Letter to the editor: Soften your hearts, listen, and learn

10-14-2021

Dear Manchester Community:

I attended last evening’s Manchester District Schools community meeting at the football field after seeing the announcement in this paper. The event was billed as an opportunity for healing. This was a very valiant attempt by Superintendent Bezeau to allow for the airing of concerns, feelings and grievances. Here are some of the most memorable comments that I heard from people in the crowd and those who made statements. 

“This is Nazi Germany “

“An NIH (National Institute of Health ) article states that masks do not work against Covid”

“This is about my constitutional rights”

The anger and rage in the cool outdoor night air was loud and quite bitter. I had to bite my tongue and not shout. More than once I wanted to get up and leave. 

Especially troubling was when the crowd demanded that WDIV Channel 4 team from Detroit leave. Freedom of the Press is Amendment I of our Constitution. 

First Amendment Annotated: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

I managed to get up the courage to go up to the microphone and speak after grabbing another nurse’s hand for emotional support. I shared my beliefs and my suggestion – “Wear masks”

Someone shouted to aloud as I left the microphone: “What about the suicide rate?” I was not able to answer their comment so the crowd could hear. 

“Yes, that is another public health problem, in addition to drug overdose deaths”

I am a retired nurse who came up in the times of Polio and HIV /AIDS. Both my parents worked at U of M Hospital from the 1940s as doctors. I remember my Dad’s stories of the iron lungs up in the top floor of the Old Main Hospital. He took me up there to see them once. He often described hearing the cries of a neighbor who discovered that his daughter had contracted polio. When he took me for my polio vaccine, he exhaled with incredible relief. 

My mother went to U of M School of Public Health and studied epidemiology — the study (scientific, systematic, and data-driven) of the distribution (frequency, pattern) and determinants (causes, risk factors) of health-related states and events (not just diseases) in specified populations (neighborhood, school, city, state, country, global). It is also the application of this study to the control of health problems (Source: Principles of Epidemiology, 3rd Edition).

She brought home one of the first computers to crunch numbers for her courses. (The computer was so huge) 

So, Polio is now mostly a thing of the past for the incredible work of medical science. Medical science and public health advocate have made incredible gains with HIV/AIDS. Now we get to work with a new disease — Covid 19 with all its ever-changing variants. This is one of the most frightening challenges of my life. My oldest son in Chicago became ill very early on in the Pandemic while riding public transportation. I called him every day to check on him. I will never forget his words: ”Mom, how would I know what shortness of breath is?”

To deal with my total sense of powerlessness, I started making masks for friends neighbors and hospitals. I volunteered as a contact tracer and finally a vaccinator in the county. I learned and read as much as I could about the disease. I documented in my daily calendar the daily numbers from the county website and watched the numbers for our zip code until I could no longer stand the new reality. 

Washtenaw County Public Health department is one of the best resources we have in our community. They are dedicated to sharing the information about Covid, and best current ways to prevent the illness. The web page is https://www.washtenaw.org/3108/Cases. They are an incredibly dedicated staff. Another great resource to use is the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-71550_5104_97675—,00.html

Finally, here is an article from Nature about masking: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8

Please, let’s continue the dialogue. Soften your hearts, listen, and learn more. 

Sincerely, 

Carol Rose Kahn, RN
Manchester Township

Views expressed in any Letter to the Editor are always exclusively those of the author. Do you have something you want Manchester to know? Send your Letter to the Editor to themanchestermirror@gmail.com.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.