And welcome to the latest edition of Telehealth in Hawaii. I'm your host, Vikram Acharya. I'm the chief executive officer of Cloudwell Health and all virtual telemedicine provider based in Hawaii. We have a great show for you today. It's a very important month. It is National Cholesterol Education Month. Cholesterol is a very important subject when it comes to maintaining our physical health. And who better to talk about cholesterol than Dr. Neil Chauhan. Dr. Chauhan is a physician and co-founder of Cloudwell Health. Dr. Chauhan, how you doing today? Good, thanks for having me on here. Appreciate it. Oh, we appreciate you. To get the conversation started, tell us a little bit about your background, your physician, but you also have a lot of expertise in telemedicine. Yeah, so my background is in family medicine. So I trained in England and then I moved to Hawaii seven or eight years ago now. It was around that time I got involved with telehealth. And I still do. I work remotely for England and Europe. And a few years ago, we started up a telehealth company here in Hawaii as well to help the local community. Yeah, it's a great service to the community. To get things started, Dr. Chauhan, what is cholesterol exactly? I mean, we hear about it all the time, high cholesterol, good cholesterol, bad cholesterol. What is it exactly? Yeah, so cholesterol is a type of fat that's kind of in the body. Our liver produces it and we get it from our diet as well. A lot of what we hear out there is about bad cholesterol, but we do need cholesterol. There's good cholesterol and cholesterol actually provides a lot of functions in our body. It produces hormones and helps with cellular regeneration. And so it's more about getting an understanding of what is good and bad cholesterol and changes that you can make to kind of improve your overall health. Now, when it comes to the good cholesterol, what are the types of measurements or things that are done to make sure you have good cholesterol? Yeah, so there's blood tests that can be done to help measure your cholesterol levels. And so we have HDL, which is high-density lipoprotein and that's your good cholesterol. And then you have LDL, which is your low-density lipoprotein and that's the bad cholesterol. And so it's kind of getting those numbers right. So, you know, if you've got more of the bad cholesterol or that's bad, and that's the type that can lead to issues like heart attacks and strokes and causes something called atherosclerosis, which is where you can get a buildup of kind of cholesterol and other plaques and so on in the vessels in your body. Yeah. Now, in order to get these cholesterol checks, what typically happens to check the cholesterol levels? Yeah, so, I mean, there's different types of tests that can be done. Often, if we're really looking at your cholesterol levels, we'll do a fasting blood test. So there'll be a period of time that you don't kind of eat. So it doesn't skew the results. And then from those, you can kind of see what the ratios are. So things like the total cholesterol levels, the good cholesterol, the bad cholesterol, things like triglycerides as well. And that gives us a bit of a bird's-eye view in terms of where we're at, whether you've got enough of the good cholesterol versus the bad or whether that needs a bit of help. And there's lots of things that can be done to try and modify that so that you do reduce your risks. Yeah, yeah. Now, when you see patients in your telehealth platform, are you seeing a lot of patients that have not gotten their cholesterol check at least in a couple of years because of the COVID pandemic? Has that been an issue? Definitely, yeah. And I think, I mean, definitely has been increased in terms of the number of people not checking through the pandemic, but even minusing the pandemic, I think it's not necessarily on everyone's radar to kind of check their cholesterol levels. You don't necessarily feel unwell if you have high cholesterol levels. And that's extreme. And so it's a bit of a silent kind of issue. You really don't even know about it once it starts causing issues with things like your blood pressure or if you have a catastrophic event like a heart attack or a stroke. So it's more of a, to me, I try and explain it to patients that it's something similar to a service, right? When you get your car serviced and you wanna make sure everything's running well, it's a good thing to check your cholesterol levels and kind of get that baseline every few years. That being said, the frequency at which the check should be done vary according to your risk factors. So if you've got risk factors like family history or you've got other illnesses like diabetes, then we should be checking those more frequently. And for those that are on medications to help lower cholesterol or have had kind of cardiac related issues, we will check them even more frequently. Sometimes even a few times through the year. The people that have zero issues, very healthy, have good cholesterol levels. Even for those, I would still recommend getting a check done once a year or once every couple of years. Now, you're an expert and you see a lot of telemedicine patients. How do you check someone's cholesterol through telemedicine? How does that work? Yeah, that's a great question. And so we have here in Hawaii with our kind of Cloudwell Health Telehealth Service, we're able to help coordinate getting those blood tests done, all the kind of local lab sensors. So we can help figure out what's closest or what's most convenient.  And then it's a very quick test in terms of if you get the results within the day, within a couple of days at latest, and then we can kind of go through the results. And kind of discuss what we need to do next. And the cholesterol level by themselves, that's helpful, but to me, it's part of the whole kind of assessment of the patient. So you're kind of assessing a patient's risk, what their family history, their health, other health conditions, what their weight is, what the exercise levels are doing. And all of that gives you a bit of a kind of score in terms of what needs to happen to kind of help get those numbers to a healthier level or help the patient become more healthy. Yeah.  Yeah. So usually we would have kind of gone through all the risk factors and all the history-taking that we want to at the initial consultation, then we're going to arrange those blood tests. And then by the time they kind of come to that follow-up, we've got all the information to be able to go through it in a nice easy to kind of follow fashion. That's interesting. That's just like a regular visit then. Yeah, it's identical. Obviously it gives patients the convenience of being able to do them, whether they're at work or on their lunch break or at home or running around after the kids. So that convenience factor is huge and it helps save time. And actually, that ease of booking a consultation means patients are more likely to follow up. What I'm hoping is by creating these kind of easy access pathways for patients to be able to kind of get the care they need, there's a high chance that people will do things like their cholesterol checks. And what it takes is that one patient to identify those risk factors that we should do some things to really kind of modify that. And if that helps prevent a stroke or a heart attack, that's a huge, huge thing. Yeah, yeah, no, definitely. Now, when it comes to National Cholesterol Education Month, there's a lot of literature that says you should schedule an annual wellness exam to start the process around managing your cholesterol. What exactly is an annual wellness exam? Yeah, good question. So an annual wellness is, I always bring it back to cars, but it's like having the service done. So, you know, everyone's busy. Everyone's got hundreds of things that they're juggling. And so this is taking that bit of time out to have a wellness check to assess your health, right? And that includes, you know, talking with a clinician, getting a history, getting a sense of how things are. And then that's both physical as well as the kind of emotional outside of things, right? So kind of seeing how we're doing, whether there's areas that need help. And sometimes, you know, people or patients will know where they kind of need to focus or help on. Otherwise, it's also doing things like the blood tests and checking things like cholesterol levels and blood pressures and so on, so that we can really do preventative care well. And what I mean by preventative care is identifying health issues before they really become a problem, right? You don't want to have, you know, undiagnosed, high blood pressure and raised cholesterol. And for that to, you know, essentially cause issues, let's say a decade later, where it becomes a lot harder to reverse the issues, right? So that earlier you can pick those things up by doing an annual wellness. That's where you can identify these things and have a healthier life. Yeah. And is annual wellness different from a primary care appointment, seeing a primary care doctor? I mean, they're very similar, right?  So it's about looking at a patient as a whole, arranging certain blood tests, checking things like, you know, where have we got a current height, weight, a blood pressure, so that it's almost setting a good foundation for the rest of those care needs through the year. Yeah, yeah. That's interesting. Now, if you're trying to manage a patient and, you know, you're trying to get them to manage their cholesterol and things, but it's just not working. You know, you're seeing the patient multiple times and their cholesterol is either staying flat or going up on the bad cholesterol. What do you normally do? What would you normally recommend to the patient? What would be the next steps? Yeah, I mean, so first you would, you know, depending on the levels. So let's say they're mildly elevated in terms of the bad cholesterol and we've got some risk factors. According, you know, the first option would be things like lifestyle modification. So looking at things like how can we lose some weight? What can we do from an exercise standpoint? And what can we do from a dietary standpoint, right?  Whereas things like, you know, foods and vegetables and plant-based and so on, those things are better from a cholesterol standpoint. So we would typically, you know, help get that information to a patient, educate them in terms of the things that can help. And then we give it a period of time to see if that helps. So that's one option. Another option would be, you know, if a patient's, you know, got significantly elevated results or there's risk factors, then you might look at medication-based treatments. You know, one of the, I think most prescribed medications in the world now are statins, right? And those are cholesterol lowering medications. And so they make a huge difference. And usually it's a combination. So the lifestyle modifications as well as medication-based treatment and then regular monitoring to see if we're getting those levels down to a healthy level. And then you've got, you know, you might have more complicated issues. For example, you know, multiple comorbidities or other risk factors. There might be a genetic component, right? So sometimes bad cholesterol or high bad cholesterol levels can be something that runs through families and there's a genetic component to it. We call that familial hypercholesterolemia. And that might need more intensive therapy and there's other medications and kind of more frequent checks and so on.  So if we identify a patient like that, then we would do our bits and then we would also get the specialist involved so that the patient gets that kind of specialist care that they need. Now, what type of specialist would you transfer them to in this particular situation? Yeah, so I mean, when it comes to kind of cholesterol and the cardiac risk factors, that would usually be a cardiologist that would help kind of manage that. And yeah, we work very closely with kind of cardiologists in terms of helping manage patients that, you know, we might not be able to fully manage from a primary care standpoint and need that kind of additional specialist care. Yeah, now the, so you would have the ability to see the patient virtually and then seamlessly transition them to an in-person cardiologist that's pretty innovative. Yeah, so that's exactly what we try and do. So, you know, it's about making that journey as easy as possible for patients, right? We know how I've been a patient myself, you know, how painful it can be when you have a busy schedule and kind of going back and forth to multiple office visits and, you know, then you've got to go get your bloods and then you've got to wait several weeks to see a specialist and so on. So we wanted to make it as easy and efficient as possible. And there's a lot of steps that aren't necessary now that we have the technology and telehealth and so on. So, you know, once we've kind of done our video consultations and if you do need to see a specialist, we coordinate that from our end very efficiently. And, you know, you'll be seeing a specialist as quickly as within a week or two. And then they would see you in person if needs be and you get that specialist kind of element that you need. So it saves a lot of trips and you kind of get that direct focus care as and when you need it. In a couple of weeks is pretty good because most of the time, if you need to see a specialist, that can take months. It can, yeah. And, you know, that's not just a US thing, that that's what I've experienced in the UK as well. And, you know, we're fortunate with the, you know, the network that we've developed with the technology that we have and the referral pathways, you know, we're able to help expedite that process. Yeah. Is high cholesterol also correlated with high blood pressure too? Is it generally kind of the same?  Yeah. So, you know, there's definitely a correlation between the two and kind of the hardening that can happen in your blood vessels is essentially what we're checking for when we check your blood pressure, right? So, they can definitely correlate. And so, you know, if you've got the high bad cholesterol, which is the LDL and you've got raised blood pressure, well, you know, we should be aggressive about kind of bringing those things down because let's say it's the first time it's been picked up, you might not feel anything. You feel fine, you're fit, you're kind of doing, you know, doing your daily stuff, but that's what creeps up on you, right? And that's the stuff that can suddenly cause things like heart attacks and strokes. I mean, I'm happy to go into that. Essentially what can happen is the blood vessels, which carry blood, which carries oxygen and nutrients to your organs, you know, think of it from a plumbing standpoint, if the bad cholesterol is the stuff that throws up those vessels, right? And essentially the whole, the pipe where the blood's going to get smaller and smaller. And so eventually you can compromise blood getting to certain organs, like the heart, and that's what causes a heart attack, right? Or a bit of cholesterol, the bad cholesterol that's fed up the vessel can flake off and that can float somewhere and then that can cause a stroke, which is where you've prevented blood getting to the brain. So, you know, sometimes these things, especially cholesterol, you don't know about it until it's too late. So that's why it's important to check these things regularly. So it's almost like it's creating a sludge or blockage in your body. And when there's blockage, there cannot be, there is no appropriate circulation that it sounds like. Exactly, and what can happen is it's not just the sludge from the cholesterol. We build a bit of cholesterol and then things like proteins and so on kind of get attracted to that. And then you form like a hard plaque, right? And it's hard to get, you can't get rid of it. And so if it builds up and builds up, it compromises the blood flow through that vessel. Now the interesting thing is, is that the good cholesterol, which is the HDL, actually helps get rid of the cholesterol from those areas, right? So that's why it is important to have that balance. You want good cholesterol, that kind of gets rid of the bad cholesterol and takes it away from, you know, these vessels and the furring of them. And so you can increase your HDL through kind of diet, you know, lots of fruits and vegetables, sterols and also by exercising. Yeah, now there's a lot of literature out there that says that just a moderate amount of exercise on a daily basis can bring down your weight, which then helps reduce lower cholesterol levels. How much of a weight difference can really have an impact on your cholesterol? Good question. I don't know the exact kind of numbers in terms of how much weight, but it's moderate activity. It's more about the consistency, right? So it's not something you're gonna see an immediate change in, let's say, after you've exercised for a few days or a couple of weeks. But if it's, you know, if you kind of commit yourself to, you know, doing 30 minutes of exercise a day, whether that's kind of doing a jog, you know, a brisk walk, those that over a period of time has been proven to make a difference to the cholesterol in a good way in terms of boosting the good cholesterol and reducing the bad cholesterol. Yeah. What happens during the exercise that combats the cholesterol? It's pumping out more blood or what exactly is going on to it? Yeah, so it helps promote or increases your level of the HDL, which is the good cholesterol. And so think of the good cholesterol as your work obese, right? And so what they do is they're kind of tidying things up that the bad cholesterol are doing, like, you know, sticking things to the walls of your blood vessels and so on.  Yeah, that's a good analogy. So the more somebody exercises, it generates more good cholesterol worker bees, which help combat the bad cholesterol then. Exactly, yeah, yeah. That's good. That's a good analogy. Now, what about diet? Now, if I want to, you know, obviously improve my diet, what types of things, you know, fruits, is it fruits, vegetables, grains, things, what kinds of things can we eat? Yeah, so all the things you mentioned. So, you know, it's essentially trying to moderate or reduce all the yummy stuff, right? Which we typically all deviate too.  Whereas, you know, fruits, vegetables, plants don't have the cholesterol, you know, when we eat it, there's no cholesterol in there, right? In terms of, in the bad form. So, it's increasing your kind of plant-based intake, making sure you are getting lots of fruits and vegetables, definitely grains, you know, switching to things like, you know, instead of white pasta, having kind of whole grains, having kind of whole wheat bread versus white bread, those sorts of things can make a big difference. Yeah, yeah. And does that also generate higher levels of good cholesterol? What happens to the body when you eat those things? Yeah, so same thing. It can help kind of increase the good cholesterol and, you know, it doesn't contain the bad cholesterol. So, like I mentioned, you know, your liver produces the cholesterol that you need, right? But you also get it from your diet. And if you're going to be eating stuff, you should eat the stuff that has either the good cholesterol or doesn't have the bad cholesterol in it. Yeah. Now, a lot of the, we're also seeing a lot of high cholesterol and, you know, in the patients you see, I'm sure we're like adolescents or like it's happening earlier and earlier now, isn't it? Where people are presenting with higher levels? Yeah, we are noticing that. And it's hard to know whether some of it is, you know, perhaps the, maybe these age groups are more cognizant. And so, are kind of getting the checks done more earlier, right? I'm not sure about that piece, especially because in general, I think we've seen a bit of a downtick in terms of patients accessing care, especially through the pandemic. But there could be an element of that. I think the more predominant pieces, it's just become so easy to have the bad foods, right? So, you know, the fast foods, the snacks and so on, they're not necessarily conducive to that healthy diet that we mentioned. And so, I think that's a big contributor to the kind of increase in high cholesterol levels in younger age groups. Yeah. So especially during the past year and a half, two years during COVID, a lot of people were not as physically active. Like you said, eating a lot of foods that maybe were just easily available, chips or, you know, chocolate and candies. And that just over time has built up higher levels of cholesterol and put them at higher risk, huh? Yeah, yeah. And it takes a big mind shift to kind of change that lifestyle, right? So sometimes you can kind of get into that, what I call a rut, where it's easy. It's convenient. It's kind of almost a habit in terms of, you know, not doing as much exercise, living more of a sedentary life and having the easy foods, right? But I think what I've noticed is once patients understand the repercussions or the ripple effect from some of those choices, that's what can make the change, right? So getting more exercise, you know, keeping an eye on weight, trying to kind of stay at a healthy level and kind of eating healthier foods. Those are the kind of key elements there. And when you see patients, how much of an impact does mental health have? So folks that might have depression, anxiety, they often, do they present to you and then in turn because of their lifestyle choices also have high cholesterol levels. Is there a correlation there too? That's a great question. And I would say from my own clinical work and seeing patients all around 100%, you know, I think we've seen much more of that through the pandemic. And, you know, I think it's affected a lot, but if not everyone in some way, shape or form, right?  And, you know, we know a third of patients there might be more of patients that have, you know, a chronic health disease suffer from some sort of mental health issue too, whether that's depression, anxiety and that it's all confounding, right? So, you know, it makes one thing worse after another, right? And so it can make it much harder to get out of that rough or kind of make those kind of decisions or kind of choices, especially if you're not feeling motivated to do that or you feel low or you're anxious, you know, people can eat because they feel anxious. Sometimes they use that as a crutch and so on. So there's definitely a huge correlation between the two. And so it's really important as a clinician to address both a patient's kind of physical health as well as their behavioral health because they're definitely intertwined and you can't have one healthy without the other, right? You kind of wanna be able to help everyone with both of those things. Yeah. So you're working, you know, for example, with the Cloudwell model, a primary care physician is working in partnership with a therapist to manage a patient, to work with them. Yeah. And for me, that's always been really important because there's always things you can do from a physical standpoint, but if we haven't got a review or kind of looked at a patient's behavioral health and why they're making certain decisions and so on, less chance of success, right? In terms of getting a patient to where they want to be from a health standpoint, longevity and so on. So what I call is a biopsychosocial approach, you know, it's looking at a patient as a whole. And so yeah, I recommend every patient that comes to us to have both the physical side of things, the wellness check, the primary care kind of model, and also to kind of have a mindfulness check where they kind of, they check in with a therapist. And like I said, everyone's gone through a really difficult time. And so I think having that forum, that chance to speak to someone, that specializes in behavioral health is healthy. Yeah, and when you see the patient on a follow-up visit, if they go through with the mental health, that means that you could probably have a good conversation with them around, you know, making sure that not only you're addressing their physical needs, but also that they're appropriately cared for on the mental health side, so you have more comprehensive conversation. Exactly, it makes everything more fluid. And I think it allows a much better alignment in terms of kind of the doctor-patient relationship. And it's helping break down barriers. You know, there's still stigmas attached to someone accessing behavioral health services. And it's trying to break that down where everyone needs help. And sometimes it can be more of an issue of accessing that care, but if we can make it easy, then we would encourage everyone to do it. Right, right. I'm sure over the years you've seen many patients have very positive progression, you know, from maybe a combination, you know, had depression and, you know, the lifestyle reflected that, but over time they really improved and became... 100%. Yeah. And it's subtle, you know, it's not someone that's, you know, got severe depression necessarily or kind of severe anxiety. It's normal people with normal lives, right? Who are having a stressful time, whether it's relationships or work, and they're not sleeping as well, or they're just feeling a little bit antisocial, or they're just not getting as much enjoyment from the things that they were, or they're thinking twice about going for that jog that they do once or twice a week, right? So these little subtle things that can then become more of a more of an issue. And I think it's trying to break down those barriers and increase the ease of access to care so that when you start noticing those little things, you know, to kind of get some help. And I think stubbing those things out or getting the right help is what then allows a kind of successful, healthy journey. Yeah. And like you said, it's subtle and it takes time.  It probably takes several months, I would think, to really start to see changes. Yeah, yeah. And so a lot of it's gonna mindset getting yourself in the right place, both physically and mentally. And I think the more support we can give anyone around those things, the better chance of success. And you know, I'd say that these aren't kind of quick fixes. It's the more if I kind of think if your health is a journey, right? You wanna look after your body, not just when you're feeling unwell, right? Or when you've had something big happen, you should be doing it from as young as possible so that, you know, it's a good machine that lasts you your whole life, right? Closing too many issues. Yeah, Dr. Chauhan, it's always a pleasure to talk to, you know, your knowledge of telehealth, how it works, how it functions, the benefits it can bring to everyone in Hawaii, also your medical knowledge, you know, good cholesterol, bad cholesterol, how to manage, you know, oneself, not only from a physical standpoint, but from a mental behavioral standpoint is all encompassing and always appreciate you being on the show. Thank you, Nick, I appreciate it. Have a great day, Mahalo. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.


I think the main thing we can achieve by nurturing and growing the foundation economy is a better sense of economic place. At the moment a lot of economic development policy focuses on small number of sectors that are only relevant really to certain people in certain areas of Wales. By pursuing this new kind of approach we can create a conversation about economic development that reaches every part of Wales. I think the foundation economy approach can be about more than supporting individual businesses although that is still going to be an important part of the mix of interventions. Fundamentally what we need to look at is the environment in which businesses operate and we need to try to make those environments as successful as possible. So for instance when we are talking about childcare as an example how do we make the childcare sector one that enables small businesses within it to thrive. It's going to be very difficult to judge success in the long term with this because this is such a new approach. Conventionally we've looked at things like gross value added and GDP figures as the way of measuring it but this has got a much more granular feel to it. So it's one of the things we need to do a little bit more work on but fundamentally I think if we start to see those parts of Wales have some sort of economic regeneration as a result of a foundation economy approach then we'll know we're on to a good thing.


We are the women of the PMC Lawson Cancer Center. We are here to support your journey, deliver hope, and provide solutions that will advance your care. Our purpose is saving lives. On October 19th and 20th, SOAR will be hosting their annual summit event at the Appalachian Wireless Arena in Pikeville. The aim of the event is to gather those who are seeking to improve the quality of life in Eastern Kentucky by merging ideas and working together with businesses and communities in the state. SOAR Executive Director Colby Hall shares his insights on the summit. Well, it's coming up on the 19th and the 20th. This is kind of our core SOAR summit, back in Pikeville this year from Corbyn last year. And it's definitely our biggest in terms of programming as you just looked on the agenda and saw. So going back to when SOAR was founded in 2013, we had this blueprint, these seven pillars to hit. And we take it very serious, trying to incorporate all seven of those pillars that were community chosen into our body of work. It says what you're seeing on the agenda, right? Our focus sessions around things like broadband connectivity, like healthy communities, like downtown revitalization and small business and innovation. So we're doing our best to try to hit everything and working with great partners, as you mentioned, to make sure that we're giving high-quality programming for attendees. The event will cover topics ranging from local business to broadband, to workforce, and so much more. Hall says everyone has a role to play if change is to be made for a better future. Well, there's something for everybody. And I think that's important, Nick, because, you know, for the communities that we work with and people that are passionate about Eastern Kentucky, becoming a better version of itself, all of us have a role to play, right? From whether you're in local government or state government or you work at a university or a... I don't care what your title is, where you are. If you want this place to become a better version of itself and be a part of it, you know, getting better over the years. Like, you have some role to play. It's going to be a great couple of days, and obviously we hope to see as many people out as possible. SOAR has provided a promo code for those interested in attending. Use code MTMEDIA at SOAR-KY.ORG for $20 off the standard registration fee. Reporting for Mountain Top News, I'm Nick Colm.


All right, welcome to today's edition this week's source of salt and RFI opportunities These are bid opportunities that you should be taking advantage of if you are interested and finding out about a potential contract job bid Prior to it becoming public information. So we're gonna discuss today a little bit about the bid opportunities And how I achieve this list really quickly. We're on beta. That's Sam That's where everything comes from is beta. Sam. So we'll start here at the site And I just want to show you because someone asked me they said Eric I couldn't find what you were showing on the screen the other day in terms of the download button and again You have to be logged in in order to get to the download button. So let me just real quick I'll take my webcam screen and you see here where I've says profile and sign out Right there. So I'm logged in On my profile. So you've got it in order to get that download button on your screen. You've got to log in To beta. Sam in order to get that. So now we're on beta. Sam really quickly We're gonna go to the contract opportunities. I click search and Again, just kind of the recap for those who've never seen this before when you're in beta. Sam you click search I look at for this report the past week I hit the filter button to make sure it filters the results and then what we're talking about today are Under a category called. Oh, sorry. It's sources up Right and you will see that this week There's 489 results for the sources notices that were published and then I go on over to the other screen where I download the results So I click the download button Download box pops on here and I choose CSV files. So that way I can extract and manipulate the data So that's the how you get started to getting to this result now What everybody's been waiting for let's talk about this week's bid opportunities and Let's take a look I'm gonna switch over to the half screen. It's a little bit easier to see as I navigate Let's take a look and see if we can find anything interesting out there in the world of beta. That's Sam and There's some training devices. There's an industry day event So there's a virtual industry day event for HHS health and human services. That should be pretty good People ask me, what do you find a list of events here on beta Sam never list of events this particular opportunity? Let's see renovation of a building Pat and parking lot and again there's 400 results So we're not gonna go into each one in detail if we find something that we really Think is pretty good or that we have people that can do it So for example here minor construction minor construction applies to most of us out there So let's go ahead and let's click back over The minor construction one I put in the keywords. Oh, sorry. You can't see it on my screen Let me just pull that screen up a little bit so you can see I just copied and pasted that word in here and pulls up The minor construction Let's take a look at where this minor construction projects are Because again that applies to a lot of us small businesses. We can do minor construction work Those projects are probably gonna be someone the range of 50,000 to 250,000 dollars range All right, so let's look at it. Here you go. I diq contract formula capacity we can we can accomplish that Naval warfare of sea. This is in Maryland, but that's the Maryland the naval surface warfare center So they're looking for people with primary next-coach 236 220 Five-page they want you to fill this sources contract information form and again the things they're asking for a project title location description role contract performance They're looking for one out of three past projects that you've done in order to qualify bonding levels Should be half a million to four million dollars single and then six million aggregate if you're responding That's an 80 and it gives you some instruction So again, it's not terribly hard to do these are gonna be smaller projects Great way to get your foot in the door and get started learning construction at the federal level without having to actually bid because remember when you're doing sources You're doing market research and when you're doing an IDI q you still are not technically bidding You're responding with your qualifications and then you do give a price for what's called a seed project If you haven't or don't know what I'm talking about go and watch the IDI q video on that Let's continue down the list and see if there's anything else out here that extracts our interest multi-domain operations fume hoods national guard vehicle maintenance shops Pi six upgrade Zuma where you got zoom up you're watching this instructional design curriculum development I have people that are Gulfcon students that can do this. Let me. Oh my goodness. This is so perfect This is why I enjoy making this video because really it helps me as well and helping some of the students that we have I heard that do these types of projects instructional design curriculum development All right, let's take a look for Zuma. This is for you Here's your job performance work statement. This is Spot on I'm gonna pull this up Robert. You're gonna be getting a message from us and the organization Let's just I want to read this one. I'm very excited for Zuma All right center for security forces instructional design support PWS. Oh, yeah All right Here's a period of performance base year With four additional options. So it's gonna be some sort of IDV This is perfect reimbursement travel cause Yeah, we're gonna take a look at this one. I'm saving this one for Zuma very excited All right, let's go back over to the page See what else we have my I'm gonna fact I'm gonna start highlighting the stuff that I found interesting because we'll go back and we'll put this Inside these numbers. I'll make sure to put them on the YouTube video You can have them in the description and in that way we can go back and easily find them Kiosk maintenance preventative maintenance now some shop addition No key integrate network communication system Interactive mental health and wellness solutions People ask me about that that sounds let me see Okay, I don't see much on that but people ask me about that type of treatment floating fuel hoses fixed antennas It's interesting because Marie is the one that said Eric and watch your social salt video So I don't have to actually do the work and she just watches me watch me pull it on the list because I go through The list and you know that maybe that's convenient for you You can just watch me go through the list and if you see something on here That's why I have in this particular column all of the numbers So you just write down that number type in a beta Sam, you know, and you'll find it medical simulation services may talk that sounds really really neat Medical simulation services may talk Let's go over back over to the screen Let's put that in here and our results copy and paste Army IAQ broad range of medical training equipment services and support training requirements Procure kit and deliver medical training equipment to conduct medical training Well, I don't do that. But if someone you know does that definitely reach out and let them know this opportunity exists Healthcare housekeeping services past management services Case on five maintenance repair renovation Forensic software boulder scrap metal recycling Wildlife tracking transmitters. That sounds interesting UPS batteries moving replacing dispose of all 160 Batteries who can't do that.  So I'm saving this one for you John big dog What else past control services Snow ash removal services in Orange Burke, New York. Remember the video that Mebs made the intern He's talked about going into a small place in New York and finding opportunities This may be opportunity by the way, if you have any questions or you need any help Give us a call<PHONE_NUMBER> again that number is<PHONE_NUMBER> Or you can send us an email service at govcon giants calm that service as ER VICE at govcon giants calm Sturm ramp systems constructed new 500,000 gallon water towers. I know people do water towers So someone actually in a group asked about software licensing here's something for software licensing. It's for cotton software St. Jude BPA Residential home services. I know people that are in that space. I'm gonna highlight this. I've got friends that do residential homes Here's something for them as well a Silicone, I know someone that's sold on a silico funny enough So that's interesting I get out of them much about it I'm not gonna go into it because that's something that's very very specific Here's another event small business event 2020 small business virtual conference for Sammy They listed their event here Heavy lift unmanned aerial system. So we're all are my drone people out. There's some stuff for drones out here HVAC project Any project we've got some any folks Okay, military ports in Turkey Let's take a look at this. This seems interesting. I want to go take a look at these military ports over in Turkey and see What they're talking about. Yep doesn't apply to most of us, but For that one person, okay, Marine cargo handling sources unnoticed US transcom acquisition director solicitation Steve Doring and related terminal services at the military ports of Turkey and Algar and access IDQ contract for base year through 2026 All right, I think Vicki I want to send this over to you. You're over in close by Turkey Someone they're gonna do vessel loading discharging cargo Also, I think that I know someone else this this applies to Kenny Marie if you're watching this This is something that Kenny. I think Kenny can do because he did Receive of cargo this was some cargo Checking and he did all this kind of stuff at the port of Columbia It would be the same thing for Turkey. So we're gonna save this one for my man Kenny over here I know Kenny. That's kind of your area. So I'll highlight this All right, blood and specimen courier How about uber for that? Replaced seismically disefficient residential building to eight and white city Sounds easy Data discovery while I'm on the first 200 where am I at on time 12 minutes in I'm monitoring my time I want to be cognizant of everyone's time IDQ for paving at various locations in Washington I think big D is construction company that he works with they can do paving stuff I'd love to have an IDQ for paving alone. I mean, that's very specific. That's that's awesome laundry services mobile restroom shower services Damn incinerator rehabilitation Storage facility for animal equipment. That can't be too hard Let's see what else we got up here asphalt requirements combat arms training and maintenance services like What else what else? Traff statement of objectives for next generation global health Supply chain suite of programs next gen. That sounds cool Fortley tree maintenance services Defuels support services. So social software internet protocol IP network radio aggregation nodes Sounds super complicated Nebulizers compressors accessories Request from France to US Maritime March at Academy textbook resources and solutions. I know this is one of those ones where I know Moe, but he won something like this in the beginning that fell under the line of like training, but it was providing textbooks To this particular facility. They were like taking their data putting into a textbook format Transcribing and then sending it out. So again, sometimes when you see these things, they don't look it's not You know, it may not look exactly the way that you're accustomed to seeing it written up But definitely if you are in the educational training space look further into this particular opportunity January training services Neuro block and remember remember this what Donnie said on my IG and on the recording episode is that sometimes If you do not respond to these things Some of the contracting officers and I'm not saying that they have to or it's not there's no golden rule But sometimes they're looking for you to respond if you don't they Don't necessarily respond to your emails and again, that's not a law It's not a rule, but this is something that some insight knows that someone shared with us That's the way that they perceived it. So again, it had to come from somewhere from the top down They had to be trained in that manner So just again if you can at all if you have the opportunity or ability to respond definitely want to do so Group life insurance someone talked to me about that sells life insurance and here you go now again I don't know anything about it, but Five-year waste disposal service at more Air Force Base ballistic glass inspection repairs SMSC maintenance services gun lockers All right Come on. I want three more good ones that we can dig into and then we'll get out here I'll look at this modular. I don't even know that word is beletting print salt and airbase. That sounds pretty neat I saw some NSN numbers that reminds them boy Mike see Paint and floors government housing come on This is come on Now look if you're just getting started you could definitely do this come you can't paint some floors This can't be let me see I want to dig it. I want to see what this one is Because a lot of people want to start they say they want to start the state and local levels because it's easier But I mean this is something that I think a lot of us could do this is a buzzer to pay mass. Okay, so it's in my area All right, I got some people in my area that could definitely gonna respond to this. I must sit over to them. Oh Yeah, oh Yeah, I'm sending this to my people LJV this is on the way for you All right, I got some people for this one I'm sending it over to them shortly fact. I'm going to Open this up in a different page and hold another window So I can have it on deck. All right. Let's go back over to the screen. That was a good one Give me two more two more solid ones and we're out of here But I tell everyone to stay to the end because that's how we find Correspondence tracking software. That's neat On man undersea vehicle payloads requests who does on man under water stuff. That's pretty neat Treaching sources saw I've got some treaching people I know we have treaching people that follow me and by the way, look don't be greedy with the information if you see something on here At least with the option to purchase aircraft. I know someone that did that before Let's if you see something on here for your friends or your buddies, please share it Don't be like trying to keep the information yourself because you can't do it send it somebody sharing his care and spread the love Spread the wealth. I'm sure if you help enough people make money You're gonna get some money to not saying that's your focus, but just share Based on where I support to camp the contamination services This is interesting because We do stuff like this. So let me just let me just grab this one real quick See what it is For me Marilyn. Okay. Don't add janitor and decontamination services For COVID cleanings. Where am I COVID cleaning people who wonder how long COVID clean is gonna last? This is for you This is for you. This is for you. I'm saving it. I'm saving it for you Give me give me two more biometrics enabling. All right. I'm in the 300s now Sorry by the time I get to the 300s I'm worn out cleaning services Waste management services Cutter boat pooling maintenance repairs Come on Kurt. You gotta want to do some of this stuff on these boats By the way, this is good practice for anyone out there Hand look at this handyman. I diq Look handyman.  This is it I think that's what I mean We're gonna we're gonna find out what they talked about here with this handyman thing Very curious. It says handyman. I diq handyman contract Non-complex construction. Can y'all see that? Non-complex construction. I never see the girl putting up for handyman This means they want a guy with a pickup truck and it and they could be like my guy with his tools and his hand look a wide range of projects carpentry roofing The contract not exceed one million or two over two year period with three your options the buyer task was two to ten thousand dollars Two to ten thousand dollars Two to ten thousand dollars two to ten thousand dollars. Are you kidding me? You got to do this like please Please someone do this. I will even help you do this. All right. Let's see what this is that mountain home Air Force Base I don't know IDs Idaho Come on some look if you need help on this particular opportunity only handyman one this only the handyman one call them Call please I want I want to make you a testimonial.  That's out here in this place and let's respond to this handyman contract I'm super stoked about this I've never seen nothing like this in my life and all my 20 years Whatever how long I've been doing government contracts 2007 13 years Okay, they want handyman stuff.  Yes.  Get them out the house telling we going after this one now Now now now All right. All right, let's keep going We got to wrap this thing up. I got to get you guys out of here And I got to go eat All right, my man. I knew I told you to get a good one. Um, some rehab centers prosthetic centers All right, we're at 21 minutes. I'm going. I promise you we're into 400 Give me one more I want to slam dunk handyman with service is pretty good. It's kind of hard to beat that Um Oh So social columns aerospace big up If you have not seen the episode where we interview the small business liaison for columns aerospace Check it out On our website gopkinscience.com forward slash podcast We have them on our website. If you want to do business columns aerospace We have the person Which can go to our website to find it For columns nursing home five-year contract, not bad Broad agency announcement. Okay. Remember that all the it people we taught you you want to look at broad agency announcements This is for the it folks out there. Uh, make sure you're looking at that source of software n95 surgical mass COVID okay, who's got n95 surgical mass? They looking for n95 surgical mass They're looking for surgical gowns I guarantee you if you have this and you submit it the government will not put this up for bid. I can promise you that Promise you this will not go out for bid Whoever responds to the sources Whoever responds to the sources up for these n95 mass will be awarded the contract Okay Promise you this is not going out for bid if they have a need for n95 mass. It's urgent Um, it's highly highly highly unlikely that they're going to put this out for public bid So whoever sends something in you're going to probably be in a private bid session with the rest of people that respond it Um, I would not wait until this came out for bid because chances are you won't see it All right. I know I asked for one more the n95 looks like it was it But I'm going to go all the way to the end. Thanks for staying with me virtual computer software platform I'm going to all the way to the end anything else good on here All right. They're looking for uh leasing some space in Minnesota All right, palatinate seats. Okay. Looks like that was it Hey guys. Thank you for watching as always. Hope you enjoyed that video We will have all the things that we talked about from this video We're going to have them in the notes all of the actual id numbers so you can copy and paste and plug them right into beta dot sem Good luck. Uh, again, if you need any help any assistance call us seven eight six four seven seven zero four seven seven citizen email service at govconjoins.com and I just noticed it's not on this end slide So I'll make sure to put it on there next time. Thanks guys


to stand in solidarity with Vermonters across the state. Obviously, last night, learning of the leak of a draft opinion from the Supreme Court potentially overturning Roe v. Wade is deeply, deeply distressing not only to all of us across Vermont, but individuals across this country. So I'm here today standing in solidarity with Vermonters, showing strong opposition to this potential Supreme making sure that it's clear that we need, right now, to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law and standing with our congressional delegation and doing all we can to make that a reality. Will the Supreme Court's decision, do you feel that that may have an effect here in Vermont? I'm hoping, given what we've done with Proposition 5, which for folks is an effort here in Vermont to amend our Vermont Constitution, to enshrine reproductive liberty, essentially to enshrine the right to choose here in Vermont and our Constitution. As a lawyer, as an international human rights lawyer, my understanding is that we can do more. We can provide more protections as a state than our offer in the U.S. Constitution. So our efforts on Proposition 5, which will go to the voters in November, is extremely important right now. How good is it to see so many people being active with this very touchy subject? I think it's been, what, 48 hours, roughly since the news broke, and already we see Vermonters not only rallying here today in Burlington, we know Vermonters are rallying in Montpelier, in Stowe, in Brattleboro, and across the state. We want Americans to know that Vermont stands with you and that we're going to be doing everything we can to ensure that not only our reproductive rights codified here in the state, but that Roe v. Wade becomes a reality at the federal level, which we so desperately need right now. One more. What could you and Governor Scott do to help protect women's reproductive rights? This isn't in Vermont. This is not a partisan issue. The governor has released a statement. I released a statement. I'm proud to stand with the governor, with our legislature, and with all Vermonters, and saying that this is a fundamental right. Right now, this Supreme Court decision equates to a government mandate on pregnancy. We are living in 2022. This is just a stopian moment for our state and for our country. And I stand today with our governor, with the legislature, and with our congressional delegation in doing everything we can to codify Roe v. Wade and federal legislation and protect those rights here in our Vermont Constitution. Passing reproductive freedom, it's gonna be on the ballot and we're going to pass is outrageous talking to people here. You had the same emotion I had. We knew what was coming, but we couldn't believe it would happen. You can't believe it would happen. This is setting back reproductive freedom by generations. And you know the implications of this decision, the clarity of this decision, by the way, is that it is up to the states to decide whether a woman has a right to make her own decisions. And 26 states already, 26 states already have passed laws that say if Roe v. Wade is repealed, abortion is ended in each of those 26 states. It's real. But you know, the Roe v. Wade court made its decision, not just on abortion, but it acknowledged individual rights that each of us has to make important decisions about who we are, who we love, what our privacy is. So what does this mean about the future? So this is really one of the most profound decisions.  And this decision by this court, engineered by the former President Trump and by Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader who were hell bent on a court packing scheme of judges who ultimately would take away Roe v. Wade in the right of women in this country to make their own reproductive choices, that is wrong. And it included that decision when Barack Obama had the opportunity to nominate a judge and Mitch McConnell refused even to allow that nominee to have a hearing. So that's why we knew it was coming, but we can't believe in the United States of America it would happen because it's not who we are. And we respect the right of an individual who has to make a decision about her reproductive health to make that decision without government, without politicians interfering. We made progress in Vermont. The amendment will vote on, we'll pass. And we say, God bless Vermont. But in Congress, we've got to struggle ahead. We've passed the Women's Health Protection Act in the House, it's in the Senate, Bernie and Patrick are both big supporters but it faces the filibuster and you know what the filibuster, it's time to go. We've got to stand up in which right rather than simple procedures that protect the status quo. So I say to each and every one of you who is here we're all here in solidarity. We're all here because we care about one another. We're all here because we respect the rights of individuals to make their own health decisions. That's their right. And we respect the decision that each of us makes. So thank you one and all, Bernie and Patrick and I will continue to do everything we can to fight that fight in Washington to stand up for reproductive freedom. Thank you. To a quick chin here, congressional delegation especially in this moment. This moment is terrifying. It is dystopian. I feel numb. Who feels numb? A little numb that doesn't feel real. And I can tell you as a lawyer and Congress some mulch knows as a lawyer. Do we have some lawyers here? I know we don't normally want to raise our hand but today I'm going to raise my hand because our is the constitution. Our work is the law. And when you have the highest court in the land coming forward with a draft decision but we know it's not a draft decision that was affirmed today. Well it is a draft decision but it is a decision that doesn't expand rights, doesn't protect rights, protect fundamental rights that have already been decided on by the Supreme Court is a cause of great concern. We have a lot of work to do and in this moment of numbness, for those of you who don't know I'm going to do my best to explain it. We have proposition five. It is an effort to amend our Vermont constitution to ensure that reproductive liberty is still accessible here in the state no matter what happens with the US Supreme Court. And it has been a long, long time coming and it is in the final step which means that in November, as Congressman Welch said it will go to all of us, the voters in every corner of the state which means that right now in this moment where we feel numb, where we feel confused we have to drive all of our energy into getting every Vermonter across the state fired up and focused on passing proposition five. To do everything we can to support Congressman Welch and Senator Leahy and Senator Sanders. And to send a very, very strong message to Congress and working with states across this nation that we have to codify, we have to end the filibuster and we have to codify Roe in federal law. Finally, we have to find hope in this moment. And whatever that means, take care of yourself, say healthy, call neighbors, call friends, call loved ones in other states. Make sure that we're doing everything we can because this is the fight of our lives. So get tough, stay healthy and let's do all we can to ensure that Roe is the law of the land and it is a fundamental right and it's not going anywhere. Thank you, thank you so much. All right, best on the reproductive liberty come this November. Are you ready to see if you guys can make it? Tissue and sign and then those flyers. Productive Liberty Amendment is super important to me in protecting abortion rights because I found myself as a married person wanting to have kids. Then in a really sad situation where I had a pregnancy that had some fatal abnormalities, it was not viable with life. It would have been dangerous for me to continue with my pregnancy. And so I elected to terminate the pregnancy. I am incredibly grateful that I live here in Vermont in a place where I could access that care and the care was kind and compassionate. I did not feel like any shame or judgment for my healthcare providers because abortion is healthcare. And unfortunately the situation happened two more times because it's a genetic condition. And again, I'm just so incredibly grateful. My little peanut here and my two other kids would not be here if it weren't for my ability to access this fundamental important healthcare. So please, I hope to see you all on May 14th in South Royalton. And again, make sure you pledge like Paige said and get ready to vote in November. Thank you, go space up. I was assaulted on my college campus when I was 20. I had no intention of being pregnant. I got pregnant, didn't know I was pregnant, had the baby. I'm glad she's in good care. But had I known, had I been in a place where I could have done it, I would have had the right to choose it.  Thank you so much. Thank you for sharing that. May 14th, 1946. My ancestor, Lois Craddachville, a gorgeous 21-year-old woman who was married for one year died of a back alley abortion. This is happening today in other areas of the country already and it will happen again. And a mere piece of legislation, not our constitutional amendment, but many states are merely talking about codification. And as we have seen, what is a mere codification is not your right. You still don't have a right. You're nothing more than a breeding machine.  Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Yes, please. My name is Isabel and I'm a student at the University of Vermont, but originally I'm from Texas. My body has been a political playground for years now. No access to abortion. Abortion clinics closing at every step, but that doesn't mean that abortion stops. Safe abortion stops. This is not just a Vermont issue. This is a US issue. This is a national issue. Because this is an attack on not only women, but black women, brown women, women who cannot afford to pay for an abortion, who live in the southern states. Yes. Thank you. Appreciate it. The Supreme Court even have the opportunity to leak this document. Why has Roe v. Wade not been codified into law? We have a Democratic president with a Democratic majority. This should not have even been able to happen. Let's share it. Let's get it out. This happens and it's going to keep happening. The reproductive rights are rolled back continually.  They are holding on that they can continue to leverage more votes. Stop it.  We'll make your lives better next year. You can be safe next year. We'll deal with your student loans. Thank you so much. This is your space. Yes, please. Yeah, actually partially in response to that, my name is Patricia Preston. Good to see all of you out here in solidarity today. I'm a candidate for the Lieutenant Governor and I'm running as a Democrat and I'm running because I'm a pro-choice candidate and I want to stand up and I want to say that this is unacceptable and I will support all pro-choice laws and liberties and I think that we have an opportunity to vote pro-choice up and down the ballot and also this November have Prop 5 voted into law. We have the opportunity to do that here in Vermont this year and we need to stand up. You need to get to the ballot and you need to vote and you need to make your voice heard and let your elected officials know when you're unhappy and that's why I'm standing here today to run. So thank you. It's really cool to hear that people have their investment as political candidates. Sorry. But I really don't have a lot of space for that. Woo! Right on, Cho. As a person who has a grown son and has also had an abortion, I'm really not interested in political efforts in this moment or that energy. What I'm interested in is women who've experienced or I'm sorry, people who have experienced abortions to understand that it's not about politics. It's not about voting for the, I apologize. It's not about voting for the right person or putting your efforts into voting for the right person. That hurt me a little bit. It is an incredibly emotional decision to have an abortion. I've had one and I carry the ultrasound photo with me in my wallet and it was one of the hardest choices I've made in my life. And I'm not okay with it being about who to vote for. It's about the right thing. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing. I appreciate it. I have to say that this here is not just about us women in our daughters and our probably granddaughters down the line. This also affects men as well. This is not just, this is something that as I was saying to Peter Welch but this is something that should not be happening to us right now. We don't need, so it's beautiful for me. We will change. I'm sorry, I got there a little. How things are being represented and I wish that there was more men here and women. This is Lois Trombley. I've been a teaching artist in this community. I'm from Vermont and from South Burlington. I had an abortion, that's the right time. Who are you filming for, Bo? So yeah, good for you. Carry on. So yeah, I did have an abortion like seven years ago. I never thought I would have one and I was in a very abusive relationship with a man that was not doing well psychologically and I feel that I would have died if I had not had that abortion. I would have died, my child would have died. I have a 15 year old beautiful girl and I'm a wonderful mom. And I never thought I would have to have an abortion but I did. And I know lots of other wonderful women who've had to make that difficult choice. One in three women. Yeah, one in three. And you men should be standing up louder. I'm thanking the men that are here that we had an abortion at some point. Have an emotional connection to this. This is hard for us. It's very important that you stand up right now. So thank you. That's why they had to get abortions but I just want to say, if you don't want to have a baby, that can be the reason. I mean, there are so many reasons and people should not be made to feel bad about it. Part of the reason that it's so hard for people to talk about it is because it's so shamed in our community. And it's all right. If people cannot understand that we have a time for this news today, I've had this song going around in my head and it goes like this. Oh. I'll pray for this.  It's that this Supreme Court is fundamentally a fascist movement. And it's trying. And abortion is the only start. They're going after intruational marriage. They're going after gay marriage. They're going after legal transition. And we must stop the Supreme Court. I was 70 years old and in 1972, 1971, I went to New York to have an abortion. And I worked in the abortion rights action league for narrow hall in the early 80s in Ohio when we had the bombings. And I can't believe we're here, but yet it seems somehow inevitable because it was just push, push, push. And I don't know what it's going to take. And I don't think this is a short-term deal right here because all these issues that we're looking at are so interrelated. Whether you talk about climate change, human rights, et cetera, et cetera. It's just a huge one big mass. And we got to do something. And I swear, it ain't this. It isn't just this. And I'm, I don't know what to do. All I know is I can't take it. And I'm not feeling gentle. I think we can come up with a few things. If we put our heads together, but it's not singing kumbaya. And it's not standing around. This is just, I don't know, guys. Sorry, thanks for having me. School teacher. And I think that there's a lot of kids here. And I just want to give a shout out to all the kids that are here because I think that their kids are too young to talk about some of these things. And that's actually a lot more harmful than it is good because children live in the same world that we do. And whether it be racial violence, whether it be violence against women or trans individuals, anybody, it's still their world. And they deserve to know the truth.    And even if you're under 18, your voice is so important. So keep up the good work to all the kids and keep them more exciting. And I wanted to take a moment and give a huge shout out to everyone who used this mic to speak their truth, to speak the truth. We have the wonderful explanation about preschool children, I guess, speaker talking about what can we do in this moment? We need an army. We need the SWAT team to come out. And I tell you, we need, just as a quick recap on it's on my balance, exactly what the Reproductive Liberty Amendment is and what it means for Vermont and this country. We are literally protect reproductive rights in this country. We're going to show the blueprint. So it's really important if you wanna take one action to support the RLA, abbreviation for Reproductive Liberty Amendment. If you wanna support the ends with people that you know, make sure that they know what it is. If you wanna take the next step, comment with us. We're gonna be knocking on doors. We're gonna be making our is doing this November.


Established almost one and a half centuries ago in 1863, the International Committee of the Red Cross says it has not derailed from its core mandate of helping people affected by conflict and armed violence. The group stated this during a court'sy visit to Plos TV Africa's office in Lagos by its spokesperson, Aliyu Dauri. Plos TV Africa's senior correspondent, Kayo De Ladende, tells us more. While it is debatable whether Nigeria is at war, the International Committee of the Red Cross is not leaving anything to chances as it continues to provide services to civilian population and the Northeast who are affected by the insurgency. Speaking on the challenges faced by its officers, the RCRC spokesman in Nigeria highlights the problem of access. Working with the International Committee of the Red Cross is actually a daunting task. A lot of issues come up and working in conflict situations because the organization is giving the mandate to protect and assist people that are affected by armed conflict and violence and this is what we've been doing in Nigeria. A lot of issues that have to do with access, most of the times what we want to do is to protect and assist people that are affected by violence and conflict. If we don't have access, then this is really going to be a big challenge because the populations out there are going to continue to suffer, there would be no food to support them with, there would be no medication, so this is really a big concern to us. Sadly some of the RCRC had had to pay the Supreme Prize while trying to save the civilian population. These the body says will not deter them from carrying out their functions dutifully. The humanitarian consequences in the Northeast of Nigeria where most of our operations are is actually very, very severe because we see a lot of people who don't have access to medication, to food, to shelter and so on and so forth. So these are some of the challenges that the organization is suffering because a lot of needs are out there and then our hands are tied. He explains that his neutral role is never called to question. ICRC is a neutral organization, a neutral humanitarian organization that is independently working to assist people that are affected by conflict and violence. This is our principle of operations. We try as much as possible to inform all the actors to the conflict, both the civilian population and also the armed groups, of course with the armed forces of Nigeria that we are a neutral organization and what we do is mostly to assist civilian populations. This is what we do. Of course we also call on all the actors to the conflict to respect the International Committee of the Red Cross and also by extension to respect all humanitarian actors that are there supporting people that are affected. The armed groups are expected to obey the rule of engagement which protecting ICRC officers and other humanitarian groups fall into. Only when this is followed to the letter the unwarranted attacks faced by these good-spirited citizens may not end in the nearest future. Kaya de la Dendi, Plus TV Africa.


So, stories are the oldest form of education, right? And what better stories are there than games? The stories where you get to be the main character. In this talk, I want to share the knowledge that I've learned as a CNCF community builder, but I want to do this with a twist. I want to do this as if the CNCF was a board game and you are the main character, right? Let's think about what it takes to establish our own characters. What is the story arc of our own development? What are the rules that we should apply and follow as we're going through this game? So, every year, thousands of new players join this CNCF game. And to some people, you may be intimidated to see the folks that have been around for a long time that have all the power-ups and fancy equipments, right?  But this should not be discouraging to new users, but rather inspiring. We should see the people that have been here before us as an example of where we can go ourselves. Because the one thing about the cloud-native ecosystem is that everyone started off somewhere similar. And so, when we're all starting off, right, we all have our first deployments, we all have our first cloud, we all have our first clusters. And when we start any new game, right, we have to construct our personas from a list of defaults from a very standard generic character profile. But these character profiles don't have to define who we are in the long term, right? This is just a starting point in which we get to build our own cloud-native personas. Meaning that you don't need to be nervous, you just have to get started somewhere. And I, too, am a character in this game. And so I had AI generate all the images for this talk, and I figured, why not have it turn me into a character in this game as well? So, the photo on the left is actually a picture of me at Kodopaxi Mountain before me and a group of friends climbed, and so that, too, was an adventure that I got to take. And so now I'm turning that adventure into this adventure. And like all of you on this cloud-native journey, I'm hoping to level up in my contributions so that one day I can be one of those level 99 wizards as well. And so if we're thinking about the CNCF as a board game, the CNCF would be the main storyline, but there are plenty of side quests or projects donated that we can invest our time into, right? There are sandbox projects, which will be the most challenging things to contribute to, right? There's incubating projects which have a little bit more establishment that you can be a part of, and then there's graduated projects that probably have the most developed storyline so far. And of course, there's always the most famous storyline of all, which is Kubernetes, which is going to give you the most wide range of options for you to get started, get onboarded, and find people to help you engage and begin your cloud-native journey. So if there is one takeaway for new folks getting started in the CNCF, it is that you should feel empowered to take this journey with friends. Whether your friends are experienced users or fellow noobs, working together is the fastest way to level up. Playing with friends gives you the power to gain double or triple experience for the same amount of actions. So build your team, crush your challenges, and create genuine cloud-native experiences. Thank you.