News
Success at the 4th Annual WellFEST!
April 10, 2012
On Saturday, March 24th, Bridges and the Library Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing celebrated another successful WellFEST!
Over 300 people attended the event at the Nashville Public Library on Church Street. Since 2009, WellFEST has been the only wellness and health exposition in the state of Tennessee that is accessible to all individuals with hearing loss.
The day started off with an informative presentation from Dr. Robert Baldwin, a hard of hearing psychologist, who highlighted the mental health concerns of individuals with hearing loss. After Dr. Baldwin’s presentation, Salud! from Whole Foods gave a healthy cooking demonstration at noon. Informational booths and screenings were open all day long. Popular screenings included hearing loss, bone density, HIV, vision and glaucoma, hearing loss and physical fitness.
Thank you to WellFEST’s sponsors: AmeriGroup Community Care, United Healthcare Community Plan, HCA/TriStar, Cochlear Americas, and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Community Trust.
Thank you to the in-kind contributors: Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center, Vanderbilt Coalition for Healthy Aging, Vanderbilt, Dayani Center, Salud! Whole Foods, Women on Maintaining Education and Nutrition, Lowes Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel, Interfaith Dental Clinic, Nashville Public Library, and certified interpreters Beth Moss, Beth Pilkinton, Debbie Nicholas, Eric Workman, Heather Slighter, Jaclyn Kollar, Jackie Beasley, Jen Ulschak, Laurie Cribb, Rebecca Collins, and Sarah Raines.
Thank you to all who made WellFEST 2012 possible. Without sponsors, contributors, and volunteers, there would be no WellFEST. Be sure to stay tuned for the 5th Annual WellFEST in 2013!
Bridges, Red Cross & NWS Offer 1st SKYWARN Storm Spotter Class to Deaf & Hard of Hearing Communities
March 6, 2012
Trevor Boucher from the National Weather Service presents to the audience as Beth Moss interprets.
As most middle Tennessee residents know, severe weather can be scary and dangerous. While the hearing community relies on weather radios, television broadcasts, and tornado sirens, for the Deaf and hard of hearing communities, severe weather often means a communication breakdown.
Mike Turner, who currently has 95% hearing loss, explained to NewsChannel 5 how severe weather events have affected him. “Actually, I’m gonna tell you a true story, I can be driving down a road and see cars pulling over, and actually they can hear a siren or tornado warning going off, and I’m just driving along.”
In order to help the Deaf and hard of hearing communities be better prepared for weather emergencies, Bridges partnered with the Nashville Area Chapter of the American Red Cross and National Weather Service for an accessible SKYWARN Spotter Training through American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters and open captioning. The training took place on January 26th at the Red Cross, and approximately fifty people attended, most of whom were Deaf or hard of hearing. This was the first SKYWARN class offered to the Deaf and hard of hearing communities in the United States.
The Storm Spotter Training was the same program presented to the hearing community for over 40 years, but was provided in ASL and open captioning and focused on the more Deaf and hard of hearing accessible means of reporting severe weather. Topics included NWS product information such as the definitions of warnings and watches, middle Tennessee severe weather climatology, proper reporting techniques, how to safely spot severe storms, and how to identify important cloud features in developing storms such as funnel clouds and wall clouds.
Recent technology, such as the creation of the NWS Facebook pages across the country as well as useful reporting avenues such as E-Spotter, a web based severe weather reporting form, and Twitter, offer many other useful ways to report severe weather.
It was through the Emergency Awareness and Readiness Services (EARS) committee, that the interest in having a SKYWARN Spotter Training emerged. Bridges has worked on the EARS committee on a variety of projects including to provide fire alarms to the Deaf and hard of hearing communities, ensure communication accessibility at shelters throughout the state, and implement training with the Red Cross to people who are Deaf or hard of hearing.
Did you see Bridges on the news? NewsChannel 5 covered the Storm Spotter Class. Watch or read the coverage at www.newschannel5.com/story/16613094/2012/01/26/nashvilles-deaf-hearing-impaired-get-help-during-severe-weather.
Craft Class Gives Back Again
January 31, 2012
This Christmas was the third year in a row that the Bridges’s Craft Class has donated holiday gifts to Safe Haven Family Shelter, the only shelter-to-housing program of its kind in middle Tennessee that accepts entire homeless families.
Craft Class gift giving began three years ago when the group wanted to learn how to quilt. They chose a small project – sewing quilted Christmas stockings – and enjoyed it so much, they decided to donate the stockings to a worthy cause. That worthy cause became Safe Haven Family Shelter. When the class realized the needs of families residing at Safe Haven, they started collecting gifts to fill the hand-made stockings.
Unfortunately, the number of families at Safe Haven has continued to increase in recent years. To help meet the new demand, the Craft Class asked the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) Nashville Chapter to help provide items to the Safe Haven families. This year, Bridges’s Craft Class made as many hand-made scarves and hats as they could, and with help from HLAA, purchased additional scarves, hats, gloves, toiletries, baby quilts and toys for youth of all ages. Bridges would like to thank HLAA for its help in making this year’s Craft Class donations possible!
For more information on Safe Haven shelter, visit www. safehaven.org.
Are you Deaf or hard of hearing and interested in joining Bridges’s Craft Class? Contact Donicé Kaufman at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for more information.
Summer Camps at Bridges!
January 6, 2012
Bridges will host the following summer camps in 2012 for youth:
Camp Rise and Sign is an overnight camp for Deaf and hard of hearing youth at Camp Marymount in Fairview, TN.
- May 11th – May 13th, 2012 for 1st–12th graders
Camp Sign Me Up is a day camp for hearing youth who want to learn sign language! Camp costs $35 per camper.
- June 4th – June 8th, 2012 for K – 5th graders
- June 11th – June 15th, 2012 for 6th–12th graders
Camp Jump Start is a day camp for Deaf and hard of hearing youth who want to improve their reading skills.
- July 9th – July 13th and July 16th – July 20th, 2012 for K–12th graders
Unless otherwise noted, camps are held at the Mary McKinney Youth Center at Bridges, 415 4th Avenue South in downtown Nashville.
Space is limited, reserve your spot today! For more information or to register for any or all of the camps, contact Julie Perdue, Youth Program Manager, at 615-248-8828 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Another Successful Spaghetti-Rama
December 15, 2011
Sylvya Boyd and Julie Perdue from the Youth Center.
Serving up spaghetti!
After helping serve, the youth enjoy their dinner together.
On Friday, November 18th Bridges held its annual Spaghetti-Rama, a fundraiser that is organized by and benefits the Youth Center. Almost one hundred people attended the dinner and game night, bringing the night’s total to 20% more than last year’s, with all of the proceeds benefiting the Youth Center.
Attendees enjoyed delicious salad, breadsticks and pastas donated by a variety of local Italian restaurants. Serving up dinner were thirteen middle and high school youth from the After School Program. In addition to the youth, adult volunteers helped out by taking tickets, baking desserts, keeping food warm, and making sure everyone was having a good time.
Guests ate their pasta feasts at tables decorated with yarn flowers made by the elementary aged children. Surrounding the tables were pictures and collages of past memories of the Youth Center. Many of the teenagers in the Youth Center have come to Bridges for years, and their pictures showed how much they had grown over the years.
Xavier Dodson and Brisseidy Vega gave speeches thanking everyone for their contribution and hard work to make the event a success. After Xavier and Brisseidy spoke, Youth Center parents Natalie Carlise and Tonya Bowman discussed the impact the Youth Center has on the lives of their children, and how the Youth Center has created a place where they feel comfortable and accepted.
Following the speeches, door prizes from local restaurants were drawn. Many people stayed after dinner to play games and socialize. Game night attendees enjoyed ping pong matches and a game of Pictionary.
Bridges would like to thank everyone who attended and donated in support of the Youth Center. Thank you to Amerigo, Porta Via, Old Spaghetti Factory, Olive Garden, Fazoli’s, Demos’, Pizza Perfect, Michaelangelo’s,
Mafiaoza’s, Sole Mio, and Mama Mia’s for their generous donations!
To see all of the pictures from Spaghetti-Rama, click here to see our Facebook album.
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