Lincoln Hospital kicks off Count Committee
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,46 JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2020 BTR
Action
Association
Every 10 years the United
Stated Constitution mandates
that every person in the country
– citizen and non-citizen -
be counted. The data collected
in the Census infl uences the
distribution of $74 billion for
federal programs in New York
State, helps determine the
number of seats the state has
in the US Congress, and helps
to draw and redraw Congressional
and NYS legislative districts.
The NYC Health + Hospitals/
Lincoln’s Complete Count
Committee held its Kick Off
on Thursday, January 9, offi -
cially beginning its campaign
to ensure that our community
knows the importance of an
accurate and complete count,
encouraging all to participate
and be counted, and to understand
that their information
will contribute to a better future
for the south Bronx.
This year for the fi rst time,
the US Census Bureau encourages
residents to complete the
census questionnaire online.
Because of this there was a
substantial reduction in staffing
and Bureau offi ces. (Nationwide
in 2020 there are 1000
fewer staffers and half the
number of regional and area
offi ces, according to Greater
New York Hospital Association
and the Association for a
Better New York.) But many
New Yorkers and those in urban
areas may not have home
computers nor access to reliable
broadband. Paper and
phone options will still be
available.
Census 2020 will count an
increasingly diverse and growing
population. Segments of
the population are traditionally
more diffi cult to count:
young children, people living
with mental or physical disabilities,
immigrants without
documentation, communities
of color, those living below the
poverty level, those with a distrust
of government, and others.
Lincoln Hospital is in a
good position to assist the Census
to reach “hard to count”
individuals, to ensure an accurate
and complete count.
Because of the neighborhood’s
trust in and need for the health
professions, Lincoln is in a
unique position with plans to
assist by encouraging all individuals
to participate in the
count, and communicate to
those who are hesitant.
The Lincoln Census 2020 Kick Off took place on January 9. In photos are
staff of both the Census Bureau as well as NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln,
in the south Bronx. Photo courtesy of Lincoln Hospital
BY FRANK VERNUCCIO
After arriving at this
month’s Golden Globes Awards
ceremony aboard their private
jets and stretch limousines,
the show business glitterati
presumed to lecture the world
on climate change.
Even Vogue, a fashion magazine
that has political pretensions,
noted “That for all the
talk about climate change and
the need for action, an awards
show itself must have a massive
carbon footprint … There
are the private jets, the black
cars, the teams of people, the
energy required to actually
stage the event, the waste…
and, of course, the red carpet.
We were surprised to fi nd that
climate change was rarely a
consideration when it came
to stars’ looks for the night:
Hundreds of celebrities arrived
in brand-new, custom,
and never-before-worn gowns,
and most of those outfi ts will
never be seen on the red carpet
again. (The frenzied process
of getting those looks to
Los Angeles, often at the very
last minute, is another thing
entirely.)”
The hypocrisy was only
part of the problem. As has
become far too common in discussions
about global warming,
(you may recall several
decades ago the same infl uencers
were calling it global cooling)
actual facts were ignored
in pursuit of ideological goals.
Much was made of the horrifi c
Australian brush fi res, a terrifying
occurrence which has
caused many deaths to people
and wildlife. Ignored in media
discussions about the tragedy
is that there is signifi cant reason
to believe that malicious
and careless actions are responsible,
not larger environmental
factors.
7NewsSydney reports that
“The fact that the bushfi res
were deliberately started and
have nothing to do with manmade
climate change hasn’t
prevented that being the dominant
narrative….Last week,
Bernie Sanders blamed those
who were ‘delaying action on
climate change’ for ‘the bloodred
sky and unbreathable air
in Australia because of raging
forest fi res.’
Paul Warson, writing in
Summit News reports that
“Authorities in Australia have
arrested close to 200 people for
deliberately starting the bushfi
res that have devastated the
country, yet the media and
celebrities continue to blame
“climate change” for the disaster…
A total of 183 people
have been arrested by police
in Queensland, NSW, Victoria,
South Australia and Tasmania
for lighting bushfi res over
the last few months, fi gures
obtained by news agency AAP
show. In New South Wales, 24
people were arrested for arson,
risking prison sentences of up
to 25 years. In Queensland, police
concluded that 103 of the
fi res had been deliberately lit,
with 98 people, 67 of them juveniles,
having been identifi ed as
the culprits. ‘The link between
arsonists and the deadly fi res
that devastate Australia every
summer is well known and
well documented, with the rate
of deliberately lit fi res escalating
rapidly during the school
holiday period,” reports Breitbart’s
Simon Kent.’”
There is an intense link
between the politically-motivated
climate change movement
and the left-leaning major
media. The Daily Caller
reported in September that
“More than 200 media outlets
and journalists partnered together
with activists to coordinate
and hype climate change
news before the 2019 U.N. climate
summit.
Two of the largest media
outlets … did not disclose
their role in the project to
their readers, a Daily Caller
News Foundation review
found. Some of the biggest
media outlets in the country,
such as CBS and Bloomberg,
joined the effort. But others,
… declined to participate in a
project they reportedly feared
appeared activist in nature.
More troubling, a number of
the major outlets that joined
did not disclose participation
to their readers. In addition
to CBS and Bloomberg, the
effort, called Covering Climate
Now, involved BuzzFeed
News, HuffPost, The Daily
Beast, the Center for Public
Integrity, Newsweek, Rolling
Stone, Slate, Vanity Fair and
The Weather Channel, among
many others. When asked by
the Daily Caller News Foundation,
the lack of disclosure
was criticized by the Society
of Professional Journalists.”
In so many ways, young
Greta Thunberg is both the
face of and the description of
the climate change alarmist
movement. She has no credentials
(she just turned 17),
has no tolerance for anyone
that disagrees with her scientifi
cally uninformed opinions,
and yet has been lionized. She
has addressed Congress, the
British Parliament, and the
United Nations. She has been
named Time Magazine’s 2019
Person of the Year.
BY TNCAP
AND GUILLERMO FLORES
Happy New Year 2020. As
we gear up for the new year
and decade ahead of us, let’s
not forget that tobacco is still
the leading cause of preventable
death and disease. In
New York State, over 28,000
lives are lost every year due
to tobacco dependence; over
12,000 are from NYC alone.
Despite these numbers being
on the decline, it’s still
important that smokers receive
the resources to help
them quit not just in the beginning
of the year and all
year round. If you are interested
in quitting, please
call the NYS Quitline at (866)
697-8487 or visit the website
www.nysmokefree.com
The NYS comprehensive
tobacco control programs
use evidence-based practices,
policy-driven and cost-effective
approaches to decrease
youth tobacco initiation and
support current tobacco users
to quit. Great strides have
been made in combatting the
tobacco epidemic, but more
work needs to be done to reduce
the signifi cantly higher
smoking rates among disparate
populations in the Bronx
and throughout the state.
The Throggs Neck Community
Action Partnership
is a coalition of committed
members who work together
to address the problems of
underage drinking and substance
use among youth and
their families.
TNCAP has been providing
services to the community
for over 20 years. We are
proud of the support that our
members offer to make this
coalition a vital part of our
community.
Guillermo Flores, Community
Engagement Manager,
gfl ores@healthsolutions.
org
(Guillermo Flores is a community
engagement manager
for Public Health Solutions’
NYC Smoke-Free Program,
where he works to end the devasting
tobacco epidemic and
protect the health of all New
Yorkers through advocacy
and education.)
link
link
/www.nysmokefree.com
link
/www.nysmokefree.com
