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Brothers Lean on “Granny,” Aunt, One Another After Covid-19 Loss

HOWARD UNIVERSITY NEWS SERVICE — According to a new modeling study published in Pediatrics, a child loses a parent or guardian in one of every four COVID-19 deaths, a devastating consequence that is affecting the lives of an estimated 140,000 children.
The post Brothers Lean on “Granny,” Aunt, One Another After Covid-19 Loss first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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1 year ago

May 3, 2022

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PAINDEMIC PAIN: Mending Unseen Wounds

Black and Brown families have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic. So have their children. According to the National Institutes of Health, tens of thousands of children have lost at least one parent or caregiver to COVID-19. Half of them are Black or Brown. This is one in a three-part series looking at how their lives have changed.

By Ahnayah Hughes, Howard University News Service

At first glance, they are just five rambunctious brothers doing what boys their ages do.

They like bouncing on their trampoline, riding their scooters, tossing around a football and playing video games. One is particularly fond of reading.

They are an especially tight-knit bunch.

There is Kingston, 10, the oldest, who their grandmother, Betty Hamilton, nicknamed “The Enforcer.” He makes sure the youngest get their baths and say their nightly prayers, she said.

“He’s like a little parent,” said Hamilton, 65, who retired on disability nine years ago after working 18 years at Pulaski State Prison, the women’s prison in Hawkinsville, Georgia.

Kristian, 9, has his own description for his brother.

“Sometimes he can be a bit bossy,” he said.

Kristian is the avid reader. He enjoys adventure books, drawing cartoons and is quickly moving to the next level on the Minecraft series.

“If the rest of them are outside, he’s somewhere inside with his nose in a book,” Hamilton said.

Kendall, 8, has autism and needs things to be just so, their grandmother said.

“He is very independent and wants to take his time figuring out things for himself,” she said. “He needs to do it on his own, in his own way, and he always gets it.”

Kobe, 5, is extremely smart, and he’ll let you know it, said his aunt, Carla Hamilton, 42, a registered nurse in Snellville, Georgia, 32 miles southeast of Atlanta by car. Their mother was her younger sister and only sibling.

“I had to tell him to stop calling people dumb!” she said.

And then there is the baby, Kassius, 4.

“I call him Cassius Clay,” his grandmother said, alluding the birth name of boxing icon Muhammad Ali. “He’s rough and tough. He’s always ready to fight and get his way.”

All five boys live with her in a three-bedroom house in Eastman, Georgia, with their grandmother and grandfather, Curtis Hamilton. Curtis Hamilton who holds the distinction of being the first Black National Guardsman in Eastman.

They have been reunited with brother and mother’s oldest child, Camarian, 14, who has been living there for the past three years.

Each is unique yet bound together by a common emotional scar. They share a pain and a deep fear left by COVID-19.

The signs are subtle, their grandmother said. For example, if one of them gets a cold or has the sniffles, they are quick to tell her, so she can immediately take preventive measure, or they will ask her for medicine, she said.

“They panic a little when anyone gets sick,” Hamilton said. “When their uncle got COVID, they were distraught. They thought COVID was a death sentence for everyone.”

To them, it is.

It’s the reason Kingston asked his grandmother one day, “Did my dad get his shot? If he did, would he still be living?”

It was Aug. 8, 2021, when their father, Ken Williams, a manager for a fast food restaurant in Warner Robbins, Georgia, was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Their mother, Courtney Hamilton, had died three years earlier in an automobile accident in Perry, Georgia. She was 27.

“It was a huge shock for all of us,” Carla said of her death. “You always think you have to be strong for the kids, but really, they were so strong for us.”

The couple had never married. Their relationship, family members said, was off-and-on.

After their mother’s death, their grandmother and their Aunt Carla moved in temporarily to help take care of them.

They stayed together five months until the father moved out with the boys and continued to move, five times in three years, the family said. Sometimes the boys stayed with relatives, sometimes with his girlfriend.

Still, their father set the rules and the tone, the family said. He was their primary caregiver, but more than anything, he was their father, a man who was consistently in their lives.

The kids were living with Williams’ girlfriend when he was diagnosed. The children were quickly quarantined away from their father and kept out of school, though they didn’t know exactly why at the time, their grandmother said.

Williams entered the hospital Aug. 20 in Warner-Robbins. Three days later, he was dead. He was 37.

“They were devastated,” their grandmother said. “For the past three years, he was the sole provider for them.”

The next time the five saw their father was at his wake before his cremation. He was in a casket alongside another casket that held his 57-year-old father, Kenneth Williams, who had died a day earlier of unrelated causes.

With Williams’ death, his sons joined tens of thousands of children in the U.S. who have experienced the loss of one or both parents to the COVID-19. According to a new modeling study published in Pediatrics, a child loses a parent or guardian in one of every four COVID-19 deaths, a devastating consequence that is affecting the lives of an estimated 140,000 children.

After their father’s death, their grandmother and their aunt scurried to gather all the documents related to children – school, medical and birth records — and the boys moved into Carla Hamilton’s four-bedroom house with her five children in Snellville.

Kingston, 10, right, and his aunt, Carla Hamilton, have become even closer following the death of his mother, Hamilton’s younger sister and only sibling, in a car accident in 2018, and the death of his father from COVID-19 in August. Hamilton took in Kingston and his brother following their father’s death before they moved to live with their grandmother in Eastman, Georgia. Photo courtesy of the Hamilton family.

The property owner, however, said their presence was a violation of Hamilton’s lease. The children were forced to move again, this time with their grandmother, who had been keeping Camarian Hamilton, since his mother’s death.

These days, the four oldest boys are enrolled in South Dodge Elementary School, and Kassius is in pre-kindergarten, his grandmother said. Camarian, attends Dodge County High School.

Having responsibility for the care and feeding of five boys thrust upon them at the age most people retire would be considered a burden by many, but not the boys’ grandmother.

“I’m loving every minute of it,” Hamilton said. “Having all of them in the house really gives me a good purpose for living. I never realized how much I stayed in the house and did nothing but watch TV. But with them here, there’s something to do constantly.”

The boys seem to like it too, according to “The Enforcer.”

“I think it’s good [living with Granny],” Kingston said. “I like living down here. I like my new school. I like that most of my family lives here, and we get to see Cam and our cousins.

“I do my chores. I help my grandma and Pop Pop. I help with Kassius and Kobe. I just like being helpful.”

Their aunt said she has seen a change in the five.

“There’s a feeling of relief,” she said. “They’re settled. They’re calm. They’re finally stable, and they know they’re not going anywhere.”

Outwardly, the boys seem fine, Betty Hamilton said. She has noticed, however, they don’t talk much about their parents unless it’s among each other.

Their grandmother said, the boys put her on notice they want vaccinations as soon as possible.

“They want the shots,” she said. “They let me know that. They don’t have them yet, but as soon as I can find out where they can get them, I’ll get them.”

She has enrolled them in counseling.

“Everybody grieves differently,” she said. “This is the first week. The counselor will meet them on a one-on-one basis. I wanted them to be able to talk and not be scared something is going to happen to me.

“I want them to be kids and not have to worry about things like that.”

Every year on their mother’s birthday, the boys release six purple balloons—her favorite color—at her gravesite in Chauncey, Georgia, 15 miles from their home., their grandmother said. This year, a month after Williams’ passing the boys asked if they could get six red balloons in his honor and release them all together.

While chatting among themselves, Kingston said, “Well, my mom got a big old birthday present today!”

He was asked if he was talking about the balloons.

“No,” he said. “I’m talking about my dad. They’re together in heaven.”

Even on the days when the boys ask tough questions, like every time they hear anything on the news about COVID-19, or have the occasional nightmare, they appear to be at peace, their family said.

“All six of them are together again, and I think that’s how my daughter and Ken would have liked it,” their grandmother said. “I think they’re happy, because they know this is where they’ll be from now on.”

The post Brothers Lean on “Granny,” Aunt, One Another After Covid-19 Loss first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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PRESS ROOM: Walgreens Eases Anxiety for Senior Shoppers with Monthly Seniors Day

NNPA NEWSWIRE — This feeling of concern around socialization increases for the Black senior community 55 and older with nearly 4 in 10 (39%) of these seniors reporting feeling socially isolated, 13 percentage points higher than the total population of 55 and older. In addition, over 4 in 10 (43%) seniors in the Black community reported they are limiting what they do and where they go in fear of catching COVID-19 –16 percentage points higher than the total population of 55 and older.
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Published

1 month ago

April 26, 2023

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Walgreens COVID-19 Pulse Check finds Seniors are Less Socially Active Now than Before the Pandemic and Seeking Confidence in Socializing

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Today Walgreens unveils The Walgreens COVID-19 Pulse Check^[1], a quantitative study commissioned by the healthcare retailer, which surveyed over 1,000 senior adults 55 and older in the U.S. about their feelings on socializing after the pandemic. As society moves past the impacts of this pandemic, the reality for many of the nation’s 41+ million seniors is that they still feel concerned about getting sick^[2].

The survey reveals that an estimated 17 million (42%) of seniors agreed they are less socially active now than they were before the pandemic. Additionally, an estimated 8.2 million (20%) of seniors feel lonelier now than before the pandemic.

The research also reveals that seniors are missing activities they enjoyed pre-pandemic due to COVID-19 exposure anxiety, which is still prevalent in the senior community:

60% are worried about seeing friends regularly and attending family gatherings
36% miss going on vacation
28% miss going shopping or running errands
19% miss being connected to their local community
15% miss the independence of doing things for themselves, like shopping

This feeling of concern around socialization increases for the Black senior community 55 and older with nearly 4 in 10 (39%) of these seniors reporting feeling socially isolated, 13 percentage points higher than the total population of 55 and older. In addition, over 4 in 10 (43%) seniors in the Black community reported they are limiting what they do and where they go in fear of catching COVID-19 –16 percentage points higher than the total population of 55 and older.

Inspiring Senior Confidence with Shopping Experiences, Savings and Support

When seniors think about their confidence in socializing, The Walgreens COVID-19 Pulse Check found 70% of seniors are more confident socializing when the people they are around are vaccinated against COVID-19 and other viruses like flu, shingles and pneumonia.

To help create inclusive communities and unlock the joy of aging, Walgreens Seniors Day fosters an accessible, safe and supported environment. Patients 55 and older and their caregivers can save 20% off eligible regular-priced merchandise on the first Tuesday of every month or online all week with code SENIOR20 at checkout (Sunday-Saturday of that week).

At checkout, Seniors should let a Walgreens team member know they are shopping with the Seniors Day discount for the savings to apply to their purchase. Those with Medicare Advantage over-the-counter benefits are encouraged to ask team members how to take advantage of their benefit while in store.

Our pharmacy teams are trained to support the senior population through pharmacy services including, Save A Trip Refill,^[3] 90-day prescription fills^[4] and refill reminders^[5] which are designed to make medication management easier, keeping them healthy and avoid hospitalization.

With the Majority of Seniors Feeling More Confident in a Society with Immunizations and Testing, Building a Healthy Post-Pandemic World Where Everyone Feels Included is a Shared Responsibility

No cost at-home COVID-19 tests are available with most insurance plans through May 11, 2023^[6]. Limits apply to the number of tests covered per person per month. Walgreens brand at-home COVID-19 tests provide an affordable option and are available with a deeper discount on Senior Day. Walgreens pharmacy team members are available to help customers use their pharmacy benefits to get over-the-counter test kits through their insurance.

“As a trusted healthcare destination, we’re giving customers another testing option to stay ahead of COVID-19 with our Walgreens brand at-home COVID-19 test, broadening our assortment in stores and online,” said Luke Rauch, Walgreens chief merchandising officer and senior vice president. “In addition to tests, we offer an assortment of Walgreens brand products that offer a great everyday value and are designed to meet our consumers’ needs.”

To help further protect this senior community more at risk from, and concerned about, COVID-19, shingles and pneumonia, Walgreens pharmacy team members are available during Seniors Days and every day to make getting vaccinated simple. This includes the recently approved additional bivalent (updated) COVID-19 dose for those ages 65+ and certain immunocompromised individuals. Customers can schedule a vaccine appointment online, via the myWalgreens app or by calling (800)-WALGREENS, available in both Spanish and English.

Unlocking the Joy of Aging with Essential Products & Doorstep Delivery

With more than 85,000 healthcare service providers, including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and nurse practitioners, Walgreens offers customers with more complex health needs easy access to the medications, treatments and products they need to keep safe and well. This includes products from walkers and hearing aids along with our Walgreens brand line of vitamins with a range of products likeCalcium, Iron and Vitamin C. As a trusted name in health and wellness, Walgreens brand health and wellness products are Walgreens pharmacist recommended and backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

Making it even easier for seniors to get the products they want and need, Walgreens now offers 24-Hour delivery. Available around the clock, seven days a week from 600+ participating stores across the country, customers can get last-minute needs like groceries, over-the-counter medications, personal care items, household necessities and more. If a customer wants to swing by Walgreens, 30-minute pickup makes it easy to shop their local store via Walgreens.com or the myWalgreens app and have items ready for pickup in-store or curbside in as little as 30 minutes.

To find out more about the work Walgreens is doing to support our senior communities visit Walgeens.com.

About The Study

The Walgreens COVID-19 Pulse Check Study is a quantitative survey of 1,048 adults 55 and older conducted February 17 – 18, 2023 using an online data collection methodology. The survey was fielded by Dynata, a global survey vendor, and was commissioned by Walgreens.

About Walgreens

Walgreens (http://www.walgreens.com) is included in the U.S. Retail Pharmacy and U.S. Healthcare segments of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA), an integrated healthcare, pharmacy and retail leader with a 170-year heritage of caring for communities. WBA’s purpose is to create more joyful lives through better health. Operating nearly 9,000 retail locations across America, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Walgreens is proud to be a neighborhood health destination serving nearly 10 million customers each day. Walgreens pharmacists play a critical role in the U.S. healthcare system by providing a wide range of pharmacy and healthcare services, including those that drive equitable access to care for the nation’s medically underserved populations. To best meet the needs of customers and patients, Walgreens offers a true omnichannel experience, with fully integrated physical and digital platforms supported by the latest technology to deliver high-quality products and services in communities nationwide.

^[1]All statistics unless otherwise stated are from the Walgreens COVID-19 Pulse Check Study.

^[2]US Census, 2020: Total number of adults over 55. Source: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/decade/2020/2020-census-main.html

^[3] Restrictions apply.

^[4] Restrictions apply.

^[5] Data rates may apply.

^[6] Applies to most fully-insured and self-insured group and individual coverage, until the end of the public health emergency. Covers up to eight (8) rapid antigen test per month. COVID-19 home test kit returns will not be accepted.

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Safe Spaces for Collective Healing: Group Therapy in Black Communities

April 14, 2023 – Join host Al McFarlane and expert contributors, Dr. Bravada Garrett-Akinsanya and Dr. Oliver J. Williams, for an enlightening discussion on the benefits of group therapy in Black communities. Learn how creating safe spaces can promote collective healing and empower your community. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage in this important conversation […]
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Published

1 month ago

April 25, 2023

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Don’t miss this opportunity to engage in this important conversation and take steps towards mental wellness.

The Conversation With Al McFarlane (TCWAM), Weekdays at 1 pm CST / 2 pm EST / 11 am PST

We hope you will join us at 1 pm CST / 2 pm EST / 11 am PST as we continue our ongoing conversations about how we can all make a difference in our community.

SUBSCRIBE to TCWAM on Insight News YouTube channel: / @insightnewsmn

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Muscle and Power – Taking the 2023 BMW M2 Coupe for a Spin

Muscle and Power – Taking the 2023 BMW M2 Coupe for a Spin and walkaround. Looking for a car that can deliver the ultimate driving experience? Look no further than the 2023 BMW M2 Coupe. This new model boasts an impressive 3.0-liter BMW M TwinPower Turbo inline 6-cylinder engine, producing an incredible 453 horsepower at […]
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Published

1 month ago

April 25, 2023

Oakland Post

Muscle and Power – Taking the 2023 BMW M2 Coupe for a Spin and walkaround. Looking for a car that can deliver the ultimate driving experience? Look no further than the 2023 BMW M2 Coupe. This new model boasts an impressive 3.0-liter BMW M TwinPower Turbo inline 6-cylinder engine, producing an incredible 453 horsepower at 406 lb-ft of torque, with a 0-60 time of just a little less than 4 seconds. The car is rear-wheel drive, which enhances the driving experience even further.

The M2 Coupe has a muscular appearance, with flared fenders and a smaller traditional BMW kidney grille. The M colors red and blue are seen throughout the interior, even on the front door panels, adding to the sporty feel of the car. The M sport seats are designed to grip and hold you in place, so you can truly feel the power of the car. The car also has a carbon fiber roof, which reduces weight and improves performance.

When it comes to handling, the M2 Coupe is excellent. The car has excellent steering and handling, which allows it to stay flat in the curves. The car’s M1 and M2 driving modes allow you to customize your steering, suspension, and other suspension enhancements in the car setup. The car even has a Drift analyzer for drift mode, which is a fun feature for those who love to take their driving to the next level.

The car also has an exhaust tone control, which is operated from a button on the center console. This allows you to adjust the exhaust tone to your liking. Additionally, the car has extra chassis bracing in the engine compartment, which improves performance even further.

The M2 Coupe comes equipped with front tires Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S 275/35 ZR19 and rear tires Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S 285/30 ZR 20. These tires are designed for high-performance driving and add to the overall driving experience of the car.

Other impressive features of the car include its M sport differential, which helps improve handling, and its multiple driving modes, allowing you to customize your driving experience. The car even has a drift analyzer for drift mode, a fun feature for those who like to push their driving skills to the limit.

The M2 Coupe also has an impressive audio system, featuring a Harman Kardon Surround Sound Audio System, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility. The car’s Live Cockpit Pro HUD and Connected Package Pro feature real-time traffic, on-street parking info (select cities), and BMW Remote Services.

Overall, the 2023 BMW M2 Coupe is a car that any driving enthusiast would be proud to own. Its impressive performance specs, M colors, excellent handling, and impressive features make it a true standout in the world of sports cars. If you’re looking for the ultimate driving machine, look no further than the BMW M2 Coupe.

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