In Depth: Vaccinations, Halloween, Free Fridges
LOS ANGELES - Segment 1: Vaccinations and Health Checks
Dr. Ronald Tang of the Dorothy Leavey Cancer center joins Hal to talk about the need for people to get normal checkups and screenings for cancer even during the pandemic.
Tang says that if people neglect those screenings, they can be diagnosed at a much later stage when it might be harder to treat. He says cancer can progress at a rapid rate if people aren't paying attention.
There has been a 90% decrease in people getting mammograms and colonoscopies this year because of the pandemic. He says there is a very low risk of contracting COVID 19 in a doctor's office, because doctors are following management protocols.
Tang also says that there has been a more than 80% drop in parents having their children immunized during the pandemic, which could have long-term ramifications, especially when kids go back to school in person.
Segment 2: Halloween Safety
Dr. Richard Kang, a Pediatric Intensivist with Dignity health, talks about Halloween safety during the pandemic.
Angela Cantoni of FunwithkidsinLA.com joins Hal to talk about how Halloween is important to children, and that Halloween shouldn't be cancelled because of the pandemic, but it should be celebrated differently. She says you can create a haunted house at your own house or do a candy hunt inside your home, or have a Halloween pinata.
Ben Biscotti with Night of the Jack explains how they will be changing their festival this year.
The installation has thousands of decorated jack-o-lanterns. Now instead of being a walk-through event, it will be a drive through, to keep people socially distanced.
Segment 3: Free Community Fridges
Tea Blatt is a community activist who works with the Los Angeles Free Community refrigerator project. She says the project aims to put refrigerators in underserved areas that people can donate food to, or take food from, if they need it. She says it's a very loose, grassroots organization that is mostly handled on social media.
The group connects volunteers who want to host a refrigerator with donors of the refrigerators, and allows the community to support them by contributing food, groceries and toiletries.
She says there is no guarantee that the things in the refrigerator will stay perfectly safe, but that she relies on the volunteers to help monitor the situation and keep things clean. She says in her experience, there haven't been problems. Blatt says please do not contribute your restaurant leftovers, and alcohol is forbidden. She says the food moves really fast, and there is constant need.
If you want to participate, check out their instagram account @lacommunityfridges .
Segment 4: Wrap up
We end with another tribute to the fridge, by Atlanta singer KD French- singing all nine parts of a humorous gospel song about battling temptation.