Hello and welcome to PBS39 in WLVT.

Community update on coronavirus.

It's presented by Capital Blue Cross and brought to you with help from our community partner Lehigh Valley Health Network.

We are coming to you live from the Public Media Center in Bethlehem.

I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Our guests today include a health and wellness educator who had to make decisions about her own well-being in this pandemic.

Also here is someone to share how outdoor recreation is booming.

Our guests will be with us in just a moment.

If you have a question, please give us a call.

The phone number three four eight two one zero zero zero eight.

We'll answer some of your questions live.

Plus for coronavirus updates, be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

Now you can do that at our website coronavirus Lehigh Valley .org.

There you'll find helpful information in both English and Spanish.

Now let's take a look at today's top headlines.

Pennsylvania reached a milestone today in the fight against Covid-19 surpassing 10 million vaccinations.

The Department of Health says nearly 4.4 million people are fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the state reported 1823 new coronavirus cases, the highest case count this week.

The seven day moving average of cases is down, though.

21% from a week ago and down more than 65% in the last month.

25 more deaths bring the total death toll now to 26,900 and 90.

Pennsylvania is firing a company that performed Covid-19 contact tracing and exposed the private medical information of tens of thousands of residents.

The state had planned to drop in Site Global once its contract expired at the end of July.

But the Health Department's told House Republicans yesterday that it will terminate the contract early on June 19.

What do you get vaccinated for?

A million Gamma Some states are getting creative in their bid to increase Covid-19 vaccine rates.

New York, Ohio and Maryland are all giving away millions of dollars in vaccine lotteries available to those who get a shot.

Ohio is offering a million bucks.

Maryland is holding drawing's for 40 straight days through July 3rd on the Fourth of July, a final drawing will be held to award a grand prize of $400,000 to one vaccinated Marylander.

A lot of money right there.

day.

Kendra Carey is a health educator and wellness consultant.

She works with human resources at Lehigh Valley Health Network to bring wellness programs to her colleagues.

Also with us is Skye Fogel of Pocono Whitewater.

A business changed by the pandemic but still in high demand.

Thank you both so much for joining us.

Skye will be with you in just a couple of minutes.

We want to begin today with Kendra.

Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you, Brittany.

Happy to be here, Kendra.

It's great to have you.

You're on the look out for the health and well-being.

Thousands of frontline health care workers.

How has your job changed over the past 15 months?

Let's begin there today.

Sure.

So I work in corporate wellness.

I work for the employer to bring wellness programs to their employees to improve overall health.

And I spend the majority of my time supporting LVHN and their wellness program.

So since the pandemic, my role hasn't really changed.

But we've been a lot busier, mostly we're offering more virtual resources and making it more convenient for employees wellness programs.their- Sure.

What's the best way employees or the most common way employees are participating in wellness programs at this point?

I know many of the hospital workers are still coming onto campus, coming on to these sites, but what about the people who are behind the scenes and maybe working from home still the virtual resources, the virtual resources are what we're pushing for.

Colleagues at work also pushing convenience so we have a wellness portal where it's kind of a one stop shop for all of your wellness resources.

And then we also have health coaches and we utilize our health coaches, their board certified and they're thought of as wellness navigators and they can help employees find the right resources.

And in the help that they need.

Have you seen an emphasis or a demand for mental health resources at this point?

This pandemic has really taken a toll on everybody's mental health.

Are you seeing that come through your services Gamma Absolutely.

And to meet the demand, I think you have to have good resources.

Maybe the wellness program, resources that are virtual and have telephonic access really needs to be convenient.

Like the two ways that I just mentioned, our wellness portal, our health coaches, we know that this has not been easy.

And if you're struggling or you need support, I encourage you to utilize your employee wellness program, your employee assistance program or reach out to your doctor.

Now.

Are there common themes or issues when it comes to the health care population that you are tending to the front line workers?

Any specific mental health issues that you really have to cater to to their is a great question.

Our frontline workers are focused on taking care of their patients, their families, their community, which means putting their own well-being on the back burner.

They're people just like you and me.

They need support.

They need support in the ways that work for them.

So we provide resources that encompass total body health, physical activity, healthy food options, mindfulness programs.

But we also encourage them to lean for those health coaches that I talked about who can help connect colleagues to resources like an employee assistance program or encourage them to talk to their doctor or to listen to them, sometimes colleagues just need someone to talk to and hear them as they navigate through this difficult time.

And what about the stigma on mental health going into this pandemic?

We really didn't talk as much about mental health or mental health resources as we do now.

On the other side of all of this, how has that changed throughout the pandemic Gamma I think there's a huge push for a wellness.

Well, not wellness is no longer a nice to have.

Wellness is a necessity for businesses, for organizations.

And I and I love seeing this shift in in focusing on wellness because we need to take care of ourselves before we can take care of anyone else.

We need to prioritize our own health and wellbeing.

Kendra, a health and wellness educator, could you tell us what are some of the job thing?

What are some of some of the things your job does?

What are some of the most important things that you do for the folks at Lehigh Valley Health Network?

Sure, So I think the most important thing is creating a healthy workplace culture, a culture that focuses on wellness and has leadership support.

So I work with leaders in our employees to develop and implement a program that works for them.

Wellness is not a one size, that's all.

And so what works for one group may need to be tailored for another.

And that's OK.

Essentially I want making the healthy choice, the easy choice and that's what I find that I do.

And one of the most important functions of my job.

Sure.

Do you see that much of the staff takes advantage of having this there for their convenience and for their overall health Gamma Absolutely.

Our employees, you know, they love the wellness program.

We have a lot of glowing reviews of the program and we're always trying to look for feedback, success stories, whatever we can.

We can collect who we want to listen.

We want to learn.

We want to improve.

You know, no program is perfect and there's always, you know, improvements that can be made from year to year.

And we want to hear about them and make sure our colleagues are utilizing the program.

And the program fits.

Name Kendra.

You were faced with some decisions throughout this pandemic that some of us had to face and then others.

You're in kind of a unique situation you are expecting.

So congratulations to you.

So you had to decide whether to get the vaccine while also being pregnant.

So could you tell us a little bit about your decision, what that was like, what you weighed on either side and what you ultimately decided?

Sure.

This was not an easy decision when I became eligible for the vaccine, I was in my second trimester and my plan was to wait until I delivered to get the vaccine so I could have antibodies for breast feeding.

But I continue to stay up to date on the current research and I started to reconsider getting a vaccine from the research that was published.

One at the end of March that showed the increase of antibodies that can be passed through cord blood more so than breast milk and then the next larger study at the end of April, which showed no difference in pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in women that receive the Covid vaccine while they were pregnant compared to women, pregnant women pre Covid.

So to me this shows that it wasn't going to harm my baby and it would actually provide some protection for the first six to 12 months of his life.

So the next thing I did in the most important thing that I did was I called my doctor.

We had a lengthy conversation about the research, about my specific pregnancy, how I was feeling and we also talked about the variance and how women, pregnant women are already a high risk group and the thought of being on a ventilator scared me because it does happen.

So for me and my husband, the benefits outweigh the risks in getting the vaccine was the right thing to do and knowing that my doctor supported me in this decision was the most reassuring thing.

But I won't lie.

I was still nervous day until that shot went in my arm.

I then felt this overwhelming feeling of relief.

And so now it's been just over a week since I received my first dose and everyone's doing good to hear.

Good to hear.

So you don't get your second yet.

So we won't ask how you're feeling after being fully vaccinated, but it sounds like you did a lot of research on your own.

Do you think that pregnant women are facing a lot of misinformation or have a lot of questions when it comes to the vaccine?

I do.

There's a lot of information out there and it's easy to go into a rabbit hole with the information.

But you know, my life is you need to focus on peer reviewed articles.

Those are the ones that have the information, have the research, the research to back up the information.

And then if you don't understand, if you don't know how to read the articles, talk to your doctor.

That's the main thing that I, I guess I can give for advice is to talk to your doctor.

That's the person that knows your health and you're growing David Helsel better than anyone, better than any social media source, better than anyone.

And they can give you the tools to make an informed decision for you and for your family.

Kendra, it seems like you found a lot of great information.

Was there one resource that was the more I don't know, gave you more advice than others?

Because sometimes searching on the internet, just Googling, you can go down a rabbit hole of information.

That's not even true.

So what was the best resource for you aside from your own doctor?

So I found that looking at anything with of you, you have to look at DOCA.

I looked at the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology that to that end of March study came from that was the first article that I that I read that I was like, this is a peer reviewed.

This is not Rush research.

This research that is this is there.

They're talking about immunology.

They talk about the antibodies and then the end of April research that came out that came out from the New England Journal of Medicine.

And so again, research that was done.

It was not rushed.

These were people that receive the vaccine during their pregnancy from December to February.

And you if you need help reading those resources, understanding them, other people have rewritten them.

But it's I found that it was easier to talk to my doctor about those specific studies because they can explain it to you in a way that is more understanding Bloomsbury taken the information.

Sure.

And cater to your specific situation.

Of course, Kendra, as a health educator, what's some advice that you have for folks as they try to take care of themselves as even as we move out of this pandemic Gamma Sure.

So as a public health professional, I have to say prevention prevention is key to continuing to take care of yourself, go to your annual checkups with your doctor, get your mammograms, your cervical screenings, your colonoscopies, go to your dentist.

I can't emphasize enough that your health needs to be your priority and to not hesitate to ask for help if you need it.

Some great advice there, Kendra.

Carry health and Wellness Educator for Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Thank you so much for joining us today and best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy and your new baby.

Thank you.

And we continue this community update on coronavirus on PBS39.

You can hear the rebroadcast on the radio tonight at nine 30 on 91 three WLVT.

.

Now let's bring in our next guest, Skye Fogel's family runs Pocono whitewater rafting and Jim Thorpe in Carbon County Sky.

A year ago you were heading into Memorial Day weekend at very limited capacity because Thank you so much for joining us once again.

A year later, how has that picture changed for you Gamma Well, it's I'm here without my mask on to start.

I'm fully vaccinated, as are many of my staff are either fully vaccinated or have at least their first shot in depending on one availability was around.

We are still under some limited capacities, especially in the state parks.

We have limited capacity on all of our transportation just for people's safety and we are still requiring masks be worn inside any of our buildings because we don't know who's vaccinated and who isn't.

We hope that that's able to change very soon.

But we'll see.

We're playing it kind of by year and we're we've been lucky.

Most of our clientele has agreed that that's the right way to move forward.

Sure.

Of course, the governor saying that come Memorial Day, capacity limits will be lifted.

Does that include for your business as well?

And what will things look like?

Memorial Day weekend then and after Memorial A?

Sure.

So we're we're taking it one step at a time, right.

As the governor comes out and says, yep, they're definitely lifted, then we'll review all of our things and we tend to be about a week behind whatever the governor is saying on reducing restrictions.

We want to make sure that everyone is safe and that there isn't any type of, you know, switches back to more complicated or stricter restrictions that we're not following because we feel once we take the mask off, so to speak, it's much harder to put it back on to our own.

We're taking a look at some of wonderful pictures that looks so nice out there.

It's you know, those pictures look like that would be the perfect thing for a nice day like today.

Could you tell us some of the things you offer at Pocono Whitewater Kenhorst.

We have three different sections of the Lehigh River that we run to our in the Lehigh Gordon State Park and we have one called the family style section that we can take children as young as foreign that's really to be Ginner or entry to Whitewater rafting as we call it.

And you can move up to the gorge where the age limit obviously increases.

So does the Schwank, so do the rapids.

It's way more intense.

We also after biking all along the trail that goes along that river right there, the National Natural Heritage Corridor.

It's a great ride we offer anywhere from 36 miles to ten miles to hourly rentals.

We also have two and four day trips on that trail now available looks like a lot of fun.

So in the past year over this pandemic year and a couple of months I should say, how has this pandemic impacted business?

What has been different?

Take us back to this time last year and then bring us up to speed to 2021.

Sure.

So going into Memorial Day weekend, which is traditionally our start of season, there was a lot of uncertainty.

No would be shut down again.

Would they continue to limit capacity with the park shut down all those kinds of things?

Fortunately, communications gotten significantly better and we believe are going to have I won't call it a normal season, but at least a fully open season.

And we're not nervous about shutdowns again or completely restricted capacity or anything like that.

So we're just happy.

It's nice and sunny and warm.

And this year compared to last year, the mood is brighter.

Everyone's been outside this whole week has been so nice.

Phones have been ringing off the hook with people who want to get off Zoom calls and want to be an outside.

We consider whitewater rafting, paintball and biking Akir to what I call nature deficit disorder.

And I think after a year of being locked down to some degree, everyone is really looking to get outside, get off the screens, whether it's phone screening, a computer screen or even the TV, you know, come on out, have a nice, safe, fun, healthy outdoor activity with people that you know and maybe haven't seen in quite a while.

Was there any point during the past year, in the year and a half, especially as we were getting things open more?

Was there any point when you realized, OK, maybe we're going to be OK, maybe we weathered the storm, we're going to be OK, we're going to get through this and we're going to get back to whatever normal will be the new normal.

What point did you kind think that to yourself?

We had very high hopes starting in August of last year we were sonder, very limited capacities.

But we found people are more willing to be flexible about their dates.

So they weren't only trying to come on a Saturday, they understood Saturdays are totally full.

We don't need to go on a Sunday or we'll need to go on a Monday or Friday.

So once people started to relax sort of their perception of when's the best time to go, that really helped us.

So we were able to run a decent number of people even though we were at limited capacity because the people the people switch the day.

So they came on Sundays, they came on Fridays, they came on Mondays, which was really nice for us.

And that was a breath of fresh air.

We started running real numbers week, week over week.

Mind you, there was still all the added costs of all the cleaning and all the masks and there are shortages of different supplies and things.

So we sort of got that all figured out over the winter.

We were able to stockpile some stuff so that opening up this season, we definitely have enough masks.

We definitely have enough cleaning supplies.

All those immediate concerns are gone now.

We can just really focus.

Let's run the best trips that we can and get back, like you were saying, a sense of normalcy or a sense of normalcy.

Exactly.

And it has been reported across the state that people are just flocking to the great outdoors.

Have you seen that first hand and have you been able to keep up with the demand?

I know many places reach capacity weekend after weekend for these outdoor activities.

Are you seeing the same Gamma Absolutely.

Especially at our paintball facility, which is the first thing we it's open around.

So it's what we see the most people at first the water is still a little chilly for rafting.

The biking is beautiful, though.

I really do suggest it.

But at PayPal, what we've seen is everyone's still is kind of come back to that.

We're going to go on Saturdays and I'll tell everyone all the viewers right now that if you want more private experience, you're concerned about crowds at any outdoor activity go on Sunday.

I don't know exactly why no one really goes out on Sundays.

I think it's because they're all too concerned about going back to work on Monday.

But Sunday is just this weekend, especially Sundays.

The nicer of the two days.

And we have less than half the people on Sundays.

We do this coming for tomorrow.

I find that interesting because it's still a weekend day.

You think people would still come out, but Sundays, the day to go, are there safety protocol Gamma I love that.

I love that.

I'm going to remember that one.

Are there any safety protocols that people need to remember when they're coming?

Are you still telling people to bring their masks and that and social distance and that kind of thing?

Yeah, absolutely.

Like I said, we're still operating under the capacities, especially in our transportation.

And we are just like the governor and the CDC have said, masks must be worn when in busses.

So if you're taking a bike shuttle or if you're going to ratchet, we have to bus you to and from the river.

So we do make sure you have masks for those things We for safety for our own staff and guests are saying people inside our buildings still need to have masks on because there's no way for us to check anyone's vaccinated status or not.

So we're sticking with that for now.

We do hope to be able to loosen that up in the near future.

But we're just kind of seeing how everything plays out a little bit.

So I was just going to ask, is there any distinction for people who are vaccinated versus people who are not vaccinated?

Right.

Because we can't test, are we?

We don't if you're vaccinated or not, if you're inside any of our buildings or on any of our transportation masks must be worn.

And Jim Thorpe is a place with a very high volume of visitors, people coming from in and out of the area.

What are some of the other businesses, tourist attractions?

What are you hearing from them as a business community?

We're hearing very mixed results.

We were earlier adopters of being open and our philosophy that outside and proper ventilation is the safest place to be if you're going to be doing any type of activities.

So some of our competitors have not agreed with that.

They've been more shut down.

So I think we're definitely reaping some of those benefits.

But yeah, everyone is saying the phones are ringing off the hook and it's 85 degrees out just like it is today.

There's really no way nicer to be than on the Lehigh River.

I know it would be the perfect place to be today with the weather the way it is.

This is a very seasonal business though.

How has it been hiring staff so many places right now?

So many businesses are having trouble finding people staffing their business.

I imagine it's already something that's hard for seasonal businesses.

So how are you faring Gamma Yeah, it's a real struggle.

It's definitive.

The hardest part of reopening for this year is finding enough staff to bring everyone down, especially with limited capacities.

Like I was saying on trips and busses.

That means we need more bus drivers.

We need more river guides.

And until the kids finally get out of school, we don't really have them because we hire a lot of college age kids and we only really need people to three days a week.

So not only are we seasonal, we're seasonal and part time.

And that makes staffing really, really difficult for anyone, really any outdoor adventure industry.

Sure.

What's been the hardest part to date throughout this pandemic for your business?

I think the hardest part was just before I was on last time and we were totally closed down.

Not really sure of a potential reopening day.

But once we're able to open even to a small capacity, you know, I'm a bit of an optimist.

I said, OK, this is great.

Like I've been my dire predictions were horribly wrong.

This is excellent.

We can start running something.

And like you said at the beginning, this is a family owned company.

My father started with my grandfather and my uncle 40 over 40 years ago.

So we're one of the lucky ones.

We don't have a mortgage on the the buildings.

So our debt load is low and that allowed us to know kind of go through this feeling or sleeping a little better at night even when we were totally shut down.

Were you able to take advantage of any of the programs that were offered the PPE program or the grant programs or is that harder because you're a seasonal business?

How does that all work?

Yeah, it was definitely a lot harder for especially round one of the PPE programs.

We missed out entirely on the very first round of money, which would have been really helpful, but they designed it for a generalized business.

Unfortunately, a seasonal business like ours does not fit that mold.

So by the second issuance money for round two of last year's PPE program, we were able to get in a little bit later than we would have liked course.

But we were able to get some money and buy this third round.

They kind of had it figured out a little bit more for seasonal and different types of operators.

It's for us to do those calculations.

They don't make sense.

Right.

So none of the math really was working.

Lenders are having an issue selling that up to the SBA and all of that.

So it was very tough.

We were fortunate enough to get a little bit of money from some tourism grants that helped cover the increase in costs.

You cleaning supplies and masks for staff and guests.

So we've definitely got some government assistance and it was very much appreciated and needed honestly, it seems like for 20, 21 we are closer than ever to what normal business was before the pandemic.

What do you expect for the 20, 21 season?

What can people expect this summer?

Well, you based on just the weather here in May, I think that it's going to be a very hot summer and nothing is better for a functionally a water park without the Lyons in a very hot summer.

Right.

So I think that rafting is going to do really well.

Yeah, we can see those photos on the you're on the screen now and I'm sitting here sweating in the conference room.

I like to be out on the water right now and it's May.

So I think we have a very rosy outlook, but we are being realistic with it.

We think the numbers will still be down from 2019.

We'll call that normalized numbers, but certainly up from 2020 numbers.

Skyfall from Pocono Whitewater.

Thank you so much today for your insight and answering our questions.

Absolutely.

Thanks for having me back.

We want to thank our guests for being with us and we want to thank you for joining us for community update on coronavirus will be here at 4pm each Monday, Wednesday and Friday on PBS39 nine and on the radio at nine 30.

Those same nights WLVT.

Our news will be back Monday for to talk about vaccines and more on the efforts to end this pandemic.

If you have a question, you can leave it at our website, PBS39.org.

On social media or you can always give us a call.

The phone number is four eight four eight two one zero zero zero eight four PBS39 and WLVT for news.

I'm Brittany Sweeney have a great weekend.