Participants: Andrew Baker, Barbara Webber, Loren Schoonover, Joe Martinez, Corrina Klein, Andrea N

 

Notes:

• AN: New mandate that all first responders get vaccinated, still open to the public on Wednesdays. Still not able to go into the nursing homes and visitors’ facilities. They’re also doing vaccinations for nursing home employees, but it’s not mandatory. Everything is moving slowly, but we’re getting there. Trying to get a program going to keep an eye on elderly folks, especially in rural communities.

• BW: Vaccination seems to be a choice in some communities, interesting that it’s required there. Keep hearing from people that they don’t know where to register for the vaccine, especially for rural, and aging populations.

• AN: Thinking about that this weekend. Getting people out to assist would probably be done through the aging and long-term services department. That will be important to the next level of roll-out and getting them enrolled. Right now it’s just DOH, but people aren’t getting calls back. Some people have been on there for a month but still haven’t heard anything back.

• BW: There’s also a need for targeted and clear information about the vaccine, there’s a big concern about misinformation.

• AN: Do you have any recommendations about how that information can be improved?

• LS: Uncle in Mesquite. He’s registered, but thinking about not taking it. He’s at the age where you shouldn’t argue with him. Saying “I’m going to take it” made him think about it. They’re uneasy because they’ve heard about it, but having a trusted contact take the vaccine increases the likelihood that they’ll get vaccinated.

• BW: National statistic is that 30% or less accepted to take the vaccine at this time. Important to get good information out to people.

• MO: Hearing different things from my sources. Over 80% of people getting vaccinated are white. Because of inequities in internet/computer access, people are not able to make educated decisions and get in contact with people who are getting the vaccines. It’s highly inequitable right now. There are 3 to 4 different agencies that are trying to get out the message, but it’s not consistent. We’re not reaching rural areas or making use of all available pathways. In NC, they’ve created a fun message in the form of an earworm so people are constantly getting that message, but in NM we’re still divided.

• JM: There was a webinar today from ECHO, it was good information, but their whole focus was still pretty ABQ-centric. They had one person from southern NM who did a good job of reminding people about rural communities and challenges. Her idea was to create better partnerships with trusted local groups to get out that message.

• AN: News from the department, they’re still considering how to get the vaccine out to rural communities, but don’t want to overpromise and under deliver.

• JM: They’re immediately increasing the number of doses being sent to states by something like 10%. They’re going to be shipped weekly. DOH will then be in charge of getting that out to different areas. Why isn’t the governor out there negotiating to get more doses of the vaccine. NY is having a similar problem. Local coordination needs to happen to make sure that we’re not going top-down.

• BW: Some people still have bad info on the vaccine, people today talking about “the first thing I’m going to do after I get the vaccine is have dinner with my whole family.” We need clear and fast messaging from a singular source.

• LS: Got a call yesterday about someone who submitted registration a month in advance and just got a message back now.

• BW: I got a message back that registration had been received about 6 weeks after I went through registration.

• JM: vaccinenm.org is still the one portal to get information and get registered.

Rural Voices for COVID Recovery

Participants: Andrew Baker, Barbara Webber, Joe Martinez, Loren Romero, Andrea N, Gabby Rivera

 

Andrea Nevarez: Assistant to Sherrif Ken Stewart. Ombudsman advocating on behalf of seniors in the community. Certified Intervention Specialist for Victims of Crime in the Las Cruces area.

 

Recap of Southern NM; education has been a problem because students are having trouble learning. Children are left with babysitters and elderly family members. Internet connection and senior citizens are also of interest. Grief of people who have missed personal milestones in quarantine. Graduation and school events are one of the unspoken difficulties of the pandemic.

 

AN: There is a big movement to help people laugh with their kids - there’s too much serious stuff going on and it’s important that we’re able to keep levity.

 

BW: We’re going to go back to school and forget what we’ve learned in the pandemic - emotional intuition and other experiences gained may be lost to the wayside. Make sure that we’re not just trying to cram two years into one year. These kids have been through a historic moment and we need to provide opportunities for them to share and process.

 

JM: Experience from other families - rediscovery of the outdoors - that’s something of high value!

 

AN: Letters to seniors! Seniors have been very lonely and there are definitely deaths due to struggles to survive. That’s a way to increase social contact! Ended up getting 2620 cards! Day cares, 7th grader who made over 100 bracelets. People came in to drop off blankets and socks. The time that people took to put messages into the cards was incredibly emotional. That’s something that we’re going to try to do for every year going forward!

 

BW: It’s important to foster an intergenerational connection!

 

JM: What can we do to move forward and be better prepared for this type of situation? What have you noticed about this experience re: strength of the community

 

AN: It’s shown that we’re really willing to engage with our community. We’re living in an age where we have to have that connection with the people around us. People in some communities are tight-knit. We need to get those networks started so that the community can stay resilient.

 

JM: What have you noticed about internet access in your area?

 

AN: Hasn’t come up much. Some victim advocates have been talking about difficulties with accessing technology for their kids. On the senior side, there are people who have trouble with any type of technology. Our youth need so much attention.

 

JM: What kind of discussion have you heard around the process of vaccines?

AN: People are excited! They’re not questioning where it comes from, they’re just excited to be moving to the next phase. People are signing up to receive it through the DOH, lots of elders are checking where they’re at on the list. Handing out COVID fact sheets, but people are excited to get going.

Rural Voices for COVID Recovery

Participants: Joseluis Ortiz, Don Bustos, Andrew Baker, Barbara Webber, Joe Martinez, Loren Schoonover, Gabby Rivera, Yesi Daniel

 

Yesi Daniel: Planned Parenthood in Rocky Mountains and Santa Fe. Used to work with folks in Española, has been in northern NM for 3 years now. Interested in connections to resources, and education.

 

Don Bustos: Farmer in Española NM - uses only solar power and grows 12 months out of the year. Family has lived here for over 400 years.

 

Joseluis Ortiz: Farmer in Dixon NM - working with a university program to develop learning methods and stay connected to the land. Family has lived here for over 400 years.

 

DB: There’s always positives and negatives. Since schools have gone virtual, we’ve lost the contracts that we had with some of those school districts. It feels like well-connected people get most of the resources and the rural areas have been left out. These communities have been resilient - we’ll figure out how to survive, it’s just a matter of a disadvantage that’s been put in our way. We work with folks on the edge. Those people can’t get any relief either. There’s a very limited window for people to get these resources. I work with the acequias and there have been a lot of people who are reconnecting to the land.

 

JO: Following up, this year there have been different levels of the impacts. Childcare has been tough - can’t get her into places and spaces outside the home. Teenagers have been locked down without opportunities for work or play. About 1000 people come to the food bank every other week, and we’re seeing people who are financially well-off who don’t have access to people that can bring them food. People are reliant on those food banks. The items in food banks aren’t always the healthiest. The college and green roots program has been limited to 5 people on the field at a time. Limited outreach and capacity to reach the students at the college. Haven’t had a hard time distributing the food - there’s always been a need for it, but it’s been tough to sell. Distributions through schools and families have been successful. The rest of the produce has been going through Breath of My Heart Midwives. There is a huge need for locally grown healthy food, but there’s also a great need to support farmers in getting food to people who need it the most. We’ve donated about a third of our production, but that’s not a sustainable option. We need to get food to people at their front door, otherwise they’ll go with unhealthy options.

 

DB: It’s tough with the legislation to get it out to the people in rural areas. We’ve heard about this kind of thing in the past, but we can’t always get the resources out to the people who need them. (referring to bills to get local food to schools)

 

JO: one of the issues is that farmers have to have a tax ID or business designation. With the COVID money out there, a lot of people weren’t able to get those resources. People don’t have an LLC or a business to qualify for loans that would save their operations. We really need to wrap our minds around how to get those resources directly to the individuals who produce and provide services. We need to talk to schools to see where they get their produce. Looking at the schools now, lots of their stuff is not nutrient dense and has lots of poor outcomes. Local farmers have to compete with multinational corporations. Since joining the US, northern NM has lost more than most other parts of the US. What can we do at the local level to maintain that tradition of growing food and keeping it within NM? Over 60% of the food that we grow is sent out. Over 90% of our food comes from other states. We can’t be as reliant on other markets for our food.

 

YD: One of the issues that we’ve had is shifting to online and remote services. Can’t do education in person, have to make sure that we’re able to reach people in areas without internet access. Doing work with children, isolation has increased feelings of depression. Some communities have tried to do support groups. Weekly youth groups are meeting virtually. “Distant, but not Detached,” how do we build virtual communities. Sexual and reproductive health line has been busy; how do I connect to resources/talk to other people?

 

DB: Son has missed the interactivity with friends his age. Lots of the community centers have closed down, gyms and areas that allow for physical activity have been disrupted. Young adults with disabilities have had more difficulty controlling their reflexes.

 

YD: Some of the students that we’ve been working with have lost opportunities to go skiing and do Tae-kwon-do. That’s been a barrier, all we’re doing now is meeting online for classes.

 

JM: What have you heard about vaccines being made available to people in your community? Is there any news or a definitive plan to get those out to your community?

 

JO: Know some people who have gotten the vaccine, but with larger households, it’s tough to know if they are bringing it back to their unvaccinated family members?

 

DB: There’s not enough information out yet about how this vaccine affects disabled people; we need to know those impacts so that we can reassure parents. If it’s been tested the information hasn’t been distributed yet. The other part of the question is how do we get the Department of Health more navigable? The website is tough to get registered. Seeing your place in line is disheartening - when you see that you’re 100,000th in line, it doesn’t give a lot of hope. Lots of the physicians here now aren’t from the area - it’s tough to get that connection and cultural competence. 

 

BW: One of the members of the disability council is on our board, we’ll get in touch with them to get more information about disability and the vaccine.

 

DB: One of the things that we need now is understanding - it’s tough to shift from bulk to individual growing and selling. If we could make a request, it would be good for policy advocates to make sure that the legislators know the difference between the realities of policy and the policy on paper. We need more pathways to access relief.

 

JO: Farmers now have had to take on a lot more responsibility. Can we work with food banks to get more information on what the community needs? Is there anything we can do to work with community members to provide skills to navigate those pathways? How do we get interns and newcomers to those support programs. People need help accessing medicaid, food stamps, dental care, etc. How do we engage co-ops to improve capacity and provide services? We need to get health navigators and coordinators directly serving grassroots communities. Farmers are navigating spaces outside of farming, but they can be equipped with better information and resources to help their communities.

 

JO: One of the things that we have to consider is the connection between health and food. When you’re able to know that the food produced in your area is fresh and safe and healthy, it does a lot to prevent some of those chronic conditions that we’ve been treating with medications.

 

YD: We can also use that as an intergenerational opportunity. When you build up that local leadership, you create sustainable growth in those communities.

 

Next meeting: Jan 28th at 4pm 

Rural Voices for COVID Recovery

Participants: Barbara, Andrew, Joe, Loren, Joseluis Ortiz

 

Updates:

• JL: little bit siloed right now, but we are seeing a lot of vaccinations happening. Dad has been on the list, but finally got scheduled for the first round of vaccines next week. They’re finally opening up registration to normal populations and non-essential workers. Don and his son were able to get vaccinated. There’s been some silence around who has COVID. Not a lot of new cases recently! What about the kids, are they going back to school? There are schools preparing to go back to in-person. The college here at Northern has been closed for everything but clinicals, so everyone else is at home. What about your neighbors or the other farmers? Haven’t heard much from neighbors. Tio and Tia got it about a month ago, but she works in the healthcare field. Other than that there hasn’t been a whole lot. Kind of siloed right now, so don’t have access to a lot of community information. Nobody’s really engaging, so it’s just been me.

Bill updates!

 

• JO: (on healthy food financing act) What we’re trying to do now is make sure that we’re not going back to normal because normal wasn’t working. La Semilla in its founding was based on ideas and the work of grassroots. They developed their language and capacity to get funding and resources, but that left out immigrant and farmworkers of color. I’m wary of bills that claim to be pro-farmer because that’s not always the case. A lot of these institutions are corrupt and focus on the Santa Fe and Albuquerque politics. What we’d like to see is business that goes to the source and serves farmers and the smaller LLCs. 229 is an important piece of legislation, but we’re scared that it’s getting caught up in the intermediaries. It’s disheartening that these areas of Northern NM haven’t gotten the development that the rest of NM has. The people that are doing the oppressing now are the people who are part of our family. I sit on the Northern NM food hub, but that only exists on paper. It’s tough to know what’s going on with that, I think that it might be an issue with gatekeepers and others involved in the process.

• BW: Because this group was created with those intentions, it’s important that we have politically active farmers to come in and make sure that this does what it says it’s going to do.

• JO: What happened with the Northern NM university was that there were people who came in with big ideas, but didn’t have the political will. Right now what we’re doing is going through a community based process. I would be the visiting professor from Sostenga, I got that status, I’m compensated through the green roots institute. It’s not funded through the college, but I’m a faculty member. I’m navigating the institution’s spaces to generate opportunities for fundability and create an outdoor learning space so that teachers can have an outdoor classroom that maintains ag production and community events/service hours. Last year we produced about 8000 pounds of food. Probably 3500 of that was given away to students that had real needs. Also sent it through midwives and mother programs. The rest of it was distributed through farmers markets, community members, etc. We don’t want the college to institutionalize the community program and keep access from people.

JO: Good to hear that cost sharing passed. Our region is affected by multi-generational addiction, violence, and other issues, so I can appreciate that. Part of that program includes deductibles.

Rural Voices for COVID Recovery

Participants: Andrew Baker, Barbara Webber, Loren Schoonover, Joe Martinez, Don Bustos, Lupe Salazar

 

Notes/Updates:

• Going over bills that we’ve been watching during this session.

• Status of vaccinations in your community

• There’s a number that you can call through the DOH; they can get you registered there if you’re unable to get registered online.

• Individuals who have questions or would like support with the registration process - including New Mexicans who do not have internet access - can dial 1-855-600-3453, press option 0 for vaccine questions, and then option 4 for tech support.

• Long-term care facility in Las Cumbres has access to vaccines. They are setting up vaccinations through those units. Some people there are in their second phase, some are still in first. There are over 100 people who are still lining up to get their vaccine.

Rural Voices for COVID Recovery

Participants: Joe Martinez, Loren Schoonover, Andrew Baker, Barbara Webber, Don Bustos, Lupe Salazar, Yesi Daniel, Jay Wilson

 

Don Bustos: Farmer in Santa Cruz, Española. Have two sheep hanging in the shed, making some lamb stew. Main concerns are easy and equitable access to resources in rural communities. Finding it difficult to fill out forms and do everything on the internet.

 

Yesi Daniel: Educator and community organizer. Education program manager of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. Serving the community wherever we can! Right now serving to make connections and network with other people in the community.

 

Lupe Salazar: Worried about mental health issues and drug addiction. Other issues. 

 

Joseluis Ortiz: Liaison at Northern NM Community College. Teaching land-based ways of living and knowing. Focus on students, families and youth in the Española Valley. Promoting traditional ways. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Environmental, Racial justice to solve issues in our own community

 

Notes:

• Legislative Updates from HANM!

• HB 177, SB 188, Food Accessibility/Homemade Food Act, Food Hunger and Farm Bill of 2021.

• Talk that schools will go back to in-person in two weeks.

• YD: There have been issues with the vaccine rollout: people aren’t given much notice of when they’re scheduled to get the vaccine, which creates issues of accessibility.

• JM: What have you heard about vaccine distribution in your community? And who have you heard it from?

• LS: We’ve heard that you have to sign up for the vaccine, but not sure how simple or complex that is. Only know a few people who have taken it, but still uneducated on the issue.

• DB: Went to the doctor’s last Tuesday, the doctor didn’t know much about the issue at all and sent me to someone else at the hospital. She was trying to figure out how to get people on the signup sheet. People above 75 are the first priority, was told to go onto the website and register there. At this point it might be easier to wait for the National Guard to set up those vaccination sites in public

• JO: The only thing that I’ve heard from family members is that they’re vaccinating elderly populations. It was impossible to get my father a vaccine soon and he’s 65. He had to sign up through the website.

• JM: The state had been given a promise on the number of vaccines, but we didn’t get everything that had been promised. There have been more orders on production and much more coordination on production and distribution efforts.

• BW: every resident and member in a long-term care facility has received their first dosage of the vaccine, still have to wait 2-3 weeks for the booster, and 2-3 weeks after that for full protection. Still having trouble accessing the website. Some people have had to register more than once.

• DB: What do we do if we live with someone who’s at risk but refuses to receive the vaccine?

• BW: That’s a hard question, not sure if there’s going to be a mandate at this point.

• JM: Best strategy at this point is to wait until more people get the vaccine and get information out. People form opinions with limited information, but once we get examples in the community, it should be easier to get people vaccinated.

• YD: There hasn’t been much dissemination of the link to register for vaccination. My family learned about it on the local news. People want to get the vaccine, but some are unsure of how to register.

• JM: Are there any other bills that have come up that you’re interested in? Small farmers are such a critical part of the New Mexico food system.

• JO: As we’ve partnered with the Northern NM Community college, it’s frustrating that they’re not considering how to serve traditional agricultural practices, or rural communities. We have to figure out how to create and lobby for a bill that would get resources to agriculture programs and cultural sustainability practices. If we don’t have the capacity to ask for money through grant proposals or community development, that’s bad. We have to be able to fast-track that infrastructure and make sure that local ag is able to thrive.

LS: We have to think about ways to get people engaged and involved with nature. We need starters here - lots of kids don’t have that opportunity to see where things come from. There are generations of families who haven’t lived in their own homes because of the opioid epidemic. We need to think about sustainability and something positive in the home to solve these issues. Grandparents have taken on a larger role - there’s not time or money to have a little garden, it’s easier and cheaper to get something from the dollar menu. Gardening may not be for everyone, but we don’t know unless we try.

Rural Voices for COVID Recovery

Participants: Andrew Baker, Barbara Webber, Joe Martinez, Loren Schoonover, David Briseño, Alice, Nadia Sikes, Gabby Rivera

 

Alice: Primary Care providers in nursing homes have been able to get the vaccine, so we’ve seen more people start seeking their services. Some facilities are large enough that they can separate vaccinated and unvaccinated people, but there’s still concern that some people will choose not to get the vaccine and put those populations at risk.

 

David: Working in Portales. Most of the things we’ve encountered have been positive. Working with nursing homes in Portales to get them registered for the vaccine. Some have been able to get registered on their own, but others have had trouble. Staff is getting them set up with emails and passwords so that they can get registered. David has gotten the vaccine, but concerned that a lot of the staff have said no to the vaccine. We’ve been hit hard by COVID in Portales. Some people have come down and recovered ok, but it’s still a hit to morale. Still seeing the mess of political overflow in the Southeast area. Still prone to politicization of the crisis. Still working with the food bank and the center on aging. Not hard to get out the food. Once the word is out, people know where to look. David is looking into a summer food service program sponsored by the city. There’s a possibility to do a dinner program in Portales. Seeking vendors now to provide dinners to children (up to 600 meals/day). Grab and go seems to be the most convenient, hopefully we’ll see success in doing that. Purchasing a mobile dental van - we’ve been doing school-based dental programs for the past ten years. It’s difficult to find an empty room at a school, but now we can provide those services much more easily. Expecting delivery of the van in about 4 months. Primarily using that in Roswell - if it’s successful, they’ll be expanding to Portales and other parts of SE NM.

 

JM: Who is delivering the dental services?

 

DB: Casa De Familia. Looking to expand that into other communities. Biggest issue is cash flow, there’s already a behavioral health provider, so it’s also a territorial issue.

 

NS: Did a policy that requires immunization. Making reasonable accommodations for people who refuse, but have to separate employment with those who don’t comply. There are people giving out the vaccination at both the hospital and the health department. There are over 200,000 New Mexicans who have signed up for vaccination. Providers are getting vaccinated. Walmart stores don’t have lines anymore. Restaurants are operating at 25% capacity. When going around Alamogordo, you wouldn’t think they have a virus. People have lost caution and wariness of a disease that’s going to get more serious. Schools are still doing virtual learning. When thinking about providing meals, curbside pickup and twice/week pickups are effective. Food resource guides are getting out to people with the various available options for food relief. Some people are having the problem now that they need more storage space for food. Right now we’re having to rely on the at-home test kits.

 

JM: What’s the deal with broadband services?

DB/Alice: Nothing new to report. People still have to come to areas with wifi so that they can access work/school.

NS: People in Otero county working on the broadband initiative. All we’re doing now is keeping our legislators in the loop. The library right now is our main point of wifi for children. That’s uncomfortable though, working on longer-term fixes to that. We have approximately 600 children who are disenfranchised because they lack access to the internet. The school has been providing hot spots, but not sure if they’re still doing that. There will be some work done at this legislative session to expand funding for internet services.

Rural Voices for COVID Recovery

One of the local business owners helps people get signed up for vaccinations. There has been a big struggle to get people online because of the lack of internet access. There hasn’t been much information provided to people in Chaparral. The schools have reopened for hybrid learning. Is there any information being provided through the churches? Any news coming out has not gotten to me. We can try to get in contact with them to share that information. Sisters Diana and Chavela will probably be the best source. One of the biggest struggles is getting vaccines out here in Chaparral, and getting people excited about school. Getting them back to campus will be a big struggle. I heard that the main supermarket is closed, has that opened back up? The one that was closed has reopened. Panaderia was closed for renovations, but haven’t heard anything about Steyers.

Have you talked to Mr. Madrid (your state rep)? He could set up a site for registration and to distribute the vaccine. I’ve been trying to get in touch with him, but it’s been tough with the special session. I’m trying to set something up for Anthony NM.

The mom and pop shops here have been struggling. One of the beauty salons next door only had three customers yesterday. People are hoping to regain their customer base once everything reopens, but people are afraid to go out. Some people have gotten both doses, but people are still afraid. People are getting unemployment and are not showing up to work because it’s easier. It’s hard to gauge why people are doing this, but once the federal funding goes away, there’s a hope that people will return to work. As far as Anthony is concerned, I’ve been in contact with several lawmakers. A lot of them don’t want to sit down and talk because the governor has been calling people back into a special session and now they’re trying to rest. On a good note, over 1.3 million people in NM have received at least their first dose! They’re putting out lots of vaccines. There are vaccines trickling down from up north to southern NM, hopefully we’ll really pick up within the next month. Did you hear about the vaccinations happening for New Mexicans on the TX border? I did not. Over where the PDQ used to be, there were people who were getting registered, but we were under the impression that those were just TX residents. That was 2000 vaccines, for both TX and NM residents. We might announce that on Facebook. Nothing else really COVID related. The Board of trustees approved a contractor for the ballpark over on 4th street and that should be starting within the week. That should be finished by mid-November. That’s not just a ballpark, it’s also a flood control site. As we progress, hopefully that park will develop out and get a fishing pond, baseball/soccer fields, tennis courts, hiking, picnic areas and other amenities. We’re selling off part of that land to developers to get money back into the park. When do we anticipate the complex starting/ending? The first phase has already started, with $1.5 million that should get the utilities and the roadways in. It’s going to be ongoing over 3 years.

Tom Lopez and other stores were announcing the vaccinations on facebook. Some of those stores had flyers that they were handing out to let people know.

I work at Loma Linda. Sad thing is that it had been shut down due to a COVID outbreak. Monday would’ve been the first day back to school. We’ve been having construction done and that’s where things got out of hand. Nothing to do with district employees. Other schools are welcoming back students. We are enforcing the 6 foot regulations (with what we can considering the circumstances). Things are changing and that’s going to impact how things run. We’re having 3 lunches to allow for more cleaning. That’s taking away from some specials because of the cleaning times. We aren’t going to have as many cleaning regulations soon. The high schools have the most problems with students coming back. The high school electives aren’t as up to snuff. We really hope that there will be another meeting to change cleaning requirements. We can’t check out books from the library because of those regulations. Sports and volleyball can’t be played between PE classes. We can have sports, but not classes. We have no idea how that got spread because of confidentiality, but from talking to the teachers, we know it was people doing the construction. We are also getting a new intercom system that should hopefully get implemented in the schools. That should be coming to the whole Gadsden school district.

I’ll be advocating during the next city meeting to reopen. People want to go in and get permits and other things. We’ll be doing a presentation to get the other trustees in agreement. My question is on your opinion.

Videotape and be able to show what’s happening on the ground. MVD express is set up to take pictures and they can tell what to do in the case of an outbreak. People are in there.

Tomorrow I’ll be at the post office with some of the other trustees to poll the public on how they feel about reopening.

Wanted to let people know that I got vaccinated! The clinic I went to was first-come-first-serve. We need to let people know that they can get vaccinated at those clinics that are advertised for TX residents. I feel like sometimes they don’t want the NM residents coming to TX. Son has not gotten the vaccine yet, but we’re working on it.

Trying to go fast, but we’ll be sending out a summary on Friday after final signature from the governor. So far we’ve only seen one bill vetoed. That was the fund for safe drinking water from Southern NM. Overall, the session was a little chaotic. There were bills that didn’t get through, but there were some significant wins as well!

• Direct Healthcare: Decriminalizing abortion, end-of-life options act, new surtax on healthcare areas that’s being used to fund additional assistance for low-income people to get plans on the healthcare exchange. Paid sick leave for everyone in NM. Primary Care council, public health task force - want to make sure that those have representation from rural NM. Elimination of co-pays for behavioral health services - going to see your doctor will not be paid by you. 

• Rural issues were front and center. The rural opportunity task force will be of interest to see who’s on it and what issues they take up. Rural equity ombudsman should make sure that all issues are addressed. Special education ombudsman should cover complaints about services provided to special education. Those issues have not been addressed during the pandemic and that’s been a major issue. Broadband division in the state government should put money into development.

• Healthy Food Financing should put more money on the table to make it easier for people to get locally grown food through all programs in NM. There was also one that HANM was involved in to look into the pollution. We’ll be sending out information to let you know how to get involved

It’s a big victory to see that funding for dental services did not get cut.

There was some fears that Medicaid wouldn’t get fully funded, but it came through. We’re at a dicey point in the pandemic. We’re getting people vaccinated, but we want to make sure that we have immunity by the time that the new variants come in. So far it looks like the vaccines will protect against some of the new variants, but we should still be cautious. Representatives from Southern NM were influential in getting things passed.

We’ve been working on how to get actions from these meetings. We’ll be bringing back a couple of documents. We’re working on analyzing that survey and sending out results electronically. Keeping those ideas in mind, we’ll be sharing the vision statements and emerging collaborations to let people know what collaborations are coming to rural communities. That should be coming out by the end of the month. 

Rural Voices for COVID Recovery

Spoke to Gallegos and Cervantes. What I’ve been hearing is that Doña Ana and Las Cruces Counties have been sending letters to MLG to get more vaccines in our area. There has been talk about more super sites opening up in Las Cruces and other areas. CVS and Walgreens are starting to get people vaccinated. There is talk about getting more small distribution sites. There was talk that people were upset about the lack of vaccines, have people calmed down? People have gotten more access to the vaccines. The VA has written letters to some counties. In Anthony proper, there is some concern that the distance to drive has been restrictive to getting vaccinated. It would be better to have many super sites in the rural communities. How are you hearing about the hesitancy that people have around the vaccine? Lots of people here in Anthony say that they will refuse to take the vaccines as they become available. Hearing this from the working class. They are afraid that if they get sick, they won’t have money coming into their household. The people that do have reactions typically have underlying conditions. 

There has been a major effort to get local people ready to give and receive the vaccine. The more that we can get from local communities, the more effective those efforts will be.

The big thing from folks that I talk to is that they wish there were more vaccines allotted to the people who live near Texas. There’s a lot of traffic that occurs between rural NM and Texas.

There is a big group of children who are coming back to school that won’t be vaccinated. The school should be providing vaccinations before people go back to school. They’ve just started testing for children, so we don’t have good data on how those vaccines affect children. What about the teachers? There are a lot of teachers who don’t want to start teaching yet because vaccinating them has not been a priority.

There have been lots of efforts to make sure that schools are clean. It’s been a double-edged sword - those students in special education need to get back. They’re not learning as much as they can. School is their safe place. Glad that our superintendent is considering the parents’ opinion, but some of those kids need to get back.

There is a concern from parents about “what if their kids get sick?” but it’s been good to get them back on the whole. There was an outbreak on a school bus in Chaparral, but that’s the only one that I’ve heard about.

Rural Voices for COVID Recovery

We hope you all are staying safe and keeping active! There’s a lot of reason now to be hopeful about returning to normal, but there’s still work to be done!

At today’s meeting, we learned more about the upcoming return to in-person schooling in the Gadsden school district. With the coming changes, it is important to note that parents will have a choice whether they’d like their children to attend school in-person or online. We should learn more from the school board meeting on Thursday (2/4), but here’s what we know so far. In the coming week (2/8), half of the teachers should be going back to school twice a week with Wednesdays set aside for sanitization. The following week (2/15), instructional and office assistants will be returning, and the rest of the staff will be returning the week after (2/22). We also heard from the school bus supervisor in Anthony, NM, who assured us that the school board is making careful considerations and good plans for how to return to in-person instruction. There have been many concerns about student engagement during online schooling, so we’re hopeful that coming back will reinvigorate our youth! As with all major changes, it’s important that we keep each other in our thoughts - everyone’s been challenged by this pandemic, so patience and empathy will be key in making sure that our children are able to go back to school with as little stress as possible!

We also heard from community members about registering for the vaccine. The Department of Health has set up vaccinenm.org to coordinate a rollout of the vaccine, but there are concerns that this site is not user-friendly for older New Mexicans who are of the highest priority for vaccination. We need better accessibility for these systems. There is also concern that we aren’t getting as many vaccines as were promised; we at Health Action NM are keeping an eye on this. You can keep up to date with what we’re hearing by checking out the news page.

At our next meeting, we’ll be further discussing a return to in-person schooling and vaccine rollout, as well as other ways that we can help make sure that Southern and rural New Mexico are at the table during this and future legislative sessions.

Rural Voices for COVID Recovery