Pamela Q. Fernandes's Blog, page 10

10 Stunning Hospital Architecture Designs

Since I’m doing my best to stay off social media after Lent, I’ve filled my time going over things I like; football (Hala Madrid!), listening to funny podcasts, reading, imagining traveling (haha) and looking at beautiful architecture. Architecture is one of the first things I check out when I visit a new city. Usually in the form of a walking tour just to take in the buildings and their design. Over the last few months, I’ve been looking at hospital architecture. I’m going to share the 10 most stunning hospital architecture designs.

10 Stunning Hospital Architecture Designs

It was really hard to pick just 10 because there are so many stunning hospital architecture designs that I just love. I’ve been to many hospitals. Some without elevators, others with very distant emergency rooms, others without waiting areas. You can tell when a place is not very well designed, especially if you’re living in them 24/7.

Disclaimer: These are real portfolio pictures. These images belong to the photographers. All credit goes to the architect and photographer listed and cited below.

1. Hospital Manta, Ecuador

Built by Spanish architects, PMMT; this is one of my favorite designs. I love that it was designed to be earthquake resistant after the previous earthquake. It’s a stunning piece of work. Inside the hospital, there’s so much natural light and trees.[1] Can I just say that I love, love the design? Inside, it uses cobble stones and natural greenery while still retaining a very sleek look. This is in keeping with PMMT’s fluid design. The hospital is designed in 7 basic blocks.

Photographs © Sebastián Crespo / Bicubik2. Rigshospitalet Hospital North Wing, Denmark

When I first saw this design, I didn’t like it that much. The bridge seemed like too much glass. And inside, that just makes everything hot. Designed by , this epic hospital covers 54000m2. How cool is this OT?

They actually prioritized patient’s comfort and needs of the medical staff. It is shaped like a zigzag and is intersected by a main ‘artery’ route that runs through. The zigzag structure means quiet zones and patient rooms are located away from the central corridor which are mostly used by staff, thereby avoiding unnecessary disturbances. [2]

Photographs © 3. La Florida Metropolitan Hospital Clinic, Chile

The Metropolitan Clinical Hospital consists of 67,504 m² by , . The third floor terrace is supposedly a green roof, planted with different species of sedum. I’m guessing that would keep the place very cool. It also has views to the Andes mountains, and the valley of Maipo.

Photographs © , 4. The Christ Hospital Joint and Spine Center, US

Architects produced this stunning hospital design. Inside it’s just as lovely. This 381,000-square-foot, seven-story facility has 90 inpatient rooms and 12 surgical suites. The building has lots of natural light and the best part decentralized nursing desks so nursing staff are closer to their patients.

Photographs © 5. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, US

Architects: , ,  produced this new, 22 story, 1.25 million square foot stunning design. Its interiors are just as pretty. And it includes two bridges to the adjacent Prentice Women’s Hospital, a suspended whale exhibit, aquarium, garden market-themed food court, healing garden, and a tree house. This would make it more welcoming for kids.

Photographs © 6.  San Juan de Dios Hospital, Spain

Architects:  produced this extension of San Juan de Dios hospital in Pamplona Spain. The original building was designed by Víctor Eusa in 1935 and completed in 1943. The original designs were somehow never completed and newer problems emerged. The architects tried to maintain the original designs and the results are stunning.

Photographs © 7. Adamant Hospital, France

I’m not a fan of wood. I don’t even like wooden cladding. The only reason this made my list was because it was built on water. How cool is that? Built by , a psychiatric hospital rocked by the river, is in the center of Paris. During the construction of this stunning hospital design, workers, patients and caregivers discussed the methods of construction of the building.

Photographs © 8. Xiamen Humanity Hospital, China

I actually like all of ‘s designs. They’re clean and crisp. They allow lots of natural light and natural plants. The modular design spreads across more than 300,000 square meters of buildings. White represents the spirit of Xiamen’s sunshine coast, then wood color expresses the tradition of shipbuilding and furniture here. So, there’s a lot of thought put into the colors and design of the interiors to reflect the culture.

Photographs © 9. Northern Beaches Hospital, Australia

70000m2 of space at Northern Beaches Hospital. Architects  created this design keeping in mind patients and the need for less anxiety driven spaces. From what I saw of the rest of the renderings, the medical rooms are spacious, the stairs and corridors have an open floor plan which I really like. Most hospitals have concealed staircases, which are often dark, lonely and force you to take an elevator.

Photographs © 10. Meander Medical Center, Netherlands

Architects:  created this stunning hospital architectural design with  m². This only has provate rooms to allow people to recover with lots of natural light. All public spaces are visible while the wards are very private. Each room having its own bath. For visitors there are lounges with a pantry, computer desks and other basics.

Photographs © , What’s Your Favorite Hospital Design?

I’m sure there are plenty of well designed, well constructed hospitals out there. Do you have one that comes to mind? Send me an image and I’ll be happy to share it. Tell me what you like about the design.

Citations

1. “Hospital Manta / PMMT” [Hospital Manta / PMMT] 21 Nov 2019. ArchDaily. Accessed 23 Apr 2021. <https://www.archdaily.com/928430/hospital-manta-pmmt> ISSN 0719-8884

2. “Rigshospitalet Hospital North Wing / LINK arkitektur + 3XN” 29 Sep 2020. ArchDaily. Accessed 25 Apr 2021. https://www.archdaily.com/948484/rigshospitalet-hospital-north-wing-link-arkitektur-plus-3xn ISSN 0719-8884

3. “La Florida Metropolitan Hospital Clinic / Murtinho+Raby Arquitectos (Pedro Murtinho, Santiago Raby) + BBATS Consulting & Projects SLP (Silvia Barbera, Jorge Batesteza, Cristóbal Tirado)” 13 Apr 2015. ArchDaily. Accessed 3 May 2021. https://www.archdaily.com/617595/la-florida-metropolitan-hospital-clinic-bbats-consulting-and-projects-slp-murtinho-raby-arquitectos ISSN 0719-8884

4. “The Christ Hospital Joint and Spine Center / SOM” 10 Mar 2016. ArchDaily. Accessed 3 May 2021. ISSN 0719-8884

5. “Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago / ZGF Architects + Solomon Cordwell Buenz + Anderson Mikos Architects” 14 Jan 2019. ArchDaily. Accessed 25 Apr 2021. <https://www.archdaily.com/909319/ann-and-robert-h-lurie-childrens-hospital-of-chicago-zgf-architects-plus-scb-architects-plus-anderson-mikos-architects> ISSN 0719-8884

6. “Refurbishment and Extension of San Juan de Dios Hospital / Ah Asociados” 18 Mar 2018. ArchDaily. Accessed 3 May 2021. <https://www.archdaily.com/873094/refurbishment-and-extension-of-san-juan-de-dios-hospital-ah-asociados> ISSN 0719-8884

7. “Adamant Hospital / Seine Design” 24 Feb 2020. ArchDaily. Accessed 3 May 2021. <https://www.archdaily.com/934267/adamant-hospital-seine-design> ISSN 0719-8884

8. “Xiamen Humanity Hospital / Lemanarc SA” 10 Jan 2020. ArchDaily. Accessed 25 Apr 2021. <https://www.archdaily.com/931475/xiamen-hongai-hospital-lemanarch-sa> ISSN 0719-8884

9. “Northern Beaches Hospital / BVN” 24 Aug 2019. ArchDaily. Accessed 25 Apr 2021. <https://www.archdaily.com/923536/northern-beaches-hospital-bvn> ISSN 0719-8884

10. Meander Medical Center / atelierpro” 19 May 2014. ArchDaily. Accessed 3 May 2021. <https://www.archdaily.com/506479/meander-medical-center-atelierpro> ISSN 0719-8884

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73 How to Include People With Disability in the Church?

“One of the central messages of Christianity and the example of Jesus is the preferential option for the marginalized.”

Madeline Jarrett

Who is Madeline Jarrett?Madeline Jarrett

An Indiana girl at heart, Madeline graduated from the University of Notre Dame with majors in Theology & Psychology. After college, she completed an AmeriCorps service program in Chicago. There she taught English as a second language, creative writing, and art at a small Catholic grade school. She completed her Master of Divinity at Boston College in 2018. For the past three years, she has been teaching Theology and Psychology at an all-girls Catholic high school outside of Boston. In the fall of 2021, she will return to Boston College to begin a PhD program in Systematic Theology. Presently, her passions include spirituality and the body, art, teaching, and writing. You can find Madeline on Instagram @the_homecoming_, where she shares her experience of embodiment, spirituality, disability, and the occasional craft project.

How to Include People of Disability in the Church?PQF · 73 How to Include People of Disability in the Church?

In this episode, Madeline Jarrett tells us how we can be more inclusive of people with disabilities. She explains:
– What are the challenges that people with disabilities face in all churches?
– What are the changes we can make to make it more accessible for all?
– How can we address this lack of inclusivity physically, emotionally, and spiritually as well?

Surprisingly, I didn’t quite plan this topic. In fact, it quite miraculously fell into my lap. I read a post by Erin Murphy And so I started looking for someone to talk about this. Another miracle later, I saw that Madeline had written something along similar lines in her post, “Are All Welcome?”

She agreed to talk to me. Not only was I blown away by her perspective but also her infectious joy and passion for Christ and His church.

Participation By All For All

I particularly loved how she simply states that the goal should be that people with disabilities should participate at ALL levels of the Church. That includes, leadership, clergy, priesthood, ministries and laity. Her message is even simpler. Let’s raise awareness and introspect.

“Once we start talking about these issues of disability in the Church, it’s hard to unsee them.”

Madeline Jarrett

Review Your Community and Church: Are people with disabilities welcome? Do they feel so? Have you asked them?Are there structural obstacles and challenges for people with disabilities? Lack of elevators, stairs, inaccessible altar, lack of ramps, inaccessible bathrooms, railings, places for wheelchairs, volunteers for the doors, arrangements for the visually impaired, projectors for the hearing impaired, areas for children with neurological challenges, etc.How accessible are our ministries for the participation for people with disabilities? Can they be readers, choir members, servers, greeters, and leaders?Additionally, is our community and fellowship reaching out to them not just at Church but beyond the church door as well?Emotionally and spiritually, how do we address the complexities and pain of people with disabilities?

Finally, we have to introspect as Madeline makes a very good point, our bodies are in decline. There will come a time when we will all face these challenges. It is up to us to make Christ and kingdom-work welcoming for all who want to sit at His banqueting table. No Christian left behind. Or rather, no human being left behind!

ENJOYED THIS PODCAST?

We hope you enjoyed this podcast. Check out our podcasts on Anger and Mother Teresa. If you liked this podcast, like us, leave us a comment and share our episodes on social media with those who may benefit from it. If there is a particular saint that you would like to hear about us, tell us and we’ll add him or her to our future episodes.

We are on iheartradio, Stitcher, Itunes, Spotify, and tunein.com. We’d love to hear from you. If you hear us on online, please rate and review us.

The post 73 How to Include People With Disability in the Church? appeared first on PAMELA Q. FERNANDES.

73 How to Include People of Disability in the Church?

“One of the central messages of Christianity and the example of Jesus is the preferential option for the marginalized.”

Madeline Jarrett

Who is Madeline Jarrett?Madeline Jarrett

An Indiana girl at heart, Madeline graduated from the University of Notre Dame with majors in Theology & Psychology. After college, she completed an AmeriCorps service program in Chicago. There she taught English as a second language, creative writing, and art at a small Catholic grade school. She completed her Master of Divinity at Boston College in 2018. For the past three years, she has been teaching Theology and Psychology at an all-girls Catholic high school outside of Boston. In the fall of 2021, she will return to Boston College to begin a PhD program in Systematic Theology. Presently, her passions include spirituality and the body, art, teaching, and writing. You can find Madeline on Instagram @the_homecoming_, where she shares her experience of embodiment, spirituality, disability, and the occasional craft project.

How to Include People of Disability in the Church?PQF · 73 How to Include People of Disability in the Church?

In this episode, Madeline Jarrett tells us how we can be more inclusive of people with disabilities. She explains:
– What are the challenges that people with disabilities face in all churches?
– What are the changes we can make to make it more accessible for all?
– How can we address this lack of inclusivity physically, emotionally, and spiritually as well?

Surprisingly, I didn’t quite plan this topic. In fact, it quite miraculously fell into my lap. I read a post by Erin Murphy And so I started looking for someone to talk about this. Another miracle later, I saw that Madeline had written something along similar lines in her post, “Are All Welcome?”

She agreed to talk to me. Not only was I blown away by her perspective but also her infectious joy and passion for Christ and His church.

Participation By All For All

I particularly loved how she simply states that the goal should be that people with disabilities should participate at ALL levels of the Church. That includes, leadership, clergy, priesthood, ministries and laity. Her message is even simpler. Let’s raise awareness and introspect.

“Once we start talking about these issues of disability in the Church, it’s hard to unsee them.”

Madeline Jarrett

Review Your Community and Church: Are people with disabilities welcome? Do they feel so? Have you asked them?Are there structural obstacles and challenges for people with disabilities? Lack of elevators, stairs, inaccessible altar, lack of ramps, inaccessible bathrooms, railings, places for wheelchairs, volunteers for the doors, arrangements for the visually impaired, projectors for the hearing impaired, areas for children with neurological challenges, etc.How accessible are our ministries for the participation for people with disabilities? Can they be readers, choir members, servers, greeters, and leaders?Additionally, is our community and fellowship reaching out to them not just at Church but beyond the church door as well?Emotionally and spiritually, how do we address the complexities and pain of people with disabilities?

Finally, we have to introspect as Madeline makes a very good point, our bodies are in decline. There will come a time when we will all face these challenges. It is up to us to make Christ and kingdom-work welcoming for all who want to sit at His banqueting table. No Christian left behind. Or rather, no human being left behind!

ENJOYED THIS PODCAST?

We hope you enjoyed this podcast. Check out our podcasts on Anger and Mother Teresa. If you liked this podcast, like us, leave us a comment and share our episodes on social media with those who may benefit from it. If there is a particular saint that you would like to hear about us, tell us and we’ll add him or her to our future episodes.

We are on iheartradio, Stitcher, Itunes, Spotify, and tunein.com. We’d love to hear from you. If you hear us on online, please rate and review us.

The post 73 How to Include People of Disability in the Church? appeared first on PAMELA Q. FERNANDES.

Birthday Release: Cinders of Castlerea

Despite all the upheavals, rejection, and sadness, I’ve decided to go ahead with the release of Cinders of Castlerea on my birthday! So on the 30th of April, I’m going to re-release Cinders of Castlerea. This romantic suspense was previously published by Solstice Publishing and since I received the rights back, I thought to put it back out there for my readers.

I’m going wide so it will be available everywhere. It is available on Preorder on Amazon right now. I redid the cover and I love the work Les did on it. What do you think? Do you like my new cover?

I’ve re-edited the book as well and made subtle changes. For all those reviewers who complained. I haven’t changed the ending and no, there’s no sequel.

Blurb

Dangerously attractive businessman, Charles Kilbrooke is hunting the arsonist that killed his fiancée in Castlerea. Blaming himself for her death, he returns to the small Irish town with a ruthless plan. He refuses to succumb to the exotic beauty whose creating mayhem in his life.

Anika Bassein has changed everything about her past. She wants nothing to do with fire ever since her parents B&B was set ablaze. When she sees an ad with free lodging in an obscure holiday town, she accepts. She’s aware of the charged atmosphere crackling with her handsome neighbor.

But where there’s smoke, there’s fire and there are no small fires!

Trailer: Cinders of Castlerea

I’m also sharing the trailer here. I love creating book trailers and this one is not as happy as my usual ones given that the genre is romantic suspense. The music is titled Dying Wish! I love how eerie it sounds. Do you?

Book Release

I’m not sure if I’ll be doing a special event for book release. As those of you who read my newsletter and close circle know, I’ve been down in the dumps lately. And there are only so many punches you can take in life. I’ve kind of decided to release the book, given that two more releases from Inkspell Publishing and Touchpoint Press are confirmed and a fourth might, ” just might” get squeezed through. That’s a lot of publishing work for 2021.

I’m also running a giveaway until my birthday. 100 Kindle copies of THE MILANESE STARS are being given away as part of my birthday celebrations!

Pre-order Now

Cinders of Castlerea is available for preorder. Get your copy and let me know what you think about the cover and trailer! I’d love to hear from you.

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Preventing Conflicts Between Administrators & Physicians

If anything that has been made clear during these strenuous times, it’s how wide the gulf yawns between administrators & physicians. Both are essential for large health care institutions. The administrators won’t take a smaller paycheck but expect the volume of the patients to increase. The doctors understand the costs but see past the insurances. They’re trained to be logical following the standard algorithms to investigate and treat to achieve the desired outcome. I’m not taking sides here. I’ve worked in places where the money was the focus and in places where the patient was the focus. It’s a big difference in work environment.

Both sides are correct. There are costs. Do we really need to occupy an ICU bed and use the most expensive tech for this terminally ill patient, ask the administrators. While the physician doesn’t quite know the numbers and costs associated with each of their medical decisions. Few doctors have taken any finance courses.

So who’s right?

There’s no winner. Yet, it seems that with every disagreement, the divide widens. Studies have shown that adhering to the principles of organizational justice would enable us to reduce conflicts while striving to provide value for patients. Organizational what?

“Organizational justice refers to employee perceptions of fairness in the workplace. These perceptions can be classified into four categories: distributive, procedural, informational, and interactional. Distributive justice reflects perceptions regarding fairness of outcomes, while procedural justice reflects perceptions of processes that lead to these outcomes. A third type of justice, informational justice, relates to the accounts provided for justice-related events. Finally, interpersonal justice reflects perceptions of interpersonal interactions and treatment. Research demonstrates that, although correlated, these specific justice judgments are each predictive of work- and worker-related outcomes.” (From Oxford)

How to Prevent Conflicts Between Administrators & Physicians?

Let’s do away with the big words. That word salad doesn’t really help people on the floors. In theory, yes but practically no. It takes years to build that kind of an organization and if changes are needed they are slow to come. Here are a few ways to resolve conflicts.

Do Your Homework Before Employment

Research the organization you work for. Read their mission statement. Why? Because it tell you what the goal is? Read between the lines. You can tell just by looking at a hospitals’ website where the focus is. Is it directed towards the patient or to establish a brand? What is the goal of the hospital? Physicians rarely research the health of the finances of an organization. The moving fees, the bonuses, and the pay package are all that interests us. Maybe review the financial standing of a hospital. Who are their investors? Do they have loan payments? Are they subsidized? Do they get grants? Their financial state will determine the ferocity of the administration and guide most of their policies. Find out what the work culture is like and what is the management style: autocratic or democratic?

Keep Your Own Records

So now you’ve started working. There’s going to be the initial honeymoon period. Then a first quarterly review to see your numbers. Emails will arrive and then administrators will ask you to call in the annuals, give everyone a Pap smear and vaccinate left, right and center. It’ll feel like squeezing blood out of a stone. Most of the time, you’re doing your bit, scheduling follow ups but the numbers might not add up. This could be because insurance hasn’t cleared payments and data is usually a quarter late. Having your assistant keep a physical record/paper trail can help you when you attend these heated meetings. Your own data will be helpful. Maintain your own records of what you’ve done and keep checking your own numbers. Believe me, you will need them.

Communicate, Communicate

Communicate at meetings. Most administrators are people with MBA’s and or MHA’s. At best they’ve done a one year internship followed by a job at a hospital. They bring the culture of that hospital with them. They look at data and numbers. They’re not looking at how long a neurological examination takes. When they say 15 minutes, they expect a wham-bam thank you mam in twenty minutes. Sad. However, you will have to explain exactly why you cannot finish writing forty notes the same day. Or why you need a Type 1 DM person to have frequent HbA1c’S every quarter, even though they’re young. You have to educate them.

Even if they sound like they know, most of the time they don’t. I’ve met people who will throw out a lot of words that they’ve picked up from wherever but can’t understand medical reasoning. We shouldn’t expect them to because we’ve spent 10 years of our lives just studying this in various formats. Neither will they understand that with this job comes the responsibility to be right every single time. A nurse practitioner can go home every night, knowing that if something does go wrong, its the license of the MD under whose umbrella they practice that’s at stake. The same goes for every other member of the medical team. Every decision made by a doctor thus is stress inducing because you have to get it right every single time.

Ask for Targets

Be transparent when it comes to this. After working in corporate healthcare, I’ve come to talk the language of management without any fear or shame. In many places, it’s still taboo or the data is sugarcoated with statements like “the hospital is not doing well” and “doctors need to do more.” No. You need to have numbers. This is the number I have achieved and this is what is expected of me. What is the target set for me/or my department? Is there room to increase walk-ins/ annuals? If yes, they will be scheduled. If not, and there’s no way to stretch the schedule, then no. The targets have to be realistic for the numbers and the money.

Clarify your role

At many places, doctors are expected to shoulder the marketing. They’re told to make phone calls for potential patients from health care screenings/fairs/ signup sheets. As a physician, set the boundaries early. It’s not your job to bring in new patients. Your job is to treat people. If you’re doing anything other than that you’re wasting your time and you’re probably ineffective anyway. Just do your job and do it well.

The Patient Always Comes First

When it comes to the money, the insurance, the payments, the backend costs and all those minute details, keep putting your patients first. They are the reason why you exist. They make take up a hospital bed, require advanced care for longer periods but never make your decisions based on money alone. Work with administrators to find a way to make it work. They are after all human.

The Battle and the Victor

There’s no victor here. At the peak of the pandemic last year, hospital laid off 1.4 million healthcare workers last year. Most of them medical staff and nurses. Non-medical staff and administration retained their jobs. And while I’m not claiming that they should have, we’ve seen growing number of institutions with bloated management staff that need to justify their large pay. The way to do so is turning the customer into product and squeezing every last penny out of them. The only person who loses here is the patient. And let’s not forget at some point in our life, that will be every one of us.

What are your tips for resolving conflicts between administrators & physicians, let me know.

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72 How to Overcome Your Anger?

“We need to take our anger to God in prayer.”

William Bloomfield

Who is William Bloomfield?William Bloomfield

William R. Bloomfield is an attorney in Lansing, Michigan where he lives with his wife and six children. He is a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville and the Ave Maria School of Law; he is also a veteran of the U.S. Navy JAG Corps. Most recently, he is the publisher of the Sacred Art Series, available through www.SacredArtSeries.com.

In this episode, William Bloomfield tells us about the sin of anger. He explains:
-Why is anger a sin and how does it manifest in us?
-What is the opposite fruit of this?
-How can we overcome our anger? Steps?
-Holy anger vs evil anger? What’s the difference?

 How to Overcome Your Anger?PQF · 72 How to Overcome Anger?

I contacted Will after I read his post on Anger. I wanted to do a series based on the cardinal sins but didn’t know how we’d go about finding people to talk about individual sins. Will’s post was very insightful and he had covered anger in detail as well as the steps to overcome it.

I love how Will talks openly about his own experiences. And offers practical solutions as to what has worked for him in controlling his anger. Daily examination, frequent prayer, and immersion in Scripture are some of his basic tips. And yet, this advice could be applicable for any cardinal sin. He doesn’t offer answers but encourages people to introspect and question themselves about the cause for their own anger. Lastly, he also reiterates several times that we can’t do anything on our own. It’s only by God’s grace. And truly it is but by the grace of God we stand. I hope this episode challenges you as it did me when it comes to dealing with anger.

ENJOYED THIS PODCAST?

We hope you enjoyed this podcast. Check out our podcasts on Lent and St. Don Bosco. If you liked this podcast, like us, leave us a comment and share our episodes on social media with those who may benefit from it. If there is a particular saint that you would like to hear about us, tell us and we’ll add him or her to our future episodes.

We are on iheartradio, Stitcher, Itunes, Spotify, and tunein.com. We’d love to hear from you. If you hear us on online, please rate and review us.

The post 72 How to Overcome Your Anger? appeared first on PAMELA Q. FERNANDES.

How to Use Pinterest to Create a Book Vision Board?

Today, I’m going to talk about how to Use Pinterest to Create a Book Vision Board. Who doesn’t love Pinterest? I started Pinterest so many years ago as a way of collecting random, pretty things. I had one for clothes and one as reminders to my younger self. I still do Pin stuff every week. In fact, I think its one of those things I see before I sleep, other than watching cute babies, cats and dogs.

How to Use Pinterest to Create a Book Vision Board?

Gradually, I started boards for writing motivation and my books. I feel creating a book vision board goes a long way for authors. I started doing it after my book was over to give my cover artists an image of what was in my mind but now I’ve realized its best to start as you conceive a book.

Convey Mood","userName":"pamfdes","boardName":"seoul-mates"}">

When you start a book, you’re simply thinking in terms of the book and its feel. You’re finding your way around the book. At most, you’ll have an idea, a beginning, and an end. With Pinterest you can capture the mood of the story. Dark and pensive or light and sunny. Mystery, or romance. By picking the right images on Pinterest, you can nail down the mood of your book. If you’re busy like me then often you don’t have time to dwell on the mood of the book until you’re actually sitting at your desk and writing. I like that after a crazy day, I can just look at my book vision board and get back that mood of the book. It will help you get in the zone!

Convey Tone and Pace

Now with videos added to Pinterest, you can even convey the tone and pace of the book. A fast thriller, or heist, a funny chick lit or even a historical drama, its easier to convey these details with images and video. Because your book does all the talking.

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We’ve all heard that before. But adding images of the place or what it looks like in your imagination, can help you set the scene. It nails down what the setting looks like. Later when you share with an audience you can show them what you meant. I remember when I wrote Painting Kuwait Violet, people had no idea where Kuwait even was. Never mind that two Gulf Wars had been fought over it. And once they read the book, people’s idea of Kuwait was of a dry, arid desert but my Pinterest book vision board showed them the cosmopolitan side of the country. The board will capture the location of your book and its setting.

Depicts Characters

This is so important. I have been working on my series and as the books progress and I work on other books, it can be hard keeping track of everyone’s eye color and hair color. If you create a Pinterest vision board, you will find that your character images can help you keep track of this. Just a quick glance and you can find details about the characters you’ve created.

Blueprint For Your Cover Artist

You know when you get your cover sheet and it has the same basic questions. Mood, tone, color of the eyes,, hair, color, physical characteristics and yada. There’s nothing better than showing a cover artist the vision board you created for your book. I’ve talked extensively about how important it is to show your artist what you see. And over the years my covers are remarkably better because instead of telling my cover artists, I just show them what my book is about.

A One Stop-Shop

On Pinterest, today you can do wonderful things, create pins with book quotes, blurbs, reviews, encouragement from other authors, recipes and tours. There’s no other site where you can create a huge board of all the things happening to your book concentrated in one spot; not even your website. I know because I have tried and failed. So I like that I can simply pin a review, or a video, a quote lifted from my book, etc in just one spot. When it comes time to share this board, my readers, and the publishing team can picture my vision exactly.

Get Pinning

I’m not plugging Pinterest and saying jump on this bandwagon. I’m not keen on asking anyone to sign up to something new. If you’re creating a book board on other social media platforms that’s great but for me Pinterest has worked great. And if you’re already on there, try creating a vision board for your book before you start writing just as you would chart your outline and character sketches.

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71 What Is RCIA & Steps to Join the Catholic Church

“God is waiting for you with open arms like the father of the Prodigal son. You just have to turn back to him.”

Charles Johnston

WHO IS CHARLES JOHNSTON?

Charles Johnston is a father and husband in Phoenix, Arizona. His conversion journey has taken years, as he felt God pulling him toward His Church but he resisted until he couldn’t take it anymore. He gave in and fell in love with His Church.  He blogs for ‘NowthatImcatholic.com’

Charles Johnston

In this episode, Charles tells us about RCIA. He explains:
-What is RCIA?
-What is the purpose of RCIA?
-Who can sign up?
-Time period
-How does it work or take place/format?
-How has RCIA shaped your life?

What Is RCIA?PQF · 71 What Is RCIA & Steps to Join the Catholic Church

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), or Ordo Initiationis Christianae Adultorum is a process in the Catholic Church for prospective converts to Catholicism who are above the age of infant baptism. Candidates get introduced to aspects of Catholic beliefs and practices.

In December 2020 instead of a retreat I had a quarantine period during Advent and so stuck during quarantine made the list of topics for this year’s podcast. I kept circling back to RCIA . And so following the prompting of the Holy Spirit I decided to add it relatively early to the podcast calendar.

I contacted Charles having known he’d already been through the process and was closely working with newer catechumens in his own parish. Soon after he wrote a post. It went viral.

In my own archdiocese various parishes have RCIA. Here’s the information they provide:

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) is a wonderful journey for designed for adults who, after hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed, freely desire to seek the living God and enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. The journey is one of conversion, preparation and formation which at the proper time leads towards reception of the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist) that are received at the Easter Vigil.

If you are already baptized as a Catholic or received a *valid baptism from another Christian denomination (Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian, Anglican, Presbyterian or **Orthodox) and are seeking to prepare to make a profession of faith and full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, then you can reach out to them.

Steps to Join the Catholic ChurchThe Five Main Stages of the RCIA

Here are the five main stages of the RCIA: It is not as complicated as it look.

The Period of Inquiry

The PERIOD OF INQUIRY allows time:
To familiarize oneself with the Catholic Church and
To hear the good news of salvation from Jesus Christ our Savior;
It invites us to look within
This reflective period lasts as long as the person needs it to last.
The Inquirer writes a formal letter.
Some may decide that this is not the right time. Here’s one of the books Charles recommended that they use during their RCIA class.

The Period of the Catechumenate

THE PERIOD OF THE CATECHUMENATE: The firs stages of commitment:
For a person to enter this phase of RCIA, one must sincerely desire to become members of the Catholic Church.
During this phase, the catechumens now gather with the Catholic community on Sundays for the first part of the mass. We hear the Scriptures, respond, and reflect on the meaning of God’s Word for us personally and as community through the homily.

After the homily, catechumens are dismissed , and with their Catechist, to continue a process of reflection. This period, too, lasts as long as the person needs it to last. For the unbaptized, this lasts 12 months.

The Period of Purification or Illumination

THE PERIOD OF PURIFICATION corresponds to Lent:
This is a prayerful time for catechumens and candidates. They called the Elect. This period starts with the Rite of election, usually celebrated at the Cathedral Church with the Diocesan Bishop. Through this rite they are accepted as candidates for the Sacraments by the Bishop, representing the fact that this decision is not theirs alone. It takes place on the first Sunday of Lent.
Throughout Lent, they offer special prayers at the Sunday Eucharist for the catechumens and candidates. They are called scrutinies. These prayers for strengthening in grace and virtue and for purification from all past evil and from any bonds which hinder them from experiencing the love of God.

Celebrating the Sacraments of Initiation

THE SACRAMENTS OF INITIATION ARE CELEBRATED AT THE EASTER VIGIL:
By the waters of baptism, a person passes into the new life of grace and becomes a member of the Body of Christ.
Anointing with special holy oil called chrism seals the initiation by the power of the Holy Spirit and participation at the Table of the Lord in the eucharist marks full membership in the church.
Even though students are on Easter-break, those to be initiated and their Sponsors stay to take part in the Holy Sacraments of Initiation.

Period of Mystagogy

THE PERIOD OF MYSTAGOGY lasts from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday:
Those who just shared in the sacraments of initiation are called Neophytes. During this period of Easter joy they reflect on what they have just gone through and look to the future.

Here’s a beautiful film for everyone considering the Catholic faith. Charles recommended it from the Veil removed that amazes and awes. Because the Eucharist is simply that; Awesome!

ENJOYED THIS PODCAST?

We hope you enjoyed this podcast. Check out our podcasts on Lent and St Teresa of Avila. If you liked this podcast, like us, leave us a comment and share our episodes on social media with those who may benefit from it. If there is a particular saint that you would like to hear about us, tell us and we’ll add him or her to our future episodes.

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COVID Vaccine: Everything You Need To Know

Here’s everything you need to know about the COVID vaccine. I decided to do a post because there are so many theories and interviews floating out there. Many of the people giving these interviews have failed to disclose their conflict of interests. That is, having shares in said pharma companies creating these vaccines or working on them prior which makes their endorsement questionable.

So my own involvement. I don’t have a dog or cat in this fight. I’m not involved with any company or have investments with pharma. I do not work with any company mentioned here. I’m just providing an unbiased view of the vaccines and their mechanism of action (MOA).

COVID Vaccine: Everything You Need To Know: Terms

Immunity: This is the the ability to resist a particular infection or toxin by the action of specific antibodies or sensitized white blood cells.

Herd Immunity: ‘Herd immunity’ is also known as ‘population immunity.’ Here a population is immune indirectly through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection. Polio and several other vaccines work based on herd immunity.

HIT =Ro -1/ Ro

Case: The WHO has changed its definition several times over the last year. As far as the thinking, intelligent scientific community is concerned, a case is defined as a person with symptoms plus a confirmatory diagnostic test. This includes an assay. Different countries have bungled this up and so have a high number of cases. A positive Antigen test is not a case especially if only tested via PCR. I’ve personally had friends who tested positive on the PCR only to have tested negative the following day. The CDC guidelines also confirm this as they’re definition is based on the presence or absence of symptoms.

R rate/Basic reproduction number = Rox

Where Ro is infections producing contacts per unit time and X is the mean infectious period.

The effective reproduction number (R) is an indicator of how fast an infection spreads in a population. The R number must be sustained under 1 for an epidemic to come to an end.

Vaccine: A preparation that triggers your immune response and prepares it for future infections.

Types of Vaccines

Unfortunately, the media hasn’t been reporting on the sheer variety of vaccines that are available today.

Here’s a table from the CDC with a list of approved vaccines.

Vaccine NameTypeDeveloperOriginApproval1. Comirnaty (BNT162b2)mRNA-based vaccinePfizer, BioNTech; Fosun PharmaMultinationalUnited Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, Mexico, US, Singapore, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Jordan, Panama, Chile, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Switzerland, Kuwait, EU, Philippines, Pakistan, Colombia, Iraq, Israel, Qatar, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Malaysia, Norway, Serbia, Hong Kong, Albania, Australia2. Moderna COVID‑19 Vaccine (mRNA-1273)mRNA-based vaccineModerna, BARDA, NIAIDUSCanada, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, EU, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway3. CoronaVacInactivated vaccine (formalin with alum adjuvant)SinovacChinaChina, Bolivia, Turkey, Indonesia, Brazil, Chile4. COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca (AZD1222)Adenovirus vaccineBARDA, OWSUKUK, Argentina, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, India, Bangladesh, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Hungary, Thailand5. No name announcedInactivated vaccineWuhan Institute of Biological Products; China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm)ChinaChina6. Sputnik VNon-replicating viral vectorGamaleya Research Institute, Acellena Contract Drug Research and DevelopmentRussiaRussia, Belarus, Argentina, Guinea (experimental use), Bolivia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, Hungary, UAE, Serbia, Iran7. BBIBP-CorVInactivated vaccineBeijing Institute of Biological Products; China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm)ChinaChina, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Pakistan, Serbia, Peru8. EpiVacCoronaPeptide vaccineFederal Budgetary Research Institution State Research Center of Virology and BiotechnologyRussiaRussia9. CovaxinInactivated vaccineBharat Biotech, ICMRIndiaIndia

Now, I didn’t add in the efficacy for each vaccine. I think the Indian vaccine is at 65% while the Moderna had an effectiveness of 94%.

Just to put things in perspective, a normal seasonal flu vaccine has about 75% effectiveness.

Now many of these vaccines are still in trials also phase 3 etc. While others have never been successfully tested in humans. They also have not published data yet. Some have had press releases but no actual published data. The usual regulatory process of studying the cycle, and side effects has been cut out altogether to fast track these vaccines.

What are mRNA vaccines?

So, mRNA vaccines contain material from the virus that causes COVID-19. This material instructs our cells how to make a protein that is unique to the virus. After copies of the protein are made, they destroy the genetic material from the vaccine. Our bodies recognize the foreign protein and build T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes that will recall how to fight the virus if we are infected in the future.
Alternatively, Protein subunit vaccines contain harmless protein pieces of the virus that cause COVID-19. After vaccination, our immune system recognizes the foreign proteins and begins making T-lymphocytes and antibodies. In the future, memory cells will recognize the virus and fight it.
Vector vaccines contain a weakened version of a live virus—a different one that causes COVID-19. It has genetic material from the virus that causes COVID-19 inserted called a viral vector. Inside our cells, the genetic material instructs cells to make a protein unique to the COVID-19 virus. Our cells make copies of the protein. It prompts our bodies to build T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes to fight that virus in the future.

DEVELOPMENTAL VACCINE

There are currently 58 vaccines being studied. The sheer variety of all of them will leave your head spinning. They include the following:

VACCINEMECHANISMINSTITUTIONJNJ-78436735 (formerly Ad26.COV2.S)Non-replicating viral vectorJohnson & JohnsonNVX-CoV2373Nanoparticle vaccineNovavaxConvidiceaRecombinant vaccine (adenovirus type 5 vector)Tongji Hospital; Wuhan, ChinaBacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccineLive-attenuated vaccineUniversity of Melbourne and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; Radboud University Medical Center; Faustman Lab at Massachusetts General HospitalINO-4800DNA vaccine (plasmid)Center for Pharmaceutical Research, Kansas City. Mo.; University of Pennsylvania, PhiladelphiaVIR-7831Plant-based adjuvant vaccineMedicagoCVnCoVmRNA-based vaccineCureVacZF2001Recombinant vaccineVariousZyCoV-DDNA vaccine (plasmid)Zydus CadilaBNT162mRNA-based vaccineMultiple study sites in Europe, North America and ChinaEuCorVac-19nanoparticle vaccineEunpyeong St. Mary’s HospitalMambisa (CIGB 669)Protein subunit vaccineFinlay Institute of VaccinesIIBR-100Recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) vaccineHadassah Medical Center; Sheba Medical Center HospitalSoberana 1 and 2Monovalent/conjugate vaccineFinlay Institute of VaccinesVLA2001Inactivated vaccineMultiple NIHR testing sitesAG0301-COVID19DNA vaccineAnGes, Inc.; Japan Agency for Medical Research and DevelopmentGX-19NDNA vaccineARCT-021 (LUNAR-COV19)Self-replicating RNA vaccineDuke-NUS Medical School, SingaporeHDT-301 (HGCO19)RNA vaccineAdCLD-CoV19Adenovirus-based vaccineKorea University Guro HospitalAV-COVID-19Dendritic cell vaccineRumah Sakit Umum Pusat Dr KariadiPTX-COVID19-BmRNA-based vaccineAbdala (CIGB 66)Protein subunit vaccineFinlay Institute of VaccinesCORVax12DNA vaccine (plasmid)Providence Portland Medical CenterMVA-SARS-2-SModified vaccinia virus ankara (MVA) vector vaccine candidateUniversity Medical Center Hamburg-EppendorfCOH04S1Modified vaccinia virus ankara (MVA) vector vaccine candidateCity of Hope Medical CenterpVACMulti-peptide vaccine candidateUniversity Hospital TuebingenAdimrSC-2fProtein subunit vaccineAdimmunebacTRL-SpikeMonovalent oral vaccine (bifidobacteria)Symvivo CorporationCOVAX-19Monovalent recombinant protein vaccineRoyal Adelaide HospitalDelNS1-2019-nCoV-RBD-OPT1Replicating viral vectorJiangsu Provincial Centre For Disease Control and PreventionGRAd-COV2Adenovirus-based vaccineLazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious DiseasesUQ-CSL V451Protein subunit vaccineSCB-2019Protein subunit vaccine
Linear Clinical Research (Australia)UB-612Multitope peptide-based vaccineUnited Biomedical Inc. (UBI)VXA-CoV2-1Recombinant vaccine (adenovirus type 5 vector)
VaxartAAVCOVIDGene-based vaccineAdCOVIDIntranasal vaccineUniversity of Alabama at BirminghamChAd-SARS-CoV-2-SAdenovirus-based vaccineWashington University School of Medicine in St. LouisHaloVaxSelf-assembling vaccineMGH Vaccine and Immunotherapy CenterLineaDNADNA vaccineTakis BiotechPittCoVaccRecombinant protein subunit vaccine (delivered through microneedle array)University of PittsburghT-COVIDTMIntranasal vaccineMRT5500Recombinant vaccineUnnamedIi-Key peptide COVID-19 vaccineGenerexUnnamedProtein subunit vaccineUniversity of Saskatchewan Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine CentreUnnamedgp96-based vaccineUniversity of Miami Miller School of MedicineUnnamedInactivated vaccineShenzhen Kangtai Biological ProductsUnnamedProtein subunit vaccineVariousUnnamedInactivated vaccineWest China Second University Hospital, Yunnan Center for Disease Control and PreventionDo They Contain Fetal Cells?

The COVID-19 vaccines do not contain aborted fetal cells per se. However, Pfizer and Moderna performed confirmation tests with fetal cell lines.

What are fetal cell lines? Fetal cell lines grow in a laboratory. They come from cells taken from elective abortions back in the 1970s and 1980s. Those individual cells have since multiplied creating fetal cell lines. Current fetal cell lines are thousands of generations removed from the original fetal tissue.

Vaccine makers use fetal cell lines during three stages of vaccine development:

Development: To see what works
Confirmation: Ensuring if it works
Production: Manufacturing the formula
In the COVID-19 vaccines currently approved, neither the Pfizer nor Moderna vaccines used fetal cell lines in the confirmation phase. In particular, the fetal cell line HEK 293. All HEK 293 cells are descended from tissue taken from a 1973 elective abortion that took place in the Netherlands.

So, this is a personal choice for Catholics and other prolifers as you choose a vaccine.

Risks and Side effects

The one issue with all of these vaccines is that their long term side effects are not known. Even back in 2018, mRNA studies proved to have some immunogenicity and toxicity that was not trivial.

Long term side effects are completely unknown. Temporarily, most people have reported feeling well with mild flu like symptoms. There have been deaths but there’s no clarity yet. Norway changed its guidance following the deaths. The death rate in the UK has escalated despite the vaccine program. Its not clear if these are hidden clusters or its just post vaccination side effects.

COVID Vaccine: Everything You Need To Know

Personally, the people at most risk like the elderly and those with preexisting conditions should consider getting vaccinated now. The data shows that most healthy individuals will get better without intervention.

Here’s a figure showing the case fatality rate of CVOID versus SARS and Influenza. Surprisingly, its less than SARS. No surprise that SARS countries have done well during this pandemic.

At this point, if you’re part of the healthy population you can wait until there are more choices available in the free market. Then you can choose a vaccine. Many countries are purchasing vaccines from various countries/companies to plug any gaps. By then you can choose a single dose or double dose vaccine, the vector, the type and mechanism.

There’s also lots of controversy over the fact that pharma is exempt from any legal responsibilities should you suffer any long term side effects. Several countries are working on alternative agreements, so you will have to see what your country’s agreement is. It may not seem important now but ten years down the line, it might be a different story. You may think what difference does one case of paralysis/whatever major side effect make? But if you’re that one person who does suffer it, it makes all the difference, doesn’t it?

There’s a ton of information that I can’t write about but research is ongoing. There will be more data but it is slowly being published. However, this is all I could read into for now. If there’s something you want me to look into let me know.

What is your opinion of the COVID 19 vaccine? How has your experience been with it so far?

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70 St. Elizabeth Ann Seton & New Beginnings

“All her many struggles make her more compassionate to people. “

Catherine O’ Donnell

WHO IS CATHERINE O’DONNELL?



Catherine O’Donnell

Catherine O’Donnell is an historian of religion and early America.  She is professor of history at Arizona State University and the author of Elizabeth Seton: American Saint (Cornell University Press, 2018).  She can be reached at codonnell@asu.edu

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton & New Beginnings

In this episode, Catherine O’Donnell tells us about St. Elizabeth Ann Seton & New Beginnings. She explains:
– Who was St. Elizabeth Ann Seton?
– How difficult was her life?
– What gave her the strength to endure and start again multiple times in her life?
– What can we learn from her writings and her life?

I actually only heard about St. Elizabeth Ann Seton when I came to New York. Even then I was barely interested in her life. As I looked at the year and everything the whole world has been through I was looking forward to doing a podcast that could inspire people. And who better than Mother Seton. For an ordinary woman beset with so much tragedy, she beat the odds to establish the Daughters of Charity.

In fact, she’s such an inspiration according to me simply because she started over and over again despite the may setbacks. Grief is also so central to her life and anyone who is grieving would find her words comforting. On what is her 200th anniversary on 5th Jan 2021, it seemed like an apt episode.

I appreciate Catherine for talking to us. She’s obviously spent a lot of months researching St. Seton. She’s familiar with her writings and her letters. She had also spent time with the sisters of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton so she has spoken to the people that still carry on her legacy.

It was really great to talk to her as her enthusiasm shows. She’s so honest about her initial and final impressions of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. I’m sure many people who want to read more about this American saint would be happy to pick up her book.

ENJOYED THIS PODCAST?

We hope you enjoyed this podcast. Finally, check out our podcasts on Gratitude and Mother Teresa. If you liked this podcast, like us, leave us a comment and share our episodes on social media with those who may benefit from it. If there is a particular saint that you would like to hear about us, tell us and we’ll add him or her to our future episodes.

Additionally, we are on iheartradio, Stitcher, Itunes, and tunein.com.We’d love to hear from you. If you hear us on Itunes, please rate and review us.

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