August 25, 2023 • 29 mins
When we look at substance use disorder and mental health issues we must look deeply into their connection with trauma. – That’s the goal of trauma informed training provided to health care professionals, counselors and caregivers by Lakeside Educational Network. I speak with President of Lakeside Gerald Vassar.
Website and social media handles and tags: www.Lakeside.net, https://www.facebook.com/LakesideEducationalNetwork/ IG: @lakesideeducationalnetwork,
An important goal for people with intellectual disabilities is to belong - to participate in everyday activities promote social integration, breaks down stereotypes, enhances quality of life, develops skills, encourages empathy, strengthens communities, provides equal opportunities, contributing to a more diverse, inclusive, and compassionate society where everyone has a chance to thrive. That is the goal of the inspiring SPIN Choir. I speak be talking with lead Directors Michelle and Glenn Kornegay. https://spininc.org/
First, good street lighting plays a vital role in creating safe, accessible, and inviting public spaces that benefit the well-being, safety, and overall quality of life for residents and visitors alike The Philadelphia Streetlight Improvement Project (PSIP) will convert 130,000 high pressure sodium streetlights into a network of more efficient, longer-lasting LED lights. I speak to Katie Bartolotta, Vice President of Policy and Strategic Partnerships, Philadelphia Energy Authority. Project website: https://www.phillystreetlightimprovement.com/
Website and social media handles and tags: www.Lakeside.net, https://www.facebook.com/LakesideEducationalNetwork/ IG: @lakesideeducationalnetwork,
An important goal for people with intellectual disabilities is to belong - to participate in everyday activities promote social integration, breaks down stereotypes, enhances quality of life, develops skills, encourages empathy, strengthens communities, provides equal opportunities, contributing to a more diverse, inclusive, and compassionate society where everyone has a chance to thrive. That is the goal of the inspiring SPIN Choir. I speak be talking with lead Directors Michelle and Glenn Kornegay. https://spininc.org/
First, good street lighting plays a vital role in creating safe, accessible, and inviting public spaces that benefit the well-being, safety, and overall quality of life for residents and visitors alike The Philadelphia Streetlight Improvement Project (PSIP) will convert 130,000 high pressure sodium streetlights into a network of more efficient, longer-lasting LED lights. I speak to Katie Bartolotta, Vice President of Policy and Strategic Partnerships, Philadelphia Energy Authority. Project website: https://www.phillystreetlightimprovement.com/
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Good morning, Welcome to What's goingon as show about making a difference in
our lives and our communities. I'mLorraine Ballot Moral. An important goal for
people with intellectual disabilities is to belongand to participate in everyday activities that promote
social integration, breaks down stereotypes,enhances quality of life, and develop skills.
(00:20):
That is the goal of the veryInspiring Spin Choir. We'll be talking
with its lead directors. When welook at substance use disorder and mental health
issues, we have to look deeplyinto their connection with trauma. That's the
goal of Trauma Informed Training provided tohealthcare professionals, counselors and caregivers by Lakeside
Educational Network. Will be speaking tothe president of Lakeside First Good street lighting
(00:45):
plays a vital role in creating safe, accessible, and inviting public spaces.
To tell us more about what thecity is doing along these lines is Katie
Bartelotta, who is Vice president ofPolicy and Strategic Partnerships for the Philadelphia Energy
Authority. Before we get into thewhole street lighting thing, tell us who
you are, sure and thanks forhaving me today, Lorraine. My name's
(01:07):
Katie Bartelotta. I'm vice president ofPolicy and Strategic Partnerships with the Philadelphia Energy
Authority. We are an independent municipalauthority dedicated to building a robust and equitable
clean energy economy for Philadelphia, andwhat that means in practice is that we
support the city and holding long termenergy contracts and issuing bonds for those and
(01:27):
other types of financing for those projects, like we did in the instance of
the street lighting project that we'll betalking about today. But we also run
consumer facing programs that help folks accessclean energy at their homes, at their
schools, and help folks join theclean energy workforce as well. Well.
We know that good street lighting hasa lot of benefits, and the benefits
(01:49):
include better safety, also just increasesthe quality of life. But in addition
to that, you're replacing street lightingwith LED lights. So tell us a
little bit more about a program andhow it's going to roll out and when
we can see the benefits. Sure, so, after a year of planning
that was really heavy on design andon auditing each and every street light in
(02:15):
the city to make sure we knowwhere they are, what their status is.
If there are a high pressure sodiumbulb that will be changing over or
if they were already converted to LEDs, as the city has been doing that
in a piecemeal fashion whenever capital budgetis available to do. So we went
through that whole process that included communityengagement. We had folks come out and
(02:37):
just see what LEDs look like relatedto the high pressure sodium bulbs that they
had on their block, to giveus an indication of between the two choices,
which color temperature they like, Dothey like a cooler or warmer fixture,
And ultimately folks wanted a warmer fixture, but some neighborhoods. Another question
that we asked was do you wantmore light? Do you feel like the
(02:58):
lighting that you have right now isto quit? You know, do you
think it would help with your perceptionof safety in the evening, your ability
to see whether you're a pedestrian,a bicyclist, and motorists. What would
really be the right kind of levelfor how you live and navigate your neighborhood.
So we did all of that,folded that into a citywide design with
(03:19):
the intent of for all of thenon LED lights will be changing those over
within the next two years. Sowe have a very tight twenty four month
construction schedule that's very much informed bythat auditing that we did, so we
know where every lady is, whattheir status is, so we can be
really efficient in that process. Butreally what we were getting to is how
can we do this project in abig way, in an efficient way to
(03:43):
provide this benefit to the city ofenergy efficient, really nice looking and very
reliable light for folks who are youknow now calling three one one and saying,
hey, our lights are out,we need these fixed, we need
them changed. And it's just away to really do a citywide, very
efficient process to get us to morereliable, safer, better presenting light citywide.
(04:10):
And it's really it's every corner ofthe city, which is another really
exciting benefit. Well, I knowthat when the city had replaced the lighting
with this sort of high intensity sodiumlighting, there's something about them that it
causes kind of pink glow over acity. And I know that LED lights
will present differently and perhaps will kindof impact that kind of pervasive pink light
(04:36):
from a distance that kind of blotsout the stars and all that sort of
thing. Does that make a difference, that is a big difference of how
this light presents, So LED lightsare much more controllable in the spread of
lights. So with a high pressuresodium bulb, you've got a bulb that
kind of distributes light without a tonof control of where it falls or how
(04:56):
it falls. And this is reallypart of the design process and the ability
of and LED to really put thelight where it needs to be, you
know, not in your bedroom window, but on the street where you actually
need to be able to move andnavigate safely at night. So backliding concern,
the uplighting concern of not being ableto control the glow, that is
something that is much improved with LEDs. And then also to just that same
(05:19):
kind of that color feature of it, we selected a warm color temperature just
because we had lots of conversations withfolks about their preferences. There wasn't a
strong preference in either direction when wedid some of our neighborhood feedback on the
warm versus the cool, But weknow that warm color temperatures are you know,
just generally a little bit better interms of any sort of potential concerns
(05:44):
with human health or safety, Sowe went in that direction, but again
just made sure that the light wasat the level that communities wanted, but
generally the light's going to look verydifferent. And again, we have been
working with designers who are making surethat all of our cobra heads, which
is those the kind of roadway lightsthat we're traditionally accustomed to, will not
(06:05):
have uplighting and are going to beDark Sky's compliant. That is a group
that makes sure that for human health, for the health and safety of animals,
and just again kind of making surethat light is controlled and serving its
purpose and not doing more than thathas been incorporated into the project as well.
(06:26):
So less light pollution as it were, Yes, less light pollution with
this project, and again it wasa really thoughtful process from community engagement and
our designers to get to what themaximum outcome could be for communities. I
think the other thing about this particularprogram is that it's going to give you
more options to monitor where lighting ishappening and if lighting needs to be replaced.
(06:49):
There's sort of like a more centralability to kind of monitor where lighting
needs to be fixed or controlled oradjusted. Right, So this is one
of my favorite features of the project. So I think folks understand you put
in new lights, they're more reliable, they're more energy efficient. That's going
to save us money. But whenyou say lighting management system, it doesn't
(07:11):
sound necessarily exciting on its face,but this is really going to change the
ability for the city and for residentsto have an understanding of how our lighting
system is functioning. So right now, if we need to replace a light
a street light in the city ofPhiladelphia, someone needs to see it and
report it. So that is justa really very labor intensive system on both
(07:38):
the city side of having crews thatare out looking for lights that are out,
on the resident side of having toreport a light every time it's out.
Through three one one, this isreally just eliminating that part of the
process of when a light is out, we know it instantaneously, and that's
going to be such a big changein how the city and actually operate and
(08:01):
maintain this lighting system because that lagtime of a light is out and we
need to report it is now takenout of the equation thanks to the lighting
management system. And I think it'sjust one of those really kind of simple
things that you know, the technologyis there. It's not something that's super
flashy, but it's going to saveso much time on the side of the
(08:22):
city and on the side of residenceand lead to a much more reliable product.
Yeah, I think people are goingto appreciate the fact that the turnaround
for replacing a broken light will bemuch faster. Now. One of the
other aspects of it which I'm curiousabout because I understand that this provides a
communication network for future smart city applications. What are smart city applications and what
(08:46):
does that mean for us? Sure? So we worked really closely with the
Office of Innovation and Technology in thiscity when we were considering that lighting management
system, which serves a really kindof basic purpose and function under this project,
to understand how that could be leveragedin the future for other applications that
the city's interested in. The cityalready uses something that I think would fall
(09:09):
under a smart city application of videocameras throughout the city, So, for
example, how does that work togetherwith our lighting management system? Is there
any way to leverage that? Butthere are plenty of other types of sensors
that can be affixed to a lightingmanagement system to check on things from air
quality to noise pollution to anything inbetween. So there's a really vast world
(09:31):
of smart city applications out there.Our scope of this project was pretty narrow
just because of the contracting vehicle thatwe used, but we wanted to make
sure that anything that we selected throughthis project could be maximally leveraged for any
smart city applications in the future,and I think we did a pretty thorough
job at evaluating that for any potentialfuture uses outside of the scope of this
(09:54):
project. Well, we know thegood lighting plays a vital role in creating
safe excess and inviting public spaces,and the City of Philadelphia is actually doing
something about that by providing the Phillystreet Light Improvement project. And if people
would like more information on this project, how do they find out more?
Yes, you can go to Phillystreet Light Improvement dot com. We have
(10:16):
a robust website with a list offaqes for folks who want to learn a
little bit more about the process andabout what they can expect over the next
couple of years of construction. Andwe also have an installation map that is
being updated in real time on thewebsite so that folks can see where our
crews are currently, where they've completedwork, and where they're off to next
(10:39):
in the next two weeks, sothey can have an understanding of when crews
maybe in their neighborhoods. Fantastic.Katie Bartelotta, who is RICE President of
Policy and Strategic Partnerships for the PhiladelphiaEnergy Authority, Thank you so much.
(11:01):
You're listening to what's going on.We talk about trauma quite a bit,
and that's very important because so muchof us, so much of how we
are, how we're able to maintainmental wellness, is related to our ability
to understand what trauma is all about. We're going to be talking about trauma
informed training and how it relates toaddressing addiction cycles. Joining us right now
(11:22):
is Gerald Vassar, President of Lakeside. Thank you so much for joining us
here today, and let's talk abouttrauma. We talk about trauma. That
word is used a whole lot,but I wonder if you can give us
a definition that's useful for us tounderstand what trauma is and how it impacts
on our mental wellness. Thank youfor having me, Lorraine. Great to
be with you. Yeah, traumais in a scenario where we've had an
(11:45):
event that has created an emotional response, and in the process of that,
it usually leaves us in either oneof two states. Either we are hyper
aroused, meaning high threat, andI'm feeling all of these anxieties and fears
about what's around me. Or I'mdissociative, which is a term to say
(12:07):
I'm kind of reliving the experience andI'm shut down. So when you experience
an adverse event like trauma, andthere could be many different sources who would
know that, we'd be able tosay I suffer from political trauma, but
we have that going on as wellas any other forms of it, and
it creates one of those two responsesthat really does relate to how we try
(12:30):
to regulate that through drugs and othersources. Well, that's it's a very
important point because so many times whenpeople experience trauma and they experience life as
a painful experience, that there isself medication that occurs, and sometimes people
do resort to using substances in orderto mitigate, to dump down, to
(12:54):
cover over that pain. And sohow it's so very important for people to
understand how trauma relates to addiction.And I wonder if you can talk a
little bit about trauma informed training andhow does that relate to the treatment of
people who are involved in substance abuse. Lakeside has the privilege of training about
twenty thousand professionals a year throughout theregion and the country, and what we
(13:18):
certainly note is that they need alens for this. When you encounter people
with mental health issues and other scenariosand they come to you addicted, you
know, we want to look ataddiction in different ways, but if you
look at it as regulating trauma,it's a different way to think. So
(13:39):
I'm a lot more empathetic. I'ma lot more sympathetic to say, Oh,
what you're doing is you're dealing withyour trauma. I'm quieting the noise
or I am trying to find aspace where I can get rid of some
of this numbness that I feel.And the drugs are mood enhancers, so
either they give me pleasure or theysort of dull down down some of the
(14:00):
symptoms that I'm feeling. Those symptomsare pretty rough sometimes, like when you're
in the bottom of your brain andyou can't regulate, you can't think of
time, you're very reactionary, yourbreathing changes, your heart rate goes up.
Well, what helps me with that? The drug does quickly. Wow,
I take a drug and I feelall better very quickly, and so
(14:20):
and then I begin to do thatover and over and over again because I
don't have resolve on my trauma.So that creates an addictive dynamic versus a
disease that I can overcome. It'smore it's a response to my disregulation.
I wonder if you can talk alittle more about how trauma informed approaches address
(14:43):
that and how that might differ fromperhaps other ways of treating issues like addiction.
Well, it takes the judgment awayif it's what happened to you and
not what's wrong with you. Allof a sudden, we're on equal ground
together, and I'm not judging youfor your addiction. But if I beg
to understand and have a lens forthis, as I've said before, I'm
(15:03):
understanding what's going on in your brain, which is different than most people think.
I'm understanding how to regulate, helpyou regulate, so I'm giving you
ability to do that. If I'mdoing it well, I listen differently.
I'm listening for triggers. I'm carefulnot to retrigger you so that you'll go
back into the trauma again. Andif I see you in the bottom of
(15:26):
your brain and not able to function. Well, I'm not going to ask
you to think about cognitive things.That's ridiculous to try to get you to
be cognitive when you can't be.But I'm also, as I said,
I'm going to be skilled, I'mgoing to be careful, but I'm also
not going to be judgmental about what'sgoing on. I'm going to say this
is predictable in light of what you'veexperienced, and that puts a lot of
(15:48):
safety in the relationship, and itputs a lot of understanding about what's going
on, and then I can beginto use my skills related to that to
help you now understand it for yourself. So it sounds like you provide a
groundwork for treatment in which that's onepart of the tool kit that you use
in order to address the many,the multiplicity of issues that are related to
(16:11):
the treatment process. So that traumaand formed training is kind of like the
bottom line there, and then fromthere you take other modalities, other forms
of treatment to address. And Iwonder if you can talk about how you
integrate that all together. Well,I think, first of all, if
you're trained to understand where trauma is, I mean, we even have brain
maps for some of our students thatwe work with. That tells you what
(16:33):
part in the brain you're working onwhen you have certain traumas and certain parts
of your life. That's pretty sophisticated, but it's very it's possible, the
idea of using interventions. I mean, it's fascinating to me that we have
probably forty six million diagnosed drug substanceabuse disorders in America and about six percent
(16:56):
of those people actually get therapy.That's pretty terrible, pretty terrible. Yeah,
that's what SAMSA has told us.And in the process that that that
means the people that are on thefront lines working with you are really your
resource and so meaning the people thatcan listen to you and care for you
and give you regulation advice. SoI think in the process we're trying to
(17:19):
find better ways to help you regulate, like knowing your pulse and knowing how
to regulate that pulse right for everybodyin the country to know. Do you
know that when you're hyper aroused,your pulse goes up to one thirty one
fifty. How do we get itback down to eighty? How do we
do that? Well? You canuse that through all call kinds of ways
(17:40):
that we give you in understanding howyou regulate. So in the process of
that, imagine if that were thecommon knowledge among professionals among the people they're
serving. If that's common knowledge,and that's what we do with schools and
students and organizations that we train.The therapeutic interventions are also good to be
saying, like an emgr type ofapproach, but they are also helpful to
(18:04):
help people better process what it isthey're doing. But you need a trauma
formed therapist to do that. Soit's our job to advise you to find
those individuals to help you. Buta man, we're running into a lot
of shortage of those counselors these daysin a mental health crisis that we're facing,
right, And that's what Lakeside does. Do you provide trauma informed training
(18:26):
for the vast majority of the vastnumber of professionals that are out there who
are dealing with these issues. Tellus a little more about Lakeside. We
are an organization that deals with aboutfive to six thousand students a year in
thirty five different school districts or regionsin the Greater Philadelphia area. And they're
(18:48):
kids that are struggling to stay inschool, so we provide counseling. We
have four schools, We have therapeuticinterventions, and then we provide trauma training
to professionals all throughout the community andall through up to states in point in
other parts of the country, andwe have programs for certification program for professionals.
We have a lot of workshops thatwe can do, like a two
hour thing to help you figure outwhat area you'd like to focus on,
(19:12):
so that we can do that individuallyis rather than a comprehensive one. And
then we have organizational certification that wasdesigned by doctor Sandra Bloom who's famous for
her Sanctuary model but now has thePresence model. So we do organizations,
we do professionals, we do withindividuals, and most of that is all
online right now, so anyone cantake it. That sounds great. If
(19:33):
nothing else, I'd like to knowhow to get my pulse to go down
from one thirty, two, fortyfive or whatever whatever it is a healthy
calm pulse rate. Well, itsounds like there's a lot of resources that
you're able to provide at Lakeside.If people would like more information about Lakeside
Educational network. How do they findout more? Www. Lakeside Diet will
get you to our website and thatwill be a place where you can look
(19:56):
at all of our programs and engageour training and that'll should be helpful to
find out what we offer. FantasticGerald Vasser, President of Lakeside, thank
you so much for joining us todayplace Lorraine, thank you so much for
having me Every year. I havethe extraordinary privilege of m seeing the Brighter
(20:19):
Futures Awards, which is a fantasticevent that brings together folks who are in
the Intellectual Disabilities space to celebrate aninclusion and access and diversity. And in
fact, recently I learned something youknow, we all know about DI which
is diversity, inclusion and equity,but there is also a couple more letters
(20:41):
that have been added to that andthat is access A and B for belonging.
Well, talk about belonging. I'mgoing to talk about an organization that
does some wonderful things for those inthe intellectual disabilities community, and it's all
about belonging. It's all about havingaccess to everyday lives and that is the
Spin Choir, And we're going tobe talking to folks from the Spin Choir
(21:06):
about their organization, which is partof Spin Ink. And we're speaking with
Mickey and Glenn Carnegie, elite choirdirectors for Spin Inc. Thank you so
much for joining us here today.And I had the delight of hearing this
choir perform at the last Brighter FuturesAwards. So tell us about how the
choir was started. Well, Lorraine, thank you for having us. This
(21:29):
is such a joy to talk aboutthe Spin Choir. The Spin Choir originated
from a need for people who reallydidn't have a lot of funding to do
a lot of extra activities outside ofworkshops. And so we got my husband
and I both musicians, and ourbackgrounds very heavily. I did a lot
(21:49):
of professional work and my husband's justnaturally gifted and on piano and art and
singing, and so we together asmall group after Norkam's program which is a
part of Spin and we had themsinging and it started like with three to
(22:11):
five people and then it kind oflike blossomed. There are like over forty
people in the choir today and thatwas fifteen years ago. That is amazing.
Glenn, can you tell us alittle bit about what rehearsals are like,
oh man, rehearsals are amazing.All the music that we sing.
First of all, it is suggestedby members of the choir who are very
(22:37):
diverse, come from all at levels. But some of the music that we
sing when we put in a programtogether, when they come to rehearsals,
they come with such energy. Sometimeswhen they walking in the room when we
play, they come and danceing orwhatever. You know, it's very upbeat.
It's very upbeat and they're willing totry. And we think usually when
(23:00):
if it's a new member, sometimesthey sit back the kind of quiet a
little while, but it doesn't takelong before they get the confidence to just
want to just sing. They catchthe joy. I love that they catch
the joy. And really this isall about providing opportunities for those who are
(23:21):
part of your choir to have theopportunity to perform music as we know,
and I know you will agree withthat has the extraordinary ability to uplift and
to also bring people together. AndI think the other side effect, because
I know you perform in a lotof different locations, that's going to promote
a breaking down of stereotypes. Ithelps these folks develop skills, encourages empathy.
(23:47):
I mean, there's so many positives, right. Talk about the positives,
well, I think the biggest thingthat comes that you come away from
listening to the spin Choir. Whenthey sing, they're singing from their heart
and they're singing out of a placeof love that's so real. And it's
not even about their notes that they'resinging. It's how they're singing it.
(24:07):
It's how they sing a song whenthey has to touch you, it has
to touch you. I mean sometimeswhen I'm directing the choir and I'm listening
to him, I just can't believeit's them, it's the same choir,
because rehearsals sometimes is one thing,but when they're performing, it's like they
reach another level. They do thingsat another level, and the joy is
(24:30):
just so prevalent and so apparent thatanyone that's in the audience is going to
be effective by what they do.We had an individual who contracted COVID and
was very sick and was really reallycritical, and she her mother said that
she would respond only when she heardthe choir, when they would play the
(24:52):
choir songs, and it literally hermother credits the choir to literally saving her
and bring her out of that statethat she was. She was in a
coma, she was, I mean, there was a little hope. But
she's back in the choir today andwe call her our miracle. Well,
we do know the power of musicto heal and the power of arts to
(25:14):
heal. And it sounds like that'sexactly what you do through the Spin Choir.
Now you've been performing not just towithin the SPIN organization, but you
go out into the community right andperform absolutely tell us more. Yes,
they sung on Fox twenty nine.That was a big deal. They've done
the Christmas party at the Capitol inHarrisburg. Nice, They've done the Constitution
(25:38):
Centers several times. They headlined theDisabilities Pride Day. Great, they do
so many functions. We've done nursingrehabilitation facilities and so they extend themselves way
better and regular nursing homes we've done. Yeah, but not just that,
(26:00):
even like in times of bereavement,the choir has been asked to come and
singing perform that's beautiful performed in musicbecause it's come from from a place of
love and the value of it.Well clearly not just always happy occasions,
but they do well. You know, talking about coming from a place of
(26:22):
love, you clearly are a couplethat comes deeply from a place of love,
and that's just wonderful to see andto experience with the Spin Choir.
I really was very moved when Iheard you all perform the last time at
the Brighter Futures Award. Now you'realways looking for new members, is that
right? Yes, we are alwaysthat's great. How do they join the
(26:44):
Spin Choir? Well, you justcome to rehearsal. We had rehearsals every
Thursday at four thirty and that hasbeen the date probably over fifteen years.
We've never changed the time rehearsals areSpin. That's been confident Norkham Road.
Rather, I would suggest they comecome to the rehearsal for a few times
(27:07):
and see if they like it.First of all, if it's something they
would want to do, they're morethan welcome. Now you don't you don't
have to be verbal to join thechoir. Okay, we have several choir
members who are non verbal. ButI've learned that expressing music is not just
what comes out to your mouth.Is your expression, is how you move,
It's all of that, and sothey bring that part of it to
(27:30):
the music and it's amazing to seethe response of people because you know they're
responding to they know when their partcomes and they all into it and it
just pulls you in. And ifpeople wanted more information, is there a
number they can call or a websitethey can go to. We're We're gonna
by can definitely go to the Spinwebsite and that is Spininc dot org.
(27:55):
Okay, great, spininc Dot org. Well it's not. I want to
thank you so much for joining ushere to because the Spin Choir, which
is part of Spin Inc. Iscontributing to a more diverse, inclusive,
and compassionate society where everybody has achance to thrive. And you, Mickey
and Glenn Cornegie, lead choir directorsfor the Spin Inc. Choir, You're
(28:15):
doing some wonderful things to make thisworld a better place. So thank you
so much for joining us here today. Thank you, thank you for having
us show you time till the worldspin spins again. You can listen to
(28:42):
all of today's interviews by going toour station website and typing in keyword community.
You can also listen on the iHeartRadioapp. Key Words Philadelphia Community Podcast.
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram atLorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrow,
and I stand for service to ourcommunity and media that empowers. What
will you stand for? You've beenlistening to what's going on, ED. Thank you
Good morning, Welcome to What's goingon as show about making a difference in
our lives and our communities. I'mLorraine Ballot Moral. An important goal for
people with intellectual disabilities is to belongand to participate in everyday activities that promote
social integration, breaks down stereotypes,enhances quality of life, and develop skills.
(00:20):
That is the goal of the veryInspiring Spin Choir. We'll be talking
with its lead directors. When welook at substance use disorder and mental health
issues, we have to look deeplyinto their connection with trauma. That's the
goal of Trauma Informed Training provided tohealthcare professionals, counselors and caregivers by Lakeside
Educational Network. Will be speaking tothe president of Lakeside First Good street lighting
(00:45):
plays a vital role in creating safe, accessible, and inviting public spaces.
To tell us more about what thecity is doing along these lines is Katie
Bartelotta, who is Vice president ofPolicy and Strategic Partnerships for the Philadelphia Energy
Authority. Before we get into thewhole street lighting thing, tell us who
you are, sure and thanks forhaving me today, Lorraine. My name's
(01:07):
Katie Bartelotta. I'm vice president ofPolicy and Strategic Partnerships with the Philadelphia Energy
Authority. We are an independent municipalauthority dedicated to building a robust and equitable
clean energy economy for Philadelphia, andwhat that means in practice is that we
support the city and holding long termenergy contracts and issuing bonds for those and
(01:27):
other types of financing for those projects, like we did in the instance of
the street lighting project that we'll betalking about today. But we also run
consumer facing programs that help folks accessclean energy at their homes, at their
schools, and help folks join theclean energy workforce as well. Well.
We know that good street lighting hasa lot of benefits, and the benefits
(01:49):
include better safety, also just increasesthe quality of life. But in addition
to that, you're replacing street lightingwith LED lights. So tell us a
little bit more about a program andhow it's going to roll out and when
we can see the benefits. Sure, so, after a year of planning
that was really heavy on design andon auditing each and every street light in
(02:15):
the city to make sure we knowwhere they are, what their status is.
If there are a high pressure sodiumbulb that will be changing over or
if they were already converted to LEDs, as the city has been doing that
in a piecemeal fashion whenever capital budgetis available to do. So we went
through that whole process that included communityengagement. We had folks come out and
(02:37):
just see what LEDs look like relatedto the high pressure sodium bulbs that they
had on their block, to giveus an indication of between the two choices,
which color temperature they like, Dothey like a cooler or warmer fixture,
And ultimately folks wanted a warmer fixture, but some neighborhoods. Another question
that we asked was do you wantmore light? Do you feel like the
(02:58):
lighting that you have right now isto quit? You know, do you
think it would help with your perceptionof safety in the evening, your ability
to see whether you're a pedestrian,a bicyclist, and motorists. What would
really be the right kind of levelfor how you live and navigate your neighborhood.
So we did all of that,folded that into a citywide design with
(03:19):
the intent of for all of thenon LED lights will be changing those over
within the next two years. Sowe have a very tight twenty four month
construction schedule that's very much informed bythat auditing that we did, so we
know where every lady is, whattheir status is, so we can be
really efficient in that process. Butreally what we were getting to is how
can we do this project in abig way, in an efficient way to
(03:43):
provide this benefit to the city ofenergy efficient, really nice looking and very
reliable light for folks who are youknow now calling three one one and saying,
hey, our lights are out,we need these fixed, we need
them changed. And it's just away to really do a citywide, very
efficient process to get us to morereliable, safer, better presenting light citywide.
(04:10):
And it's really it's every corner ofthe city, which is another really
exciting benefit. Well, I knowthat when the city had replaced the lighting
with this sort of high intensity sodiumlighting, there's something about them that it
causes kind of pink glow over acity. And I know that LED lights
will present differently and perhaps will kindof impact that kind of pervasive pink light
(04:36):
from a distance that kind of blotsout the stars and all that sort of
thing. Does that make a difference, that is a big difference of how
this light presents, So LED lightsare much more controllable in the spread of
lights. So with a high pressuresodium bulb, you've got a bulb that
kind of distributes light without a tonof control of where it falls or how
(04:56):
it falls. And this is reallypart of the design process and the ability
of and LED to really put thelight where it needs to be, you
know, not in your bedroom window, but on the street where you actually
need to be able to move andnavigate safely at night. So backliding concern,
the uplighting concern of not being ableto control the glow, that is
something that is much improved with LEDs. And then also to just that same
(05:19):
kind of that color feature of it, we selected a warm color temperature just
because we had lots of conversations withfolks about their preferences. There wasn't a
strong preference in either direction when wedid some of our neighborhood feedback on the
warm versus the cool, But weknow that warm color temperatures are you know,
just generally a little bit better interms of any sort of potential concerns
(05:44):
with human health or safety, Sowe went in that direction, but again
just made sure that the light wasat the level that communities wanted, but
generally the light's going to look verydifferent. And again, we have been
working with designers who are making surethat all of our cobra heads, which
is those the kind of roadway lightsthat we're traditionally accustomed to, will not
(06:05):
have uplighting and are going to beDark Sky's compliant. That is a group
that makes sure that for human health, for the health and safety of animals,
and just again kind of making surethat light is controlled and serving its
purpose and not doing more than thathas been incorporated into the project as well.
(06:26):
So less light pollution as it were, Yes, less light pollution with
this project, and again it wasa really thoughtful process from community engagement and
our designers to get to what themaximum outcome could be for communities. I
think the other thing about this particularprogram is that it's going to give you
more options to monitor where lighting ishappening and if lighting needs to be replaced.
(06:49):
There's sort of like a more centralability to kind of monitor where lighting
needs to be fixed or controlled oradjusted. Right, So this is one
of my favorite features of the project. So I think folks understand you put
in new lights, they're more reliable, they're more energy efficient. That's going
to save us money. But whenyou say lighting management system, it doesn't
(07:11):
sound necessarily exciting on its face,but this is really going to change the
ability for the city and for residentsto have an understanding of how our lighting
system is functioning. So right now, if we need to replace a light
a street light in the city ofPhiladelphia, someone needs to see it and
report it. So that is justa really very labor intensive system on both
(07:38):
the city side of having crews thatare out looking for lights that are out,
on the resident side of having toreport a light every time it's out.
Through three one one, this isreally just eliminating that part of the
process of when a light is out, we know it instantaneously, and that's
going to be such a big changein how the city and actually operate and
(08:01):
maintain this lighting system because that lagtime of a light is out and we
need to report it is now takenout of the equation thanks to the lighting
management system. And I think it'sjust one of those really kind of simple
things that you know, the technologyis there. It's not something that's super
flashy, but it's going to saveso much time on the side of the
(08:22):
city and on the side of residenceand lead to a much more reliable product.
Yeah, I think people are goingto appreciate the fact that the turnaround
for replacing a broken light will bemuch faster. Now. One of the
other aspects of it which I'm curiousabout because I understand that this provides a
communication network for future smart city applications. What are smart city applications and what
(08:46):
does that mean for us? Sure? So we worked really closely with the
Office of Innovation and Technology in thiscity when we were considering that lighting management
system, which serves a really kindof basic purpose and function under this project,
to understand how that could be leveragedin the future for other applications that
the city's interested in. The cityalready uses something that I think would fall
(09:09):
under a smart city application of videocameras throughout the city, So, for
example, how does that work togetherwith our lighting management system? Is there
any way to leverage that? Butthere are plenty of other types of sensors
that can be affixed to a lightingmanagement system to check on things from air
quality to noise pollution to anything inbetween. So there's a really vast world
(09:31):
of smart city applications out there.Our scope of this project was pretty narrow
just because of the contracting vehicle thatwe used, but we wanted to make
sure that anything that we selected throughthis project could be maximally leveraged for any
smart city applications in the future,and I think we did a pretty thorough
job at evaluating that for any potentialfuture uses outside of the scope of this
(09:54):
project. Well, we know thegood lighting plays a vital role in creating
safe excess and inviting public spaces,and the City of Philadelphia is actually doing
something about that by providing the Phillystreet Light Improvement project. And if people
would like more information on this project, how do they find out more?
Yes, you can go to Phillystreet Light Improvement dot com. We have
(10:16):
a robust website with a list offaqes for folks who want to learn a
little bit more about the process andabout what they can expect over the next
couple of years of construction. Andwe also have an installation map that is
being updated in real time on thewebsite so that folks can see where our
crews are currently, where they've completedwork, and where they're off to next
(10:39):
in the next two weeks, sothey can have an understanding of when crews
maybe in their neighborhoods. Fantastic.Katie Bartelotta, who is RICE President of
Policy and Strategic Partnerships for the PhiladelphiaEnergy Authority, Thank you so much.
(11:01):
You're listening to what's going on.We talk about trauma quite a bit,
and that's very important because so muchof us, so much of how we
are, how we're able to maintainmental wellness, is related to our ability
to understand what trauma is all about. We're going to be talking about trauma
informed training and how it relates toaddressing addiction cycles. Joining us right now
(11:22):
is Gerald Vassar, President of Lakeside. Thank you so much for joining us
here today, and let's talk abouttrauma. We talk about trauma. That
word is used a whole lot,but I wonder if you can give us
a definition that's useful for us tounderstand what trauma is and how it impacts
on our mental wellness. Thank youfor having me, Lorraine. Great to
be with you. Yeah, traumais in a scenario where we've had an
(11:45):
event that has created an emotional response, and in the process of that,
it usually leaves us in either oneof two states. Either we are hyper
aroused, meaning high threat, andI'm feeling all of these anxieties and fears
about what's around me. Or I'mdissociative, which is a term to say
(12:07):
I'm kind of reliving the experience andI'm shut down. So when you experience
an adverse event like trauma, andthere could be many different sources who would
know that, we'd be able tosay I suffer from political trauma, but
we have that going on as wellas any other forms of it, and
it creates one of those two responsesthat really does relate to how we try
(12:30):
to regulate that through drugs and othersources. Well, that's it's a very
important point because so many times whenpeople experience trauma and they experience life as
a painful experience, that there isself medication that occurs, and sometimes people
do resort to using substances in orderto mitigate, to dump down, to
(12:54):
cover over that pain. And sohow it's so very important for people to
understand how trauma relates to addiction.And I wonder if you can talk a
little bit about trauma informed training andhow does that relate to the treatment of
people who are involved in substance abuse. Lakeside has the privilege of training about
twenty thousand professionals a year throughout theregion and the country, and what we
(13:18):
certainly note is that they need alens for this. When you encounter people
with mental health issues and other scenariosand they come to you addicted, you
know, we want to look ataddiction in different ways, but if you
look at it as regulating trauma,it's a different way to think. So
(13:39):
I'm a lot more empathetic. I'ma lot more sympathetic to say, Oh,
what you're doing is you're dealing withyour trauma. I'm quieting the noise
or I am trying to find aspace where I can get rid of some
of this numbness that I feel.And the drugs are mood enhancers, so
either they give me pleasure or theysort of dull down down some of the
(14:00):
symptoms that I'm feeling. Those symptomsare pretty rough sometimes, like when you're
in the bottom of your brain andyou can't regulate, you can't think of
time, you're very reactionary, yourbreathing changes, your heart rate goes up.
Well, what helps me with that? The drug does quickly. Wow,
I take a drug and I feelall better very quickly, and so
(14:20):
and then I begin to do thatover and over and over again because I
don't have resolve on my trauma.So that creates an addictive dynamic versus a
disease that I can overcome. It'smore it's a response to my disregulation.
I wonder if you can talk alittle more about how trauma informed approaches address
(14:43):
that and how that might differ fromperhaps other ways of treating issues like addiction.
Well, it takes the judgment awayif it's what happened to you and
not what's wrong with you. Allof a sudden, we're on equal ground
together, and I'm not judging youfor your addiction. But if I beg
to understand and have a lens forthis, as I've said before, I'm
(15:03):
understanding what's going on in your brain, which is different than most people think.
I'm understanding how to regulate, helpyou regulate, so I'm giving you
ability to do that. If I'mdoing it well, I listen differently.
I'm listening for triggers. I'm carefulnot to retrigger you so that you'll go
back into the trauma again. Andif I see you in the bottom of
(15:26):
your brain and not able to function. Well, I'm not going to ask
you to think about cognitive things.That's ridiculous to try to get you to
be cognitive when you can't be.But I'm also, as I said,
I'm going to be skilled, I'mgoing to be careful, but I'm also
not going to be judgmental about what'sgoing on. I'm going to say this
is predictable in light of what you'veexperienced, and that puts a lot of
(15:48):
safety in the relationship, and itputs a lot of understanding about what's going
on, and then I can beginto use my skills related to that to
help you now understand it for yourself. So it sounds like you provide a
groundwork for treatment in which that's onepart of the tool kit that you use
in order to address the many,the multiplicity of issues that are related to
(16:11):
the treatment process. So that traumaand formed training is kind of like the
bottom line there, and then fromthere you take other modalities, other forms
of treatment to address. And Iwonder if you can talk about how you
integrate that all together. Well,I think, first of all, if
you're trained to understand where trauma is, I mean, we even have brain
maps for some of our students thatwe work with. That tells you what
(16:33):
part in the brain you're working onwhen you have certain traumas and certain parts
of your life. That's pretty sophisticated, but it's very it's possible, the
idea of using interventions. I mean, it's fascinating to me that we have
probably forty six million diagnosed drug substanceabuse disorders in America and about six percent
(16:56):
of those people actually get therapy.That's pretty terrible, pretty terrible. Yeah,
that's what SAMSA has told us.And in the process that that that
means the people that are on thefront lines working with you are really your
resource and so meaning the people thatcan listen to you and care for you
and give you regulation advice. SoI think in the process we're trying to
(17:19):
find better ways to help you regulate, like knowing your pulse and knowing how
to regulate that pulse right for everybodyin the country to know. Do you
know that when you're hyper aroused,your pulse goes up to one thirty one
fifty. How do we get itback down to eighty? How do we
do that? Well? You canuse that through all call kinds of ways
(17:40):
that we give you in understanding howyou regulate. So in the process of
that, imagine if that were thecommon knowledge among professionals among the people they're
serving. If that's common knowledge,and that's what we do with schools and
students and organizations that we train.The therapeutic interventions are also good to be
saying, like an emgr type ofapproach, but they are also helpful to
(18:04):
help people better process what it isthey're doing. But you need a trauma
formed therapist to do that. Soit's our job to advise you to find
those individuals to help you. Buta man, we're running into a lot
of shortage of those counselors these daysin a mental health crisis that we're facing,
right, And that's what Lakeside does. Do you provide trauma informed training
(18:26):
for the vast majority of the vastnumber of professionals that are out there who
are dealing with these issues. Tellus a little more about Lakeside. We
are an organization that deals with aboutfive to six thousand students a year in
thirty five different school districts or regionsin the Greater Philadelphia area. And they're
(18:48):
kids that are struggling to stay inschool, so we provide counseling. We
have four schools, We have therapeuticinterventions, and then we provide trauma training
to professionals all throughout the community andall through up to states in point in
other parts of the country, andwe have programs for certification program for professionals.
We have a lot of workshops thatwe can do, like a two
hour thing to help you figure outwhat area you'd like to focus on,
(19:12):
so that we can do that individuallyis rather than a comprehensive one. And
then we have organizational certification that wasdesigned by doctor Sandra Bloom who's famous for
her Sanctuary model but now has thePresence model. So we do organizations,
we do professionals, we do withindividuals, and most of that is all
online right now, so anyone cantake it. That sounds great. If
(19:33):
nothing else, I'd like to knowhow to get my pulse to go down
from one thirty, two, fortyfive or whatever whatever it is a healthy
calm pulse rate. Well, itsounds like there's a lot of resources that
you're able to provide at Lakeside.If people would like more information about Lakeside
Educational network. How do they findout more? Www. Lakeside Diet will
get you to our website and thatwill be a place where you can look
(19:56):
at all of our programs and engageour training and that'll should be helpful to
find out what we offer. FantasticGerald Vasser, President of Lakeside, thank
you so much for joining us todayplace Lorraine, thank you so much for
having me Every year. I havethe extraordinary privilege of m seeing the Brighter
(20:19):
Futures Awards, which is a fantasticevent that brings together folks who are in
the Intellectual Disabilities space to celebrate aninclusion and access and diversity. And in
fact, recently I learned something youknow, we all know about DI which
is diversity, inclusion and equity,but there is also a couple more letters
(20:41):
that have been added to that andthat is access A and B for belonging.
Well, talk about belonging. I'mgoing to talk about an organization that
does some wonderful things for those inthe intellectual disabilities community, and it's all
about belonging. It's all about havingaccess to everyday lives and that is the
Spin Choir, And we're going tobe talking to folks from the Spin Choir
(21:06):
about their organization, which is partof Spin Ink. And we're speaking with
Mickey and Glenn Carnegie, elite choirdirectors for Spin Inc. Thank you so
much for joining us here today.And I had the delight of hearing this
choir perform at the last Brighter FuturesAwards. So tell us about how the
choir was started. Well, Lorraine, thank you for having us. This
(21:29):
is such a joy to talk aboutthe Spin Choir. The Spin Choir originated
from a need for people who reallydidn't have a lot of funding to do
a lot of extra activities outside ofworkshops. And so we got my husband
and I both musicians, and ourbackgrounds very heavily. I did a lot
(21:49):
of professional work and my husband's justnaturally gifted and on piano and art and
singing, and so we together asmall group after Norkam's program which is a
part of Spin and we had themsinging and it started like with three to
(22:11):
five people and then it kind oflike blossomed. There are like over forty
people in the choir today and thatwas fifteen years ago. That is amazing.
Glenn, can you tell us alittle bit about what rehearsals are like,
oh man, rehearsals are amazing.All the music that we sing.
First of all, it is suggestedby members of the choir who are very
(22:37):
diverse, come from all at levels. But some of the music that we
sing when we put in a programtogether, when they come to rehearsals,
they come with such energy. Sometimeswhen they walking in the room when we
play, they come and danceing orwhatever. You know, it's very upbeat.
It's very upbeat and they're willing totry. And we think usually when
(23:00):
if it's a new member, sometimesthey sit back the kind of quiet a
little while, but it doesn't takelong before they get the confidence to just
want to just sing. They catchthe joy. I love that they catch
the joy. And really this isall about providing opportunities for those who are
(23:21):
part of your choir to have theopportunity to perform music as we know,
and I know you will agree withthat has the extraordinary ability to uplift and
to also bring people together. AndI think the other side effect, because
I know you perform in a lotof different locations, that's going to promote
a breaking down of stereotypes. Ithelps these folks develop skills, encourages empathy.
(23:47):
I mean, there's so many positives, right. Talk about the positives,
well, I think the biggest thingthat comes that you come away from
listening to the spin Choir. Whenthey sing, they're singing from their heart
and they're singing out of a placeof love that's so real. And it's
not even about their notes that they'resinging. It's how they're singing it.
(24:07):
It's how they sing a song whenthey has to touch you, it has
to touch you. I mean sometimeswhen I'm directing the choir and I'm listening
to him, I just can't believeit's them, it's the same choir,
because rehearsals sometimes is one thing,but when they're performing, it's like they
reach another level. They do thingsat another level, and the joy is
(24:30):
just so prevalent and so apparent thatanyone that's in the audience is going to
be effective by what they do.We had an individual who contracted COVID and
was very sick and was really reallycritical, and she her mother said that
she would respond only when she heardthe choir, when they would play the
(24:52):
choir songs, and it literally hermother credits the choir to literally saving her
and bring her out of that statethat she was. She was in a
coma, she was, I mean, there was a little hope. But
she's back in the choir today andwe call her our miracle. Well,
we do know the power of musicto heal and the power of arts to
(25:14):
heal. And it sounds like that'sexactly what you do through the Spin Choir.
Now you've been performing not just towithin the SPIN organization, but you
go out into the community right andperform absolutely tell us more. Yes,
they sung on Fox twenty nine.That was a big deal. They've done
the Christmas party at the Capitol inHarrisburg. Nice, They've done the Constitution
(25:38):
Centers several times. They headlined theDisabilities Pride Day. Great, they do
so many functions. We've done nursingrehabilitation facilities and so they extend themselves way
better and regular nursing homes we've done. Yeah, but not just that,
(26:00):
even like in times of bereavement,the choir has been asked to come and
singing perform that's beautiful performed in musicbecause it's come from from a place of
love and the value of it.Well clearly not just always happy occasions,
but they do well. You know, talking about coming from a place of
(26:22):
love, you clearly are a couplethat comes deeply from a place of love,
and that's just wonderful to see andto experience with the Spin Choir.
I really was very moved when Iheard you all perform the last time at
the Brighter Futures Award. Now you'realways looking for new members, is that
right? Yes, we are alwaysthat's great. How do they join the
(26:44):
Spin Choir? Well, you justcome to rehearsal. We had rehearsals every
Thursday at four thirty and that hasbeen the date probably over fifteen years.
We've never changed the time rehearsals areSpin. That's been confident Norkham Road.
Rather, I would suggest they comecome to the rehearsal for a few times
(27:07):
and see if they like it.First of all, if it's something they
would want to do, they're morethan welcome. Now you don't you don't
have to be verbal to join thechoir. Okay, we have several choir
members who are non verbal. ButI've learned that expressing music is not just
what comes out to your mouth.Is your expression, is how you move,
It's all of that, and sothey bring that part of it to
(27:30):
the music and it's amazing to seethe response of people because you know they're
responding to they know when their partcomes and they all into it and it
just pulls you in. And ifpeople wanted more information, is there a
number they can call or a websitethey can go to. We're We're gonna
by can definitely go to the Spinwebsite and that is Spininc dot org.
(27:55):
Okay, great, spininc Dot org. Well it's not. I want to
thank you so much for joining ushere to because the Spin Choir, which
is part of Spin Inc. Iscontributing to a more diverse, inclusive,
and compassionate society where everybody has achance to thrive. And you, Mickey
and Glenn Cornegie, lead choir directorsfor the Spin Inc. Choir, You're
(28:15):
doing some wonderful things to make thisworld a better place. So thank you
so much for joining us here today. Thank you, thank you for having
us show you time till the worldspin spins again. You can listen to
(28:42):
all of today's interviews by going toour station website and typing in keyword community.
You can also listen on the iHeartRadioapp. Key Words Philadelphia Community Podcast.
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram atLorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrow,
and I stand for service to ourcommunity and media that empowers. What
will you stand for? You've beenlistening to what's going on, ED. Thank you
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