman to earn her medical degree. She was allowed to attend medical school as a joke, but proved everyone wrong about her “intellectual inferiority” because she was a woman. In 2019, 50.5% of medical students were women, and 49.4% were men. We’ve certainly come a long way! My daughter Nicole and her fellow female ER doctor friends and colleagues have worked hard to reach their goals, while also having fun. Glad to see female physicians getting recognized today.

February 3, 2021

National Women Physicians Day

Two hundred years ago today, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first American woman to earn her medical degree. She was allowed to attend medical school as a joke, but proved everyone wrong about her “intellectual inferiority” because she was a woman. In 2019, 50.5% of medical students were women, and 49.4% were men. We’ve certainly come a long way! My daughter Nicole and her fellow female ER doctor friends and colleagues have worked hard to reach their goals, while also having fun. Glad to see female physicians getting recognized today.

September 12, 2020

Thanking Valley Medical Center’s ER Staff – Day Shift

July 18, 2020

Indian dinners for the ER night shift at VMC

I was so excited to deliver an Indian dinner to the ER staff working the night shift at Valley Medical Center. I picked all of my favorites: Prawn korma, tandori chicken, fish tikka masala, lamb biriyani, saag paneer, samosas, and garlic naan! Royal Taj of Santa Cruz packaged everything so each frontline worker received piping hot entrees. Big thanks to my Uncle Frank and Aunty Sachi for providing the funds for all of these special treats! Nicole says the night staff is still talking about it! Mission accomplished: the ER staff feels appreciated and loved! We can do this!


June 30, 2020

A New Normal

Let’s get our heads out of the sand and start making important decisions about how we must conduct our lives in the midst of a pandemic that is NOT going away anytime soon, or ever. Yup, without a unified plan to lockdown – yes – keep everyone home until the coronavirus is dead, this will go on for years. I just had a heart-to-heart conversation with Nicole, my daughter who is an ER doc, about the coronavirus. This is what she believes we’re facing:

The coronavirus is very contagious and it can adapt. Additionally, the science behind designing vaccines is very complex. First you find a part of the virus to mimic in the targeted vaccine. That way when your body comes into contact with that part of the virus, your body already has antibodies to fight it. Next you need to make sure that the antibodies that your body makes to the vaccine will work to help your body fight it when you come into contact with the actual virus. You don’t want those antibodies to actually make your response even worse such that you get even sicker (this happened with dengue vaccine attempts).

We can’t blindly wait for a miracle vaccine to solve our coronavirus problems. To make a vaccine safely, and confirm that it will not cause this increased response that makes it even more lethal via antibody-dependent enhancement, we will need to perform phased clinical trials on real people (likely on 100,000s of healthcare workers who volunteer for this). Most vaccines take years to decades to prove efficacy and safety before they are ready to distribute, especially to millions of people at once. This will take years to roll-out safely/responsibly.

Nicole spends most of her free time reading scientific journals to follow developments in treatments, vaccines, and epidemiology. Your doctors aren’t getting their covid-19 updates from TV news, politicians or social media.

She is now worried about the two possible trajectories for this pandemic:
1. Everyone begins to go back to work and school/college; gather with family and friends at home, restaurants, and other public venues; and travel across city, state, and national borders. The coronavirus continues to spread and COVID-19 kills millions of people around the world. Anyone who is going to get coronavirus will get it and those who are susceptible will recover, suffer long-term lung and blood vessel damage, or die. After these millions of people are infected, whoever is left standing will either be immune themselves or protected by herd immunity.

2. We collectively, in unison, change our lifestyles to prevent spread of the virus. Universal mask wearing, social distancing, hand hygiene, stay completely isolated at home when you have any hint of the sniffles or body aches, etc. This would slow the transmission of the virus such that the healthcare system is not overwhelmed (like NYC in the beginning and like Texas and Southern California are trending towards now), and the people who do get sick will be treated with all of the techniques that are being studied and developed with reliable and reproducible scientific clinical trials (which takes time).

Individual cities or regions or states or countries cannot make decisions about when to lift shelter-in-place orders. This pandemic is global and affects the entire world population. As a planet, we need to protect ourselves and protect others from spreading this deadly virus. That means that until it is contained everywhere, we all need to stay home to minimize nonessential contact, consistently wear masks, and maintain 6-10 feet distance away from everyone.

Stop thinking that your life will go back to the way it was BC (before coronavirus). We will always need to protect ourselves and others from spreading the virus. A new swine flu with pandemic-level characteristics has just been discovered in China this month. There are more pandemics on the horizon, even when this one slows down. Washing hands (or using hand sanitizers when out in public), and wearing masks can become our new normal. Dining outdoors when socializing and staying 6-10 feet apart will be how we meet with and gather with friends and family. Shaking hands will be replaced with nods or fist bumps.

Want to see how I’ve created a place and protocol for social gatherings that respect our need to protect one another? Check out my blog:
Or take a look at my guidelines for safe gatherings.

March 30, 2020

Thank you Doctors!

If ever doctors (and all frontline healthcare professionals!) need to hear our appreciation, it is today. I’m thanking all of Nicole’s Stanford Medical School Class of 2013, Harbor UCLA Residents Class of 2017, and UCSF Fellowship members Class of 2018 — and every healthcare professional! I hope you’re taking care of yourselves both physically and mentally during this pandemic. You’re all the best doctors and we’re grateful to you for being there for us. We know you’re putting your own safety aside — even without proper PPEs!