West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB) will provide extensive coverage of President Obama’s farewell address on our statewide radio networks and online and wvpublic.org. Coverage begins Tuesday, January 10 at 9 p.m. EST.
SCROLL DOWN FOR LIVE VIDEO AND ANNOTATIONS
On Radio – All Things Considered’s Audie Cornish will host special coverage of the address as well as post-address analysis and fact-checking. You can also listen via our online radio stream.
Online – NPR’s politics team will be live annotating the farewell address, adding fact-checks and background to President Obama’s comments in regards to his legacy, national security, health care and foreign policy, among other topics.
The live annotations will be available below; visit wvpublic.org for additional coverage of the debate.
During his convention speech, President Obama said coal miners have to be included in the fight against climate change.
And gun owners have to be engaged in any effort to rein in gun violence, he said.
Much of coal country blames Obama for decimating the industry. The phrase “War on Coal” became popular during this president’s term — and it was usually preceded by the word “Obama’s”.
Here’s what Obama said:
It can be frustrating, this business of democracy. Trust me, I know. Hillary knows, too. When the other side refuses to compromise, progress can stall. People are hurt by the inaction. Supporters can grow impatient, and worry that you’re not trying hard enough; that you’ve maybe sold out.
But I promise you, when we keep at it; when we change enough minds; when we deliver enough votes, then progress does happen…
If you want to fight climate change, we’ve got to engage not only young people on college campuses, we’ve got to reach out to the coal miner who’s worried about taking care of his family, the single mom worried about gas prices.
If you want to protect our kids and our cops from gun violence, we’ve got to get the vast majority of Americans, including gun owners, who agree on things like background checks to be just as vocal and just as determined as the gun lobby that blocks change through every funeral that we hold. That is how change happens…
In 2013, the West Virginia Center for Children’s Justice launched a program called Handle With Care. The collaborative program is meant to help children who’ve experienced abuse, neglect or other types of trauma succeed in school. The program that started on the West Side of Charleston is now expanding across the state and in other communities across the nation.
Mary C. Snow Elementary School is located in a neighborhood where it can be stressful to be a child. The West Side of Charleston has gained a bad reputation for drug crimes and violence, and in 2014 the city of Charleston as a whole saw an increase in both criminal activity and violent crimes.
Credit courtesy of West Virginia Center for Children’s Justice
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W.Va. police officer visits a classroom at Mary C. Snow Elementary
While these crimes are usually committed by adults, that doesn’t mean children aren’t affected by them. And that’s where the Handle With Care Program comes into play. If a child is exposed to crime, violence or abuse, police notify the principal and school counselor by the start of the next school day.
Credit courtesy of West Virginia Center for Children’s Justice
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Janet Allio, school nurse at Mary C. Snow Elementary School
“When I first heard about the Handle with Care Program, I thought, that’s the program for us because 75% of our children are in some form on traumatised environment on a day to day situation,” said Janet Allio, the school nurse at Mary C. Snow Elementary School
It’s not always clear when something traumatic has occurred in a student’s life. The first step in the Handle with Care program is when police officers send schools a form after they respond to traumatic events with children present.
The second step is when the school’s staff figure out out what resources a child may need if they have experienced a traumatic event. Sometimes, it’s talking with the school counselor- or going to the health center for extra sleep, or spending time in the library with the school’s therapy dog, Paca.
Credit Roxy Todd
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Therapy dog Paca
Or, if the parent gives permission, the child might also be matched up with a counselor who travels to the school.
For children who are left to deal with trauma all on their own, there can be fatal consequences.
A report called the Adverse Childhood Experiences study found that children who experienced trauma early in life were more likely to abuse substances, smoke, overeat. Children who experience abusive and stressful situations could lose as much as 20 years off their life, compared with children who grow up in stable, loving families.
Credit Daniel Walker/ WVPB
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Ethan Napier and his mother Lynitrah Woodson are blowing bubbles and working with a therapist inside the mental health clinic at Mary C. Snow Elementary School.
But teachers and other adults in a child’s life can help, if they know what to look out for.
“Life does happen. And it’s teaching them how to handle things when life does happen,” says Katrina Helm, a special education teacher at Mary C. Snow Elementary.
“That we can still function, we can get the love, we can get the support the nurture that we need. Basically when they come here and we get the Handle with Care we look at what do they need and how can we fill in from there.”
Helm recently visited a meeting with other teachers from across West Virginia.
“And one of those teachers brought up that there’s so much trauma going on in their schools and they don’t know how to handle it. And they don’t know what resources do we tap into. This is an ongoing problem, it’s a growing problem, and one thing they were emphasizing there is they’re seeing it more and more in their younger kids. And that’s what we’re seeing here is we’re seeing it in our younger kids.”
Thus far, the Handle With Care Program has been supported without any extra funding- except for the resources already available to schools and children who need mental care.
The program is part of a collaboration between the state Department of Health and Human Resources, U.S Attorney Booth Goodwin’s office and the West Virginia State Police.
These groups are now working to help bring Handle With Care to communities throughout West Virginia. There are also similar programs that have sprouted in other states. When president Obama visited West Virginia last year to talk about drug abuse across the nation, he took note of the Handle with Care Program.
“I’d really like to see us advertise this more across the country and adopt this as a best practice,” said President Obama.
With drug overdose rates in West Virginia the highest in the country, Katrina Helm says more and more teachers are noticing children who are dealing with abuse and neglect. “So it’s definitely more prominent now than before. I think before we always thought it was just isolated to West Side Elementary.”
Credit Daniel Walker/ WVPB
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Katrina Helm is a special education teacher involved in the Handle With Care Program
But as drug abuse and domestic violence continue to barrage families across West Virginia, there simply aren’t enough resources to help children deal with trauma. Harmony Health Services, which provides mental health therapy to the students at Mary C. Snow Elementary, is working to get a mobile mental health care facility for some of the remote areas in West Virginia.
What impact will President Obama’s new strategy have on the epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse and heroin use in West Virginia and Appalachia?
Obama announced his plan in Charleston Wednesday. It includes $133 million in funding for treatment and more training for health professionals in prescribing painkillers.
On The Front Porch podcast, we debate how to increase access to treatment – and what to do to prevent addiction in the first place (Hint: less academic testing, more social/emotional training.)
People on both sides of the political spectrum are starting to agree on the causes of the epidemic, but why is there so little action? (Hint: It may have to do with political paralysis in Congress and a lack of money.)
Also, should President Obama have spoken more about the dire economic situation critics say his environmental policies helped create?
Credit James Owston
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And finally, how the President didn’t make himself any more popular, despite his name-checking of Tudor’s Biscuit World:
“One of these days, I’m going to try a TWO-DOORS biscuit,” Obama said. (That’s pronounced TOO-ders, Mr. President.)
An edited version of “The Front Porch” airs Fridays at 4:50 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available above.
Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @radiofinn or @wvpublicnews, or e-mail Scott at sfinn @ wvpublic.org
President Barack Obama says prescription drug abuse is exacting a terrible toll across the country and causing pain for millions of families.
Obama was in West Virginia on Wednesday to highlight the problem. He announced new steps to help improve doctor training and ease access to drug treatment.
He says sales of powerful prescription pain medications have skyrocketed by 300 percent since 1999.
And in 2012 alone, doctors wrote 259 million prescriptions for these highly addictive drugs. Obama says that was more than enough to give a bottle of pills to every American adult.
But he says the federal government alone can’t solve the problem.
West Virginia has the highest rate of overdose deaths in the U.S., more than twice the national average.
President Obama has signed a major disaster declaration after severe storms last month caused damage in six counties.
Obama signed the declaration Thursday which makes federal aid available to support recovery efforts in Boone, Cabell, Lincoln, Logan, Mingo and Wayne counties.
The funding comes after severe storms caused flooding, landslides and mudslides in the counties from April 3-5 this year.
Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures across the state.
